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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Apri 



deteriorated by age as to have ac- 

 quired an unwholesome and repul- 

 sive odor; that a number of these 

 cans contained from one to ten dead 

 bees, which floated out first when the 

 liquefied honey was being poured out, 

 and which contained so much sedi- 

 ment that some of it required strain- 

 ing; and last, but not least, thai the 

 cans were not marked as to the 

 amount of their contents, but sold 

 upon the basis of containing 60 

 pounds of honey, and that some of 

 them were short in weight as much 

 as 1J4 pounds! 



Now, what would you say if you 

 were told that this shipment of 

 honey had been received from one 

 of the largest producers of extracted 

 honey? 



Such management, methods and 

 conditions surrounding the market- 

 ing of honey should be checked by 

 federal law, inasmuch as a State law 

 would be only a local remedy and not 

 sufficiently far-reaching unless en- 

 acted by all the States. 



But even a State law on such a 

 basis would have a salutary effect. 

 Bee inspectors could be required to 

 report violations. 

 There is absolutely no excuse for 

 marketing dead bees and sediment 

 intermixed with an article sold as 

 pure extracted honey. Neither is 

 there an excuse for placing white 

 honey in cans which are not abso- 

 lutely clean inside and not free from 

 all traces of buckwheat honey previ- 

 ously packed in them, and selling the 

 article for pure white honey. 



While the use of old cans should be 

 permissible, provided they are abso- 

 lutely clean on the inside, it would 

 seem that their use should not be 

 permitted unless they are also made 

 to appear clean on the outside. With 

 a little cleansing powder and a moist 

 or wet cloth a rusty can may in a lit- 

 tle while be given the appearance of 

 a new and clean can. 



Unclean cans, be the cans old or 

 new, should not be tolerated, and this 

 restriction should apply also to the 

 outside of the cans. 



It is an easy matter to polish rusty 

 cans in fairly good condition. Cans 

 should be free on the outside from 

 all accumulations of honey, dirt and 

 rust. If these are permitted the in 

 ference is, and the chances are, that 

 some of the honey poured out will 

 become soiled. 



Honey, when properly handled, is a 

 wholesome health food, worthy of a 

 clean container. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



The Cycle of Seasons in Dif- 

 ferent Apiaries~In Florida 



By J. J. Wilder. 



THERE is no problem in Southern 

 beekeeping so intricate as that 

 of the rounds of seasons in dif- 

 ferent apiaries for general work. 



We might place the word "When?" 

 in front of each of the following 

 phrases and study them a while and 

 n : i ! ben< tiird thereby. 



When to first examine bees, equal- 

 ize stores, spread brood, put on su- 



pers, expect swarming, take off 

 honey, to expect next flow, to super 

 again, to transfer, re-queen, finally 

 remove supers for winter, prepare 

 for winter, unite, to sell the crop, to 

 take vacation, and other questions, 

 the time of which comes and goes in 

 many apiaries located in different lo- 

 calities. 



As the season's cycle revolves the 

 arrow point turns toward these 

 words, one at a time, until its entire 

 round is made. 



To undertake a job out of season 

 would mean loss, in most cases, so 

 we must be on the alert to do the 

 things necessary at the proper time. 



I have seen bees transferred during 

 winter. I have seen them fed in the 

 spring when this should have been 

 done in early fall. I have seen api- 



sults will not be so bad, but far 

 worse if done entirely out of season. 



It can almost be said of the South 

 that the sources of honey change 

 every ten miles; that entirely differ- 

 ent honey plants come in and go out 

 as one passes across the country. 

 So there is no one great source of 

 honey, but, instead, many, many 

 small ones, and as many as five or 

 six of these are found in a single lo- 

 cation, coming in bloom from very 

 early spring till late fall. 



This fact alone makes it vary diffi- 

 cult, or almost impossible, to prop- 

 erly instruct all inquirers or give out 

 definite information for general api- 

 ary work that would be proper for 

 all. So we have to deal with every 

 one separately in his own location. 



The editors of our bee papers fully 



Wilder Apiary ir 



arists go off on vacations and on 

 their return find the bees crowded 

 for storing room. Some leave them 

 in early winter and the forest fires 

 burn them up. I have seen supers 

 put on in the dead of winter, just 

 after the honey-flow and honey re- 

 moved during winter. Swarming- 

 time overlooked, bees moved in mid- 

 winter, completely closed up and suf- 

 focated, and combs, honey and bees 

 lost. 



The majority of the bees are never 

 examined; stores not equalized; no 

 knowledge of but one honey-flow ; 

 supers left on for winter, and many 

 other things done entirely out of 

 season, with results disastrous. 



Is it any wonder we fail? Is it 

 any wonder we succeed when we do 

 things at the proper time? 



It is easy to be timely in our work, 

 if we only refresh our memory with 

 past experiences, and keep close 

 watch of the bees and the plants as 

 they bloom out in the forest. 



It is just a matter of a little appli- 

 cation. If we are not expert api- 

 arists and don't do the general 

 apiary work just right, but do it 

 at the proper time, in most cases re- 



the Balmy South 



realize this peculiar and difficult situ- 

 ation and on account of it are slow 

 to offer information, because it 

 would often be misleading. Only pro- 

 gressive beekeepers scattered around 

 over this great section can give it. 



This accounts for the fact that al- 

 though in the South we have the 

 bulk of the bees of our great country, 

 yet the amount of honey produced is 

 small, and returns very light. 



Suggestions 



Southern Florida. — We may ex- 

 pect a flow here by January 1, mostly 

 from pennyroyal. So bees must be 

 left in the very best of shape at the 

 close of the last flow, which is from 

 goldenrod, early in November. All 

 weak colonies should be united and 

 all headed with k ,m "1 queens. Ready- 

 built comb should be given the bees 

 to store this early honey, for they 

 will not build much comb during its 

 flow. About February 15 this flow 

 stops and the citrus comes. Ex- 

 tract and give combs back for this 

 flow. 



About March 10 a little increase 

 may be made, transferring, etc., done. 

 This flow stops the first of May, 

 when all extracting should be done, 



