674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1918 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



fit of any class of producers but that some 

 one was ready to criticise and knock the 

 efforts of those who were working for the 

 success of the enterprise. Some will stay 

 out, thinking that they may possibly get a 

 little more for their honey on account of 

 the united efforts of those who are in the 

 organization, making it harder for the in- 

 dejjendent buyers to' get small lots of honey. 

 California has been the leader in co-opera- 

 tive marketing and has a man as State Mar- 

 ket Commissioner second to none in the 

 country. Under his wise leadership, nu- 

 merous groups of producers have been unit- 

 ed by the exchange method, with very great 

 benefit to the members. The beekeepers 

 will likewise be benefited by their exchange. 

 A few beemen report good yields of honey 

 from the lima bean fields. Others get no 

 surplus at all. This variety of beans is 

 grown along the coast, as we say in soutli- 

 ern California, that is, within a few miles 

 of the ocean. There they get the benefit of 

 the heavy fogs that often roll in, night after 

 night, so thick that it gives the country the 

 appearance of having had a light rain. 

 Eoofs, trees, and vegetation are often drip- 

 ping wet for hours. The honey from the 

 lima bean is very thin, and some old-time 

 producers leave it on the hives until winter 

 or even until the next spring. Early ex- 

 tracting has often resulted in sour honey, 

 and experienced buyers are very slow about 

 purchasing bean honey, altho it is of a beau- 

 tiful white color and has quite a mild flavor. 

 Considerable rain has fallen over the 

 State during the past two weeks, some sec- 

 tions getting a downpour almost in the na- 

 ture of a cloudburst, while others got al- 

 most none at all. Altho it is too late to 

 make any difference in this season 's honey . 

 crop, all rain from now on will help toward 

 a crop for the season of 1919. From my 

 experience of about 23 years in southern 

 California, I am convinced that the best as- 

 surance of a good honey crop from our dry 

 sage-covered hills and valleys is an abun- 

 dance of rainfall before the Christmas holi- 

 days. As the days grow shorter and the 

 nights grow longer, the moisture seems to 

 penetrate deeper and deeper into the soil. 

 Evaporation is not so great as during the 

 spring when the sun is hot and days are 

 longer and all vegetation is growing luxuri- 

 antly. If the roots get well soaked in the 

 fall, it is a double assurance of a crop if 

 followed by copious spring rains. 



Corona, Calif. L. L. Andrews. 



* * » 



Tn Iowa ^'^^ honey crop in Iowa was 



about as complete a failure as 

 it could be. A little fall honey, stored after 

 Sept. 1, was all I secured. A number of 

 beekeepers are already looking around for 

 new locations. The secretary of the Iowa 

 association is being importuned to cite good 



locations for honey crops. The present lo- 

 cations have furnished crops in the past, and 

 unless forage conditions have changed we 

 cannot see why the old locations might not 

 return to their old-time productiveness. 



Well-filled sections of honey are retailing 

 all over Iowa at not less than 35 cents per 

 section (not pound), and extracted put up 

 in pint Mason jars at from 50 to 60 cents 

 per jar. Hold steady now and don't get 

 excited. The beekeeper is beginning to come 

 into his own. These prices need not recede 

 very much for a long time to come. . It is 

 actually much easier to sell a 35-cent section, 

 of honey now than it was to sell a 20-cent 

 one. It is as Mr. John Egenes of Eenwick, 

 Iowa, wrote me, ' ' I find it is not what you 

 will take for your honey. It is what you ask 

 for it." 



Every beekeeper in Iowa will be neglect- 

 ing his duty this year if he fails to attend 

 the annual meeting of the Iowa Beekeepers' 

 Association Nov. 6 and 7, at Des Moines. 

 Nearly every other line of business, including 

 the farmers, hog-breeders, cattle-breeders, 

 fruit-growers, etc., have their association 

 meetings and short courses. Why not the 

 honey-producers get together as a business 

 proposition? If you never have attended 

 one of the annual meetings of the Iowa bee- 

 keepers, do so this time. It will surely prove 

 a real tonic for you in your bee work, if not 

 a thoro cleanup of your beekeeping system. 

 Apiculture in Iowa is making steady prog- 

 ress. Many who have always been careless 

 with their bee work are now standardizing 

 their equipment, even tho they do not pos- 

 sess more than a few colonies. The person 

 who keeps two or three colonies in first- 

 class condition and gets full results is just 

 as good an apiarist as the one who keeps 

 more bees and takes no better care of them. 

 If you do not respect the rights of others 

 enough to keep your bees in a healthy and 

 prosperous condition, you are fast becoming 

 a real menace to every other apiarist and 

 should at once quit the business, whether 

 you possess one or one hundred colonies, 

 bur State laws do not allow diseased horses, 

 cattle, hogs, or sheep, to be kept on any 

 man 's place. Then why should a slothful, 

 don 'tcare beekeeper have any more privi- 

 leges than is accorded the other fellow, and 

 thus be permitted to become a nuisance to 

 his neighbors'? If this hits you, "cut it 

 out," for the Iowa Beekeepers' Association 

 is going after and intends to take the last 

 line of trenches of this bee-disease business. 

 If you don't want to fight in the open, you 

 had better make an unconditional surrender. 

 State Apiarist F. Eric Millen a few days 

 ago said our State association program for 

 Nov. 6 and 7 is going to be most excellent 

 and instructive. ' 'This year more than 

 ever before, all beekeepers are urged to at- 

 tend, regardless of whether you are a mem- 



