a T. E A \ I N G S IN BEE CULT V H E 



SurTKMKKR. lO'JO 



to lay. It is very ilouV)tful whether sugar 

 syrup only and combs of pollen are ever 

 equal to good honey alone. 



If so, the sooner this fact is pounded into 

 the heads of beekeepers, the sooner they will 

 build up their own industry. Sugar syrup 

 at the present time costs more than lionoy. 

 To extract the honey and feed the sugar 

 syrup is a tremendous drain on bee life. 

 Even if the sugar syrup costs only half the 

 price of honey, it is a question whether the 

 beekeeper can afford to extract his honey 

 and feed the syrup. Elsewhere in this num- 

 ber of Gleanings w-e present some evidence 

 on this point that is worth considering. 



' * But, ' ' you say, ' ' your optimism is based 

 on the high price of sugar. Do you consider 

 what would happen if the Government 

 should get after the profiteers in sugar — ■ 

 those who are hoarding it, as they undoubt- 

 edly are — and bring the price down to ten 

 cents, when honey would fall with a tremen- 

 dous crash"?' ' 



A ten-cent sugar might depress tlie mar- 

 ket on honey provided it could be had in 

 quantities. We doubt if good honey will 

 ever be cheaper than 20 cents retail. The 

 awful war, expensive as it was, has intro- 

 duced honey into the arts and trades, and it 

 is going to stay there. The housewife, the 

 baker, and the candy-maker, as well as the 

 ice-cream people, have learned the use of 

 this kind of sweet. What honey they have 

 once furnished they will have to furnish 

 again, because the public will demand it. 



In this connection it is, perhaps, proper to 

 observe that honey is being put on the table 

 as it never was before. It can be obtained 

 on most of the good trains, in many of the 

 best hotels, and, what is more, it can be se- 

 cured by the housewife in practically every 

 grocery in the United States. The business 

 of bottling hone)' in the United States has 

 grown by leaps and bounds. In the last 

 lew years it has developed more than 1000 

 ]>er cent. Honej' for the table to s})read on 

 bread and butter or on breakfast foods has 

 come to stay. Jellies .-md jams have ''gone 

 out of sight" in price, and honey is gener- 

 ally much cheaiJer and always available. 



There is another factor that should fur- 

 nish no small amount of optimism; and that 

 is that Europe, due to the Great War, has 

 learned something of the value of American 

 white honey; and no product of the West 

 Indies, of Africa, or of South America, so 

 far as we know, has the fine flavor of the 

 American product. When we say "white'' 

 honey, we mean clover, basswood, alfalfa, 

 sweet clover, mountain sage, orange blossom, 

 gallberry, tupelo, and we might add a score 

 more of white honeys, suoh as raspberry and 

 fireweed, which are found in some of our 

 northern forests. 



Let us now look on the other side — the 

 conditions that are more favorable to the 

 beekecfjer. They are to be congratulated 

 on the fact that we are discovering new and 

 unoccupied localities where large t|wantities 

 of honey can be producd, and that, too, in 



carlots. It is not necessary to overlap on 

 the other man's territory. There is a fur- 

 ther cause for congratulation; and that is, 

 we are learning better how to winter bees. 

 While disease is, perhaps, more prevalent 

 than it ever has been before in the history 

 of beekeeping, thanks to Uncle Sam and to 

 the activities of our various States, we know 

 better how to eradicate it than formerlj'. 



Most of the important honey States have 

 good foul-brood laws. The bee inspectors 

 not only show how to treat disease, but how 

 to keep bees better. 



Alsike and sweet clover are spreading 

 over the country at a tremendous rate. In 

 many of the eastern States alsike, a. wonder- 

 ful honey plant, has all but crowded reil 

 clover out. The farmers don 't care about 

 the bee business, but they are finding that 

 alsike clover will grow where red clover can 

 not even get a foothold. Furthermore, 

 thanks to extension men, the farmers are 

 finding it pays to lime their lands. Where 

 this is done splendid yields of clover result. 

 Sweet clover is making a rapid spread all 

 over the West, until is is now a question 

 which is the more important honey plant, 

 sweet clover or alfalfa. 



Shipping bees in pound packages without 

 combs is coming now to be a science. When 

 there comes a severe winter, such as the last 

 one, it is -now possible for a northern man 

 to buy bees in two or three pound lots in the 

 South, and with the aid of these bees he may 

 have as good or better colonies than those he 

 has wintered over. Quite generally the pack- 

 age business has been immensely profitable 

 to the shipper and to the consignee. We 

 have had numerous reports of beekeepers 

 w^ho have secured from two or three pounds 

 of bees in early spring 100 pounds or more 

 of honey, and have a good colony, and 

 enough stores for winter. 



Last, but not least, there never was a 

 time when Federal and State aid for the bee- 

 keejiing industry was more freely offered 

 than now. Tlie various bee-extension courses 

 under Dr. Phillips, of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, hax'e done a world of good in mak- 

 ing better beekeepers. The Editor has heard 

 on every side how the old veterans have ad- 

 mitted that they got a great deal of informa- 

 tion from the Government men, who told 

 them not only how to keep bees better but 

 how to avoid winter losses and at the same 

 time combat disease. In some cases the bee- 

 extension men have brought these new and 

 better ways right to the door of the bee- 

 kee))er. 



There is a large number of bulletins 

 touching on the various phases of beekeep- 

 ing that can be had for the asking. The api- 

 cultural departments of several of the States, 

 particularly Michigan, have been sending 

 out circular letters that deal with local and 

 timely conditions. 



If a beekeeper can not make good now, it 

 is his own fault; and the whole outlook for 

 beekee|>ing is bi-igliter today than ever be- 

 t'ori>. 



