746 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



I was much interested in Mr. R. D. Brad- 

 shaw's account on page 589, Oct. 1, of the 

 number of colonies of bees kept on a restrict- 

 ed range of alfalfa. As nearly as I could 

 figure, much of this territory has an average 

 of 166 colonies per square mile. I would be 

 interested in knowing whether the bees 

 could get any honey outside the irrigated 

 area, and whether Mr. Bradshaw could 

 make an estimate of the average number of 

 colonies per square mile over the whole sec- 

 tion, and the amount of surplus secured. 

 If a colony consumes 200 lbs., and a surplus 

 is gathered of 50 lbs. per colony, it would 

 make 65 lbs. per acre. 

 ■4?- 



Right you are, Mr. Editor, Oct. 1, p. 582, 

 in regard to the wax-moth larva developing 

 wherever the moths can get at them, wheth- 

 er in a bviilding or hive. But no amount of 

 frost seems to kill those lesser moths that 

 make their webs over the surface of combs. 

 They are a nuisance. [As Dr. Miller made 

 us eat humble pie, page 698, perhaps he will 

 be willing to do the same stunt with all the 

 evidence against his proposition on page 

 ■582. Dr. Phillips told us recently that he 

 had a lot of slumgum sent to him that had 

 been boiled and run through a wax-press. 

 This was set aside in barrels, and not long 

 after it was infested with the wax-worm. 

 This is clear proof that the moth-miller vis- 

 led this aggregation of wax and cocoons 

 fter it had come from the hive. — Ed.] 

 4?- 

 DOES IT PAY TO BOTTLE HONEY ? 



On page 565, Sept. 15, Mr. Shiber asks if 

 it pays to bottle honey. His experience 

 seems to indicate that it does not pay him; 

 and yet I think it may pay many other bee- 

 keepers to do so. Of course, it is not prof- 

 itable to go out on the road to sell one's 

 honey; but when a jobbing trade has once 

 been secured, it can be kept with little trou- 

 ble, and two or three cents a pound pays 

 y\eU for putting up, especially when it can 

 Ibe done during winter, when there is little 

 else to do. As a matter of fact, however, we 

 sell in all sorts of packages — pound, half, 

 and quarter pound; glass bottles; quart, gal- 

 lon, and five-gallon tin packages. It pays 

 better to put it up in tin quarts than in 

 pound bottles; but so long as honey is want- 

 ed in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of 

 use we must try to suit, if possible, in order 

 to get trade. The honey trade has changed 

 much in recent years. The demand was 

 formerly for comb honey during October and 

 November, and little call at any season for 

 extracted; but now comb honey is wanted 

 from July till April, and extracted almost 

 every month in the year, but, of course, 

 more largely during the autumn and winter 

 months. [The question whether it pays to 

 bottle honey all depends on whether the 

 bottler is a salesman, or in touch with some 

 one who is. — Ed.] 



4^ 



IS THE LIQUID DROPPED BY BEES IN FLIGHT 



WATER OR NECTAR ? 



Do bees have the power to separate water 



from sweet substances as sugar or honey 

 found in nectar, other than by the slow pro- 

 cess of evaporation? Some facts given on 

 page 515 would seem to show that they have. 

 If bees can separate water from sugar, and 

 squirt it from their bodies, why do weak nu- 

 clei allow honey to sour in the combs? and 

 why do the bees become diseased in winter 

 when fed on thin honey? I think I will 

 scratch my head and cogitate awhile. I 

 might say, however, that, if a solution of su- 

 gar is placed in a delicate membrane and 

 suspended in water, the water will pass 

 through the membrane into the sugar solu- 

 tion; but the water does not leave the solu- 

 tion, for it has a greater affinity for the di- 

 lute sugar solution than for itself. Another 

 way of accounting for the apparent ejection 

 of water by bees is that the chance to fill 

 themselves with a thin syrup or very dilute 

 solution of sugar is used by the bees to ab- 

 sorb more than they can carry; and when on 

 the wing the exertion makes them eject 

 some of the liquid for their own comfort. I 

 have often seen bees when nectar was very 

 abundant so full of it that, if disturbed, they 

 would throw it off from their tongues so as to 

 stick up sections considerably, while, if not 

 disturbed, they did not eject it. 



■4f- 

 BULK COMB HONEY POSSIBLE IN THE NORTH. 



Ijouis Scholl tells on pages 617 and 633, 

 Oct. 15, of the comparative profit in produc- 

 ing comb (or section), bulk, and extracted 

 honey. I have heretofore rather opposed 

 bulk honey, especially for us in the North; 

 but with some variations in methods of put- 

 ting it up I am not sure but it might be 

 preferable to section honey. I have a good 

 friend in the northern part of our State 

 whose hospitality I have enjoyed several 

 times the past season, who is putting up 

 more and more bulk honey; and, what is 

 more, he says there is more profit in it at 

 12>^ cents a pound than in section honey at 

 18 cts. I believe those were the figures he 

 gave me. I could hardly believe him at 

 first; but when I saw his neighbors coming 

 for honey almost faster than he could fill 

 their pails, I was convinced that bulk hon- 

 ey has a future here in the North. He uses 

 shallow supers with a ^-inch starter on the 

 top-bar, allowing the bees to build the comb 

 their own way, and then cutting out and 

 packing the combs of honey in tin pails 

 without any extracted honey with it, or 

 only what run out of the combs. He had 

 two main reasons for putting honey up in 

 this way; one that it was less work; and the 

 other, that the bees would store enough 

 more honey this way to make up the differ- 

 ence in price. What is the difference wheth- 

 er one gets 12 pounds and sells it for 18 cents 

 a pound, or 18 pounds and sells it for 12 

 cents a pound? Then there is a mighty 

 sight of difference in the amount that peo- 

 pl i will biiy when they pay 12 instead of 18 

 cents a pound. See? [We often advise a 

 bee-keeper with only one or two hives to 

 produce bulk honey, if he wants it only for 

 his own family consumption. — Ed ] 



