JANIIARV, 1920 



G I. K A X I N G S IN BE K (' I' L T U R E 



^ FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Coiitro, the home of at least one bee en- 

 tluisiast in the person of N» H. Caesar, an 

 ohl tinier in the valley and a beekeeper for 

 the love of the business. Mr. Caesar be- 

 lieves in sweet clover, and always has part 

 of liis land ))lanted to that crop. 



Further south we eonie to Suiunierland, 

 wliere there are (|uite a number of beekeep- 

 ers. Tlie aecouipauying photo is of F. C. 

 Gartrell's bees, located at Trout Creek Point 

 close to the Dominion Experiment Farm. 

 I consider this district one of the best bee 

 locations in the Okanagan Valley. Mr. Gar- 

 trell a\ eraired 100 pounds of extracted honey 

 per colony last season, and all reports ob- 

 tained by me were good. 



Penticton, at the foot of the lake, does not 

 seem to have as many ajiiarists as most of 

 the other districts in the valley, altho I 

 lieard of some very good yields.] The accom- 

 panying photo shows some of Alfred Jones' 

 liives on his ranch above the lake. He has 

 a fine location and, I believe, has done well 

 this season. 



Naramata, "The Smile of Manitou," ly- 

 ing opposite Summerlaud, has until recently 

 overlooked the bee industry, but has gained 

 several new recruits this year. I have re- 

 centlv instituted a series of small bee-houses 



Beekeopins nnd ore hard in;; are practiced togetlicv 

 in British Columbia. 



I)laced on certain of the fruit ranches and 

 operated by me on profit-sharing terms. Tlie 

 reason of the arrangement is that while most 

 (if the local fruit-growers realize the benefit 

 '.f bees to their orchards and are perfectly 

 willing to install them, they are, in many 

 < ases, unable to ilevote the necessary time 

 and attention to them. The houses I am 

 installing will each accommodate nine 12- 

 frame colonies, all on one level, and the 

 cost works out at a little less than the same 

 number of hives with the necessary winter 

 i-ases. I am a firm believer in the bee-house 

 system, and have this season built one to 

 .iccommodate 16 colonies. I also much pre- 

 fer a ll2-frame colony with 8-frame supers, 

 as recently described in "Gleanings." 



George Weaver. 

 Naramata, Okanagan Valley, B. C. 



LIQUEFYING HONEY 



Top of Furnace a Fine Place to Accomplish This 

 Work 



In Gleanings last winter, Mr. Byer spoke 

 of liquefying honey on top of the furnace. 

 I have had a little experience that way and 

 consider the top of a furnace the ideal place 

 to liquefy honey. We burn natural gas for 

 fuel and can regulate the heat to a degree. 

 On top of the furnace there is three or four 

 inches of lake sand and by laying the cans 

 on their sides and covering with a hive 

 cover to help retain the heat I found it a 

 very satisfactory and safe way of liquefy- 

 ing. I think I got quicker results by empty- 

 ing the honey into 10-pound pails as soon 

 as it would pour from the large cans, and 

 then setting the pails on top of the furnace 

 to finish liquefying. 



In the fall of 1917 I ran my honey from 

 the settling tank directly into 10-pound pails 

 and have had to liquefy nearly two tons of 

 it, but it is quite safely and easily done if 

 not too much heat is used. I think about 

 24 hours is the time required for 10-pound 

 pails with some hive covers over the top 

 of them. I have frequently had 150 pounds 

 or more on at one time in pails and cans; 

 but I did not care to have more than this 

 amount liquefying at one time, for fear it 

 might injure the honey if kept in a luke- 

 warm condition too long. 



Late this fall I found the toj) of the fur- 

 nace also a very good place on which to 

 warm up some extracting supers of honey. 

 Another way to warm up cold combs of hon- 

 ey for extracting is to put two barrels or 

 boxes just far enough apart and set a pile 

 of supers on, with a lighted lamp underneath 

 the supers and a cover on top of the pile. 

 The heat should be carefully watched, tho, 

 or the combs may melt. J. E. Battram. 



Kingsville, Ont. 



Da^©j= 



EXTRACTINGJN HAITI 



A Great Chance for Improvement in Haitian 

 Methods 



It may be of interest to compare the 

 methods of work used in Haiti by native 

 Negro beekeepers with the best of modern 

 methods and to consider our problem of 

 adapting our best American methods to the 

 conditions under which we work in this is- 

 land. Perhaps a descrijjtion of an extract- 

 ing at one of the apiaries which we have 

 recently taken over will give you a fairly 

 good idea of conditions. 



The preparations for extracting were 

 maile during several days prior to the night 

 of the great event, by taking off and stor- 

 ing in the honey-house all the combs to be 

 extracted, some of them containing sealed 

 brood which had been above an excluder. 



