Febriary, 1920 



GLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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IT was a red- 

 letter day the 

 latter part of 

 December when, 

 with two other: 

 men interested 

 in bees I rode to 

 Somerset, just 

 out of the city 

 of Washington, 



Md., to visit the field laboratory and apiary 

 of the Bureau of Entomology. Dr. Phillips 

 and Mr. Demuth were just back from a trip 

 of several weeks to the Southwest and Pacific 

 Coast where they had been holding institutes 

 or schools for advanced beekeepers in vari- 

 ous places. Their enthusiasm over the out- 

 look for the future of beekeeping was great. 

 Dr. Phillips estimated that the future possi- 

 l>ilitics of honey production in our country 

 when fully developed would be ten times 



the present output. 



* * * 



The old story in the book of Samuel con- 

 cerning Jonathan's gathering up honey that 

 had dripped from trees has seemed somewhat 

 exaggerated, but Dr. Phillips tells how the 

 honey or nectar is sometimes so abundant in 

 the orange groves of California that it drips 

 upon those cultivating them so that they 

 have to change their clothes and sponge 

 down their horses to get rid of the honey. 

 If honey was as abundant in New England, 

 I think we would find some way to gather 



it into our hives. 



* * * 



The apiary at Somerset, belonging to the 

 field laboratory of the Bureau of Entomolo- 

 g>-, is nicely located to the north of the 

 house, while close by to the west and north 

 is a thicket of forest trees, largely ever- 

 greens. The grounds include, I should think, 

 about one-third of an acre. Notwithstand- 

 ing the sheltered position of the apiary I 

 found the hives had been placed in large 

 boxes, four in a box, and heavily packed 

 with sawdust, leaves, or other non-conduct- 

 ors of heat. The entrances were reduced to 

 one small hole, that I judged to be about 

 five-eighths of an inch in diameter, but so 

 arranged that a larger entrance could be 

 given at the coming of spring. The condi- 

 tions for wintering seemed ideal, but I 

 should fear the heat in summer would be 



pretty severe for those at work in the yard. 



* « » 



Speaking of feeding bees sugar for winter 

 feed. Dr. Phillips said that while bees have 

 the power when fed slowly to invert sugar 

 so as to prevent granulation, they do not al- 

 ways do so; so it is safer to use acid or hon- 

 ey with the sugar syrup. This had been 

 especially true in the West where large 

 quantities of sugar crystals have been car- 

 ried out of the hives by the bees. This 

 seems very strange to me, as we have been 

 feeding tons of sugar as a heavy syrup often 

 late in the season and just as fast as thej' 

 would take it down and store it in their 

 combs. I can account for it only by the 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



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LJ 



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possibility that 

 where trouble 

 has occurred 

 bees have been 

 fed beet sugar 

 instead of cane 

 sugar. Why 

 there should be 

 any difference I 

 can not tell, but 

 we know that housewives prefer cane sugar 

 for certain purposes. Also candy manufac- 

 turers prefer cane. Further, we have under- 

 stood that British beekeepers are much 

 prejudiced against the use of sugar made 

 from beets. [We have fed tons of sugar, 

 either beet or cane, as a heavy syrup late 

 in the fall and have had no trouble whatever 

 from granulation. — Editor.] 



* * * 



I have great respect for the captain of a 

 ship who can take his vessel out of one port 

 and anchor it safely in another, it may be 

 thousands of miles away, while ocean cur- 

 rents tend to force it in one direction, tides 

 in another, and winds and waves in still 

 another. So well is the skillful navigator 

 able to master and solve this composition of 

 forces that he is able to leave one port and 

 reach another, thousands of miles away, 

 with surprising accuracy. 



Since coming to Washington I have be- 

 come acquainted with two or three persons 

 connected with the Bureau of Crop Esti- 

 mates of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and have come to appreciate their work as 

 never before. Their work seems, in some 

 respects, like that of the navigator. They 

 gather up statistics from all sections of our 

 great country. They have to make allow- 

 ances for drouths and floods, for insects and 

 blights, for frosts and summer heat, and, 

 above all, for the imperfections in the re- 

 ports of their reporters; and yet, so skillful 

 have they become in this line of effort, that 

 they are able to make very accurate esti- 

 mates of the staple crops of our country 

 long before they are harvested. So valuable 

 and reliable have these reports become that 

 when about to be made public the halls of 

 the buildings are thronged with reporters 

 and others desiring information; and for one 

 or two nights 20 or more clerks and officials 

 are locked up in the building that the re- 

 ports may be given out at the same time to 

 all, and thus the speculator have no advan- 

 tage over the farmer. 



Shall not we beekeepers who report on 

 honey-crop conditions see to it that our re- 

 ports are such as will help these experts to 

 give us accurate estimates of our crops of 

 honey from year to year? 



* * * 



I am glad that Mr. Warren has proved 

 "beyond the possibility of doubt" that bees 

 are most efficient agents in the fertilization 

 of alfalfa, as told recently by E. E. Boot. 

 Again and again we see the value of bees, 

 aside from the storing of honey or making 

 of wax. 



