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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Q 



U E S TI ON. 

 — Is there 

 any way for 

 the layman 

 to recognize hon- 

 eydew honey ? 

 F. W. Barthel. 

 New York. 

 Answer. — 

 Honydew honey 

 usually has a 



cloudy appearance instead of the clear, spar- 

 kling appearance of floral honey. It varies in 

 color from almost clear to very dark or al- 

 most black. It can usually be detected by 

 taste, the flavor being somewhat like mo- 

 lasses, and quite unlike floral honey. In 

 case of doubt, a rough test for dextrin can 

 be made as follows: Put about a half pint 

 of alcohol into a flask; then add about half 

 a teaspoonful of the honey known to be 

 pure floral honey and shake the flask to mix 

 thoroughly; then note the degree of milki- 

 ness of the mixture. Now test in the same 

 waj' a sample of what is thought to be 

 honeydew. If the mixture looks like it did 

 in the previous test, it is not honeydew; but 

 if it becomes cloudy and particles of gum 

 are precipitated, indicating a large percen- 

 tage of dextrin, it is no doubt honeydew. 

 Detecting Granulation in Comb Honey. 



Question. — Is there any method of detecting 

 granulation in comb honey, when it is partly 

 granulated, without damaging it? I can detect 

 badly granulated sections by the appearance or by 

 holding them before a light. J. A. Slatterwhite. 



Virginia. 



Answer.^ — ^By thrusting a needle into the 

 honey and noting the resistance, granulation 

 in comb honey can be detected without spoil- 

 ing its appearance. 



Difference Between Hubam Clover and Biennial 

 White Sweet Clover. 



Question. — What is the difference between Hu- 

 bam clover and the common white sweet clover 

 that we have here? Vona Focht. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — The most important difference 

 is that Hubam clover is an annual, growing 

 to maturity the first year, while the common 

 white sweet clover (meUilofus alba) is a bien- 

 nial, not blooming until the second year. It 

 is difficult to distinguish between these two 

 kinds of sweet clover when both are in bloom, 

 though this can be done by examining the 

 roots, since the large root of the biennial has 

 a sort of shoulder marking the separate 

 growth of the two seasons. 



Amount of Honey Stored by Single Bee. 



Question. — How much honey does a single work- 

 er bee gather in its lifetime? Willie Rutter. 



North Dakota. 



Answer. — The amount of honey that a sin- 

 gle bee can collect during its lifetime varies 

 of course with the amount of nectar avail- 

 able. It is only those workers which are 

 on hand during the honey flow that are able 

 to gatlier any considerable amount. Under 

 the most favorable conditions a bee that 

 begins field work at the beginning of a good 

 honey flow might carry in enough nectar to 



GLEANED BY ASKING 



Geo. S. Demuth 



1 



November, 1922 



make about 1/6 

 of an ounce. 

 This would be 

 enough to fill 

 about 15 cells of 

 the ordinary 

 depth in combs 

 spaced 1% 

 inches. This is 

 counting a sin- 

 gle worker carrying enough nectar to make 

 3/10 of a grain of honey at a load and 

 carrying six loads per day for about 40 

 days. The actual amount gathered by a 

 single bee must be much less than this. 

 When nectar is scarce they carry smaller 

 loads, and the average number of trips per 

 day is probably not more than four or 

 five. If each worker should carry in 

 enough nectar during her lifetime to make 

 1/6 of an ounce of honey, a colony having 

 40,000 field workers would store over 300 

 pounds within six weeks. From this it 

 would seem that during the honey flow of 

 an ordinary season the field workers dur- 

 ing their lifetime do not carry in enough 

 nectar to make more than about 1/12 of an 

 ounce of surplus honey, or enough to fill 

 seven or eight cells, and some seasons much 

 less than that. 



Ventilation of Hives in Cellar. 

 Question.— When wintering in the cellar should 

 the covers of the hives be loosened and raised a 

 little at one end or left sealed tight? 



New York. G. B. Talcott. 



Answer.- — It should not be necessary to 

 provide upward ventilation in this way, pro- 

 vided the temperature of the cellar is high 

 enough to prevent condensation of moisture 

 within the hives. The moisture from the 

 breath of the bees in a tightly sealed hive 

 will pass out through the entrance in the 

 form of vapor as long as the temperature 

 of the inner walls of the hive is above the 

 dew-point (the temperature at which con- 

 densation takes place); but if the inner 

 walls of such a hive become chilled below 

 the dew-point, the moisture is condensed on 

 the inner walls of the hive and, later, water 

 may run out of the entrance. When this 

 occurs it takes place first on the hives in 

 the lowest tier where it is colder, and, if the 

 temperature of the cellar does not go too 

 low, condensation may take place only in the 

 hives in the lower portion of the cellar. It 

 is better to prevent condensation by raising 

 tlie temperature of tlie cellar than by open- 

 ing the hives at the top, thus causing a rapid 

 loss of heat from the hive through this 

 opening. If the bees are wintering well they 

 should remain quiet at a temperature high 

 enough to prevent condensation; but if they 

 are not wintering well because of poor 

 stores or some other cause, they become 

 more active and therefore give off more 

 moisture, thus increasing the possibility of 

 condensation. 



License for Peddling Honey. 



Question. — My local town demands that T pay 

 for a license to sell honey to my neighbors. What 



