348 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



SUMMER MEETING OF NEW 



YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF 



BEEKEEPING SOCIETIES 



Over 500 beekeepers of New York 

 and surrounding States, together with 

 their families, spent August 6 at the 

 home apiary of Archie Cogshall, at 

 Groton, N. Y., where an extensive 

 program was presented. Aside from 

 a number of New York beekeepers 

 who appeared on the progr.am, Ernest 

 Root, of Medina, Ohio and Kennith 

 Hawkins, of Watcrtown, Wis., spoke 

 to the assem1)ly. Mr. Root gave the 

 resume of experiments being carried 

 on in shipping bees and investigations 

 of the food vahie of honey. Mr. 

 Hawkins reviewed impressions of the 

 honey crop following a month's tour 

 of 11 States which ended at New 

 York. 



Dean Mann, of the College of Agri- 

 culture, Cornell, review.ed for the 

 members the efTorts being made at 

 Cornell University intended to benefit 

 New York beekeepers. George H. 

 Rea, federal extension man for the 

 State, spoke in his inimitable way 'of 

 conditions in the State and projects 

 being considered. The chief apiary 

 inspector from the State Department 

 of Agriculture at Albany, reviewed 

 the disease situation in New York, 

 while S. D. House, O. L. Hershiser 

 and other New York beekeepers 

 talked on efforts toward beekeeping 

 legislation and prices recommended 

 to beekeepers of the State for their 

 honey crop. A feature of the day was 

 a picnic luncheon served in Mr. Cog- 

 shall's orchard and the reunion of 

 New England beekeepers. Cornell 

 University has a number of excellent 

 projects "up its sleeve" which are be- 

 ing unanimously backed by all the 

 progressive beekeepers of New York. 

 Members' reports indicate a fair 

 honey crop in New York this year, 

 with the State "spotted" with drought 

 affected areas. 



A GOOD START 



I started with one colony of bees 

 when 16 years old. I am now 22 and 

 ' have 52 colonies, after making up for 

 the heavy loss last winter. This 

 year's crop will be 100 pounds of 

 white honey (clover and basswood) 

 per colony. 



ROBERT G. NORMBERG. 

 Minnesota. 



PRICE CUTTING 



By A. C. F. Bartz. 



Of all the ills the beekeeping in- 

 dustry suffers from, there is, accord- 

 ing to the views of the writer, none 

 more detrimental than the one known 

 as price cutting. 



It seems that honey, at one time 

 pronounced a fit food for the gods, 

 fate has now decreed to go through 

 the land a beggar, striving in vain to 

 gain the attention and popularity it 

 deserves and enjoyed in older days. 

 But the most discouraging feature of 

 the deplorable situation is, that so 

 many honey producers are satisfied to 

 work for little or nothing, just as long 

 as they can get rid of what Ihcy pro- 

 duce. And after tlicy have sold their 

 crop they declare they could have 

 sold a lot more if they had it, when in 



reality it means that they could have 

 given away a whole lot ni'ore. 



A careful account kept for the last 

 twenty years shows the average crop 

 of surplus per colony is 40 pounds. 

 And the last ten-year period, ending 

 in 1917 and including that season, 

 shows that it costs 30c per pound to 

 produce honey in this section of the 

 country. But the price of labor and 

 commodities, excepting honey, have 

 increased somewhere around from 25 

 to 50 per cent since 1917, which makes 

 the cost of honey production consid- 

 erably higher than above stated. 



It is true, the methods of honey 

 production are also improving, but 

 nevertheless, the cost of production is 

 far above the selling price. It is 

 ridiculous to pay a hired man $5 per 

 day for an 8-hour day, and the bee- 

 keeper work sixteen hours at $2.50 

 per day, and in addition furnish a 

 $5,000 equipment 



The Chippewa Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion, at a meeting held at Chippewa 

 Falls, Wis., on the 22nd of June, de- 

 cided to improve conditions, locally at 

 least, by conducting a honey adver- 

 tising campaign, and agreed to insti- 

 tute a honey cooking, baking and 

 candymaking contest, awarding pre- 

 miums as follows : $3 each for the 

 first prize on the best article of cake 

 (any kind), cookies, pie, beverage and 

 candy; for the second prize. $1 for 

 the third, and 50c for the fourth. 



