January, 1910. 



American Vee Journal 



and the hundred and one diflerent 

 questions that confront the beginner. 



As to what effect the decision of the 

 Provincial apiarist might have on old 

 bee-keepers, regards his solution of 

 these little matters, as was amply illus- 

 trated right in the convention, Messrs. 

 Miller and Sibbald, two of our very 

 successful bee-keepers, happened to be 

 sitting side by side, and it was pointed 

 out that Mr. Miller was strongly in 

 favor of having packing under the bot- 

 toms of the hives when wintering bees 

 outside, while, on the other hand, Mr. 

 Sibbald would have none of the pack- 

 ing under the hive, as he deemed it to 

 be simply useless. The writer has had 

 hives for quite a few years in the same 

 apiary, about an equal number packed 

 both ways, and cannot see a particle of 

 difference in favor of the packed bot- 

 toms, so would naturally dispense with 

 them in making winter-cases for the 

 future. 



I ventured the opinion that no mat- 

 ter what the decision of the Provincial 

 apiarist might be on the question, both 

 Messrs. Sibbald and Miller would con- 

 tinue doing just as they have been 

 doing, and as there was no dissent 

 from this assertion, I make bold to 

 assume that all other experiments along 

 these lines would be received the same 

 way, and all would continue doing as 

 they were accustomed to, provided, of 

 course, that such practices had been 

 giving good results. 



Bees Wintering on Buckwheat—" Gamb- 

 ling" 



My own bees are heavy with buck- 

 wheat stores — so heavy, in fact, that 

 some of the sugar bought for feeding 

 was not all used, as it seemed like feed- 

 ing for nothing when the hives were 

 already so heavy. If there should be 

 bad results from the buckwheat, then 

 next spring we will be wishing that 

 more sugar had been fed — if the bees 

 winter well, then we will be congratu- 

 lating ourselves on saving a few dollars. 

 Such is life, and if we only always knczu 

 just what was going to occur, how we 

 would manage ! 



But if all the uncertainties of the 

 business were removed half of its 

 charms would also disappear, as I have 

 an idea that these same uncertainties 

 lend spice and interest to the pursuit, 

 and help to make of true bee-keepers 

 the enthusiasts that they generally are. 



While in Cobalt last summer, speak- 

 ing with Mr. Hand, the writer mar- 

 velled at the gambling spirit that seem- 

 ed to be so prevalent in so many of the 

 mining ventures in that country. The 

 retort came at once, " A few weeks ago 

 you did not know if you would get a 

 pound of honey, when all at once 

 weather conditions became just right, 

 and in 6 days your bees gathered for 

 you over 20,000 pounds of honey. What 

 could you find in the mining country 

 here, more of a gamble than bee-keep- 

 ing is?" As my friend was formerly 

 in the bee-keeping business, and thor- 

 oughly familiar with all its details and 

 uncertainties, I was rather at a loss to 

 answer him at once, other than to re- 

 mark that at all events the "gamble" 



in the bee-business was at least legiti- 

 mate — something that was not always 

 the case in mining stocks. 



Call it what you may, the gamble of 

 uncertainties of many conditions un- 

 controllable by the apiarist helps, as I 

 have already intimated, to make the 

 calling one of the most fascinating 



pursuits available to us sojourners on 

 this mundane sphere — yea, make it pos- 

 sible for at least one body of workers 

 so to enjoy their chosen vocation as 

 not to be in sympathy with the com- 

 monly expressed idea that each one 

 thinks "the other fellow has always 

 the best job." 





Bulk Comb Honey Production 



BY F. GREINER. 



I am heartily in favor of bulk comb 

 honey as advocated by Mr. Scholl, of 

 Texas, .\lthough we are well rigged 

 up with our comb-honey supers, and 

 its being a nice, clean job to handle 

 comb honey in sections, as compared 

 with the Texas or Scholl method of 

 producing honey, yet it may be wise if 

 we Easteners would look into this 

 method of comb-honey production. 



