1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1555 



In the Btilletin des Societies d' Ajnctilture 

 de la Savoie, Mr. Ferrier says if you wish to 

 get queens fecundated in a tent the drones 

 must be unrelated to the queens. He says 

 the latter feel an aversion to drones of their 

 own family. w. K. M. 



THE FIGHT IN CONGRESS OVER FOREST RE- 

 SERVES. 



There will doubtless be a vigorous fight in 

 this session of Congress over the propos- 

 al to create two large forest reserves in the 

 East and South; namely, the White Moun- 

 tain forest reserve in New England, and the 

 Appalachian forest reserve in the mountain 

 regions of the South. The last named is pe- 

 culiarly rich in bee-keepers' trees of all kinds, 

 and ought to secure the undivided support 

 of the apiarian interests. When the fight is 

 on we expect to supply our readers with 

 more detailed information. These forest re- 

 serves are in most cases bee-reserves as well 

 as forest reserves. w. k. m. 



TWO PROMINENT LADY WRITERS ON BEES. 



Our Italian contemporary, Corrisjionden- 

 za Apistica. gives in its August issue a synop- 

 sis of Mrs. Comstock's article, "Bee-keeping 

 for Women," which appeareil in Gleanings 

 some time ago. It speaks very highly of 

 Mrs. Comstock's ability as a bee-keeper. 

 Moreover, the editor is very gallant, for he 

 says it is very evident the gentle Lady Bots- 

 ford is a very beautiful writer as well as an 

 accomplished bee-keeper. Over in Europe 

 Mrs. Comstock has a rival in Madame Lucie 

 Dennler, wife of the editor of the bee jour- 

 nal published in Strassburg, the capital city 

 of Alsace and Lorraine. She writes quaint 

 legends about bee-keeping and bee-keepers 

 of other days than ours. w. k. m. 



THE PRODUCTION OF BEET AND CANE SU- 

 GAR. 



The production of beet sugar is now equal 

 to that from cane. The total of the world's 

 output of cane sugar for the season of 1906-'7 

 was 7,146,446 tons For beet sugar the fig- 

 ures are 7,144,377 tons. The production of 

 cane sugar has risen rapidly of late on ac- 

 count of the liberation of Cuba, which has 

 greatly encouraged the growth of sugar- 

 cane. The United States is now the great- 

 est market for cane sugar, while the British 

 Isles are by far the greatest consumer of 

 beet sugar. The Britishers are the greatest 

 consumers of sugar, the consumption per 

 capita being about 10 lbs. higher than in the 

 United States. Many are of the opinion 

 that we eat too much sugar; but what about 

 John Bull and his sweet tooth? w. K. M. 



HONEY BREAD 700 B. C. 



According to the Parisian bee-journal, 

 U Apiculture Nouvelle, honey- bread was 

 made at least 700 years before the birth of 

 Christ. That's a good while ago. Accord- 

 ing to Hippocratus, honey and wax were con- 



siderably used by the doctors of ancient 

 Greece. At that date fruits were preserved 

 by being immersed in honey. And 4U00 years 

 ago, during the reigns of the Pharaohs, the 

 Egyptians had a proverb or saying equiva- 

 lent to our -'veritable hives of industry." 



v. K. M. 

 THE PLURAL-QUEEN SYSTEM. 



Reports seem to come in thick and fast, 

 going to show that the two queen system, in 

 connection with perforated zinc, is a success. 

 There can be no question buc that, under 

 some conditions at least, the scheme of us- 

 ing twi> queens will increase the worker 

 force, and that will increase the honey crop; 

 but whether it will be practicable to use 

 more than one queen to a colony without 

 having them sejjarated by excluders, we 

 have our doubts. It can be done sometimes 

 under some conditions, no doubt. 



marketing early, and bottling honey 

 TO relieve a glut in the market 



DURING the holidays 



We are tirmly of the opinion that more 

 producers of extracted honey sh'^uld do their 

 own bottling and retailing, rather than glut 

 the great markets at a time of the year when 

 everybody is ready to unload. Unfortunate- 

 ly this year, as every year, there seems to be 

 a tendency on the part of too many bee- 

 keepers to send their honey to market in 

 November and December instead of tluring 

 the months of August and September, uhen 

 prices generally rule strong. 



A correction. 



In our issue for Novembr 15, in giving 

 our report of the National convention at 

 Harrisbuig. page 1480, we imwittin-ly did 

 our old friend and correspondent. Mr. J. A. 

 Green, an injustice l)y saying that "no pro- 

 gram had l)een announced, as the secretary, 

 Mr. J. A. Green, owing to pressure of other 

 duties, was unable to get any program 

 ready; but President Aspinwall, during the 

 last week, secured a number of valuable pa- 

 pers,'' etc. We now learn that Mr. Green 

 had written to all the patties who had pre- 

 pared papers, and in some cases, at least, 

 had secured their promise to present them 

 to the convention. 



PRICES ON honey FOR NEXT YEAR. 



A CORRESPONDENT asks whelher we think 

 the price of honey as it now stands will be as 

 good as or better than now by June, 1908. 

 It is not possible to make any accurate pre- 

 diction; but we do not see any reason why 

 it shoukl not be just as high if not higher. 

 Should the comlicions next spring and early 

 summer be favoral)le for a good honey How 

 all over the country, the market might ease 

 up somewhat. Should it, however, be unfa- 

 vorable, as it was last spring, the prices 

 should be firmer. We are of the opinion 

 that, if the value of other commodities con- 

 tinues to soar, honey will go up; but if there 



