132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Chunks of the 60-gallon size evidently are 

 too big. There is a scheme used by some 

 which beats that plan. Put the cans on their 

 side slightly sloping toward the outlet (for- 

 merly the inlet), apply gentle heat under 

 cans, and as fast as the lioney melts it runs 

 out into a large tank, stirring itself on the 

 way. Great scheme, and rapid. Pscholl ! 



If one should judge from the seemingly 

 fiendish glee with which peoj^le write and 

 editors publish all sorts of makeshifts, one 

 might be pardoned for believing them the 

 virtuous and better way of beekeeping. Cut 

 out all such. Throw away, burn up, de- 

 stroy, annihilate, all misfit and obsolete ma- 

 terial. It is the poorest sort of economy to 

 use it. It gives one a pain — yes, several — 

 to see the worse than jDoor planning and 

 management of some beekeepers. And the 

 amount of non-productive labor they do is 

 — well, it makes one too weary to think of 

 words to describe it. No wonder such peo- 

 ple groan and kick at the preachment of 

 " keep more bees." Poor souls, they have 

 all they can do to keep what they have. 



Not that I would cast any reflections on 

 H. H. Root's groove-and-wedge method of 

 jjutting foundation into brood-frames, but 

 'tis horribly slow, and wastes foundation at 

 the rate of one sheet in about thirty. At 50 

 cents per pound, and only 7 or 8 sheets per 



pound, it counts up in a few hundred 

 l)ounds. Down in this corner of the country 

 several of us do it faster than that, waste 

 no foundation, use a grade running 11 to 12 

 sheets to the pound, and get perfect combs. 

 But then, we don't sell foundation. We 

 buy it of the Roots and others, pay them 

 more than 50 cents for it, and save money 

 at that. But this is another story. I'll tell 

 it to you some day — if you will promise to 

 listen and try it before you comment on it. 



Wesley Foster, the professional Colora- 

 do wanderer, says that one Nichols, of that 

 part of the continental roof, " has demon- 

 strated that a beekeeper can successfully 

 rear good queens by the most approved 

 methods and produce a crop at the same 

 time." Now, Wesley, please tell us how 

 many cjueens, and the cost per queen, and 

 how many colonies it took for queens, and 

 how many for crop. But, better still, just 

 run down here and we will show you how to 

 have one colony raise four liundred queens 

 in one season, magnificent ones too, and 

 liave that same colony a rousing one at the 

 end of the season ; and when we want to put 

 a few thrills into the Western amateurs, we 

 produce a crop on that same colony at the 

 same time. And by the way, Wesley, the 

 " most approved " methods are not always 

 the " most effective." 



NOTES FROM GERMANY 



BY J. A. HEBERLE 



In Germany we have no comb-honey 

 canard, but we have something much worse. 

 We have artificial honey and cheap foreign 

 honey from Central and South America. 

 Although we have a duty of $9.60 for 220 

 lbs., the beekeepers complain of this com- 

 petition as unfair. Of course this blame is 

 on the home merchant, not the foreign bee- 

 keejDers. 



This imported honey, so it is said, is in a 

 very unclean condition. It could not be sold 

 as it is im^Dorted, because nobody would buy 

 such nasty-looking stuif, even if the law 

 would permit. The importers heat it up, 

 clean it thoroughly, and sell it as " warrant- 

 ed pure honey." The beekeepers say that 

 the origin of all honey sold should be de- 

 clared, so that the consumers may know 

 what they are getting. This foreign honey 

 costs probably about 3 cts. per pound at the 

 door of the beekeeper, and even less. The 

 price for good honey in Germany is high, 

 because the bee-pastures (and the weather) 

 are very poor compared with those of 

 America. In some districts (counties) 10 



to 12 lbs. is the average per colony in a 

 normal season. In poor seasons many bee- 

 keei^ers do not get any surplus; 25 to 30 

 lbs. is in many districts considered a very 

 good crop. Real good crops we have in 

 some seasons in districts of the Black Forest 

 and the '' Vogesen." At tlie base of the 

 needles of a fir-tree a sweet juice exudes. 

 It is not honey-dew nor from the jjlant- 

 louse. The bees gather some years a great 

 deal of this black honej^, which has a pecul- 

 iar sweet taste reminding one of the forest; 

 but it lacks the fine odor and taste charac- 

 teristic of honey from the nectar of fiowers. 

 A good many people like it, and consider it 

 especially salubrious. 



An immense quantity of artificial and 

 adulterated honey is sold. Often an inferior 

 syrup is mixed with some of the cheap 

 foreign honey. It is usually sold under a 

 fancy name that has the word honey in its 

 combination. Manufacturers and retailers 

 gain heavily, so that, if now and then one 

 is fined a few dollars he does not mind that. 

 We have a law, but the meshes are too wide, 



