610 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



" soma plasm " and " germ plasm," page 

 27 of the January number. 



To apply this to bees, say A has 100 

 colonies of a good strain of bees, 98 of them 

 producing 300 joounds of honey each, and 

 the other two producing 100 each, while 

 B has a poorer strain of which, under the 

 same conditions, 98 colonies produce 100 

 pounds each, and the other two 200 lbs. 

 each. According to Dr. Fowler's idea it 

 would be better to breed from the poorest 

 of the good strain, altho they produced only 

 100 pounds each, than from the be.st of the 

 poor strain that produced 200 lbs. each. 



In the March number, page 223, there is 

 a picture of a cow, " Sophie," and her calf. 

 If Sophie had a poor calf that did not give 

 quite as much milk as one of the best of an 

 ordinary scrub stock, which would be the 

 best to breed from — the poorest of the best 

 or the best of the poor that seemed to be 

 the better of the two? 



Let us now consider heredity and environ- 

 ment as to gentleness. I have a hen and 

 thirteen chickens (6 weeks). They are so 

 gentle that when I weigh them once a week 

 I can pick up every one and put them in a 

 box without chasing after any. Is that 

 heredity or environment — " soma plasm " 

 or " germ plasm " 1 The same chickens 

 raised ditferently might be very wild. So 

 bees from a gentle strain can be made very 

 gentle or very cross. 



Again, we might tame a wolf much tamer 

 than some dogs; but would not the young 

 from the tame wolf be more apt to inherit 

 wild tendencies than the young from the 

 vicious dog that was made vicious by its 

 environment ? 



I propose that, instead of breeding from 

 the best swarm or from the best strain, we 

 breed from the best swarm of the best strain 

 and leave the scrubs alone, thus taking ad- 

 vantage of both heredity and environment. 



Hammonton, N. J. C. E. Fowler. 



What Shall We Do With Them? 



To my mind the greatest hindrance to 

 establishing as well as raising the price on 

 honey to keep pace with other table com- 

 modities is the so-called farmer beekeeper 

 (and they don't all live on farms) — the man 

 who a few years ago started with one 

 colony, and with perhaps the increase of 

 one colony he has more honey than he wants 

 for home consumption. Tliis surplus honey 

 he gives to his children, aicighbors, or 



friends. Perhaps in another year he has 

 more than he wants to dispose of in this 

 way, and he thinks of selling some of liis 

 crop. He is a man who, if you offered liim 

 half a cent less than the market on his 

 chickens, eggs, or butter would be highly 

 insulted; but in ease of his honey he does 

 not recognize that it, too, has a market 

 value, but seems suddenly to become con- 

 science-stricken and dumps his honey on the 

 market at half to two-thirds the market 

 price. I saw as fine comb honey as any one 

 could produce dumped on to a local gi'ocer 

 at ten cents a pound in trade. This was in 

 an Ohio town where I lived for several 

 yeai's. At the same time I was getting 

 twenty cents a pound at the house, or $4.00 

 a case. 



What shall we do to educate or eliminate 

 the farmer or small beekeeper? We have 

 them wlierever I have been. 



We have another class here, of larger pro- 

 ducers, who sell the gi'ocer all they can and 

 then canvass the consumer, selling in small 

 lots at the same price that they did the 

 grocer, thus breaking the price and injuring 

 the grocer who assisted him in handling h'S 

 crop ! 



Wichita, Kan. 0. J. Jones. 



Impossible to Keep to the Old Price 



I run entirely for extracted honey and 

 put it all up for market in 2-i:»ound friction- 

 top cans. 



For the past ten years I have charged a 

 uniform price of $3.00 per dozen cans. 

 Last vear I paid a concern in Baltimore 

 $18.50 per 1000 for these cans. This year 

 the sam.e company asked me $45.00 per 1000 

 for the same cans. I have now purchased 

 from another large concern for $37.75 per 

 1000. This price is more than double last 

 year's price. 



I shall raise my price to not less than 

 $3.60 per dozen cans. With tli:^ high i^rices 

 now charged for all other foodstuffs, I ex- 

 pect to have little trouble to sell my output. 



Factoryville, Pa. Earl Seamans. 



Some of our Short Cuts 



We generally do our extracting during 

 August. After this is over we stack the 

 trays and supers of empty combs eight high, 

 zigzagging the corners to let in plenty of 

 light. Moths prefer darkness " because 



