726 



GLEANINGS IN BEP] CULTURE 



November, 1922 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



Value of Winter Having increased the 

 Protection. number of my colonies, 



last year, I was short of 

 winter cases, and did not have time to make 

 any. This picture shows plainly how the 

 heat of the cluster melted the snow on the 

 hive covers, even on a double cover, the one 

 nearest in the picture. 



Heat from the cluster melts snow on covers. 

 Note depth of snow on the large packing-case. 



The dark-colored blanket was held up to 

 show more distinctly just how much the 

 snow had melted on one hive. 



Although it does not look like it here, it 

 proved to be a mild winter in this section, 

 so that even these unprotected colonies came 

 through in good shape. 



This winter I have more bees than ever, 

 but am fortunate in having a good bee cel- 

 lar under tlie dwelling house, where I shall 

 put some of them, rather than leave them 

 unprotected or packed in snow. 



Lebanon, N. H. P. N. Townsend. 



a — m ^ ac=: ta 



A Word About There is perhaps no other 

 the Bee-Smoker, tool or implement for the 

 apiarist so necessary as a 

 good smoker. A neighbor wanted to take 

 a swarm of bees out of a frame building re- 

 cently and had to give up the job because 

 the smoker worked poorly. The best smoker 

 is hardly good enough for the professional 

 beekeeper; yes, and lie wants a smoker 

 holding a large amount of fuel. After all 

 there may be a limit to which this feature 

 might be carried. We have used the Jumbo 

 size, 4-inch firebox, 7 inches high. A still 

 larger smoker has been put on the market, 

 10 inches high or reaching 3 inches above 

 the bellows. We procured it but find it un 

 wieldly. It is too high, and we do not use 

 it except when driven to it. The Jumbo 

 size 4 X 7 is large enough and not too large. 

 As to the best fuel, sumac bobs may be 

 good, but if they are as good as the Gogg- 

 shall cartridges I shall be surprised. Old 



DIFFERENT FIELDS IQ 



phosphate or bran sacks, that have taken 

 the drip, under the car, dried, rolled up and 

 cut into cartridges 5 inches long, are the 

 handiest things for that use that we have 

 found. F. Greiner. 



Naples, N. Y. 



I This is one of several short articles, still 

 in our files, by the late F. Greiner, whose 

 untimely death was announced in our last 

 issue. — Editor.] 



Net Weight Law in In your August num- 

 New York State. ber of Gleanings in the 



columns entitled "From 

 the Field of Experience," you publish a 

 statement by the late F. Greiner of Naples, 

 N. Y., in which he states that it is nec- 

 essary to mark the actual net weight on 

 each section of honey sold sold in New York 

 state. I have a statement from the Direc- 

 tor of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, 

 Department of Farms and Markets at Al- 

 bany, N. Y., stating that such marking is 

 unnecessary. His statement reads: "This 

 Bureau contends that it will be sufficient if 

 the case holding the combs of honey is 

 marked with the number of combs it con- 

 tains. We do not require that each indi- 

 vidual comb be marked as to the amount of 

 its net contents." 



New York state comb-honey producers 

 may safely be guided by the above inter- 

 pretation of the law. It should be borne 

 in mind, however, that honey which leaves 

 New York for interstate commerce must 

 have the net weight stamped on every sec- 

 tion. One ounce must be deducted from the 

 total weight for the wood of the section, in 

 order to get the exact weight. It is not 

 sufficient to mark the sections "Not less 

 than 121/2 oz. " or "14 oz., " but each sec 

 tion must have its own weight stamped on 

 within an error limit of % oz. On the ship- 

 ping case should be stamped the number of 

 sections. This is the Federal law. 



Ithaca, N. Y. E. B. Willson. 



1 



Selling Honey from Last year I loaded a 20- 

 House to House. gallon honey tank, to- 



gether with scales and 

 an extra supply of honey, on an automo 

 bile and proceeded to canvass the town and 

 country. This was hard work; but in this 

 way I sold all my own honey, helped a 

 neighbor beekeeper to sell his and later I 

 bought seven cases of extracted honey from 

 a beekeeper in another county, which I 

 sold out at auction at community sales. 

 These sales are held semi-monthly in vari- 

 ous towns of our county. The honey is put 

 up in one-quart Mason jars and auctioned 

 off at a certain figure. S. W. Mace. 



Middlebury, Ind. 



