November, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



679 



two pounds of comb honey for every three 

 pounds of extracted honey fed, there be- 

 ing many cases where the loss was greater 

 and a few cases where it was less. Feeding 

 back to have unfinished sections completed 

 is quite a different problem from that of 

 feeding for winter, especially when the 

 syrup is simply stored with but little modi- 

 fication by the bees in empty cells and no 

 comb-building is necessary. 



When the feeding is done in the fall, after 

 most, of the brood has emerged, the bees 

 probably store the feed in the combs with 

 the least possible shrinkage. The colonies 

 are then preparing for their winter quies- 

 cence and the bees are naturally inclined to 

 be less active than earlier. The queen has 

 quit laying, the nurse bees are no longer se- 

 creting larval food, and the habits of all 

 the bees as to their diet have been changed 

 to harmonize with the new condition of rest. 

 At this time if any honey is being handled, 

 it is moved from the more remote parts of 

 the hive to the now vacant cells, from which 

 brood has recently emerged, where it will 

 be within the cluster. Honey is moved in 

 this way apparently without excitement or 

 undue activity. 



If a heavy syrup, nearly as heavy as hon- 

 ey, is fed at this time it will be stored rap- 

 idly and without much loss while being han- 

 dled by the bees. It will be stored in the 

 now vacant cells from which brood has re- 

 cently emerged. If the syrup is given while 

 it is still quite warm and fed in such a man- 

 ner that it is stored quickly, the excitement 

 from feeding is soon over and the colony 

 again becomes quiet. Under these condi- 

 tions, the usual thing is to expect at least 

 as many pounds of thick syrup being stored 

 in the combs as there were pounds of dry 

 sugar used in making it; but usually there 

 is more. 



While at first thought late feeding may 

 appear objectionable it has the advantage 

 of causing less activity on the part of the 

 bees, which means less of aging and less 

 waste of food. In addition to this is the 

 great advantage of giving good feed so 

 late in the season that it is placed where it 

 will be used first during the winter, thus 

 insuring good stores for the period of winter 

 confinement regardless of the quality of the 

 stores already in the hive. 



za^BfZ 



BEEKEEPERS have reason for rejoicing 



because of the more active movement of 



honey this fall, for 



What About the 



Future of 



Beekeeping? 



this means much 

 more to the indus- 

 try than merely 

 disposing of the 

 season's crop and that held over from last 

 year. Pushing the sale of honey now means 

 building for the future. Whether the pres- 

 ent activity of the market will continue for 

 long no one can tell, but the unusual ef- 

 fort now being made to move the honey 



to consumers thru every possible channel 

 must result in a permanent gain for the 

 industry. Apparently honey is being 

 brought to the attention of more people 

 this season than ever before. It is being 

 sold direct at the roadsides, at the apiary, 

 and by house-to-house canvassing. It is be- 

 ing advertised in local newspapers not only 

 by beekeepers but also by grocers and chain 

 stores. It is being sol^ by the mail-order 

 plan, and new consumers are being hunted 

 up in every conceivable way. Cities and 

 even States have staged a "Honey Week" 

 during which intensive advertising has been 

 carried on and large quantities of honey 

 have been sold. Large bottlers of honey are 

 spending annually great sums of money to 

 push the sale of honey thru the regular trade 

 channels. 



Up to the time of the passage of the Food 

 and Drugs Act, June 30, 1906, by the Fed- 

 eral Government and the enactment of the 

 various State Pure Food Laws, much of the 

 honey produced in this country was in the 

 form of comb honey, the production of 

 which prevented beekeepers from greatly 

 expanding their business. Most beekeepers 

 of that period operated but one apiary, only 

 a few of the most daring attempting to pro- 

 duce comb honey on a large scale in out- 

 apiaries on account of the swarming prob- 

 lems. Since the passage of the jjure food 

 laws the production of honey in this coun- 

 try has increased by leaps and bounds. Un- 

 fortunately no figures are available to show 

 accurately the extent of this increase, but 

 production had undoubtedly been increased 

 many fold before the tremendous stimulus 

 to greater production which was brought 

 about by the sugar shortage incident to the 

 war. Finally, with production at full speed, 

 came the slump of last year. 



Honey production like most other indus- 

 tries is now passing thru a most critical pe- 

 riod, and the further development of the' 

 industry in the immediate future will de- 

 pend largely upon the successful disposal of 

 the stocks of honey now in the country at a 

 fair price to the beekeeper. If this can be 

 accomplished now while the export trade in 

 honey is so greatly reduced and large quan- 

 tities of honey are being imported, beekeep- 

 ers can go ahead with more confidence in 

 their business than ever before, for it will 

 mean that the increased use of honey in this 

 country has more than kept pace with the 

 increase in production. 



Beekeepers should not cease their efforts 

 to increase the use of honey when their crop 

 is sold. We still have a long way to go in 

 popularizing honey as a food. Whatever 

 gain is made in new consumers should be 

 kept, and those who have made a lot of new 

 customers should see that these consumers 

 are supplied with all the honey they want 

 thruout the year. We need to have 52 

 "Honey Weeks" in a year instead of but 

 one. Let us put honey on the American 

 tables to stay. 



