806 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1919 



discovered that beautiful text in the last 

 chapter of the book of James — the text I 

 have repeated so much that I am almost 

 afraid you are getting to be tired of it — 

 " He which eonverteth the sinner from the 

 error of his way shall save a soul from 

 death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." 

 Can you imagine what a visit we two had 

 before we left that ear? 



Now, the younger members of the firm 

 have several times said we should have to 

 sell these old bee journals for paper-rags. 

 Wlien I think what they have done in times 

 past, something tells me not to do it. The 

 experiments I made in years past are valua- 

 ble — yes, very valuable — as these journals 

 contain records of those experiments. Just 

 one illustration: 



Years ago beekeepers were accused of 

 feeding their bees sugar in order to enable 

 them to " make honey " to be sold at many 

 times the value of the sugar syrup. I pro- 

 tested; and finally, to convince the public, 

 I fed a whole barrel of sugar in a few 

 weeks to a single colony of bees. I induced 

 them to store it in nice new combs and cap 

 it over nicely. The result was not exactly 

 sugar syrup, and it might have passed for 

 vei-y good honey. But my experiment with 

 the barrel of sugar demonstrated that it 

 could not be done profitably, and would 

 not be done, no matter how great the dif- 

 ference between sugar and honey. The 

 great trouble was, the bees had to be fed 

 quite a lot before they would secrete wax; 

 and in converting the sugar into wax, a 

 great part of the sugar went somewhere. 

 Others verified my experiment, and who- 

 ever undertook it dropped it because it did 

 not pay, and the great wide world stopped 

 accusing us of feeding sugar, or, worse yet, 

 glucose, in order to get the bees to " make 

 honey." 



Now, to get rid of these old back num- 

 bers, and at the same time have them do 

 good in some way or somewhere, anybody 

 can have a full back year of single copies 

 for 50 cents, Avhich means 24 copies for the 

 years from 1884 to 1916 — so long as they 

 last ; and any single copies at 5 cents. 



THE KLECTRIC WINDMILL AND THE 



CHICKEN BUSINESS. 



(See pape 753, December, 1918.) 



In the Rural New Yorker for Oct. 25 



there is quite an article commencing on the 



first page, entitled " Poultrymen Take to 



Artificial Lighting Like Ducks to Water " ; 



and I think it will abundantly pay every 



chicken-man to send for that copy of the 



Rural, even if he does not subscribe for it. 



One of the main points brought out is this : 



A laying hen, especially a laying Leg- 

 horn, can take only enough food at one 

 time to last her ten or twelve hours, espe- 

 cially if she is to lay an egg eveiy day. 

 Well, up here in the cold North, especially 

 when there are cold and cloudy days, the 

 hens may go on the roost at four or five 

 o'clock. And, by the way, we have been 

 told over and over again that before said 

 laying hen goes to roost she should have 

 abundant good, nourishing food, so that 

 she can climb up for the night with a full 

 crop, for if the morning after is dark and 

 cloudy during our short days and long 

 nights, it may be 14 or 15 hours before she 

 has a chance to get any more feed. The 

 Rural says that after a hen has been on the 

 roost about 10 hours she is suffering for 

 a want of food, and therefore electric light 

 or some other light should be turned on so 

 that she will not be more than 10 hours 

 without a chance to get food. It does not 

 seem to make very much difference whether 

 the light is put on in the morning or night, 

 or both. If put on the night before, the 

 hens ought to be able to take food, say up 

 to about 9 o'clock. Let them sit up and 

 scratch for feed until about that time. 

 Then be sure that they have plenty of 

 good food, on time, when they get off the 

 roost in the morning. 



Now, there have been objections made, 

 that, if you make the hen lay at an un- 

 natural time, ' say during November, De- 

 cember, and Januai-y, she can not keep up 

 her laying in the spring months; and some 

 agricultural pai:)ers have made this objec- 

 tion, and dropped it right there. Why, my 

 good friends, even if this were true, just 

 notice the difference in the price of eggs in 

 any locality about Christmas time, and, 

 say, May or June. Just now, Oct. 28, eggs 

 are quoted in Cleveland at 75 to 80 cents 

 a dozen retail, and I am told that in the 

 city of New York they are $1.00. 



Some of you may ask, " How about the 

 windmill? What has that got to do with 

 it ? Why, my dear friends, it gives you the 

 electricity to light your poultry houses at 

 no expense at all after the equipment is 

 up ; and the whole outfit costs but little 

 or no more than the Deleo or similar outfits 

 that are now to be found almost every- 

 where. All of these use kerosene or gaso- 

 line. The windmill uses only wind which 

 goes to waste if you do not use it. With 

 Delco and other outfits your engine wears 

 out or needs expensive repairs in four or 

 five years. The windmill, with its slow 

 revolution of only 25 a minute, will stand a 

 lifetime. The only expense that I know of 

 so far is the rubber belt, and we can not 

 tell just yet how long that will last. 



