January, 191 1. 



American Hee Journal 



The convention had fixed the follow- 

 ing prices to govern for 1910: 



Wholesale Retail 



Extracted, 5 gal. No. 60 S5.00 $5.00 



I " " 10 1. 00 1. 15 



a " " 5 53 -bo 



% •■ •■ 2ii.... 30 .35 



Comb. 24 section case. $3.00: No. i. per sec- 

 tion, 15 cents. 



Comb. 24 section case, $2.75; No. 2, per sec- 

 tion, 15 cents. 



Cliunk or bulk, wholesale i2j^ cents: re- 

 tail, 15 cents per pound. 



Few persons who comment on the 

 unusual quality of the honey on their 

 table, or simply see the little sections 

 of clean, clear honey in the local stores, 

 realize the importance and extent, and 

 also the profit, due to the superior ad- 

 vantages ofTered in this Valley in the 

 bee-keeping industry. A I. Root has 

 said that "the Xew Mexico, Colorado 

 and -Arizona honey is the finest in the 

 world, and in the Eastern markets 

 brings the top price." 



The natural advantages for the bee- 



keeping industry in the Pecos Valley 

 are exceptionally good ; the seasons 

 are long, the fruit-trees are plentiful, 

 and the continuous secretion of nectar 

 in the alfalfa is greater than in other 

 localities, as in this Valley alfalfa is 

 never without sufficient water; how- 

 ever, the majority of bee-men here 

 think that the crops should be greatly 

 extended before many more bees are 

 brought in, as there is a possibility of 

 having too many. Three acres of alfalfa 

 will support a colony of bees. 



The convention adjourned to meet 

 the first Wednesday in March, 1911, at 

 9 a.m., at Roswell, N. M. 



Henry C. B.\reon, &c. 



[Mr. Barron later informed us that 

 both the Eastern railway of New Mex- 

 ico and the County Commissioners 

 granted the rates asked for in the peti- 

 tions presented by the association. — 

 Editor.] 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Honey-Flows— Some of Their 

 Uncertainties 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



I feel like telling some of my troub- 

 les ; misery loves company; and lam 

 lamenting at the present time a com- 

 plete crop failure. Let me see, I said a 

 failure — it is well-nigh a half-dozen of 

 them. 



About 36 or 37 years ago — my, how 

 the time flies ! — I started in the bee- 

 business. That was in Iowa. For sev- 

 eral years there was scarcely a failure, 

 always at least a little surplus, and 

 usually a very good one — would have 

 been big if I had known as much as 



I do now about how to get them. Then 

 came 3 or 4 years, may be o, of poor 

 and very poor — heavy losses and dis- 

 couragements. After the very worst 

 of these bad years, came a flood of 

 honey in which I got the biggest aver- 

 age yield I have ever had, increase from 



II to 28 colonies, and an average, spring 

 count, of 227 pounds of honey per 

 colony. 



Not long after this I left there, and 

 from the time of my leaving for several 

 years there was scarcely any honey, 

 and almost all bees in that part of the 

 country perished. Reports from there 

 since indicate a succession of ups and 

 downs, culminating with a good crop 

 this year — at least that was the report 

 in this Journal, by my good old-time 

 friend, Mr. J. L. Strong, of Clarinda, 

 Iowa. 



About 21 years ago I took up the 

 business in this State (Colorado), and 

 have been at it extensively ever since, 

 making it my specialty and doing little 

 else. I think in the past 20 years I 

 have never handled less than 200 colo- 

 nies, and from two to three times that, 

 much of the time. I speak of these 

 numbers not to boast, but simply to 

 show the extent of experience. There 



is a great difference between one 

 operating a very few colonies in one 

 yard as a side-issue, and perhaps with 

 few bees in the community, and that of 

 working over a territory of 1-5 to 20 

 miles in diameter with several apiaries. 



My very first year here gave an aver- 

 age yield of 1.50 pounds of finished 

 comb honey per colony. The second 

 year it was 100, the third about the 

 same ; then down to about 40 or 50, 

 and varying ever since from 10 to about 

 ~o, until the past o years, when there 

 has not been a general average in my 

 apiaries of over 10 to 1.5 pounds for the 

 .") years; the year 1909 practically noth- 

 ing, and this year (1910) less than win- 

 ter stores. 



