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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



stress on the importance of getting the poi- 

 soned spray into the calyx cup, since with 

 them nearly eighty per cent of wormy apples 

 injured by the first brood of the codling moth 

 have been entered from the calyx. What I 

 want of bee-keepers is to fix firmly in mind 

 this fact: That the main object of spraying 

 at this time is to get the poisoned liquid into 

 the calyx cup or blossom end of the apple, 

 and be able to show careless or uninformed 

 fi'uit-growers that they can not do this as ef- 

 fectively while the tree is in blossom as they 

 can later, and that any time before the calyx 

 has closed is better than while the petals are 

 still on. 



DLL KE^EPING 



IN THE 30UTHVE5T 



System simplifies the work: therefore, /iawe 

 a system. 



A reputation for honest goods and honest 

 dealing is bound to bring success. This 

 should now be more easily done with the 

 pvire-food law to help us. 



To many bee-keepers "a bee is a bee." 

 When driving through the country, how 

 many apiaries of pure Italians, Carniolans, 

 or even all pure black or German bees do 

 we see? Sometimes we run on to an occa- 

 sional yard of a pure race; but more often 

 there is a general mixture of a whole lot. 

 This habit of swinging around from one 

 breed to another, mixing and crossing, is 

 not the way to get the most profitable results 

 and satisfaction out of bees. Don't do it. 



KEEPING COLONY RECORDS. 



The star colony in a bee-keeper's apiary 

 is the one that gives the most surplus honey 

 and keeps it up the longest. . By this test 

 every one of us may test our colonies and 

 try to bring all the rest up to its standard, 

 or at least as nearly so as possible. A rec- 

 ord should be kept of all colonies, each hive 

 having a number. In offering an apiary of 

 over 70 colonies of bees recently, the owner 

 wrote: "1 have every queen clipped, and 

 every queen and colony numbered, and keep 

 a record of them, and know of what strain 

 each queen is, and what is the record of each 

 colony." But how many bee-keepers think 

 this worth while and do it? 



MOVING WITH OPEN ENTRANCES. 



We have tried moving bees in many ways, 

 and with entrances open or closed in some 

 way. The former is not to be recommend- 

 ed. Although some successes have been re- 

 ported, there are too few of them. Open- 



entrance moving works all right under cer- 

 tain conditions, and so long as you keep 

 moving. The bees cling to their hives well 

 enough; but if a stop is made, the trouble 

 begins. It is better to close the entrance. 

 Use any of the simple hive- entrance closers 

 that have been mentioned in these columns. 

 One of the simplest ways we have ever used , 

 is to tear heavy burlap or some material of 

 this kind into strips as long as the hive is 

 wide, and about 2 inches in width. To close 

 the entrance, simply fold it double and push 

 it in with a piece of section box or a knife- 

 blade. Eighty colonies were moved thus in 

 warm weather, and remained closed up till 

 5 P.M., when, after the hives were all set on 

 their new stands, the entrances were opened 

 by x'unning through the yard, and tearing 

 out the strips of cloth. 



EFFECTS UPON COLOR OF HONEYS. 



Cotton is another plant which yields honey 

 of different colors according to the different 

 soils or localities in which it grows. The 

 honey from cotton of luxuriant growth on 

 rich black or alluvial river-bottom land is of 

 very light color, while upland cotton, or 

 that grown on sandy or clay soils, yields 

 amber honey. - It seems that the chemical 

 conditions of the soil, the growth of the 

 plant, and atmospheric conditions, all have 

 some bearing upon the color of cotton honey. 

 Certain chemical conditions of the soil may 

 not only affect the plant-growth, but perhaps 

 the juices of the plant itself, thus becoming 

 apparent in the color of the honey. A plant of 

 luxuriant growth yields nectar much more 

 abundantly than those of less luxuriance. 

 With dry climatic conditions, decreased se- 

 cretion of nectar and evaporation to a cer- 

 tain extent takes place. Under such condi- 

 tions honey from upland cotton, together 

 with less luxuriant growth on poorer soils, 

 would be dark in color. The best and light- 

 est grades of honey will be secured from a 

 luxuriant growth of cotton on rich soil dur- 

 ing moist balmy weather. 



THE grocery's BEE. 



Jimmy and Tommy were watching me 

 over the fence as I was "knocking swarm- 

 ing on the head" at one of my out-yards. 

 When through, with the work I said to them, 

 "Well, boys, do you all ever have honey 

 over at your house?" 



Said jimmy, "Yes, sir; but we somehow 

 don't like it very much any more now." 



"But why, Jimmie? That's strange. You 

 must not have good honey. Where did you 

 get it?" 



' ' Ma got it from the grocery, ' ' said he. • 



Now, 1 had an idea what the matter was, 

 and so I asked the boys to have a taste of 

 some real bee honey. This seemed to appeal 

 to both of them. They fell right in, and aft- 

 er a good taste of it Jimmie said, "My! 

 Tom, this is real bee honey; golly! how I 

 wish our grocery had a bee! ' 



Since the workings of the pure-food law 

 we can be sure that the "groceries" will 



