May, 1914. 



American l^ee Jonrnal 



under a live apple tree. All the same there 

 are ignorant orchardists. as in your neieh- 

 borhood. I think that the real milk in the 

 cocoaniit is that tliose fruit men. who are 

 none to conscientious, althouuh they know 

 it to be against their interests to spray dur- 

 ing bloom, want to spray as near that time 

 as possible, and don't want the risk of butt- 

 ing up against the law if they should happen 



to spray at wrong time. 



I am afraid there isn't much chance of a 

 law until there is some change in the chair- 

 man of that committee or in the way our 

 laws are made, and the only thing you can 

 do is to try to enlighten the neighboring 

 fruit growers. If you send to the A. I. Root 

 Co.. Medina. Ohio, you can obtain leaflets 

 on the subject. 



No Loss 



My bees wintered well. Did not lose any. 



A. J. 'Waldschmidt. 

 Washington. Iowa. April. 6. 



Wintered Well 



My 80 colonies of bees have come through 

 the winter good and strong without any loss. 

 Milo. Iowa, April". B. A. Manlev. 



No Clover to Speak of 



No white clover here except on lowlands 

 and hollows between hills. It is all killed 

 by drouth on hilly or rolling ground. Our 

 last white clover crop was in imo8. Vj e need 

 rain. Had but one rain since last fall. 

 Prospects are good for another dry year. If 

 we had plenty of rain there would be a good 

 chance for a fall flow. Corn, heartsease 

 and Spanish-needles are about one-half of 

 our total honey crop, and of late years, <;//. 



A. B. I'ACKABERRV. 



Cantril, Iowa, April 4, 



Increase the Sale of Honey 



Itisnotso much the big crops of honey 

 that ruin the price, as dumping it on the 

 market at once. What we need is to develop 

 our own trade at home. 1 will venture to 

 say that twice and more honey could be so d 

 at a good price if every one would carefully 

 work his home trade. 



1 have for 30 years produced from 3000 to 

 1)000 pounds of honey, and never shipped any 

 except to the consumer I know what I pro- 

 duce is very small indeed to what some 

 others do. but for all that there is too much 

 honey shipped that ought to be sold at 

 home. I am never worried if I have a big 

 lot left on hand in January, as I sell nearly 

 the whole year through the grocery storesj 

 We sell bulk comb in friction top pails 5 and 

 10 pounds, and quart clear glass jars. I am 

 glad to say we are getting better prices than 

 ever before. I never have any trouble to 

 sell to the stores. , ^ , , , , , . 



Every pound that is sold is labeled and 

 warranted to give satisfaction or money 

 back. Sometimes a iar of honey or a pail of 

 comb will candy. In that case we take it 

 back. Our honey at this time of year is all 

 brought to ISO degrees and sealed hot. It 

 never candies put up that way. ' I he comb, 

 of course, cannot be sealed hot. But the 

 honey is brought to about that, and cooled 

 before putting on the comb in the pails. 



Did any of you fellows who keep bees in 

 the cellar ever try a small cloth with a little 

 carbolic acid on it to keep the bees in the 

 hive when taken out of the cellar ? It you 

 have trouble that way try it. It works tine 

 forme. Just lay the cloth in front of the 

 opening. Irving h. Long, 



Marceline. Mo^ 



Shall We Go Back to Comb Honey ? 



I have tried the production of both comb 

 and extracted honey in my years of Califor- 

 nia and Utah experience. There are locali- 

 ties in southern California where a man 

 would soon starve should be attempt to pro- 

 duce comb honey exclusively. These s^ame 

 localities have produced fair yields of ex- 

 tracted honey during the intermittent sea- 

 sons of the past 20 years. 



Many ranges have changed so greatly in 

 honey-producing flora that an appeii/ing arti- 

 cle of comb honey cannot be produced in an 

 average season. Some of my ranges, that is 



or even 10 years ago were almost exclusively 

 sage or wild buckwheat, are now so inter- 

 woven with different kinds of flowers and 

 weeds, both annuals and perennials, as to 

 give the whole crop a decided "off tinge." 

 If sections were left on long enough to com- 

 plete, many would have two or three shades 

 of honey in them with as many different 

 flavors. The orange, which some of us look 

 upon as our most dependable crop, blooms 

 at a time when it is very diflicult to get 

 honey stored in sections. Several condi- 

 tions are responsible for this, among which 

 cool foggy days. Bees are not inclined to 

 get away from drawn combs or to draw out 

 foundation in any amount. In many cases a 

 colony will fill six or seven drawn combs 

 three-fourths full of nectar and hardly touch 

 a sheet of foundation directly in the center 

 of the super. 



With extracting, it is surprising how a 

 small colony will sometimes store surplus 

 during a heavy honey flow. 



Some sections of our State will produce 

 good crops of comb honey. The Owens 

 River Valley, in Inyo county, lying east of 

 the high mountain range in the central part 

 of the State, has always been noted for its 

 comb honey, and until recently an extractor 

 was almost unknown among the beekeepers 

 there. 



The Sacramento 'valley, lying north of 

 San Francisco Bay. also produces comb 

 honey to a considerable extent. 



The great Imperial 'Valley, which has 

 gone very extensively into the business 

 within the last loyears. produces exclusively 

 extracted honey, having sent out some 30 

 carloads the past season. 



In Utah one can make a success of either 

 kind if he understands his business. 



But to change overan apiary already fitted 

 for extracting and attempt to produce comb, 

 simply because it looks more profitable, is 

 in my opinion a big mistake. 



