Apkil, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE IT T, T IT H E 



219 



T 



C 



u= 



HE weather 



has 1) e e n 



in i 1 (i ill 

 New England, as 

 thru most of the 

 Unit ed States, 

 during- the past 

 tliree m o n t h s, 

 with little snow, 

 yet with the 



ground covered with snow enough to pro 

 tec't clover most of the time. 



Mr. Bedell writes me that after the cap- 

 pings from 1,000 pounds of extracted honey 

 have stood and drained for 24 hours he can 

 ])iess out from 30 to 40 pounds honey "in 

 the very best marketable condition," leav- 

 ing a cheese 15 inches in diameter and 4^/^ 

 iiich(>s thick. 



* » « 



On page 146, H. F. Wilson lays down a 

 good, solid foundation for building up strong 

 colonies for the honey harvest. First, by pro- 

 tection from the wind. Second, by packing 

 the brood-chambers to keep them warm. 

 Third, by giving them lots of lionoy and 

 then more lionev. Good advice. 



Allen Latham 's hypothesis of the cause 

 of the 'washboard action of bees" is cer- 

 tainly ingenious. (See page 152.) With his 

 theory to start with and thousands of watch- 

 ful beekeepers studying the same subject, 

 we may in time be able to prove this theory 

 correct. How much there is about bees yet 

 that we don't positively know! 



* * * 



Page 160, ah, ha! Mr. Parks, your bees 

 down in Texas working all thru January on 

 fruit bloom! Why, we here in New England 

 keep such dainty bee forage until May or 

 June. It seems positively wicked to keep 

 your bees at work the year round. We give 

 them a rest from September till April, but 

 we find it pretty hard keeping the little 

 fellows quiet. Yesterday (March 1) we 

 found some hives with as much as a whole 

 Langstroth frame full of brood. 



* « * 



L. L. Andrews, on page 159, offers some 

 sensible advice in view of low prices. He 

 says: "There is no cause for any great 

 anxiety in the matter. Prepare for a crop 

 and produce it just as economically as you 

 can consistently with the general conditions. 

 The writer has sold honey in times past at 

 a figure really below the cost of production, 

 if an honest labor and expense charge were 

 made. But with present methods of market- 

 ing, it is not likely we shall be called upon 

 to do it again." 



« * * 



In the January issue of Gleanings Mr. 

 Holtermann writes of his success with a wax 

 press for separating honey from capping 



SIFTINGS 



J. E, Crane 



1 



TU 



when extracting. 

 In the February 

 issue I suggest- 

 ed that it would 

 be very interest- 

 ing to know just 

 what per cent of 

 honey remained 

 in the pressed 

 cappings. Now 

 comes Fred P. Jansen, on page 169, and 

 states that he has used a press of his own 

 construction and has found the average 

 amount of honey remaining to be 50 per 

 cent of the pressed cappings, sometimes a 

 little more, and sometimes a little less. 



I have often wondered how bees man- 

 aged to rear their brood while their wax 

 organs were being developed, if the theory 

 of some naturalists is true that bees that 

 build their combs of woody fiber and those 

 that build their combs with wax come from 

 the same ancestral source. A statement by 

 W. B. Schrc'ls, on jmge 147, would seem to 

 throw considerable light on this subject. In 

 speaking of the native bees of Costa Kica 

 he says: "Some build wax combs; others, 

 half wax and part woody fiber; still others 

 build all fiber nests, something like a wasp's 

 or hornet 's nest. ' ' 



* * * 



Early in February I received from O. W. 

 Bedell a small sample of pressed cappings. 

 He wrote me the sample was hardly a fair 

 one, as it was two or three years old, but all 

 he had. He desired me to test it and find out 

 the per cent of honey it contained. It ap- 

 peared quite dry and gave little evidence 

 of honey; but, on melting it in water, I found 

 41 per cent to be honey and 58 per cent wax 

 and sediment. So I think we may safely con- 

 clude that from 40 to 50 per cent of these 

 pressed wax cakes or cheeses is honey. This 

 does not condemn the wax press by any 

 means, but only shows that it will pay to 

 melt the wax cakes when we have the leis- 

 ure and save what honey remains. 



Formerly the great burden of our bee 

 journals was how to produce more and more 

 honey; but of late the thought of selling is 

 looming up as a big part of the business, 

 with the idea of selling near home and by 

 advertising. Mr. Aeppler, on page 153, March 

 Gleanings, tells how he disposed of his 10,- 

 000 pounds to good advantage in a retail 

 way by advertising; and 0. A. Burch of In- 

 diana, page 162, tells how he disposed of 

 his crop in the same way. There is no ques- 

 tion but that large quantities of honey could 

 be sold if people only knew where to get it. 

 We have recently had orders for honey from 

 the middle West and even the southern 

 States, to be sent by mail. I feel sure people 

 would not send so far for honey if they 

 knew it could be obtained near them. 



