G L R A X T N G S IN BEE C U L T U R E June, 1918 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



in wintering, in such a severe winter as the 

 one just past, largely to the fact that we 

 fed sugar heavily in the fall." My report 

 for the home yards would be something like 

 this: "We attribute our winter loss and 

 the general poor condition of our bees 

 around here to the fact that, as a matter of 

 sentiment, last fall we made our colonies 

 heavy with combs of honey, instead of feed- 

 ing sugar as we should have done. ' ' My loss 

 is the heaviest in years, the bees left not 

 averaging up in strength as is usually the 

 case, and, as stated, "there's a reason." 

 On the contrary, the bees at north yards 

 where I had no combs of honey in the fall, 

 and which, of course, had to be fed with 

 sugar syrup, .are in very fine shape, and 

 many colonies are so strong even in this 

 backward weather that they need supers 

 early in May before fruit bloom. 



Dry cold weather has not been conducive 

 to growth of clover or other vegetation, but 

 clover is still looking fair and, with rains 

 soon, it should be up to the average. 



Beekeepers are not worrying about prices, 

 for it looks as if there will be a good mar- 

 ket for all the honey produced. 



The Food Controller is allowing sugar to 

 be supplied to beekeepers really needing it, 

 and a statement of needs along that line sent 

 to the Food Controller brings an order on 

 nearest wholesaler to supply the sugar re- 

 quired. 



At this date, (May S) many beekeepers 

 who have lost heavily, and some beginners 

 as well, are in a flurry over the fact that 

 orders for packages of bees from the South 

 that were placed months ago in some cases, 

 are being canceled by the wholesale. Back- 

 ward weather conditions are given as an ex- 

 cuse and, no doubt, that accounts for much 

 of the disappointment. On the other hand, 

 I have heard some say that they had an 

 idea that some breeders were backing out of 

 their contracts on account of the high price 

 of honey, thinking that the bees would pay 

 better to be kept for honey production than 

 to be sold for shipment. Personally, I have 

 no comment to make, as I know nothing 

 about the matter, except that there are a lot 

 of disappointed beekeepers here just now, 

 who were hoping to restock their empty 

 hives with bees from the South an^. who 

 now seem to be in a fair way of getting none 

 at all. 



In the past I have rather favored single- 

 packed cases instead of the quadruple or 

 two-colony cases, but this year's experience 

 has been in favor of the cases with more 

 than one colony in it. Whether the differ- 

 ence is enough to make me discard the sin- 

 gle eases is another question, but the cases 

 with two colonies wintered the best this 

 year. But wherever the colonies had abun- 

 dance of good stores, of which the major part 

 was sugar syrup, the bees wintered fairly. 



regardless of what kind of case they were in, 

 proving once more that stores are the first 

 factor to be considered in the matter of win- 

 tering. 



Many beekeepers who are affected by the 

 latest draft ruling, that concels all exemp- 

 tions of certain ages, are finding themselves 

 in rather bad straits, having little time to 

 sijuare up their business before reporting 

 for service. Within the last few days two 

 young men with over 200 colonies have writ- 

 ten me as to prices they should ask for their 

 bees, which they are forced to sell. Need- 

 less, to say, for every good reason, these men 

 should be well dealt with and purchasers 

 should pay all the bees are worth, or, if pos- 

 sible, arrange to care for them till the boys 

 come home. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



T„ ""Tpyoc With the season advanced this 



far, it is well to sum up the 

 situation, as plans for the future can be 

 made more accurately. In the Gulf Coast 

 region the bees are in fair to good condition, 

 altho local conditions are extremely varia- 

 ble. There are now about 50 to 60 per cent 

 as many bees as there were there last year. 

 In the southern part of southwest Texas the 

 bees are in normal condition altho there 

 are only 40 to 65 per cent compared with 

 last year. In the western part of this sec- 

 tion it has been much drier and conditions 

 generally a^e not as good. The bees are in 

 poor condition and the number of colonies 

 is only 60 per i ent of last year's number. 

 In the irrigated section, the bees are only 

 in fair condition, being extremely short on 

 stores. Their number is 80 per cent of last 

 year's supply. In west Texas the bees are 

 in good condition. In east Texas, localities 

 show a big variation from starving bees to 

 bees in good condition. Tlie bees in cen- 

 tral Texas are in good condition, altho 

 there are only 60 jier cent of the number 

 of last year 's bees. In north Texas, con- 

 ditions are worse now than two months ago, 

 spring losses being excessive. 



The effect of the drouth of last year on 

 the honey 'plants is of much concern to all. 

 Ill the Gulf Coast region the mesquite and 

 catsclaw have yielded well but the horse- 

 rniht in this region has not appeared this 

 year, 'i^'he prospects for further honey flow 

 in this legion are not promising at this time. 

 In tlie southern part of the southwest re- 

 gion, tit ere has been a good honey flow from 

 the catsclaw and the mesquite. Here the 

 prospects are good for a large crop of honey. 

 In the western part of this region there 

 is no honey fow, but the prospects for a hon- 

 ey crop have just been improved by rains. 

 Ill the irrigated region the cold and drouth 

 have proved a severe handicap to the mes- 

 quite flow. Unless rains come, the only 



