MARCH 15, 1913 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



The Folly of Using Small Rusty Tin Packages for 

 Extracted Honey for the Retail Trade 



Some large honey-producers are beginning; to put 

 up extJ-acted honey in small tin cans or pails, when 

 extTacting in the late summer and fall, for the retail 

 or family trade during the winter. Of course, this 

 procedure is a more convenient and less expensive 

 method than to put the honey into five-gallon cans, 

 when extracting, and then latw on perhaps remelt it 

 and put it into smaller cans and pails fo-r the retail 

 or family trade. 



But I happen to know a man who purchased, 

 from two different extensive honey-producers, some 

 of those self-same cans and pails, several mouths 

 after they were filled, and some of them were the 

 vorst and toughest-looking honey cans and pails I 

 ever saw. All looked as if they had been used before 

 for some purpose, either for canned tomatoes or 

 corn ! In one instance they were all labeled with the 

 pioducer's honey-labels ; but the cans had become so 

 rusted that the labels were loosening. In the other 

 lot, while the cans or pails had not been labeled, 

 they were rusted in spots, and were a "bum-looking" 

 lot." 



Now, no retailer of honey, nor any one working 

 up a family trade in honey, cares to deliver it in 

 what looks like second-hand cans. It is enough to 

 discourage sales, as no nice clean housekeeper would 

 want to buy honey the second time (nor the first 

 time, for that matter) if it is put up in rusty con- 

 tainers of any kind, even though the rust is only on 

 the outside. 



If honey-producers are going to make a ijractice 

 of putting their extracted honey in small tin pack- 

 ages at the time of extracting, then they should use 

 only new bright cans or pails, and, after filling, 

 store them in a practically dust-proof and very dry 

 place, so that they will be kept clean, and also not 

 rust. This is a very important matter indeed; for, 

 some of these days, the honey sold in such second- 

 hand-looking cans and pails is going to be refused 

 — shipped back to where it came from, or held sub- 

 ject to the order of the shipper. And that would be 

 simply what the shipper who will send out honey in 

 such cans or pails deserves. No person who is en- 

 deavoring to work up a family trade in honey wants 

 to deliver it in any thing but bright new tins, if he 

 uses tin packages at all. 



I think this is a matter worthy the attention of 

 every producer who practices putting up his honey 

 in the tin retail packages at extracting time. 



Sandpoint, Idaho. George W. York. 



[ Some of our old readers will recognize the Avriter 

 of the foregoing as the former editor and proprietor 

 of the Am-erican Bee Journal for so many years. 

 He also did a large business in retailing and whole- 

 saling honey in Chicago. He therefore speaks with 

 a knowledge born of experience. He is entirely right 

 in what he savs. — Ed. I 



European Foul Brood and the Importance of Keep- 

 ing a Strain of Italians that are Largely 

 Immune to the Disease 



You are lucky to have kept bees so long without 

 having European foul brood. My experience with 

 the disease is like that of Morley Pettit. It spreads 

 to every hive in the yard, and to every comb that 

 contains brood. Not only a few cells are affected, 

 but less than half the young bees in a comb ever 

 get out of the cells alive. 



Dr. Miller's bees must have had the disease in a 

 mild form, and then he had a hard fight and a long 

 one; and he will be fortunate if the disease does not 

 break out again next summer. 



What I am most interested in now is to find a way 



to get rid of the disease. I understand that when 

 we brush the bees off the combs and put them in a 

 clean empty hive and give them a new start they will 

 start off free from disease; but some way they don't 

 stay free. I understand, too, that when I take the 

 queen away and keep the colony queenless till the 

 youiLg bees are all out of the combs, and the cells 

 cleaned and polished ready for the queen, then put 

 the queen hack or give them another queen, the 

 combs will soon begin to fill up with nice pearly- 

 white brood; and I am not sure that the dequeening 

 method is not as good as putting the bees into an 

 empty hive ; but about the next time I open the hive 

 the white brood has turned yellow, and the disease 

 is there again. 



We are told to treat the bees when there is a good 

 honey-flow on. White clover was abundant last year, 

 but the flow did not come, and I worked at a dis- 

 advantage. 



Oakland. 111. Wm. Cox. 



[In some ways European foul brood is easy to 

 cure and in other ways it is not. It seems to spread 

 much more rapidly than the American type of dis- 

 ease, and, what is somewhat discouraging, the ordi- 

 nary shaking process does not always eliminate the 

 trouble. We have had a very large number of re- 

 ports of how, after one shaking, the disease had re- 

 turned again. We are coming more and more to 

 have faith in the Alexander treatment ; and that is, 

 removing the queen and keeping the colony queen- 

 less and putting in pure Italian blood. There are 

 some strains of Italians that aie probably more im- 

 mune to the disease than others. Mr. S. D. House, of 

 Camillus, N. Y., has repeatedly told us that he has 

 no fears of European foul brood, because he used a 

 strain of Italians that would keep the disease off, 

 and he has European foul- brood among the black 

 bees all around him, and yet his apiaries of Italians 

 seem to be immune to any trouble of that sort. 



You do not say any thing about using Italian 

 stock. While it is proper enough to remove the 

 queen we think it is better to go even further, and 

 put in good vigorous Italian blood. If possible, get 

 a strain that will resist European foul brood — a 

 strain that has been tried out and found to be equal 

 to the occasion. We try to keep a strain of Italians 

 that are immune to European foul brood. In all of 

 our years of experience we have never had a trace 

 of the disease. — Ed.] 



Overcrowding Bee-Ranges, and is there a Remedy ? 



I wish to ask about the law in regard to other 

 apiarists crowding in on to one's bee-range. My 

 neighbors and I started in this locality three years 

 ago with our little bunches of bees. I have 25 colo 

 nies ; the other neighbors of mine would bring the 

 number up to about 75 stands — all our range will 

 accommodate. Well, a few days ago another apiarist 

 brought in 50 colonies of bees, and located them 

 about 800 yards from my apiary, and is to bring in 

 about 200 more colonies (so I am informed). What 

 can I and my neighbor do about it? 



Phoenix, Ariz., Jan. 20. L. M. Brown. 



[You bring up the question that has often been 

 discussed through the columns of our various bee 

 journals, namely, the one of overstocking. There 

 seems to be almost no remedy but a sort of unwritten 

 law that prevails in some localities, not to put more 

 than a certain number of bees to the square mile. 

 Where the different neighbors and different beekeep- 

 ers can get together and agree, they will divide up 

 the territory in such a way that it will not result in 

 overstocking; but very often outsiders come in and 

 S(;vat an apiary or two so close to bees already in the 

 hKality that the annual yield per colony is cut in 

 two. There is no law in any State, with which we 



