714 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1922 



A^ 



u 



L E TT E E 



was just re- 

 ceived from 

 H. E. Grey, Fort 

 Edward, N. Y., 

 inquiring what 

 p r p r tion of 

 honey in water 

 would be re- 

 quired to keep it 



from freezing wlien used in an automobile 

 engine. I tried a mixture late last winter of 

 50 per cent honey; but our cold weather 

 was nearly past, and the temperature went 

 down to only 12° above zero, which it stood 

 without freezing. Further experiments should 

 be made, as a honey mixture is a stable mix- 

 ture; while denatured alcohol, largely used 

 for this purpose, evaporates rapidly, and 

 one never knows just what the proportion 

 is in his engine. 



* * * 



E. A. Kirkpatrick of Narberth, Pa., gives 

 a very interesting account of a young man 

 paying his expenses while in college by 

 keeping bees. He may be interested in 

 knowing that the present president of Penn- 

 sylvania State College helped himself 

 through college in this way. This method 

 not only helps pay expenses but gives a 

 young man a business experience that is of 

 almost as much value as his college training, 

 and certainly is of great value as he goes 

 out from college into the active duties of 



life. 



* * » 



The article by E. E. Eoot on bottling and 

 selling honey, commencing on page 632, must 

 prove of great value to beginners as well as 

 some of us who have been longer in the 

 business. One of the provoking things about 

 bottling honey has been the scum, or what 

 appeared to be scum, on top of our honey 

 when we knew well enough there was no 

 scum in it. He tells us it is onlj' small air 

 bubbles that make the trouble, and explains 

 how to avoid causing these bubbles. Honey 

 producers are to be congratulated that tin 

 packages are coming more and more to be 

 used for retailing honey. 



"The Wintering Problem," as treated by 

 Geo. S. Demuth, pages 636 to 639, is most 

 satisfactory and is quite in h.-irmony with 

 my experience of the past 50 years. In only 

 one or two things would I suggest anything 

 farther. Where he suggests the use of shal- 

 low trays of insulating material for the top 

 of single-packed hives, we use large bran 

 burlap sacks and find them much more con- 

 venient to handle than the wooden trays 

 we formerly used. Where he would unite 

 all colonies deficient in bees, we have found 

 such to winter very well if the brood-cham- 

 ber is reduced to four or five combs and 

 well packed. Of course, if one has colo- 

 nies enough, it might be better to unite. 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



TU 



That inter- 

 esting editorial, 

 on page 631, 

 makes automatic 

 ^ feeding look 

 pretty good, but 

 our experience 

 with food cham- 

 bers has not, so 

 far, proved sat- 

 have talked with one 

 experience has been 

 It may work better in a milder 



isfactory in winter. I 

 or two others whose 

 the same, 

 clim.ate. 



On page 629, October Gleanings, an edi- 

 torial .mentions the trouble some have with 

 the granulating of sugar syrup for feeding, 

 some even saying that their syrup will 

 granulate before it is taken from the feed- 

 ers. Of course it will or may, if very 

 heavy; but, after the bees have stored it, 

 it is another story. The bees change it so as 

 very largely, if not completely, to prevent 

 granulation. If any one doubts this, let 

 him take a sample of heavy syrup in a bot- 

 tle and another of the same, after having 

 been fed and stored by the bees in their 

 combs, in another bottle, and note the dif- 

 ference. The sample that the bees have 

 stored will remain liquid for a long time, 

 while that which the bees have not touched 

 will show granulation very quickly. So in 

 feeding we make a syrup as heavy as the 

 bees will take before it granulates. After 

 they take it we do not worry, as the loss 

 from granulation is very trifling. 



There is a new wrinkle this year in feed- 

 ing bees. Wliere little honey is gathered 

 after the middle of July, there is usually 

 much feeding to be done. We have for 

 many years used a galvanized-iron tank hold- 

 ing about 800 pounds, but the pressure of so 

 much weight of syrup and often of steam 

 when taken to an outyard (for we heat to 

 melt our sugar quickly) makes it difficult to 

 keep it from leaking about the bottom or 

 top. This year, not willing to trust our old 

 tank longer, we have bought cans of five- 

 gallon capacity, made of heavy galvanized 

 iron, with a large opening at the top for fill- 

 ing and a nose for emptying. Tliey have, we 

 find, many advantages over one large tank. 

 We can fill in half the time, and carry the 

 cans right to the hives in the yard and 

 empty into the feeders. With a 75-gallon 

 tank it was necessary to fill the tank on the 

 truck. Now we have the use of the truck so 

 one may go to an outyard and gather up 

 feeders while another is melting up syrup. 

 A good-sized gate in a melting tank enables 

 us to draw off hot syrup into 5-gallon cans 

 without any dripping. There are other ad- 

 vantages I need not mention. These cans 

 can be obtained of the Dover Stamping and 

 Manufacturing Co., Cambridge, Mass. 



