GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J. E. Crane 



IFTING 



iiry, Vl 



1 never expect to visit Brazil; 

 but looking- at that cover jiicture 

 for January 1 is almost as good, 

 and a great deal easier. 



The editor says, page 2, Jan. 1, 



" The best time in all the world to 



move bees from out yards to home cellars is 



when there is good sleighing." He hit the 



nail squarely on the head that time. 



* * * 



According to a bulletin issued by the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, cane 

 sugar contains 1.27 per cent of ash, while 

 beet sugar contains 2.56 jDer cent. This 

 may account for the prejudice against beet 

 sugar as a winter food for bees. 



Dr. Miller says, page 51, Jan. 15, " With 

 almost any kind of bees I think there will 

 be an occasional colony that will have wa- 

 tery sealing." Did he ever see any watery 

 sealing of surplus combs filled by black 



bees?^ 



* * * 



If the Gleanings schedule for 1915 were 

 not already so full of special numbers I 

 would suggest one on sweet clover. [We 

 have an immense amount of material on 

 this subject — nearly enough for such a 

 special number. — Ed.] 



-s- * * 



I am glad to see on page 66, Jan. 15, that 

 C. H. Clute, of Palmetto, Fla., has had a 

 good crop of honey the past season. Mr. 

 ('lute is an exceedingly intelligent beekeep- 

 er, and lias had a very large experience 

 with bees in different sections of the coun- 

 try. 



* * * 



" Skunks, skunks, skunks," shouts Mr. 

 Chadwick, page 970, and I will echo from 

 this side of the continent, " skunks, skunks, 

 skunks." If they do not do as much harm 

 here as on the Pacific coast it is doubtless 

 because they are more hunted for their furs. 

 They are the same scamps here as there, 

 and I have found Mr. Chadwick's remedy 

 very effectual. But we have to look out for 

 our neighbors' dogs and cats. 

 « « » 



On page 925, Dec. 1, in a footnote the 

 editor says that stimulative feeding can sel- 

 dom be practiced in the spring to advantage. 

 I fear he has forgotten the fact that vei-y 

 frequently we have two or three weeks be- 

 tween fruit-bloom and clover when very little 



or no honey or pollen is coming in ; and 

 unless there has been a good flow before 

 this, and the hives well supplied with hon- 

 ey, feeding not only pays well, but is some- 

 times of the utmost importance. 



* * * 



Mr. Wesley Foster, page 927, December 

 1, tlrinks we may estimate the cost of a 

 pound of honey very accurately. We may 

 be able to estimate what it has cost to pro- 

 duce a given number of pounds in any past 

 season; and by getting the average for a 

 good many seasons forecast what it is likely 

 to cost in the future; but our seasons are 

 so variable that I believe it is utterly im- 

 possible to tell accurately what the cost of 

 honey is going to be to the producer this 

 year or next year, or the year after. 



* * * 



Hildreth & Segelken, in the market report 

 on page 5, Dec. 1, say, " We have had a 

 good deal of trouble wi1;h New York honey 

 on account of its candying and granulating. 

 Shipments which we received a month ago 

 are now candied solid, and are being re- 

 turned by us to our customers. It is the 

 first year we have been in the business when 

 we have had so much comb honey can- 

 died." This trouble is also prevalent in 

 western Vermont. I have wondered if it 

 were not owing to the gathering of honey 

 from unusual sources. While clover gave 

 very little honey in 1914, dandelion and 

 vetch api^eai'ed to be our chief source of 



surplus honey. 



* » » 



Dr. C. C. Miller, page 51, Jan. 15, calls 



attention to a statement in the British Bee 

 Journal that extracting-combs put away 

 wet will not be attacked by bee-moths, and 

 gives as an illustration a pile of wet combs 

 with drj^ ones in the center which were al) 

 eaten up while the wet combs were unharm- 

 ed. To this the editor of Gleanings wisely 

 remarks, " This is interesting if true." 



Now, this statement, like many others, is 

 partly true and partly false. If wet ex- 

 tracting-combs are white and clean, free 

 from pollen or dead bees, the larvae of the 

 wax-moth will not develop on them. If- 

 there is pollen in them, these worms will 

 develop in spite of tlie statement in the 

 British Bee Jonrnal; but if tliei'e are mixed 

 with the pile of wet combs some dry combs 

 the worms are likely to leave the wet combs 

 when quite small and take to the dry ones, 

 and eat them up and leave the wet combs 

 unharmed. [Sec what Louis Seholl says in 

 his department. — Ed.] 



