1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



515 



value of the annual production of honey and 

 wax is estimated at 114,750,000. There is, un- 

 doubtedly, reasonable ground to believe that 

 some districts have greater advantages for the 

 production of honey when first entered by the 

 settler; but as a rule the flowers in a state of 

 nature are in time replaced by another growth, 

 artificial and natural. The increased skill of 

 the bee-keeper, of course, overcomes some dis- 

 advantages. In Switzerland there are 2367 bee- 

 keepers, possessing between them 10,50'J stocks; 

 this makes an average of less than five colonies 

 to each. Very few possess as many as thirty; 

 and in looking over a long list we find one hav- 

 ing as many as 80 colonies. The bees will then 

 be pretty well distributed; but imagine the 

 number of colonies kept to the size of country. 

 We find the number of square miles in each 

 country as follows: 



Colonies per 

 Country. Square Miles. Sq. Mile. 



Germany 208,027 9.00 



Spain 200,000 8.45 



Austria 115,903 13.37 



France 204,000 4.65 



Holland 12,648 18.09 



Russia 2,950,000 1.00 



Denmark 14,134 6.37 



Belgium 11,373 17.49 



Greece 25,000 1.20 



Ontario 219,640 .74 



Canada .06 



These countries practically consume their 

 own production of honey. Owing to their age 

 they are a more scientific people, and, owing to 

 the small amount of earning, they have to be 

 an economic people. Science and economy 

 will teach people to consume honey. Very few 

 of our Canadian people are aware of the value 

 of honey as a food. Bee-keepers must exert 

 themselves in this direction until it becomes the 

 habit of the nation, when the custom will per- 

 petuate itself. If we look at the value of bee- 

 keeping in a country, it is inestimable. 

 Europe produces nearly eighteen million dol- 

 lars' worth from what would otherwise go to 

 waste; and noi only that, but in the fertiliza- 

 tion of flowers it in all probability adds a simi- 

 lar sum to the wealth-producing powers of the 

 country. Bee-keepers are surely fully justified 

 in feeling that their industry represents nothing 

 insignificant, and that it will stand on just as 

 high a plane as they may place it. If they call 

 it a trifle, a bagatelle, and the like, they must 

 not blame the public for placing it at no higher 

 standard.— Ca7iadian Bee Journal for May. 



A COLORADO LETTEB. 



FROM OUR OLD FRIEND M. A. GILL. 



Editor Gleanings: — I have been much inter- 

 ested in your notes from Florida upon its prod- 

 ucts, its climate, and its people, and take this 

 opportunity to say that I too have been ram- 

 bling since you last heard from me. A person 



coming from a humid region to an arid one is 

 lost for something "green," and he generally 

 turns his eye inward and thinks he sees the 

 greenest thing yet— the people who leave a 

 country whose crowning beauty is in its grassy 

 slopes and leafy bowers, for the desert-like 

 plains of the irrigable lands of the great West. 

 But if he will stay until the water is turned on, 

 and see the worthless-looking soil give up its 

 burden of three or four crops of alfalfa in one 

 season — see peach, pear, prune, or apricot give 

 growth from six to ten feet in one season, he is 

 generally spellbound and thinks, perhaps, that 

 these facts should be added to the seven won- 

 ders. Truly this is a wonderful land of ours, 

 and has a great variety of products and climatic 

 conditions. 



This is a good country for bees, both in this 

 valley and up the Gunnison River, wherever 

 alfalfa is raised in large tracts. Cleorae also is 

 found in large quantities, which yields large 

 amounts of honey some seasons. 



The one great drawback to bee-keeping in 

 this valley will be foul brood, as it has got a 

 start about ten miles from this city, and the 

 slipshod bee-keeper, who abounds and seems to 

 thrive in this country, will no doubt spread the 

 disease faster than the vigilant eye of the in- 

 spector can detect and destroy it. 



Bees at this time are breeding fast, gathering 

 pollen from natural sources, and some honey 

 from apricot-bloom. Peaches will be in bloom 

 in two or three days, which will be followed by 

 apple and pear. There are about 4000 acres of 

 bearing orchard around this city, and it is esti- 

 mated that as much more will be set this spring. 



Western Colorado is earning a reputation for 

 its large crops of fine-flavored fruit. I am 

 having a mild attack of fruit-fever, and have 

 taken as a remedy 5 acres of new land at $100 

 per acre, and am setting it out to apples, pears, 

 peaches, prunes, plums, nectarines, apricots, 

 cherries, almonds, with strawberries and rasp- 

 berries between the rows. I have purchased 25 

 colonies of bees, and will try to grow into my 

 old-time number of 150 in Wisconsin. 



While reading your experience with the two 

 Indians in Florida I was thinking of mine here. 

 Last Sunday my son Ernest and I mounted our 

 wheels and went out to visit the Teller Insti- 

 tute. It is situated two miles east of the city. 

 It was built by the government, and named in 

 honor of Senator Teller, of Colorado, who took 

 a great interest in promoting the enterprise. 

 As we neared the school we found the large 

 gate open; and as we wheeled into the campus 

 we were soon surrounded by 126 Indian boys 

 and girls who had just come out from their 

 Sunday-school. Dinner was soon announced, 

 when one of their number, acting as drillmaster, 

 formed them in line and marched them in strict 

 military order to the dining-room. Through 

 the kind invitation of the superintendent, we 

 followed. On reaching the dining-room each 



