1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



vant of the Association. I hope your motion 

 will prevail. I believe it will. —Ed.] 



Bee Keeping AM0N6 the Rockies 



Bee-keepers should not have to shake bees 

 off the combs when the weather is too cool 

 for them to fly freely. If you are ever 

 obliged to do such a thing, shake them into 

 an empty story placed on top of the brood- 

 chamber. They are thus more likely to get 

 into the cluster without becoming chilled. 



An item in the Kingsburg (Cal. ) Recorder 

 says that at a recent meeting of the stock- 

 holders of the Central California Honey- pro- 

 ducers' Association, it was decided to disin- 

 corporate the organization. It is said that 

 last year's business was not very successful. 

 It is a pity that an enterprise so promis- 

 ing, one of the pioneers in a field where or- 

 ganization and co-operation are so badly 

 needed, should thus collapse so early in its 

 career. 



Miss Wilson's article on cleaning propolis 

 from separators, etc., by the use of lye is 

 valuable; but if she will tell us whether the 

 kettle into which she puts three cans of lye 

 holds ten, twenty, or a hundred gallons, it 

 will be a little clearer to the inexperienced. 

 I once boiled a lot of hives and frames, us- 

 ing a box of lye to about forty gallons of 

 water, which is probably much less lye than 

 Miss Wilson used. It took off the propolis 

 fairly well, though more lye would doubtless 

 have removed it more quickly and thorough- 

 ly. 



Some of my correspondents have sent me 

 copies of their local papers in which they 

 have had inserted in the form of a news item 

 the offer of the National Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation to forfeit $1000 for samples of man- 

 ufactured comb honey. More of this might 

 be done, with very good effect. Most papers 

 would be entirely willing to publish this if it 

 were properly brought to their notice. It 

 gives a local interest to the matter, and 

 adds impressiveness to say that "The Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association authorizes 

 G. W. Knowles, its local representative (or 

 any other member), to forfeit $1000 to any 

 one who will produce two sections of manu- 

 factured comb honey." Some have asked 

 me why two sections should be required. 

 Although I have seen no reasons given for 

 this, I presume it is because this gives a 

 good opportunity to point out the fact that 

 no two sections of honey are exactly alike. 



[This is a most excellent idea; and if all our 

 subscribers would prepare an article for their 

 local papers, denying the existence of man- 

 ufactured comb honey, it would go a long 

 way toward correcting the general belief 

 that comb honey is manufactured. — Ed.] 



An English bee-keeper, writing in the 

 American Bee-keeper, extols the gentleness 

 of his Punic bees, but declines to believe 

 that any one would be so rash as to attempt 

 to handle bees without a veil, since ' ' It is 

 beyond belief that any race of bees armed 

 with stings will permit themselves to be 

 robbed without attempting to retaliate, for 

 one's breath is sure to invite attack, even 

 from half-stupefied bees." Sounds queer, 

 doesn't it? I wonder what proportion of 

 what might be called professional apiarists 

 habitually use a veil. A number I know do 

 not. As for myself, even when handling 

 all sorts of bees under all sorts of conditions, 

 as bee inspector, it is but very seldom that 

 I would be bothered with a veil. 



-^ 



I do not believe that dry weather affects 

 the color of honey, except that in non-irri- 

 gated countries it is apt to lessen the yield, 

 so that bees, in their search for honey, work 

 on plants that ordinarily they would leave 

 alone. The honey thus secured is apt to be 

 darker and poorer in quality than what they 

 get from ordinary sources. In the irrigated 

 districts of Colorado and Utah, where alfal- 

 fa is grown, the air is extremely dry, though 

 the ground may be well watered. When al- 

 falfa honey is secured free from any admix- 

 ture, it is water-white in color, and I have 

 never seen any thing to indicate that the 

 weather had any thing to do with the color. 

 In this valley, though, it is but seldom that 

 alfalfa honey is secured alone. An average 

 of my honey, even excluding the fall honey, 

 which is distinctly darker in color, is of a 

 light golden tinge. 



I have been unable to learn any thing fur- 

 ther about the way in which comb honey is 

 used in confectionery, owing to the absence 

 from home of the friend who sold the honey 

 for this purpose; but I imagine that, like 

 most soft candies, it is made with but a 

 moderate amount of cooking and a great 

 deal of stirring, especially just after it is 

 removed from the fire. In this manner 

 the wax is thoroughly mixed through the 

 candy, and helps a very soft candy to keep 

 its shape instead of melting down and be- 

 coming sticky with the changes of tempera- 

 ture and moisture. Paraffine is sometimes 

 used for this purpose; but the comb honey, 

 containing wax in about the right proportion, 

 already finely divided and well mixed through 

 the mass, is probably less trouble, besides 

 being superior in other respects. 



I have no quarrel with those who, like H. 

 H. Hyde, prefer the Hoffman frame and are 

 willing to take as much pains to keep it in 



