970 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



cient quantity ; but it must be strong vinegar. 

 This year I have used much more than one 

 tablespoonful of vinegar to ten pounds of su- 

 gar. I have no water near any of my out- 

 yards, and I have thought it a great saving of 

 time to take my syrup from home. Where 

 many thousands of pounds of syrup are to be 

 fed I have thought the more condensed the 

 greater the saving of time. But you speak so 

 highly of feeding syrup half sugar and half 

 water that I propose to try it when I need to 

 feed next time. J. E. Crane. 



Middlebury, Vt., Oct. 24. 



[If you make your syrup by the cold pro- 

 cess — mixing sugar and water in an ordinary 

 extractor-can at the out-yard, you don't need 

 to haul the sugar and water mixed (syrup) 

 but just carry the sugar alone. Arriving at 

 the out-yard, pour the sugar into a common 

 honey- extractor, add water equal bulk, and 

 turn the extractor-handle till sugar dissolves. 

 You see there is no need to haul water from 

 home to the out yards. — Ed ] 



Now will be a good time to renail hives that 

 may be gaping in the corners, and to put on 

 an additional coat of paint. 



WhiIvE this journal is going out to its read- 

 ers I expect to be in attendance at bee-keep- 

 ers' institutes in Central New York. 



This number contains 1 6 extra pages. Dur- 

 ing the current year we have given our readers 

 about 1000 pages for $1 00. There may be bet- 

 ter investments, but certainly this is a good 

 one. 



There never was a time, I believe, when 

 there was such a scarcity of good honey as 

 there has been this fall. There has been quite 

 an upward tendency in the price of comb and 

 extracted. These prices ought not to be low- 

 er, even with a good crop, for good honey 

 ought to be worth the prices now asked in the 

 market. 



I HOPE those who are in position to do so 

 will make close observations on the matter of 

 sealed covers and absorbents for outdoor win- 

 tering. Some winters the latter seem to give 

 the best result, and others the former. Let us 

 discover, if possible, what the exact condi- 

 tions are under which one or the other gives 

 the best wintering. 



The index for 1900, in this issue, is unusually 

 full and complete. Stenog and I have been 

 working on it long and hard, and we believe 

 that now we have made the best index that we 

 have ever placed before our readers. But an 

 index is of no value unless one keeps his back 

 numbers, and no progressive bee-keeper can 

 afford not to do it. 



When putting bees in the cellar, be sure to 

 give them plenty of bottom ventilation, either 

 by taking the bottom-board off entirely or giv- 

 ing the bees an entrance an inch or two deep 

 and the width of the hive The wide and deep 

 entrances outdoors should be contracted down 

 to ^ inch by 8 wide. If the colony is not 

 strong, 5XH will be better. 



Here we are, Bro. Hutchinson and I, at Ho- 

 tel Broezel, Buffalo, N. Y., writing editorials 

 for our respective journals. We have just 

 come from the Ontario convention over in 

 Canada, and to-morrow will work eastward — 

 Bro. Hutchinson to the bee-keepers' institutes, 

 and I to one or two of the institutes, and to 

 the trial of the Utter Bros, in the now cele- 

 brated bee-and-fruit case. 



PROSPECTS FOR A GOOD HONEV-FLOW IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



The Union Hive and Box Co., Los Angeles, 

 writes that California has had the finest rain- 

 storm in years ; that it was general, and lasted 

 nearly a week. From five to ten inches fell, 

 seven being about the average. This is more 

 than the entire season for two years past. 

 They say if this is followed by any thing at all 

 it means a good honey season. The amount 

 of precipitation in the Northern States has al- 

 so been unusually heavy this fall, so that we 

 are hopeful all along the line. 



BOTTLING HONEY. 



In this issue we begin our series of articles 

 on bottling honey. I should like to have our 

 friends go into this subject so fully that every 

 thing of value pertaining to it may be picked 

 up. A knowledge of how to increase the price 

 of extracted honey may be worth hundreds of 

 dollars to bee-keepers. But this knowledge 

 will avail them nothing unless an effort is 

 made to develop the home market. These 

 short winter days, when work is not very rush- 

 ing on the farm, will afford a good opportuni- 

 ty to experiment in bottling, and to try the 

 product on the local markets. 



" KELLOGG'S PURE HONEY." 

 Our readers will remember that a certain 

 brand of honey, labeled " Kellogg' s Pure White 

 Clover Honey," bearing the address Medina, 

 O., has been sold considerably in the South 

 and West. Several analyses have shown that 

 it is greatly adulterated. Of course, it is plain 

 that the venders of this stuff are trying to 

 palm it off under the reputation of The A. I. 

 Root Co., who do a large business in selling 

 pure honey. We have been, for about a year, 

 gathering facts and affidavits, and now our at- 

 torney has the matter in hand. We do not 

 need to tell our readers that no one in this 

 small town is putting up bogus honey. If such 

 were the case we should know it right speedi- 

 ly ; and yet we are told that the venders of 

 this so called Kellogg's pure honey have been 

 telling their customers right and left that 

 these goods were put up by a large firm in Me- 

 dina, O. The gall of some people is exceeded 

 only by their greed for the almighty dollar. 



