■U'SK, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BEEKEEPERS in ami around Denver have 

 suffered for years from what they were 

 pleased to call 

 Smelter smelter-smoke poi 



Poison in soning. This trou- 



Colorado. ble starts general- 



ly the latter part 

 of April or May and continues thru June. 

 Often it lasts later tlian this. The effects 

 of the ]>oisoning remain with the colony 

 from year to year. There arc, as yet, no 

 definite data as to whether smelter smoke 

 is responsible for this, but it is known that 

 the trouble is present around Denver and 

 Pueblo. Some beekeepers say that the 

 trouble is caused by the city smoke. Colo- 

 nies will be greatly depleted or destroyed 

 entirely in a few days. The loss takes place 

 generally right after a rainy season. The 

 honey stored in these colonies is badly 

 granulated, but often there is much thin and 

 nearly sour honey on top of the granulated 

 cells. Combs of granulated honey look wet 

 and greasy. A number of colonies, that a 

 correspondent of Gleanings examined re- 

 cently, were greatly depleted in number — 

 in fact, they were nothing but weak nuclei. 

 These colonies had not been in the poisoned 

 district since last year, so that their weak- 

 ened condition was caused by the honey that 

 they had consumed from the stores in the 

 hive. So experienced a beekeeper as Wes- 

 ley Foster of Boulder. Col., gives it as his 

 opinion that the unrijie condition of this 

 honey may be explained by the fact that 

 the bees do not succeed in thoroly ripening 

 it, because they become sickened by the poi- 

 son and go out and die before completing 

 their job. Mr. Foster adds that at present 

 the beekeepers are moving their bees out of 

 this district where the smelter poison seems 

 to be the most serious.. The area affected 

 is favorable for honey production, so that 

 most of the beekeepers move the colonies 

 hack about the time the alfalfa begins to 

 bloom; but whether this procedure is profit- 

 able is being questioned by a number of bee- 

 keepers who have been practicing it. 



Gi= 



.0$= 



THE MONTHLY crop report for May of 

 the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture contains a 

 "Honeybee R e - 

 Official Report port, ' ' date of May 

 on Conditions. 1, which is sum- 

 marized as follows: 



The losses of colonics of bees during the past 

 ■winter have been, for the United States as a whole, 

 18.7 per cent of the total number; in other words, 

 almost one out of every five colonies has perished. 

 As the reports to the Bureau of Crop Estimates are 

 in the main from the better class of be«keepors. !t is 

 to be feared that the wastage has been even t^reater. 

 Under the present circumstances, this loss :issunies 

 a serious aspect. The Nation can ill spare the 20 

 to 30 million pounds of honey which past experience 

 permits us to assume as the possible production oC 

 these lost colonies. 



Roughly, a third of these losses are ascribed to 

 freezing and another third to starvation, and it is 

 pad to reflect that both of these eausea mi"ht in 



large measure have l>een overcome by their pro- 

 prieto'-s and protectors. Sugar and labor shortage 

 are partial, but only partial, excuses, as 5s also the 

 unusual winter, which came early, shortening the 

 flow of nectar from the autumn flowers, and persist- 

 ed with unexampled severity without the cu-stomary 

 brief relaxations of ordinary years. Loi-t or failing 

 queens and sinall colonies resulting from brood 

 diseases or late swarming, are the principal remain- 

 insr causes of ln«s. 



The losses were most severe iii the North Central 

 and Northea.stevn States (Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Maryland having 40 per cent loss of colo- 

 nies or more,) and extended as far southward as 

 North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kansas 

 ranging in some States as high as 41 per cent and 

 in only a few cases falling below 15 per cent. The 

 losses in the South and West have been le-ss than 

 n.sual, with the exception of Oklahoma and Cali- 

 fornia, and notably Texas, where drought of two 

 years' duration in important honey-producing sec- 

 tions has resulted in 24 per rent of loss. 



The number of working colonies remaining on 

 May 1 is estimated at 88.7 per cent of the rwimber 

 on May 1, 1917. Material increases last year nartly 

 offset the heavy losses. Increai^es are shown over 

 last year's numbers in most of the Southern and 

 Western States. 



The condition of colonies was 86.4 per cent of 

 a normal on May 1 compared with 91.1 per cent 

 last year, and an average of 94.2 per cent, re- 

 flecting the effect upon the surviving colonies of the 

 severe winter. The colonies appear to be building 

 up rapidly, however. Colonies are reported in ex- 

 cellent condition in most southern States, omitting 

 Texas, and are above normal in tcveral of the west- 

 ern group, altho in California they are in only a 

 trifle better than last year's poor condition, and still 

 10 per centi below the average. 



The condition of honey plants is ropoited at 

 86.7 per cent, which is ronsideral)ly better than the 

 82.3 per cent reported last spring, but distinctly 

 below the average of 92.6 per cent. The lowest 

 conditions are in Wisconsin, Iowa, and ^'outh Da- 

 kota, due to winterkilling of clover, and in Texas 

 and Oklahoma, resulting from drou.^rhts. 



ON ACCOUNT of the winter losses, as men- 

 tioned elsewhere, difficulty has been experi- 

 enced in buying bees. 

 The Difficulty in Those who "have bees 



Buying Bees. are unwilling to sell 



them. With the pres- 

 ent high prices of honey and the possibility 

 of securing from 100 to 150 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, no man who has a colony t." 

 beea can afford to sell them at prices even 

 double what they have ordinarily been 

 held at, providing, of course, that he is a 

 good beekeeper. If he is not, then he would 

 better sell. 



The lesson that comes to us is that some 

 (the weaker) colonies should be held for in- 

 crease, as something must be done to replace 

 losses .that occurred last winter. 



Beekeepers can secure a very interesting 

 article by Dr. E. F. Phillips on "A Wast-d 

 Sugar Supply" by writing the Division of 

 Publications, Washington, D. C, and asking 

 for "Separate No. 747." It is taken from 

 the 1917 Agricultural yearbook. 



