July. 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



419 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



Oliver 's place is a mile or more across. On 

 the north side where Mr. Oliver lives, little 

 if any buckwheat is grown, while on the 

 south side quite an acreage is grown. He 

 told me that during August fishermen often 

 tell him they have picked up a lot of his bees 

 out of the lake and saved them by putting 

 them in the boat; and Mr. Oliver said to me, 

 ' ' I wish they wouldn 't mention it at all as it 

 is simply heartbreaking to know that thou- 

 sands perish in trying to cross. ' ' As all 

 who have had experience with buckwheat 

 know, during weather that is at all cool, bees 

 loaded with buckwheat seem to get partly 

 stupified and fall down frequently when on 

 homeward flight. Some years the buckwheat 

 flow depletes Mr. Oliver's colonies to a very 

 serious extent, and, of course, that means 

 less successful wintering not to mention loss 

 of surplus. 



From rej^orts to hand so far, moisture con- 

 ditions throughout the Province vary a great 

 deal at time of writing (June 7). Here 

 at my home in York County the fall of rain 

 has been rather deficient, while up at Lever- 

 ing in Simcoe County, where I have two 

 apiaries, rainfall has been so abundant that 

 grain on low land has suffered. Yesterday I 

 met Mr. Clark of Cainsville, Ont., and he 

 stated that in the vicinity of Brantford 

 rains had been abundant. Passing thru 

 Mariposa Township, Victoria County, a not- 

 ed alsike district, at time of our conversa- 

 tion, I noted that alsike along the track was 

 showing quite a lot of bloom but was very 

 short; and Mr. Clark stated that in Brant 

 County, where he lives, alsike was twice 

 the length of that we were looking at. This 

 all goes to show that conditions may be very 

 different in localities not far apart. 



Many inquiries continue to come in for 

 honey, some of the large firms already being 

 on the lookout for supplies for later on. Of 

 course, all honey is now off the market and 

 any new crop obtained will go on a bare mar- 

 ket, with many eager to buy it. For very 

 many reasons a good crop of honey is to be 

 desired, but unfortunately, in too many 

 cases the very first essential towards getting 

 honey — bees — is absent. 



At date of writing, no appointment has 

 yet been made to fill the position vacated 

 by Mr.Pettit, but I understand that a gentle- 

 man, well known to the fraternity both in 

 Canada and the U. S., has been approached 

 and is likely to be appointed in the near 

 future. 



The pound-package business has received 

 a bad knock-out this year, no question about 

 it. In a former issue I stated that many or- 

 ders from the South had been cancelled by 

 the shippers. That had better be amended 

 to read, "about all orders have been can- 

 celled." One large firm of dealers had plac- 

 ed orders for thousands of pounds of bees 

 for customers, and, speaking with the man- 



ager over the phone a few days ago, he stat- 

 ed that they had not received a single pound. 

 Probably many combs will be melted up in 

 apiaries depleted by winter losses, and in too 

 many cases it is to be feared that good 

 combs will be destroyed by moths, if they 

 are not looked after. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



* » * 



Jj^ Texas Much is being said now about 



food conservation and increas- 

 ed production, and this principle is being 

 brought to the attention of the beekeepers 

 as much as possible. However, it is being 

 disregarded by far too many owners in many 

 sections of this State. There is an attitude 

 of indifference on the part of many to in- 

 crease and conserve as to bees, tho the prin- 

 ciple is being applied to all other phases 

 of agriculture. In a recent visit to a section 

 of great possibilities the most notable thing 

 I observed was the neglect of the bees. 

 Many were entirely too busy trying to in- 

 crease the planted acreage instead of putting 

 their bees in shape to gather some of the 

 tons of nectar that was going to waste. 

 Many cannot understand that nectar is pro- 

 duced as a natural resource and only bees 

 are capable of transforming it into the fin- 

 ished product, honey. 



I am working hard to arouse the beekeep- 

 ers of this State to produce their quota of 

 honey. With the bees that exist in Texas 

 and a normal average production per colony, 

 the honey output should be over two and 

 one-half times what it has been in the past 

 years. For the low average production there 

 may be several reasons which can be sum- 

 med up in the term, "gum." Those who 

 keep their bees in box hives first indicate 

 an attitude of indifference, something very 

 hard to neutralize. Furthermore, it is such 

 beekeepers who keep bees to ' ' rob ' ' in or- 

 der that they may secure the family supply 

 of honey. Only a few days ago I was treat- 

 ed to the sight of an ' ' apiary " of 35 hives 

 which netted the owner a scant supply of 

 ' ' chunk ' ' honey — and much effort. I was 

 told of another apiary of 75 box hives in this 

 same vicinity. These conditions are being 

 broken down rapidly in those counties where 

 the apiary inspection service is organized. 

 Further efforts will be made to conserve the 

 natural resource of nectar, if the local ex- 

 tension service is able to follow its desires 

 and obtain a specialist in apiculture. The 

 extension service has realized the need of 

 this work for some time but has not been 

 able to secure the necessary funds. 



Mr. Jackson, formerly Assistant Ento- 

 mologist in connection with Apiary Inspec- 

 tion Service, has resigned and reported for 

 duty with the Laboratory Division of the 

 medical branch at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. 

 The short time that Mr. Jackson was in 

 Texas he made manv friends among the 



