1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



bees are killed by accident, and otherwise, so 

 that they do not live out their alloted time, 

 as some claim, we can cut oflF 15,000 for this, 

 and still have 60,000 left, as was proposed at 

 the start. And could the weather have been 

 favorable for brood-rearing 37 days before 

 basswood bloomed, several thousand more 

 bees could have been on the stage of action, 

 and thus 1901 might have gone on record as 

 the best j'ear in the history of my bee-keep- 

 ing life, instead of second best." 



"But how do you keep so many bees to- 

 gether? Mine will rot stay together after 

 they get strong enough to swarm." 



" Did you try to keep them together ? " 

 " No, I did not know how. Tell me how." 

 "Well, I have several plans I am trying, 

 but have only one which is as yet perfect 

 enough to give out. Give lots of room, with 

 as many bait sections as possible, so as to dis- 

 courage early swarming as much as you can. 

 When you think you can hold them from 

 swarming no longer, cage the queen. Now 

 wait from ten to eleven days, when you will 

 shake the bees off their combs so you are sure 

 to see every queen-cell started, and pull every 

 cell off. Now make a hollow plug to fit one 

 end of the cage the queen is in, and fill the 

 hollow with candy, such as is used in ship- 

 ping queens, having the plug about 1% inches 

 long, so the bees will be about two days in 

 eating out the candy and liberating the queen. 

 This does awaj' with all desire for swarming 

 from that colony." 



" But don't the bees fill the cells where the 

 brood emerges with honey ? " 



"Yes, quite largely; but as soon as the 

 queen is out she soon asserts her rights, if she 

 is a good one, and this honey is removed 

 from the brood-combs and taken to the sec- 

 tions, and this, together with what is coming 

 from the fields, and the new impetus given to 

 the bees through having the queen laying 

 again, makes a boom in the sections which is 

 rarely attained under any other condition, so 

 ■ that they are filled as by magic, and com- 

 pleted in the finest shape to go on the mar- 

 ket as ' gilt edged.' But I can not tarry long- 

 er this morning, as I have at least three days' 

 work that ought to be done to day. Come 

 again when I am not quite so busy." 





4#-V*i 





PRICES ON honey; HOW THE BEFS OF CAI.- 

 IFORNIA BREAK OVER ALL RULES; 

 GRADING EXTRACTED HONEY. 

 "I arise to say" "Here too!" to several 

 articles in a late is^ue of Gleanings. I quite 

 agree with Mr. Wallenmeyer that, to overesti- 

 mate the crop of honey, is a serious blunder. 

 The leading commission house of San Fran- 

 cisco writes me : " The report has gone east 

 that there is a big crop of hone^ coming from 

 lower California. In consequence, they are 



not inclined to buy, only for present wants, 

 while in the local market 3 to 4 cts. is all that 

 is offered for extracted." Now the bee-keep- 

 ers state that half of the bees starved to death 

 last season, and, in consequence, are not on 

 hand to gather the honey, and the weather 

 has been too cold for the bees to work to the 

 best advantage. In consequence, there will 

 not be a large crop from the lower part of this 

 State. 



The statements of Western bee-keepers are 

 frequently doubted because they differ from 

 the experiences of Eastern bee-keepers. I 

 am glad to note that Mr. E. R. Root finds that 

 Western bees have ways of their own that are 

 peculiar to themselves, and altogether unlike 

 their Eastern sisters. I have always been told 

 that " bees fill their combs with brood and 

 stores ; and when there is no longer any more 

 spare room they swarm out and leave their 

 stores and brood behind them." This season 

 I bred my bees up strong, giving them two 

 brood-chambers of 8 or 10 frames each, with 

 supers in addition. The queen had all of the 

 combs full of brood and bees, the supers well 

 filled with honey, when the weather turned 

 raw and cold. After about a week of this 

 weather it changed to warm, and the bees 

 swarmed all along the rows. An examination 

 of the hives showed that the bees had con- 

 sumed the stores, many of the combs being 

 " as dry as a bone." The brood had nearly 

 all hatched out of the combs, in the brood- 

 nest, and the queen had not laid any eggs in 

 the vacant cells. The hive was as bare — yes, 

 more so — than at the close of a bad winter ; 

 yet with empty combs and vacant brood-cells 

 they had swarmed as never before. I think I 

 shall have to change the cause of swarming, 

 ■in this locality, to "bees swarm when they 

 want to, without regard to the condition of 

 the combs ; this season because they were 

 populous." 



The rules for grading comb honey are pos- 

 sibly as good as can be selected ; but those 

 governing extracted honey could not be worse. 

 Every thing hinges on color. As well might 

 we rate maple syrup, wine, or any other liquid 

 by color alone, as honey. I should like to 

 see the Morse butter scoring system, with a 

 few changes applied to extracted honey. This 

 system gives, in 100 points, flavor, 45 ; body, 

 25 ; color, 15 ; salt, 10 ; package, 6. Now, 

 why not give extracted honey — flavor, 50 ; 

 body, 25 ; color, 25 ; package, 10 ? The pres- 

 ent method is a reflection on the intelligence 

 of the fraternity. E. H. SchaeFFLE. 



Murphys Cal., June 24. 



[I have already published my estimate of 

 the crop conditions in California, and that 

 was to the effect that there was not nearly the 

 honey actually secured that the early rains 

 indicated there would be, and that I thought 

 the prices would rule about the same as the 

 year before. From recent advices from relia- 

 ble sources I am pleased to know that there 

 is a slight upward tendency in the market, as 

 the coast buyers have come to learn they 

 must pay more if they get anj' honey to sell. 

 This is also true of Colorado and Arizona. 



