iyo4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1059 



as 5 frames at this time, more to 6 frames, 

 the majority to 7 and 8 frames, some with 9; 

 and in a few exceptional cases the queen will 

 occupy the whole 10 frames. In this way we 

 can secure the best results in accord to the 

 laying capacity of the queen." 



STORES FOR WINTER. 



Our friends are asking by the score how 

 much honey or sugar stores their bees will 

 require during winter. While this question 

 is answered in all the text-books, it may be 

 well to state here that we figure on from 10 

 to 15 lbs. indoors, and from 15 to 20 out- 

 doors. An ordinary comb, when filled full 

 of sealed stores, weighs anywhere from 4 to 

 5 lbs. By glancing over the combs one can, 

 therefore, estimate according to their fill- 

 ing about the amount of stores he has; then 

 feed if necessary. 



THE CENTRIFUGAL WAX-EXTRACTOR ALSO A 

 HONEY-EXTRACTOR. 



I OMITTED to mention in the write-up of 

 the centrifugal wax-extractor that the cut 

 on the right side is to show how the same 

 machine may be used for extracting combs 

 as well as hot wax. A pair of wire-cloth 

 screens properly braced are dropped down 

 into the baskets, one on each side. The 

 combs are then leaned up against these, 

 when a rapid whirling of the basket will 

 throw out the honey in the ordinary way. 

 Of course, the combs have to be lifted out 

 to be reversed. 



THE CANDIED-HONEY SEASON AT HAND. 



The season for putting up candied honey 

 in bags, or cutting candied honey into bricks, 

 and wrapping it up in paraffined paper, is 

 now at hand. We are doing a nice little 

 business locally in this line. Our employees 

 prefer it to the liquid or even the best 

 grades of comb honey. Full particulars 

 have already been given for putting up hon- 

 ey in this form, so it will not be necessary 

 to repeat them. If you would like to know 

 how it is done, send for our IV^OS catalog, 

 which will be ready for delivery by Dec. 1st. 

 Those who are at all skeptical should test 

 their local markets, first explaining why 

 such honey is absolutely pure, why it must 

 be of the very best in order to granulate 

 solid, for it is well known that an inferior 

 and imperfectly ripened honey will not be- 

 come hard like cheese or butter in a cool 

 atmosphere. 



SIDELIGHTS FROM THE ST. LOUIS CONVEN- 

 TION; BEE-KEEPING AS A SPECIALTY. 



A PAPER read by Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 on bee-keeping as a business, was an excel- 

 lent one. He showed what specialty had 

 done in certain lines of work, and urged up- 

 on some bee-keepers the importance of de- 

 voting their whole attention to bees. This 

 would require keeping more of them, enabl- 

 ing the same tools and outfits to yield a 

 larger revenue for the capital invested. As 

 I have already given the substance of Mr. 

 Hutchinson's able arguments on this subject 

 some issues back, I will not reproduce them 

 here. But the paper as a whole called forth 

 a most spirited discussion. It developed the 

 fact that there are but few who make bees 

 a specialty, the great majority preferring to 

 keep bees in connection with some other pur- 

 suit. Dr. Miller poked a little fun at Mr. 

 Hutchinson by asking him how many bee- 

 keepers would be left in the field if all were 

 to be driven out except those who made a 

 sole business of it. "Not very many— pos- 

 sibly 200 in the United States," Mr. Hutch- 

 inson responded. "Well," said the doctor, 

 "will you tell us what would be the subscrip- 

 tion price of the Review?" This raised a 

 ripple of laughter. 



Mr. Hardy said he was only a farmer of 

 220 acres, a commercial photographer, and a 

 bee-keeper. He started only three years 

 ago with 18 colonies in bad condition. These 

 he increased to 154, and took $li!4 worth of 

 honey. The second year he did $750 worth 

 of photographing, took $2750 from the farm, 

 bought more bees, and sold $262 worth of 

 honey. This year he made $592 by photo- 

 graphing, and took two tons of honey. He 

 has been so busy he could not even read the 

 Review. 



Dr. Miller believed in specialization, but 

 thought we made more advancement by hav- 

 ing in our ranks those who carried on a mix- 

 ed business. Mr. Abbott thought bee-keep- 

 ing as a specialty was a dream. He, on the 

 other hand, had been educating the farmer 

 to keep bees, showing him how he could in- 

 crease his profit with little extra outlay of 

 labor. 



The discussion developed the fact that 

 there are many farmers who keep bees in a 

 slipshod way. When foul brood got started 

 they would allow it to be scattered, and in- 

 fect the bees of the specialist. 



Mr. Calhoun, of Missouri, was not a spe- 

 cialist. He took 15,000 lbs. of honey this 

 fall, and 10,000 last season. At that time 

 he was a mechanic, a blacksmith, making a 

 living on the farm. He believed the times 

 were advancing, and that the farmer was 

 progressing too, and explained that he could 

 not only make his farm pay, but his bees as 

 well. One should go at his business intelli- 

 gently with God, not as a one-eyed man 

 raising only hogs and corn. Raising honey, 

 he thought, was intimately connected with 

 the farm. 



Mr. Delong, of Nebraska, is one whom 

 the readers of Gleanings ought to hear 

 rather than read. He has an inimitable 



