OridHKK, 10'. 



(i I. E A N T N G S IN 1? l-; 



C U L T U R ]•: 



t; 



I 



c 



LJ 



'HE reports 



of till' luiiu'v 



c V () ]) for 

 1922 say tlie crop 

 is "spotty," i.e., 

 fjood ill some 

 places and poor 

 in others. In our 

 county the crop 

 is V e r j'' good, 

 while in the next county to the south, very 

 poor. How can we account for this? Doubt- 

 less much depends on the soil and weather. 

 It is very noticeable that our best seasons 

 on clay soils are wet seasons, while the best 

 seasons on light soils are those years that 

 are considered dry. It was not surprising 

 to learn this season that the crop was light 

 where apiaries were located on light loam 

 or gravelly soils. 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



3 



1U 



The article by 

 H. II. Root, page 

 568, on "Mer- 

 chandising Hon- 

 ey, " and another 

 by E. G. Le- 

 Rtourgeon, page 

 573, on the 

 "Marketing 

 Problem, ' ' con- 

 tain many jioints and advice of great value 

 about marketing honey. Mr. LeStourgeon 

 says, "Honey has never been over-produced 

 but has been under-distributed," which is 

 undoubtedly true. It should be held as an 

 everyday article of food rather than a lux- 

 ury. If we compare the price with that of 

 other articles of food, we shall find honey 

 as cheap at the present time as any of them 

 or at least the average of them. 



That bulletin of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, No. 222. mentioned on first edi- 

 torial page, I have found of great interest. 

 I was especiallv surprised that the differ- 

 ence betAveen the top and the bottom of the 

 hives tested was but two degrees in most 

 cases. I could not help wishing that the 

 temperature of an insulated hive with a 

 large and a small entrance could have been 

 made, that we might know how much heat 

 is lost in that way. If the Fahrenheit scale 

 of temperature had been used instead of 

 Centigrade, the tables would have been 

 more readily understood by many of us plain 

 beekeepers. 



* * * 



The market reports for the mouth of Au- 

 gust do not indicate a large crop in the 

 country as a whole, and, if the beekeepers 

 are patient and willing to take the advice 

 given in the September issue of Gleanings, 

 there seems no good reason why we may not 

 obtain very satisfactory prices. The greater 

 abundance of hcmey, with lower prices, is 

 bringing it into more general use. As its 

 value as a food becomes better known, we 

 need not worry about the future market. 

 If we are not satisfied with the wholesale 

 prices, it is every one's privilege to retail 

 his cro]i for a higher price. 



» * * 



The advice given by E. R. Root, pages 575 

 and 576, on shipping comb honev, is both 

 timelv and important, especially for the in- 

 experienced beekeeper. We have been using 

 a crate holding only six cases, as eight ease^ 

 make a crate pretty heavy to handle in load- 

 ing and unloading into a truck or wagon 

 and into and out of cars. Unless those who 

 handle freight are more careful than their 

 renutation calls for, T fear crates Avpighiiig 

 200 pounds would be mostlv moved bv sta 

 tion trucks. The onlv objection to the 

 six-case crates is that it costs about 30 per 

 cent more to use them. "We use also many 

 two-case crates to ship to those retail grocers 

 who can use but a small nmonnt at once. 



It seems a pity for beekeepers to rush 

 their product on to the early market at any 

 price they may be able to get. Fifty years 

 ago we did not think of selling honey be- 

 fore October. October and ISrovember were 

 the honey months. Not until we began to 

 get frosty weather was there much call for 

 honey. Now there is more or less call for 

 it the year round, the greatest demand com- 

 ing during the cool months, as fruits are 

 plentiful during the warm parts of the 

 vear. 



One large producer told me last fall that 

 he found his neighbor selling his crop of 

 comb honey for five cents a pound, Avhen 

 he himself was trying to sell his for three 

 or four times as much. I see no other way 

 but for the larger and more intelligent pro- 

 ducers to educate these "side line" bee- 

 keepers as best they can or buv them out. 



I was surprised to learn ("page 586) from 

 Mrs. Boyden that the tomatoes were not 

 ripening earlier in southern California than 

 in Ohio. This means that the Spring and 

 early summer in that favored climate are no 

 Avarmer than in the East. 



T confess a feeling of envy when I read 

 of the abundance and variety of fruits 

 grown in southern California, as described 

 by Mrs. Boyden; but I console myself by 

 saying, "Life consisteth not in the abund- 

 ance of the things one possesseth." We 

 have enough here for our healtli. Rurolv. 

 wliat more can one ask for?" 



That is a capital idea of the extension 

 service of Iowa to furnish better queens for 

 tlie beekeepers of the state. I never before 

 realized, as T have during last year, the 

 value of gentle as well as productive bees — 

 a yard where I can walk around among the 

 liives without the slightest fear of a sting. 



