1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



597 



A CORRECTION. 



An unfortunate mistake occurred in A. I. 

 Root's article "Bee-spaces, etc.," on page 

 550 of our last issue. In referring- to the 

 Danzenbaker hive he is made to say this: 

 "The only thing that worries me about this 

 hive is the fact that they are not all as per- 

 fect as this, and interchangeable." The 

 sentence should read, " The only thing that 

 worries me about the new hive is the fear 

 that they are not all as perfect," etc. The 

 word "fear" was mistaken by the printers 

 for ' ' fact. ' ' 



HONEY PROSPECTS. 



Up to the first week in July the reports 

 over the clover belt were very unfavorable. 

 The weather continued rainy and cold, and 

 that left the hives without any honey. It 

 looked as if the weather would continue so, 

 clear past clover and basswood. But a sud- 

 den change took place along about the sec- 

 ond week of this month. It turned warm, 

 the rain stopped, and in some localities the 

 basswood honey poured in. In others, white 

 clover yielded well. While the reports up 

 to July 1, and even for a week after, were 

 very discouraging from all sections of the 

 country, there has been a decided change 

 for the better. It is too early yet to say 

 whether there will be a general honey crop 

 throughout the clover and basswood belt. 

 My belief is, after reading hundreds of let- 

 ters, that some sections will yield honey 

 while others will have a bare crop. 



From a private letter received from Ari- 

 zona, from one who is in position to know, 

 we learn that the weather, even for Arizona, 

 is exceptionally warm ; and unless some- 

 thing unusual happens the honey crop will 

 not exceed ten to twenty per cent of an or- 

 dinary year. The probabilities are that 

 there was not enough snow in the mountains 

 to give sufficient water for irrigation dur- 

 ing the growing time of the year. 



Two or three letters from Colorado indi- 

 cate that the season in that State will not 

 be as good as usual. Some estimate half a 

 crop. Southern California, from the very 

 latest advices, is not going to make very 

 much of a showing. It appears that there 

 will be a scarcity of Western honey, no mat- 

 ter what the clover belt may develop. 



DR. candy's article IN THIS ISSUE. 



Since the receipt of Dr. Gandy's article, 

 published elsewhere, I have talked with 

 quite a number of bee-keepers regarding it. 

 Most of them show by their faces that they 

 doubt some of the statements. Still, nearly 

 all of them have said that a large acreage 

 of sweet clover and catnip would produce 

 some wonderful results. If we stop and 



think a minute we shall not think it any 

 thing strange if a colony in three weeks, 

 on clover, will store 100 lbs. of honey. Sup- 

 pose that that same colony, twice or three 

 times as strong, could have three months of 

 honey weather. Would it be any thing 

 strange if it produced on an average 400 

 lbs.? Would it not be remarkable if it did 

 not do it? Perhaps we bee-keepers of later 

 days have not exploited the value of artifi- 

 cial pasturage and strong colonies as much 

 as we might. And that reminds me that 

 Dr. Gandy, in a letter lately received, says: 



The hive I use is the plain I,angstroth, or plain hive 

 with I,, frames, or X,. size. I use both Dovetailed and 

 home-made hives. 



I dislike to parade before the public, especially in a 

 bee journal, my wealth ; but this is done to show that 

 one with means can afford to handle bees. I have no 

 sweet-clover nor catnip seed for sale, as I usually .sow 

 all I can gather. I intend to sow 100 acres this fall to 

 catnip. Last season, on account of the drouth, the 

 seed did not mature well, and I gathered only a few 

 bushels. It will pay for sowing for a honey crop on 

 JlOO-acre land, as an acre will produce fully $30 worth 

 of honev, and perhaps more. J. L,. Gandy. 



\ iHumb'oldt, Neb., May 17. 



I can only suggest to our readers that 

 they read and ponder his article; and, in- 

 stead of saying "impossible," "absurd," 

 "ridiculous," wait. Time will shed fur- 

 ther light. I don't understand, myself, how 

 the doctor can maintain a price of 15 cents 

 on comb, chunk, and extracted; i. e., I don't 

 understand why the bee-keepers within a 

 few hundred miles of him would not pour 

 their extracted on him in such train-loads 

 that he would be ready to say "enough." 



THE wet and cold JUNE OF 1902. 



When we were having such cold wet 

 weather, and when the rains and cold 

 weather continued beyond what the oldest 

 inhabitant ever "hearn tell of, " we began 

 to think it was something remarkable — re- 

 markable also because it was killing the 

 honey business. In the Cleveland Leader 

 for June 30 appears an item that I am glad 

 to place before our readers. Evidently the 

 writer, Mr. Hyde, knows what he is talking 

 about. 



" The week ended Saturday was the coldest week for 

 this season there has been in Cleveland for forty-seven 

 years," said Chief Engineer G. A. Hyde, of the" Cleve- 

 land Gas Light and Coke Company, who is an enthu- 

 siastic meteorological amateur. " I have been keeping 

 daily records of the weather for 47 years, and my rec- 

 ords go back further than any others in Northern 

 Ohio. The United States weather-service records go 

 back only about 30 j-ears. 



"According to my records I find the interesting fact 

 that there has not iaeen a period of seven days ending 

 with the 28th of any month of June during the past -17 

 years that was as cold as the week just ended. The 

 average temperature for this last week has been about 

 59 degrees, and that is about two degrees colder than 

 for any like preceding period in June. The month has 

 also been a remarkable one for rainfall. My records 

 cover rainfall for -17 years, too, and they show that only 

 twice in that time has there been a June in which 

 there was so much rain as during the present month. 

 Up to to-night there has been an aggregate rainfall of 

 'd-ufa inches for the month, and that has never been ex- 

 ceeded during any month in the 47 years, with the ex- 

 ception of one July, when lOfVa inches fell, and in 

 June, 1857, when lOiVo inches of rain fell during the 

 month. This June is not over yet. though, and there 

 is a possibility that the rainfall for this month may 

 exceed all records for Cleveland, or at least all the rec- 

 ords for years for which records have been kept." 



