■74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 192d 



ACCORDING TO A BULLETIN from the 

 Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, there is, 

 A New Substi- or will be shortly, 

 tute for Sugar. a new malt sugar. 

 It is stated that 

 the shortage of ordinary table sugar and the 

 recent prohibition law have made it possible 

 to bring out a new sugar that will compete 

 with the ordinary sugar of commerce. It 

 has been stated that the breweries, with but 

 very little change, can be used for the 

 manufacture of this new product. The sugar 

 looks very much like maple sugar, and can 

 be used in' baking and cooking; and, while 

 not so sweet, it can be used on the table. 

 From the description given concerning it 

 we should rather imagine it is an invert 

 sugar, and probably would be a competitor 

 of honey for manufacturing purposes. How- 

 ever, the beekeeper need have no fear, be- 

 cause honey has always held its own. It has 

 a natural flavor that no artificial sugars. 

 have or can have. 



SOME YEARS AGO the Postoffice Depart- 

 ment, acting on the request of some bee- 

 keepers in Califor- 



Queen-cage 



Candy; Between 



the Devil and 



the Deep Sea. 



nia, issued a ruling 

 that all candy used 

 in the transmission 

 of bees and queens 

 thru the mails 



should not contain honey unless it has been 

 boiled 30 minutes in a closed vessel. The 

 purpose of this ruling was to prevent the 

 spread of bee disease from candy made from 

 infected honey. But experience proved that 

 a boiled honey almost ruins the candy. Then 

 an effort was made to comply with the spirit 

 of the ruling by using invert-sugar syrup — 

 that is, a syrup having the characteristics 

 of honey; and it was found that a very good 

 queen-cage candy could be made of it. High 

 hopes were entertained that this would solve 

 the problem. But, unfortunately, candy 

 made with invert-sugar syrup is apt to be- 

 come hard in a very short time, so that bees 

 actually starve on it. 



We have been making some experiments 

 in testing out the candy from unboiled hon- 

 ey and the candy made of invert-sugar 

 syrup. Careful tests have shown that the 

 former will keep moist and soft for days 

 after the latter has become hard and unfit 

 for a queen and bee food. Candy made of 

 invert-sugar syrup will remain moist for two 

 or three days; and for short-distance mailing, 

 where the queens can arrive before the candy 

 becomes hard, everything goes on lovely. So 

 far, so good; but when an effort is made to 

 send queens long distances or for export, 

 trouble comes. 



Under the postoffice ruling, the queen- 

 breeders are not allowed to send queens to 

 foreign countries in cages containing un- 

 boiled honey. Candy made of invert-sugar 

 syrup is unsatisfactory for the reason nam- 

 ed. Candy made of boiled honey is worse 



yet. Apparently there is no form of syrup 

 that satisfactorily takes the place of honey 

 as a bee food, either for the purpose of 

 breeding bees in the spring or for sending 

 queens thru the mails. 



Gleanings is in favor of the ruling. In 

 fact, it believes it is good; but apparently 

 the queen-breeder who sends queens long 

 distances is between the Devil and the deep 

 sea. 



Perhaps the Postoffice Department will al- 

 low the use of unboiled honey of good quali- 

 ty from some apiary where there has never 

 been foul brood, and which has been care- 

 fully examined and kept under the super- 

 vision of Government experts. That there 

 is plenty of good honey produced in locali- 

 ties' where there has been no disease is true. 

 It is our opinion that most of the honey sent 

 by carload does not contain any disease — 

 neither European nor American foul brood. 

 There is considerable doubt as to whether 

 honey is ever the medium of conveying 

 European foul brood; but that it might car- 

 ry the germs of American foul brood is now 

 well proved. It is because of this that the 

 Postofiice Department issued the ruling it 

 did. 



THE EDITOR VENTURED to suggest last 

 winter in California that perhaps the bee- 

 keepers of that 

 Packing Bees on State could afford 

 the Paciiic Coast, to use moderate 

 packing. Most of 

 the veterans, however, believed this to be 

 an unnecessary expense. We talked with a 

 number of small beekeepers, and several of 

 them expressed their determination to try 

 out the experiment. Among them was R. 

 E. Pairchild of Redlands, who writes: 



Dear Sir: — When you were in Redlands last win- 

 ter we had some discussion in regard to packing 

 bees in California, and I had, at that time, 10 colo- 

 nies packed in straw, and promised to report to 

 you the result of the experiment. I weighed 20 

 average colonies in the fall, packing 10 and leaving 

 10 unpacked, for a check. 



As the experiment was somewhat crude, and the 

 packing was torn up several times by stock and had 

 to be renewed, and was not very well done anyway, 

 I will not go into minute details, but simply give 

 the results as far as I was able to observe them. 



I laid off an empty brood-frame in inch squares 

 by means of twine, and counted the total number of 

 square inches of brood in four packed hives, and 

 compared them with the four unpacked ones, and 

 the packed colonies averaged 40 per cent more 

 brood on April 1. The difference in weight also 

 indicated that the unpacked hives used 30 per cent 

 more honey, but part of this would probably be ac- 

 counted for in the extra weight of brood in the 

 packed colonies. 



I stumbled on to something else, which may or 

 may not be new to you, but which I will also try 

 this year. I have had two or three colonies which 

 have been under the shade of an oak tree in winter, 

 and these have wintered very much better than the 

 same-sized colony sitting out in the sun. I judge 

 this is due to their being kept cooler on warm days, 

 thus keeping the bees quieter, so they do not wear 

 themselves out flying. I find these colonies do not 

 use so niucli lioney eitlier. I am going to place a 



