1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



413 



We have found it necessary to continue 

 our special series of spring articles in this 

 number. At the same time, we enlarge it 

 enough to take in another installment of the 

 series by Dr. von Buttel-Reepen. This should 

 be read with unusual care, as it is both in- 

 teresting and valuable. 



Those whose subscriptions expire or have 

 expired will please read the editorial on page 

 277, Mar. 1st. Except under certain condi- 

 tions we shall not be able to continue the jour- 

 nal longer than the time paid for. If you can 

 not send a remittance at once, but desire the 

 journal to be continued, please let us know, 

 stating when you will be able to pay up. 



A FAVORABLE SPRING THUS FAR. 



Spring thus far is favorable, in that the 

 month of March has not been warm, but 

 chilly most of the time. If we do not get 

 warm weather before the middle of April in 

 our locality, we expect nice weather there- 

 after, and a good year for bees. If it is a 

 warm March, followed by a cold April, it 

 works havoc with bees that are well started 

 in brood-rearing. 



MORE GLUCOSE. 



Late press despatches say that the im- 

 mense glucose- factory at Marshalltown, la., 

 has been purchased by the Western Grocery 

 Co. The latter is credited as being worth 

 $5,000,000, and operates branch houses in 

 several western cities. The plant at Mar- 

 shalltown is on a gigantic scale, and ought 

 to turn out an enormous amount of glucose 

 in the course of a year. The Iowa bee- 

 keepers may certainly expect to see lots of 

 " near honey " sold in their vicinity this year. 



w. K. M. 



SPRING feeding AND THE COLOR OF PAPER 

 VTINTER CASES. 



The accumulating testimony seems to 

 show that spring feeding, to stimulate, is a 

 practice that should be discouraged. The 

 best time to feed is in the fall, at which time 

 the colonies should be fed liberally and in 

 big feeds. 



There seems to be a difference of opinion 

 as to whether winter cases should be cover- 

 ed with dark or light colored papers In 

 view of the fact that black absorbs heat when 

 the sun shines brightly, warming up the col- 

 ony, we have used a light-colored paper — 

 one that would be less subject to the effect 

 of the rays of the sun. The time was when 

 poultrymen advised the use of glass in poul- 

 try-houses; but the effect of this was to make 



the building unnecessarily warm on bright 

 dnys. The extremes of temperature from a 

 sunny to a dark day did more harm than 

 good. The same principle will apply in the 

 case of a dark or light paper for winter cases. 

 Some years ago we conducted some elabo- 

 rate expei'iments, painting some of our winter 

 cases black and some red. But we found the 

 dark colors would drive the bees out on a 

 bright day, yet too cool for them to stay out 

 without getting chilled. We have for years 

 advised painting chaff hives white. 



ARE WE SACRIFICING DESIRABLE TRAITS FOR 



AN UNIMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC IN 



OUR BEE- BREEDING? 



We desire to call attention to the excellent 

 point made by C. F. Bender, in this issue, 

 where he says the constant temptation of a 

 queen- breeder is to breed for beauty alone. 

 This quality, even if desirable, should be 

 ■ placed, he thinks, at the bottom of the list of 

 good breeding points ; "for," he says, "the 

 more qualities we breed for, the less we get 

 of each particular quality.'' This is only an- 

 other way of saying that stock with extraor- 

 dinarily bright-yellow color must have sac- 

 rificed correspondingly in the development 

 of one or more other good points. A race 

 horse, for example, is good for nothing but 

 speed. Other desirable qualities have been 

 sacrificed for the one thing — speed. 



There is this to be said, that color in bees 

 is the only quality that can be made to stand 

 out prominently, unless it be temper ; and it 

 is the only one that shows at once that the 

 queen-breeder has accomplished some partic- 

 ular ena. 



SUGAR AND HONEY AS PRODUCERS OF MUS- 

 CULAR ENERGY. 



There is a well-nigh universal opinion 

 that such foods as sugar and honey are al- 

 most valueless as producers of muscular en- 

 ergy. But read what the highest medical 

 authority in the world, the London Lancet, 

 has to say on the subject: 



Sugar is one of the most powerful foods which we 

 possess, as it is the cheapest, or. at any rate, one of 

 the cheapest. In muscular labor no food appears to 

 be able to give the same powers of endurance as su- 

 gar ; and comparative practical experiments have 

 shown without the least doubt that the hard physical 

 worker, the athlete, or the soldier on the march, is 

 much more equal to the physical strain placed upon 

 him when he has had included in his diet a liberal al- 

 lowance of sugar than when sugar is denied him. 



Trophies, prizes, and cups have undoubtedly been 

 won on a diet in which sugar was intentionally a nota- 

 ble constituent. It has even been said that sugar may 

 decide a battle, and tbat jam after all is something 

 more than a mere sweetmeat to the soldier. The fact 

 that sugar is a powerful " muscle food " probably ac- 

 counts for the disfavor into which it falls, for a com- 

 paratively small quantity amounts to an excess, and 

 excess is always inimical to the easy working of the 

 digestive processes. 



Sugar satiates: it is a concentrated food. Where 

 sugar does harm, therefore, it is invariably due to ex- 

 cess. Taken in snSall quantities, and distributed over 

 the daily food intakes, sugar contributes most useful- 

 ly in health to the supply of energy required by the 

 body. And it is a curious fact that the man who 

 practically abstains from sugar, or reduces his diet to 

 one almost free from carbohydrates in favor of pro- 

 tein foods such as meat, often shows feeble muscular 

 energy and an indifferent capacity for physical endur- 

 ance. 



