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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 1 



THE NEW ABC AND X Y Z OF BEE CULTURE IS 

 RECEIVING SOME QUITE EXTEN- 

 SIVE REVISIONS. 



As we look over from one year's end to 

 another we can see some most decided gains 

 in our general knowledge of bees and the 

 methods of handling them. In the multitude 

 of counselors there is wisdom. In a journal 

 like this, one will profit immensely if he will 

 simply compare notes. Suppose the other 

 fellow's plan does differ from yours. You 

 will probably find that, on many points, you 

 agree. It also transpires that occasionally 

 your experiments point in a certain direc- 

 tion . You are not quite sure of your ground ; 

 but if half a dozen others trying out the same 

 class of experiments arrive at about the same 

 conclusions as yourself you have the definite 

 assurance that you are on the right track. 

 In deciding what shall and shall not find a 

 place in the new edition of our work we try 

 to use that which has the indorsement of a 

 number of our best men. 



The new work, we confidently believe, will 

 be as nearly accurate as any volume on bees 

 that has ever been put out. It will contain 

 a large number of new illustrations made ex- 

 pressly for it, some of which will appear from 

 time to time in these columns. It will place 

 strong emphasis on methods of management, 

 which will be illustrated by a series of what 

 might be called moving pictures, or, more 

 exactly, a series of snap-shots, showing each 

 step in the operation. We are now nearly 

 half way in the work of revision. 



HONEY-CROP CONDITIONS; THE SCARCITY OF 

 EASTERN WHITE HONEY. 



Reports continue to pour in to show that 

 this is probably the greatest year for honey- 

 dew ever known in this country; that the 

 crop of clover and basswood is very light, 

 owing to the drouth of last fall. 



The number of bee-keepers in this country 

 to-day who have clear white clover and bass- 

 wood is very limited. We have had editori- 

 al charge of this journal for nearly 25 years 

 now, and in all our experience we do not re- 

 member a year when the indications showed 

 so light a crop of pure clover or pure clover 

 and basswood mixed as this year. Had it 

 not been for the honey-dew, the season would 

 not have been as poor as some we have had 

 in the past; but the very abundance of hon- 

 ey-dew will make the year 1V)09 the shortest 

 on a strictly clear white honey east of the 

 Mississippi and south of the great lakes that 

 we have ever known. 



There is further evidence that the crop of 

 alfalfa and mountain sage in the Western 

 States will not make,up for the deficit of clear 

 clover and basswood. It is our opinion that 

 prices on the first quality of white honey, 

 either comb or extracted, will be very firm. 

 Whether they will advance over present 

 quotations we can not say. 



The few bee-keepers who have a clear 

 white clover or basswood should make the 

 fact known. There are buyers who are writ- 

 ing us now, inquiring where they can get it. 



Reports also indicate that there is consid- 

 erable honey-dew and clover mixed, of a very 

 fine quality. This would probably bring 

 pretty good prices were it not for the fact 

 that the public in years gone by have been 

 told about the so-called manufactured honey. 

 As the flavor of honey-dew clover is differ- 

 ent from any thing they have tasted before, 

 consumers jump to the conclusion that the 

 honey is manufactur.ed. To sell this honey- 

 dew honey of good flavor will mean a cam- 

 paign of local advertising to educate neigh- 

 bors and friends that this is the real product 

 from the hive. No one can sell such honey 

 to the consumer as well as the producer him- 

 self. 



HONEY-DEV/ AS A WINTER FOOD; A WARNING. 



It will, perhaps, be well to caution those 

 of our readers who have considerable dark 

 honey-dew in their combs to remove the 

 same and substitute sugar syrup. A strictly 

 ail-honey-dew is us'ually a very poor winter 

 food; and if the winter should be at all se- 

 vere, thousands of colonies will die of dysen- 

 tery. In most cases it is probably true that 

 a large proportion of the honey-dew has been 

 used up, or was used up, during August and 

 September, and that honey from asters, gold- 

 enrod, or buckwheat has taken its place. 

 Ordinarily we would risk any of these hon- 

 eys, or a little honey-dew mixed with any 

 one of them; but where the winter food is 

 almost a pure honey-dew, we certainly would 

 advise taking it out, holding it over until next 

 spring, and giving it to the bees to stimulate 

 brood-rearing. In fact, we know of no bet- 

 ter use that can be made of this product. It 

 is just as good for rearing brood as the best 

 sugar syrup that was ever put into a hive. 

 In late spring and early summer, combs con- 

 taining honey- dew can be used very nicely. 

 The best way in the world to feed in the 

 spring is to give combs of sealed stores; and 

 it does not matter whether these stores are 

 sugar syrup or honey-dew in late spring or 

 summer. 



HOW LATE CAN ONE FEED SUGAR SYRUP? HOW 

 TO MAKE IT. 

 A GOOD many questions are being asked 

 as to how late one can feed in the fall. Or- 

 dinarily we would say the sooner the syrup 

 can be given the better. As to how late one 

 can do so will depend upon conditions. We 

 have sometimes fed, in our locality, clear up 

 to the middle of November. However, at 

 that time the bees have but very little oppor- 

 tunity to manipulate the syrup, much less 

 cap it over. The purpose of early feeding is 

 to give them a chance to " invert " it to some 

 extent, and at the same time to make a win- 

 ter nest. This they do by emptying the cells 

 in the combs at the point where the cluster 

 is. so that the bees on both sides can get the 

 advantage of body heat. When the syrup is 

 fed late they can not make this winter nest 

 before cold weather comes on, and conse- 

 quently there will be a space one inch thick, 

 or as thick as the comb, containing cold syr- 

 up between several clusters of bees. 