I used to think that a total failure 

 could scarcely happen in this part of 

 the country, but it has, and that over 

 a large area, 100 miles or more in 

 diameter. I am afraid I will not be 

 able to give any satisfactory answer to 

 the wherefore of it. 



In a general way drouths have had 

 something to do with it; when there is 

 not the usual amount of rain there is 

 suffering at times for moisture, more 

 especially in winter and spring, for no 

 irrigation is done in winter, and little 

 in the spring until crops are well 

 started and the summer heat is suffi- 

 cient to bring the snow waters from 

 the heights. Then if there has not 

 been enough snow on the hills to 

 water all, some fields have to go with- 

 out. I feel almost certain that these 

 causes cut off some of the crop. A 

 well-watered field may give a fair yield, 

 and a dry one little or nothing. Dry 

 weather just when the flow is on is all 

 right if the ground is well moist at the 

 plant-roots. 



It would seem that plants that have 

 not had a healthy growth, that have 

 suffered at some time through their 

 development, are not in condition to 

 yield well. Neither will they yield 



well after a good growth and develop- 

 ment if the weather is abnormal when 

 the yielding-time is on. It is my opin- 

 ion that very hot weather, with a very 

 dry air, inhibits nectar-secretion, and 

 this we have had the past 2 years. 



I have seen about 4 or 5 years in the 

 past 20 in which the sweet clover 

 yielded scarcely any, and others in 

 which it was more or less of a failure. 

 Alfalfa blooms in June and July, sweet 

 clover in July and August. As a rule, 

 the alfalfa is blooming at the best part 

 of the season when conditions favor 

 nectar-secretion — the heat is not too 

 great, and more moisture in the air. 

 Sweet clover is hot watered by irriga- 

 tion ; it grows on waste ground, as 

 along roadsides, in fence-rows, on 

 ditch-banks, and about the edges of 

 swamps and in sloughy places. If there 

 is plenty of irrigating water, of course 

 the ditches are filled, and the swampy 

 lands are also well supplied, and the 

 growth in these places get water, so in 

 most years it happens that both alfalfa 

 and the clover get water at least in 

 part, and both yield some ; such years 

 we seldom fail to get at least a partial 

 crop, taking both sources; only twice 

 in 20 years have the colonies failed in 

 getting winter stores. 



But we have two principal hindrances. 

 Of late years it is the custom of the 

 farmers to cut the alfalfa before it 

 blooms, or very soon thereafter, so the 

 range or extent of pasture from that is 

 very much reduced, so much so that 

 the bee-keeper can almost tell by the 

 work in the yard just about how the 

 haying is progressing. This is a very 

 serious matter of late years, so much so 

 that if it had not been for the increase 

 of clover we would have been almost 

 or quite driven out of business, except 

 in wheat-growing and alfalfa-seed 

 growing districts. 



The second great drawback is grass- 

 hoppers. These seldom are plentiful 

 and large enough to get the first crop 

 of alfalfa, but by the time the clover is 

 on, they are getting in their work. It 

 is a lamentable fact that the amount the 

 hopper eats is by no means his only 

 damage; alfalfa or clover that has 

 many hoppers on it will not give nec- 

 tar, even though much bloom is left. 

 Grasshoppered alfalfa hay will not be 

 eaten by cattle or horses if they can get 

 anything else — they will almost starve 

 on it. If the hoppers are on any crop 

 in numbers to feed on about all the 

 plants, that ends the prospects for a 

 crop of honey. This year (1910) we 

 had abnormal conditions all through 

 the season — late and early frosts, rapid 

 changes between heat and cold, and 

 general untoward climatic conditions — 

 and grasshoppers galore. 



I suppose there will be good years 

 again, but when, no man knows. At 

 present it looks as if when the good 

 years do come again there will be so 

 few bees to gather that some phenome- 

 nal yields may be expected. So long 

 as Satan is the prince of this world — 

 the prince of the power of the air — we 

 may expect these things, and many re- 

 verses. So long as men continue in 

 the service of Satan no doubt there will 

 be not only crop failures, but should 

 one obtain the crops, will he be able to 

 get his share of its proceeds ? 

 Loveland, Colo. 



