624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



the honey-bearing trees in a reckless manner, 

 and the crops grown are not equal to the origi- 

 nal flora. He states that the habit of poison- 

 ing rabbits interferes seriously with bee-keep- 

 ing in some localities, as the bees eat the poison 

 set out for the bunnies. It may be that some 

 of the bee-keepers may be able to turn them- 

 selves into rabbit-catchers, at which they can 

 earn 15 to 20 dollars a week. The canned 

 and frozen rabbits are exported to the value 

 of $10,000,000, and Australia could spare 

 thi'ee or four times that amount. 



At this distance it seems to us as though 

 the chief want of all the Australian colonies 

 were a greater population — at least 10,000,000 

 or 20,000,000 more people — to consume the 

 superabundance and overtake Dame Na- 

 ture in her prodigality. Pity that some of 

 the overcrowded, poorly fed, and starving 

 out-of-work people of London could not be 

 deported to that land of milk and honey. 



bee-keepers' table of facts. 

 The following is translated from the 

 French of L'AbeiUe (Belgium), but appeared 

 first in the Bienen- Zeikmg of Luxembourg: 



1. Duration of incubation— workers, 20 to 21 days 

 (3 days in the form of an egg, 6 days as a larva, WVn 

 days in the chrysalis state). Drone, period of 24 days 

 in the cell (3 days in the egg, larva 6 days, and 16 days 

 as a chrysalis). Queen 15 to 16 days (egg state, 3 

 days; larva, 5 days, and as a chrysalis 7 to 8 days). 



2. The analysis of nectar (by von Planta, Ph. D.). 

 Water, 75 per cent; invert sugar, 12 per cent; cane 

 sugar, 12 per cent; ash, etc.. 3 per cent. 



3. Analysis of honey (by Koenig). Water, 20 to 6 

 per cent; invert sugar, 72 per cent; cane sugar, 1 to 7 

 per cent; ash, H per cent, and a small amount of gum, 

 phosphorus, and various acids. 



4. Analysis of sugar — water, l^per cent; cane sugar, 

 99 per cent; ash, 1 per cent. 



5. Pollen of the wild rose— water, 5 per cent; albu- 

 men, 30 per cent; carbo-hydrates, 60 per cent; starch, 

 5 per cent; cane sugar, 15 per cent; also various mat- 

 ters, acids, and coloring matter. 



6. The pap supplied to the young contains, for the 

 queen, 69 per cent water, and 30 per cent nourishing 

 material; for the drone and worker, 72 per cent water 

 and 28 per cent nourishing material. 



Composition of the pap fed to queens, drones, and 

 workers: 

 1. For queens 2. For drones. 3. For workers. 



(for whole First After First After 



period). 4 days. 4th day. 4 days. 4th day. 



Albumen. 45* 56^o 32% 53^ 28* 



Fat, 14" 12" 5" 8" 4" 



Sugar, 20 " 10 " 38 " 18 " 45 " 



7. The cells of the queens receive 14 times as much 

 pap as a drone-cell, and 90 times as much as a worker. 



8. The amount of honey consumed in wintering is 

 as follows: November. 1 to 2 lbs.; December, 1 to 2 

 lbs.; January, 2 lbs.; February, 3 lbs.; March, 5 lbs.; 

 April. 6 or 7 lbs. 



9. The total amount required by a normal colony 

 for wintering, 12 to 16 lbs. of honey; of sugar, 6 to 10 

 lbs. will be required. (This, evidently, refers to bees 

 in house or cellar — W. K. M.) 



10. Artificial feed in the fall is composed of one 

 quart of water to 3 and 3M lbs. of sugar. 



11. Stimulative feed, i lbs. of honey, \% lbs. of 

 sugar, and 4% quarts of water. (This is to imitate 

 nectar.— W. K. M.) 



12. Medium for lubricating foundation-machines, 

 one part honey, 2 parts water, 3 parts alcohol. Some-, 

 thing cheaper for the same purpose, 5 grams of green 

 soap in one quart of boiling water. 



13. Weight of swarms. One pound contains in the 

 neighborhood of 4500 bees; but in a swarm, 4000 bees 

 make a pound, so that a swarm weighing 3 lbs. has 

 12,000 bees. A colony of bees at its maximum de- 

 velopment contains 30,000 to 60,000 bees of all kinds, 

 and may contain 40,000 to 70,000 cells occupied with 

 eggs and brood. 



ORGANIZING FOR BETTER PRICES ON 

 HONEY. 



The Present Unsatisfactory Method of Pro- 

 ducers Working Against Each Other 

 in the Disposal of Their Crops. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



The weakest link in the whole complicated 

 chain of modern bee-keeping at the present 

 time is a lack of practical organization. I 

 will admit that we have national. State, and 

 county organizations, and we hold many 

 conventions; but when it comes to the most 

 vital part of our business, that of disposing 

 of our honey, then each producer is not only 

 a competitor against all others, but, accord- 

 ing to his circumstances, will sell at almost 

 any price he may be offered, thereby injur- 

 ing the sale of other producers far more 

 than ten times the amount he produces would 

 if we were organized and sold at one price. 

 This spoils the market, and the speculators 

 take advantage of it and tell us and show us 

 how cheap they can buy our honey, using 

 the price and name of every party that has 

 sold cheap, as a lever to bear down the price 

 and enable them to buy our honey as they 

 have many other lots. 



It makes but little difference whether we 

 count our colonies by the dozen or by the 

 hundred, if, at the close of the summer, we 

 sell our honey at cost. Then we are making 

 no money from our bees, and there is some- 

 thing wrong. I kmow that, to organize for 

 the purpose of securing better prices, would 

 be a rather hard thing to accomplish. Still, 

 I think something might be done to improve 

 this part of our business. I have nevei known 

 a season during the past 50 years of my bee- 

 keeping life, when honey was sold at such a 

 variety of prices, from ocean to ocean, as it 

 has been during the summer and fall of 1906. 

 Speculators have been scouring the country 

 trying to engage honey at low prices. Many 

 parties that had debts to pay sold at prices 

 they would not care to have made public, 

 while some, fearing that they would have 

 their crop left on their hands, have also sold 

 cheap. We see manufacturers, mechanics, 

 and merchants all over the country organiz- 

 ing for self-protection, and it does seem to 

 me that we as honey-producers might do a 

 little in this line that would be a help to all. 

 I am well aware that, when a man has debts 

 crowding him he is in rather poor condition 

 to argue with a speculator as to the price of 

 his honey, which each party knows must 

 soon be sold; but, fortunately, these are ex- 

 ceptional cases. 



