MARCH 1, 1916 



209 



Heads of Grain From Different Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 



BY J. H. DONAHEY 



Of all the uses for honey the one where you hand 

 a couple of well-filled sections over the line fence to 

 i/our skeptic neighbor is about the best recipe of all. 



We shall have one of the best honey sea- 

 sons next year, I think, I ever saw, judging 

 by the white clover. In all my years of 

 beekeeping I never saw a better prospect. 

 Bees went into winter quarters in good 

 shape. All have plenty of winter stores. 

 Unless something unforeseen interferes, I 

 think we shall have a record-breaker of a 

 honey crop. J. W. Bittenbender. 



Knoxville. la., Dec. 2, 1915. 



Honey Souring in Combs 

 I should like to know if honey in the comb 

 or otherwise ever goes bad. I do not mean 

 sour — just bad, so it would be harmful to 

 eat it. What are the causes? Would the 

 presence of wax-worms do it if I had found 

 nests in some of it? I am speaking of hon- 

 ey taken off hives last fall, and kept in a 

 dry place in extracting-frames, the frames 

 in the supers covered. Wm. C. Nelson. 



Mount Vernon, N. Y., Jan. 18. 

 [Honey in the comb will sometimes sour, 

 become watery at other times, so as to be 

 too thin, and the excess of water in the 

 honey may be the cause of the souring. 

 Some honey is more inclined to turn to an 



acid flavor than others. Of course, the hon- 

 ey may granulate in the combs; but this is 

 no sign of inferiority. There is no other 

 change that takes place in honey that we 

 know of. The presence of wax-moths would 

 have nothing to do with the matter. If 

 honey is kept in a warm dry place it should 

 ordinarily keep in nice condition; and the 

 warmer and drier it is, the less tendency 

 there is to granulation and turning sour. — 

 Ed.] 



A Honey-bread that is Genuine 



In reply to your editorial, page 45, Jan. 

 15, I will say if the food commissioner were 

 to get after me I would not have to plead 

 guilty, as I could show him that my bread 

 contains honey. Being entirely alone for the 

 past dozen or more years I do my own cook- 

 ing and baking, and invariably put honey 

 in my bread, and nearly all other baking and 

 cooking. I use at least a part honey; and if 

 every family would do this we should need 

 more bees to supply the demand. 



Union Center, Wis. Elias Fox. 



Another Course in Apiculture 



The Agricultural College at Cornell is of- 

 fering this coming term. of 1916 a course in 

 practical beekeeping. The course consists of 

 one lecture and two laboratory periods of 

 21/4 hours each, weekly. The students are to 

 be given practice in nailing hives, making 

 wax, making hard and soft candies, artificial 

 cell-cups, etc. Later on, when weather per- 

 mits, each one will have opportunity to 

 handle the bees, and will be required to 

 mount a collection of the nectar-yielding 

 plants of this region. I think you will be 

 glad with me that the great State of New 

 York is at last waking up to the importance 

 of her beekeeping industry. 



Ithaca, N. Y. Wendell T. Card. 



Is It Necessary to Mark the Net Weight on 

 a Pitcher of Honey? 



If one of my neighbors brings a pitcher 

 for some extracted honey, is it necessary for 

 me to tag the pitcher so much net? Can a 

 trader have a sixty-pound can of honey in 

 his store, and draw out of it for a customer? 

 Can I sell a section of honey to my neighbor 

 without stamping it? J. B. Mason. 



Mechanic Falls, Me., Jan. 27. 



[Unless you do an interstate business it 

 will not be necessary for you to mark any- 

 thing. If Maine has a net-weight law of its 

 own it would be necessary for you to mark 

 the exact contents by weight or measure of 

 any regular package of any commodity that 

 you might be selling. As a pitcher is not a 

 regular jiackage it would not be necessary, 

 in our opinion, for you to. mark this in any 

 manner whatsoever. In fact, it would be 

 impractical. The law contemplates only 



