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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 15 



HEAVIER AND STRONGER COMB HONEY 

 SHIPPING-CASES WITH MORE CORRU- 

 GATED PAPER. 



A LARGER shipping-case, with heavier 

 ends to nail to, and large enough in dimen- 

 sions to take in a sheet of corrugated paper, 

 top and bottom, and cross-partitions of this 

 material, or better, perhaps, cartons for each 

 individual section, will cost only 8 cents 

 more than the present standard shipping- 

 cases of 24 lbs. capacity. If such a ship- 

 ping-case will save only one section out of 

 the entire 24, it will pay for itself, and leave 

 5 to 10 cents per case to spare to apply on 

 more shipping-cases, or deposit that amount 

 in the bank as a savings account. But 

 carefully prepared statistics covering some 

 large shipments of honey show, however, 

 that the present breakage and leakage 

 amount to about 20 per cent. At a whole- 

 sale rate of 15 cts. per lb., and counting the 

 broken honey worth half price, this would 

 mean to the producer an actual saving of 35 

 cts. for a 24-lb. case, or, on a crop of 10,000 

 lbs. it would mean a saving of $145.95, or 

 enough to buy shipping-cases for another 

 crop of 10,000 lbs. Why, then, should we 

 bee-keepers continue the antiquated way of 

 shipping our fancy product (fragile if any 

 thing is fragile) in light shipping-cases, 

 when the breakage amounts to so large an 

 item? 



As a matter of fact, there is another thing 

 for us to consider. Would it not be wiser 

 for us to go one step further and have no 

 shipping-cases of, say, more than 12 sec- 

 tionis? This would make the relative cost 

 per section higher, but it would insure very 

 much better delivery. If we must use the 

 24-lb. case we can make a very much strong- 

 er box by making it approach the form of a 

 cube — that is to say, a double tier, 12 sections 

 to the tier. There should be, then, three 

 pieces of corrugated paper — one in the bot- 

 tom of the case, one between the two tiers 

 of sections, and one on top. 



The advice is given to use carriers, and 

 not without good reason. But many times, 

 orders call for one or two cases at a time. 

 What are we going to do? Ship the two 

 cases by themselves? Of course we can 

 take our present cases, find a larger box, 

 and pack them in straw; but would it not 

 be cheaper and far more satisfactory to 

 make the shipping- cases right in the first 

 place? With belter cases, we could get some 

 concessions from the railroad companies 

 and possibly we could afford to have them 

 shipped back to us as empties. 



ITALIANS vs. OTHER RACES OP BEES FOR 

 THE SOUTHLAND. 



If there is any one fact that was impress- 

 ed on us during our recent trip south it was 

 the fact that pure Italians — the most desir- 

 able race of bees, in our opinion, for most 

 Northern localities in the United States, do 

 not possess all the qualities needed in some 

 localities. The South presents a great vari- 

 ety of not to say peculiar conditions, essen- 

 tially different from those in the North, 



One marked characteristic of the Italians 

 is to breed up preparatory to the main hon- 

 ey-flow. Then when that is over they will 

 cease brood-rearing This is a highly desir- 

 able trait in most northern localities. But 

 in some southern localities that we visited, 

 that very characteristic is a serious handi- 

 cap in securing brood preparatory to anoth- 

 er or the main harvest that will follow short- 

 ly after or perhaps in a few weeks. In sev- 

 eral places in the South we ran into locali- 

 ties where there will be preliminary honey- 

 flows, during which pure Italians would 

 breed up enormously; and then, when the 

 flow was over, they would stop breeding en- j 

 tirely. Apparently, from many centuries ■ 

 of environment they have become accus- l 

 tomed to making one grand spurt, and 

 "wind" themselves in the race, to use a 

 familiar figure. 



Now, what some of our Southland bee- 

 keepers desire is a strain of bees that will 

 breed when they want them to. Said one 

 bee-keeper, "We may have a preliminary 

 flow that is extraordinarily strong. It is 

 during such times that Italians will breed 

 up well, and then stop altogether. Even 

 stimulative feeding thereafter seems to lose 

 its power over them." Well, it is coming 

 to pass that some of our leading bee-keepers 

 in the South have learned that a cross of 

 leather colored Italians and Caucasians or 

 Carniolans, both of which are more prolific 

 breeders than Italians, make a very desir- 

 able strain — a strain that will not "wind " 

 itself on the first preliminary honey-flow, 

 even though it be a heavy one. 



Mr. J. J. Wilder, of Cordele, Ga., who owns 

 and operates 21 apiaries — 9 in Florida and 16 

 in Georgia — has run across this condition 

 in his localities, and has solved it by cross- 

 ing his leather-colored Italians with Cau- 

 casians which he obtained from the govern- 

 ment. Said he, "If the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology had never done any thing else for 

 the bee-keepers of the United States, it 

 would have well served its purpose by intro- 

 ducing this desirable strain of bees." 



Mr. A. B. Marchant — in fact, many of the 

 bee-keepers along the Appalachicola River, 

 Florida — had a preliminary honey-flow 

 along in January and early in February of 

 this year, that set their bees to breeding 

 heavily; but in spite of all they could do to 

 make them continue breeding to take care 

 of their main honey-flow, yet to come from 

 tupelo and ti-ti, the bees would not breed. 

 All indications showed that there would be 

 immense yields from tupelo; but when the 

 writer left that region, it was feared there 

 were not bees enough to gather it. When 

 we explained this situation to Mr. Wilder 

 he said he would overcome it by crossing 

 leather-colored Italians with Caucasians. 



Our readers will remember that our own 

 personal experience with Caucasians in one 

 of our northern apiaries was any thing but 

 satisfactory; how they bred excessively out 

 of season, and swarmed in spite of all we 

 could do. They would build burr and brace 

 combs, sticking every thing fast, and then 



