GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



rules they might vary from one to ten 

 ounces, and in tliat case the retailer sells at 

 so much a section until the heavy weights 

 are sold out, say at 25 cts. per section, then 

 he I'educes the price to 20 cts. per section, 

 and finally to 15 cts., to close out the light 

 weights. Therefore it is the opinion of the 

 writer that the true method is to buy and 

 sell by weight ; and to transact business 

 legally in this State he has no alternative. 



It is true that he may sell 100 cases of 

 honey containing 24 sections each at $4.00 

 per case if he guarantees that none of the 

 cases will weigh less than 20 lbs. net, nor 

 exceed 21 lbs.; but after all, weight is the 

 basis of the transaction. 



Chicago, 111. 



[The pure- food law was modified at the 

 last session of Congress, the modification 

 liaving to do with marking the weights on 

 food packages. See the article by J. E. 

 Crane which follows. — Ed.] 



THE NEW LAW REQUIRING NET WEIGHT TO 

 BE MARKED ON FOOD PACKAGES 



I5Y J. E. CRANE 



It may not be generally known that an 

 amendment to the pure-food law was pass- 

 ed at the last session of Congress, and sign- 

 ed by President Taft on March 3. This 

 amendment makes it obligatory on those 

 putting- up food for interstate commerce to 

 see that the quantity of food packages be 

 plainly marked on the outside of each pack- 

 age in terms of net weight, measure, or 

 numerical count. This amendment does 

 not become a law until eighteen months 

 from March 3. This will be comparatively 

 easy in the case of extracted honey; but 

 who shall say just what the net weight of 

 a section of comb honey isf Will it include 

 the comb as well as honey? Most likely. 

 But how about the rim of wood around 

 the comb, or the carton or glass that is 

 used to keep the dust and flies from soiling 

 the comb? 



The committee appointed by the secre- 

 taries of the Department of Commerce, the 

 Treasury Department, and the Department 

 of Agriculture, to draw up regulations for 

 the enforcement of the new net-weight law 

 announces that it is now ready to receive 

 in writing recommendations and sugges- 

 tions. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



[In a press notice sent out by the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, the new nation- 

 al net-weight law is cjuoted. We give here- 

 Avith, in full, the paragraph in cjuestion : 



A food product will be deemed to be misbranded: 

 " If in package form, the quantity of the contents, 

 be not plainly and conspicuously marked on the out- 

 side of the package in terms of weight, measure, or 

 numerical count ; provided, however, that reasonable 

 variations shall be permitted, and tolerances and 

 also exemptions as to small packages shall be estab- 

 lished by rules and regulations made in accordance 

 with the provisions of section three of this act." 



From the above it appears that there 

 should be no great difficulty in obtaining a. 

 ruling that will applv to comb honey. — 

 Ed.] 



«^«'^> 



BEEKEEPING IN NEW ZEALAND 



BY E. G. WARD 



Mr. R. N. Gidley* started beekeeping- 

 five years ago with a few colonies, and had 

 fair success. The last two seasons have been 

 excei^tionally bad in most parts of New 

 Zealand, 1911 and 1912 being about the 

 worst in 20 yeais. Mr. Gidley went in for 

 increase more than for honey during this 

 bad season, and, in addition to getting no 

 surplus, had to feed V2 ton of sugar to carry 

 the bees through the winter. This was done 

 at his home at Fendalton, near Christchurch, 

 and in the spring 1912 he moved his bees 

 to Lakeside, about 27 miles away, taking 

 them in a spring cart, principally during 

 the night. Several trips were required for 

 this, and he got them all there about the 

 end of October. This was too late for the wil- 

 lows, which are plentiful round about there. 

 The season up till the middle of November 

 was very poor, and it was necessary to feed, 

 as we had a lot of cold wet weather. From 

 this on all through till now (March 9), the 

 weather has been ideal. The spring count 

 was 75 hives — increase 25. The crop for 

 the season totals 9856 lbs. extracted honey, 

 and 100 sections. The 25 increase will go 

 into winter quarters on six or seven frames. 



In addition to the honey stored, 1500 

 half-frames have been drawn out, and 600 

 full frames, so it will be seen that, if the 

 same number of combs had been on hand, 

 the surplus would have been much greater. 

 The colony in the tall hive shown in the 

 engraving on page 374, June 1, gave 417 

 lbs. by the end of the season. The bees were 

 shaken on full sheets of foundation on Nov. 

 8, and a full super of drawn comb was add- 

 ed, as there were eggs in the queen-cells. 

 This settled the swarming, and during the 

 season they have pulled out five half-su- 

 iters and one full super of foundation. After 

 the first extracting, the combs were put 

 back; and the total yield has been 417 lbs., 

 and no further attempts at swarming. 



The four best colonies gave as follows : 



* Various views of Mr. Gidley' s apiary appeared 

 in our June 1st issue. — Ed. 



