592 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1917 



more bloom; and, while the seed is smaller, 

 there is more of it per acre. 



There is a tendency just now to abandon 

 the Japanese, both for flour and for honey. 

 While the Japanese seed is larger than 

 the seed of the common black, it has been 

 claimed that it does not yield more flour. 



There are some sections of the United 

 States that are more favorable for the grow- 

 ing of buckwheat than others. Buckwheat 

 is grown extensively in some of the central 

 counties of New York, particularly Scho- 

 harie, Schenectady, and Montgomery. In 

 these counties buckwheat is counted as one 

 of the most prolific sources of honey; and 

 following, as it does, immediately after 

 clover and basswood, it increases immensely 

 the earning power of a colony, because at 

 the close of the white-honey harvest the 

 bees are in splendid condition for gathering 

 a crop of buckwheat and gpldenrod, which 

 often come in at the same time. Buckwheat 

 is also grown to some extent in Ontario, and 

 yields considerable honey. It may also be 

 found in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minne- 

 sota. It is not grown extensively in the 

 South, nor west of the Mississippi River. 



THE NATIONAL CANNERS' ASSOCI- 

 ATION, whose members comprise the larg- 

 est makers of 

 THE HONEY- 

 CONTAINER 

 SITUATION. 



tin plate and of 

 tin cans in this 

 c u n t r y, has 

 sent widecast a 

 public letter which in part says: ''The im- 

 pending shortage in tin plate and tin cans 

 has been averted. By careful economy in 

 the use of tin cans the supply will be equal 

 for all necessary demands." 



We hope that this is true, or very soon 

 will be true. But just at this time we know 

 that tin-can manufacturers are filling or- 

 ders very slowly and that they have very 

 recently advanced prices to what seems an 

 almost prohibitive figure. It occurs to us 

 that the tin-can manufacturers may mean 

 that they can supply their trade at the 

 ■enormously increased prices asked by these 

 manufacturers. It is undoubtedly true that 

 manufacturers of almost any necessity can 

 supply the demand that is willing to pay 

 any price that the manufacturers will inii 

 on. 



At present, dealers in cans are veiy likely 

 to be short in some sizes, and they experi- 

 ence great delay in securing these exhausted 

 sizes from the manufacturers, and where 

 the price of tin cans will go to, judging 

 from the increased qiiotations of the ma-nu- 

 facturers, no one can pre^i^t, 



AVhat we have said about the tin-can sup- 

 ply, and what the manufacturers are doing 

 in the way of supplying dealers for their 

 trade, may also be said of the glass situa- 

 tion. Most dealers have a considerable 

 stock of glass containers of various kinds, 

 but these dealers are very likely to be out of 

 certain linos of glass containers (and these 

 likely to be the most called for), and they 

 find it very hard to secure a new supply 

 from the manufacturers, even at the greatly 

 increased quotations. Every dealer in glass 

 containers knows that there is no certainty 

 when he can secure an order from the manu- 

 facturer, with the consequence that many 

 of his customers must be disappointed and 

 greatly inconvenienced. 



If we Avere going to modify what we 

 have said in previous numbers of Glean- 

 IXGS as to the container situation, it would 

 be to say this : The honey-producer may 

 be able to secure both tin and glass con- 

 tainers before the end of the honey season; 

 but just when or at what price is altogether 

 uncertain. 



The honey-producer who has his contain- 

 ers in stock, or has the assurance of his 

 dealer that he can supply him out of stock 

 already in the hands of that dealer, is for- 

 tunate. The honey-producer who has to 

 secure containers that his dealer has yet to 

 procure from the manufacturer is likely to 

 be greatly annoyed before he can secure 

 his supply. 



Whatever the manufacturers of tin cans 

 and glass containers may say as to averting 

 an impending shortage, it is certain that 

 they are very slov/ in filling orders, but 

 are not nearly so slow in advancing prices 

 to a hitherto unheard-of level. 



SOUTHERN QUEEN AND bee rearers 

 should be charitably judged this year for 



making delayed deliv- 

 TIIEY HAVE eries. They have had al- 

 HAD A HABD most every disadvantage 

 SEASON. to contend with. The 



late cold spring arid con- 

 tinued bad weather made rearing late and 

 delayed orders inevitably. Piled on top of 

 this was the great increase of correspond- 

 ence made necessary to explain delay of 

 shipments or to answer complaints because 

 of delayed shipments. It has been as one 

 prominent Southern bee-breeder wrote us: 

 ''We have just simply had to do what we 

 could (and that was a lot) and leave the 

 rest undone." So, those ordering bees and 

 queens from Soutliern breeders this year 

 should not judge them too harshly even if 

 orders have been greatly delayed. 



