,XOOl >^^ ■^Ri^^R^'^^'^i^ .^--^^-/N AMERICA 



43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JAN. 29, 1903. 



No. 5, 



Honey for Tired Eyes. — It is said that 

 when the eyes are tired from long study and 

 reading, a little honey rubbed on the lids at 

 night will relieve them. Easy enough for 

 bee-keepers to try, if they ever have the tired 



Shipping and Grading Comb Honey. 



—This is a subject that we have written oa 

 several times during the past few years, and, 

 judging from our annual experience we ought 

 to write on it every time the season comes 

 around for handling comb honey. 



Recently we purchased a lot of honey from 

 an Iowa bee-keeper. He did not ask us how 

 we wanted it packed for shipping, nor did we 

 volunteer the iDtormation, thinking that of 

 course he knew how to do it all right. 



There were over 40 twenty-four-section 

 cases in the lot, and, would you believe it * 

 They were shipped singly, instead of being 

 packed six or eight cases in a crate, with 

 straw under them, and the crate with two 

 handles at each end. 



And what of the result i There were just 

 seven cases of it entirely broken out of the 

 sections, and some more combs cracked more 

 or less. What a pity, to produce comb honey, 

 and then through inexcusable carelessness or 

 ignorance ship it in a way that must inevit- 

 ably result in a loss, besides a miserable, sticky 

 mess to clean up, as it all had to be handled 

 over section by section, wiped off, the cases 

 washed out, and the honey put back into 

 them, after sorting the broken from the 

 whole combs. 



Now, as to the grading: There wasn't any 

 attempt at this. There was No. 1 white, 

 amber, buckwheat, and granulated, all mixtd 

 in a case ! Out of some 40 cases there were 

 eighteen of amber and buckwheat, one of 

 granulated, two of culls, and the balance No. 

 1 white. Had this lot of honey been shipped 

 to some commission men, thej* would likely 

 have paid about 8 cents a pound for the lot, 

 calling it all amber and broken. They would 

 not, in all probability, have gone to the extra 

 work of sorting out the various grades, sep- 

 arated the broken combs, and cleaned up the 

 dauby mess. 



We hope this experience will not only teach 

 a lesson to the particular snipper who sent 

 this lot of honey to us, but our description of 

 it should serve as a warning to all our readers 

 who produce and ship honey, to prepare it 



properly for safe transportation on the rail- 

 road. 



About the same time we received a ship- 

 ment of nice, white comb honey from Wiscon- 

 sin, which was prepared properly, with shav- 

 ings in the bottom of the crate, and not a 

 comb was broken down. It was also properly 

 graded. There was a great contrast between 

 the last shipment and the first one referred to. 

 It was a pleasure to handle the Wisconsin lot, 

 while the Iowa shipment was discouraging all 

 the way around — undoubtedly to the shipper 

 as well as to us. 



Siniinins' Forced Swarms.— All the 



time there is coming to light fresh evidence 

 that forced swarms have been made by many 

 who have said nothing about it, and there are 

 not wanting cases in which publicity has been 

 given to the practice, but for some reason less 

 attention was formerly given than lately to 

 the matter, and so a repetition of things said 

 years ago will now be timely. A letter from 

 the well-known English authority, Samuel 

 Simmins, calls attention not only to the 

 method of forced swarms, published by him 

 many years ago, but to a material difierence 

 in details which is worthy of serious considera- 

 tion. Mr. Simmins says: 



FORCED SWARMS. 



Did you ever read my '■ Non-Swarming 

 Pamphlet," published in 1886? It so, you will 

 see how forced — then called artificial — swarms 

 were to be hived on starters in preference to 

 full sheets of foundation, with this very im- 

 portant difference : 



'^ AU t/ie beis were taken from one colony, 

 halt the bees from another. The latter had all 

 the spare combs — hence, still two powerful col- 

 onies and HO increftse. ' ' 



Now, why do you make two weal; colonies 

 out of one strong one, as you are all doing ? 

