1208 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1207 



We think Mr. Stein is mistaken. It is an easy 

 matter to separate out the levuiose in honey, and 

 in most cases this would not cost 12 cents per lb., 

 particularly so in tropical countries, where honey 

 is quite cheap. The honey of the siingless bees 

 contains an excess of levuiose, showing the na- 

 tives are correct in claiming it as a first-class 

 medicine. In the valleys of the Amazon and 

 Oiinoco great quantities of such honey could 

 be collected with ease at a price much below 12 

 cents a pound. It would be far superior to 

 inulin-levulose. Bee-keepers owe Mr. Stein a 

 vote of thanks for proclaiming to the world the 

 great value of levuiose as a sweet for sick people; 

 but he ought to have stated also that honey con- 

 tains levuiose in large amount. Moreover it is 

 in a palatable form, which inulin-levulose would 

 not be. 



It might pay tropical bee-keepers to produce 

 levuiose, even at one-fourth the present prices. 



Heads of Grain 



From Different Fields 



FUMIGATING COMB HONEY IN TIGHT STORE-BOXES; 

 HOW TO MAKE THE BOX AIR-TIGHT. 



A vtry convenient and inexpensive wav to fu- 

 migate section honey with carbon bisulphide is to 

 line a drygoods-box of convenient size with 

 heavy manila paper, pasting the paper in and tak- 

 ing care to have the paper lie smoothly over the 

 whole inside uf the box, so that there will be ab- 

 solutely no chance for leakage. Then put in the 

 sections. This may be done by placing them in 

 loosely or in s.hipping-cases, putting 16 sections 

 in a 20-section case, and placing the shipping- 

 case in the fuming-box so as to allow a free cir- 

 culation around every section. Now put the 

 carbon bisulphide in- saucers on top of the sec- 

 tions, then cover the whole with one or two heavy 

 blankets, taking care to lay two or three sticks 

 across each saucer to prevent the blankets from 

 coming in contact with the bisulphide The hon- 

 ey will be more thoroughly fumigated than in a 

 room specially prepared, as the fumes are requir- 

 ed to fill only the space actually occupied by the 

 honey. In fine weather the box may be set out 

 of doors or under a shed, thereby running no 

 risk of an explosion by having the fumigation 

 done in a house. Another advantage is that a 

 hundred or less sections can be treated, instead 

 of waiting for a larger quantity to save bisulphide, 

 and by so doing run the risk of worms hatching 

 and damaging the honey. E. Meaker. 



Auburn, N. Y. 



[We desire to sanction the plan given by our 

 correspondent. Ordinarily, it is better to make 

 use of a tight box for fumigating rather than a 

 whole room, for the gas can be confined better so 

 that less of the liquid need be used. If a very 

 large quantity of honey must be fumigated, per- 

 haps a small tight room is better; but more often 

 two or three tight boxes can be used more suc- 

 cessfully. 



One advantage of the box not brought out is 

 that the honey may be removed and a new lot 

 put in without admitting an eiitire change of air 



as would be the case if a room were used. By- 

 holding the breath while leaning over the box, 

 the honey can be removed quickly. If an entire 

 room were filled with gas, it would have to be 

 ventilated before one could enter it to take out 

 the honey. 



So short a time as half an hour is sufficient to 

 kill all worms; and although a somewhat longer 

 exposure might be necessary to kill the eggs, 

 eight or ten different lots of honey could be fu- 

 migated in a day. We have successfully used a 

 large empty extractor-can for the purpose. — Ed.} 



ARTrnCIAT, BEE-PASTUBAGE for new MEXICO. 



W^e should like to know what we can get to 

 make honey between fruit bloom and sweet clo- 

 ver. The chief crops here are apples and alfalfa. 

 The apples bloom early, and the first crop of al- 

 falfa is cut before it blooms, which leaves prac- 

 tically nothing for the bees until sweet clover 

 blooms. We are right by a 500 acre apple- 

 orchard, and spraying was done last spring while 

 many of the trees were in bloom, damaging us 

 quite a lot. 



Our climatic conditions here are somewhat 

 similar to much of Colorado. The nights are 

 quite cool until late in the spring, and there are 

 times when we get no rain to amount to any 

 thing for months. All farming and fruit-grow- 

 ing is done by irrigation. We are getting plen- 

 ty of rain this fall. Apple-picking began in the 

 big orchard Aug. 24. People come for miles — 

 yes, a hundred miles and more — and camp out- 

 side the orchard during picking. 



Mrs. Lucy C. Slease. 



Roswell, N. M., Sept. 9. 



[We are not familiar enough with the locality 

 to suggest any plant which would yield nectar 

 between apple-bloom and alfalfa. Indeed, there 

 are very few plants, unless they yield valuable 

 seed or forage for stock, that it pays to set out 

 for honey. If a locality does not furnish some- 

 thing naturally to intervene, the only thing the 

 bee-keeper can do is to feed if the bees require 

 stores. Possibly yellow sweet clover, which 

 blooms about three weeks earlier than white sweet 

 clover, might help out a little. Can't you grow 

 alfilarella, or pin clover.? It is fine for stock and 

 good for bees. It does not require irrigation. 

 If any of our subscribers in the vicinity or else- 

 where can suggest any forage that has intrinsic 

 value outside of the nectar it furnishes the bees, 

 we shall be glad to have them do so. — Ed.] 



TWO queens wintered loose IN ONE HIVE. 



In the fall of 1906 I had two weak colonies. I 

 got these colonies side by side by moving them 

 a short distance each day. When they were close 

 together I placed one colony on five frames in a 

 Dadant hive which would hold ten frames and a 

 division-board. I then put a solid division-board 

 in the center of the hive, and the five frames con- 

 taining the other colony on the other side of it, 

 tacking screen wire on top of the brood-frames so 

 no bees could pass from one side to the other. 

 To keep the bees from mixing up at the entrance 

 I fitted a board to separate the front of the hive 

 and thus make two entrances. My object was to 



