711 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1920 



reduce I by winter protection. In well-pro- 

 tected li.ves the entrance can usually be re- 

 duced to % inch or even less in width dur- 

 ing the coldest part of winter, but in poorly 

 protected hives very small entrances may 

 be dangerous In any case, the entrance 

 should be narrow enough to exclude mice. 



THE CONDITION of the honey market con- 

 tinues to be puzzling. As must be expected 

 und?r present condi- 

 The Present tions buyers are tak- 

 Honey Market, ing honey only ns 

 they need it instead 

 of stocking up for future needs. This puts the 

 burden of holding upon the producer in- 

 stead of upon the buyer. In many cases the 

 producers' warehouses are still well filled 

 with honey, while the warerooms of the 

 dealers are nearly empty, this being quite 

 the opposite of the conditions prevailing dur- 

 ing the past two years. 



The greatest danger of the present situa- 

 tion lies in the fact that producers in their 

 anxiety to realize on their crop may dump 

 the honey upon the market faster than it 

 can be absorbed instead of distributing it 

 thruout the season. There seems to be no 

 doubt about the market 's being able to take 

 the entire crop of honey now on hand before 

 the next year 's crop is ready for market, but 

 this season's entire crop can not be dumped 

 at once without serious results. Somebody 

 must bear the burden of holding the stock 

 to supply the needs of the market thruout 

 the season, and, at present, dealers are not 

 willing to bear this burden, and, owing to 

 the money stringency, are unable to do so. 



The retail price of honey is still holding 

 its own very well, and the advice given in 

 these columns last month in regard to bee- 

 keepers ' selling more of their honey locally, 

 where this is possible, will bear repeating 

 here. Local advertising should help greatly 

 in disposing of honey in this way; but the 

 beekeeper, in selling his honey locally at re- 

 tail, should be sure that he is asking retail 

 prices, for he should receive enough more for 

 his honey when sold in this way to pay for 

 all his time and expenses of selling. 



Eeports coming to this office indicate that 

 much of the honey produced by small pro- 

 ducers in the East has already loeen cleaned 

 up, and is now out of the way. 



THIS IS the season of the greatest quies- 

 cence on the part of the bees. (The old term 

 in beekeeping, 

 The Quiescence "quiescence," 

 of Autumn. means simply quiet- 



ness and rest.) The 

 actual wear and tear of bee life is now re- 

 duced to its lowest ebb. At no other time 

 during the year are the bees willing to ig- 

 nore slight disturbances and remain as quiet 

 as they do during November and early De- 



cember. Their summer's work is done, brood- 

 rearing has been discontinued, the winter's 

 supply of food is conveniently arranged just 

 above and around the clustering space, pro- 

 vided the beekeeper has not taken too much 

 away or disturbed the arrangement, and the 

 bees have nothing to do now but save their 

 energy in order that the colony may live 

 until spring without rearing brood. A strong 

 colony under conditions favorable for quies- 

 cence consumes a surprisingly small amount 

 of honey at this season, since honey is the 

 fuel which furnishes the energy, and when 

 energy is not being expended honey need 

 not be consumed. 



If the quiescence of late autumn could be 

 kept up during the winter, the bees would 

 not age materially until the beginning of 

 active work in the spring; but the trouble 

 is, the remarkable quiescence, so character- 

 istic of this season, can not be maintained 

 in I he same degree for long except under the 

 mos, favorable conditions of temperature 

 and cl:aracter of winter stores. From now on 

 many thijigs may happen which tend to dis- 

 turb this highly desirable condition, and 

 finally by long continued disturbance it may 

 be upset entirely. In its final analysis, good 

 wintering is simply the maintenance of the 

 greatest possible it oree of quiescence until 

 the beginning of sj > ng brood-rearing. 



TO EENDER old combs, especially those 

 containing disease, and get ail the wax, or 

 within one or two per 

 The Danger cent of it, witliuut 

 in Diseased spreading disease, is not 

 Combs. an easy task. The ren- 



dering of old combs is 

 almost a trade in itself; and, when a bee- 

 keeper undertakes it, he should have the 

 right kind of apparatus and follow the di- 

 rections given in our ABC and X Y Z of 

 Bee Culture, under the head of Wax, sub- 

 head Wax-rendering. If one will follow 

 these directions, and do the work either on 

 a cold day outdoors when the bees can not 

 fly, or in a room well screened so that no 

 robbers can get in, he will get along nicely. 



But a large number have neither the in- 

 clination nor the ability to do a piece of 

 work of this kind, even when the directions 

 are plain; and, even when they know how, 

 over half of them leave honey smeared over 

 everything where bees can get a taste. 

 Combs are seldom rendered nowadays unless 

 bee disease is either present or suspected. It 

 follows, therefore, that when a beekeeper is 

 careless he defeats the very object of melt- 

 ing up. Thru robbing he spreads disease 

 rather than prevents it. 



On account of the messiness of the job, 

 or on account of inadequate apparatus or 

 lack of knowledge, many beekeepers are to- 

 day pursuing a policy of shipping their dis- 

 eased or suspected combs to their nearest 

 foundation-maker or dealer; and these 



