630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct, 15 



6. Do bees swarm out as quickly on hon- 

 ey-dew as on regular nectar? 



7. What is the average price you have ob- 

 tained for honey-dew? 



Among the replies received was one stat- 

 ing that such a determined effort to get at 

 facts as our Pennsylvania bee-keepers were 

 making puts us at the top of the list as pro- 

 gressive bee-keepers in investigating this in- 

 teresting subject. Boiling down the volumi- 

 nous correspondence in answer to these 

 queries I report the following: 



First answer. — Connecticut, Mississippi, 

 and Colorado report "dry;" Michigan, Ken- 

 tucky, Texas, and California, "wet." 



Second. — California reports March and 

 April; Mississippi, April and May; Colorado, 

 June; Michigan, July; Texas, October. 



Third. — Connecticut, Colorado, "Think 

 not;" Michigan, Kentucky, Mississippi, and 

 Missouri, "Yes." 



Fourth. — Kentucky says "No." They find 

 aster the best wintering honey, and use hon- 

 ey-dew to build up in the spring; New York 

 states that, if the taste is not rank, the bees 

 winter all right on it. Missouri reports that, 

 if the bees can fly all winter, it is all right; 

 Colorado states they lost half of their bees 

 from it in the winter of 1908; in Texas they 

 will winter well. 



Fifth. — Most of the States report they have 

 not had very much success trying to sell it. 

 Dr. Miller states that he hurt his trade very 

 much some years ago when he had a crop of 

 it, for people thought he was adulterating 

 his good honey, as the"taste was'so^different. 



Sixth. — Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, 

 and Colorado, "Yes." 



Seventh. — Dr. Miller reports he sold it at 

 the same price as other honey because he 

 knew no better; Michigan and Missouri re- 

 port getting 10 cts. at one time; Colorado 

 used all their crop for spring feeding; in 

 Texas it sold for 5^ cts. 



From all this correspondence I glean the 

 following facts: 



1. Honey-dew is fine for building up in the 

 spring or increase in the summer. 



2. Very dangerous as a winter food in 

 northern latitudes. 



3. Very bad for a good reputation. 



4. Against the law in quantities over 20 

 per cent. 



I have here a large number of samples in 

 test-tubes which may be helpful to the bee- 

 keepers in arriving at some idea regarding 

 the color line to determine the quantity of 

 honey-dew in his product. 



Sample No. 1 contains 10 per cent of hon- 

 ey-dew mixed with white-clover honey. If 

 your honey is no darker than this sample it 

 will pass inspection. 



Sample No. 2 contains 20 per cent of hon- 

 ey-dew. Should your honey show this color, 

 and you have a suspicion that your bees have 

 been working on honey-dew, it would be 

 wise for you to have it examined by a chemist 

 before selling it as pure honey. 



Sample No. 3 contains 30 per cent of hon- 

 ey-dew. Honey of this snade which has 



been gathered during a honey-dew flow 

 would not pass. 



I also have samples running up to 40 and 

 50 per cent to show the average of the hon- 

 ey-dew crop of this season. Of course, as 

 you understand, we have amber honey and 

 a fall honey which would duplicate these 

 colors, and yet might not contain a particle 

 of honey-dew. But this year, through our 

 State honey-dew came during the white-clo- 

 ver flow, with practically nothing else in the 

 field, and, therefore, if you could carry these 

 colors in your eye it would be very helpful 

 as a simpletest for judging your own product. 



BEE-BREEDING. 



A Plea for More Systematic Methods; Dif- 

 ferent Localities Need Different Bees. 



BY L. E. BALDWIN. 



If the human race should be suddenly an- 

 nihilated in North America our bees would 

 become wild, and a mixing of the races of bees 

 would at once begin ; and after a few hundred 

 years there would not be a colony of pure 

 Italian, blacks, or any of the races of bees we 

 now have; but they would all be blended in 

 one American race of bees. 



Wax-moths, hard winters, and poor sea- 

 sons would weed out the weak and less vig- 

 orous bees, and the result would be a race 

 of bees, adapted to the conditions of the 

 country, that would be hardy and vigorous, 

 and immune to many of the diseases that 

 now trouble us. The same result could be 

 obtained in a few generations by careful and 

 systematic breeding. 



We now follow fads and fancies largely in 

 the improvement of our bees, and every lit- 

 tle while a craze starts after a new race of 

 bees which are introduced indiscriminately, 

 possibly from a country where box-hive bee- 

 keeping is in order, and thus upset what 

 progress has been made — in the way of breed- 

 ing non-swarmers, for instance. 



If we would take the races we have now, 

 and cross and blend and select and improve 

 them, we could have a distinct American race 

 of bees in a few years. The mingling of 

 races has produced the American people, who 

 are the best hustlers on earth: now why not 

 do the same with our bees? 



True, it would take some time to establish 

 a type; but a "standard " could be establish- 

 ed, as is done with poultry, and great im- 

 provement could be made in a short time. 



Prof. Holden, "the corn man," lays great 

 .emphasis on the importance of each farmer 

 selecting and improving his own seed corn 

 to suit tne peculiar soil and climatic condi- 

 tions of his own farm. The same rule will 

 apply to bee-keeping. Characteristics might 

 be developed in Michigan that would be a 

 disadvantage in Florida, or vice versa. Each 

 locality has some condition peculiar to itself 

 that needs to have some trait developed in 

 the bees to meet the condition. For instance, 

 Mr. F. R. Beuhne, of Australia, says that he 

 had to develop a strain of bees that were im- 



