JUNS. 1918 G Ti E \ N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 357 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



o nothing Ictt but 'seed'' 



for foul brood. The mortality among the 

 bees has continued up to the present (May 

 8) and indications are that, unless bees are 

 carefully watched, there will be a heavy 

 loss of bees and brood from starvation dur- 

 ing May and June. There is no excuse now 

 for not feeding sugar syrup. When there is 

 beginning to be a shortage of food, feed at 

 once. 



Many Michigan beekeepers will be inter- 

 ested in knowing that P. W. Erbaugh, a for- 

 mer deputy inspector and later a special 

 agent for the Federal Bureau of Entomolo- 

 gy, enlisted in the Marines in February and 

 is now stationed at Paris Island, S. C. 



Now is the time to buy up the remnants 

 of the apiaries which have been wintered 

 outside without protection. Many such bee- 

 keepers have made up their minds that bee- 

 keeping does not pay. Get those few re- 

 maining colonies into your apiary and make 

 them producers. 



Before long we shall be able to class 

 Michigan among the states which produce 

 some alfalfa honey. A strain of seed-bearing 

 and nectar-producing alfalfa is being devel- 

 opel in this State. I cannot say anything 

 further without giving away a secret, but 

 the facts are as above stated, and we may 

 look forward with confidence to the time 

 when alfalfa will be an asset to the bee- 

 keeper. 



Inspectors are finding that the winter loss 

 among the beekeepers that are not special- 

 ists runs from 50 to 100 per cent. The names 

 of hundreds of beekeepers will be removed 

 from our list as a result of the past winter. 

 But the tendency is very strongly towards 

 the elimination of the small, careless bee- 

 keeper as a means of protection against the 

 brood diseases. So, we may consider the 

 losses of the unproductive beekeeper as a 

 real gain for the industry. In order to re- 

 move the temptation of trying it again, the 

 better beekeepers would do well to buy up 

 the equipment when reasonable terms can 

 be agreed upon. 



This spring will witness the beginning of 

 an unprecedented number of new beekeep- 

 ers. Possibly many of them saw the head- 

 lines of the Saginaw paper, which, after 

 the State Association meeting last fall, an- 

 nounced in large type that Ernest Eoot said, 

 ' ' Every Family Should Keeep Its Bee. ' ' Likely 

 the scarcity of sweets during the past win- 

 ter has had a great deal to do with Michi- 

 gan people desiring to produce honey for 

 their own use. The Agricultural College ex- 

 tends to such beginners the invitation to 

 take advantage of the help that the College 

 may be able to give them. 



On May 1, Edwin E. Baldwin of Florida, a 

 special agent of the Federal Bureau of En- 

 tomology, came to the State for a series of 



meetings with beekeepers. A schedule was 

 arranged which enabled him to meet the 

 beekeepers of 19 of the most important hon- 

 ey-producing counties of the southern part 

 of the State. He brought from the Federal 

 authorities a powerful appeal to the bee- 

 keepers to make a special effort this year 

 to supplj as far as they can the tremendous 

 demand for sweets that has been especially 

 evident during the last year. Those bee- 

 keepers who heed his advice will produce 

 larger crops and be better beekeepers in the 

 future. 



The month of May marks the beginning of 

 another improvement in the service that 

 the State is giving to the beekeepers. Ed- 

 win Ewell was apj)ointed by the College to 

 the position of Extension Specialist in Bee- 

 keeping. Mr. Ewell will work from the of- 

 fice of the State Inspector of Apiaries and 

 will have charge of the organization work 

 among the beekeepers. He will organize 

 county and local associations, hold field 

 meetings, give demonstrations of better 

 methods of beekeeping, and will help bee- 

 keepers individually to become more efficient 

 in their work. It is the intention to thoro- 

 ly organize every part of the State where 

 beekeeping is an industry or where it can be 

 profitably followed. The State will be better 

 able to serve the interests of the beekeepers 

 thru a knowldge of the needs of the various 

 counties, which can be gained thru local or- 

 ganizations. B. F. Kindig. 



East Lansing, Mich. 



In Ontario— Jh^ '""'^t^ of April in On- 

 tario was cold and dry 

 most of the time, and conditions were any- 

 thing but good for the bees. As a result 

 many weak colonies, that might have pulled 

 thru under better weather conditions, per- 

 ished outright; and many others, that seem- 

 ed to be in fair condition earlier, weakened 

 very much. Reports still coming in point 

 to a very heavy loss over the province, and, 

 from the data now at hand, I think it is 

 safe to say that the loss will reach 40 per 

 cent or thereabouts. Of course, this is only 

 an estimate, but from present indications I 

 am afraid that figure is no exagj^eration. 

 Losses are by far the heaviest in localities 

 where fall flows usually occur and where 

 natural stores are generally depended upon 

 for winlc-r. Much of the honey left with 

 bees, in such localities, granulated very 

 firmly and bees were unable to use it, either 

 starving or getting dysentery; and, in many 

 cases, full combs of this honey were left in 

 the hives, and the bees were all dead. 



In connection with this matter of winter 

 stores, Morley Pettit says in the May issue 

 of. the Canadian Beekeeper: "Our bees, as 

 far as we have examined them, have come 

 thru in fine shape. We attribute our success 