The money to carry on this cam- 

 "paign is obtained by the beekeepers 

 of this association by a 2c per colony 

 assessment, on the fall count of colo- 

 nies. The contests are to be held in 

 different parts of the county. The 

 first one was held in Chippewa Falls, 

 Chippewa County, Wis., during the 

 latter part of August. 



Wisconsin. 



Squibs From the October, 1870, 

 Number 



"The yield of honey by various 



plants and trees depends not upon 

 the character of the season but on 

 the kind of soil on which they grow." 

 (If this statement is true how can 

 we account for the different results 

 of different seasons?) 



"A good swarm of bees, put in a 

 diminutive hive, in a good season; 

 may be compared to a powerful team 

 of horses harnessed to a baby 

 wagon, or a noble fall of water wast- 

 ed in turning a petty waterwheel."— 

 Langstroth. 



"The smell of their own poison pro- 

 duces a very irritating effect upon 

 bees. A small portion offered to them 

 on a stick will excite their anger." 



"Bees sometimes abandon their 

 hives very early in the spring or late 

 in the summer or fall. They exhibit 

 all the appearance of natural swarm- 

 ing; but they leave not because the 

 population is crowded, but because it 

 is either so small, or the hive so des- 

 titute of supplies that they are dis- 

 couraged or driven to desperation. I 

 once knew a colony to leave a hive 

 under such circumstances, on a 

 spring-like day in December. They 

 seem to have a presentment that 

 they must perish if they stay, and in- 

 stead of awaiting the sure approach 

 of famine, they sally out to see if 

 something cannot be done to better 

 their condition." — Langstroth. 



"In bee culture the chief factor is 

 intelligence, and not capital. The 

 former must produce the latter." 



"After a swarm of bees is lodged 

 in their new hive, they ought by all 

 means to be allowed to carry on their 

 operations for some time without in- 

 terruption." 



"Light colonies, deficient in honey, 

 should be fed in the latter part of 

 September or. early in October. If 

 feeding is done early, in some seasons 

 where late forage is abundant, there 

 will be a great waste of lioney." — 

 Langstroth. 



ifxHE EDITOR'S ANSWERS ii 



v^ — ^ 



Questions are answered in order received. As we receive more questions 

 than we can answer in space available, two or three months sometimes elapse 

 before answers appear. 



Giving Combs to Bees to CSean 



1. I am extracting honey. I notice a lot of 

 honey sticks to the comb. Shnuh! I put these 

 frames hack on the hives and let the bees clean 

 the honey off? 



2. When I take them off again in 2 or 3 

 days, to stack them away for the winter, what 

 must I do to keep the bee moth out of the 

 combs? 



S. What is the best way to get honey out of 

 old. dark combs, for wax? 



4. I melted comb and honey all together in 

 a capping melter. 1 noticed after the honey 

 came off from the se[iaralor can that it was 

 very dark and thick. What can I do with it? 



nxiNois. 



Answers. — 1. Yes. Tut them back on the 

 hives in the evening and leave them on long 

 enough for the bees to clean them. Some peo- 

 ple have trouble with the supers in this way. 

 linding that the bees store honey in them 

 again. In that case, if you wish them to re- 

 move the honey to the brood-combs, just place 

 the supers under the brood-chamber. You 

 might do SO in the first place if there was no 



danger of robbing. Hut when you put supers 

 that are wet with honey under a hive, some- 

 times they are too much excited to fight the 

 robbers. After the supers have been on top 

 for a few days there is no more occasion for 

 excitement. However, if you put the supers 

 under the brood-chamber late in the evening 

 it is quite probable that the bees can clean 

 them before morning. Use care, however. 



2. If you take them off before cool weather 

 comes you should place them in a closed room 

 and use either suliduir fumes or bi-sulphide 

 of carbon, as advised in former issues of this 

 magazine. If you leave them on till after 

 frosts, there will be little danger of moths. 



3. To get honey out of old combs, use the 

 extractor. Some of the finest honey that we 

 ever harvested was taken out with the extrac- 

 tor from combs that were almost black. Then 

 give the combs to the bees to clean out and 

 afterwards you may render them into wax. 



