APRIL 15, 1916 



305 



J. E. Crane 



SIFTINGS 



Middlebury, Vt. 



That Backlot Buzzer, p. 167, is 

 still in trouble — just like some 

 beekeepers I have known. 



Dr. Miller drops a Straw on 

 windbreaks, p. 139, Feb. 15. I be- 

 lieve be is right — quite right. Let 



us remember. 



* * » 



Thank you, Mr. Editor, for the sugges- 

 tion on page 134, Feb. 15, about leaving out 

 entirely that " flimsy following-board." I 

 am sure many beekeepers as well as inspec- 

 tors will rise up to bless you. 



* * * 



Page 147, Feb. 15, Arthur C. Miller tells 

 us that golden Italians are not Italians at 

 all. What a misnomer ! I wonder some one 

 had not found that out before. I believe 

 our friend must sit up nights thinking. 



* * * 



The earth is covered at this time, March 

 18, with about iwo feet of snow, with a 

 good deal of zero weather in this vicinity. 

 It looks now as tho it might be a late cold 

 spring, and perhaps a good deal of spring 

 dwindling. At present, however, bees seem 

 to be in good condition. 



* * * 



Mr. P. C. Chadwick says, page 149, " It 

 was pretty well agreed by inspectors at the 

 state meet that the symptoms of all kinds of 

 brood diseases converge until it is a very 

 difficult matter, in many instances, to tell 

 just what the disease may be." They are 

 quite correct. Then is the time to send a 

 sample to Washingion, Department of Ag- 

 riculture, to decide. 



The question of the number of hives of 

 bees to the acre in an apple-orchard or 

 orange-gTove is discussed by the editor on 

 page 92, Feb. 1, and is one of gTeat impor- 

 tance. It has been proved beyond a doubt 

 in northern Vermont that it pays to place 

 eight or ten colonies of bees to the acre in 

 a cold cloudy time of bloom— a colony for 

 each four or five trees. 

 * * * 



Charles McCulloch, in the market reports 

 for March 1, says, "Lower prices have stim- 

 ulated the demand for honey, and it looks 

 now as tho the market will be well cleaned 

 up, and no stock to carry over," while Mr. 

 Byer, Mr. Phillips, and P. C. Chadwick are 

 discussing the question of overproduction, 

 page 184, March 1. Now, it seems to me a 

 ease of underconsumption rather than over- 



production. Lower prices will usually stim- 

 ulate the demand, but demand will be small 

 when prices are too high. 



* * * 



Our friend Doolittle, page 98, Feb. 1, 

 gives us advice as to liquefying gi-anulated 

 honey, which is decidedly sound. The whole 

 subject is one of ever increasing interest. 

 Why should some honey granulate sooner 

 than others'? and why should some kinds 

 stand a higher temperature without injury 

 than others'? Why has comb honey granu- 

 lated more readily during the last two years 



than formerly'? 



* * * 



This time Mr. Frank McNay, of Pasa- 

 dena, would prophesy, page 175, March 1, 

 " If the ground freezes wet, there will be 

 honey ! if it freezes dry, there will be no 

 honey." I also will prophesy. If the ground 

 freezes wet, if the ground is covered with 

 snow during the winter, if we have no fields 

 of ice on meadow or pasture, if the bees 

 winter well, if AjDril is mild so bees can 

 breed strong early, if ajople-bloom and dan- 

 delion yield freely, if May and June are 

 wet, if we have no long cold rainstorms 

 during clover bloom, if clover bloom yields 

 nectar freely, and bees do not swarm too 

 much, we shall certainly have a good sea- 

 son ; but I believe one of A. I. Root's speck- 

 led buttercup biddies is wise enough not to 

 prophesy until an egg has happened. 



* * * 



We here in Vermont are in the midst of a 

 lively campaign for state-wide prohibition. 

 I have been astonished at the amount of 

 money expended by the liquor interests for 

 local option as a temperance measure. 

 "When the Devil was sick the Devil a saint 

 would be," and they would have us believe 

 that untold evil will follow if the forty odd 

 saloons in Vermont should be forced out of 

 business. No alcohol for sickness, no wine 

 for communion purposes ! how dreadful ! 

 They have not yet learned that unfermented 

 grape juice is used by most churches at the 

 present time. Maine and Kansas are rei^re- 

 sented as fast going to the dogs in conse- 

 quence of prohibition laws. 



Later. — I am sorry to report that our 

 state has deeideed by some 13,000 majority 

 to continue local option in preference to 

 state-wide prohibition as the best method 

 of controlling the liquor traffic. We must 

 still be kept in the ABC class until we can 

 better learn our lesson, that the children of 

 this world ai'e wiser in their generation than 

 the children of light. 



