240 



July, 1916. 



American ^ae Journal 



rained almost the entire month of Jan- 

 uary. Much damage was done through- 

 out the State by floods. There was 

 considerable rain in February. The 

 ground was packed by flood waters 

 standing for a considerable length of 

 time. This was followed by an in- 

 tensely dry spring, with considerable 

 wind, both hot and cold. There was 

 practically no spring rain, nights cold, 

 days warm and dry. This made a very 

 unfavorable condition for nectar flow 

 and for crops generally. Many other 

 crops are light here, some almost a 

 failure. 



It is the first season I have ever seen 

 here, during a period of perhaps 40 

 years, where so much rain has pro- 

 duced so little honey. But, after all, 

 the distribution of a season's rainfall 

 counts even more than the precipita- 

 tion. 



The season has also proven a bad 

 one for all bee diseases. We have 

 European foulbrood a plenty. Sac- 

 brood and paralysis are unusually prev- 

 alent. The combination of diseases is 

 keeping us busy here. 



Orange, Calif. 



Miscellaneous ^ News Items 



A Farmer's Beekeepers' Club. — Co- 

 operation is everywhere, but it remains 

 with Bruce Anderson to be the first 

 County Agent to form a beekeepers' 

 club in order to foster beekeeping, and 

 they need it in North Carolina where 

 Mr. Anderson is working. In fact, we 

 never think of North Carolina as much 

 of a bee State, although in reality it is 

 among the first for the number of colo- 

 nies of bees. So far nearly all the 

 bees have been left in box-hives. But 

 Bruce Anderson isn't the kind of a 

 fellow who is going to be content with 

 conditions as they are now. He wants 

 improvement. In order to join his 

 county beekeepers' club the beekeeper 

 has to agree to 17 different rules. These 

 are as follows : 



1. Each member must have one or 

 more colonies of bees in frame hives, a 

 smoker and veil. 



2. Study bulletins and literature on 

 beekeeping. 



3. Subscribe to a reliable bee journal. 



4. Attend meetings of beekeepers. 



5. Watch the brood-nest for loss of 

 queen, disease and time to put on su- 

 pers. 



6. Have two or more supers for each 

 colony, spring count. 



7. Pievent swarming by giving colo- 

 nies plenty storage room for surplus 

 honey, laying room for queen and ven- 

 tilation. 



8. Requeen colonies after honey flow 

 every two years from the best honey- 

 gathering colonies 



9. Secure Italians from breeders of 

 high honey-yielding bees. 



10. Provide each colony in October 

 with 2.') pounds or more of honey or 

 syrup, if they have not that much. 



11. Give bees plenty of protection in 

 winter from the cold and winds 



12. Keep records of colonies, cost of 

 running apiary and honey yield for 

 each colony. 



1.3. Make report to County Agent at 

 the end of the season. 



14. Cooperate with other members in 

 buying supplies and marketing honey. 



15. Put on the market only good 

 honey well graded. 



16. Follow instructions of the club 

 leader. 



17. Make an exhibit of bees and of 

 honey at the Winston-Salem Fair, 1916. 



Some of these days North Carolina 

 will be considered more seriously is a 

 beekeeping State. The South is diver- 

 sifying. 



Honey Prices in Switzerland A pe- 

 culiar statement comes from Consul 

 General F. B. Keene, of Zurich, Switz- 

 erland. He reports that, out of 29 arti- 

 cles of food and household consump- 

 tion, all have increased in price since 

 the beginning of the war, from 3 to 175 

 percent, except one, honey. Accord- 

 ing to this authority honey in Switzer- 

 land has decreased in price, from 77,2 

 centimes per kilo, to 73,3 centimes 

 ($6.75 per cwt. to $6.41). This is for 

 extracted honey, of course, as they pro- 

 duce no other. 



A Suggestion In reply to your re- 

 quest for suggestions, I would like to 

 hear of the experience of successful 

 wax-producers. R. Deimer. 



Chico, Calif. 



We suppose our enquirer wants to 

 hear of the cost of wax, to the bees. 

 The honey consumed for wax-produc- 

 tion has been estimated all the way 

 from one pound to 30 pounds for each 

 pound of wax, with the majority put- 

 ting it at from 7 to 12 pounds. Several 

 producers have announced their inten- 

 tion to make a practical test by feeding 

 honey to produce combs. Have any 

 positive results been attained? 



Hyphen Between Beekeeping Words 



To a short criticism of the newly 

 hyphenated words decided upon by the 

 Pnillips-Root-Miller-Dadant agreement 

 Dr. Miller replies as follows: 



"You say 'I also feel like objecting 

 to 'comb-honey' as long as 'comb 



honey' is intelligible and not con 

 founded with something else.' With 

 that way of deciding I'm afraid there 

 would be trouble. One might think of 

 some way in which there would be 

 confounding and another might not; 

 so one would use hyphen and the other 

 not. ' He proceeded to comb honey 

 out of his hair, and when he did comb 

 honey he found it was not comb honey 

 but extracted.' That's strained of 

 course (although not strained honey), 

 but it's simpler and better to follow 

 the general rule, that when two nouns 

 are joined together a hyphen be used, 

 or else run together the two words as 

 one." 



Beekeeping Industry of New Zealand. 



— Honeybees were first introduced into 

 New Zealand in 1839, and in 1880 and 

 1882 the Italian, Cyprian, and other bees 

 were brought in. Modern methods of 

 beekeeping were introduced in 1878, 

 principally from the United States. The 

 industry is now supported by New 

 Zealand laws and regulations. In 

 1906 the government established an 

 experimental apiary, where between 40 

 and 50 students are trained annually. 



According to law no common box- 

 hives are allowed in this dominion, the 

 hive in most general use being the 

 American Langstroth. It would seem 

 that here should be a fine opening for 

 beekeeping supplies, and it would seem 

 wise for American makers of such 

 wares to get in touch with the bee- 

 keeping associations. 



Since 1907 disease among bees has 

 been kept under control, and the busi- 

 ness in general is prosperous, with the 

 result that in 1915 there were in the 

 dominion 11,200 beekeepers who owned 

 72,340 hives, with an estimated produc- 

 tion valued at $250,000. It is expected 

 the output will be doubled within the 

 next three or four years. 



During the year 224,000 pounds of 

 honey were exported to England, and 

 it is anticipated that this trade will be 

 more than doubled during 1916. All 

 honey is inspected and graded by gov- 

 ernment experts before it is allowed to 

 be exported. 



Con. Gen. Alfred A.Winslow. 



Auckland, New Zealand. 



A Massachusetts Meeting. — A most 

 successful meeting of the Hampshire, 

 Hampden, Franklin Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation was held in the Board of Trade 

 rooms, Springfield, on May 13. This, 

 the annual meeting, was postponed 

 from March 16, when it was to have 

 been held in Amherst in conjunction 

 with the beekeeping meetings during 

 Farmers' Week. 



Much the same program was fol- 

 lowed. The election of officers resulted 

 as follows: President, O. M. Smith; 

 Vice-President, A. C. Andrews, Rev. D. 

 D. Gorton, and L. R. Smith ; Secretary- 

 Treasurer, Burton N. Gates, Amherst. 

 Unanimous vote reestablished the an- 

 nual fee to 50 cents per annum. 



Among the papers read was the annual 

 address of the president, O. M. Smith, 

 who presented numerous "Timely Sug- 

 gestions to Beekeepers." By way of 

 a report of progress for the committee 

 on honey labels and standard packages, 

 Dr. B. N. Gates, chairman, explained 

 what constituted an attractive label 



