348 



GT. KANINGS TN BEE C U I. T U K E 



.TuNK, 1920 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



onstration apiaries will soon be realized by 

 every association in the State. 



The cold, backward spring weather was 

 very discouraging to beekeepecs everywhere. 

 At this time dandelions have not bloomed 

 and nothing has been gathered from fruit 

 bloom. In this vicinity the season is fully 

 three weeks late. This will mean that the 

 building-up period will be greatly reduced, 

 and therefore extra care will be needed to 

 put the colonies in the best condition for 

 gathering the main honey crop. The weak 

 colonies, which are so numerous this year, 

 will not have the usual opportunity to make 

 a good record. The bright ray of hope, tho, 

 is the excellent prospects for a good flow 

 from clover. This source of surplus honey 

 has been very short during the past two 

 seasons. 



Honey has been in demand locally since 

 the tremendous jump in the price of sugar. 

 Those who are having trouble in disposing 

 of their honey still persist in determining 

 the size of package in which it shall be 

 sold. The consumer wants the honey in a 

 package to suit his fancy, the difference in 

 cost not being a major consideration. 



The present demand for honey and the 

 general crop conditions are causing some 

 to consider the matter of a fair price for 

 honey for the 1920 crop. The early opinion 

 is that the price this year should not be in- 

 creased over that of last year. However, 

 the high price of sugar and the heavy loss 

 of bees will tend to increase the price. Of 

 course, sugar might return to a low price; 

 there might be an unusually large crop of 

 honey; and the market might be flooded 

 with the remains of the 1919 crop, but we 

 hardly think the price of honey will be low- 

 ered by these factors. 



As a matter of maintaining price levels 

 and standards, more attention must be given 

 to marketing. More honey should be dispos- 

 ed of locally. This does not mean that hon- 

 ey sales should be restricted to people with- 

 in a town, or even county. But the pro- 

 ducer can perfect his disposition of sales by 

 direct communication with the consumer. 

 A means of increasing sales that is untried 

 by most beekeepers is advertising, yet ex- 

 perience has shown conclusively that ad- 

 vertising will do for honey what it is doing 

 for every other product that is today offered 

 to the consumer. To want honey people 

 must know about it, the consumer must be 

 given the information, thev will not search 

 for it. F. B. Paddock. 



Ames, Iowa. 



* * * 



In Ontario - since sending in my copy 

 a month ago, we have 

 been treated to four weeks of very cool and 

 somewhat dry weather. There have been 

 only a few days in which bees could fly at 

 all, and, of course, hardly any pollen has 

 come in. Bees are backward, as a rule, and 



I should estimate that they are only 75 per 

 cent efiicient, as compared with a month ago. 

 No, 25 per cent of the colonies have not 

 died, but I think they would average 25 per 

 cent weaker. Clover wintered so well that 

 it stood the adverse weather all right and 

 is now looking good. However, it is very 

 backward, which is perhaps a good thing, 

 as it will give bees a longer time to build up 

 for the clover. 



Altho sugar is now very high, and dealers 

 report a big demaiid for corn syrup, yet I 

 am sorr}'^ to say they report honey sales as 

 being very slow. Why this is the case I am 

 at a loss to know, unless, as already stated 

 in former issues, honey in small quantities 

 is too high in price for the average con- 

 sumer. At least they think so, and as long 

 as they are of that mind it makes little dif- 

 ference what we beekeepers think about the 

 matter. Educating customers to buy in 

 larger quantities and at lower prices than 

 they pay for the small packages seems to be 

 the logical conclusion we must arrive at if 

 we wish to be fair in the matter. 



Mention was made in the last issue about 

 the aluminum combs I have in one colony. 

 As intimated, the weather has been very 

 cool for the last four weeks, and these two 

 combs were in a hive with no packing, ex- 

 cept that there were newspapers as well as 

 quilts over the tops of the frames, and all 

 covered by a water-proof telescoping cover; 

 so naturally it was a pretty good test to 

 prove if the bees did really object to the 

 metal combs in cool weather. About twice 

 a week during all this cool weather when 

 nearly all the mornings were below the 

 freezing point, I would lift up the cover 

 and take a peep at the clustered bees. The 

 same condition was always noticed — bees 

 were jammed in solid from one end of the 

 hive to the other, but all on the four combs 

 at one side of the hive, the side of the hive 

 enclosing one side of this long narrow 

 cluster, and the first aluminum comb being 

 the dividing line on the other side. Yester- 

 day (May 6) it was warm and sunny and 

 the bees were carrying pollen nicely; so I 

 l^roposed to have a look inside and see how 

 things appeared. Bees in other hives near 

 this one with aluminum comb had brood in 

 from three to four combs; but brood was in 

 the front end of the hive mainly, since clus- 

 ters, as all know, usually expand from front 

 to back of hive, especially if colonies are 

 only of medium strength and in unpacked 

 hives. This was the condition of all we 

 examined that were on all-wax combs. But 

 on opening the hive with the aluminum 

 combs I found just what one would expect, 

 after seeing the long cluster at one side of 

 the hive week after week, even when the 

 weather was quite cold. The first comb next 

 to the hive side had honey and a little fresh 

 pollen in it but no brood. The next two 

 combs were practically solid with brood 



