G I, K A N 1 N (i S I X 



15 K K (' r 1-T I' K ]•; 



twii'O as iiiiuiy colouius for tlu> production of 

 extracted as they could for comb, and that 

 after the war is over comb lioney will have 

 to bring two or three times the price of 

 extracted before they will go back to sec- 

 tion honey. It will probably take some years 

 before comb honey will get back to it own, 

 even if it ever does. The big supj)ly fac- 

 tories liave, for the time being, discontinu- 

 ed the manufacture of section-honey boxes, 

 and are running their factories mainly for 

 the production of hives and fi'ames for ex- 

 ti acted. 



We can not help feeli)ig, however, that an 

 effort should be made to reinstate the comb- 

 lioney business, after the war is over, be- 

 cause there is a very large consuming trade 

 that recognizes the superior quality of hon- 

 ey in the comb, and it has an advertising- 

 value in the honey business that is valuable. 

 It looks so good (and tastes so good), don't 

 vou knowf 



IN SOME STATES, sweet clover is classed 

 as a noxious weed, and the township road 

 supervisors are or- 



Sweet Clover 



and 



Town Councils. 



deied to cut it just 

 before it comes in- 

 to bloom. In other 

 eases munioipalitiey 

 have passed special ordinances retpiiring the 

 road commissioner to put it in the noxious 

 weed class. The result is that a most valua- 

 ble forage plant for bees and stock is cut 

 down while the worst kinds of weeds are 

 allowed to grow freely everywhere. Time, 

 time and again, along the roadsides we have 

 seen sweet clover cut down while burdock, 

 Canada thistle, and other noxious weeds are 

 allowed to grow. 



S'^'veral of the States, includi)ig Ohio, 

 have repealed that section of the noxious 

 weed laws that includes sweet clover, not 

 because beekee})ers have asked for the re- 

 j'cal, but because farmers and experiment 

 stations have shown that for farmers the 

 jilant is one of the most valuable forage 

 plants ever known. 



It appears that sweet clover had been 

 placed under the V>an at Huntington, Ind., by 

 the town council. W. I). Keyes appeared 

 lief ore that body about a year ago, explahi- 

 ing the value of the jjiant with the result 

 that the council repealed that portion of the 

 ordinance requiring sweet clover to be cut 

 by the street commissioners. Where ordi- 

 nances like this are m effect we supfgest 

 tliat other beekeepers follow Mr. Keyes ' 

 example. 



Wherever sweet clover is classed as a 

 noxious weed, beekeepers should unite with 

 the farmers in putting a petition before the 

 state legislature and ask for the repeal of 

 the s<'ction of the law that includes sweet 

 clo" er. All it needs is a little pressure 

 brouglit to Ix'ar. Some one must make the 

 start, and beekeepers should take the initia- 

 ti\'e, if no one else does. 



Beekeepers Will Be Allowed Sugar Needed. 



(CoiUiniu'd from pave -1^)7.) 

 to abuse their privileges by asking for sugar 

 in unlimited quantities, especially since our 

 allies have only a very small percentage of 

 the sugar we have. Dr. Phillijjs believes it 

 is the jiatriotic duty of every beekeeper to 

 get along without sugar if he can. The 

 man who can afford to do "without, says Dr. 

 I*hilli{)s, is the one who has secured a good 

 ciop of honey in a locality where there is no 

 bee disease; and in speaking of bee disease, 

 he says the beekeepers whose bees have it, 

 should of course have sugar, as they can not 

 feed honey. 



Furthermore, Dr. Phillips believes that 

 the beekeeper who has secured a small crop 

 of honey — 25 pounds we will say — and who 

 sells it at 20 cents, and rej)laces it with nine- 

 cent sugar, is profiteering. On this ])oint 

 we can not agree with Dr. Phillips. If that 

 man is profiteering, then the man who sells 

 liis whole crop of, we will say, 50,000 ])ounds 

 for 20 cents a pound is profiteering. In a 

 sense, high prices of any kind are robbing 

 our allies in Europe at a time when their 

 war chests have been drained dry, and at a 

 time, too, when they are struggling, for bare 

 existence. Dr. Phillips' view is that if we 

 have any red blood in us — any sense of fair- 

 ness — we ought to make the burden on our 

 allies as light as possible. Good and all 

 right. 



But foi' the beekeeper who has had very 

 indifferent success this season, harvesting 

 very little honey and needing all the funds 

 possible (and there are many such), we be- 

 lieve there is another justifiable angle from 

 which to view the selling of his even limited 

 supply of honey. A pound of honey extract- 

 ed and placed on the market replaces for 

 human consumption fully a pound of sugar. 

 A pound of sugar (purchased by the bee- 

 keeper at one-half the i)rice he could ob- 

 tain for his honey) replaces for bee con- 

 sumption fully a pound of honey. Isn 't it 

 merely a question, then, of whether the 

 beekeeper (not generally rich) should stand 

 a high-priced food for his bees, or whether 

 the man abundantly able and wishing to liny 

 honey should not be permitted to spend his 

 money for a high-jji-iced substitute for sug- 

 ar? In other words, shall the beekeeper 

 01- the man ready to purchase a high-priced 

 sweet, stand the high cost of feeding the 

 bees the coming winter? 

 Later. 



Confirming what has been said above as 

 to beekeepers being allowed all the sugar 

 necessary for feeding, there has just come 

 to hand (July 22) tli^ official "Food Con- 

 servation Notes," issued by the U. S. Gov- 

 ernment under date of July 6. In this offi- 

 cial statement "bee culture." is specifically 

 mentioned as one of the industries that 

 "are now given 100 per cent of their sugar 

 re(|uirements. " This is only further official 

 assurance that the Sugai' Division expects 

 beekeepers to Vje allowed the sugar they 

 need. 



