GLEANINGS IN BKE CULTURE 



370 



WE are in- 

 debted t 

 E. R. Eoot, 

 page 284, May 

 Gleanings, for ex- 

 plaining ' ' Those 

 Confusing Symp- 

 toms ' ' of Euro- 

 pean foul brood. 

 I have to con- 

 fess that after years of inspection work I 

 find some cases that we do not feel at all 

 sure as to which kind it is. This "new 

 light" will be helpful. 



"I never knew any person to go into the 

 beekeeping business purely for what he 

 could get out of it that made a success of 

 it," says Major Shallard, page 321. I be- 

 lieve that rule holds good in this country as 

 well as in New South Wales. 



That article on pages 224 and 225 by B. F. 

 Kindig gives us a new idea of the Northern 

 Peninsula of Michigan. I had supposed it 

 on the outskirts of civilization or even be- 

 yond it, but he makes it a most decidedly 

 interesting and fascinating section to a bee- 

 keeper. 



It is to be hoped that every young bee- 

 keeper will most carefully study that sym- 

 posium of noted beekeepers, commencing on 

 page 215, on "Early Spring Management." 

 There is money in it. On no one thing does 

 profit or loss 'more depend than on spring 

 management. 



Directions for moving bees on page 325 

 are all right if you have the time; but it is 

 much less trouble to move them at once to 

 where you want them. Then place a broad 

 board in front of the entrance and after a 

 few days remove it. We have little trouble 

 when they are so treated. 

 * * * 



We are told on page 319 that a Mr. War- 

 ren of Nevada, who owns 1,000 colonies of 

 bees and raises alfalfa seed, produces near- 

 ly four times as much seed to the acre as 

 a'nother alfalfa seed-grower who keeps no 

 bees; and yet we have been told repeatedly 

 that honeybees are unable to fertilize the 

 alfalfa blossoms. A mistake somewhere. 

 « * * • 



Necessity is said to be the mother of in- 

 vention; and that improvised queen-sieve 

 made by tacking an excluder to the bottom 

 of a super, as described by Geo. A. Brill, 

 page 293, will answer the purpose very well 

 and prove of great value when we have for- 

 gotten to take anything with us to an out- 

 yard for this kind" of work. I have used it. 



•s * * 



The discussion of the large and the small 

 brood-chambers goes merrily on. So far as I 

 can see, a two-story 8-frame Langstroth hive 

 is of almost the same capacity as a lO-frame 

 Dadant Jumbo hive. Each has some advan- 



JUNE, 1919 



tages over the 

 other, i t seems 

 evident. If one 

 has an eight- 

 frame Lang- 

 stroth, it is easi- 

 ly made into a 

 .Tumbo by adding 

 another story. If 

 one has a Jumbo 

 he can have a smaller hive by using divi- 

 sion-boards or dummies. From October till 

 May an eight-frame Langstroth seems pref- 

 erable to a larger one. If a larger hive is 

 wanted during the summer, we can add as 



many stories as we like. 



* * * 



Edwin O. Gunn says, page 321, that bees 

 will build their combs down to the bottom- 

 bars better when built out above the brood- 

 chamber. There may be something in it, 

 altho, as a rule, I do not find such combs 

 built down to the bottom-bar. However, there 

 is no better place to have combs of founda- 

 tion drawn out than over the brood-cham- 

 ber, jf ^ * 



Grace Allen in reporting the address of 

 Prof. Jaeger at the Chicago convention 

 speaks of the abundance of honey gathered 

 from the Balkan mountains, chief among 

 them being from wild thyme. This plant 

 has come in some places in southwestern 

 Vermont, enough to make most excellent 

 pasture for bees during August, and may 

 prove of considerable importance in the fu- 

 ture. ^ ^ ^ 



It was with more than usual interest that 

 I read Mrs. Puerden 's description, on page 

 303, of "Cream of Honey." It looks as tho 

 there might be in it a good deal of value to 

 beekeepers. Granulated honey is often too 

 hard to spread on bread; and liquid honey 

 unless spread very thin (thinner than I like) 

 will run, and, before we know it, is on our 

 fingers. Oh, dear! then we wish there was 

 no honey. Now if this Cream of Honey will 

 remain creamy, it is something to be thank- 

 ful for; besides it will make an opening or 

 a market for a large amount of our extract- 

 ed honey that now depresses the market. 

 Cream of Honey, or granulated honey, is of 

 milder flavor than before the change takes 

 place; and, as a result, suits many persons 

 who do not care for liquid honey. My bet- 

 *ter half recently carried some real granulat- 

 ed honey to a tubercular invalid across 

 the way, and he was greatly pleased with it. 

 ' ' Never heard of such a thing before, ' ' said 

 he, and his wife came over to buy some of 

 that solid honey to send down to the hos- 

 pital. There seems to be something needed 

 to make the use of honey more popular or 

 common. It seems to be about the only 

 food that is going down in price at the pres- 

 ent time. With butter selling at 75 cents a 

 pound in our larger towns, it seems queer 

 that extracted honey is quoted at from 16 

 to 20 cents wholesale. It certainly looks as 

 tho the great mass of people are not in- 

 formed as to its value. 



