LEAKiKGS IN BEE CULTURE! 



November, 1918 



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SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



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ONE of the 

 largest ap- 

 apple-grow- 

 ers in Vermont 

 told me a few 

 years ago that 

 he did not be- 

 lieve bees to be 

 necessary in his 

 orchards. Since 



then foul brood has destroyed most of the 

 bees near his orchards, and a neighbor told 

 me recently that his apple crops have be- 

 come very small. I am not surprised. Ex- 

 perience is a dear school, but there are 

 some who. will learn in no other way. 



Mrs. Puerden makes a good point when 

 she objects to honey being called a substi- 

 tute for sugar. Rather should sugar be con- 

 sidered a substitute for honey. 



Chas. A. Johnson 's rule for sowing sweet 

 clover on waste land is all right. He says, 

 page 604, "First find limy land, and then 

 ask the owner 's permission to sow. ' ' Cor- 

 rect. 



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Friction-top cans make very cheap and 

 convenient feeders, but rust out quite too 

 soon to be profitable. I am coating new ones 

 on the inside with linseed oil, which will 

 protect them for a long time. 



Says E. E. Root, page 590, that if there 

 is anything he "absolutely knows," it is 

 that windbreaks are a splendid invest- 

 ment, "an investment that will pay a big 

 dividend year after year," and that "they 

 are not only necessary during winter but 

 also during fall and spring." I wish every 

 young beekeeper in the land could be per- 

 suaded of its truthfulness and importance. 



It would be well if those who prepare and 

 furnish tables could study most carefully 

 the table of classified food given on page' 

 605 by Stancy Puerden. It would assist 

 very greatly in giving a well-balanced ra- 

 tion, which is at the bottom of economy in 

 the preparation of food. I have sat at tables 

 where I found cheese, eggs, and meat at the 

 same meal. Again, I have found sugar in 

 various forms out of all proportion to other 

 food, and so on. 



A few evenings ago I received thru a 

 friend a fine section of heather honey from 

 Scotland. It is a beautiful amber, lighter 

 than buckwheat, almost a wine color, with a 

 very strong aroma, and very mild and pleas- 

 ant to taste. This morning I went to the 

 pantry to get it and found it gone. I in- 

 quired of the good wife what had become 

 of it. She informed me that she had car- 



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TU 



ried it to the 

 woodhouse, as it 

 smelled so she 

 could not stand 

 it. It is easy to 

 see why it has 

 become such a 

 favorite on the 

 British Isles. A 

 neighbor in- 

 forms me that some years ago he ascended 

 one of the Scottish mountains during hea- 

 ther bloom and saw one of the most beau- 

 tiful sights he had ever seen. The whole 

 landscape was covered with heather bloom, 

 and hill, valley, and mountainside were cov- 

 ered by it. It is not surprising that bee- 

 keepers prize it. Yet it may not yield better 

 than those sections where alsike and white 

 clover are abundant. 



People long ago were condemned for not 

 observing the signs of the times, and shall 

 we beekeepers be so interested in our bees 

 that we shall fail to observe the signs of the 

 time in which we live- — the most wonderful 

 in the history of the world. King Alcohol 

 is about to be dethroned and forever out- 

 lawed in our land. Militarism, another curse 

 of all the ages, is likely soon to be brought 

 under the domain of laws and justice. Little 

 wonder if the earth seems a litt'e greener, 

 the sky a little bluer, and sunsets more beau- 

 tiful than ever before. 



4f * » 



I am rather surprised that in the (quota- 

 tions of comb honey very little attention 

 appears to be given to the weight of sec- 

 tions. It is fancy and No. 1 and No. 2, ap- 

 parently without much regard to weight of 

 honey. When we are required to weigh 

 every individual section and pack them in 

 cases, some weighing 12 ounces, some 13, 

 some 14, and some 15, these different weights 

 should receive different prices. Thus a case 

 of 15-ounce honey should sell for quite a 

 little more than a ease of 12-ounce honey, 

 as it contains one and one-fourth times as 

 much honey. 



Williams Hugh tells us on page 614., Octo- 

 ber Gleanings, the more recent treat- 

 ment for European foul brood: "First day 

 — kill queen; same day, order ItaUan queen 

 from queen-breeder, to be mailed within 14 

 days; eighth day — destroy all queen cells; 

 21st day or later — introduce Italian queen, 

 etc." There are some objections to this 

 plan. Better not kill old queen, unless you 

 are sure of getting a new one or can su]i- 

 ply one yourself. One man that I know 

 killed his black queens last year and then 

 ordered others, but these did not get there 

 soon enough to be of much use. I have or- 

 dered a good many dozen queens this year 

 which breeders were unable to supply. 



