904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



The bee would seem to be most susceptible 

 in lines of variation and development. The 

 student of bees is amazed at what natural 

 selection has done for this species. Is it 

 not marvelous that the queen-bee will lay 

 nearly double her weight of eggs each day 

 in the busiest part of the year ? And why 

 has the bee such wonderfully varied func- 

 tions, and a correspondingly varied anatomy, 

 except that it is ever ready to vary, and 

 that these variations are easily fixed ? Dr. 

 Phillips has already commenced actively to 

 investigate in this line. This is not the 

 work of an hour or of a year, but may re- 

 quire a score of years. Indeed, this is one 

 reason why it is, eminently, work for our 

 government and not for the individual. I 

 believe we may safely count on Dr. Phillips 

 giving us great benefit in this line of his 

 work. Let us all encourage him by word 

 and by friendly letters. 





Btt Keepino AMONG THE Rockies 



rjwi.'^v-gx'S 39 sect 



FOUL BROOD. 



Look out for foul brood now. In a season 

 of scarcity like this it is much more likely to 

 develop than at a time when honey is coming 

 in freely. If you are not keeping close 

 watch of your bees yourself, better send for 

 the inspector to look them over. 

 j0 



MANUFACTURED HONEY AND EGGS. 



The Denver Post recently made the state- 

 ment, in answer to a correspondent, that 

 not only both comb and extracted honey 

 were manufactured and largely sold, but 

 that eggs were also manufactured. I had 

 hoped that no newspaper in a State that 

 produced as much honey ^s Colorado would 

 be found so lacking in discretion; but per- 

 haps there is no newspaper employing a 

 large staff of writers that does not occasion- 

 ally have need of the services of the fool- 

 killer. 



j^ 



SWEET CLOVER. 



Prof. Richards, botanist of the Kansas 

 Experiment Station, writing in the Kansas 

 Farmer, says that sweet clover contains in 

 its leaves and stems a bitter substance 

 which renders it extremely distasteful to 

 stock, and that, so far as he has ever seen 

 or heard, they will never eat it except under 

 compulsion or as a last resort from starva- 

 tion. Doubtless the professor makes this 

 statement in good faith; but the wonder is 

 that any one of such extremely limited prac- 

 tical experience should be in such a position. 

 Nor does lack of experience excuse a man 

 for such statements as the following: "The 



only value that the white sweet clover pos- 

 sesses lies in its qualities as a bee-plant. It 

 also serves to hold embankments and gullies 

 which are in danger of washing. But, un- 

 fortunately, its advantages in the directions 

 named are in most cases more than offset 

 by its disadvantages as a positive weed. It 

 rapidly takes land, both in pasture and in 

 cultivation; and as it seeds very liberally its 

 rate of increase is tremendous." 

 £^ 

 THE HONEY CROP. 



The honey crop shows no signs of improve- 

 ment, and it is all but settled that for most 

 of our bee-keepers the season is one of ab- 

 solute failure. Little or no honey has been 

 secured, and many of the bees will need 

 feeding to get them to winter safely. I have 

 lately returned from a trip through the 

 Plateau Valley, one of our best honey-pro- 

 ducing districts. They have had a little 

 honey there, though the most sanguine esti- 

 mates were that there would be a third of a 

 crop. In many cases this estimate would 

 plainly be too high unless the remainder of 

 the season should prove good, of which there 

 was a fair prospect. 



£/ 



SEPARATORS IN SHIPPING-CASES. 



One of the greatest defects in our present 

 system of marketing honey is that no provi- 

 sion is made for the proper handling of hon- 

 ey after it leaves the case in which it is 

 shipped. Here is a substance of a delicate 

 and fragile nature, easily injured by con- 

 tact with almost any other substance, pro- 

 tected only by a narrow rim of wood around 

 its edges, with two surfaces each at least 

 four inches square entirely unprotected. The 

 grocer sells usually only one section of honey 

 at a time, which may or may not be wrapped 

 in paper or put into a sack, and is then put 

 into a basket with other articles, to take its 

 chances in a rough-and-tumble ride over the 

 streets until it reaches its destination. Is it 

 any wonder that many times the chief charm 

 of section honey, the delicate beauty and 

 daintiness of appearance, has disappeared 

 before it reaches the table of the consumer? 

 This is, after all, the court of last resort. 

 It matters not if the honey looks beautiful 

 in the honey-house of the producer, in the 

 warehouse of the jobber or commission mer- 

 chant, or in the store of the retailer. If it 

 is not inviting in appearance after it reaches 

 the consumer, all our efforts have been in 

 vain. "Plain" sections are very much 

 worse in this respect than the ordinary 

 style, in which the projecting edges protect 

 the honey somewhat, and this, in my opin- 

 ion, is one of the most serious objections to 

 the plain section. In order to protect against 

 the damage done in shipping, when one 

 comb breaks loose, and then, Isy pounding 

 against its neighbors, breaks or damages 

 several others in the same row, separators 

 have been used to some extent. They are 

 useful for this, but they may be made to 

 serve an even more important purpose. Let 

 these strips of thin veneer be scored, as 



