OCTOBER 15, 1914 



791 



wlien fruit is cheap oi" will be cheap. It is 

 possible and even probable that these fac- 

 tories will see that the large advance in the 

 price of sugar will warrant them in taking 

 advantage of the very low price on honey 

 of medium grades. This would have the 

 effect of disposing of the superplusage of 

 fruit, and at the same time increase the 

 demand for the cheap honeys. When the 

 canning-factories get to know that honey is 

 superior to sugar for canning, and this year 

 far cheaper, they will begin to use it in 

 large quantities. The combination of these 

 commodities ought to have a tendency to 

 relieve both industries. The next thing is 

 to get them together. 



Beekeepers everywhere ought to sound 

 the slogan, " Use lioney for canning fruit 

 and baking." Talk it to your neighbors; 

 visit your canning-factories if you have 

 them. If you have no cheap honey, write 

 to your nearest commission house, and you 

 will doubtless be able to get all you desire, 

 both as regards quality and price. 



Our Swamp Beekeepimg 

 Speaking about swamp yards, our oper- 

 ations at these i^laees are drawing to a close, 

 and the bees are being hauled home pre- 

 paratory to being placed in our mammoth 

 bee-cellar. Two weeks ago there was a 

 severe freeze in the vicinity of our Hudson 

 yards, some thirty miles away. This killed 

 even the asters. As it was not necessary 

 to keep the bees there any longer they are 

 now being brought home. Did our swamp 

 beekeeping pay? We think it did, in spite 

 of the fact that v/e charged up against the 

 bees 10 cts. per mile for truck hauling. 



SWAMP BEEKEEPING VERSUS FEEDING UP 

 CHEAP HONEY NEAR HOME. 



One of our outyards near home was left 

 in its original loeation instead of hauling 

 it into the swamps. To this we fed cheap 

 Porto Rican honey, not only because the 

 honey was of good quality, but because it 

 was free from i3ee disease. Foul brood has 

 never been known in Porto Rico, and the 

 strict quarantine regulations against the 

 importation of bees, queens, colonies, or 

 combs will probably prevent the disease 

 from getting into the island. For that 

 reason we have thought that the honey 

 from that island would be perfectly safe 

 to feed without boiling. The expense of 

 building up this yard on Porto Rican honey 

 will be a little more than the expense of 

 operating the bees at the swamp yards 

 where we did no feeding; but the increase 

 on this Porto Rican honey has been very 

 satisfactory, and the boys report that the 

 bees are in excellent condition. 



The (jnostion may be asked why we charge 

 ten cents a mile for liauling bees with our 

 own automobile truck. Experience shows 

 that it cannot be operated for less. A horse- 

 drawn vehicle or wagon will cost as much 

 because so much of the time in the winter 

 the horse is " eating his head off." 



A yard 30 miles away would have to have 

 $6.00 entered against it for one round trip 

 of 30 colonies on the basis of 10 cts. a mile. 

 If tliere were 60 colonies at the yard, that 

 would make a charge of $12.00, or at the 

 rate of 20 cts. a colony. Add to this the 

 cost of operation by lofal men near the 

 bees, and the entire charge would be about 

 50 cts. per colony. 



At the outyard near Medina we fed about 

 20 lbs. of Porto Rican honey. This would 

 make a charge of $1.00 per colony, plus the 

 labor. It will be seen that, even when bees 

 are 30 miles away, the balance is in favor 

 of the swamp proposition. But we have 

 several yards, 7, 10, and 15 miles away, 

 hence the truck hire per colony will be 

 correspondingly reduced. For example, a ' 

 yard ten miles away would have a truck 

 charge of 7 cents per colony. Taking every 

 thing into consideration, the trucking, even 

 at a charge of 10 cts. per mile, providing 

 there is bee pasturage 10, 15, or 20 miles 

 away, is a savinig over feeding. If the aster 

 honey causes dysentery later the difference 

 may be in favor of the fed colonies. 



We have been somewhat surprised to 

 receive a number of inquiries from bee- 

 keepers who are planning to rely on candy 

 almost entirely for winter stores, and who 

 wish to know the latest developTnents in the 

 making of the candy. Our feoHug all along 

 has been that the siDecific value of candy 

 lies in the fact that it can be supplied 

 during cold weather when the feeding of 

 syrup would be impossible. It is true that 

 we have ventured the suggcotion once or 

 twice that candy might some time be a safe 

 all-winter food i:istead of syrup. Howevi^r, 

 in view of the fact that there have been 

 some rei3orts of failure it would seem to us 

 an unwise procedure at present for any 

 beekeeper to plan in advance lo use candy 

 alone, especially when there is still time in 

 most localities, at least, to feed sugar syrup. 

 There may come a time when the making 

 of bee candy will have become so perfected 

 that it can be relied upon in the fall, win- 

 ter, and spring; but we cannot consistently 

 advise that now. We believe that candy 

 should be used in cases of e:i.erger\cy to 

 prevent actual rtarvation during cold 



