1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



499 



Why Prices are Low 



Only the beekeepers themselves are 

 to blame for the low honey prices. 

 The first part of August I got a letter 

 from one of the large firms in Chi- 

 cago. They asked for a shipment of 

 honey and said they were paying 10c 

 for white clover. I answered them 

 that I had no honey to offer at that 

 price. Two weeks ago I got a letter 

 again from the same firm, saying they 

 could use some honey at my price. 

 You can't blame the jobbers for pay- 

 ing a low price if the beekeepers are 

 satisfied, but I don't think they got 

 much honey at the price they offer in 

 the bee papers. 



F. W. Luebeck, Rt. 2, Knox, Ind. 



up came back to these mills for years. 

 He finally moved to Missouri, but 

 "his bees" still come back and steal 

 syrup and annoy the syrup makers 

 greatly. Get the point? Lay it all 

 onto the beekeeper that has moved 

 away. Jes Dalton. 



starve. This is the best way I have 

 yet tried for introducing either vir- 

 gins or mated queens. 

 British Columbia. 



Hans Johanson. 



Cornflower for Honey 



A small plot of batchelor's button 

 or cornflower was sown by the boy 

 under a window. The flowers began 

 early in the summer. I noticed the 

 bees on them before the buds had 

 opened. From that time on the bees 

 visited the flowers from early morn- 

 ing till late at night. Even after the 

 flowers had dried up the bees would 

 come and work over the dried pods. 

 They must be great producei-s of nec- 

 tar. H. 0. Hutton, Washington. 



Beekeepers' Meeting at Gainesville, 

 Fla. 



The Florida State Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation held its second annual meet- 

 ing at Gainesville, Fla., on October 6 

 and 7. During the two days of the 

 meeting a splendid program gave 

 those attending an opportunity of 

 learning just what has been and could 

 be done with beekeeping in Florida. 

 Mr. E. R. Root, Wilmon Newell and 

 Dr. H. R. Trusler were among the 

 principal speakers. The most inter- 

 est was shown in the proposed 

 "Queen and Package Bee" business, 

 which the Association will sponsor. 

 Flans for advertising Florida honey 

 during "Florida Honey Week" (third 

 week in November) were also formu- 

 lated. One feature of the meeting 

 was a guessing contest of the differ- 

 ent Florida honeys, prizes being 

 high-bred queens. 



Frank Stirling. 



Safe Introduction 



On page 367, October, a reader 

 wishes to know how to introduce 

 queens to cross hybrid bees. I have 

 done so safely many times the past 

 summer without the loss of a single 

 queen. 



Just kill the queen in the hybrid 

 colony and make sure there are no 

 queen cells. Over the hive body place 

 a sheet of newspaper with a hole 

 punched through but with edges of 

 paper still coming together. Place 

 the queen on a frame of emerging 

 brood and put this nucleus in a hive- 

 body and set over the colony where 

 the queen has just been killed. Put 

 on the cover and leave alone for two 

 or three days. The frame of brood 

 with queen may then be put down and 

 the upper story removed. I believe 

 this is the best way I have ever tried. 

 Irving B. Long, Missouri. 



Comments From Dalton 



I wish to approve every word in 

 L. B. Smith's article, page 407. It is 

 a pity he did not write a whole page. 

 I pack exactly as he does and my ex- 

 perience is exactly his in every way. 

 It is the first article on wintering 

 printed in a Northern journal that 

 fitted the Southern condition. 



I was amused at the bees in the 

 sorghum mills, page 408. In Lou- 

 isiana we have pure sugar cane mills 

 making sugar syrup, a little mill 

 about every mile. 



When I first came to Louisiana 

 J. F. Archdekin was having it hot 

 and heavy with several of these little 

 mills. They grind in balmy, sunny 

 days in late fall here when there is 

 rot a bit of honey in the fields. Arch- 

 dekin moved four miles down river 

 and I occupied his territory, but the 

 syrup makers still cussed Archdekin, 

 and I marvelled that his bees, after 

 they got in the habit of stealing syr- 



Poor Year in British Columbia 



Referring to this season's crop, I 

 am sorry to say that it has been worse 

 than nothing. While much of the 

 world was sweltering under abnor- 

 mal heat and praying for rain. North- 

 ern and central British Columbia had 

 cool weather and a most exceptional 

 rainfall. One correspondent says that 

 July was wet, August was wetter and 

 September wettest. The oldest in- 

 habitant can recall nothing like it. 

