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GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Nov. 15 



any other old name that happens to come 

 handy. To write so that people can always 

 tell exactly what you mean by what you say 

 is monotonous. To have half a dozen names 

 for the same thing, and to use the same name 

 for half a dozen different things, gives vari- 

 ety, keeps the readers guessing, and allows 

 CHch reader to understand a thing his own 

 way. No wonder the Irish Bee Journal is 

 dull with such a narrow-minded editor. 

 [While you are digging at Editor Digges, we 

 are wondering if you are not digging at 

 antjther editor for allowing in his columns 

 such a variety of words to express the same 

 thing to avoid tautology. If you are, just 

 speak right out. — Ed.] 



Replying to your inquiry, Mr. Editor, p. 

 1384, sweet clover begins blooming earlier 

 than cucumbers, and continues later. But 

 this year a large part of my surplus was 

 other than white clover, sweet clover, or cu- 

 cumber. It was whiter than either. 1 think 

 it was from heartsease. I say that hesitat- 

 ingly for fear of being laughed at, for 1 have 

 always supposed that heartsease honey was 

 amber, but there was no amber about this. 

 It was the most beautifully white honey I 

 ever had. A fall flow of white honey is a 

 new thing here, but I could find nothing but 

 heartsease to charge it up to The bees 

 worked busily on that, and carried into the 

 hive abundance of pollen that looked exact- 

 ly like what they gathered on the heartsease. 

 [Is there anybody else among our subscrib- 

 ers who is able to report beyond doubt that 

 heartsease honey may be light-colored? We 

 are of the opinion that there have been re- 

 ports to that effect.— Ed.] 



Just been reading what a bee State Cali- 

 fornia is, p. 1374. Mr. Editor, please change 

 my address to California. 



Later. — I note that only about one year in 

 five is favorable for honey in California, p. 

 1870. Please continue my address in Illi- 

 nois. [No. While California can make the 

 greatest showing for honey of any State in 

 the Union, it does not offer any great induce- 

 ment to the honey-producer. We believe we 

 are not overstating the fact when we say 

 there is only one fair year there in three, and 

 only one good one in five. The bee-keeper, 

 therefore, finds it a problem to keep bees 

 there over the two or three bad years until 

 a good one comes. When we were in that 

 State in 1901, which was an exceedingly good 

 vear, we were shown yard after yard that 

 had been practically neglected because the 

 owners had become discouraged, and the 

 bees starved or died from disease. It is only 

 the stayers who are able to make a fair liv- 

 ing — Ed.] 



Localities differ. While the plan of ex- 

 tracting in spring from the brood-chamber, 

 as given by Mr. Alexander, p. 1376, may be the 

 very best thing for him, and while sealed 

 combs of honey might hinder the spreading 

 of the brood-nest, I do not believe they would 

 work so in general — certainly not here. Of 

 course, it is possible to fill the brood-chamber 

 with sealed comb so full that there is no 



room for brood. But added as they are need- 

 ed I think my bees uncap them as fast as 

 they need the room. If the brood-nest keeps 

 expanding so that there is all the brood the 

 bees can cover, what more can you ask? At 

 the beginning of last season, on coming to 

 No. 2il my assistant said, "There is too 

 much honey in this hive; the queen will not 

 have room to lay." It was the only colony 

 in the apiary accused of having too much 

 sealed honey. At the close of the harvest it 

 had stored more surplus than any other. I 

 do not say that the combs of sealed honey 

 were the cause of the extra yield, but I do 

 say that they did not prevent it. [This is a 

 very fruitful theme for discussion, and we 

 should like to hear from others of our sub- 

 scribers. Mr. Alexander finds it pays to ex- 

 tract and feed back. If one practice pays 

 well in one locality, and another gives better 

 results in another — well, let us have the thing 

 discussed, and at the same time let the sur- 

 rounding conditions of locality be given in 

 order that others may be guided. — Ed.] 



On the Santa Barbara national forest there 

 are 40 apiaries having permits from the gov- 

 ernment Forest Service. There are 15 apia- 

 ries on the other reserves in California. 



The special clause of the national pure- 

 food law relating to the correct labeling of 

 all food products is now in active force, the 

 period of probation having expired October 

 1. The Board of Food and Drug Inspection 

 decided some time ago that a further exten- 

 sion of time could not be granted, and all 

 foods must now possess a truthful label, if 

 there is any label at all. It is necessary 

 now, if a label is applied, that it tell the ex- 

 act truth in such a way as not to mislead any 

 one who intends to buy. w. k. m. 



According to some of our exchanges the 

 raising of clover for its seed is rapidly be- 

 coming a recognized industry of the Willa- 

 mette Valley, in Oregon. At Albany, for 

 example, 2u0,000 lbs of seed were shipped 

 out this season. The price obtained for seed 

 is said to be about 10 cents per lb., but the 

 growers think they ought to get more for 

 that which is entirely pure, and unmixed 

 with weed seeds. They say there is not 

 enough difference between weedy seed and 

 that which is pure, and that is probably 

 true The bee-keepers will want to be on 

 hand when this clover seed is being pro- 

 duced, w. K. M. 



