160 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1918 



ny of bees will form a habit of being good 

 workers or poor workers, and changing the 

 queen will not always produce the desired 

 result till a year later. Reports have shown 

 that even after the new stock has taken the 



place of the old, the new bees seem to follow 

 in the wake of their predecessors, providing 

 both stocks are of the same season. If a 

 whole year elapses then the real blood of 

 the queen shows up. — Editor.] 



WITH the 

 exception 

 of several 

 lots mentioned 

 below, all honey produced in the southwest- 

 ern Idaho territory, both comb and extract- 

 ed, was sold early in the fall of 1917. The 

 price received for extracted ranged from 

 12% cents to 15 cents. At the annual field 

 meet of the Idaho-Oregon Honey Producers' 

 Association, held Jul. 10, a price of 12yo 

 cents on extracted honey, in five-gallon cans, 

 was set, with instructions to the secretary- 

 treasurer to get as much higher price as 

 possible. At the same time the price for 

 comb was set at $3.25 for fancy, $3.00 for 

 No. 1, and $2.75 for No. 2. The comb-honey 

 crop was sold, first sales, at the price fixed; 

 later the price was advanced 25 cents per 

 case, and some comb was sold at that figure. 

 Small lots of comb not packed by producers 

 in time to be included in cars shipped by 

 the Association have since been sold on the 

 Pacific Coast and shipped by local freight. 

 Odd lots of extracted in five-gallon cans re- 

 maining in the hands of producers have been 

 disposed of in the same market. No stock 

 is left in this section except a few small 

 lots of 5- and 10-pound pails, together with 

 one lot of extracted in glass containers. This 

 will undoubtedly be sold within a short time. 

 Very earnest inquiries are still being receiv- 

 ed for comb and extracted in car lots. 



A Coast firm handling large quantities of 

 sage and orange honey purchased one of the 

 odd lots of extracted just mentioned. Com- 



SOUTHERN IDAHO 



Reported by P. S. Farrell 



menting upon 

 quality, they ad- 

 vised that this- 

 honey was con- 

 sidered by them as one of the best lots they 

 ever received. 



Southwestern Idaho is experiencing a re- 

 markably mild winter. Severe freezing wea- 

 ther in October was followed by mild wea- 

 ther which continued over the proverbial 

 ''green Christmas." In December and early 

 January bees were flying continually, and 

 one large producer reported brood on four 

 frames. I saw dandelions in bloom in pro- 

 tected spots; pansies bloomed in the railroad 

 station park in Boise, and reports were made 

 of lawns being cut the last week of Decem- 

 ber. Some apprehension was felt lest breed- 

 ing continue to such an extent that stores 

 would be curtailed, but since that time we 

 have had sufiicient cold to confine bees to 

 hives. With no honey in the hands of 

 producers, and sugar unobtainable in quan- 

 tity, the matter of feed, should feeding be 

 necessary, is something to be considered. 

 Steps are now being taken to get in touch 

 with honey suitable for feeding. 



Certain honey producers in southern Idaho, 

 with yards totaling from 500 to 1,500 colonies, 

 claimed exemption from military duty. In- 

 formation is now at hand that one Idaho 

 exemption board investigated a number of 

 these claims, and it is since noted that some 

 beekeeper claimants have been dropped to 

 one of the lower classifications of the draft. 

 Feb. 5, 1918. P. S. Farrell. 



TO demon- 

 strate the 

 possibilities 

 of Wisconsin bee- 

 keeping, the State Beekeepers' Association 

 offered in the spring of 1917 premiums for 

 the greatest number of pounds of comb hon- 

 ey from a single colony (the product of one 

 queen bee) and a like premium for the 

 greatest number of pounds of extracted hon- 

 ey from a single colony. Notices were sent 

 to Wisconsin beekeepers and advertised in 

 many local papers. Contests closed Sept. 3, 

 1917. H. H. Moe, of Woodford, Wis., won 

 first on comb honey, and Fred Alger, of 

 Waukau, on extracted honey. Mr. Moe had 

 97 finished sections, sold at 20c, $19.40. His 

 bees were removed from cellar Apr. 11, 1917; 

 no spring feeding or spreading of brood; the 



IN WISCONSIN 



Reported by N. E. France 



prst super had 

 some unfinished 

 "bait sec- 

 tions"; the 

 young queen of fall of 1916, in May 

 following, had hive full of working bees, 

 which swarmed early; queen cells remov- 

 ed; colony returned, hive entrance en- 

 larged by raising hive body from bottom- 

 board and adding as '-r-pded more su- 

 pers of sections with full sheets comb 

 foundation; Sept. 3 this colony had 97 well- 

 finished sections comb honey which was dis- 

 played at the State Fair. In same apiary 

 another as strong colony had all sections 

 with full sheet foundation, and no "baits" 

 with result of a much less number finished 

 sections and several unfinished. Mr. Alger's 

 prize-winning colony produced 210 lbs. of 



