6 



'rmm smerickipc beb jo^Rifat.. 



OmRiES if Eei 



Scraping Propolis or "Wax from 

 Section!! of Uoney. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



Query 601 — Is it necessary, or desirable, 

 to scrape by hand all sections before putting- 

 the honey on the market ? that is, if there is 

 propolis or wax on the outside.— E. 



Yes. — C. C. Miller. 



It is desirable. — Dadant & Son. 



It is at least desirable. — R. L. Tay- 

 lor. 



Yes, it is practically necessai-y. — 

 James Heddon. 



To be sure, highlj- so. — J. M. Ham- 

 baugh. 



It is de.sirable — not always neces- 

 sary. — M. Mahin. 



Certainl}' it is. Scraping sometimes 

 does not tend to ]iiety, either. — J. M. 

 Shuck. 



It is desirable. Have your goods 

 look as neatly as possible. — Mrs. L. 

 Harrison. 



No ; excepting, perhaps, a few of 

 the worst ones. It does not pay for 

 the labor necessary in doing it. — Will 

 M. Baenum. 



Yes, have all sections clean. Clean- 

 liness is next to honesty in selling 

 honey. — A. J. Cook. 



I always scrape them if they are in 

 the condition you speak of. — G. M. 

 Doolittle. 



It is both necessary and desirable, if 

 you wish your sections to have a 

 "clean face," and your honey to look 

 inviting. — J. P. H. Browtnt. 



Be su7-e to put honey on the market 

 in the best possible condition, even if 

 the sections should require sand-paper- 

 ing. — A. B. Mason. 



There is always a little (more or 

 les.s) propolis on the edges, and that 

 ought to be scraped before putting 

 them on the market. — P. L. Viallon. 



Yes. Do not neglect this important 

 part. Propolis is all right in its place, 

 but it is " matter out of place" on a 

 section. — H. D. Cdtting. 



It is very desirable, in my estima- 

 tion, to have the sections nice and 

 clean when they are offered for sale. 

 We scrape off every particle of glue 

 and wax that may adhere to the sec- 

 tions, as we crate them. — G. W. Dem- 



AREE. 



It is certainly advisable to clean all 

 propolis and dirt from sections before 

 putting them on the market. The ex- 

 tra trouble will be well paid for, in the 

 extra price obtained. — J. E. Pond. 



That is the only way I know of. I 

 would be glad of a remedy if it does 

 not make more work than the scrap- 

 ing. They look so much more neat 

 after being tlioroughly cleaned, that I 

 always do it. — Eugene Seoor. 



Yes, by all means ; but if yoin- sur- 

 l^lus arrangement is " all right," there 

 should never be any propolis on the 

 outside of sections. In this case, pre- 

 vention is better than cure. — C. H. 



DiBBERN. 



Yes ; it is both desirable and neces- 

 sary, if you wish to have the reputa- 

 tion of doing good work in marketing 

 hone}', and obtain the highest prices 

 for the product. — The Editor. 



Do Floivcrs Bloom Profusely 

 and have no B^^eclar i 



Written fur u:'' American Bee Journal 



Query 602.— 1. Do t'owers, such as white 

 clover for instance, sometimes bloom pro- 

 fusely, and fail to secrete ne>-t»r ? 2. If so, 

 does white clover, in a good season, .-ield suf- 

 ficient to be plainly visible, when the heads 

 are pulled to pieces ? This has been an ex- 

 traordinary year with us for vegetation, a. d 

 the ground has been covered for four months 

 with the most abundant white clover bloom, 

 yet my bees only averaged 36 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey per colony, and swarming was 

 prevented ?— British Columbia. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes.— P. L. Vi.a.llon. 



1. Yes. 2. I never saw it that way. 

 — G. M. Doolittle. 



1. Yes. 2. I have seen it jield so 

 as to be visible. — A. B. Mason. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes it can be seen, but 

 not as easilj' as in linden. — A. J. Cook. 



1. Yes. 2. Not usually, unless the 

 crop is very abundant. — Dadant & 



Son. 



1. I think that they do. 2. I never 

 saw it ; still I never looked much. — C. 



C. Miller. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes, by pressing on the 

 thumb nail each separate piece. — H. 



D. Cutting. 



1. Yes, .sir. 2. I have frequently 

 seen honey, in good seasons, in white 

 clover when the heads were pulled 

 apart. — J. P. H. Brown. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes ; 3tJ pounds per col- 

 ony is not a failure, by any means. — 

 J. 'M. Shuck. 



1. Yes, in some localities. 2. Yes, 

 sometimes. I have known clover to 

 yield pretty well, when one needed a 

 magnifying glass to see any nectar in 

 the blossoms. — James Heddon. 



1. The secretion of nectar varies 

 greatly in differentseasons. 2. I have 

 not examined the white clover to as- 

 certain whether the nectar is visible, 

 but 1 presume it is. — M. Mahin. 



1. Yes. 2. No, not in my experi- 

 ence. The statement made in the 

 question, is a complete answer thei'cto 

 in your own experience J. E. Pond. 



1. Yes, I have seen the hillsides and 

 pastures white with clover bloom, and 

 the bees in a starving condition. 2. 

 Yes. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



1. They certainly do. 2. I have 

 never seen the nectar plainly visible in 

 white clover, though I have many 

 times looked for it. It is much more 

 abundant in red clover. — Eugene 

 Secor. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes, if you split a flowret 

 and hold it so the light strikes it right, 

 with good eyesight you may see the 

 tiny drop at the lower end where the 

 seed forms. You may also taste it 

 with the tip of the tongue. — R. L. 

 Taylor. 



1. Yes. 2. It does, if a careful ex- 

 amination is made. You can readily 

 tell when white clover is yielding well, 

 by chewing the blossoms. The electric 

 conditions of the atmosphere have 

 much to do with the secretion of nec- 

 tar in flowers. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



1. Yes, all flowers sometimes fail to 

 yield honey. 2. I have never been 

 able to see honey in white clover blos- 

 si^ms without a microscope. Your yield 

 is about an average for the last season. 



— C. K. DiBBERN. 



1. Yes. Two years ago I sowed, 

 broadcast, about a peck of buckwheat 

 directly in front i^.* the apiary ; while 

 directly back of it, and nearly a mile 

 awa)', was another patch nearly on top 

 of a small mountain. The patch that 

 I sowed bloomed jirofusely, but yielded 

 no nectar whatever ; while honej- fairly 

 poured in from the other field. Oc- 

 curences of this kind are quite common. 

 2. That would not be a sure " proof." 

 The honey might be there, and still 

 not be visible to us. — Will M.Barnum. 



1. According to my experience, yes. 

 But vi'hite clover is the surest of all 

 nectar-bearing plants. I have never 

 known it to fail entirely when the 

 bloom was abundant, but in one sea- 

 son, in all my exiicricncc. But it does 

 not always yiekl equally well. 2. The 

 nectar is at the bottoms of the tubers, 

 and I have never been able to see 

 much of it bj' dissecting the blossoms. 

 It is not at all uncommon for flowers, 

 no matter how profuse, to fail to yield 

 nectar when the weather is unpro- 

 pitious. Such lias been my misfortune 

 the past fall. — G. W. Demaree. 



1. Oh, yes. It has been often dem- 

 onstrated that sometimes flowers will 

 bloom profuselj' and yet yield no nec- 

 tar. 2. Yes ; it may be seen by the 

 aid of a glass. If an average of 3G 

 pounds is regarded as anjwhere near 

 a failure, your ideas are very high. — 

 The Editor. 



