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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping Among the Rockies 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Col. 



Have you ever noticed that exposed honey 

 just off the hives will attract robbers much 

 sooner than honey that has lost the hive 

 warmth? The odor given off is much less 

 pronounced from honey that has cooled off. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS CAUSE VARIATION IN 

 COLOR OF HONEY. 



Mr. P. C. Chadwick says, Oct. 1, p. 671, 

 that every form of nature follows its law — ■ 

 each form on the line on which it was creat- 

 ed, and that each one follows only the line 

 given it. In the first place, we mortals don't 

 know definitely the laws governing every 

 form of nature, as there are so many of 

 them. Flowers and plants are undergoing 

 a constant change. No two i^lants are the 

 same under different conditions. They adapt 

 themselves to environment the same as do • 

 people. So it may be safely stated that one 

 of the fundamental laws of nature is change 

 and variation. I think that we have very 

 good evidence here in Colorado to prove 

 that flowers secrete nectar under vai'ying 

 conditions of climate, and have different 

 colors as well as qualities. I do not know 

 what color alfalfa honey has in California ; 

 but I do know that we have white alfalfa 

 honey in Colorado in many districts. I 

 think I shall have to set Mr. Chadwick's 

 twenty-five years of observation at naught 

 and state that honey changes with the wind, 

 moon, and soil conditions. The various 

 honeys such as alfalfa, orange, white clover, 

 and basawood, however, approximate a cer- 

 tain definite standard. I am satisfied that 

 alfalfa honey will vary from white to light 

 amber in color, and in body from light to 

 heavy. Whether the atmosphere or the food 

 Mr. Chadwick eats has any effect on the 

 color of his blood, I will not say, but it is an 

 accepted fact that climate has an effect on 

 the color of people's skin, hair, eyes, etc. 

 People on the Pacific coast have a different 

 complexion from those in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region. "Nothing is permanent but 

 change." [There can be no question but 

 that the color of alfalfa honey (and this is 

 true of other honeys) is dependent some- 

 what on the locality in which it is produced. 

 The buyers have ample proof of this. — Ed.] 



COMB HONEY OR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



The beekeepei'S of the West have had a 

 hard proposition to face in the last few 

 months. The price secured for comb honey, 

 which is the kind largely produced in Colo- 

 rado, has fallen from ten to fifteen per cent 

 below the price secured last year. Bee sup- 

 plies have gone up about ten per cent. Tins 



lessening in prices secured for honey, and 

 advance in supplies, is going to bring about 

 important changes in beekeeping through- 

 out the West. It is going to put a damper 

 on beekeeping by those who have depended 

 upon it for a living. This effect will not 

 be apioarent at first. Another effect of the 

 lower prices secured for comb honey and 

 the raise in the price of supplies will be the 

 turning to extracted-honey production. Ex- 

 tracted honey will bring the Western bee- 

 keepers almost as much as his comb brought 

 this year if he seeks his own market and 

 develops it. Extracted honey can be raised 

 with a much smaller outfit of supplies. 

 There are many Western honey men who 

 confine their efforts entirely to extracted 

 honey, who have practically no outlay for 

 supplies, while the comb-honey men will 

 have to expend several hundred dollars each 

 year for sections and foundation, and as 

 much more for shipping cases. The home 

 market in Colorado (and probably in other 

 States to the south and west) does not con- 

 sume more than ten per cent of the total 

 production. This should be and will be in- 

 creased ; but it is doubtful whether the home 

 consumption will equal the production for 

 many years. There are too many towns of 

 two or three hundred population where 

 several cars of honey are shipped annually. 

 [An enormous crop of clover honey was 

 produced east of the Mississippi last season. 

 As much of the Western honey finds its 

 market in the East, the seveie competition 

 of the Eastern honey this season would nec- 

 essarily affect prices on the Western. Prices, 

 however, next year should resume their nor- 

 mal, as it is hardly iirobable that there will 

 be another as heavy a yield of clover honey 

 in 1914, if the law of average holds good. — 

 Ed.] 



treatment of sac brood in minnesota. 

 Mr. J. Alf Holmberg, apiary inspector 

 in Minnesota, recommends treating sac 

 brood where there are not too many colo- 

 nies affected. He reports a yield of 75 lbs. 

 from a diseased colony so treated. It may 

 be that sac brood is more destructive in 

 Minnesota than in Colorado, but I have had 

 scores of colonies affected that produced 

 over a hundred pounds of comb honey each, 

 and they were not treated, the disease dis- 

 appearing, or practically so, before the 

 season was over. If but a very few colonies 

 are found affected in a locality it might be 

 well to treat all affected ones, if treatment 

 will cure the trouble ; but we have so many 



