1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



263 



BEE-KEEPING AMONG 

 THE ROCKIES. 



By Wesley Foster, Boulder, Col. 



A SEVERE winter FOR BEES. 



No winter for the past ten years has been so 

 hard on bees as the past one. One thing is as- 

 sured, however, and that is, plenty of water for 

 irrigation. As I look up at the snow-capped 

 range each morning I imagine that whiteness 

 transformed next August into snow-white cap- 

 pings on thousands and perhaps millions of sec- 

 tions of comb honey. 



CANDIED HONEY IN THE HIVES. 



It is now generally acknowledged that sweet- 

 clover honey candies much sooner than alfalfa. 

 A large proportion of the honey gathered last sea- 

 son was sweet-clover honey, and there is much 

 candied honey in the hives as well as on the mar- 

 ket. Many colonies have starved with this can- 

 died honey in the hive, the winter being so severe 

 that no water could be secured to work it over with. 



HONEY IMPORTATIONS. 



Are those figures correct as to importations of 

 honey, page 189, April 1.^ I have been watching 

 Thomas' Weekly Re'vie^v, which gives the receipts 

 of honey at New York harbor only. The reports 

 come each week, and the lowest figures I have 

 seen for one week were 281 bbls. , 60 tierces, and 

 9 crates. For the week ending March 22 there 

 were 468 bbls., 63 tierces, and 25 pipes. At the 

 least figuring that would be 180,000 lbs. for one 

 week and 250,000 for the other. At this rate 

 New York would receive from 8 to 12 million 

 lbs. a year as against Dr. Phillips' figures of 2)4 

 million for the receipts of all the custom ports of 

 the country. [The honey imported 3.\. New York 

 is mostly exported to Europe, mainly going to 

 Hamburg. In this case the duty is refunded. 

 See elsewhere what Mr. Steengrafe says. — Ed.] 

 •*- 



EXTRACTED HONEY OR HONEY IN GLASS. 



Many a customer, unless you take time to ex- 

 plain, has a hazy idea of what extracted honey is. 

 It is classed with extracts, mixtures, blends, etc. 

 A grocer told me he supposed extracted honey 

 was sugar syrup or glucose flavored with extract 

 of honey, whatever that meant to him. When 

 one can explain to the customer, it is all right; 

 but honey is handled by people who are not fa- 

 miliar with the methods of production, and they 

 are situated where we can not reach them all. 

 " Honey in glass " seems to be the best name for 

 bottled honey, and carries the idea without bring- 

 ing in that disreputable word " extract. " " Strain- 

 ed honey " is the term in most common use; and 

 while it is not technically correct unless applied 

 to " strained honey " only, it is better, so far as the 

 mental conception goes, than "extracted honey. " 



FACING COMB HONEY. 



A good many bee-keepers turn the sections in 

 the face of the case upside down from the way 

 they were built, to get a more pleasing and even 

 appearance. The turning over of the facers hides 



the travel-stain and more uneven filling of the 

 bottom of the sections to a greater extent than if 

 right side up. The reason for this is that nearly 

 all the cases we look at are below the level of the 

 eyes, and so we see the honey along the lower 

 half of the glass. There is one way of getting a 

 still more even finish; and that is, by turning the 

 facers down on their sides. This hides the 

 sides of the sections which are more poorly filled 

 than the top and bottom. The objection to ei- 

 ther of these practices is that the honey leaks out 

 of the open cells on the edges, and streaks the 

 comb and often the glass. For this reason it is 

 best not to do it unless the honey is thoroughly 

 ripened and will not run from the open cells. 



INTER-STATE FAIR. 



We should all be proud of our work as bee- 

 keepers, and no one thing brings us more pleasure 

 than to have our efforts appreciated. The reason 

 that our product often meets with no commenda- 

 tion is mainly because we do not put it where it 

 can be seen. Those who are proud of their work 

 are preparing to make exhibits at the Colorado 



Inter-State Fair to be held in Denver, Sept. 12 



18, 1909. Thousands attend these fairs, and a 

 good gatejfee is charged, so all have their eyes 

 open, and appreciate what they see. 



The management of this fair offer very liberal 

 premiums, and the apiarian department had the 

 choicest location in the Horticultural Building 

 last year; and the probability is that the same 

 space will be secured this year. Send to Mr. W. 

 L. Porter. Sup't Apiarian Department, 3522 Al- 

 cott St., Denver, Colo., for premium list and en- 

 try-blank. 



WHICH IS THE TOP OF A SECTION.? 



No word can I find in the supply catalogs on 

 the proper way to place the section in the super 

 for the bees to fill. I have always placed the 

 joint up and will now give the reasons why I 

 think it the proper way to place in the super. 

 1. The joint is in sight; and when removing from 

 the super the danger of the section pulling apart 

 can be seen and guarded against. When the 

 joint is down, the projecting ends of the dove- 

 tails will catch on the section next to it and pull 

 out. The propolis also holds very secjrely at 

 times. 



2. When the joint is up, the bees can get at 

 the joint and fill up with propolis, if a quarter- 

 inch space is over the sections as it should be. 

 The joint is the weakest place in the section, and 

 should be where any breakage can be guarded 

 against. 



The reasons that some bee-keepers have for 

 placing the joint down are these: 1. The two 

 corners for the top should be alike; and the joint 

 being unsightly it is placed at the bottom; 2. 

 When lifting from the super the joint is strained 

 severely — more so than if at the bottom. This 

 is not the case if my experience is like that of 

 most bee-keepers; 3. When placing only one 

 starter in a section the section has to be turned 

 over (after being folded) for the placing of the 

 starter on the joint side. This has reference to 

 the Rauchfuss section press and foundation-fas- 

 tener. I should like to have the opinion of oth- 

 ers on this. 



