Feb. 28, 1907 



173 



Amc»rican l^ee Journal 



of the habits obnoxious to bees — why 

 doesn't she try the experiment 7 

 Evanston, 111. Wm. M. Whitnky. 



Now, what can Mr. Whitney possibly 

 mean? His bees are gentle "as a 

 sucking dove," their gentleness due 

 to the absence of tobacco and intoxi- 

 cating liquor, and then he suggests 

 that I get a different sort of a helper. 

 If that means a helper not addicted to 

 tobacco or liquor, would he designate 

 it as a " slight change ?" What can he 

 mean? And why can't he express him- 

 self so that there will be no doubt as 

 to his meaning ? But, perhaps, we 



ought not to expect too much explicit- 

 ness from onu of Mr. Whitney's youth- 

 ful years. 



Smallest Honey Crop 



Our crop of honey was the smallest I 

 had ever had here, but the hives were 

 well filled for winter, and the bees have 

 wintered well so far. They had a good 

 flight on Chistmas, and one or two in 

 January. Some were flying Feb. 1. 

 Mks. Wm. Middlecamp. 



O.shkosh, Wis., Feb. S. 





Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunsfels, Tex. 



No Adulterated Arizona Honey 



The following, taken from a circular 

 from the Arizona Experiment Station, 

 is of interest. I believe very little 

 adulteration of honey would be prac- 

 tised in any of our Southwestern 

 States for the same reason. An inter- 

 esting fact is that I have seen very 

 little honey in the Texas markets that 

 might have been adulterated. If pres- 

 ent high prices should prevail, how- 

 ever, it will be seen that such practise 

 might be made profitable, from the 

 adulterators' standpoint ; but since the 

 pure food laws are put to use there 

 should be little danger even then. It 

 is interesting, nevertheless, to know 

 that we, of these " far-oflf " Southern 

 States, should at least be so favorably 

 located as to be safe from the ban of 

 adulteration, even without pure food 

 laws. Here is the item referred to : 



" The adulteration of honey, in Arizona, is 

 not oommercially possible for the excellent 

 reason that freight-rates so enhance the price 

 of glucose and sugar, that these adulterants 

 can not be profitably used. For instance, the 

 average wholesale cost, laid down, of white 

 sugar during 1902, was 4% to Sig cents a 

 pound, and of a good grade of glucose was 4^., 

 to 4''4' cents a pound: while the prices ob- 

 tained by the honey associations for their 

 product in car-load lots, were from 4^4 to 5Jj' 

 cents. This has been the commercial condi- 

 tion for years past, and while it continues, 

 the fact that honey is from Arizona is suffi- 

 cient guarantee of its purity. Water, indeed, 

 might be mixed with an especially dry prod- 

 uct, but fermentation would be too likely to 

 punish such dishonesty." 



Spring Feeding' of Bees 



Bees that are found short of stores 

 in early spring need feeding as badlj- 

 as for winter stores. Not only must 

 they be furnished with food, but as 

 brood-rearing begins the brood must 

 be provided for. 



There are many ways of feeding, but 

 the time and the season, the weather 

 and other conditions, must be consid- 

 ered, as, for instance, during midwin- 

 ter cakes of hard candy laid over the 

 frames above the cluster should be 

 given. Then, again, during warm 

 weather, and in the summer months, 

 outdoor feeding of sugar S3'rup may 

 be practised. Syrup of this kind, while 

 it should not be fed in winter, can be 

 given in the early spring, but on ac- 

 count of the cold weather it should be 

 fed inside of the hives so that the bees 

 may get to it at all times. 



It is bad policy to feed outside early 

 in the season, as much loss to bee-life 

 is entailed by forcing the bees out 

 when chilly weather still prevails, be- 

 sides the wear and tear to the life of 

 the bees while getting the syrup home 

 from the feeder. 



When it comes to the feeder to be 

 used, we must agree with J. L. Byer, 

 of "Canadian Beedom," that " truly, 

 it might be said, of the making oijeed- 

 ers there is no end." (Page 72.) Some 

 of them are all right, some not so good, 

 and some feeders may suit certain 

 persons while they would not suit 

 others. For instance, the Alexander 

 feeder is praised by many, while / 

 could not use it satisfactorily, because 

 there are at least a hundred different 

 kinds of bottom-boards in my apiaries, 

 to only a few of which this kind of 

 feeder could be attached. And even 

 with the right kinds of bottoms, the 

 " hive-stands " will not always " fit." 



An entrance feeder of the Boardman 

 type was given a trial, but there is a 

 good deal of danger from robber-bees, 

 hence I do not think such a feeder ad- 

 visable ; indeed, the safest place to 

 feed is within the hive, away from 

 where any outside bees may get to the 

 feed. 



The Doolittle division-board feeder 

 was used satisfactorily for several sea- 

 sons, but there were two objections to 



it/bru^, although they might not be 

 such for others. One was that it neces- 

 sitated the removal of one of the 

 combs from the brood-chamber, when 

 inserting the feeder in place of it ; 

 and another was that the brood-cham- 

 ber needed to be opened and the clus- 

 ter of bees disturbed when feeding, 

 and to ascertain the quantity of syrup 

 in the feeder. This feeder was im- 

 proved later by cutting away part of 

 the top-bar entirely where only an 

 auger hole was before, through which 

 the syrup was poured. 



There are several objections to the 

 combined hive-cover and bee-feeder of 

 H. A. Smith (page 72), for our Southern 

 climate, at least. First, the expense 

 of the cover when not used as a feeder. 

 Of course, a feeder separate from the 

 cover may make the expense of both 

 as much, or perhaps slightly more, yet 

 such a feeder could be stored away and 

 sheltered from the weather, and not be 

 handled every time the cover of a hive 

 was taken off. But one of the main 

 objections would be that such a cover 

 would not stand our blistering sun and 

 changeable weather conditions. It 

 would soon warp and twist, or crack, 

 and admit robber-bees. If made of 

 heavier material the expense would be 

 increased, and the extra weight to the 

 cover itself would be quite an objec- 

 tion, in my mind. 



/ prefer using an empty shallow 

 super over a bee-escape board, from 

 which the escape has been temporarily 

 removed, so the bees have free access 

 above. With the regular hive cover 

 on top of the super a space is formed 

 similar to that of the Smith feeder, in 

 which are set several large butter-trays 

 for the syrup. A bunch of excelsior is 

 thrown into each tray to keep the bees 

 from drowning, and I think this is a 

 better and cheaper arrangement with- 

 out the extra expense. 



In place of the bee-escape boards I 

 have used sheets of thick, heavy paper 

 which can easily be obtained from 

 furniture dealers, after it has been 

 taken from the packed goods. Through 

 each sheet, as large as the outside 

 dimensions of the top of the brood- 

 chamber, a hole is made about l>i 

 inches in diameter for the bees to pass 

 through when it is laid over the top of 

 the brood-frames. It is all-important 

 to keep the warmth of the cluster con- 

 centrated below, hence the use of such 

 a partition between it and the syrup 

 fed above. It helps the bees a whole 

 lot. 



Honey as a Health- Food. — This 



is a 16-page honey-pamphlet intended to help 

 increase the demand tor honey. The first 

 part of it contains a short article on " Honey 

 as Food," written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It 

 tells where to keep honey, how to liquefy it, 

 etc. The last part is devoted to " Honey- 

 Cooking Recipes " and " Remedies Using 

 Honey." It should be widely circulated by 

 those selling honey. The more the people are 

 educated on the value and uses of honey, the 

 more honey they will buy. 



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