932 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



No feeding or fussing we can do will give 

 results equal to those the bees secure when 

 conditions favor, and those conditions are a 

 flow and plenty of bees to take care of it. 



Now 'tis said, " confession is good for the 

 soul;" and if it were only equallj^ good for 

 material customs and habits it would help 

 us a lot. Mr. Crane says he has fed " tons 

 and tons of sugar syrui^." If it were any 

 one else I'd say he was a mighty poor bee- 

 keeper; but I don't dare say it of Mr. 

 Crane; but I can most positively say that 

 the need of feeding can be materially less- 

 ened by different (improved) methods. 

 (Phew! I almost said, "by better beekeep- 

 ing.") 



(Lest those who are not familiar with 

 my chaffing should 

 construe the foregoing 

 as a hit at Mr. Crane, 

 let me here say that it 

 is not, but is intended 

 to arrest attention and 

 direct it to the costli- 

 ness of many widely 

 f ol) owed practices. ) 



As for "protecting 

 combs from wax 

 worms," his was a 

 rather costly way. 

 Just figure the labor 

 and the food. He says 

 it proved a financial 

 success. I wonder how 

 he figured it. 



I can keep combs 

 more cheaply than 

 that; and if I wanted 

 increase at that season 

 (most of ours is made 

 before the crop) those 

 combs would have 

 been traded for one or 

 two frames of brood 

 from every colony, 



and the new colonies would have nearly 

 equaled the old from the start. It is quick, 

 economical, and gives the best of results. 

 But wax-moths bother me only where black 

 bees are kept near. 



Rather presumptuous for me to try to tell 

 you how to keep bees, isn't it, Mr. Crane? 

 To be sure I've not kept bees quite as long 

 as you have (I began in 1880), and I have 

 not so many as you (about 200) ; but my 

 needs have compelled me to make short cuts, 

 and my business training has led me to put 

 the yardstick of ccst on to my operations. 

 Oh, yes! I do some things which are not 

 economical ; but that is where I am experi- 

 menting — that is my play. 



Do you realize what it costs you to pro- 



duce a pound of honey? (Comb and ex- 

 tracted are pretty much the same.) Do 

 you know that it costs some specialists over 

 ten cents a pound, taking good years and 

 bad? Do you know that two or three go as 

 low as two cents? But these latter sell 

 their own crop, so they have only half a 

 year's labor to charge up to cost of pro- 

 duction. 



There is the matter of annual requeening 

 which I follow so carefully. Young queens 

 and fine combs I consider the foundation on 

 which all the other parts of my beework are 

 built. But it is assailed by many because 

 they say so many queens are good for sev- 

 eral years. If they will tell me some way 

 by which I can pick the good ones at the 



"Bill" Mel I 11(1. 111! I t|ii i\ ] shown herewith, ncoordiii!; to the 

 Neapawa Prens (Maiiilolja;, is a piattiial joker. At an agricultural fair he 

 entered some specially prepared honey as soft soap, and the unsuspecting 

 judges gave him the second prize. He kept the matter secret until he had 

 secured possession of the blue ribbon, then gleefully started out, exhibiting 

 his " soft soap " and the ribbon. Doubtless the judges had not tasted the 

 soap. 



start I'll consider their methods. When I 

 see the miscellaneous assortment of colonies 

 they have each spring, and hear them tell 

 how they go to building up, etc., I am 

 content to follow my plan, even if I do un- 

 wittingly destroy some queens which, if 

 allowed to survive, would liave proved to 

 be sisters of some bee Methuselah. Then 

 queens are so cheap I really cannot afford 

 not to use tliem liberally. They cost me 

 less than ten cents each. 



In that same issue (Feb. 15), page 139, 

 Dr. Miller takes issue with some one for 

 saying that there is no need of having a 

 queen a year old to determine if she is a 

 good breeder. Well, I fear that I must take 

 sides against the doctor; but with this qual- 



