510 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1917 



kelp yourselves and others get a better 

 price for the 1917 crop of honey. 



The A. I. Root Company are the pub- 

 lishers of Glhanings in Bee Culture. 

 The A. I. Root Company are the owners 

 of the great Airline honey business. A. I. 

 Root, E. R. Root, and H. H. Root are the 

 editors of Gleanings. The A. I. Root 

 Company and the ^^Uors of Gleanings 

 join in asking for ui^ fullest and freest 

 discussion of every element in the honey 

 market. They together are ready and 

 glad to invite the honey-producing public 

 to this discussion. All they ask is that 

 articles contributed to it shall be to the 

 point, sh^Ml be brief, and shall reach 

 Gleanings office by July 12 at latest. 



" Come, let us reason together." 



AS MENTIONED elsewhere in this de- 

 partment, we have stated that many of 



oui* yards are 



DIAGNOSING 



COLONIES 



FROM THE 



OUTSIDE 



betwixt swarm- 

 ing and starva- 

 tion. In order 

 to get a rapid 

 survey of an 

 apiary the editors have been diagnosing 

 from the outside. A heavy flight of bees at 

 the entrance indicates a fairly good colony. 

 Its weight indicates something as to the 

 amount of stores. The mere lifting of the 

 cover with three or four puffs of smoke over 

 the tops of the frames will show whether a 

 colony is clean out of stores. After the 

 smoke disappears, if there is any honey at 

 all the bees will be seen with their heads dip- 

 ped into the cells along near the top-bars; 

 for smoke will always drive some bees to 

 drinking honey. If every cell except those 

 containing brood is dry, there will be no 

 bees thus occupied and the hive should be 

 opened up. 



Another surface indication is the behavior 

 of the bees toward the drones. If they are 

 pushing one or more drones out of the en- 

 trance it indicates a stoppage of the flow or 

 a shortage of stores. 



Queenlessuess can often be guessed when 

 the cover is removed by the behavior of the 

 bees. 



Very recently we took a series of sur- 

 face indications in one whole yard ; then 

 we went over it aftei'ward in detail, exam- 

 ining the combs of the colonies. We found 

 that the outside diagnosis was correct in al- 

 most every case. 



When short of help we have relied to a 

 considerable extent on esternal indications, 

 and have found it works fairly well. A 

 whole apiary can be gone over in a com- 



paratively few minutes, and the remedy ap- 

 plied to those needing immediate attention. 

 Of course outside diagnosing can not be 

 carried too far. It depends on what we 

 want to know. 



IN CLOSING a discussion of the honey- 

 container situation in June Gleanings, we 



said : " At this 



THE HONEY 



CONTAINER 



SITUATION 



time we cannot 

 say more to our 

 readers as to 

 ' where and how 

 to procure containers.' We do promise 

 them that we will give them the fullest in- 

 formation that eitlier Gleanings or The A. 

 I. Root Company may secure concerning 

 any practical method of meeting the present 

 critical need for satisfactory and econom- 

 ical honey-containers." 



We regret to say that we cannot report 

 any immediate or prospective change in the 

 prevailing scarcity of glass containers for 

 honey. So far as we can learn, the glass 

 manufacturers are not putting out any glass 

 containers except for use in preserving per- 

 ishable food stuffs. What glass containers 

 for honey can be secured by even the largest 

 honey - bottlers are secured " hit or miss," 

 " catch as catch can." The manufacturers 

 are generally turning down the honey- 

 bottlers' inquiries for contracts and de- 

 liveries or quoting enormously advanced 

 prices without iDromise as to date of de- 

 livery. 



Has the fiber container arrived as a sub- 

 stitute for the glass honey-container? 



It has not, if railroad transportation is 

 to be required of it. The fiber -container (a 

 treated paper product), with which The A. 

 I. Root Company has been experimenting, 

 has been given the test of railroad shipment. 

 Cases (24) of these containers filled with 

 honey were shipped in corrugated boxes to 

 the several official railroad classification com- 

 mittees for approval and acceptance. These 

 containers arrived at their destinations leak- 

 ing badly, and so were rejected by the classi- 

 fication committees. The manufacturers of 

 tliese containers now say that " it will take a 

 little further experimenting and planning to 

 work this out." So theie is hope of a 

 future fiber container that will stand rail- 

 road shipment, but it is not immediate. 



However, this fiber container, we feel 

 sure, will serve the purpose of a container 

 for those who sell to the home market with- 

 out railroad shipment. This in itself is 

 important, and will serve many honey-pro- 

 ducers. 



The tin-can situation, so far as we can 