 Is that progress ? Will that give you the 

 highest results ? Certainly it will not. 



In my own case I was obliged to add one or 

 two combs of brood, principally because the 

 Ijees having nowhere to place the incoming 

 pollen, would take it into the sections. After 

 that there was no trouble in that direction. 



Here is an extract from my " Non-Swarm- 

 ing Pamphlet,'' IssH, page 29, chapter on 

 " How to Control Swarming:" 



" When the honey-flow has commenced, 



select any two strong colonies no matter 



how far apart ; remove from one all the brood- 

 combs but two left in the center and fill 



up with three frames having guides only on 

 either side. Now reluru all the bees by s/kU-- 

 '■«^ and brushing fr<im the combs: and also 

 one-half of those bees from the second colony 



Then put on supersof a capacity of not 



less than 40 pounds at one time, with all see- 

 tions,A7W with [drawn] combs." 



The brood-combs removed were given to 

 the other hive deprivid of part of its popula- 

 tion and this afterwards supered for either 

 extracting or comb, and, with so many combs, 

 this colony gives up all thought of swarming, 

 though presently having an immense popula- 

 tion. Samuel SiMMtNs. 



The Future of Alfalfa, so far as it re- 

 lates to bee-keeping, is a matter of interest to 

 Western bee-keepers. While some feel no 

 anxiety in the matter, others feel that the 

 doom of alfalfa as a honey-plant is not many 

 years in the future. The whole matter hinges 

 chiefly on the time of cutting alfalfa for hay. 

 It is maintained by some that for best results 

 alfalfa should always be left standing till at 

 least well advanced in bloom, while others 

 maintain that it must be cut much earlier. 

 The conclusions of the experiment stations as 

 to this are not reassuring. Those of Colorado, 

 Kansas, and Utah, are agreed that alfalfa 

 must be cut when first coming into bloom — 

 say when one-tenth is in bloom — in order to 

 get the largest amount of protein — that part 

 which is absolutely necessary in order to form 

 Ijlood and muscle. When the cutting is de- 

 laj'ed till the plants are half in bloom, there 

 is a falling oft' in protein, and a still greater 

 falling off when in full bloom. 



Even it all should agree that for best re- 

 sults alfalfa should be cut when not more 

 than one-tenth in bloom, the plant will, no 

 doubt, continue to be an important factor in 

 bee-keeping. That tenth will mean a good 

 many tons of honey. Then there will always 

 be a liability to delay. Where a very large 

 surface is to be cut it will not be possible to 

 cut all in one day, it indeed in a goodly num- 

 ber of days, and every day's delay will mean 

 just so much addition to the larder of the 

 bees. A considerable acreage will be used as 

 pasture, giving a continuous yield, and always 

 there will be a considerable amount allowed 

 to go through its full season of bloom for the 

 purpose of maturing seed. 



So at the worst there will still be no little 

 for the bees, and with the usual hopefulness 

 of bee-keepers the producers of alfalfa honey 

 will keep right on gathering in their precious 

 harvest until the time of failure comes — if it 

 ever comes. 



The Value of Foods. — The following 

 clipping from that important English periodi- 

 cal, Chambers' Journal, has been sent by a 

 Canadian physician. Dr. W, O. Eastwood : 



We once heard an intelligent child com- 

 plain that " all the nicest things to eat seem 

 to be unwholesome." It that child, now of 

 larger growth, should happen to alight upon 

 the report of a lecture delivered lately before 

 the South-West London Medical Society, by 

 Dr. Robert Hutchinson, he will rejoice 

 greatly, for the lecturer demonstrated that 

 many nice things have a very great dietetic 

 value. He condemned many of the much- 

 belauded patent foods, and showed that, upon 

 analysis, they compared very unfavorably with 

 meat, eggs, milk, and sugar. "A pound of 

 honey at ninepence," he said, " is a better 

 source of sugar than a pound of malt extract 

 at three shillings," And, speaking of cod- 

 ' liver oil as a means of administering fat, he 



