GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



[According to the latest dictionary, a 

 colony is a collection of bees at rest, and 

 keeping house in the hive. A swarm is a 

 collection of bees that has issued from the 

 parent colony, and is usually called a swarm 

 as long as it is in the air or on a tree, and 

 for a few days after it is hived. The old 

 colony is called the parent colony, and the 

 iiew one is called a swarm until it gets down 

 to its regular housekeeping duties. Then it 

 is called a colony. 



Cells that are built from foundation are 

 often spoken of as " drawn. ' ' Where the 

 "oundation is very heavy, and there is a 

 large amount of wax in the cell walls, the 

 cells themselves may be drawn — -that is, the 

 bees use only the wax in the foundation. As 

 a general rule, drawn comb from foundation 

 is made up of wax taken from the founda- 

 tion itself, and wax added thereto from oth- 

 er sources. If honey is coming in freely, the 

 wax used to complete the cells may be the 

 virgin scales taken from the under side of 

 the wax-pockets of the bees themselves. 

 These will be white like the paper on which 

 this is printed. It will, therefore, transpire 

 as in ^our case that the tops of the cells 

 will be whiter than the foundation on which 

 they are built. 



V"ery often the bees take their tributes of 

 wax from other combs. In that case the top 

 of the cells will take on the color of the 

 combs next to them. Comb-honey producers 

 always have to take this into account; and 

 this is one reason why the comb-honey supers 

 are entirely separate and apart from the 

 brood-nest containing darker combs. In the 

 olden days, when we had wide frames con- 

 taining sections, they were placed first in 

 the brood-nest, and the cappings of those 

 sections would often be as dark as the comb 

 next to them. The solution of the problem, 

 then, was to produce comb honey, not in the 

 brood-nest, because of its discolorations from 

 brood-combs, but in the super or upper story; 

 and the practice is now all but universal. — 

 Ed.l 



A Good Place to Begin Advertising 



My home is in Grand Rapids, Mich., but I 

 spent the winter here at Hammond, a town 

 of about 4000 inhabitants. I started out one 

 morning to find some honey for table use. 

 I went first to the largest grocery in town. 

 On inquiry they said they were quite sure 

 they had some. The clerk found a fruit-jar 

 of honey — price 30 cts. for a pint-can. He 

 took the top off to show up the goods; but, 

 to his astonishment, he found it granulated. 

 He said, " I don't know what ails it, or 

 what makes it look that way; but if you 

 want a can I think I can find one that is all 

 ria-ht." 



I told him the granulated honey didn't 

 scare me. The next grocery had some honey 

 in tall bottles holding about 4 oz. There was 

 no comb honey at either place. 



The next grocery had no extracted honey, 

 but six one-pound sections piled one above 



the other lying down flatwise. He said if I 

 wanted that he would surprise me on the 

 price of it, and make it 10 cts. each. It was 

 dark and light mixed; had lain in the dust 

 I don't know how long, and most of the 

 honey had leaked out. 



After all that has been said and done thru 

 the bee-journals I didn't suppose' there was 

 a town of this size with practically no honey 

 in sight. E. S. Dart. 



Hammond, La., Jan. 17. 



Penny Wise and Pound Foolish to Let Comb 

 Honey in Groceries Granulate. 



In the discussion on increasing honey sales 

 I do not think enough stress is put on the 

 customer 's loss thru buying candied honey. 

 This year my honey was all sold by Feb. 1. 

 I usually have it the whole year round. One 

 of our family the last of March saw in a 

 first-class grocery in Boston what seemed 

 to be a fine section, and he purchased it for 

 25 cts. When he reached home it was can- 

 died solid, and moths had worked all around 

 the wood. If I know anything about honey 

 it must have been at least two years old. 

 Such a sale as that queers the customer from 

 buying any more honey for a long while. 



A section of mine that I have just found 

 has one side sealed and the other side full 

 but not capped over. This was exposed to 

 the New England winter with all its fluctua- 

 tions without granulation. Any honey that 

 I put in the stores I watch, and at the first 

 symptom of granulation I exchange. You 

 may say it would be impossible for a large 

 producer to do this; but that does not affect 

 the loss of customers by such sales. It is 

 just the same as selling rotten fruit. A man 

 who does that soon comes to his finish. 



Woburn, Mass. E. C. Newell. 



$575 in Premiums at the Michigan State Fair. 



At the last meeeting of the Michigan Bee- 

 keepers' Association a committee consisting 

 of A. G. Woodman, E. D. Townsend, and Ira 

 D. Bartlett, was appointed to draft rules and 

 regulations to be used by the Michigan State 

 Fair. As superintendent of the bee depart- 

 ment I am pleased to state that the fair 

 authorities have adopted the recommenda- 

 tion, and I am enclosing a copy, for publica- 

 tion. 



If the maximum amount of premiums is 

 won by beekeepers it will amount to $575 as 

 against $132 offered last year. 



The fair authorities have ruled that no 

 honey, wax, or sui)plies will be allowed to be 

 sold prior to the last day of the fair. This 

 rule has not been lived up to in the past, but 

 will be strictly adhered to this year. There 

 will be a further announcement made later, 

 and all beekeepers in Michigan and adjoin- 

 ing states are urged to exhibit. 



Detroit, Mich., May 2. E. B. Tyrrell. 



[The complete recommendation and pre- 

 mium list appears in Convention Notices, 

 this issue. — Ed.] 



