March, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



163 



make a study of apiary conditions in every 

 important beekeeping section of Texas. At 

 every ])lace where a meeting can be held Mr. 

 Pellett is giving a lecture under the auspices 

 of the county demonstration agent and the 

 county beekeepers association. Much good 

 Avill result from this trip, as many beekeep- 

 ers will avail themselves of the opportunity 

 to talk with Mr. Pellett, and he will be able 

 to see and better understand the beekeeping 

 conditions of this state. 



The pound-package trade of bees is at- 

 tracting the attention of many beekeepers 

 all over the state. This business reached 

 large proportions last year thru the efforts 

 of Dr. E. F. Phillips to equalize the honey 

 shortage of Texas with the bee shortage in 

 the Western States. Many beekeepers last 

 year were not in a position to ship bees on 

 account of the lack of cages. Many who did 

 ship in the available regulation cages were 

 far from satisfied with the results. Since 

 last season the larger shippers have put 

 much thought on the problem of cages, and 

 now we find that several styles will be seen 

 in the trade this season. As a rule, these 

 cages will be considerably larger than those 

 used last year. The prevailing idea was 

 that some of the loss last year was due to 

 lack of ventilation. There is a tendency to 

 adopt the syrup feed and to discard the 

 candy feed. All of the shippers agree that 



with the best of facilities for handling this 

 tratle it can never develop until they have 

 the co-operation of the express companies. 

 Negotiations have been conducted with the 

 express companies with a view of bettering 

 the service given the beekeepers in this 

 trade of pound packages of bees. The com- 

 mittee representing the beekeepers has met 

 with excellent response from the express com- 

 pany, which seems willing to learn all that 

 is possible about this comparatively new in- 

 dustry in order that it might further devel- 

 op. Suggestions were submitted to the 

 company on the care in handling this com- 

 modity. These will be sent to all of the 

 agents and messengers. In turn, a uniform 

 label was suggested to the beekeepers which 

 contains the chief points in the care of tliese 

 packages. Assurances were given that claims 

 coming to the company from this trade 

 would be more readily adjusted in the future 

 than they have been in the past. The im- 

 portance of this industry has not been fully 

 realized by all of the large beekeepers of 

 this State. This trade is fast passing the ex- 

 perimental stage, and, with the help of the 

 express companies, the transportation trou- 

 bles will be removed. The demand for pound 

 packages of bees will not be met by the bee- 

 keepers of this State this year. This trade 

 offers possibilities which should be especially 

 attractive this year when the honey pros- 

 pects are not particularly promising in some 

 localities. 



ON Feb. 1, 

 the Tennes- 

 s e e B e e - 

 keepers' Associa- 

 tion met in annual convention in Nashville, 

 at the Hotel Hermitage. Owing to weather 

 and transportation conditions, several hoped- 

 for speakers did not arrive. Chief among 

 these was Dr. E. F. Phillips, who did, how- 

 ever, send a telegram explaining these con- 

 ditions as the ones that detained him, ex- 

 pressing his regret and advising beekeepers 

 to buy up any non-productive colonies of 

 bees of which they might know, and work 

 them hard for a big honey crop this sum- 

 mer. Others w^ho couldn't get to the meet- 

 ing to take their places on the program, sent 

 in papers to be read, and so added to the 

 general interest of the occasion. 



Dr. J. S. Ward, president of the Associa- 

 tion, as well as State Inspector, presided, and 

 in his opening address he gave the key note 

 by stressing the necessity for better bee- 

 keeping and closer co-operation. E. J. Ad- 

 kisson of Nashville presented an excellent 

 paper on ' ' Transferring. ' ' This is an im- 

 portant subject in Tennessee, owing to the 

 large number of box hives still in use, and it 

 was ably handled by Mr. Adkisson. 



A particularly fine and impressive talk was 

 the one on ' ' Honey is Better Than Sugar, ' ' 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Grace Allen, Nashville, Tenn. 



by Miss Geneva 

 Conway, S p e - 

 cialist in Home 

 Economics, Divi- 

 sion of Extension, Knoxville. This impor- 

 tant subject was handled with the convinc- 

 ing skill of one thoroly conversant with the 

 matter in hand. When Miss Conway finish- 

 ed, there was no doubt in the minds of her 

 hearers as to the superiority of honey over 

 sugar. 



Mr. Ebb Thomae, County Agent, spoke of 

 the increasing interest in beekeeping among 

 the farmers of his (Davidson) County, men- 

 tioning his own effort to bring the subject 

 prominently and favorably to the attention 

 of farmers not yet interested. Talking on 

 "Tennessee Queens," Ben G. Davis was of 

 course perfectly at home, discussing many 

 methods followed in his own and his father 's 

 queen-rearing yards. 



But the special feature of the convention 

 was the presence of E. R. Root. In fact. 

 Mr. Root was without doubt the one big 

 splendid feature of the day. Everyone was 

 glad that the weather conditions did not de- 

 ter him from coming, as his presence and 

 his illuminating talks made the occasion one 

 long to be remembered by all those fortunate 

 enough to be present. If tliere was any sub- 

 ject that Mr. Root did not touch on voluntar- 



