E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



3 



EDITORIAL 



IN VIEW of the orders to all publishers, 

 emanating from the War Industries Board, 

 to economize on the use of paper 

 in all possible ways, we do not 

 bind the index for this year's vol- 

 ume in the last number of the year, 

 as usual in the past. Many of our 

 readers do not preserve complete volumes of 

 Gleanings, and so do not require the annual 

 index. To those who desire this index, we 

 shall be glad to furnish it on receipt of a 

 line from them requesting us to do so. 

 q. . -M 3 1^ sx= t o 



EEEKEEPEES who have need of more bees 

 next spring will do well to put in their or- 

 ders early with well-established 

 concerns. The experience of last 

 year showed that some beekeepers 

 bought heavily of new concerns 

 that were unable to fill orders and 

 did not always act along the lines of 

 good business principles and strict hon- 

 esty. The old reliable houses will inform 

 customers when their limit for filling orders 

 has been reached and will return any money 

 that may have been sent when they see their 

 capacity for filling is exceeded. We suggest 

 the advisability, when dealing with new and 

 untried concerns, of placing the money in 

 a bank or in the hands of a third party, with 

 instructions to pay it to the shipper as soon 

 as notified by the customer that the order 

 has been satisfactorilv filled. 



FOR THE aluminum comb manufactured by 

 the MacDonald Artificial Honey-Comb Co., 

 several important advantages are 

 claimed. Among these are ease of 

 sterilizing in case of disease, elimi- 

 nation of drone brood and of 

 moths, impossibility of melting 

 down in hot weather, or of breaking when 

 extracting. We, accordingly, desired to try 

 out some of this metal comb during the sea- 

 son just past, but were unable to obtain any 

 until so late that we do not feel justified in 

 giving a complete report at present. At first, 

 we had some doubt as to whether the bees 

 would fill in the the numerous lioles at the 

 bases of the cells. When A. I. Root was ask- 

 ed his opinion, he said: "Better put it up 

 to the bees." Accordingly, we did so and 

 found they soon overcame that objection. 



In straightening out the bent edges of cells 

 that had been accidentally jammed, however, 

 they were not equally successful. We have 

 reports from several beekeepers to the ef- 

 fect that this aluminum comb has been ac- 

 cepted by the bees both for storing honey 

 and brood-rearing, and, in their oj^inion, is 

 a success. Next summer, after trying out 

 this new invention thoroly, we shall be 

 pleased to make a definite report, hoping in 

 the meantime that beekeeping may have 

 scored another advance. But until we have 

 thoroly tried out this new comb, made of 

 material so entirely unlike that of the natu- 

 ral comb and so unyielding to any manipu- 

 lation by the bees themselves, we wish to 

 reserve judgment. 



cc 



THE GREAT WAR, the like of which never 

 was and never will be again, has been 

 brought to a close; 

 The Year's or at least we may 



Lessons and say that the awful 

 the Future. business of killing 



has been suspended. 

 With the end of hostilities there are new 

 problems and momentous possibilities before 

 us. The beekeepers of the country during 

 the past four years of awful slaughter have 

 arisen to the occasion. Their sons have gone 

 across and over the top. They have helped 

 to relieve congestion of the sugar shortage 

 not a little. Almost to a man the great 

 mass of beekeepers went into the production 

 of extracted honey; for by so doing they 

 could nearly double the amount of honey. 

 Many were equipped for the production of 

 comb honey only, and the change to extract- 

 ed meant a large investment of money as 

 well as a change in methods. 



If ever any industry speeded up it was 

 the business of producing honey. Colonies 

 were made enormously strong, and tiered up 

 until they were head-high. 



The demand for bees in package form was 

 beyond all precedent; for the slogan was, 

 "Bees, more bees, and then more bees." 

 Some of the largest commercial producers 

 discovered that when they changed over 

 from comb to extracted they could handle 

 very nearly double the number of colonies 

 with the same amount of help. Following 

 the suggestion of Gleanings, many producers 

 bought up bees in their surrounding vicini- 



