1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



787 



WHY HONEY FROM.THE SAME PLANT MAY VARY IN COL- 

 OR. 



On page 638, Oct. 15, Mr. Baldwin asks for the experi- 

 ence of others as to what darkens the color of orange 

 honey in parts of Florida. In this locality the bees get 

 a very dark-red honey in the spring, from the gum- 

 iree bloom, I think, and a small quantity of it reddens 

 a large amount of light-colored honey. I know that 

 this honey is not gathered in the fall, as my fall flow is 

 of line flavor, a little amber in color, and is from a spe- 

 cies of goldenrod that grows on low damp lands. I 

 have taken the tirst premium on comb honey at three 

 Florida Slate fairs, and each time I exhibited this gold- 

 enrod honey. Different writers do not agree on the 

 description of goldenrod honey. One may describe it 

 as dark and of bad flavor; another, as light and per- 

 haps bitter. This difference can be laid to both the 

 locality and the soil, for there are over fifty varieties 

 of goldenrod. We have four distinct varieties here 

 that I know of. Three grow on high dry land, and I 

 never saw a bee working on any of these three varie- 

 ties. The fourth, that which grows on the drained 

 muck land, makes a tine honey-producer. 



The gum referred to above blooms early; and when 

 I put on the sections the bees start in them later than 

 they do in the extracting-supers provided with drawn 

 combs. For this reason the sections are not likely to 

 contain much of this red honey. Furthermore, ex- 

 tracting-frames containing only foundation given the 

 bees during the main orange bloom are much more 

 likely to have the light honey like that in the sec- 

 tions. I am quite sure that the red honey is not from 

 the palmetto-berries, because the honey which the 

 bees transfer in the spring from the brood-nest into 

 the extracting-supers is always light-amber, and it 

 granulates. I have sometimes found half a frame of 

 the dark honey just stored in the spring over a strong 

 colony, while the old honey crowding the brood below 

 the excluder was amber goldenrod. 



Apopka, Fla. Fred E. Marden. 



LIQUEFVING HONEY FOR BOTTLING; MR. FOWLS' PRES- 

 ENT METHOD. 



In a letter to the editor, Mr. Adolph Loehr, Whit- 

 stone, Long Island, N. Y., asks whether I use a water- 

 jacket around my filling-tank that I use in filling 

 glasses. 



When I wrote the article for Gleanings, eight or 

 nine years ago, describing my method of liquefying 

 and filling glasses with .honey while hot, I used to 

 keep the tank over a gasoline-burner so as to keep it 

 up at the desired temperature; but of late years I have 

 kept no heat under it at all, not finding it necessary. 

 If for any reason I am not ready to commence filling 

 the glasses when the honey is all liquefied, I leave it 

 standing in the melting-tank with the heat low enough 

 so there will be no danger of overheating. 



When all is ready to begin I transfer it to the filling- 

 tank and run it out in the glasses. As there is only 

 about 75 lbs. in a can it takes such a short time I find 

 it stays hot long enough. 



I now use a piece of rubber hose to syphon out the 

 honey; and while it is not as pretty as my old glass 

 syphon, and does not make such a " pretty effect," as 

 the milliners say, because you can't see the beautiful 

 litiuid running through it, the hose starts easier and 

 never gets out of order. Chalon Fowls. 



Oberlin, Ohio. 



[Our older readers will remember that Mr. Fowls 

 does a large business in bottling honey, and his state- 

 ments can, therefore, be taken as coming from one 

 who knows what he is talking about.— ED. J 



CAN swarms carry DISEASE? 



You say, page 677, Nov. 1, that swarms going from 

 foul-broody colonies will not take the disease with 

 them. If this is so, why is it necessary, in treating 

 colonies for foul brood, first to shake them on to start- 

 ers, and afterward on to sheets of foundation? 



Walton, Ky. J. G. Crisler. 



[We have never found the second shaking in our lo- 

 cality necessary. One shaking, we venture to say, 

 will cure ninety-nine times out of a hundred anywhere. 

