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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



bee behavior, and life of bees, with in- 

 structions as to manipulation and policy 

 of the beekeeper. The second day will 

 deal with the problems of swarming; 

 measures of swarm control, the making 

 of increase, and comb-honey produc- 

 tion. In the afternoon the program 

 will be devoted to queens and queen- 

 rearing. The third day is extracted 

 honey production day, wherein all the 

 phases of production and marketing 

 will be covered. The fourth day is a 

 general field day, and is announced by 

 the Berkshire County Beekeepers 

 Association. This program will be a 

 general interest one, dealing incident- 

 ally with the diseases of bees, and more 

 especially with the newer problems. 



The Northwestern Kansas Beekeep- 

 ers' Association held a field meet at 

 Chapman, Kan., May 14. 



While the attendance was not large it 

 made up in quality what it lacked in 

 quantity. The meeting in the morning 

 was held at the Dickinson county high 

 school and demonstrations in forming 

 queen-rearing nuclei and 3 frame 

 nuclei for sale were made. At noon 

 dinner was served by the cafeteria 

 department of the high school, A. H. 

 Diehl and H. A. Huff standing treat for 

 the visiting members. After dinner, 

 the meeting adjourned to the Golden 

 Belt Apiary where more demonstra- 

 tions were made followed by a number 

 of talks. All present enjoyed the 

 meeting and adjourned to meet later at 

 Blue Rapids, Kan., at the call of the 

 members from that place. 



Harry A. Huff, Sec 



Dandelion Honey.— The produc- 

 tion of honey from dandelions has 

 always been an unknown quantity 

 to us here, and the first direct con- 

 tact the Dadants have ever had 

 with the dandelion honey was last 

 summer when our editor tasted dande- 

 lion comb honey in Vermont. And 

 the taste was unmistakable. 



This year for the first time, we can 

 report that our own bees gathered 

 honey from dandelions. When the 

 bloom was at its height a few weeks 

 ago, at one of our apiaries the bees 

 stored considerable dandelion honey 

 in their brood chambers and "yellowed" 

 the tops of their combs in a manner 

 similar to the "whitening" from clover. 



There is no doubt that the dandelion 

 is becoming more plentiful, in this lo- 

 cality at least. It remains to be seen 

 whether the increase of this plant will 

 in time tend to make a steady honey 

 flow between fruit bloom and clover 

 instead of the customary honey dearth. 



which the idea of this service is ex- 

 explained. We urge all to get in 

 touch with the proper authorities in 

 Washington so that you too may get 

 the benefit of such service. No mat- 

 ter whether you are a small or large 

 beekeeper, such news should help you 

 to stabilize your honey prices. 



Proposed Telegraphic News Service on 

 Honey by Department of Agriculture 



In response to urgent requests, the 

 Office of Markets and Rural Organiza- 

 tion of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture is planning to extend 

 its telegraphic market news service to 

 include reports on honey. Practically 

 all growers in the important commer- 

 cial sections shipping fruits and vege- 

 tables are familiar with the market 

 bulletins which have been distributed 

 by the Office of Markets during the 

 past.two seasons. These daily bulle- 

 tins, which are free by mail to any who 

 request them, cover nine of the more 

 important perishable commodities and 

 show daily the number of cars of each 

 commodity which have been shipped 

 from each state during the past twenty- 

 four hours, as well as the following in- 

 formation for each of the eighteen 

 markets reported by representatives of 

 the department. The number of cars 

 which have been received on the mar- 

 ket during the past twenty-four hours 

 segregated by originating districts ; 

 the general quality and condition of 

 the produce from each section ; the 

 weather conditions; and finally the 

 prevailing wholesale (jobbing) prices 

 at 8 :00 a. m. These reports are tele- 

 graphed to Washington, summarized 

 and edited, and rewired to the various 

 markets where representatives are 

 stationed, with the result that printed 

 bulletins are issued and distributed 

 simultaneously about 1 :00 p. m. of the 

 same day from all of these offices. 

 Some idea of the size of the service 

 may be secured when it is understood 

 that over 3,000,000 bulletins were dis- 

 tributed last season to over 50,000 per- 

 sons located in more than thirty 

 states. 



Although it is estimated that only 

 10 per cent of the honey crop is dis- 

 tributed in car-lot quantities, it is 

 claimed that prices for the local move- 

 ment depend to a large extent upon 

 the commercial price. An accurate and 

 unbiased report of prevailing prices in 

 the larger markets should do much to 

 prevent speculation, steady the market 

 and tend to eliminate the unfortunate 

 practice of throwing the entire output 

 upon the market at the opening of the 

 season, with the resultant drop in 

 prices and serious scarcity later in the 

 season. 



It is impossible at this time to state 

 definitely the exact form in which the 

 proposed honey reports will be issued, 

 as representatives of the department 

 are now visiting the larger markets 

 and interviewing members of thetra le, 

 representative producers, and editors 

 of beekeeping journals to ascertain the 

 exact information which is needed, the 

 frequency with which the reports 

 should be issued and other essential 

 details. It appears probable, however, 

 that the reports will be issued semi- 

 weekly, weekly, or even bi-weekly, as 

 daily reports are not essential as in the 

 care of perishable fruits and vege- 

 tables. In contents they will follow 

 closely the bulletins now being issued 

 which have just been described. The 

 service will be started about July 1 and 

 the information will be made public 

 through the newspapers and bee- 

 keepers' journals as well as by separate 

 bulletins by mail to all interested per- 

 sons who request the information. In- 

 quiries should be addressed to Charles 

 J Brand, Chief, Office of Markets and 

 Rural Organization, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



A Special Beekeepius Train 



For several years the special agri- 

 cultural train has been a popular 

 method of taking the work of the agri- 

 cultural colleges direct to the farmers. 

 Tennessee enjoys the distinction of 

 taking out the first beekeeping special. 

 The train was out for three weeks and 

 upwards of seven thousand people 



Telegraphic Market News Ser- 

 vice 



We call the especial attention of 

 our readers to an article on this sub- 

 ject in our contributed columns in 



MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE NORTHWESTERN KANSAS BEE 

 KEEPERS' FIELD MEET AT CHAPMAN. KAN. 



