January, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



c 



IB E L IE VE 

 there are a 

 good ni any 

 beekeepers who 

 would look just 

 as good-natured 

 as W. J. Har- 

 vey does on 

 page 743, De- 

 cember Glean- 



ings, if tliey could produce 90S jiounds of 

 honey from one colony, or an average of 

 360 pounds for four years from their entire 

 yard. 



•<• •» * 



That old term "quiescence," page 714, 

 is a most decidedly good one and should be 

 in more common use than it has been, for 

 it sums up in one word the problem of suc- 

 cessful wintering. 



* * » 



That was a right good article, by Penn 

 G. Snyder, on ' ' Beekeeping in Porto Rico. ' ' 

 For one I have often wished to know the 

 conditions in Porto Rico, and the facts he 

 gives just satisfies my curiosity. It was al- 

 most as good as a visit to tlie island. I am 

 glad we nre to hear from other faraway 

 lands. 



* * * 



The editorial on page 713 says, "The dan- 

 ger of the entrance being closed by dead 

 bees and the condensation of moisture 

 within the hive are both greatly reduced by 

 winter protection. ' ' Quite true, but the 

 danger of entrances getting closed is great- 

 ly increased by a poor quality of winter 



stores. 



* * * 



The report referred to by H. B. Parks, 

 page 739, and taken from a bulletin of the 

 Colorado Agricultural Station, by Dr. Wal- 

 ter G. Sackett, on the danger of contracting 

 bacterial diseases from the use of honey, 

 shows the danger to bo less than lias some- 

 times been supposed — much less, in fact. 

 than from "water, milk, or other sub- 

 stances of high water content." The fact 

 that the bacteria Dr. Sackett tested couhl 

 live only from two to four days in ex- 

 tracted honey shows that it is very diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to contract :iny of 

 those diseases from honev. 



I had planned for some time to say, in 

 January Gleanings, something about the 

 ' ' Production of Comb Honey, ' ' but I see 

 the new editor has got the start of me. 

 However, notwithstanding my timid nature, 

 I believe I will not be frightened out of 

 what I intended to say. All Mr. Demuth has 

 said is quite true, but there are some things 

 he has not said. The price of supplies for 

 comb honey at the present time makes its 

 production seem rather unattractive. The 

 price of sections, foundation, cartons, ship- 

 ping-cases, and crates will bo somewhere 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



from seven to 

 ten cents for 

 each section to 

 start with; and 

 then the work of 

 making all the 

 sections, putting 

 in starters, set- 

 ting up shipping 

 cases, cleaning, 

 and weighing eacii section, and then making 



crates, and packing will be no small task 



to say nothing of the extra work of caring 

 for yards run for comb honey. We have pro- 

 duced comb honey in the past and- shall 

 doubtless continue to do so in the future, 

 but the high prices of supplies have set us 

 to thinking "right smart." 



* • « 



That new apieultural buihling of the On- 

 tario Agricultural College at Guelph, On- 

 tario, illustrated on page 725, is most cred- 

 itable to the enterprise and good sense of 

 our Canadian brethren. We think the bee- 

 keeping interests of the country move 

 slowly, but it almost takes away our breath 

 when we stop to think how few years it 

 has been since an agricultural college first 

 made beekeeping a part of its regular 

 course, or since buildings adapted to this 

 work were erected. Certainly the beekeep- 

 ing interests of the country never looked 

 more hopeful or more promising than today. 



* * . * 



J. L. Byer, on page 741, writes of finding 

 two queens in one hive. This certainly some- 

 times happens, as also that bees remove an 

 egg from one comb to another. I have met 

 with both these facts in my experience. 

 This shows very conclusively that nature's 

 rules are subject to exceptions, or rather, 

 perhaps I should say, that in every genera- 

 tion of plant or animal life there is more 

 or less variation. We are not apt to notice 

 slight changes, but large ones we do notice. 

 Some of our choicest fruits and flowers and 

 our finest domestic animals and plants come 

 in just this way. Notice what a sensation 

 that precocious youngster, "annual sweet 

 clover," is producing in tlie world today. 



* * * 



On page 730, W. E. Joor tells us how he 

 would maintain good prices by judiciously 

 distributing honey and advertising. His 

 plan seems not only legitimate but feasible. 

 It is only as honey is brought to the atten- 

 tion of consumers that we can expect them 

 to buy and use it. He proposes that the 

 American Honey Producers ' League assess 

 its members one or two cents for each hive 

 owned by members. Two or three things 

 seem evident. A large amount of money is 

 needed for advertising. Very few beekeep- 

 ers are likely to advertise on their own ac- 

 count. There is not likely to be any better 

 organization of beekeepers for this purpose 

 than the American Honey Producers' 

 League. 



