October, 1918 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



and we ought to improve the opportunity. 

 Minneapolis, Minn. Chas. D. Blaker. 



* * * 



In Iowa '^^ last, the beekeepers in Cen- 

 tral Iowa are wearing a smile 

 of anticipation. The bees have filled their 

 brood-chambers for winter and for over a 

 week have been storing surplus from the 

 smartweed. The present weather prevailing 

 for two weeks without a frost will see hun- 

 dreds of supers filled with ' ' nature 's sweet ' ' 

 — the kind God intended man should eat, in- 

 stead of vitriolized corn juice, strained 

 thru bone dust to devitriolize it, and then 

 sold on the market as glucose, or corn syrup, 

 and the public told it is as " good as honey ' ' 

 — -an insult to God and a travesty on man 's 

 judgment as to what is fit to eat. 



The past two years of failure of the hon- 

 ey crop and the final disappearance of the 

 honey on hand, together with the growing 

 interest in bee culture in general, are going 

 to add a healthy stimulus to the honey busi- 

 ness. Every beekeeper is now being solicit- 

 ed continually for honey. The Iowa Bee- 

 keepers' Association is a rising power in 

 this direction because of its increasing in- 

 fluence among the people — a result of the 

 live interest exhibited by its members in 

 all parts of low^a. The sugar problem will 

 be given a great relief, if the honey-pro- 

 ducer can come into his own. Every Iowa 

 beekeeper should talk honey, use honey, and 

 sell honey every day in the year. Now is 

 the very time and opportunity to popularize 

 its everyday use. For over 40 years the 

 writer has conducted a successful printing 

 business by talking it every day and popu- 

 larizing it. Since he began working with 

 bees, the same rule applied has turned it 

 around and now everybody asks about the 

 bees, wants to buy honey, and doesn 't even 

 mention the printing business. At present, 

 it just seems as tho everybody in Marshall- 

 town is anxious about the honey crop and is 

 real honey-hungry. The beekeepers of the 

 town have made it so by talking about it, 

 and will actually sell all their honey locally, 

 because they have educated hundreds of 

 people to eat honey, every day, who never 

 before had given it a thought; and the 

 present scarcity of it has practically 

 caused their honey appetites to become rav- 

 enous. 



The seventh annual convention of the 

 Iowa Beekeepers' Association will meet in 

 DesMoines on Nov. 6 and 7, in the parlors 

 of the Chamber of Commerce. The earlier 

 date this time is to accommodate the apiar- 

 ists in general, and especially the horticul- 

 turalist members, who have their Midwest 

 Horticultural show the same week. Every 

 beekeeper and friend of the bees is invited 

 to attend. A first-class program is being pre- 

 pared, a copy of which will be mailed to 

 every member of the Iowa BcM^keepers' As- 



sociation and anybody else interested 

 enough to ask for one. 



Marshalltowii, la. Hamlin B. Miller. 



* * * 



In Ontario Mention was made in notes 



sent for September issue of 

 the large acreage of buckwheat in Ontario 

 this year, and of the drouth prevailing at 

 time of writing, which was likely to cur- 

 tail both honey and grain if long continued. 

 Shortly after writing, copious rains fell and 

 buckwheat has given a fine yield of honey 

 this year — ])erhaps one of the best on record 

 in this section at least, considering the num- 

 ber of colonies that were in shape to take 

 advantage of the flow. Needless to say, the 

 crop at present prices is not to be despised, 

 and, aside from the surplus obtained, colo- 

 nies are put in first-class shape for winter, 

 many heavy enough in brood-chamber so 

 that no feeding will be necessary. I had 

 started a number of two-frame nuclei in 

 July, and nearly all built up to full strength 

 and heavy enough for wintering, largely thru 

 the good buckwheat flow that we were 

 blessed with this year. 



Speaking of feeding reminds me of the 

 sugar shortage, as in localities where the 

 honey flow failed as well as in places where 

 foul brood is present, one has to resort to 

 sugar whether he wants to or not. Present 

 rulings are that beekeepers who urgently 

 need sugar can lawfully get it, if it is to be 

 got — which is the rub. Speaking with Sec- 

 retary Hodgetts a few days ago, he told me 

 that at jjresent there was little sugar avail- 

 able, and it looked as if there would be a 

 shortage for some time. It is to be hoped 

 that in urgent cases, as already mentioned, 

 sugar can be ol)tained; else a real hardship 

 and loss will be the lot of many beekeepers, 

 not to mention the loss of bees to the coun- 

 try in general at a time when honey is so 

 urgently needed. 



At date of writing, Sept. 7, the country 

 has been having soaking rains. Freshly 

 seeded clover, that for a while looked to be 

 a "poor catch," is now beginning to show 

 up nicely, and indications are that alsikc 

 will go into winter in fair condition, altho a 

 number of farmers tell me that their seed- 

 ings were killed by drouth and rank growth 

 of grain which seemed to take all available 

 moisture from the tender clover plants. But 

 in driving along the roads I have noticed 

 some fine fields of alsike showing up; so, 

 possibly, the greater part of it will be all 

 right. 



Before the war, large quantities of alsike 

 clover seed were exported to northern 

 Germany, Denmark, Holland, and adjoining 

 countries, and, as export to these countries 

 practically ceased at once after hostilities 

 began, many, including the writer, expected 

 to see alsike drop in price and incidentally 

 drop in acrej^ge, to the loss of the beekeeper 



