GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1917 



hives without protection for some years with 

 remarkable success, and yet the fact has not 

 been generally known. Dr. E. F. Phillips, 

 of the Bureau of Entomology, believes that 

 the ideal condition in wintering outdoors is 

 in two-story hives, two hives to a winter 

 case. 



Mr. Mel Pritchard, who has charge of 

 two of Gleanings' apiaries, has been win- 

 tering bees in both single-story and double- 

 siory hives. He finds that bees in the latter 

 come out in a little better condition than 

 those in the former. There are two reasons 

 that he assigns for this. (1) The double 

 hives have a larger amount of stores, rela- 

 tively, and (2) the cluster is clear up to the 

 top of the hive away from the chilling 

 drafts at the entrance. A colony that is 

 " rich in stores " and in the warmest part 

 of the hive well protected will winter if 

 any colony will. 



MR. FRANK COVERDALE, of Delmar, 

 Iowa, says he prefers to have grass four 



or five inches 

 T/)XG GBASS long near the en- 

 IN FRONT trances of his 



OF HIVES hives. When a 



swarm comes 

 out with a clipped queen the latter will 

 have difficulty in getting far away from 

 the hive; and instead of itmning along on 

 the ground and getting lost she will crawl 

 up a spear of g'rass where she can be 

 easily seen. The usual plan recommended 

 is to cut down the grass short all around 

 the hive, so the queen can be easily found, 

 for a like reason. There is something in 

 Mr. Coverdale's idea. Of course he does 

 not recommend having the grass tall, for 

 that would impede the flight of the bees 

 to and from the hive. 



BEEKEEPERS generally have the idea 

 that, when they have amber or dark ex- 

 tracted h n ey, 

 SELLING the only thing 



DARK they can do is 



HONEY to 'sell it in a 



jobbing or 

 wholesale way to some large dealer. While 

 this, undoubtedly, is the best policy for 

 most producers, yet experience has shown 

 that one who can sell a light-colored ex- 

 tracted table honey around home can also 

 sell an amber; and, strangely enough, there 

 is a certain trade that prefers it to the 

 light-colored honey. 



Some foreigners, accustomed to the dark 



and amber honeys of their old homes in 

 Europe, veiy much prefer the dark honeys 

 of the country of their adoption. The 

 light-colored honeys they sometimes char- 

 acterize as " sugar and water," without any 

 taste or flavor. 



Tt should be remembered that Europeans 

 make a large use of honey in their cooking, 

 and that is one of the reasons why those in 

 this country use the dark and amber honeys. 



It is time to wake up to the fact that 

 dark honeys in localities where there is a 

 large foreign population can be sold from 

 the doorstep and in the local gi'oceries, in 

 some cases, sometimes as readily as the 

 light-colored, generally called " table " hon- 

 eys. There are numerous instances on 

 record where this is oecumng, year in and 

 year out. If Mr. Barclay, of New Jersey 

 (see News Items) can sell his " blackstrap " 

 or " bug-juice honey " at $2.50 a gallon, the 

 beekeepers who have a better quality of 

 amber ought to find a local demand for their 

 product. 



We know of instances where some bee- 

 keepers are doing a very profitable busi- 

 nass in selling their fall or medium grades 

 of honey right at their own doorsteps, and 

 are getting 20 to 25 cts. per lb. What some 

 are doing, others can do. 



AS ALREADY stated, we are wintering 

 bees in three or four different ways — -in 



the cellar, by the 



QUADRUPLE 



WINTER 



CASES 



usual orthodox 

 plan, outdoors 

 in double-walled 

 hives, and in 

 large winter cases four hives to the case. 

 In place of a honey-board or super cover 

 we are using sheets of glass in some of 

 the big cases in order that we may more 

 easily determine the size, location, and 

 condition of the cluster. 



Zero weather struck us on Dee. 15; and 

 in the height of it, and in the midst of 

 high wind, we have been noting the loca- 

 tion and size of the clusters under glass. 

 This was done by gently lifting up the 

 tray containing planer-shavings, and pull- 

 ing the shavings under the tray until the 

 glass is exposed. A careful examination 

 of a number of colonies showed the clusters 

 were hugging the inside sides of the hives. 

 In a number of instances the clusters were 

 directly opposite each other in adjacent 

 hives, and a distance from each other of 

 only two %-inch boards, of which the 

 inner hives are made. It ij, apparent that 

 the combined heat drew the clusters to- 

 gether. It is apparent, also, that the cold 



