236 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



April, 1922 



THE OLD LESSON REPEATED 



Bees Far North Do Not Winter Best on Natural 

 Stores Alone 



On Sunday, March 5, bees in our home 

 district ('York County) had their first cleans- 

 ing flight since late last fall. Although we 

 have had a milder winter than usual, yet 

 around home here not a day was warm 

 enough for the bees to take to the air. As 

 previously mentioned, our bees south of 

 Hamilton have had more than one good 

 flight during this time — all going to show 

 what 50 or 60 miles may mean in the matter 

 of wintering bees. On March 6 my son and 

 I made a hasty visit to five apiaries in the 

 home district to see that no entrances were 

 clogged or water standing in front of en- 

 trances. With the first warm weather, pools 

 of water will sometimes form directly under 

 the entrance, even if the hives are all on 

 high ground. 



Judging by the looks of things at the 

 different yards, I should say that there will 

 be little loss, taking all apiaries into con- 

 sideration. At four yards we noticed but 

 one dead colony and that was queenless last 

 fall and overlooked when the bees were 

 packed. This one dead colony was one 

 among an apiary of 178 colonies. Of course, 

 there will be sure to be losses later on from 

 queenlessness, etc. In fact, we always ex- 

 pect a certain percentage to drop out each 

 spring when systematic requeening is not 

 carried out in actual practice, much as we 

 would like to be able to do this. 



At the fifth and last yard visited, condi- 

 tions were not any too good, and we found 

 three colonies dead and a few others ready 

 to go, all from the same cause — dysentery. 

 It required no examination to tell the rea- 

 son of these impending and actual fatali- 

 ties. Simply looking at the back of the hive, 

 to see whether the colony had been fed 

 sugar syrup or left with natural stores was 

 all that was required to solve the problem. 

 At this apiary the bees are all on Jumbo 

 frames and, as a consequence, they are quite 

 heavy with a mixture of buckwheat and 

 sweet clover honey gathered mainly in Aug- 

 ust. Of course they had far less sugar 

 syrup than any of the other apiaries and, 

 as a result, there will be more loss in that 

 one yard apparently than in the other seven 

 apiaries where the bees were lighter in the 

 fall and consequently had to be fed more 

 sugar syrup to get them in condition for 

 Avinter. 



So far in our experience, we have found 

 sweet clover honey a very poor food for 

 winter. It granulates solid, and in colo- 

 nies showing the dysentery so badly we 

 found combs of honey all so solid that one 

 could hardly dig it out of the cells. For 

 three years we have found this same condi- 

 tion in colonies having any quantity of 



sweet clover honey for stores, and it is cer- 

 tainly a case of three times and out, for in 

 the future we will not risk this grade of 

 honey for winter purposes. 



As to apiaries in Simcoe County I have 

 heard nothing since last October, except to 

 learn in February that all were covered 

 with two to three feet of snow. We are just 

 making preparations to take a run in the 

 car tomorrow to visit the five apiaries south 

 of Hamilton, which we have not seen since 

 Jast October. This is about 85 miles from 

 home, but we are not worrying over the 

 trip as much as we would have worried, a 

 few years ago, at the thought of making a 

 trip to a yard 10 miles away. Many changes 

 have come about during the last 10 years, 

 and beekeeping, while not making progress 

 in some lines perhaps as much as some other 

 itidusti'ies, has greatly changed during this 

 time. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



I 



WORD "EXTRACTED" ON LABELS 



Needed Some Places to Distinguish Between Ex- 

 tracted Honey and Strained Honey 



Shall we eliminate the word "extracted" 

 from honey labels? In my opinion, no, sir! 

 Most emphatically not. Down here in Texas 

 we beekeepers have spent years educating 

 our customers to the superiority of extracted 

 over ordinary honey, which may have been 

 boiled or squeezed together with brood, pol- 

 len, and dead bees, and the whole mass sus- 

 pended in a sack to strain, drain, or drip. 



Formerly our extracted honey had to 

 compete with much of this "strained hon- 

 ey, ' ' as it was called. However, as the old- 

 time box-hive beekeeper learned better 

 methods, and transferred to frame hives, 

 this stuff that once passed muster as honey 

 has almost disappeared from our markets. 



But if I should send out my price list 

 quoting "Honey," I am satisfied that nine- 

 tenths of the replies would inquire as to 

 kind of honey (whether "extracted," 

 "comb," or "chunk") before placing or- 

 ders. Of course, if one is quoting both 

 "Honey" and "Comb Honey," the nat- 

 ural supposition would be that the "Honey" 

 is not comb honey, but at the same time it 

 might be almost anything else; whereas all 

 my customers know that ' ' extracted ' ' is 

 the cleanest, clearest, most wholesome, and 

 best-tasting honey they can buy. 



Perhaps it was unfortunate, in the first 

 p]ace, to have coined the term "Extracted 

 Honey;" but, at this late date, I submit 

 that it would be just as big a mistake to 

 make the change suggested. 



Bay City, Tex, J. D. Yancey. 



