1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



169 



is why we like to change the color of the cover 

 of Gleanings once in while. And then see 

 how quickly boys will grab for a green or yel- 

 low firecracker rather than one of the regula- 

 tion red kind. And how a rainbow stirs the 

 soul by its charming colors ! 



ib 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The comb honey yarn is up again. Mr. 

 York prints the following from the farmer's 

 Voice, of Chicago: 



It is almost impossible to buy pure honey. Even 

 honey in the comb is adulterated. A syrup of glucose 

 and dissolved sugar is fed to the bees, and they fill the 

 combs as with honey, but it is inferior. j 



'f, The clipping was sent to Mr. Eugene Secor, 

 who replies with a complete refutation of the 

 statement, mentioning, among other things, 

 that Mr. Danzenbaker watched the agent of a 

 glucose-factory in his attempts to get bees to 

 take glucose, but it could not be done. Mr. 

 York mentions a similar canard in the Even- 

 ing Post, of New York. I replied to them in 

 full, sending them a sample of foundation. I 

 believe in replying to such statements by 

 writing to the editors of the papers themselves, 

 as they will in every case, probably, publish a 

 fair statement of the facts as we know them. 

 I am not sure that my reply appeared in the 

 Post, but I am glad semebody's did. 



As this is the shortest month in the year, 

 and space is at a premium in Gleanings just 

 now, and as the other journals have not come 

 yet, it will be necessary to stop picking just 

 here. 



AN INTERVIEW WITH J. E. CRANE. 



Wintering Bees; Wind-breaks; Smokers; Cheap 

 Honey - packages ; Plain Sections, etc. 



[Some little time ago I told you that " Sten- 

 og " had taken down verbatim an interview 

 that occurred between Mr. Crane and myself. 

 At the same time a kodak made an attempt to 

 preserve the visible portions of the interview; 

 but when we came to develop the film we 

 found, to our chagrin and sorrow, that it was 

 "fogged;" and I am, therefore, unable to 

 show you the two of us in animated discus- 

 sion. Well, here is what flowed from Stenog's 

 pen. — Ed.] 



Mr. Root. — About how many colonies have 

 you, Mr. Crane? 



Mr. Crane. — About 525. 



R. — In how many apiaries? 



C— Five. 



R. — Don't you find that so many colonies in 

 one yard are too many ? 



C. — Perhaps they give a little less honey per 

 colony, but that, I believe, is fully made up 

 in convenience in handling. 



R. — How many helpers do you have gener- 

 ally? 



C. — Only one. 



R. — How many hours do you work a day ? 



C. — Well, we are supposed to work only ten 

 hours; but sometimes the number is lengthen- 

 ed to twelve or even fifteen during the height 

 of the season — it varies greatly. 



R. — Do you produce comb or extracted hon- 

 ey ? 



C. — I produce comb honey altogether. I 

 produce extracted honey from unfinished sec- 

 tions, and that is all. 



R. — Why do you produce comb in prefer- 

 ence to extracted ? 



C. — Oh ! it is less work to do so; and, be- 

 sides, I find a more ready market for it — those 

 are my principal reasons — there may be others. 



R. — How do you manage swarming at out- 

 yards ? 



C. — Well, I remove the queens from some 

 hives when the bees are preparing to swarm, 

 and from others I remove the brood-combs, 

 and give them empty combs, or frames sup- 

 plied with foundation instead : cutting out 

 queen-cells where the queen is removed, and 

 giving virgin queens, after two weeks or more, 

 to queenless colonies. 



R. — Don't you find that an immense amount 

 of work ? 



C. — Yes; but I have failed yet to accom- 

 plish very much without considerable work. 



R. — Don't you sometimes miss some cells? 



C. — I think very likely I do — undoubtedly; 

 but I have observed that, where I keep a man 

 in a yard to watch the bees, I also lose swarms; 

 but the loss is no greater, so far as I have ob- 

 served, by my method, than where I hire a 

 man for each yard, and the profit is rather 

 greater. 



R. — Do you shake bees off the combs when 

 hunting for cells ? 



C. — I do usually where the colony is very 

 populous. 



R. — Do you have blacks, hybrids, or Ital- 

 ians? 



C. — Oh ! I have all kinds, but most largely 

 hybrids. 



R. — Why do you have hybrids? 



C. — Well, it is too much work to keep pure 

 stock. I should prefer the best strains of pure 

 Italians or else pure blacks. 



R. — But wouldn't you have more difficulty 

 in shaking the bees off the combs with pure 

 Italians? 



C. — There would be less necessity for shak- 

 ing the bees off, because they remain more 

 quietly on the combs. 



R. — And is it a fact that, by this plan, you 

 and one helper can manage over 500 colonies ? 



C. — We do so. 



R. — About how many hours a day did you 

 put in, each of you? 



C. — It didn't average far from ten. Proba- 

 bly, during the height of the season, we put 

 in more than that — doubtless eleven or twelve. 



R. — Mr. Crane, has your experience with 

 plain sections this season been such as to war- 

 rant you in using a larger number next sea- 

 son ? 



C— It has. 



