GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1922 



loug enough, to make a success of any plan 

 that will eventually realize for the large 

 producers an adequate price for their lioney, 

 so that they will feel encouraged to go for- 

 ward and develop honey production along 

 lines that will mean a real success, financial- 

 ly and in every other way, not only for the 

 immediate future, but for many years to 

 come, for all who desire to make a commer- 

 cial success of beekeeping? 



Is There an Overproduction of Honey? 



After trying to view beekeeping and hon- 

 ey production from almost every conceivable 

 angle for many years, I cannot avoid the 

 feeling that there never yet has been a real 

 surplus of good table honey produced in this 

 country. And I don 't believe a surplus will 

 ever be produced, if a more even distribu- 

 tion is secured, and the present under-con- 

 sumption overcome by a more universal de- 

 mand for honey on the part of every fam- 

 ily and individual among our population. 



Take California as an example. It has 

 been estimated that its annual honey crop 

 is about ten million pounds. The 1920 cen- 

 sus showed a population of about S^/^ mil- 

 lions. Now, if all the honey produced in 



California were consumed within its borders, 

 each person would get only 3 pounds, or 

 about one oujice a week during the whole 

 year! 



Wouldn't it be possible for California to 

 use all its own honey every year? And if 

 that state could do so, why could not all 

 the other states do likewise? But states like 

 New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois would 

 still have to import honey, for there is not 

 enough produced in those states to give all 

 their populations even a small taste once a 

 month! 



Statistics show that there is an average 

 per capita consumption of nearly 100 pounds 

 of sugar in the United States annually. Now, 

 why couldn't five pounds of that 100 pounds 

 of sugar be replaced with honey? And the 

 result would be a healthier and happier peo- 

 ple in general, besides creating such a de- 

 mand for honey that every pound of all eat- 

 able varieties would be consumed at a fair 

 price per pound, so that both producers and 

 dealers would do a nice, clean, honest busi- 

 ness. 



Am I visionary, or could this dream of 

 mine ever come true? 



Spokane, Washington. 



THE WINTERING PROBLEIW 



Ho'w the Uncertainties of Winter- 

 tering Can be Eliminated. An In- 

 expensive Packing Case 



By Geo. S. Demuth 



MOST of the 

 d i scussions 

 on winter- 

 ing in the books 

 and journals deal 

 almost entirely 

 with winter pro- 

 tection — the pro- 

 tection afforded 

 by a double- 

 Avalled or packed hive, by windbreaks, or 

 by placing the bees in a cellar or other 

 repository Avhere the temperature can be 

 controlleil. There seems to be an impres- 

 sion among many beekeepers that Avinter 

 protection should solve the wintering prob- 

 lem, that the addition of packing about 

 the hive or placing the bees within a cellar 

 should enable any colony to live through 

 the winter. With this conception of win- 

 tering if there is a winter loss, the winter 

 protection is blamed for the loss and is 

 therefore promptly condemned. To depend 

 upon protection alone to bring the colonies 

 through the winter in good condition is 

 bound to result in disappointment in many 

 cases. Too often the number of hives 

 having bees in them are counted in the 

 fall, and then again in the spring, the dif- 

 ference being considered the winter loss. 

 Much of the so-called winter loss in this 

 country is not winter loss at all, but is a 

 loss brought about bv some defect during 

 the late summer and fall. The loss of colo- 

 nies from some serious defect in the fnll 

 should not be charged to winter loss at all, 

 for one can not lose that which he does not 



have. It would 

 be asking entire- 

 ly too much of 

 winter protec- 

 tion to expect it 

 to bring through 

 the winter colo- 

 nies that are not 

 in a normal con- 

 dition when win- 

 ter begins. 



Some look upon wintering as being ex- 

 tremely complicated, having in it many un- 

 certain factors. In fact, the idea of luck is 

 still a factor in wintering in the minds of 

 many. But there are now scores of beekeep- 

 ers in the United States and Canada who 

 winter their bees successfully year after 

 year with practically no loss and who feel 

 as certain of their results in wintering as 

 the stock man does of wintering his stock. 

 In fact, there is a less degree of uncertainty 

 in the Avintering of bees than in the case of 

 other live stock on the farm, when the bees 

 are giA^en a fair chance. 



As I pointed out in these columns last 

 October, as Avell as at beekeepers' meetings 

 througliout the country during the past 10 

 years, there are but three factors essential 

 to successful Avintering. These are: (1) 

 Strong colonies of A^gorous bees in the fall, 

 most of AV'hich are young; (2) an ample sup- 

 ply of food easily available for tlie cluster 

 throughout the Avinter, and, in the North 

 Avhere the bees cannot fly every fcAv days 

 this winter food should be of the best qual- 

 ity; (3) protection that is adequate for the 



