GLEAIJINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



French to send to the secretary, Oscar 

 Comire, Abenakis Springs, Quebec, and get 

 a copy. 



That Record-breaking Car of Honey 



On page 832 of our issue for Oct. 15 we 

 mentioned the fact that Mr. William Loss- 

 ing, of Phoenix, Arizona, was loading the 

 biggest car of honey that was ever record- 

 ed. He crowded into that car 646 eases, or 

 a total of 87,589 lbs. As the average car 

 does not go much above 40,000 lbs., we 

 raised the question whether our correspon- 

 dent was not overdoing it by piling the 

 cases, as we supposed, clear up to the ceil- 

 ing and thus putting an enormous pressure 

 on the cases below. He comes back at us 

 as follows: 



Mr. Editor: — Some time ago I wrote you about a 

 large car of honey I was loading- — so big a car that 

 you thought I was overdoing it. Well, that part is 

 quite natural for easterners who are not accustomed 

 to western ways, especially in Salt River Valley, 

 where milk and honey flow in large quantities. 



As per your request I wish to make another report 

 on the big car which you imagined was filled to the 

 top. Why, it was only three tiers deep the full 

 length of car, and four tiers at either end. Each 

 single tier was ten cases wide. When this car ar- 

 rived at its destination it was reported that they 

 never heard of such a big car, and that it got thru 

 all right. Well, the next four cars were loaded as 

 follows: 644 cases, 633 cases, 444 cases, and 457 

 cases. I will load two cars this week with over 500 

 cases in each. While I would not advise loading 

 to the roof of a car as you feared, I deem it per- 

 fectly safe to load at least four tiers high if so de- 

 sired, as, when cases are properly loaded six or sev- 

 en tiers high, they cannot break down. 



Our usual way of loading is lengthwise, cases 

 packed close both ends and sidewise. I have my 

 first loss yet to come when loaded as above, and I 

 have been shipping for some nine years. So far 

 this year I have produced 4100 cases, which is not 

 over half of what is produced in Maricopa County, 

 a.s we have between 22,000 and 23,000 colonies in 

 this county, and no foul brood. 



Phoenix, Ariz., Nov. 22. Wm. Lossing. 



We take it all back, friend Lossing. You 

 Westerners often do things on a big scale. 

 The fact that the cars were large in propor- 

 tion to the load they were carrying shows 

 that you were not taking the risk we had 

 supposed. 



The Amount of Stores Necessary for 

 Good Wintering Outdoors 



Elsewhere in this issue, page 9, Mr. J. 

 L. Byer, commenting on our statement that 

 less stores are needed in the North than in 

 the South, says: 



"As we are further north than Ohio, on 

 the same basis of reckoning we should re- 

 quire even less honey than they do in Ohio. 

 But I wonder where the producer here in 

 Ontario lives who would trust his colonies 



outdoors to go into winter quarters with 

 stores aggregating but 20 pounds, combs 

 included." 



It would hardly seem to us that bees 

 in Ontario would require less stores where 

 they have a longer period of confinement 

 than in Ohio. Indeed, the very reverse 

 would be true. In our locality (and that 

 represents most northern localities south of 

 the Great Lakes) 20 lbs. of good sealed 

 stores is enough to carry the bees thru from 

 November till the middle of April, or even 

 to the beginning of May. Our bees fly as 

 late as December 1, and as early as the first 

 of March. By April 1 or 15 they gather 

 some natural pollen and nectar from the 

 soft maple. From April 15 to May 10 they 

 gather considerable honey from dandelion 

 and fruit-bloom. Mr. Byer says that in his 

 north yard he has heavy snowfalls as a rule, 

 and this yard is never visited by him from 

 late fall till early spring. Reports from 

 other Ontario beekeepers show that bees 

 may be confined five months without a flight. 

 Such continuous cold and severely cold 

 weather would cause a larger consumption 

 of stores than a milder cold. When it is so 

 cold, indeed, that bees have to go into a 

 state of activity, as Dr. Phillips has de- 

 scribed in Bulletin 695, they begin exercis- 

 ing, and activity means consumption of 

 stores. We proved that, in our observation 

 hive, the colder the weather, the more the 

 bees consumed. 



But there is another very important point 

 overlooked by our correspondent. Bees in 

 the South consume more stores because they 

 will rear brood more or less all winter, 

 while those in the North will do so under 

 normal conditions only toward spring. On 

 this point there would not be much dii¥er- 

 ence between Ohio and Ontario. 



Taking it all in all, the inference of Mr. 

 Byer, that bees in Ontario would consume 

 less stores than here in Ohio, is hardly war- 

 ranted. The facts are, and Dr. Phillips' 

 bulletin, from a theoretical point of view, 

 proves it, that, in a mild cold, bees will 

 consume less stores than where it is colder 

 or warmer. When the temperature outside 

 of the cluster is 57 F., the bees actually 

 consume less than when it is higher or low- 

 er. See Farmers' Bulletin 695 reviewed 

 on page 876, Nov. 1st issue. Bees in Ohio 

 consume less stores because the winter tem- 

 perature is more favorable, and the winter 

 is shorter, so that they can gather nectar 

 and pollen a month or six weeks earlier 

 than Mr. Byer's bees. Thus we have a dis- 

 tinct advantage in smaller consumption. 



Mr. Byer says he himself would require 

 from 40 to 50 lbs. of stores, and Mr. Sib- 



