Vol. LVI.— No. 8 



HAMILTON, ILL, AUGUST, 1916 



MONTHLY, $1.00 A YEAR 



MINNESOTA SNAP SHOTS 



Items of Interest About Minnesota Beekeepers Gathered By Our 

 Staff Correspondent During a Swing Around the State 



THE Minnesota beemen are live 

 wires. Those wlio keep in touch 

 with the progress of the industry 

 know already that the beekeepers of 

 that State have been pushing things 

 for some years past. They have a 

 splendid building devoted especially 

 to the exhibition of hive products at 

 the State Fair and better premiums 

 than any other fair offers. They have a 

 separate department for bee-cuture 

 in their State University, and it is 

 well supported. While several States 

 include beekeeping in the courses at 

 the agricultural colleges, as far as 

 we know Minnesota is the only State 

 which gives to the industry a separate 

 department on the same basis as 

 dairy and other agricultural ac- 

 tivities. 



Feeling that our readers would be 

 interested in knowing something of 



the conditions in the State that leads 

 the country in the amount of State 

 support, and something of the men 

 who have been responsible for bring- 

 ing about this condition, our staff 

 correspondent spent a few days in 

 our sister State. 



Several hundred miles of railroad 

 and automobile journeys enabled him 

 to visit a few representative apiaries. 

 The average production per colony is 

 high, but they have the same honey- 

 plants that are common in all the 

 northern States. White and alsike 

 clover furnish the main dependence, 

 with basswood and such fall flowers 

 as heartsease, asters etc., in addition. 

 If crops are good it seems due rather 

 to good beekeeping than to especially 

 favorable locations. There are thous- 

 ands of acres of good clover pastures, 

 and possibly the honey flows are a 



BEE BUILDING AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR 



Mrs. Butterfield. a Successful Minne- 

 sota Beekeeper 



little more dependable than farther 

 south. The writer could see very little 

 difference in the conditions in Min- 

 nesota from Wisconsin and Michigan. 

 The beekeepers of the State work 

 together harmoniously in their State 

 organization, else they never could 

 have accomplished what they have 

 done. The writer, on his various trips 

 in Minnesota, has never yet met a 

 calamity howler, among the beekeep- 

 ers. The association agitated the im- 

 portance of a division of bee-culture 

 at the University until the legislature 

 was prevailed upon to give beekeep- 

 ing the same attention given to pigs, 

 cows and sheep. The work has grown 

 until two men now give their entire 

 time to it. Besides the usual class 

 work, queen-breeding is carried on 



