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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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WHILE WE ARE j)aviii{j- our tributt's to 

 Dr. Miller, thero 



Dr. Miller on 

 1 Winter Stores. 



one tiling more the 

 e (1 i t r feels li e 

 should say; a u d 

 that is, that he was 

 clear ahead of his 

 time when he came out with a strong pro- 

 nouncement in favor of natural stores in- 

 stead of sugar syrup. It came about in 

 this way: 



Some 10 or 12 years ago the editor casu- 

 ally remarkeil thru these columns that it 

 was generally believed by good beekeepers 

 tliat good sugar stores well sealed are 

 better than sealed natural stores for winter 

 food. Immediately Dr. Miller came back 

 in his department, Stray Strows, object- 

 irg to the statement, and adding, "How 

 'ong has it been believed that sugar stores 

 are better than natural stores'?" The edi- 

 tor still believes he was correct as to what 

 was then accepted as good practice on the 

 part of the beekeeping public generally, 

 and insisted that at the time he was only 

 reflecting those views. Dr. Miller retorted 

 by saying that he did not care if the whole 

 world was against him, that pound for 

 pound natural stores are better than sugar 

 stores. Of course, he specified good honey 

 and not unripened aster or other fall stores. 

 At the time. Dr. Miller was ablv supported 

 by G. M. Doolittle and J. L. 'Byer. The 

 latter asserted that a number of the jironi 

 inent Ontario beekeepers had discovered 

 that stores of good honey well sealed would 

 go further than sugar stores. 



There are not a few who hold to the con- 

 trary view at the present day; but the 

 pendulum is swinging, and swinging strong- 

 ly, to the position held by Dr. Miller wlien 

 he was considered as all but a heretic on 

 the question. 



Lest our position be misunderstood, we 

 will admit that sugar stores fed early, and 

 sealed in the combs, are equal to or ])Ossi- 

 bly better during the coldest part of the 

 winter when the bees are not breeding; 

 but aftei" that, honey stores are un(|uestion- 

 ably better. When a colony has exclusive- 

 ly sugar stores it incurs the great danger 

 of spring dwindling if the spring is bad, 

 because there will be no young bees to take 

 the place of the old ones dying off. Sugar 

 stores are likewise probably equal to, or 

 better, during the period of actual confine- 

 ment of bees in cellars. When we sav 



"sugar stores" let it be understood that 

 no brown sugars will answer. Some of us 

 learned to our sorrow last winter, when we 

 could not get granulated sugar, that brown- 

 sugar stores contain too much gum. Better 

 by far have an inferior honey than any 

 brown sugar or molasses. 



IN THE face of the sugar market wabbling 

 like an ordinary up-to-date })olitician, and 

 in the face of governme -t 

 The Honey reports on honey that indi- 



Market. cate a "dull season," no 



sales, ' ' and ' ' no demand, 

 some beekeepers may be inclined to lose 

 their heads. But there is no cause for 

 alarm. What is taking place is exactly 

 what was to have been expected, only 

 the most of us hoped that it would not come 

 quite so soon. All should remember that, as 

 a result of the great World War, our coun- 

 try, as well as all others, is going thru a 

 process of reconstruction — a process that 

 was inevitable. Ever}' one has known, of 

 course, that war prices were inflated, and 

 that necessarily a time would come when 

 those prices would come down. Foods par- 

 ticularly are showing a decline — especially 

 sugar, vegetables, and fruits. But honey has 

 suffered by no means the same decline that 

 some foods have. Indeed, it is fair to say 

 that it has more than held its own. It is re- 

 markable that honey jirices haxe not gone 

 lower than they have. 



Honey is apt to act in sympathy with 

 sugar. When the latter goes up, the former 

 climbs with it. But, most foi'tunately, honey 

 has not suff'ered the same ratio of decline 

 that sugar has; and beekeepers, instead of 

 being scared, should be happy that they are 

 not hit harder than they are. 



There is another cause for congratula- 

 tion; and that is, that the very finest table 

 honeys are only indirectly affected by the 

 decline in sugar. As a rule, the best ex- 

 tracted honeys net the j)r()ducer about 50 

 per cent more than the wholesale price of 

 sugar; and a glance at the markets will 

 show that this ratio is holding good at the 

 present time. It is largely the medium grades 

 of extracted that are direct!}' affected by 

 the price of sugar; and even then the bakers 

 must have invert sugar; and an artificial 

 invert sugar will not compete with a good 

 grade of amber extracted honey, which is 



