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G Ti E A N I N G S IN BE E U L T U R E 



December, 1918 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



resentative of the Federal Food Administra- 

 tion for Minnesota, will speak on ' ' Sugar 

 for the Spring Feeding of Bees. ' ' The topic 

 assigned to Dr. E. F. Phillips, * ' Beekeepers ' 

 Outlook and Duty for 1919," is of special 

 interest. H. L. McMurry, special field 

 agent, will speak on ' ' Kecent Investigations 

 in Wintering Bees. ' ' 



Bees are now in winter quarters or ought 

 to be. Most of the bees in this State will 

 be wintered in cellars. These cellars are of 

 all kinds and descriptions. This makes it 

 very hard to lay down hard and fast rules 

 for cellar wintering. Watch the tempera- 

 ture and humidity. The temperature should 

 not be allowed to go below 42, and even this 

 may cause the bees to be uneasy and roar 

 if the cellar is too damp. If necessary have 

 a stove in the cellar which is connected with 

 a chimney so that a fire can be started when 

 the temperature goes too low. 



Extracted honey is retailing in Minneapo- 

 lis stores at $3.50 per 10-pound pails and 

 comb honey at 38 to 40 cents per box. Abun- 

 dant fall rains give promise of a good stand 

 of white clover for the coming season. 



Minneapolis, Minn. Chas. D. Blaker. 



and because it was feared that the attend- 

 ance would be cut down very greatly on 

 account of the epidemic. The j^rograms will 

 not be mailed until about the first of Janu- 

 ary, as the additional time given will per- 

 mit some desirable changes in the program. 



Each of the county associations should ar- 

 range for a winter meeting sometime be- 

 tween now and the middle of February. The 

 State association decided to ask the Legis- 

 lature for an additional appropriation for 

 the inspection work and is expecting the sup- 

 port of the county associations in this mat- 

 ter. In order to assist in this, each organi- 

 zation should hold a meeting and decide on 

 a plan for securing the active support of the 

 legislators from the various counties. Mr. 

 Ewell, the Extension Agent in Beekeeping, 

 is very anxious to attend as many of these 

 meetings as possible. Counties which are 

 not organized, but in which live beekeepers 

 who are interested in having an organiza- 

 tion, should write to the State Insijector 

 of Apiaries, East Lansing, and some ar- 

 rangements will be made for visiting the 

 county and assisting in the work. 



East Lansing, Mich. B. F. Kindig. 



In Michigan. — ^I'l'ii^'^tio"^ ^«^ ^^^^^^' 



o still continue to arrive 



in considerable numbers. Many report that 

 colonies that seemed to have had enough 

 honey to last till spring, when examined in 

 September, now do not have more than 

 enough to last until Christmas. Many such 

 colonies can be profitably wintered in the 

 cellar where they can be fed with more cer- 

 tainty and convenience than when outdoors. 

 Every possible colony should be nursed thru 

 until spring, for bees will be scarce again 

 as the losses of last winter have not been 

 made up yet. 



During a series of meetings held last win- 

 ter the writer was surprised at the number 

 of beekeepers who said that they kept the 

 snow shoveled away from the fronts of the 

 hives, because they were afraid that the 

 bees would smother. This, year, let us pile 

 the snow around the colonies as much as pos- 

 sible and see if there is not a decided differ- 

 ence in favor of the snow packing, which 

 nature furnishes in such abundance in some 

 parts of our State. If the bees are not 

 packed yet, do the packing with the very 

 least disturbance of the colony; handle 

 them so that the bees do not know that 

 anything is being done. Bees that are to be 

 wintered without protection should be pro- 

 tected from the winds with shocks of fod- 

 der or by some other means that will break 

 the force of the wind and help to hold the 

 snow. 



Because of the epidemic of influenza, it 

 was necessary to postpone the meeting of 

 the Michigan Beekeepers ' Association until 

 January 21-23. This action was taken be- 

 cause of the advice of the Board of Health 



In Ontario.— ^" November Gleanings, 

 mention was made ot the 

 of the cool September weather which hinder- 

 ed, to a very great extent, the extracting 

 of the buckwheat honey. Judging by let- 

 ters received from different States as well 

 as other places here in Canada, a similar 

 condition prevailed with many other bee- 

 keepers. In my case, I managed to get the 

 honey extracted — that is, the most of it, for 

 warm the honey as much as I liked, quite a 

 lot of it was left in the combs. At the 

 home yard, the honey was carried into the 

 extracting-house one day late in the season, 

 and, altho the day was quite warm, yet the 

 honey could not be extracted, as the very 

 cool night preceding had chilled it too much. 

 Owing to lack of room this honey was left 

 in the extracting-house for over a week 

 before being hauled to the kitchen where we 

 had arrangements made for heating the 

 room thoroly. Imagine my surprise to find 

 that during the week that the honey had 

 been stored in the unheated building, large 

 quantities had granulated in the combs, 

 many sealed combs being almost solid. All 

 was uncapped but many combs are full of 

 this granulated honey — in the lot of combs 

 handled about 3,000 pounds were extracted 

 and I suppose at least 500 pounds are still 

 in combs. These combs full of honey present 

 quite iv j)roblem as to their disposal, but the 

 worst feature, as I see it, is the possibility 

 of honey just like this granulating in the 

 brood-nests later on tluring cold weather and 

 causing heavy losses of bees. Last fall I 

 saved out many combs of honey for fall 

 feeding, and after I was thru winter prepara- 

 tion (juite a lot were still left on hand. Al- 



