GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Four items are pretty definitely shown, 

 however, by the symposium on wintering; 

 namely, the need of dryness, the advantage 

 of some means of preventing condensation 

 above the cluster, the necessity for wind- 

 breaks, and that several liives grouped 

 close together and packed in some "non- 

 conductor" do accumulate heat in the pack- 

 ing above and near the hives. But — yes, 

 but! Does the value of the packing lie in 

 keeping the bees warm in winter, or in the 

 fall and spring? in the fall, when they 

 are putting the finishing touches on their 

 supplies, and in the spring when breeding? 

 Think twice, please, before you answer. 

 That protection is of advantage from early 

 spring until late fall has been pretty con- 

 clusively demonstrated ; but what amount of 

 protection is as yet in dispute. Some want 

 the whole hive, including supers, inside of 

 packed walls; others want merely double 

 walls, and still others think protection about 

 the supers suffices. 



Results suggest that colonies in hives 

 wholly iDrotected, even if only by a deep 

 telescope cover or thin outer ease, do better 

 from spring until fall than those having 

 only the supers protected. If this is cor- 

 rect, then it is fair to believe that results 

 from fall until spring ("wintering" we call 

 it) are much dependent on fall and spring 

 13roteetion. In other words, safe "winter- 

 ing" lies more in keeping the bees warm 

 when they are getting ready for cold 

 weather, and when they are getting ready 

 for the harvest, than it does in trying to 

 keep them warm in winter itself. 



To summarize : We as yet have only a 

 little and fragmentary knowledge of the 

 real conditions which exist within the hive 

 from fall until spring inclusive. Until we 

 know more about those conditions we can 

 not intelligently devise apparatus to assist 

 the bees. Until Ave knoAv those facts we 

 are as likely to make and use unnecessary 

 apparatus, costly to construct and costly 

 in labor to use, as Ave are to omit import- 

 ant assistance. Or, to put it in the lan- 

 guage of modernism, Avithout exact knoAV- 

 ledge we can not get down to a rational 

 dollar-and-cent basis of beekeeping. 



If our experiment stations will use tlieir 

 means and apparatus in obtaining the de- 

 sired knoAvledge, they Avill help us far more 

 than they have yet done. Such research 

 work is in their line, and they can do it 

 much better than the commercial beekeeper, 

 even though the latter has the necessary 

 training. To ask them to abandon their 

 random experimenting and find out facts 

 for us is what we should now do. 



Providence, R. I., Sept. 12. 



PRODUCERS URGED TO ORGANIZE FOR 

 SELLING THE CROP 



BY C. W. POWELL 



The i^rice of honey must be governed 

 by the price of other things, p. 478, Aug. 1, 

 Although the bees work for nothing and 

 board themselves, the beekeeper must pay 

 for his feed and other necessities too. Of 

 course, honey at ten cents a jDound will 

 sell fast, especially when other things are 

 a hundred per cent higher. When honey 

 and butter both sold for ten cents it was 

 all right; but when butter is forty cents 

 and honey ten, honey and bread will be 

 eaten without butter mostly. I fully agree 

 with Mr. Lathrop, that honey should be 

 sold at home when possible; but the law 

 of supply and demand can not be divorced 

 from the question of distribution, because 

 all the honey and other things can not be 

 produced where consumed nor consumed by 

 the producer. Hence the necessitj'^ for dis- 

 tribution, wliieh involves distrib^^tors, which 

 cost the consumers of farm products in 

 NeAV York city last year 62 per cent of 

 the retail price of such jDroducts. Think 

 of it! The producer and the carrier got 

 only 38 per cent of the price paid by the 

 consumer. 



Well, what can be done about it? Just 

 this: Let the producers undertake to dis- 

 tribute for themseh'es. Hoav? By mutual 

 organization establish agencies in all mar- 

 ket centers. Place agents in charge, and 

 put them under bond to guard against 

 loss from dishonesty. Now ship to such 

 agents for distribution on his orders, and 

 he will soon learn just what his market 

 will need, and there will be no overstock- 

 ing by duplicate ordering and then 

 a scarcity because no one ordered. 

 Let him sell at a price insuring a 

 profit on production after deducting for 

 transportation and distribution. 



All kinds of stuff can be sold at a price 

 that Avill at once double the consumption 

 on account of placing it in the hands of 

 consumers at a price they can afford. 

 Bro. Lathrop's idea about the cheap price 

 of honey making a greater demand for it 

 is like the clothing dealer who could sell 

 his clothing at less than cost because he 

 sold so much of it. To sell honey at ten 

 cents per pound when butter is forty cents 

 would bankrupt any one except a clothing 

 dealer. I have been in a position for over 

 twenty years Avhere I could study the 

 question of distribution, and it is at present 

 the biggest farce on the world's stage. 

 In a certain ease Texas farmers offered 

 cabbage on board at shipping point for 



