500 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



flavor has all disappeared. There are 

 quite a number of other plants that yield 

 honey of a peculiar flavor — that is, if it is 

 extracted before it is sealed over. If the 

 bees are allovped to ripen it and cap it over, 

 all this bad taste or smell disappears. I 

 would caution you, however, not to expect 

 very much honey from only one acre of 

 plants. It may do very well for an experi- 

 ment, but I am sure it will not pay cost. 

 If I am correct, there is no honey-plant 

 known that will pay to grow for honey 

 alone. A good many times certain persons 

 have thought they had got hold of such a 

 plant — catnip for instance; but it has 

 proved to be a mistake. But such plants 

 as catnip, that will grow without cultiva- 

 tion or care, would be more likely to pay; 

 but any piece of ground that would grow 

 profitable honey-plants would grow grass 

 or grain; and the quantity you would se- 

 cure is so small it would hardly compare 

 in value with the grass or grain. I should 

 be very glad to hear the result of your ex- 

 periment if you go on with it. — A. I. R.] 



ROLL HONEY. 



I discard the name "bag hone}'," and 

 adopt "roll honey," just the same as we 

 speak of a " roll of butter." I am eagerly 

 watching your column on roll honey. For this 

 wet climate I think the freezing has got to be 

 brought into use. In this locality you could 

 not sell a 10-lb. bag — 1 lb., and 1 lb. only, 

 will have to be the ticket. When peeled, 

 and placed on a dish, it is indeed " a 

 tempting dish." But I have yet to master 

 the granulated question before I can suc- 

 ceed. 



FAIRY SHELLS. 



At our flower show we took a tin of gran- 

 ulated honey and ice-cream biscuit chips. 

 These we filled with less than 1 oz. of hon- 

 ey, and just put a label on. The honey 

 held it down. One cent each as fast as you 

 please. 



Long Eaton, Eng. J. Gray. 



FRAMES SUPPORTED ON NAILS. 



On pages 1043, '4, you ask about frames 

 supported by nails. For more than 14 years 

 the supports of all frames in my apiary of 

 70 hives are eight-penny nails of No. 8 wire 

 finishing nails. I tried at first 6's, but 

 found them too slender; No. 7 or 8 wire 

 driven in the end of the bar % inch below 

 the upper surface, head within lb or ,'s inch 

 of the hive; you can shove all from side to 

 side with one finger. No need of staples. 

 I use your frames, but saw the ends ofl^ and 

 remove the staples. James Cormac. 



Des Moines, la. 



do than it is in the lake region. I think 

 you surely have got a wrong impression in 

 this matter. I will admit that I do not 

 know much about the climate of Idaho, but 

 I do know they ship each year more peach- 

 es, pears, prunes, and apricots from Idaho 

 than were ever raised in Wisconsin. This 

 could not be if it were colder than Wiscon- 

 sin. 



With regard to Colorado, I feel sure that 

 the mercury has been below zero more times 

 during the past winter in Wisconsin and 

 Michigan than it has in the western and 

 southern parts of Colorado during the past 

 ten years, where it seldom goes below zero. 



It is somewhat colder in Northern Col- 

 orado; but at this point, 40 miles north of 

 Denver, the coldest the past winter was 2 

 above zero, and that on only two occasions; 

 besides, the sun shone almost continuously 

 all winter, and bees flew perhaps twenty 

 days each out of the three coldest months. 



Our climate is warmer in winter and cool- 

 er in summer, so there is only two to four 

 degrees difference between Chicago and 

 Denver (this is mean temperature for the 

 whole year); but the difference in humidity 

 makes Denver much the better climate. 



I think you pointed out the true cause in 

 winter loss when you spoke of the dampness 

 having a worse effect upon the bee than the 

 low temperature. 



Here I have seen bees carrying pollen 

 and honey at 47° of temperature, while in 

 Wisconsin or Michigan they will scarcely 

 fly at less than 52 above. M. A. Gill. 



Longmont, Col. 



[When I was in Colorado one late fall 

 the temperature went belov; zero several 

 times. Notwithstanding it did so I did not 

 feel the cold. In the item to which you re- 

 fer I may have been misinformed as to the 

 actual cold in the State; but the fact I was 

 trying to emphasize was that it might be 

 actually colder in Colorado or Idaho than 

 in the lake regions hereabout; but if that 

 temperature was a dry cold the bees would 

 not begin to suffer as much; that humidity 

 plus cold was what kills the bees. — Ed.] 



THE relative WINTER TEMPERATURE OF 

 COLORADO AND WISCONSIN, 



I see in your issue for Apr. 1 you say (in 

 commenting on how bees have wintered) that 

 it is as cold or colder in Idaho and Colora- 



FROM 34 TO 50, AND 5000 LBS. HONEY. 



Last spring we had 34 colonies of bees in 

 eight frame L. hives; we increased to 50 

 colonies, and took 5000 lbs. of first class ex- 

 tracted honey from clover and basswood. 

 This is an average of about 147 lbs. per 

 hive. We fed about 200 lbs. of sugar in the 

 fall. There was more than 50,000 lbs. of 

 honey taken within five miles of us. I run 

 a sawmill and planer, and make my own 

 hives, and supply some of my neighboring 

 bee-keepers too. 



Extracted honey sold here at 6 to 7 cents 

 per lb. wholesale, and retailed at 9 to 10. 



We enjoy your Home papers very much, 

 and feel sure you would enjoy a run on your 

 automobile through this part of Ontario, 

 and we should feel highly honored by a vis- 

 it from A. I. Root this coming summer. 



Falkirk, Ont. W. H. Westcott. 



