E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1 



EDITORIAL 



FEOM PRESENT INDICATIONS, general 

 freight rates will increase possibly as much 

 as 4 5 per cent 

 Freight Rates within the next 



going Up. few weeks. On 



large shipments 

 this item is worth considering. Beekeepeis 

 will do well to take advantage of this ad- 

 vance warning. 



a — H 3 ^ cig= t o 



ELSEWHERE we have referred to the fact 

 that we are feeding our bees brown sugar 

 to stimulate. Many 



Brown Sugar 



for Feeding. 



years ago A. I. 

 Root found that he 

 could use a good 

 grade of brown sugar for wintering bees, 

 but he also discovered that Coifee A, which 

 was the best grade of white sugar we had 

 then, while a little more expensive was 

 about as cheap and a slightly better winter 

 food. There may be some beekeepers who 

 will not be able to obtain enough white 

 sugar to feed their bees for winter and yet 

 can obtain brown. The latter is probably 

 just as good for stimulating brood-rearing 

 as the white, if not a little better; but un- 

 questionably white is to be preferred as a 

 win-ter food. We have about 1,400 colonies 

 which we are building up for winter. The 

 demand for bees and queens everywhere is 

 very heavy, and we are finding that we can 

 convert sugar into bees for less money than 

 we can afford to go out and buy nondescript 

 lots of bees, taking a chance of disease. 

 By the sugar method we get clean, first- 

 class, pure stock. 



At the present writing it is doubtful if 

 the beekeeper will be able to get sufScient 

 white sugar for feeding. Our advice is to 

 get all the white you can and make up the 

 difference with brovcn. If you don't have a 

 fall flow, you better not waste any time in 

 getting in your order for even brown sugar. 



THE REPORT we gave in our last issue edi- 

 torially regarding the shortage of clover 

 honey was nearly 

 Honey-crop correct in spite of 



Conditions. the report of July 



1 from the Bureau 

 of Crop Estimates, Washington, D. C, that 

 it wouhl be about normal. We have been 



all over the country in the East, and we 

 find that a number and perhaps all of those 

 who reported to the Government that they 

 would have a normal yield found that the 

 drouth set in, and that the actual crop fell 

 short of the earlier expectations. The writer 

 has talked with beekeepers in Michigan and 

 New York — States that, according to the 

 Government reports, would have a normal 

 yield; but the crop will run only from 3.3 

 to 75 per cent normal. It is our belief that 

 over clover districts generally the yield of 

 clover will run from 50 to 75 per cent. 



Sage and orange were very short, and the 

 few lots that are left are bringing good 

 prices. There will be the average amount 

 of alfalfa honey thruout the Western States 

 with one or two exceptions. The shortage 

 in some areas will be more than made up by 

 surplus in others. There has been a fair 

 to good yield thruout the Southern States, 

 and above normal in New England; and the 

 prospects are excellent for a good fall flow 

 on account of the rains. 



One of the factors during the Great War 

 that had a tremendous influence on the price 

 of honey was the scarcity of sugar. When 

 the housewife, the candy, ice-cream, and 

 soft-drinks people w^ere unable to get sugar 

 in sufficient quantities they turned to honey. 

 Cheap molasses and glucose will supply only 

 a part of the candy trade. The housewife 

 can use only a limited amount of molasses. 

 After that she must have a better form of 

 sweet; and when sugar is not available she 

 will turn to honey. At the present time 

 there is a scarcity of sugar. Whether that 

 scarcity is real or artificial we don't know. 

 For several months back the wholesalers 

 and jobbers have been saying that there 

 would be plenty of sugar later on; but that 

 plenty has not been forthcoming. 



If the activities of the United States 

 Government and those of the various States 

 against packers who have been hoarding 

 should release vast quantities of sugar, the 

 price would have a tendency to decline. It 

 might take a tumble. It is inconceivable 

 that either could happen. It has been claim- 

 ed that there is no sugar in storage — that 

 what there is has gone to Europe. We don't 

 know. We do know that there is a very 

 serious unrest over the high cost of living. 

 The reaction may send all prices downward, 



