512 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



get such. Your zinc-wood honey-boards are also ex- 

 cellent, and used in connection with the T-tin sup- 

 ported honey-case, with long- separators, slotted to 

 set down halt' way in T's, fill all the requii-ements 

 of a perfect case. 



If tin separators are used, and T tins slipped in 

 on top, to correspond with bottom ones, there is no 

 place for propolis, and the wide frame i.s of no fur- 

 ther use. One serious objection to the wide frame 

 is the additional si)iice between brood-nest and sec- 

 tions. The metal honey-board and the wood and 

 metal is a vast improvement on tlie wood alone, 

 for this reason. J. VV. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Va., May 21, ]887. 



alfalfa and sweet clover in utah; its cli- 

 matk: peculiaiuties as relating to 



THE wintering OE BEES. 



Alfalfa, or, as we more commonly call it, lucerne, 

 and sweet clover, are staple grasses with us, and 

 the best honey-producing plants knovvn in this 

 country. Lucerne is just coming in blossom; and 

 the sweet-clover will begin to blossom in about 

 three weeks, so that we shall have no lack of blos- 

 soms until frost comes, which is frequentlj' not till 

 October. Sweet clover— the old garden sweet clover 

 when 1 was a boy— is, in this country, a prevailing 

 weed, growing along all the ditches, and spreading 

 over all the damp unfilled corners of the country, 

 and it is rich in honey, continuing to bloom until 

 frost checks its yield. 



Thei-e has been a good deal said in Gleanings 

 in regard to the care and management of bees that 

 does not apply to bees and bee-keepers in this sec- 

 tion of the country. For instance, the moth. 1 

 have not heard of one here. Wintering is another 

 subject that does not trouble us. Drones were seen 

 last winter in every month, although it is an unu- 

 sual event. The winter was so mild that it reached 

 far into spring. It is not unusual here to have 

 April weather in February, and then probably have 

 March in May. The great trick in wintering bees 

 here is to keep sufficient honey in store for emei'- 

 gencies like the last winter, and they come more 

 and more frequently. We can not take as much 

 honey in a single season here per swarm, perhaps, 

 as you can, on account of the open winters, when 

 bees tly perhaps every day in the mouth of January 

 or February, and they must eat the more for that 

 exercise. 1 would have sent you, according to your 

 wish, the plant I spoke o.f, that unfolds its blossom 

 as soon as it bi-eaks through the snow, but it would 

 cost me one or two hard days' climbing up and 

 down to do it, and my legs are getting older than 

 they were when I saw the blossoms. 



O. B. Huntington. 



Springville, Utah, June 14, 1887. 



HOW bradstreet may be used in selling hon- 

 ey. 

 I have sold comb honey in a town of 2500, in 

 Northwest Missouri, for tour years, at from 20 cts. 

 at first to 15 cts. this last year. The last sale I made 

 there was at 113 cts., because honey had been ship- 

 ped in from Kansas City, and sold for California 

 honey; but I know by the style of package it was 

 from Iowa or Missouri. But it could be shipped 

 and sold so low because it was sold through a com- 

 mission man. I know I could have gotten 15 cts. 

 for the same honey, and not call it a wrong name 

 either. Bee-men, you are to blame for the low 

 prices of honey. The commission man will sell 



quick if he sells for two-thirds the value. Why not 

 sell to the retailer direct? My plan is to go to the 

 bank and get the names of a few dealers in good 

 towns from Bradstreet, then write a postal, and 

 state the net jtrice, quality, and quantity, I have 

 ready to ship; state that I guarantee safe arrival h\ 

 freight, and trust the party for a short time for the 

 pay. I have sold to parties that I never heard of in 

 this way. A better way would be to have the cash 

 before shipping, but I do not think much would be 

 sold so. for a busy dealer will not take time to hunt 

 up your standing. Extracted honey I would sell at 

 home if possible. I will peddle all my honey before 

 sending to commission men. They may do the best 

 they can, but we are the losers. 



The season is discouraging; bees are light, and 

 clover dying from drought. I have hopes of a good 

 linn flow, for the trees are covered with buds. 



Hopkins, Mo., June 9, 1887. J. C. Stewart— 50. 



IS IT PRACTICAL TO FILL COMB WITH SYRUP, AND 

 SELL IT AGAIN? 



On page 1(J9, March 1st issue, we read an article 

 entitled, " False Statements in Regard to the Honey 

 Business." Now, it may be that 1 do not under- 

 stand what is meant by artificial honey; but do you 

 not think melted white sugar, fed to bees, and 

 stored in comb, would be counterfeit, or artificial 

 honey? Or do you think this is never done? Hus- 

 band and 1 think that we have known this to be oft- 

 en done. Honey has been brought to our town so 

 white, or so bluish-white, that our bees could make 

 nothing like it, and it was a wonder to me why it 

 was, until I began to read about the counterfeit in 

 the papers, especially the Tribune, two years ago. 



Lodi, Ohio, Mar. 7, 1887. Augusta Mohler. 



Yes, white-sugar syrup, fed to bees and 

 stored in sections, would be counterfeit 

 honey ; at tlie same time, it could not be 

 called manufactured comb honey. While it 

 is joossihle to fill combs with syrup, it is im- 

 practicable. It has been proven, over and 

 over again, that no one can feed syrup to 

 bees, to cause them to store it in sections, 

 and yet make any profit by the operation, at 

 the prices at which first quality of comb 

 honey is now quoted in the market. I feel 

 pretty sure that the honey you saw. with the 

 bluish cast, was genuine honey. Editors of 

 newspapers seem to think that, if sections 

 of comb lione> are clean of propolis, bees' 

 legs, and dirt, such as used to accompany 

 the old-fashioned box honey, the honey is 

 necessarily counterfeit. Some of the nicest 

 comb lioney that I ever saw, and which I 

 knetv to be absolutely genuine, had this blu- 

 ish cast about it. The fact that your bees 

 coultl not make honey that was bluish white, 

 does not indicate that the combs were filled 

 with syrup to give it this tint. It simply in- 

 dicates that your locality, and the fiora in 

 your section of country, do not afford honey 

 such as will make comb honey look bluish 

 white. Another thing: If honey be left on 

 the hive until it is travel-stained and dirty, 

 it will have a yellovvisli cast about it. The 

 honey you speak of was probably taken off 

 the hive just as soon as it was capped over. 



AN EXPERIMENT WITH A SWARM. 



My first swarm came out on the 21st of the pres- 

 ent month, and I settled them on a plum-tree and 

 then hived them. It was the largest swarm T ever 



