March, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



16E 



1 HEADS OF GRAIN liPpOM DIFF ERENT FIELDS 



tliggerly Piggledy 



jMyMev3C|ueen 



She lays eggs 

 and rests in between 

 ^j "'Sometimes one, 



.Sometimes nineteen, 

 -tliggerly, Pigglety, 



,^% New queen J 



fhere n/as3n old Drone, and, what do you think! 

 Ne lived upon nothino but nectar to drink ! 



Honey end Pollen were the chief of tiis diet, 

 And yet this old drone could never be guiet. 



Great New Fields I live in southwest 



That Invite the Wisconsin where, dur- 



Beekeepers' ing the last 10 years, 



Attention. the white clover has 



not failed to yield a 

 fair-to-good crop of surplus. In Grant Coun- 

 ty, just across the Wisconsin river from my 

 home, there are only two or three extensive 

 beekeepers. The district is hilly, the soil 

 rich and the whole face of the country is 

 covered with white clover, while in places 

 there is quite a sprinkling' of sweet clover. 

 It is capable of producing large amounts of 

 the very best honey, but the bees and bee- 

 keepers are lacking. The same can be said 

 of the whole of southern Wisconsin. Yet it 

 is a question whether southern Wisconsin, 

 with its pastures of white clover and clear 

 spring brooks, is a better field than the cen- 

 tral parts of the state and parts farther 

 north. 



I am informed that in Wood county, a con- 

 siderable amount of honey is often secured 

 from white clover and basswood, and after 

 they are gone that colonies sometimes store 

 100 pounds of surplus per hive from the as- 

 ters and autumn flowers. Great marshes will 

 be covered with this bloom that produces a 

 light amber honey that is preferred by some 

 to the clover and basswood honey. 



North of Iron Mountain, Mich., across the 

 Wisconsin line, are a great many acres of 



cut-over land. It is rather rough and there 

 is lots of granite, but I have never seen the 

 clovers grow so profusely as they do there, 

 and right in the brush, too. In the more 

 open spaces there were great sheets of white 

 clover all out in bloom and standing 12 to 16 

 inches high. Nearby there might be another 

 great patch of alsike all out in bloom among 

 the brush. The cut-over lands were covered 

 with yellow and white sweet clover as well 

 as mammoth and common red clover. There 

 were other clovers that I had never seen be- 

 fore, all in bloom — and not a bee in the coun- 

 try, and very little live stock. Now, how 

 would such a country as that be for honey 

 production, considering also that there were 

 a great many splendid hard maples and bass- 

 woods in the forest? It seems to me there 

 is the chance for a fortune for any one who 

 would put in some good apiaries in that 

 country. 



Eecently the bee journals have told us 

 about great districts in the South where 

 sweet clover has covered hill and dale, mak- 

 ing it a grand country for beekeeping. Also 

 we are informed that in the region northwest 

 of Sioux City, Iowa, stretching thruout the 

 western part of the Dakotas, in what is 

 known as the dry belt, the sweet clover is 

 taking the country for the country's good. 

 This will be a splendid field for beekeeping, 

 as dry weather is always best for honey se- 

 cretion. Thus we have in widely separated 

 districts of our land, openings for thousands 

 of apiaries. If honey is going to come into 

 general use, more young men and women 

 must be induced to devote their time to its 

 production, and where is there a more invit- 

 ing field today! 



I feel sure that some one, yes, as many 

 as possible, should go to work to save some 

 of the honey that is going to waste in these 

 splendid fields that I have mentioned. The 

 world wants honey. Are we going to supplv 

 it"? 



Bridgeport, Wis. Harry Lathrop. 



How a Breeder After reading in the 



Could Have Saved December issue the dif- 

 a Customer Trouble ferent breeders' ex- 

 periences, I write you 

 from the purchaser's view point. Last spring 

 I decided to try some bees in packages from 

 the South and compare them with my bees 

 wintered outdoors. I ordered one five-pound 

 and two one-pound packages, with queens, 

 to be delivered April first. They arrived 

 Apr. 14, in fair condition, with the queens 

 in separate cages. After some difficulty I 

 opened the cages and found the queens in 

 the mailing cages dead in the five-pound 

 package and one dead in one of the one- 

 pound packages. As I did not like the idea 



