1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



333 



dl^Grcntfields 



THAT MYSTERIOUS TROUBLE; THE HONEY 

 GATHERED DURINCJ CERTAIN ATMOS- 

 PHERIC CONDITIONS WAS 

 THE CAUSE. 



On page 1568, Dec. 15, I read Mr. Young- 

 man's article on the loss of his bees. Twice 

 during 43 years my bees gathered honey in 

 the fore part of June that did not agree with 

 them; and if it had not been for a sudden 

 change for the better in the weather condi- 

 tions my colonies would have gone down as 

 Mr. Youngman's did. 



In the summer of 1906, while on my rounds 

 through the province inspecting apiaries I 

 found many apiaries affected just like Mr. 

 Youngman's, only not so bad. For a time 

 sick bees could be seen on the grass in front 

 of the colonies, crawling away to die; and 

 when I examined the colonies 1 found a good 

 many dead larvise here and there all through 

 the brood-chamber. 



Mr. Youngman asks if this trouble will re- 

 turn. No, not if the atmospheric conditions 

 are right when your bees are gathering hon- 

 ey, and they are generally right then. 



Woodburn, Ont. Wm. McEvoy. 



GERMINATING BASSWOOD SEED. 



I have tried to germinate basswood seed 

 in all kinds of ways, and have never yet 

 been able to make more than a very few 

 grow. H. W. Hysek. 



Austerlitz, Mich. 



[It is very difficult indeed to germinate 

 basswood seed. We manage the problem, 

 however, very satisfactorily by taking up the 

 little plants under the basswood-trees every 

 spring. Nature does better than we can. 

 Evidently basswood seeds require consider- 

 able freezing and thawing before they will 

 germinate. At all events, the young trees 

 will spring up very numerously under a 

 thrifty basswood providing there is not too 

 heavy an underbrush nor too many dead 

 leaves. If the soil is not too heavily covered 

 with grass the young trees will come up in 

 large numbers. These can then be trans- 

 planted. — Ed.] 



MEETING OF THE LEBANON COUNTY, PA., 

 ASSOCIATION. 



The Lebanon County Bee-keepers' Associ- 

 ation held a meeting Dec. 29 at the queen- 

 rearing apiaries of S. K. Snyder, Lebanon, 

 Pa., to elect officers for 1908, and transact 

 other important business. A feature of the 

 meeting was a display of wax, ranging 

 through all shades from almost pure white 

 to black, showing the results of careful ren- 

 dering from clean combs, and carelessly 



from old dirty and pollen-clogged combs. 

 There was also a display of fancy comb 

 honey by various members. 



The Association holds quarterly meetings 

 at the home of some member, where they 

 display their products, have social chats, tell 

 of their success or failure as tbe case may 

 be, and try to outdo each other in the pro- 

 duction of fancy honey and wax. Much in- 

 terest is taken in those meetings, and they 

 are looked forward to with pleasure. 



The financial condition of the association 

 is good. It has 25 members on the roll, with 

 prospects of a good many more. 



E. L. Brown, Sec. 



LIQUEFYING HONEY BY EXPOSURE TO HOT 

 AIR, OR OVER A STEAM-COIL. 



In your footnote to Mr. Townsend's arti- 

 cle, page 1575, Dec. 15, you say, "The nov- 

 ice should clearly understand that honey 

 should never be heated except over a body 

 of water." Are you sure that this is strictly 

 correct? A few years ago the question of 

 using dry heat to liquefy granulated honey 

 was discussed in our State convention at 

 Madison. Mr. Geo. W. York, of Chicago, 

 said that he placed a 60-pound can of honey 

 on his steam-register, and it was nicely liq- 

 uefied without injaring the honey. Since 

 that time I have liquefied tons over an as- 

 bestos mat placed on the top of a stove-drum 

 over a soft-coal stove, and always without 

 any detrimental effect. 



i have seen the plan of placing the cans 

 over an ordinary hot-air register, in any 

 home or building where a furnace is used, 

 put to the test with like good results. I be- 

 lieve that dry heat is all right, only it is 

 slower than the hot-water plan. But in 

 many cases it is very handy, and the element 

 of time may make no difference. The main 

 point is to heat the honey to a temperature 

 not high enough to injure the flavor. The 

 dry heat can be gauged as readily as the oth- 

 er, and is a safe method if properly applied. 

 Harky Lathrop. 



Bridgeport, Wis., Jan. 25. 



[There is not the slightest objection to liq- 

 uefying honey on a coil of steam-pipes or 

 furnace register; but many do not have these. 

 To heat a can of honey on an ordinary stove- 

 mat we should say would be attended with a 

 great deal of risk, to say the least. You, as 

 an old veteran in the business, would have 

 no trouble, but to advise a novice to attempt 

 that method would be unwise. We still be- 

 lieve that the average person should melt his 

 honey over water unless he has steam-coils 

 or a furnace-register at his disposal; and even 

 then the hot water would be quicker. — Ed.] 



A REPORT FROM AN AUSTRALIAN BEE-KEEP- 

 ER. 



It may interest some of your readers to 

 know how we are progressing in this part of 

 the world. We are having a very dry spring. 

 The outlook for a honey crop is not at all 

 bright. The bees wintered well, but would 

 not build up except by feeding. I have 130 



