514 t ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



be a business man, and tlie farm will soon show the results. He 

 should keep informed as to prices, know wlien to sell to best advant- 

 age, to bu}^ and sell in a business waj'. Method is another feature 

 that is lacked by man}' farmers. Doing our work in a careless way 

 and its results are soon seen. But have these ear-marks a value? 

 They surely have. The manufacturer or the dealer has a trade-mark 

 on his wares or his goods which sells the.m. So should the farmer 

 have; the mark is bound to be there and if he does not put on one of 

 which he is proud, the other kind will put itself there. If your trade- 

 mark is right, when you have anything to sell whether it be an ani- 

 mal, grain, hay, fruit, vegetables, butter or eggs, an "ad" in the paper 

 is enough to bring you buyers in abundance, but if the goods be such 

 that you are ashamed to put a trade-mark on them there is a poor 

 market for your produce. Fellow-farmers what kind of ear-marks 

 are on vour farms? 



KEPORT OF THE APIARIST 



By H. C. KLINGBR 



The year 1911 will pass into apicultural history as one of poorest 

 for the production of honey. Reports have been received from 

 several parts of the State where a small crop was obtained but the 

 general report was ''an entire failure." This State is not exceptional 

 in reports of poor crops for this year, since there seems to be a 

 general failure over all the United States and Canada. The failure 

 in this State at least is due to the severe droughts which prevailed 

 the last three years preventing a growth of honey-bearing plants, 

 among which especially was the white clover. The outlook for next 

 year is more promising. The heavy fall rains has started an abund- 

 ant growth of flowering vegetation, and thus far it was protected 

 by snow, provided the unusually severe winter has not proved dis- 

 astrous. 



The great problems in keeping bees, which men have been trying 

 to solve for years, are apparently unsolved conclusively and still 

 form the subjects of intense study and research. Conditions of 

 weather and climate, sources of honey, manipulation, and numerous 

 other matters enter into making a success or failure possible. 



The wintering of colonies has undergone £ change. It was for- 

 merly thought that all colonies north of 41° of latitude should be 

 wintered in the cellar; but practice has changed so that colonies as 

 far north as Canada are successfully wintered on their summer 

 stands. A crop of honey frequentl}- depends on successful wintering. 

 A colony should go into winter quarters with plenty of young bees 

 and to insure this brood-rearing should go on late in the season. 

 This may necessitate stimulative feeding in the fall after the main 

 honey flow is over. The amount of winter stores depends on the 



