Mar. 15, li)12 



181 



to winter bees outdoors In a climate where the 

 mercury goes down from 30 to 40" below zero un- 

 less they are packed In chaff or double-walled 

 hives. 

 Elroy, Wis.. Feb. 9. Chas. Sheldon. 



Great Demand for Bees in Orchards 



Notwithstanding the extremely cold weather, 

 bees have wintered much better than 1 expected. I 

 have lost only a few. I have some tine colonies in 

 strong condition which wintered outdoors in ten- 

 frame slngie-walled hives. There is a wonderful 

 demand for bees for fertilizing orchards In this 

 .State, and 1 am sorry to say that bees are decreas- 

 ing greatly. In consideration of the fact that the 

 plantfng of orchards is going forward In remarlc- 

 able leaps and bounds, the demand for bees will 

 increase considerably. 



Notwithstanding the loss of bees by the unusual- 

 ly severe winter, the remarkably poor honey sea- 

 sons of the past two years, and the terrible en- 

 croachment of bee diseases in tills State, I am very 

 optimistic: and personally 1 am satisfied that with 

 beekeeping, as with all other industries, the time 

 to go into it is wlien all otlier peoi)le are going out. 

 The future for this special branch in this State 

 looks very good and promising to me. 



H. A. Surface, 



Harrisburg, Pa. Economic Zoologist. 



The Cover Picture for Feb. 15 



I can't tell you how surprised I was this morning 

 to find on the cover of Gleanings for Feb. 15th the 

 picture of our beeyard at our old home in Evart, 

 Mich. The photograph was taken by W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson while on a visit to us about sixteen years 

 ago, and we still have the original copy. While I 

 was recovering from my surprise at seeing the pic- 

 ture in a place where we had no reason to look for 

 it. I was thrown into fresh wonder as to how your 

 father's Florida ducks and drakes got into our old 

 trout stream; but in these days of moving pictures 

 I suppose we are not to be surprised at any thing. 



The man in the picture is Mr. Walker, and the 

 buildings shown were our barn and shed, the 

 house not appearing. The stream was a beautiful 

 creek called Twin Creek, and many were the beau- 

 tiful speckled trout the boys from our neighbor- 

 liood pulled out of it. The scene is just off the 

 banks of the Muskegon River. If the picture looks 

 half as good to your readers as to our family they 

 are, no doubt, charmed with this specimen of Mr. 

 Hutchinson's photographic skill. 



Cicero, 111. Mrs. Byron Walker. 



Honey Reports from California Not Misleading ; a 

 Crop of 38 Tons 



I wish to enter a protest against what you say on 

 page 35. Jan. 15, in regard to the honey reports from 

 the West, when you make tlie statement that many 

 of the reports were misleading, and that some pro- 

 ducers were holding back the facts. The truth is, 

 for Central California, that we did not expect a 

 good crop early nor even in the middle of the sea- 

 son. I thought when you published Madary's re- 

 port that It was about right. Here in the valley 

 the bees commence to gather surplus from alfalfa 

 about .lune 1. We begin to extract honey .luiy 1, 

 and get through Oct. 1. Last season we got the 

 bulk of the honey during the last halt of the sea- 

 son. Beekeei)ers tell me that this is true of the lo- 

 cation west of us in the mountains. They have 

 the sage first, then wild buckwheat, and last sea- 

 son we had a late heavy flow from blue curl. 



I did not see any reports from Central California 

 that looked misleading to me at the time they 

 were published. ()f cour.se. when you say "the 

 West." that is a big country, and you may have 

 some excuse for talking so. 



My crop was 38 tons. Early In the season I did 

 not expect 24 ; but we are having a hard fight 

 against both American and European foul brood. 



Hanford, Cal. P. H. Bales. 