As I understand it, the honey is pro- 

 duced in shallow unseparatored supers 

 with ordinary inexpensive frames, said 

 shallow frames are either filled with 

 very light comb foundation or just 

 starters, at the pleasure of the pro- 

 ducer. In either case it will be much 

 easier to start the bees working in the 

 supers than it is when using section 

 supers. When I was using undivided 

 supers, many years ago, or at the be- 

 ginning of my bee-keeping, it seemed 

 so easy to get the bees to take hold in 

 them ; now, with the modern super 

 divided into 24 little, separated rooms, 

 it requires all the skill of an expert to 

 obtain anywhere nearly the same re- 

 sults. 



Our Texas friends fill up their cans 

 or pails with extracted honey after all 

 the comb honey the receptacle will 

 hold, is put in. I am just a bit afraid 

 to do this. With our honey here, and 

 with our cold weather, that honey 

 would soon granulate, and then we 

 would be in a pickle, or rather a pre- 

 dicament, from which to extricate our- 

 selves without incurring a loss, might 

 bother us. I wonder whether the Texas 

 honey does granulate under such con- 

 ditions; and if it does, how our friends 

 guard against the difficulty. Of course, 

 by not filling the receptacles till want- 

 ed, and using extracted honey for fill- 

 ing in, which had been liquefied be- 

 fore, or had been heated to about 140 

 degrees Fahr., and cooled again, a part 

 of the trouble might be avoided. 



I am just a little skeptical as to the 

 wisdom or advisability of filling the in- 

 terstices with extracted honey — not 

 sure that our customers would like 

 that. 



This kind of comb honey and ex- 

 tracted honey combined would very 

 likely have to be all sold in a retail way, 

 directly by the producer to the con- 



sumer. This would necessitate the 

 adoption of a small can or pail suitable 

 for such trade. If I remember rightly, 

 the bee-men in Texas use a large can 

 with a 4-inch screw top. It seems to 

 me that the " fishing out " of the combs, 

 dripping with honey, must be a mussy, 

 disagreeable job, and I doubt if any 

 groceryman here could be induced to 

 go into it. We would like to hear from 

 our Texas people, what their experi- 

 ence is along these lines. 



I am quite sure many of us bee-keep- 

 ers of the North and East might find 

 sale in our respective vicinities for a 

 great deal more honey than is now 

 consumed, if offered in this cheaper 

 form. It cannot be denied that the 

 majority of people prefer comb honey 

 to liquid honey. I have labored hard 

 for 30 years to create a liking for ex- 

 tracted honey. I have always offered 

 only the very best white and good 

 flavored honey that could be produced 

 in my vicinity, but the fact is, by far 

 the majority of people prefer tlie most 

 inferior grades of comb honey to the 

 very finest honey in the liquid form. 

 Calls for a dollar's worth of cheap 

 comb honey are very frequent, and all 

 my honey from unfinished sections is 

 cut out and put up in tin pans — a dol- 

 lar's worth in each — and thus sold. To 

 satisfy this demand for cheap honey, I 

 never have enough to go around. 



Any experienced bee-keeper knows 

 that bulk comb honey can be pro- 

 duced, in individual supers referred to, 

 for a good deal less than even the un- 

 finished section honey in the divided 

 supers ; and the quality would be very 

 much in favor of the former. We 

 would have good reason to expect an 

 increased demand for the new product. 

 Whereas formerly my sales from the 

 unfinished sections amounted to from 

 %\h to $20 each season, this might be 

 tripled the first year, if it was noised 

 about that such honey was for sale. 

 The demand would be growing from 

 year to year; although I would not ex- 

 pect to see the time that my whole out- 

 put could thus be disposed. 



"./ dollar's iKorth" seems to be 

 about what many people would prefer 

 to buy at a time ; even our village cus- 

 tomers have fallen in line w'ith the 

 farmers, and will expend a dollar for 

 honey when a larger or more costly 

 package, or even a smaller one, would 



