IiQMi:^i,WSi.i4;$Aa<l 



Q:,L5P[>.^j[§r^S;,ii§ 



tsmerg'iug b-ees, vvheu tite liuncy flow comes 

 oai. Wlieu it <I lies coin o il cuiMes-witli-siioli— 

 iu i'usli tbat th6 cells vacated bj^'the youfl'g"' 

 boes are fille(i with honcyi The brccding- 

 ii;y^m_^of_ the queeu is therefore autoniutically 

 curtailed, but not until the queen has had 

 a/ehtaufie to ^supply i eggs, for ,?L,pDpulpu3,,q9^-,j 

 OAy-iin^t^mxe iov th(? uiai^i hexiey li^A,Y,y., .^y.,^ 

 ^ u -J 1 1?». ,ypu[,i> Hy.« *nn oJv, Jijr o^i:; l ^ ^ If ,^"li Mf^Mq 

 ^^Mr"''^'^,1^'''\ yfiiS'tiul-ipvo iidi vd v/oiik J.fir. 



coRiie^pn/ fiy,hpngl>[w^jhove sipuie oer^orp that 

 tiB}(Qj^i;i;iv,eei; Ijut uotia great deal of it, be- 

 ca,^Jl^ ithe quceu, Jips riang,e,pf as much room 

 33 tfsjie «?etl,s, when. Nature steps in and 

 chqpks"t,lie|,l^rei^(liug by flooding everything 

 with;ifou0y.'' 



This condition of bees, not swarming after 

 the main honey flow is on, is found in many 

 parts of the South, and in some parts of 

 the North where the flow is exceptionally 

 heavy and continuous. It is very convenient 

 because it enables the apiarist to forget 

 about swarming and give his whole atten- 

 tion to providing room. 



Buying 5,000 Queens at a Time. 



"How often do you requeen?" I asked. 



"As often as we can with 10,000 colonies. 

 We raise a good many queens and buy 

 some," he answered. 



"You must buy a good many at times," I 

 remarked. 



"Yes," he said, "we have bought as 

 niany as 5,000 at a time from different 

 breeders in the southern United States, and 

 some of these breeders have come back, 

 wanting to know what we were doing with 

 so many queens. They did not know that 

 we had 10,000 colonies of bees, and that 

 our needs would be somewhat extensive." 



"Then you believe in young queens?" 



"Yes, sir, and we would requeen every 

 year if the expense were not too great." 



"Do you use power extractors?" I asked. 



"No," he replied; "because hand power 

 is cheaper than gasoline power which our 

 help can not operate to good advantage." 



In this connection he said something that 

 interested me greatly; and that was that 

 the Cubans with their cheap molasses are 

 able to make a denatured alcohol for run- 

 ning automobiles that is cheaper than gaso- 

 line, cleaner, and mucn less inclined to car- 

 bonize the cylinders. This only leads me 

 to observe that we should be doing that same 

 thing in this countrj^ — making a motor fuel 

 that is as cheap as or cheaper than gasoline. 

 If the farm produce that is now going to 

 Avaste, merely rotting, were converted into 

 denatured alcohol it would give us vast 

 quantities of cheap motor fuel that would 

 help to hold in check the monopoly on gaso- 

 line, if there is one. 



A Trick of the Trade Worth Knowing. 



In the course of the conversation Mr. Her- 

 nandes^ mentioned the fact that his people 

 had no trouble in shipping honey in barrels 

 without any leaking or smearing. He ex- 

 plained that it is perfectly easy (a fact well 



known to exporters ntt«,l-ii«p<jx4-w5s;) to wjoper 

 _-«> -ba4-*6l-:fo-itr~w4U-iM>f'iealc'. Barrel staves, 

 "rrf- (51IIfi^ej'a;r|"\fi:d'er In- tlia Diidille than at 

 the ends.. Wneli-the staves ,'fr^ asseni bled 

 the honpR crrruhinlly draw these ends of the 

 staves Id-rilur :,-;iiii-l Oir 1i..;mI.s of the bar- 

 relsj iuid 1 his .\ e;-y,, tLrauiii^^ loujetiier of the 

 hoo]is r,ii:^. s the middle of the staves to 

 Irisid very, lightly, while the ends tend to 

 push away from the curved line and from 

 each other. This has a tendency to leave a 

 slight gap between the ends of the staves. 

 If there is any leak in the barrel at all it 

 will be at the ends of the barrel rather than 

 in the center. To overcome this trouble ex- 

 porters have been in the habit of using rush 

 or reed stems or leaves, and inserting them 

 between the staves, from 10 to 1.5 inches 



Louis E. Hernandez talking with A. I. Root at 

 Medina. 



from the ends. These rusli leaves, or stems, 

 as the hoops are drawn down, will be 

 squeezed between the ends of the staves. 

 When the barrel is coopered tightly, this 

 caulking, so to speak, closes up any possible 

 gap. If there should be a slight tendency 

 to leak, the rush leaves or stems Avill ex- 

 pand and close the opening. 



Probably not many in this country are 

 shipping honey in barrels; if there are any, 

 they will do well to observe this precaution. 

 Some people call the rushes "reeds." The 

 kind tliat is used for caulking barrels is ob- 

 tained from Holland and England. They 

 are sold in large quantities for that purpose. 

 Of course, there are some rushes or reeds 

 that are better than others. 



In some cases, bananas leaves are used in 

 places of the rushes. They are not so good, 

 however. Anything that has a pithy or 

 spongy center and which can expand or be 

 compressed like a rubber gasket in a steam 

 joint will answer the purpose. 