The orange bloom came out almost one 

 month earlier than usual this year, yielding 

 finely for three or four days, then it turned 

 cool and bees have been doing very little 

 since. Prospects are, I think, good for a 

 fair crop of honey. 



We needed at least 2 inches moreiainto 

 asssure us a full crop, and we got only one- 

 half inch- L. L. Andrews. 



Corona, Calif., March 24. 



Long-Idea Hives and Other Ideas 



We see on page 00 of the American Bee 

 Journal for March, mention is made of the 

 "DeeLayens" or "long-idea hive being pre- 

 ferred on account of its simplicity. Is there 

 no food for reflection here for our beekeep- 

 ing brethren ? What is more desirable than 

 simplicity in eauipmeiit in handling bees ? 

 Our old friend " Novice " thought so well of 

 It that he named his hive " The Simplicity," 

 and I wish to say in passing that " Novice " 

 was, and is. a very interesting writer in his 

 chosen field. 



Why should we require our colonies to 

 store their surplus in a hive which, com 

 pared to the height of a bee, is about what 

 the Washington Monument would be to the 

 height of a man ? Do we go on the supposi 

 tion that the bee is a machine of iiiexliausti- 

 ble energy ? When one arrives panting and 

 weary from the fields, does he realize the 

 prospect of a climb to the top of three Lang- 

 stroth hive bodies before It can deposit its 

 burden? If men were required to lay up 

 stores for the winter under such conditions 

 how long do you think it would be before 

 they would revolt ? We have the long-idea 

 hive all right, but it is standing on end. 

 ^When one reads about some apiarist going. 



through his hives like a cyclone through a 

 lumber yard, lifting off supers, killing, intro- 

 ducingor clipping queens and cutting out 

 queen-cells, etc., and always lifting and 

 putting back supers every time he wishes to 

 see the brood-nest, one cannot help think- 

 ing he is the busiest bee of the whole. But 

 of course for those who shake their bees to 

 give them energy, these manipulations would 

 approach the ideal. The San Francisco 

 earthquake injected quite a bit of energy 

 into the people of that unfortunate city, but 

 no one will claim that the earthquake was a 

 good thing. 



Producers of honey appear to have given 

 too much time and energy to the producing 

 end of the game. They are not suffering so 

 much from over-production as under, or 

 poor distribution. The mail-order houses 

 want all the way from $i-S8 to $2 00 a gallon 

 for extracted honey, which puts it out of 

 reach of the ordinary consumer. 



In many towns and villages the grocers do 

 not handle the product at all. It is all 

 wrong. It is wrong to bend every energy to 

 production for the fancy trade. Why is it 

 that every amateuraspires to produce a fine 

 grade of section-box comb honey, the hard- 

 est stunt of all to pull off with a profit P 



There is undoubtedly an outlet for an un- 

 limited amount of honey in the United 

 States, if it can be sold at prices that the 

 people can pay. The producers must de- 

 vise means to take it out of the luxury class 

 and bring it down to a level with the people, 

 if they wish to take advantage of this capac- 

 ity for consumption. 



We should carry on a campaign of educa- 

 tion and advertisement. The National asso- 

 ciation should have a press agent /'nr cxrfl- 

 Icnce, and every beekeeper should elect him- 

 self a propagandist to write in the farm pa- 

 pers, or any other medium available con- 

 cerning the purity, wholesomeness and 

 cheapness of honey as an article of diet, and 

 Its superiorly over any other sweet what- 

 ever for children and invalids. 



H. Bassett Turrell. 



Medora, Ind., March 13. 



Statement of Ownership, Management, 

 Circulation, Etc., 



of the American Bee Journal, published 

 monthly at Hamilton, Illinois, required 

 by the Act of Aug. 24, 1912, 



Editor— C. P, Dadant, 



Business Manager — M. G. Dadant. 



Knownbondholders, mortgagees, and 

 other security holders holding one per- 

 cent or more of total amount of bonds, 

 mortgages or securities — None. 



C, P. Dadant— Editor. 



Sworn to and subscribed before me 

 this 23d day of March, 1914. 



[seal.] H. M. Cuerden, 



Xolary Public. 



My Commission expires March 25, 

 1915. 



QUINH'S QUEENS OF QUALITY 



Not coming, but are here to stay. Rest 

 bee for any climate. Purest of the pure 



GREY CAUCASIANS 



Bred strictly in the light of Mendel's Laws 

 of Heredity; no guess, but positive results. 

 The pioneer scientific queen-rearing estab- 

 lishment of America. We lead, others may 

 follow. Every queen guaranteed as to 

 purity of mating. 



Special isolated mating station on bald 

 open prairie, not a tree within miles— no 

 chance for gypsy drones. 



CHAS. 



Box 389 



W. QUINN 



Beaumont, Texas 



Miller's Strain Italian Queens 



By return mail .itter lune stii tn 10th or 

 money refunded. Hre<l from best RED 

 CLOVER strains in l, S. In full colonies, 

 from my SUPERIOR BREEDERS, northern 

 bred, for business; long tongued; leathei 

 color or three-banded; gentle; winter well; 

 hustlers; not inclined to swarm; roll honey 

 in. Untested. I. $1.00; 1., J5.00; 12, K.oo. Select 

 untested, one, Ji. 25; 6, $6,00; i;, $11.00. A spe- 

 cialist of 17 years' experience. Safe arrival 

 and satisfaction guaranteed. 

 I. F. MILLER, BROOKVILLE, PA, 



