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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1918 



bees in one night. "^ — H. M. Dauforth, Bre- 

 vard County, Fla. 



' ' There is an abundance of white clover 

 in bloom now and bees are crowding the 

 supers. This country is free from foul 

 brood so far as I know. I have never seen 

 a case yet. ' '• — Eugene Busier, Washington 

 County, Ark., June 5. 



' ' The bee business is on the bum in this 

 neck of the woods. If we have many more 

 years like the last two, we can ship you 

 fellows a good many carloads of emjity 

 hives to lower the prices of the new ones. 

 With only about 10 inches of rain in nearly 

 two years and the coldest winter in 20 years, 

 things are beginning to look a little blue 

 here. Hope you fellows up there are having 

 good luck." — -W. C. Edwards, Uvalde Coun- 

 ty, Texas. 



"When I came here from Williamsburg, 

 Pa., the first of last May, I found beekeepers 

 here selling extracted honey from door to 

 door at 10 cents a pound. I told them that 

 I would not sell a pound for less than 20 

 cents, at which price I marketed at my 

 yard about 500 pounds, and then raised the 

 price to 25 cents in pint, quart and half -gal- 

 lon fruit jars, which has been very satisfac- 

 tory to the people. ' ' — W. D. Keyes, Hunting- 

 ton County, Ind. 



"Sugar is not plentiful these days, nor is 

 it expected to be. Yet people are urged to 

 preserve their fruits, using some of the 

 several substitutes for sugar or part sugar. 

 One of the most important of these is honey. 

 Jellies, marmalade, pickles, (honey vinegar) 

 and all manner of preserves may be made in 

 part or entirely with honey. The use of 

 sugar will probably be restricted in the 

 making of fruit pickles; honey may be sub- 

 stituted in these." — Burton N. Gates, Am- 

 hert, Mass. 



"I saw queens introduced by the honey 

 method 40 years a'go. I introduced virgins 

 this way for a few days and had good suc- 

 cess, but E. E. Eoot rather objected to it 

 as he thought it would injure the young 

 queens. I dipped the queens in thick honey 

 and dropped them among the bees, but did 

 not pour honey over the frames. This would 

 probably make the introducing more certain, 

 but beginners would be very likely to get 

 robbing started, especially if some of the 

 honey should run out at the entrance of the 

 hive."— M. T. Britchard, Medina. 



' ' The reason we wanted to sell our honey 

 before packing was that we have always 

 had to sell on the Texas market, and the 

 Texas market demands bulk or chunk comb 

 honey with which we are thoroly disgusted, 

 because when it is once packed it must move 

 at once or it will granulate. Our Texas 

 writers have boosted chunk-honey produc- 

 tion and created a local demand for same. 

 Yet it is very unsatisfactory to the pro- 

 ducer, and also to the consumer. For our 

 part we long ago saw the mistake and this 



year we are trying to get out of the rut. 

 We are looking for a big crop of Guajilla 

 next year. It has not bloomed for two years; 

 in fact we have not had a good general 

 Guajilla bloom since 1914, owing to exces- 

 sive drought. It is making a fine growth 

 now, and with good rains this fall, we feel 

 sure of it next spring. ' ' — O. E. Milam, Frio 

 County, Tex. 



' ' The literature on beekeeping has not 

 been of a type which would induce people 

 to take up the work as a commercial indus- 

 try. The trouble is not that there are too 

 few beekeepers, for the United States 

 boasts about 800,000, but is rather that rela- 

 tively few have looked on beekeeping as a 

 possible means of livelihood. A better pre- 

 sentation of the subject might serve to over- 

 come this attitude. No effort need be made 

 to induce more people to keep bees; rather 

 an effort might be made to induce half or 

 more of the present bee owners to sell their 

 bees to good beekeepers in order that the 

 bees might be enabled to produce the crop 

 with the proper care. ' ' — Dr. E. F. Phillips 

 in The Scientific Monthly for May, 1918. 



"It is sometimes said that beekeeping is 

 the least understood of any industry of 

 food production, and often things occur to 

 make one think that such is the case. Many 

 city people will inquire as early as April 

 whether any new honey is for sale yet, and 

 often even some country folks ask just as 

 absurd questions in connection with the 

 keeping of bees. As is well known, about 

 all the old crop of honey has been cleared 

 out long ago, and, of course, dealers are 

 anxious to get some of the new crop as soon 

 as possible. Only a few days ago a promi- 

 nent firm wrote me asking for honey, and I 

 suspect that they thought this season 's crop 

 was on the market already. This firm would 

 not think of writing for maple syrup in the 

 month of December, but they seem to think 

 April to be a month of honey production. ' ' 

 — J. L. Byer, Markham, Ont. 



"Our enemies, trampling under foot all 

 international agreements and every senti- 

 ment of humanity, have used in this war the 

 most barbarous inventions. Jvist now they 

 bombard Paris with a monstrous cannon. 

 What a disgrace for a people calling them- 

 selves Christians! and what a violation of 

 the precepts of the Gospel! Then they can, 

 on top of that, boast of their ' Kultur. ' There 

 are no abominable crimes which they have 

 not committed. They have even surpassed 

 the Turks. We firmly believe that, with the 

 help of God, we shall break their gigantic 

 offensive. You may well believe that 

 France appreciates thoroly the valor and 

 noble part your Nation is playing in this 

 world-wide struggle for justice and liberty. 

 France and the United States are united in 

 the same ideal and in the same bond of 

 love." — P. Prieur, Poitiers, France, Editor 

 of the Eevue Eclectique d 'Apiculture, in a 

 letter to Gleanings, March 27, 1918. 



