116 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



used in hiving swarms. A few bees 

 were made to alight upon it. by 

 shaking them gently from the main 

 swarm. Then, after removing the 

 limb to which the swarm hung, this 

 was hung in its place and the return- 

 ing bees were easily carried to the 

 hive to join their sisters. Or the 

 limb was used for the swarm to set- 

 tle upon, by shaking the bees from 

 the limb on which they hung and 

 covering the latter with a shield or 

 a cloth. Figures 7 and 8 were 

 "swarm catchers," though a little 

 heavier than the metal frames of the 

 present day. Fig. 9 represents a hook 

 to draw down the limbs on which the 

 swarms might be hanging. Fig. 2 

 represents an earthen hive, one foot 

 high and 2 feet long, with, at one 

 end, a wooden disk notched for the 

 passage of the bees; at the other end 

 an earthen disk, to be removed only 

 when wanting to take away the 

 honey. Fig. 3 represents a similar 

 disk with entrances for the bees. Fig. 

 12 shows the Delia Rocca clay bee- 

 smoker. Hot coals and fuel were 

 supplied at the big end _ and the 

 smoke expelled at the little end. 

 Small holes at the bottom furnished 

 air for the combustion of the fuel. 

 The author remarked that this in- 

 strument was "more proper than any 

 other, to smoke bees." Fig. 13 ex- 

 hibits a small straw skep to be used 

 in hiving bees. 



The next plate shows the improved 

 slat hive devised by L'Abbe Delia 

 Rocca. And, by the way, let us say 

 that he considered as proper the dis- 

 tance between combs of an inch and 

 a half from center to center, for his 

 frame supports were placed at that 

 distance. 



From time to time we will give our 

 readers more facts on the "evolu- 

 tion of the beehive." 



Sugar Shortage is Honey's 

 Opportunity 



By Chilton Gano. 



IF there has been, since the United 

 States entered the war, one re- 

 action of the country's business 

 that has been more noticeable than 

 any others, it has surely been the ef- 

 fort of every kind of business to ad- 

 just itself to war-time conditions— 

 to find the silver lining of the war 

 cloud. 



For instance, no sooner had the 

 Government asked the co-operation 

 of housewives in conserving animal 

 fats and dairy products than every 

 manufacturer of vegetable cooking 

 and salad oils began to push his 

 products more aggressively than ever 

 before. Nobody knew who or what 

 'Mazola" was, in February, though it 

 had been on the market for three 

 years. But the Government edict 

 was surely the proper signal for the 

 Corn Products Company to lift this 

 product into the limelight. They did 

 so with a national newspaper cam- 

 paign. Results were so tremendous 

 that the company has had to double 

 the capacity of its Argo refinery, 

 which was already the largest of its 

 kind in the world, to supply the new 

 demand for this cooking and salad 

 oil. 



Later came the sugar crisis, and 

 this same company saw another big 

 opportunity for increasing its corn 

 syrup business, urging corn syrup as 



Plate 2. Some of the implements used for beekeeping in olden times. Notice, at Fig. 12, 

 the bee smoker 



a substitute for cane sugar. Karo has 

 long been advertised in a big way, 

 but probably never at so great an 

 expense as today, when full-page 

 advertisements are being run in 

 newspapers all over the country. 



These are only two of many scores 

 of food campaigns which have dove- 

 tailed their appeal with that of Mr. 

 Hoover and have proved through 

 their great successes that such patri- 

 otic appeals are the strongest that 

 could possibly be made to Americans 

 at this time. 



Honey's Opportunity 



The writer has written several ar- 

 ticles for the American Bee Journal 

 on the possibilities that lie in co- 

 operative national advertising of 

 honey by beekeepers. But, of course, 

 most thorough national organization 

 of the industry would have to be the 

 first step, and to urge national adver- 

 tising as an immediate step would be 

 highly impracticable for that reason 

 alone. It would also be impractica- 

 ble, probably, for several other rea- 

 sons, the primary one being that na- 

 tional advertising of honey at this 

 time would create a bigger demand 

 for the product than could possibly 

 be filled. 



Yet every beekeeper must be fully 

 awake to the remarkable opportunity 

 afforded by the sugar crisis. Every 

 beekeeper must realize that there 

 never was a better time for honey to 

 come into its own than right now. 

 There never was a time, and proba- 

 bly never will be again, after this 

 war is over, when a public demand 

 for sugar substitutes will be so im- 

 perious. Surely the beekeepers will 

 hardly feel like sitting back and do- 

 ing nothing while the raisin growers 

 are shouting from the housetops of 

 the fruit sugar in raisins and the 

 corn syrup people are telling in huge 

 advertisements of the food calories 

 in corn syrup. Every sugar substi- 

 tute will surely make the most of the 

 opportunity. Honey must surely do 

 so, too. For there are many food ex- 

 perts who state that honey is the 

 most wholesome sweet of all, and 

 much to be preferred to sugar. 



The common sense of the people 

 will lead them to turn to honey, in a 

 limited degree, and the honey market 

 is no doubt today a bull market. But 

 the American people have become an 

 advertisement-led people. No really 

 great movement on their part in fa- 

 vor of any commodity can be expect- 

 ed unless it is definitely engineered 

 by the producers of the product. 



What to Do 



What has been said now calls for 

 a constructive suggestion, though it 

 has no doubt set the reader to think- 

 ing along constructive lines. The 

 writer's suggestion would be that 

 honey producers do all in their 

 power to increase their production of 

 honey to the highest possible maxi- 

 mum. There is no telling how long 

 the war will last or how much more 

 acute the sugar shortage may be- 

 come. 



But increasing of production will 

 be only half the battle, if it is suc- 

 cessful in a marked degree. It will 

 then be necessary to increase the 



