DECEMBER 15,. 1916 



1169 



political pull, and know very little about 

 bees. These are more likely to scatter the 

 disease than to clean it up. There are many 

 tine inspectors who are doing a world of 

 good, and who are experts in their line ; 

 but for fear that one of the careless kind 

 may happen along I have given this word 

 of caution. We want good inspectors; 

 so when you find one who is not doing the 

 work proijerly, report the matter at once. 



Shippers of extracted honey in barrels 

 should see that these barrels are perfectly 

 tight and that no honey adheres to the 

 outside. Leaky barrels are very danger- 

 ous, as the ear in which they are being 



shipped may be put on a siding and re- 

 main for days, allowing bees in the vicin- 

 ity to rob the honey. This also happens 

 on the platforms of stations and in the 

 wagons which carry the honey from the 

 station. I believe that if a national law 

 could be passed to prohibit the use of 

 barrels in shipping extracted honey we 

 should be able to keep our bees in a better 

 condition. Nothing but tight tin cans 

 should be used. It would be a good plan 

 to have extra outer cases for section honey, 

 to catch the drip should a section get 

 smashed. 



Morgan, Ky. 



COUNTING THE COST OF SUGAR 



BY JOSEPH GRAY 



We never feed in this locality. The dis- 

 cussion regarding the feeding of sugar is of 

 vast importance. Let me take J. L. Byer's 

 statement, page 1016, Nov. 1, " with a good 

 flow from buckwheat, say 40 to 60 lbs., even 

 the Jumbo hives will need feeding after 

 sujDers are ofP." Buckwheat honey is a 

 poorer grade than clover. Figure the cost 

 of taking off that honey and marketing it. 

 Again, figure the price of sugar, and freight 

 on the same — labor of making into syrup, 

 and time occupied in feeding. 



We leave sufficient honey to cari'y the 

 apiary thru. When we get to our last ex- 

 tracting we estimate by previous experience 

 how much will be needed. If we decide it 

 is necessary to leave four full combs in the 

 super, four are left ; or if it is a question 

 of apiaries, jDossibly four out cf ten apiaries 

 are not extracted the last time. 



We motor to a yard ; and with a long box 

 holding 40 combs we pick up full combs and 



replace with empties. We next go to a 

 yard needing feed. The hives are hefted, and 

 those needing stores are fed by exchang- 

 ing full combs for empties. If necessaiy to 

 go below we do so, and a bucket of mud is 

 used to close the joint between the brood- 

 nest and super and destroy the scent. A 

 sharp eye is kept for robbers, and every 

 caution taken to insure against them. On 

 some days we can work right along; on 

 another day it will not be two hours before it 

 is necessary to stop. Sometimes we can 

 work well part of the day, and during the 

 rest of the day be unable to touch a hive. 

 Much dejjends on the bees. With an auto, 

 if we can work only half an hour at one 

 apiary we close up and motor to the next. 



I think if some of the beekeepers will 

 stop to figure out the cost between a low- 

 grade honey and a feed-bill they will be 

 likely to cut out the latter. 



Heber, Cal. 



LAWS TOO DRASTIC COULD NOT BE ENFORCED 



BY HARRY LATHROP 



In the June first issue, page 425, ap- 

 pears an editorial, " Legislation too Dras- 

 tic." I wish heartily to second this. Rel- 

 ative to laws regarding the sale of honey 

 from apiaries in which American foul brood 

 exists, I once asked in our Wisconsin con- 

 vention what a beekeeper would do with a 

 crop of forty thousand pounds of nice ex- 

 tracted honey if the discovery should be 

 made before marketing that foul brood ac- 

 tually existed in the yard. The only answer 

 to such a question is, " Sell it." There is no 

 other common-sense answer. Much of the 



extracted honey placed on the market in cer- 

 tain parts of the West and of the East dur- 

 ing the past ten years has been produced in 

 yards where foul brood existed. Foul brood 

 in the brood-chambers does not affect the 

 purity, for food purjioses, of honey pro- 

 duced over queen-excluders, and no chemist 

 on earth could tell wliich is so ])roduced and 

 wliifh is not. 



I have had oi)port unity to observe Ameri- 

 can foul brood closely for a nnmbm" of 

 years, altho I think my apiary is now free 

 from it. Tlie disease is not very contagious 



