.Taniauy. 1919 



L E A N T N a S T N BEE C U E T U H E 



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THAT article 

 by E . E . 



Root, page 

 7 15, November 

 Gleanings, is of 

 unusual interest. 

 The possibilities 

 of a large hive 

 seem almost un- 

 believable; but! 



one or two thoughts that do not appear on 

 the surface attracted my attention. One is 

 that honey heated soon after it is extracted 

 does not readily granulate. If heated be- 

 fore it has once granulated, it will remain in 

 a liquid condition much longer than when 

 heated after it has once granulated. 



* * * 



A good many objections have been raised 

 in Gleanings to the use of full-depth Lang- 

 stroth frames for extracting, on account of 

 their weight. I think we may guess with 

 considerable accuracy what Adams and My- 

 ers think of shallow extracting supers. [In 

 Gleanings the advocates of the shallow su- 

 pers and of the deep ones have both been 

 given a fair hearing, and it seems to us that 

 certain conditions require the shallow supers, 

 while others quite emphatically demand the 

 deep. Among extensive fruitgrowers, we 

 hardly question that the deep super would 

 have the preference. — Editor.] 



"In feeding sugar syrup, without any 

 mixture of honey, shall tartaric acid (a 

 level teaspoon for every 20 pounds of sugar) 

 be used or not?" asks Dr. Miller, page 727. 

 Certainly not. The mixing of honey or tar- 

 taric acid with sugar syrup to prevent 

 granulation is no more necessary than the 

 blowing of horns or drumming on tin pans 

 to make bees cluster when they swarm. 

 Some one made a big racket when the bees 

 swarmed; and they clustered, and, surely, it 

 was thought to be a good thing. Some one 

 used acid or mixed honey with sugar syrup 

 and fed to bees, and the syrup did not 

 granulate, and the acid or honey was 

 thought to be necessary. I suppose I have 

 fed more than 50,000 pounds of sugar dur- 

 ing the past 10 years without the addition 

 of a pound of honey or an ounce of acid to 

 prevent granulation, and I do not see that 

 the syrup granulates any more than when 

 I used honey or acid. It will sometimes 

 granulate a little, but not nearly so much 

 as the pure honey does. The bees have a lit- 

 tle trick of making some change in the 

 sugar syrup that very largely does away 

 with the tendency to granulate. I don 't 

 know just what this change is. Perhaps 

 they add the necessary acid. To find out 

 just what change the bees make in sugar 

 syrup would be a nice little problem for the 

 Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



* * * 



J. L. Byer, page 737, inquires if any one 

 has had any experience in feeding raw sugar 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



3 



w^^^^^^^^ 



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to bees. Some 

 10 or 12 years 

 ago (on the rec- 

 ommendation of 

 Mr. Morrison, I 

 think) I fed two 

 or three tons of 

 raw sugar, and 

 found that the 

 bees fed with it 

 wintered fairly well. Yet I came to the 

 conclusion that granulated or refined sugar 

 was to be preferred. 



» * * 



That is good advice B. F. Kindig gives 

 the Michiganders, when he advises packing 

 snow around the hives during the winter — ■ 

 only do not pack snow against the entrances. 

 Better place a board leaning against the 

 hive so as to protect the entrance and keep 

 ^t open. Nature has most wonderfully pro- 

 vided for keeping the earth and everything 

 near it warm during the cold mouths of 

 winter. The trees drop their leaves, and 

 then comes the soft, fluffy snow full of air 

 (the best non-conductor of heat or cold), 

 and the earth is as surely protected by the 

 snow as animals by their fur. 



* * * 



Under the heading, "Let Us Be Honest," 

 is the statement by the British Bee Journal 

 that the reputed pound-bottle or 14-ounce 

 bottle should be eliminated. (See page 744.) 

 I think we are a little overnice in our no- 

 tions of honesty and fair dealing. There 

 is nothing dishonest in selling 14 ounces for 

 14 ounces. We put up honey in eight or 

 ten different packages, running from 3 

 ounces to 60 pounds, four of them weighing 

 less than a pound. 



* » * 



Stancy Puerden hangs up a looking-glass, 

 on page 730, in which we can see ourselves 

 in a rather ridiculous way. She says, ' ' There 

 are some people who can apparently with 

 better grace give up their sons to fight 

 than they can change their habits of eat- 

 ing." How better can one tell how far they 

 have advanced from the animal to the angel 

 than thru their appetites and affections? 

 « * * 



Thanks to Yasuo Hiratsuka, page 724, for 

 his account of those great and terrible hor- 

 nets that infest the land of the ' ' Rising 

 Sun." Great, indeed, must be the courage 

 of Japanese beekeepers to attempt to keep 

 bees where such an enemy exists. Ugh! I 

 am glad we do not have them. 



* * * 



The Ontario Agricultural College at 

 Guelph, Out., is fortunate is securing Burton 

 N. Gates as Professor of Beekeeping. His 

 heart is in his work, and he is sure to make 

 good. ^ ^ ^ 



"The Home of the Honeybees" is to be 

 congratulated as well as the whole State of 

 Ohio, that at last Ohio is to be free from 

 the curse of drink. 



