808 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



cality, especially the sweet clover. In this 

 they were helped by several varieties of 

 worms. The result is that the prospect for 

 a crop of honey is not at all good. Some of 

 the largest producers in the valley have not 

 had any surplus at all yet, and many of the 

 bees are not in good condition to store much 

 honey, even if there should be a change for 

 the better. What sweet clover has not been 

 too badly chewed up is now in full bloom, 

 and for a few days the bees have been get- 

 ting a little honey from it. The second crop 

 of alfalfa is beginning to bloom, but does 

 not seem to be yielding any honey yet. Re- 

 ports from other parts of the State indicate 

 as bad or a worse condition of things than 

 here, so Colorado's h )ney crop is likely to be 

 considerably below the average. This has 

 been a great year for insect pests here; and 

 a remarkable thing about it is the facility 

 with which they adapt themselves to 'new 

 conditions and adopt a new diet when occa- 

 sion requires. One of the worst depredators 

 on sweet clover appears to be the common 

 cabbage- worm ; and immense damage has 

 been done to the potato- fields here by the 

 well-known tomato-worm, the larva of the 

 sphinx-moth. 



^r 



SALT FOR FOUL BROOD. 



It has been claimed at various times that 

 salt is a preventive of foul brood, and that 

 bees that had access to all the salt they 

 wanted would never have the disease. I be- 

 lieve it was Betsinger, of New York, who 

 used to be very insistent on this. Within a 

 few days J. U. Harris expressed his belief 

 that if salt and sulphur were placed about 

 the apiary it would be effective in keeping 

 off the disease. Now, in this part of the 

 country the water contains a large propor- 

 tion of salt— so much so that animals do not 

 care for salt as they do elsewhere. When I 

 came here I bought a cow and tried to give 

 her salt, as I had been accustomed to in Illi- 

 nois. She did not seem to care for it, but I 

 thought she ought to have it and tried va- 

 rious ways to get her to partake of it, with- 

 out success. When I mixed it with her 

 feed she simply refused to eat, and I soon 

 learned that I need not trouble myself to 

 salt stock. Foul brood is rampant in parts 

 of this valley; but directly through some of 

 the worst- infected territory runs the "Big 

 Salt Wash," a canyon on a small scale, cut 

 through the deep alluvial soil by the flood 

 waters from the hills and the waste water 

 from irrigation. The character of the wa- 

 ter that runs through it is sufficiently indi- 

 cated by the name. If there were any thing 

 in the theory that salt would prevent foul 

 brood the bees here ought to be immune, 

 but it does not work that way. 

 £^ 



STRAINING HONEY. 



When you buy an extractor you will prob- 

 ably get with it a small sack made of cheese- 

 cloth that is called a strainer. The direc- 

 tions will be to hang this in the bung-hole of 

 a barrel or to the gate of the extractor, and 



run the honey as it comes from the extract- 

 or through this sack. I suppose this is a 

 relic of the days when honey was extracted 

 before much of it was sealed, because even 

 in Illinois, with good honey, such a contri- 

 vance was not a success. In Colorado it 

 would probably take about ten years to get 

 a barrelful of honey through such an ar- 

 rangement. My usual way of straining hon- 

 ey is to tie a large piece of cheese-cloth 

 over the open top of a barrel, letting the 

 cloth sag down so that the strainer will 

 hold two or three gallons of honey at a 

 time. Even with this arrangement, I have 

 had difficulty in getting the cleome honey to 

 run through this summer, and have had to 

 warm it to get it to work satisfactorily. In 

 doing this I have used with great satisfac- 

 tion the method advocated by Mr. G. C. 

 Greiner on page .'^97. A little oil-stove set 

 under the extractor, which is on a bench 

 very similar to that illustrated, proved a 

 great help, even when the honey was allow- 

 ed to run from the extractor all the time. 

 It seemed better, though, to keep the hon- 

 ey gate closed and let the honey warm up 

 more thoroughly before it was drawn off. 

 The bottom of the extractor being some- 

 what enclosed by the sides, the heat is kept 

 from spreading, and the little one-wick oil- 

 stove was surprisingly effective in warming 

 the honey without any danger of overheat- 

 ing it. 



THE COLORADO STATE FAIR. 



This will be held at Pueblo, Sept. 11 to 15. 

 The writer will assist Frank Rauchfuss, the 

 Manager of the Colorado Honey-producers' 

 Association, in superintending the apiarian 

 department. Colorado bee-keepers are ear- 

 nestly requested to unite in making this de- 

 partment one of the most interesting and 

 instructive in the fair. The premiums of- 

 fered are numerous and liberal, and should 

 secure an exhibit that will be extensive, in- 

 teresting, and of educational value. Begin 

 now to prepare for it, and have something 

 good to show. The following is a list of 

 premiums to be awarded. 



Goods properly labeled may be sent by express, 

 charges prepaid, to the Secretary of the fair. 



Entries close Monday, September 11. 



All exhibits must be in place by 5 P. M., Monday. Sep- 

 tember 11. 



The judges will award the premiums in this depart- 

 ment Tuesday, September 12. at 9 a. m. 



No article on exhibition can be removed until the 

 close of the fair. 



All honey and beeswax must be Colorado products. 



Several special prizes are offered in addition to this 

 list. 



Italian bees and queen in single-comb 1st 2d 3d 



obserTatory hives $8 00 $5 00 $3 00 



Carniolan bees and queen in single- 

 comb observatory hives_ 8 00 5 00 3 00 



Caucasian bees and queen in single- 

 comb observatory hives 8 00 5 00 3 00 



Largest and best display of bees of 



various races in observatory hives 10 00 6 00 4 00 

 Largest display of queens of various 



races in mailing-cages 5 00 3 00 2 00 



Best case of white comb honey 3 00 2 00 1 00 



Best case of light-amber comb honey 2 50 1 50 1 00 



Best and largest display comb honey 10 00 6 00 4 00 



Best display of special designs 3 00 2 00 1 00 



Best dozen jars of white ext'd honey 2 50 1 50 1 00 