Recipe for Making Honey Vinegar 



You say that anybody who can make cider vine- 

 gar can make honey vinegar. Nine out of ten, 

 however, make the sweet vinegar sour, as nearly 

 all use too much honey. In this case the microbes 

 have died. 1 will here give a formula which will 



make good vinegar. If the wash water from cap- 

 pings is used, or dirty honey from trees, etc., a hy- 

 drometer must be used. This hydrometer must 

 register 30 in the sweet water: and if clean honey 

 is used in the proportion ol 7 lbs. of honey to 5 gal- 

 lons of water it should register 30. Here is the 

 formula: Honey, 7 lbs.: water, 5 gallons: potassium 

 bicarbonate, V» ounce; sodium phosphate, /s ounce: 

 ammonium chloride, Vi ounce; a piece of yeast the 

 size of a pea. The chemicals are used for the pur- 

 pose of causing fermentation. 



After a few days this makes a fine drink like 

 sweet cider. When it has ceased to ferment, strain 

 and put into a clean keg and add one quart of vin- 

 egar and some mother. 



Hig Wells, Texas. Reader. 



Bees and Grapes 



Can you give me any information in regard to 

 some productive plant to sow for my bees — some- 

 thing that, with favorable weather conditions, will 

 be In full flow about the time grapes are ripe? I 

 had thought of Japanese buckwheat. If you would 

 advise me to sow that, when should I do so, and 

 how? How much would be required to sow half an 

 acre? Where can I obtain it ? I wrote you last 

 summer, saying my neighbor complained that the 

 bees were destroying his grapes. My object is to 

 sow something on my place that will be yielding 

 about the time grapes are ripe, and see if that will 

 help matters. 



Kewanee, 111. E. R. Wilkinson. 



[We do not know of any thing you could set out 

 that would be in bloom about the time that grapes 

 begin to ripen — or, rather, at the time when the 

 bees are liable to be bothersome. If you will inves- 

 tigate the matter thoroughly you will find that 

 bees do not spoil nor injure in any way the sound 

 fruit. See what Professor Surface and other writ- 

 ers have to say in this Issue. If you could hand 

 your copy of this number to your neighbor we be- 

 lieve he will be convinced that the bees were sim- 

 ply sucking the juice from grapes that were already 

 spoiled. — E;d.] 



The Larger Part of Alfalfa Cut Before it Blooms 



I have been interested in the different theories 

 given concerning alfalfa bloom not giving as much 

 bloom as formerly, and the practical reason has 

 been overlooked. By far the larger part of the 

 crop is cut before it blooms. The sheep-feeders 

 here, in the best alfalfa section of the Arkansas 

 Valley (western part of Bent Co.) cut the first crop 

 just as soon as it begins to bloom, and the three 

 other crops before blooming. All that is left is a 

 small portion for seed. It is like Whateley's rea- 

 son for white sheep eating more than black — " be- 

 cause there are more of them." So, conversely, 

 the reason bees don't gather as much honey as for- 

 merly from alfalfa is, the alfalfa is cut before It 

 blooms. 



Of course, this sounds like treason to men with 

 several hundred stands of bees to unload, and who 

 use the real-estate-boomer slogan, " Be a booster 

 and skin your sucker." I think men should be 

 truthful in their statements concerning bee terri- 

 tory. Any one interested can come and see during 

 July, August, and September, when hay is being 

 cut. It will be seen that the first crop, cut in June, 

 Is the only one given any chance to bloom. 



Las Animas, Col. L. H. Sweetman. 



The Gravenstein Apple 



I can tell Mr. Root a little about the Gravenstein 

 apple. I was born and raised close to the little vil- 

 lage of Graven,stein. In the old garden belongmg 

 to the old-time castle stood the old apple tree from 

 which all Gravenstein apple trees originated. It is 

 surely the best apple that grows: but the tree is 

 not hardy enough to grow in all climates and un- 

 der all conditions. On the Pacific coast, in Wash- 

 ington and Oregon, is a climate like its native one, 

 and there it grows to perfection. 



Brush, Col. Daniel Danielson. 



Bees Pleasant to Handle. 



I am glad to say that the bees of this country are 

 not like those described by Mrs. Henry A. Gooch, 

 p. 766, Dec. 15, but are very pleasing creatures for a 

 woman to work with. Anna Sommer. 



Ronne, Bornholm, Denmark, Jan. 11. 