 Hay growth was luxuriant, but it is 

 all in the fields. Bees could not fly. 

 so we are feeding up for winter. I 

 may add that southern British Col- 

 umbia has had a short, cool summer, 

 with a mighty poor crop. Vancouver 

 Island is worse than a blank and much 

 of the lower Eraser district is the 

 same. 



F. Dundas Todd, Victoria, B. C. 



A Peculiar Accident 



Phil Nichols, an Indiana beekeeper, 

 was recently reported as having been 

 painfully burned when his cotton bee 

 veil caught fire from his smoker when 

 he was taking off honey. There was 

 a sudden flash, when the veil caught 

 fire and his head was instantly en- 

 veloped in flame. 



Another Method of Introduction 



A daughter of the best queen pur- 

 chased this year was in a queen-mat- 

 ing nucleus. Wishing to break it up, 

 and fearing somewhat to introduce 

 by the regular method so late in the 

 year, for a miss might ruin the col- 

 ony, I put the young queen in a pro- 

 visioned Miller cage. This was placed 

 on the top bars of the third story and 

 left there for five days. Then, just at 

 night, I ran her into the entrance of 

 the hive with a puff of smoke to help 

 her along. Four days later I found 

 the carcass of the old queen in front 

 of the hive. I clipped the young 

 queen in a special manner in order 

 to know which had met its fate. 



The plan looks like a good one to 

 use at the close of the season, with 

 the odds all in favor of the young 

 queen, if the bees do not ball her. 



New York. 



E. M. Barteau. 



Introducing With Cell Protector 



To introduce a new aueen. I first 

 kill the old queen and place the new 

 one in a West spiral cage with feed 

 cup in place. This cage is then placed 

 in the center of the hive between two 

 brood combs for 24 hours. The food 

 cup is then removed and a plug of 

 wax made from cappings or soft 

 comb and a little honey used to close 

 the opening of the cage. The plug is 

 put in just before dark in the eve- 

 ning and must not be too large or 

 hard. The bees will remove the plug 

 and release the queen. 



Should there be a virgin or a cell 

 left in the hive the bees will not feed 

 the queen in the cage, leaving her to 



Notes From California 



Southern California beekeepers are 

 up in arms, so to speak, regarding 

 the State Association being taken to 

 the north part of the State. It was 

 decided to call a mass meeting of all 

 the good and true beenien of South 

 California, the first week in Novem- 

 ber, to try and work out some plan 

 whereby the many hundreds of bee- 

 men may become more closely united 

 in a common cause and interest. 



What we might term the rainy sea- 

 son in California has just commenced 

 (October 3), with a generous rain 

 storm, precipitating from one-half 

 inch to 21/2 inches of rain throughout 

 the Southland, and forest and brush 

 fires have been raging through dif- 

 ferent sections, and the loss of colo- 

 nies, within the fire zone, has been 

 very heavy, we fear. The rain of the 

 past few days has helped to quench 

 the fires, and danger is about past for 

 any general fires this season. 



Prospects bid fair for the starting 

 of another bee magazine in Los An- 

 geles, serving the coast in general. 

 Plans are under way at this time. 



The honey market is practically de- 

 void of any action; the tone is a little 

 stronger than 30 days ago, but noth- 

 ing to boast of; few car loads of 

 honey moving east; some local ship- 

 ments, in case and ton lots, to the 

 middle west; quotations above and 

 below 10c; mai-ket dull; crop is es- 

 timated by us, based on all informa- 

 tion available, to be 31 per cent. 

 G. W. Bercaw. 



New Jersey Convention 



The New Jersey Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation will hold its Annual Conven- 

 tion in Trenton, N. J., on .January 

 12-13, 1922. Mr. Crane, of Vermont, 

 and Messrs, Stewart and Bedell, of 

 New York, will be on the program, as 

 well as other interesting speakers. 

 Elmer G. Carr, Secretary-Treasurer. 



