1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



189 



they do not think they are justified in 

 buying an extractor. 



Several years ago, in Oklahoma, 

 when bee pasture there was not very 

 good, I had an apiary of a couple of 

 dozen stands and an extractor. Some 

 four or five other people around had 

 from two to fifteen colonies each; 

 they had no extractors, and they 

 would borrow mine. I loaned it wil- 

 lingly enough, though it was some- 

 what of a nuisance to keep this up 

 year after year. Now it was an easy 

 matter for the whole of us to use that 

 extractor and as many more could 

 have used it without much inconven- 

 ience to any of us. This suggests a 

 method by which farm communities 

 can overcome the difficulty. They 

 can own an extractor in partnership. 

 This is much fairer than borrowing, 

 and there is nothing about the ex- 

 tracting that will work much of an 

 inconvenience in passing the machine 

 around. Honey does not have to be 

 extracted at any certain time, and it 

 will not lose flavor or value if left on 

 the hives or stored in a warm, dry 

 place in the frames. 



Another point farm beekeepers 

 should aim at in working for ex- 

 tracted honey is to have full frames 

 throughout their whole equipment, 

 for it is no more trouble to uncap 

 and extract a full frame than a shal- 

 low extracting frame, and you get so 

 much more honey, thus cutting down 

 the labor. The extractor pockets 

 take a full frame as well as a shallow 

 frame, and when we are using frames 

 any way for storing the honey I can 

 see but little advantage in using su- 

 pers and shallow frames except the 

 weight of the filled super. A full- 

 sized hive-body filled with ten full 

 frames of honey is heavy to handle, 

 but it will be easy to take out frames, 

 or we can make an overhead pulley 

 and hooks to catch the hive, and thus 

 make it easier yet. Having all the 

 frames alike simplifies the equipment 

 greatly. Then the frames are inter- 

 changeable, and can be used for 

 brood or honey, as we think best. 



Kansas. 



HONEY GATHERERS IN MID- 

 FEBRUARY 



By A. C. Burrill 



A visit to apiaries near Poplar 

 Bluff, Mo., showed, on February 15, 

 1921, that both pollen and nectar were 

 coming in freely in this foothill i-e- 

 g:ion of the Southeast Missouri "sunk 

 lands." One beekeeper has adopted 

 the two-hive-body stand for winter- 

 ing and had an extra large swarm at 

 work inside. About eight frames had 

 fresh nectar in the cells, very few of 

 which had just been capped. This was 

 roughly equal to two full frames of 

 new honey and about one-half fi-ame 

 of bee-bread, made out of a whitish 

 green pollen. As only a few soft red 

 maples had been noted blooming, it 

 was rather a mystery where this rec- 

 ord early flow of the season was com- 

 ing from, the swamp maples in the 

 overflow lands or the town red ma- 

 ples. The warmth of the three days, 



February 13-15, broke the Topeka, 

 Kans., record for high heat in Feb- 

 ruary. No dandelion or other flow- 

 ers were yet out, save a leafless orna- 

 mental bush with yello..' bloom, not 

 unlike flowering cuirant, but larger 

 flower bloom, noted at the shoe fac- 

 tory plantings at Poplar Bluff. 



The unusuually warm winter, cou- 

 pled with the poor fall honeyflow, re- 

 sulted in the extinction of one colony 

 entirely, due to starvation from lack 

 of stores. Until there is unlimited 

 sweet clover nectar on waste lands, to 

 provide a nectar flow in late summer 

 drouth's. Southeast Missouri bee- 

 keepers are confronted with a seri- 

 ous problem in seasons like 1920. It 

 is doubtful if the recommended Fed- 

 eral winter packing could have 

 availed much in saving some strong 

 colonies in a winter so warm and open 

 as 1920-21, since there was such 

 shortage of stores. 



A little sealed brood confirmed the 

 suspicion that brood-sealing began in 

 January. Mr. Julius Nebel says there 

 has never been a time all winter when 

 there was not a little brood rearing 

 going on at Jackson, Mo. 



Missouri. 



THE LEAGUE AT WORK 



By H. B. Parks, Secretary 



Before this article reaches you, 

 the League Bulletin will be in the 

 hands of a large number of the bee- 

 keepers of America. If you have not 

 received a copy, write for one. The 

 League wants every beekeeper to 

 know just what it stands for, what it 

 plans to do and what it is doing. The 

 Bulletin will give you this informa- 

 tion. 



Many think the League is organ- 

 ized as a huge selling machine, plan- 

 ning to handle all of the honey pro- 

 duced. This may never come; if it 

 does, it is in the very distant future. 

 It is not the idea of the present move- 

 ment to propose such a thing. 



The policy of the League is to sell 

 through regular channels of trade 

 and where none exist, create such 

 out of the already established gro- 



cer's trade. It is the future produc- 

 tion and the future sale of honey the 

 League is planning for. If the bee 

 industry grows, there must be a 

 great enlargement in the sale of 

 honey. Talk as you will about honey 

 not being in competition with su- 

 gars, syrups, jellies and jams, it is 

 and always will be. Honey must sell in 

 a reasonable ratio to these commod- 

 ities. Thus, to create a great de- 

 mand for honey its claims must be 

 put before the public. It must be 

 available and its price must be right. 

 If the producer can obtain 8 cents 

 per pound for every pound of honey 

 he can produce and get that price 

 when he offers his honey for sale, he 

 has a paying proposition. No League 

 or private firm could finance a cor- 

 ner on the honey market and force 

 its sale. So the League has deter- 

 mined upon the policy to nationally 

 advertise honey, to help State and 

 county organizations in increasing 

 the local demand, and to keep all 

 sellers of honey informed as to when 

 and where to sell. The above may 

 seem at first a queer statement, but 

 is not so queer as it may seem. 

 Honey, in many places, is a quick 

 money crop. In many places only 

 small amounts are raised. In these 

 localities, when the honey crop is 

 taken, the market is well supplied for 

 a short time and a trade is developed. 

 When the supply runs out there is no 

 more honey until next year. It is in 

 this kind of a place that if honey 

 were shipped in as soon as the home 

 supply ended, advantage could be 

 taken of the already established trade 

 and continuous sales be made. Only 

 a body such as the League can ever 

 give this service. 



The League advertising campaign 

 is on. The time seems ripe for it. 

 You will notice in the bee magazines 

 that men knowing little or nothing 

 about the work of the League are 

 proposing such a scheme. The League 

 has the machinery in action. It has 

 already a fine start. Your State Sec- 

 retary will give you a chance to help. 

 If you believe in beekeeping and bee- 

 keepers, support the advertising cam- 



Ma 



Grace Bnttain, the 12year-oId girl who drew the picture on the opposite 



