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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



THE ALEXANDER BEES; THE ROAR OF BEES 



IN FLIGHT FROM ONE YARD OF 



750 COLONIES. 



I HAVE just returned from a thousand- 

 mile trip (by rail) , among the bee-keepers 

 of the East. When I started out I had no 

 expectation of seeing any others than Mr. 

 E. W. Alexander in the height of his buck- 

 wheat-honey flow, and Swarthmore in his 

 queen-rearing operations; but incidentally I 

 saw a few others. I have gathered some 

 valuable material and data which will, as 

 space permits, be placed before our readers. 



Day before yesterday, Aug. 22, I stood in 

 Mr. Alexander's mammoth bee-yard, located 

 at Delanson, N. Y. , watching the bees come 

 in from the fields of buckwheat and golden- 

 rod on the distant hills. I have been in a 

 good many apiaries, have traveled thou- 

 sands of miles to see bee-keepers, but I never 

 saw the like before. If you can imagine 

 ten or twelve swarms all in the air at once 

 you can have some faint idea of the tremen- 

 dous roar of bee-flight of the Alexander bees 

 to and from the aforesaid fields. I had pur- 

 posely timed my visit to take in this won- 

 drous sight; and, while my expectations had 

 been raised very high, I simply stood spell- 

 bound at the incessant streams of bees com- 

 ing in from all directions. Why, say, I 

 doubt if any one could have fired off a shot- 

 gun toward the horizon without killing many 

 bees. Just think of it— 750 two-story colo- 

 nies all in one locality, bringing in honey at 

 the rate of a ton and a half a day, weather 

 permitting! Just imagine, if you can, that, 

 m their wild rage for honey from buck- 

 wheat and goldenrod, one-half of the bees, 

 say, are in the air. Estimating each colony 

 to have about six pounds of bees, this would 

 make in the air 15,000 bees per colony that 

 are either going or coming from the fields. 

 Multiply this number by 750, then focus the 

 flight to and from one spot, all in one yard. 

 You can imagine the rest. 



Mr. Alexander has consented to prepare a 

 series of articles, fully illustrated by a se- 

 ries of photos that were taken on the spot by 

 myself and Pr. Lyon. 'As he has said, he 

 has been willing to sacrifice a whole crop in 

 order to learn something; the result of his 

 many years of close observation and experi- 

 menting will be focused down into a valua- 

 ble set of articles which will appear in 

 forthcoming issues of this journal. 



It may be inferred from what I have writ- 

 ten that Mr. Alexander's locality is a verita- 

 ble bee paradise. Such it undoubtedly is 

 some seasons. Some may conclude that 

 would be a good place in which to locate. 

 Perhaps; but would it be fair or right to 

 put some bees in Mr. Alexander's bee- 

 range? There can be only one answer from 

 a moral point of view, and I hope no one 

 will do it. Mr. Alexander's bees cover a 

 radius of some three or four miles; and if 

 any one were to place some bees just out- 

 side of the territory, he would infringe on 

 the rights of some other bee-keeper. Black 

 brood is not all cured in Eastern New York, 

 and an ' ' outsider ' ' would run a fearful 



chance. As a rule, a desirable location is 

 generally taken up by " oldtimers " who 

 know it thoroughly, and a new comer unac- 

 quainted with the conditions would have 

 very little show. 



A VISIT WITH SWARTHMORE. 



From Delanson I went straight to the 

 Swarthmore queen-rearing yards near Phila- 

 delphia, and had the great pleasure of see- 

 ing Mr. Pratt demonstrate to the satisfac- 

 tion of several of us that he could do exact- 

 ly what he has claimed. Several bright 

 brainy bee-keepers, and among them Mr. J. 

 Hooker, an English bee-keeper of note, have 

 told me that this man was a genius, and 

 that there was probably no bee-keeper in 

 the world who knew actual bee-life more 

 thoroughly than this mild-mannered queen- 

 breeder. When he showed his method, and 

 demonstrated what he was able to do, I felt 

 as if I were indeed standing at the feet of a 

 genius. 



A GENIUS IN THE PRODUCTION OF FANCY 

 COMB HONEY. 



Quite by chance, and most unexpectedly, 

 I ran across another genius, but this time 

 in comb - honey production, in the person 

 of Mr. S. D. House, at Camillus, N. Y. He 

 is not only a genius in the production of 

 comb honey, but an expert in making dem- 

 onstrations of practical work among bees 

 inside of a bee-tent or cage, said cage being 

 a part of his honey and wax exhibit located 

 in one of the main buildings of the State 

 fair at Syracuse. The system he has adopt- 

 ed for producing an extra quality of fancy 

 comb honey involves the use of the Betsing- 

 er wire-cloth separator, plain sections, and 

 super. This, in connection with a system „ 

 of comb-honey production that he has work- ■ 

 ed out, produces a class of comb honey that * 

 is a large percentage fancy. He demon- 

 strated to my satisfaction that his system, 

 in connection with the Betsinger super, will 

 produce a grade of honey far superior to 

 that produced by even the fence system. 



He likewise has consented to tell us some 

 of the fine points of the new system. I said 

 "new;" much of it is indeed old, for it in- 

 volves the use of the Betsinger wire-cloth 

 separator that was, many years ago, pre- 

 maturely condemned and buried out of 

 sight until this genius dug it up. 



ANOTHER COMB-HONEY LIE BEARING THE 

 SEMBLANCE OF OFFICIAL RECOGNITION. 



In Northern Ohio a statement got into 

 some of the local papers — one at Port Clin- 

 ton and another at Bellevue, to the effect 

 that the Pure-food Commissioner of Ohio 

 had broken up a band of medical students 

 who were selling manufactured comb honey 

 —combs made of paraffine, etc. We imme- 

 diately wrote to the Ohio Pure-food Com- 

 missioner, asking for the facts in the case. 

 Here ia his reply : 



office of ) 



Dairy and Food Commissioner, I- 

 CoLUMBUS, O., Aug. 10, 1905. ) 

 Mr. Root:— I have your letter of August 9, with news- 

 paper cHpping enclosed, with reference to the Depart- 

 ment breaking up a band of medical students who were 

 paying their way through college by selling spurious 



