940 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



been robbed of its commercial charm had 

 not organization come to the rescue. In 

 connection with org^anization he would es- 

 tablish depots and gather statistics. While 

 honey might not ever be higher in price it 

 would be produced at less cost. In con- 

 cluding he said, "Let us not rest until ev- 

 ery bee-keeper from ocean to ocean has 

 rallied under its banner, and all can co- 

 operate as the members of one great fam- 

 ily." 



On the afternoon of the same day two pa- 

 pers were read; and as they were some- 

 thing on the same line of thought I give 

 them here. The first was by Mr. C. A. Hatch, 

 on the subject of "Reporting the Honey 

 Crop; When and How it should be Done." 

 Mr. Hatch began by saying that statistics 

 were used for two purposes: To furnish 

 general information as to a business or call- 

 ing, for the purpose of educating the pub- 

 lic. Second, to give useful information to 

 those connected with the trade for commer- 

 cial purposes only. This last did not need 

 to be as elaborate and as exhaustive as the 

 first named, and could be confined to a 

 much shorter period of time, just at a time 

 when the crop was being harvested. In 

 looking over the field from Maine to Cali- 

 fornia he estimated that most, if not all, the 

 white honey of the country was produced 

 during June and July. He argued, there- 

 fore, if we had a report for two months we 

 should have one for the white-honey crop. 

 There was no one who could furnish these 

 statistical facts so well as the bee-men 

 themselves; and where there was an organ- 

 ization, the information should be transmit- 

 ted through the local society, to one nation- 

 al in its character, the last named through 

 its secretary to give out a summary each 

 month to all the bee-keepers, showing the 

 ton product of the current year and the year 

 before. For example, Colorado might pro- 

 duce 200 tons in June of the current year, 

 while in the year before it might produce 

 only 175 tons; Wisconsin 150 tons in the 

 current year, previous year 200 tons. This 

 kind of report was all that the buyer or sell- 

 er would need, and the prices could be 

 gauged accordingly. To know what the 

 crop was this year was of little importance 

 unless we also knew what the same terri- 

 tory produced the last or preceding season. 



As to the expense, the one benefited ought 

 in justice to foot the bill; but as that might 

 be hard to adjust, he thought the larger or 

 National Association should assume the 

 cost. This society had most of the large 

 producers as members. They could report 

 for the smaller ones, and through the medi- 

 um of postal cards information could be sent 

 to one central head, where it could be sifted, 

 condensed, and sent to the public. 



Mr. Frank Rauchfuss, Secretary of the 

 Colorado Honey-producers' Association, re- 

 sponded very briefly. So far, he said, 

 there had been no way of getting informa- 

 tion of the general honey crop of the country 

 except through the bee journals, and even 

 they had not the facilities they ought to 



have. As a rule, the buyer was better 

 posted as to the actual product in the 

 country than the producer. Buyer could go 

 through a given locality and size up the 

 situation — something that the average pro- 

 ducer could not do. He therefore had him, 

 to a certain extent, at his mercy. He went 

 on to outline how the Association he repre- 

 sented for Colorado had secured statistical 

 reports, and from the information at hand 

 had been able to decide what the market 

 price on their goods should be. If all the 

 important honey States were similarly or- 

 ganized, such States could send in their re- 

 ports to an organization like the National 

 Bee-keepers' Association, and it, in turn, 

 after the reports had been sifted, place the 

 information before the bee-keepers, and 

 buyers of the entire United States. He 

 thought it was possible the government 

 might be prevailed upon to do something in 

 the matter; or it might co-operate with an 

 aggregation of State societies. Their own 

 State organization had sent out 400 blanks 

 to be filled out during the past season. 

 These were returned, and were of immense 

 importance in determining the scarcity of 

 honey for Colorado during the past year, 

 and the price that should be named for the 

 goods. 



FORCED SWARMS. 



Have They the Energy of Natural Swarms? the Use 



and Abuse of Foundation for Forced Swarms ; 



Drone Comb, when Built; When to 



"Make" Swarms. 



BY R, C. AIKIN. 



I have been reading all I find on the sub- 

 ject of forced swarms, and now will give 

 my opinion. However, let me first say in 

 regard to the name, why say shook or 

 brushed or jounced, or any thing but sim- 

 ply yb;r^^/.^ It matters not by what method 

 the bees are gotten from the parent hive. 

 Besides the above methods, they may be and 

 often are driven, but always are a forced 

 swarm. 



That forced swarming is practical I fully 

 believe, and this will not be the first and 

 only time I have put myself on record as 

 favoring such practice, though I do not take 

 time to hunt up the times and places I have 

 advocated this doctrine. During all my 

 apicultural life I have practiced trying to 

 prevent swarming; and if over 25 years of 

 eft'ort in that line will not give a man some 

 ideas on the subject he must be dull indeed. 



I will confess that forced swarming has 

 not been practiced by me as a set rule or 

 method; but that I have made very many 

 such swarms, no one can dispute. I sup- 

 pose there has scarcely been a 3'ear for the 

 past 25 when I have not made some foiced 

 swarms — some years very few, and others 

 quite a good many. My aim has always 

 been to have very strong colonies for surplus 

 work, and such practice gets the colonies 

 into such a condition that they want to 



