590 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June IS 



not time to get up a whole journal, I final- 

 ly prevailed on him to edit (at least for a 

 time) one department in Gleanings. As he 

 is one of the officers of the Colorado State 

 Bee-keepers' Association, and is in close 

 touch with all its workings, he will be in 

 position to give valuable information relat- 

 ing to Western apicultural topics, particu- 

 larly Colorado, where the conditions are so 

 radically different from what they are here 

 in the East, or that portion of the country 

 known as the ram-belt — broadly speaking, 

 east of the Mississippi. Mr. Morehouse has 

 connections whereby he can reach all sec- 



H. C. MOREHOUSE. 



tions of his State and other portions of the 

 great West, so that he will be enabled to 

 give some idea of the quantity of the output 

 and possible ruling prices. As he is an ex- 

 tensive and practical bee-keeper of over a 

 thousand colonies, our readers can rest as- 

 sured he will be able to furnish us some- 

 thing practical and useful. It will repay 

 our Eastern readers to keep track of this 

 department, for Western honey has come to 

 be a big factor in the Eastern markets, and 

 it is bound to be a still bigger factor in the 

 future, because that portion of the country 

 west of the Mississippi will undoubtedly in 

 time produce the very much larger part of 

 all the honey in the United States, if it 

 does not already. Millions of acres are 

 now being opened up to alfalfa, and this 

 means alfalfa honey, which has now come 

 to be recognized as a table honey of the first 

 quality. California moun'-.ain sages will 



never be less abundant, because they grow 

 where farm crops can not live. While some 

 of the Eastern trade prefer clover or bass- 

 wood, the time will come when they will 

 recognize alfalfa and sage as equal to the 

 best. 



Because of the importance of the great 

 West, Gleanings has been considering for 

 some time the need of getting a bee-keeper 

 and an old newspaper man who is in posi- 

 tion to keep in touch with conditions as 

 they exist in the irrigated regions. In the 

 realization of these hopes we feel that we 

 are fortunate in securing the services of so 

 capable a man, from all points of view, as 

 our friend and editorial writer Mr. H. C. 

 Morehouse. Just how long his time will 

 permit him to serve us, remains to be seen; 

 but we hope to hold him on our editorial 

 staff for a time at least. Possibly later on 

 he may be able to find time to prepare mat- 

 ter for every issue. 



While we have a regular Western de- 

 partment, it must not be understood that 

 the articles of some of our Western writers 

 will be any less welcome than before. 



BRICK AND BAG HONEY IN WARM WEATHER. 



I FIND that, in warm weather, our brick 

 honey wrapped in paraflfine paper becomes 

 soft, or is a little harder than butter that 

 spreads nicely on bread; but it has not so 

 far softened enough to make it run out of 

 the paper. On very warm days the bricks 

 will be quite soft, but can still be handled 

 readily for retail purposes. Just as soon 

 as the weather cools off, however, the hon- 

 ey hardens again, in much the same way 

 that butter does. Last summer I was a 

 little fearful that this bag honey would not 

 be suitable for retailing in mid- summer, be- 

 cause one sample we had became so soft it 

 began to leak. But we have a much larger 

 amount of it on hand now, and I am pleas- 

 ed to report it is holding its shape very 

 well. I would still, however, advise cau- 

 tion, and, so far as possible, get the trade 

 to sell all candied honey before the ap- 

 proach of genuine hot sultry weather. 

 That this candied honev is going to have a 

 certain and positive demand as soon as the 

 public is educated to it is very evident. 

 Our emploj^ees continually call for it. We 

 have some square cans of candied honey; 

 and as fast as we use up our bricks we peel 

 the tin off from one chunk, slice it up, wrap 

 it in pape , and lay it out where the em- 

 ployees can see it. They seem to like it 

 better than the liquid or even comb honey. 

 One reason, I suppose, is that candied 

 honey is a little richer in flavor, without 

 the strong minty taste of the same honey 

 in a liquid condition. One of our corres- 

 pondents, Mr. J. S. Callbreath, calls our 

 attention to this fact — one that I have often 

 observed. 



GREINER'S article IN THIS ISSUE. 



I WOULD call attention to a valuable com- 

 munication from Mr. Greiner, in this issue. 