 For that reason, bees in a tree should be free of dis- 

 ease unless they rob from some colony that is already 

 affected.— ED. J 



ghum will do to feed them. I found one old stand the 

 other day without any honey in sight, and I have be- 

 gun to feed them, as there is a large amount of bees; 

 and if sorghum will do I can feed them without any 

 expense. Is it advisable to put sugar or candy of any 

 kind in the hive for them to work on in the winter? I 

 can buy stands in the neighborhood for a dollar apiece, 

 but they would have to be fed at once. Would it likely 

 be a good investment? 



Last winter I bunched the hives and built a small 

 shock of orchard-grass straw over them, making it 

 heavy enough to keep them perfectly dry. Do you 

 th nk that a good way to protect them through the 

 winter? JOHN B. Peelle. 



Sabina, Ohio. 



[While sorghum in many cases will bring our bees 

 through the winter in fair condition, you had better by 

 far feed syrup made from the best granulated sugar. 

 In point of feeding value it is about as cheap, and much 

 safer.— Ed. ] 



IS TOBACCO harmful TO BEES? 



Will tobacco bloom kill bees? To-day I noticed the 

 grass in front of my hives literally covered with bees. 

 They seemed to be about tired out, and unable to fly 

 again. The majority of them have pollen on the r 

 legs, of a brownish-yellow color. There is a lot of 'o- 

 bacco in bloom around within a radius of two mi'es, 

 also buckwheat-fields. The weather is quite warm, so 

 they were not chilled. 



St. Eugene, Ont., Aug. 18. J. A. McKlNNON. 



[We do not remember having read any reports 

 showing that the nectar from tobacco-blossoms appar- 

 ently intoxicates the bees as here related; but we see 

 no reason why it should not have precisely that effect, 

 provided the bees get enough. Perhaps some of our 

 readers in the tobacco regions will be able to enlight- 

 en us further.— Ed.] 



GOOD WINTERING IN A CELLAR HAVING TWO FEET OF 

 WATER IN IT. 



In regard to upward ventilation in wintering, p. 654, 

 I want to give you some of my experience. Several 

 years ago I had 21 colonies in a cellar in which there 

 was two feet of water from February 2 until the bees 

 were taken out April 3; yet they wintered perfectly al- 

 though the covers were off the hives, and entrances 

 open. S. Fritschel. 



Clinton, Iowa, Nov. 2. 



[We have had other reports of like character; but 

 these do not necessarily signify that such conditions 

 are ideal. It Is the exception that proves the rule.— 

 Ed.] 



I am going to unite three or four weak colonies into 

 one; but I should like to save the queens (pure red-clo- 

 ver Italians of a very good quality) for next spring. 

 Kindly tell me which would be the best plan to save 

 those queens. F. W. Herz. 



Harrisville, Wis.. Oct. 20. 



[If you have no other colonies in the yard we do not 

 know what you would do with the extra queens except 

 to pinch their heads. You might, however, make up 

 some two-frame nuclei and introduce these surplus 

 queens to them, after which put nuclei down cellar 

 and keep them until settled warm weather comes on 

 next spring.— Ed.] 



AMERICAN BASSWOOD. 



In GLEANINGS, July 15, page 442, I find an article on 

 European and American basswood. Up here bass- 

 woods grow wild in the woods.- What kind are they? 



Nerstrand, Minn. F. W. Smith. 



[The basswood that you find almost anywhere in the 

 United States growing wild is what is known as the 

 American variety.— Ed.] 



IS sorghum A GOOD WINTER FOOD? 



Nearly all the bees in this community are eating up 

 their stock of honey; and those that winter will have 

 to be fed. I am writing to ask if a eood quality of sor- 



CORNER BAITS PllEFERRED. 



On page 611, Oct. 1, W. M. Whitney says he preferred 

 the baits in the corners of the sections. With the ex- 

 ception of the first year I kept bees I used baits in the 

 corners. Bees will then work in the whole super even- 

 ly and leave no gobacks. I had one very weak colony 

 that began work in one corner first this year. 



Stockport. Iowa. Nov. 1. C. R. Dewey. 



