1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



127 



How to get more for the product was the 

 first thing that came up in the question- 

 box, and the subject elicited lively discus- 

 sion. The facts brought out were that the 

 producer was getting about 35 cents of the 

 consumer's dollar in extracted honey, and 

 forty to fifty cents in comb honey. The 

 railroads come in for an undue amount for 

 freight, and the cost of bee-supplies keeps 

 steadily advancing, so that the profits are 

 not what they should be. The freight rate 

 on honey by the carload is about four times 

 what it is on potatoes a like distance. The 

 association has outlined work for the com- 

 ing year that will, if carried though, bring 

 about a more equitable rate on honey ship- 

 ments. The fault lies quite largely with the 

 bee-keepers themselves in not calling these 

 unfair rates to the attention of the rail- 

 roads. 



Mr. Hermann Rauchfuss gave a valuable 

 talk on good queens and proper hive man- 

 ipulations. He advocated wintering bees in 

 two-story hives, even if doubling up the col- 

 onies had to be done. In this way old 

 queens could be gotten rid of, and the 

 strength of each hive would be svich that it 

 could well withstand the severe conditions 

 of winter. Mr. Rauchfuss made a strong 

 point in recommending that bee-ketpers 

 raise their own queens in their own yards, 

 and keep each queen among the bees where 

 she was raised. The introducing of queens 

 into strange hives is the cause of many a 

 fine queen soon deteriorating. While the 

 bees do not kill her, they see that in some 

 way she is not at home, and keep fussing 

 and pulling away at her until many of them 

 become devoid of hair. A queen that is be- 

 ing continually worried will never do much 

 good work. When each bee-keeper raises 

 his own queens it is easy to keep each queen 

 among her own "home folks," and under 

 these conditions she is contented and does 

 her best work. 



For a long time the Western bee keepers 

 have been 'put out" by the dozens of dif- 

 ferent sizes of shipping-cases for comb hon- 

 ey that have been sold. The trouble does 

 not become apparent until half a dozen or 

 so of bee-keepers go to load a car of honey. 

 The cases simply will not load compactly at 

 all. Some are a quarter of an inch wider 

 than others; some are longer, and no two 

 are the same depth, although they may all 

 be double tier and hold 24 sections. We are 

 now going to have a uniform case if the ef- 

 forts of Mr. Frank Rauchfuss, manager of 

 the Colorado Honey Producers' Association, 

 materialize. The uniform size of cases, as 

 suggested by Mr. Rauchfuss, was unani- 

 mously endorsed by the State Association. 

 Mr. Rauchfuss also gave some pointed re- 

 marks on local shipments of comb honey. 

 Every shipment of it going locally should 

 be crated in carrier crates holding four or 

 eight cases, and packed with straw. It will 

 not be long until comb honey so crated will 

 take a lower rate, and then no intelligent 

 bee-keeper will fail to crate his honey prop- 

 erly for shipping. Mr. Rauchfuss said that 



he had not received a shipment of uncrated 

 comb honey that came through safely. 



The most entertaining feature of the con- 

 vention was the evening of reminiscence in 

 bee culture, led by Mr. A. F. Foster and 

 others of the gray-whiskered veterans who 

 had had fifty years and more of bee-keeping 

 to their credit. They told of the old-fash- 

 ioned ways of bee-keeping, and how good 

 the honey tasted in those days; how they 

 robbed the hives, and jilugged them to see 

 if they were ripe, as we do now with water- 

 melons. 



Pres. Collins and Prof. Gillette each ex- 

 hibited stereopticon views of the bee's anat- 

 omy, work, and methods, and made us 

 much better acquainted with the way they 

 are built and the ready-made tools they are 

 born with. 



The Association is making an effort to get 

 a more effective foul-brood law, and also to 

 have a division of bee investigation estab- 

 lished at the Agricultural College. This 

 subject was thoroughly gone over, and the 

 legislative committee has a bill introduced 

 in the legislature to establish a division of 

 bee inspection and investigation under the 

 State Entomologist. This will centralize 

 the work of inspection under a very com- 

 petent man, and every one is urged to write 

 his senator and representative to support 

 the "Bee-keepers' Bill." 



The State Entomologist will hire depu- 

 ties to carry on the work of inspection and 

 investigation, and the work will be prose- 

 cuted with vigor. The work that will be 

 carried on in bringing in new and better 

 honey-plants and better bees, and the inves- 

 tigation of methods for the advancement 

 of the industry, will be invaluable to the 

 State. 



Prof. Cockerell, of the University of Col- 

 orado, gave a delightful talk on "The Evo- 

 lution of the Bee," and brought out the re- 

 lationship of all insect life and the influence 

 of bees on flowers and vegetation. The bee 

 is geologically older than man, and reaches 

 up into the almost perfect development of 

 the honey-bee in only about a dozen species, 

 while the cruder and more primitive wild 

 bee is found in thousands of species. The 

 honey-bee is the last word in all bee-life, 

 and has become so firmly established in its 

 position that little change has taken place 

 in its characteristics in many ages. 



The work of the State Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation for the coming year will be largely 

 to secure the reduction of freight rates on 

 bees and honey, and the securing of a new 

 foul-brood law. Right now is the time for 

 every bee-keeper in the State to join, so 

 that the dollar from each member will be 

 available for immediate work. If we secure 

 but a part of the results we are going after, 

 it will be worth many times one dollar to 

 every bee-keeper in the State; so send your 

 dollar for membership to the Secretary, 

 Wesley C. Foster, Boulder, Colo., at once, 

 and urge all your fellow bee-keepers to do 

 the same. We are making the fight for you, 

 and we can not do it without some help. 



