1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1055 



gated regions of our great West will prove ban- 

 ners for the bee-keeper. 



BEES EARLY RISERS. 



I have always been a very early riser, and at 

 the present time I am often at work in my yard 

 before it is light, that I may avoid the heat of 

 the day, as the past month has been unusually 

 warm in all Southern California. The house of 

 my next neighbor, Mrs. Kinney, a short distance 

 from my own, has had for years a flourishing 

 colony of bees that go in and out close beside 

 the great chimney on the south of the house. 

 Every morning, before daylight, the bees are out 

 in force, and one would almost think that a 

 swarm was issuing. They are active all the day, 

 but at no time are they anywhere nearly as busy 

 as at this early morning hour. I am glad that 

 the bees have learned the joy of outdoor life in 

 the early hours of the morning before the sun has 

 come with his blistering heat. 



FERMENTATION OF HONEY; A NEW TROUBLE. 



To-day comes a letter from Mr. Henry Per- 

 kins, of Calexico, a place to the very south end 

 of the great Imperial Valley, which is burdened 

 with a new complaint. He writes: " Can you 

 give me a remedy for honey souring in the hive? 

 This condition has developed in quite a number 

 of the colonies in the past week. It begins with 

 a few small air-bubbles in the cells, which in- 

 crease in size and number until the cells are full, 

 and a perceptible movement is obvious. This 

 honey is very thin and sour, and the bees cease 

 gathering and die off very rapidly. 1 notice that 

 all honey is very thin, and ripens very slowly. 

 The weather is exceptionally humid." Mr. Per- 

 kins wonders if the bees might not be fed syrup 

 that contained some anti-ferment, in the open, 

 and thus the fermentation be stayed. He natu- 

 rally desires some speedy advice. 



Since the researches of the great Pasteur, of 

 France, we are entirely familiar with the cause 

 and natural history of fermentation. All sugars, 

 if very dilute when in solution, are the best pas- 

 turage for micro-organisms, and these bacteria 

 are ever ready to take possession of such syrups. 

 Vinegar is a result of just such action. Our un- 

 ripe honey illustrates the same truth when it 

 sours, as it is likely to do, in the presence of 

 these ferment germs. The spores of these minute 

 vegetable germs are always in the air; and if the 

 weather is warm and close, then these germs 

 thrive vigorously, and souring is always to be 

 looked for. In the action of these germs, not 

 only is acetic acid produced, but, as surely, car- 

 bon-dioxide gas. Barrels of unripe honey are 

 likely to burst from this cause, as I once witness- 

 ed in the warehouse of our old friend Newman 

 while I was visiting Chicago. 



Heat, humidity, and thin nectar are then the 

 sure re uisites of fermentation; and the fact of 

 these conditions explains all, in the present in- 

 stance, in Mr. Perkins' apiary. 



AND YET A PUZZLE. 



The strange thing is, why does not the heat of 

 the hive ripen the honey, and thus make it no fit 

 place for the bacteria? Can it be possible that 

 the depressed basin, below the level of the sea, to- 



gether with the inordinate humidity, prevents 

 evaporation, and so the honey fails to ripen, and 

 fermentation is the result? If this is the case we 

 may hope that the humidity will be of short du- 

 ration; and with the return of the usually dry at- 

 mosphere the honey will ripen, and the sour hon- 

 ey will be no more. Of course, such honey is 

 not good food, and we can not wonder that the 

 bees die. Would it not be wise to extract this 

 honey as soon as noticed, and ripen it artificially, 

 and so save the bees? This can be determined 

 only by experiment. By using great care it 

 could be heated enough to kill all the germs, and 

 it might be safe to feed it back to the bees after 

 fermentation has ceased. Surely here is a good 

 chance for Mr. Perkins to try some research 

 work on his own hook, which may be of use to 

 him and his neighbor bee-keepers. I do not be- 

 lieve it would be possible to correct this by feed- 

 ing medicated syrup. It would be nice work to 

 gauge the germicide so as to cure and not kill. 



I hope that we may hear from Dr. Phillips, 

 Mr. Dadant, and others in this matter. Has it 

 been experienced before in other sections and in 

 other apiaries? how long did it continue? was 

 there any cure discovered? Surely these are 

 timely and pertinent questions. 



THE IMPERIAL VALLEY FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



It will be remembered that I have spoken in 

 praise of the regions of Imperial and Coachella 

 for apiculture. These are in the depressed val- 

 ley where the great Salton Sea now holds the 

 fort, and will till it all evaporates, which will 

 take some years. I think this region very favor- 

 able for bee-keepers, as there are many of the 

 best of our honey-plants grown in increasingly 

 large quantities, such as alfalfa, melons, aspara- 

 gus, and fruits of all kinds. Again, this region 

 would be an arid desert, as it was only a few 

 years ago, except for water and irrigation, and so 

 the abundant water from the Colorado for Im- 

 perial Valley, and from artesian wells in the Co- 

 achella Valley, must always be used, and so there 

 will always be the vigorous vegetation which is 

 a sine qua noii for nectar secretion. Again, the 

 weather is always warm and almost always dry — 

 that is, the moisture content .of the air is very 

 slight, and so the flowers will not hold back the 

 nectar as they are wont to do in the cool seasons 

 that come to all parts of our country. So, like 

 parts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and 

 the San Joaquin Valley, of our own State, we 

 may expect a certain honey production, or more 

 certain than in any other part of the world where 

 these conditions do not prevail. 



We are glad to be able to announce that there 

 is likely to be a State organization of bee-keep- 

 ers in Mississippi. Mr. H. E. Blakeslee, Com- 

 missioner of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Commerce, Jackson, Miss., is making an effort 

 to get the names and addresses of all the bee- 

 keepers in that State, of which he has at the pres- 

 ent time about a thousand. A meeting will be 

 held in Jackson at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, 

 for the purpose of perfecting the organization. 



