January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and sell as low as 6 cents to a retail consum- 

 er who comes to the door. Tliis whole 

 matter naturally stirred up considerable 

 discussion along the line of co-operation. 

 The largest and best producers believed 

 that something should be done to buy up 

 the crops of these small producers, or at 

 least come in touch with them and show 

 them the folly of selling at too low a figui'e 

 when good prices could just as easily be 

 secured. 



PEDDLING 46,000 LBS. AT 11 CENTS 



One large producer who sold a crop of 

 46,000 lbs. actually retailed and peddled 

 his clover honey in 5-lb, pails, lithograph- 

 ed in colors, at 65 cts. a pail. One other 

 producer was criticised for selling his 

 honey as low as 85 cts. in 5-lb. pails. It 

 is evident that the man who gets 65 cts., 

 paying 10 cts. for his pail, gets only 55 

 cts. for 5 lbs. of honey at reta/il. But he 

 is a successful beekeeper, and sells his 

 crop because he is a natural salesman. But 

 these prices at i-etail have a tendency to 

 bring down the price of all honey. 



TOO MUCH WINTER PACKING. 



There was about as large a diversity of 

 opinion in the matter of wintering. Some 

 held that it is better to winter indoors, 

 others outdoors without much packing. 

 Some would go to the extreme of having 

 excessive packing, arguing that they would 

 save stores thereby. If the experiments 

 conducted at the Bureau of Entomology 

 are of any value it is apparent that too 

 much packing cannot be used. The limit 

 will be set by the cost of the winter cases. 



RENDERING UP OLD COMBS INTO WAX. 



This question received more than ordi- 

 nary attention at the Ontario convention. 

 While many were still using the solar wax- 

 extractor, the majority were using artificial 

 heat in connection with some form of pj-ess. 

 The tendency seemed to be strongly toward 

 the hot-water method as used by 0. L. 

 Hei-shiser and H. B. Sibbald. Mr. Her- 

 shiser, when called to the floor, strongly 

 urged the importance of boiling water and 

 of alternately raising and lowering the 

 ecrews, repeating the process until the 

 slumgum is washed nearly clean, for it was 

 a process of washing as well as squeezing. 

 He felt that water constantly boiling was 

 much more effective than water that had 

 been brought merely to the boiling-point. 



He had been able, he said, to get any- 

 wliere from 7 to 8 per cent of wax out of 

 ordinary slumgum whicli he had bought 

 of beekeepers, and which they believed was 

 perfectly free of wax. This fact alone 

 proved to him that, ordinarily, beekeepers 



57 



who burn up their slumgum are burning 

 up thousands of pounds of wax. 



Mr. Hershiser is always on the market 

 for slumgum, because by his process and 

 inethod he can make a good thing by giv- 

 ing it a further cleaning. 



EXTENSION WORK IN THE SOUTH 



One of the addresses delivered at mcist of 

 the conventions was one by Dr. E. F. 

 Pliillips, of the Bureau of Entomology, on 

 extension work in beekeeping. He pointed 

 out that the books and journals devoted to 

 bee culture were not reaching a large class 

 of persons who keep a few bees. The 

 schools and colleges that offered courses in 

 beekeeping reached only a few. Bulletins 

 and circulars were not the most effective 

 method of teaching. Apiary inspection 

 was the most effective instrument for teach- 

 ing bee culture among the class who were 

 not reached by other means. Considering 

 the fact that only about one-twentieth of 

 the nectar in the country was gathered, 

 and the further fact that the market was 

 not able to supply the demand, there was 

 need of more and better beekeepers. Some 

 objected to any kind of instruction work 

 whereby there will be more producers in 

 the field. It was, he said, somewhat diffi- 

 cult at times to have patience with such 

 objectors; for practical experience showed 

 there was no such thing as overproduction. 

 The ovei-w helming argument against the 

 making of more and better beekeepers was 

 the fact that beekeeping has scarcely as yet 

 established itself as a branch of American 

 agriculture. Present crops are inadequate 

 to make honey a staple market article. 



Among the agencies for extending prop- 

 er methods of handling bees among'a class 

 not reached by other means was exten- 

 sion work, both state and national. The 

 last session of congress made an increase 

 of $5000 for extension work. Under the 

 civil-service law, candidates were examined 

 and appointments made. Three men he 

 said were now in the field in the South, 

 working on a co-operative plan with the 

 Department of Agriculture of the several 

 states where fhey are woiking. By confining 

 this extension work to this region there 

 was all Hie work that the three men can do. 



The people in the South were respon- 

 sive to this class of work, and, moreover, 

 they needed it. Under the present appro- 

 priation no more men could be put in the 

 field. But even as it was, some results 

 were being secured. Extension workers 

 in connection with men already in the 

 field employed by the state were giving 

 bee demonstrations, showing how to handle 

 bees, and how to know and cure bee dis- 



