E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



SEPTEMBER, 1922 



1 



EDITORIAL 



TllK heuriiig oji the Isle, of Wight Disease 



Hill before the Agricultural Couiuiittee of 

 the Senate was helil 

 on Aug. 2, when the 

 l)ill was reported out 

 uiiaiiiniously by the 

 eouiinittee for enaet- 

 Up to the time of going to press no 



word lias been received as to the passage of 



this bill bv the Senate. 



The Isle 

 of Wight 

 Disease Bill. 



nient. 



,05= 



IN an article in the August 10th issue of 



Modern Farming, Chas. F. Leach advocates 



the use of Hubam 



Hiibam for 



Winter Pasture 



in the South. 



as a winter pasture 

 crop for the South. 

 He jjlants it even 

 in the most acid 



soil, but first puts on enough lime to insure 



a good growth of Hubam. He says: 



For winter pasture in the lower South, or for 



an early hay crop, no plant so far discovered can 



eqiial Hubam. 



1 ■ =>a^ai .t o 



THE United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture has just issued Department Circular 

 222, "The Insulating 

 A New Value of Commercial 



Circular for Double - Walled Bee 

 Beekeepers, hives," by E. F. Phil- 

 lips, which gives the re- 

 sults of tests of the escape of heat from dif- 

 ferent makes of double-walled hives. Bee- 

 keepers will be especially interested in the 

 results when double-walled hives, having an 

 air space between the walls, were compared 

 with those in which the space was filled with 

 sawdust, the difference of course being in 

 favor of the packed hives. The tests also 

 show a great loss of heat through the bot- 

 tom when the bottom is not packed. 



Most beekeepers now recognize this weak- 

 ness in double-walled hives without bottom 

 packing, and in building winter packing- 

 cases are jiroviding for bottom packing. This 

 of course makes less difference when tlie 

 liive-stand is so arranged that the air can 

 not circulate under the hive or where the 

 snow is well banked up at the sides. 



The circular also gives a table showing 

 the comparative insulating value of various 

 materials used for packing. 



This circular can no doubt be obtained 

 free as long as the supply lasts, by writing 

 to the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, 

 D. C, asking for Department Circular 222. 



IN the clover region new honey a[)peared 

 on the market several weeks earlier than 

 usual. Unfortunate- 

 Honey Crop ly some of this new 

 and Marketing crop was offered in 

 Condition. the midst of tlie 

 heaviest fruit and 

 berry season this country has had for sev- 

 eral years. Instead of w^aiting until these 

 were out of the way, as advised in these 

 columns last month, many beekeepers hav- 

 ing honey for sale have forced it upon au 

 unwilling market by reducing the price, in 

 some cases to a figure lower than tlie deal- 

 ers would have been willing to pay for 

 honey in carload lots. The amount of hon- 

 ey that has been crowded on the market in 

 this way is small, but it has already had 

 the effect of depressing the market and 

 causing dealers to expect still lower prices. 

 Of course the railroad and coal strikes have 

 also had a depressing effect upon the mar- 

 ket. 



Since honey is not a perishable product 

 in the same sense as fresh fruits and vege- 

 tables, it is entirely unnecessary to dump it 

 at a sacrifice on the market as soon as it 

 has been harvested. A stabilized market for 

 honey is better for both producer and deal- 

 er. The further we can get away from a 

 speculative honey market, the better for 

 ail concerned. 



The sensible thing in marketing is to col- 

 lect all the data j)ossible as to the amount of 

 honey produced as well as the probable buy- 

 ing power of the public, and then establish 

 and maintain a price that will move the 

 crop before the new crop comes on next 

 year. Gleanings is doing all it can to put 

 before its readers all available facts as to 

 the crop and market conditions. According 

 to the statistics thus far known, we have 

 this year a crop of honey only slightly great- 

 er than last year, with but little of last 

 year's crop remaining unsold. The total 

 amount of honey in the country at this time 

 is no dou]>t less than it was a year ago when 

 a large amount of honey had been carried 

 over from the previous year. In the light 

 of these facts and judging by what was ac- 

 complished last year in disposing of honey, 

 it Avould seem that careful but aggressive 

 marketing should result in cleaning up this 

 year's crop without selling at a sacrifice. 



See the articles on this subject by H. H. 

 Root and E. G. LeStourgeon in this issue. 



