128 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1917 



N 



C 



LJ 



fore have 



we had such 

 a severe winter 

 as this one; but 

 bees are winter- 

 ing well, and, 

 what is of equal 

 interest, there is 



a great surplus of snow in the mountains. 

 The Forest Service reports more snow than 

 any year for eight years past. Coming 

 early, as much of the snow did, it has be- 

 come well packed, and thus insures jilenty 

 of water for late irrigation. 



THE HONEY MARKET. 



The honey market is getting fairly well 

 cleaned up on extracted honey, while comb 

 honey is still slow sale. The extracted 

 honey sells at the ratio of about two to one 

 for comb honey. If this season is at all 

 indicative of the years to come, many of 

 our honey-producers will be obliged to 

 change from comb-honey to extracted-honey 

 Ijroduetion. The advice of tlie cditois last 

 year to produce more extracted honey 

 either fell upon deaf ears or the beekeepers 

 could not afford to make the change, or 

 they did not have faith in the editors as 

 prophets. For myself, I could not change 

 from comb to extracted honey short of an 

 expense that would consume an entire 

 crop, and a good one too. 



From inquiry among the honey-producers 

 of Colorado, it is apparent that the average 

 production per colony is as large in sec- 

 tions of comb honey as it is in pounds of 

 extracted. In fact, the largest Colorado 

 yields of the last few years reported to 

 me have been comb-honey-producing colo- 

 nies. The expert comb - honey jjroducer 

 can secure as many sections of honey as 

 the extracted - honey producer can secure 

 13ounds of extracted. Unless comb honey 

 drops below $2.00 per ease for 24 sections 

 of comb honey, the comb-honey producer 

 had better stick to his sections and sepa- 

 ratois. Of course, if the price of ex- 

 tracted honey goes up to 10 or 11 ets. per 

 pound to the pi'oducer, then there is more 

 money in extracted lioney. The price real- 

 ized on extracted honey by producers in 

 ('olorado has been from 6 to 7%^ cts. At 

 these prices comb honey is preferable to the 

 majority of beemen, because comb-lioney 

 production is more apt to leave the colonies 

 in fine condition for wintering. 



THE BOULDER COUNTY BEE-CLUB. 



The beekee|)ers of Boulder County liave 

 felt for some time llie need of an association 

 to aid in a social and business way. Janu- 

 ary 12 the club was organized, sixteen bee- 



AMONG THE ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster 



iU 



1 



^"^^^^^^^ 



keepers being 

 present. The at- 

 tendance was 

 rather small on 

 account of the 

 cold stormy day. 

 Officers elect- 

 ed were: Ward 

 H. Foster, Boul- 

 der, President; D. W. Spangler, Longmont, 

 vice-president; S. A. Mendum, Boulder, 

 Secretary-treasurer. 



The lines of work out-lined for the club 

 are, mainly, their apiary exhibit, Boulder 

 County Fair ; jirotective club to i)rotect out- 

 apiaries from thieves; buyi«g supplies and 

 selling honey; social intercourse between 

 beekeepers. 



The next meeting will be held in Long- 

 mont at the call of the president. 



A PUZZLER TO THE CROWDS. 



Several years ago the Colorado Agricul- 

 tural College operated a special demonstra- 

 tion train over four lines of railroad in 

 Colorado. Three large baggage-cars full 

 of exhibits, two passenger coaches for lec- 

 ture cars, and a dining-car, made up the 

 train. Domestic science, bee culture, rural 

 scliool, alfalfa, dairy, silo construction, 

 agroliomy, veterinary, and poultry exhibits 

 made up the train. The bee-culture exhibit 

 filled about one-third of a car, the rest of 

 the car being taken with the domestic-sci- 

 ence and rural-school exhibits. 



The honey-extractor was the puzzler to 

 the crowds. If I was asked once I was asked 

 forty times if that was a churn. The 

 guesses were wide of the mark. ♦ A bread- 

 mixer, clothes-drier, cream-separator, corn- 

 sheller, ice-cream freezer, and washing-ma- 

 chine were all mentioned as possibilities. 



One little boy stood gazing at the honey 

 cookies in the glass jar for some time, 

 tlien came up to me holding out a nickel and 

 said, " I will take a nickel's worth of these 

 cookies." 



Another little fell; w came up and inquir- 

 ed if 1 could whistle. I had to admit tliat 

 very little whistling could I do. " Well, ! 

 can tell you how to get so you can. When 

 I was ten years old I could not whistle till 

 one day a bee stung me on the lii), and I 

 have been able to whistle ever since!"' 



[Mr. Foster has mentioned something 

 which all exhibitors have discovered but 

 whicli beekeepers as a class do not seem to 

 realize. Wliat i)ercentage of the honey con- 

 sumers know what a honey-extractor is? 

 What percentage know what extracted hon- 

 ey is? Is it not a fact tliat groeei's, honey 

 retailers and lioney consumers still use tlie 

 old tei-m "s'aaincd honey"? — Ed.] 



