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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1918 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



some time before the shippers attempt the 

 new methods of mail shipments. 



College Station, Tex. F. B. Paddock. 



* * * 



In Florida. "^^^ question of using su- 

 gar for winter stores in 

 place of honey is definitely settled by Dr. 

 Phillips in the circular letter to the Honey 

 Crop Beporters, sent from the Bureau of 

 Entomology on Sept 12. As some of the 

 Florida beemen who were considering ex- 

 tracting their fall crops may not have re- 

 ceived this letter, the following quotation 

 will apply to them: ''It should be pointed 

 out that any beekeeper who removes his 

 honey to sell at a high price, and then asks 

 the Food Administration to furnish him 

 with sugar at a lower price for his bees, is 

 taking advantage of the war conditions for 

 his own gain, and this is profiteering. * * 

 In no case should a beekeeper ask for sugar 

 for feeding the bees unless he actually nuist 

 have it. The conditions under which sugar- 

 feeding seems legitimate are when there has 

 been a failure of the honey crop. * * * " 

 There has been no failure of the Florida 

 honey crop this year, and there is no excuse 

 for sugar-feeding. A few beginners — and 

 there is an unprecedented number of them 

 this year — will undoubtedly strip their bees 

 too closely and have to resort to feeding, 

 and it seems the duty of the specialist to 

 warn them all in time, and, if they do not 

 take the warning, to insist that they feed 

 honey and not sugar. Also there are a great 

 many who have started with late swarms 

 and with bees from trees, and these must 



have sugar to carry them thru. The Food 

 Administration has supplied me with appli- 

 cation blanks, which I shall be glad to for- 

 ward to those who need them. 



During a year's correspondence with bee- 

 keepers in different parts of the State, the 

 ignorance of practically all of them as to 

 the sources of nectar has constantly been 

 demonstrated. A few of the most impor- 

 tant honey plants are well known; but there 

 are scores of others that do not possess even 

 local names. It is humiliating to confess 

 that beekeepers know so little about the 

 plant life on which they depend for their 

 living, and I wonder if Gleanings can not, 

 with the co-operation of the beekeepers of 

 the State, do something to enable us to 

 identify our honey flora. I would suggest 

 that during 1919 the beemen secure photo- 

 graphs of the various honey plants in their 

 immediate localities, giving local names, 

 time of blooming, and other data. These 

 could then be classified and properly named 

 by some competent botanist and published 

 in book form. The price of such a book 

 would, of course, be high; but we are used 

 to high prices in Florida, and most of us 

 would be glad of the opportunity to secure 

 the information. [Gleanings certainly is 

 ready to cooperate in every way possible. 

 Call on .us. — Editor.] 



One other need is a bee book for begin- 

 ners, written with especial reference to con- 

 ditions in the South. There is none such at 

 present and the time may now have come 

 when such a book might pay the publisher. 



Apopka, Fla. Harry Hewitt. 



Harry Hewitt, who writes for Florida beekeepers 

 in Gleanings — and is a most e.xrellent beekeeper. 



