c 



ur 



January, 1922 



DOES rollin.n- 

 tion Stimu- 

 late Growth 

 of Fruit Body?" 

 is asked on page 

 773 and answer- 

 ed in the nega- 

 tive by Axel 

 Hoist. The cases 

 of seedless or- 

 anges, bananas and seedless tomatoes are 

 given as examples, and so far he is quite 

 right. But Nature is many-sided, and what 

 is true of one plant may not be of another. 

 A leaf of the Kex begonia, laid on a damp 

 soil with a suitable temperature, will pro- 

 ceed to take root and form new plants, but 

 it by no means follows that the leaves of 

 other plants will do the same. In my back 

 yard is an apple tree that produces many 

 one-sided apples, i. e., one side fully devel- 

 oped while the other side is dwarfed or im- 

 perfectly developed; also some small ones 

 one-half or one-fourth size. If we cut into 

 these one-sided apples, we shall find seed in 

 the well-developed side and no seed in the 

 dwarfed side. The small apples contain no 

 seeds. The same appears to be true of 

 grapes. The seedless grapes or raisins, so 

 far as I have observed, all appear to be 

 dwarfed. This might at first seem to be a 

 characteristic of the variety; but if we take 

 a variety like some of Kodger's hybrids that 

 produce both seeded and seedless grapes in 

 the same cluster, we shall invariably find 

 those having seeds are large and perfectly 

 developed, while those without seed are 

 small and inferior in size. 



* * * 



B. F. Kindig tells on page 777 that it is 

 lawful in Michigan to give only the mini- 

 mum net weight of sections in a case of 

 sections. This, I understand, is true of the 

 U. S. law in such matters, but is it desir- 

 able to pack our honey in this way — 12, 13, 

 15 or 16 ounce sections all in the same case? 

 I noticed in visiting several packing houses 

 in Florida some years ago, that oranges 

 were carefully sorted, one size going irrto 

 one box and another size into another. So 

 we find in the retail stores the oranges are 

 sold according to their size, the large ones 

 for one price and the smaller ones for less. 

 Why should not the same be true of section 

 honey? Why should the retail grocer charge 

 as much for a 12-ounce section as a 15-ounce 

 section, as he naturally would if all were 

 labeled "minimum net weight, 12 ounces?" 



* * « 



After a busy day it is very enjoyable to 

 take Gleanings in Bee Culture and sit by a 

 warm fire and read of beekeeping in the 

 "North, East, West and South," the pleas- 

 ures, anxieties and disappointments of bee- 

 keepers in every direction, and feel that, 

 after all, we have fared as well as the aver- 

 age or better than most of them. How 

 freely have the flowers been distributed 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



^^^^^^^^^^ 



TLJ 



23 



o\er our broad 

 land I As one 

 nectar-producing 

 plant disappears, 

 another comes 

 in to supply the 

 bees and repay 

 for their care. 

 Surely the fu- 

 ture is bright 

 for tlic success of our industry. 

 * * * 

 "The Silver Lining Grows Brighter," 

 says the Editor on page 742. Well, I be- 

 lieve prices are not nearly so bad as they 

 seem. We have had low prices before and 

 lived thru it. I remember buying, years 

 ago, the finest white sage honey in Boston 

 for six cents a pound. Let us all rejoice 

 that the price is low enough so that the 

 poor, as well as the rich, may enjoy honey 

 with their bread. The low price will lead 

 such as have not used it, to do so, and those 

 that have been using it, to use it more 



^^eeiy- * * » 



The increasing popularity of the large re- 

 tail tin packages holding from 21/4 to 10 

 pounds is evident from many pages of the 

 December number of Gleanings. This has 

 been our experience this year. I met with 

 the Maine State Beekeepers' Association 

 two weeks ago. The gathering was a joint 

 meeting of beekeepers and fruit-growers. 

 One speaker told how a retail grocer had 

 changed from selling apples by the pound 

 to selling by the bushel, and, as a result, 

 sold several hundred more bushels than for- 

 merly. ^ ^ ^ 



Most interesting is that account of a bat- 

 tle between a bumblebee and honeybees, on 

 page 777, causing the death of 25 honeybees 

 before the giant bee was slain. It was as 

 exciting as the story of David and Goliath, 

 only it did not turn out as well. It in- 

 creases our respect for the honeybees that 

 counted not their lives dear to them when 

 the good of the colony required the sacri- 

 fice. * * ♦ 



One Maine beekeeper told me how he sold 

 his crop of honey by canvassing the towns 

 about his home by course, not skipping a 

 single store, and he said he not only sold all 

 his own honey but had to buy several thou- 

 sand pounds to supply the demand. 

 » « • 



Let us all try to remember the statement 

 by John N. DeMuth, on page 772, of the 

 value of sumac bobs for smoker fuel. If 

 it proves as he says, as doubtless it will, it 

 will be well worth remembering. 

 « » » 



We were glad to notice, on page 753, that 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture has 

 found that the honeybee is quite as efficient 

 a pollenizer of red clover as the bumblebee, 



