1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1491 



SIFTINGS. 



By J. E. Crane 



Mr. Doolittle's advice as to the best material 

 for packing bees for wintering out of doors is 

 sound, and no one will make a mistake in follow- 

 ing it. See page 1147. 



That recipe for beeswax finish, page 1194, is 

 worth a years subscription to Gleanings. Let's 

 see if we cant remember it — one part pure bees- 

 wax; three parts turpentine; wax to be melted, 

 and turpentine stirred in while hot. 

 * 



Again, on page 1206, Mr. Morrison points out 

 the value of honey in the production of levulose, 

 the value of which has not been very widely 

 known heretofore. How much we have learned 

 about honey during the last year or two! 

 * 



Those articles with illustrations, such as the 

 one by J. H. J. Hamelburg, commencing on p. 

 1196, are exceedingly restful and refreshing. How 

 fast the world is coming together and the proph- 

 ecy being fulfilled, that " there shall be no more 

 sea"! 



* 



Wesley Foster's experience in selling honey is 

 certainly interesting, and shows what can be done. 

 I have sometimes thought it might pay to organ- 

 ize and place peddlers of his stamp in every con- 

 siderable town in the country. Every one would 

 then have a chance to buy this most delicious 

 food. Grocers do not seem to like to push the 

 honey trade. 



* 



E. D. Townsend says, page 1185, " I have seen 

 a dashing rainstorm cut off the basswood flow 

 when but half over." Are you sure it was the 

 washing of the blossoms that caused the flow to 

 cease.? I have several times known the flow from 

 basswood to be checked and seriously injured 

 when the storm was miles away — not a drop fall- 

 ing within range of my bees. 

 * 



Waxing splints, page 1244, is briefly discussed. 

 There was one thing we noticed in those illustra- 

 tions of Mr. Atwater's combs. Neither of those 

 that had wires in them was gnawed by the bees, 

 while in both of them having no wires the splints 

 were badly gnawed. Now, he may not have so 

 intended, but somehow I got the impression that 

 such was usually the case. 

 * 



It is a great source of pleasure to learn from 

 page 1244 that Dr. Miller is not grumbling after 

 taking 138^ lbs. of comb honey per colony the 

 past season. Our crop this season was 22 lbs. of 

 comb honey per colony. The biggest yield I 

 ever had was in one yard where it averaged 100 

 lbs. per colony. Say, doctor, is there any unoc- 

 cupied territory in your vicinity.? 

 ♦ 



I agree most heartily with Dr. Miller, p. 1176, 

 that the United States flag should float over the 

 brewery. The government is certainly in com- 

 pany with the brewer, and why not let the world 

 know this fact? The evil is not in the emblem 



but in the company. Let the government cease 

 to draw its sustenance from the brewery, and the 

 flag will no longer float there. 



On the same page Mr. Morrison speaks of the 

 value of the sunflower for both honey and seed. 

 His statements, I believe, are quite correct. I 

 used to wonder why more was not grown, un- 

 til some years ago I raised a patch of them, and 

 then learned how rapidly they would exhaust the 

 soil — more so than any other crop I ever raised. 

 With very rich soil or plenty of fertilizers they 

 can be grown with success. 

 « 



On page 1180 Mr. Holtermann illustrates a 

 winter case for receiving and holding four single- 

 walled brood-chambers. While I have for many 

 years wintered bees in double-walled hives I be- 

 lieve that placing four brood-chambers in one 

 large case is a decided advantage. Mr. Ira D. 

 Bartlett told me a year ago that he had been very 

 successful in wintering his bees in this way. Bees 

 in single-walled hives are much more easily cared 

 for during the warm months. 



W. K. Morrison in the Oct. 1st issue of Glean- 

 ings gives us many interesting facts. In quot- 

 ing from the Arizona Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, however, he says that " honey makes ex- 

 cellent cider." Wouldn't it have been better to 

 say a substitute for cider.? While honey has 

 many good and excellent qualities it does not 

 make cider. Let's keep to the truth. Cider is 

 the expressed juice of apples, and perhaps some 

 other fruits, and in no possible way can honey be 

 turned or changed into such juice. 

 * 



Mr. Wm. W. Case faithfully portrays the evils 

 and remedies for the ravages of the larvas of bee 

 moth, page 1199. I can not agree with him, 

 however, that these larvje will live for a long 

 time on the footprints of the bees. It is just dirt 

 or dirty wax brought up from below, and mixed 

 with the wax, and which contains an exceedingly 

 small percentage of nitrogen. I have found that, 

 where such cappings are badly perforated and 

 eaten, a good brushing with a rather stifle brush 

 will greatly improve the appearance of the combs. 

 * 



I am sure the bee-keepers of the country ought 

 to be very grateful to Mr. Morrison for the many 

 facts he has given us the past season in regard to 

 honey and sugar, the value of honey as food, 

 and the difference between cane and beet sugar. 

 See pages 1248, 1249. A year ago I wintered 

 most of my bees on raw cane sugar. Two yards 

 wintered better than I ever had them before, ex- 

 cept that in one I did not feed enough, and some 

 starved. In other yards the bees suffered from 

 poor honey stored before I commenced feeding. 

 * 



On page 1245 Mr. D. Everett Lyon deems it a 

 great injustice to bee-keepers that they should 

 not receive pay for their tin cans in which honey 

 is packed and sent to market; he also thinks it 

 unfortunate that buyers should insist on the use 

 of tin cans. Well, if Mr. Lyon had dug hon- 

 ey granulated solid in cold weather from a few 

 600-lb. barrels he would see a reason for bottlers 



