1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



243 



were given instruction. 



Beekeeping and poultry go together 

 so nicely that the two were combined, 

 the work in beeekeeping being pre- 

 sented by Prof. C. E. Bartholomew 

 formerly of the Iowa Agricultural col- 

 lege but now in the cooperative exten- 

 sion work of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture stationed at Knoxville, 

 Tenn. Mr. Crane of the same institu- 

 tion had charge of the poultry. 



The train was run over the lines of 

 the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. 

 Louis railroad in Tennessee, in charge 

 of A. D. Knox of the industrial de- 

 partment. Sixty-nine meetings were 

 held in various parts of the State and 

 great interest was manifested by the 

 visitors. Hundreds of men who have 

 heretofore kept their bees in box-hives 

 were instructed in the proper manage- 

 ment of bees and shown how futile it 

 istohopefora good return without 

 good equipment. The car was fitted 

 up with hives and other necessary 

 material essential to successful bee- 

 keeping so that everybody was shown 

 by actual demonstration what to use 

 and how to use it. The railroad offi- 

 cials express themselves as much 

 gratified with the results of the special 

 and it is very probable that other sim- 

 ilar trains will go out in other parts of 

 the country. 



As one of the first three men em- 

 ployed on the department for exten- 

 sion work in beekeeping Prof. Barthol- 

 omew has found a great opportunity 

 and is fully alive to the possibilities. 

 We look for beekeeping to develop 

 rapidly as a result of the spread of ex- 

 tension facilities. 



Special Notice to All Beekeepers in 



the Northwest.^At the last meeting of 

 the Chicago-Northwestern Beekeepers' 

 Association a committee was appointed 

 to recommend prices for honey, whole- 

 sale and retail. The committee wants 

 the name and address of every bee- 

 keeper in the States of Wisconsin, Illi- 

 nois, Indiana and Michigan who have 

 ten or more colonies of bees, for a 

 mailing list. We expect to send out 



three letters aliout July Ih, Sept. 1.5, and 

 Nov. 15, provided we have sufficient 

 funds. 



Hurry up and send in your name and 

 the names of your neighbor beekeepers, 

 and if not a member of this association 

 we would like to have your dues of 

 $1 50, as we will need all the funds we 

 can get to send out these letters. 



Any beekeeper outside of the aljove 

 mentioned States who is not a member 

 can have these reports by sending 10 

 cents to pay for printing and postage. 

 Send all names or dues direct to 



John C. Bull, Sec.-Treas., 



1013 Calumet Ave., Valparaiso, Ind. 



Notes By the Way 



One is frequently reminded that it is 

 impossible to keep bees by rule. Every 

 locality and even every colony is a law 

 unto itself. In answer to an inquiry as 

 to when to put on supers, Dr. Miller 

 has said, when the first clover blossom 

 appears. This is perhaps as good a 

 rule as any. However, some colonies 

 will not be ready for supers for a long 

 time after clover begins to bloom while 

 others will swarm before that time un- 

 less they be given room. This is 

 written just at the close of fruit bloom 

 in May, yet some of our colonies have 

 already stored considerable honey in 

 supers. Occasionally we have a year 

 in Iowa when strong colonies will 

 store comb-honey from dandelion and 

 finish the sections in fine shape. In 

 such a season much would be lost from 

 the delay in giving supers until the 

 first clover blossoms appeared. The 

 time to give supers is when the bees 

 are strong enough to occupy them and 

 there is something in the field for them 

 to gather. 



The yellow flowers of the buffalo 

 currant, Ribes aureum, are very fra- 

 grant and apparently contain much 

 nectar. I have often noticed the bees 

 working on the blossoms but since the 

 corolla tubes are a half inch or more 

 in length supposed they were getting 

 only pollen. One day recently I found 

 bees which were unmistakably getting 

 nectar from this source. Upon close 

 examination of the flowers I found 

 that many of the tubes had been slit 

 entirely down one side by some un- 

 known agency and the bees were in- 

 serting their tongues into the slits. 

 I am wondering whether a similar con- 

 dition may not occasionally occur with 

 the red clover and thus account for the 



reports of yields of honey from that 

 source. 



The past winter has been an unusual- 

 ly hard one in Iowa, yet our bees have 

 consumed less stores than usual and 

 little more than half the amount re- 

 quired thi winter previous. Apparent- 

 lythe difference is in the shorter period 

 of brood rearing. Our best colonies 

 discontinued brood-rearing in October 

 and did not resume until late in Feb- 

 ruaryor early in March. (Wintered in 

 packing cases outside.) The farther 

 south the more honey is likely to be 

 consumed for wintering because of the 

 larger amount of brood reared, f. c. p. 



Great Kconomy Possible 



"A great economy in the consump- 

 tion of tins would be effected if the 

 public would, as far as possible, buy 

 the single 'ready-to-eat' foods, such as 

 baked beans, meat loaves, and the like, 

 of the 'heat-and serve' kind, from deli- 

 catessen and bake shops. These foods 

 constitute one of the largest drains on 

 the tin supply. To relieve this drain 

 would release large quantities of tin 



Thousands of people were given instruc- 

 tions in beekeeping along the way 



for the imperative summer demand. 



"For home use, in putting up jellies 

 and preserves, the fiber containers may 

 be used, and will be found cheap and 

 satisfactory. Information as to where 

 they may be obtained will be gladly 

 furnished inquirers who address the 

 Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 

 merce, Department of Commerce, 

 Washington, or any of its branches in 

 the several cities of the country." 



It seems to us that "fiber" containers 

 coated inside with a light paraffin coat 

 would be very serviceable for honey. 



LECTURK CAR ON THE BEEKEEPERS' SPECIAL. TOURING TENNESSEE 



Productive Dairying. — We are in re- 

 ceipt from the publishers, J. B. Lippin- 

 cott & Co., of Philadelphia, of another 

 book in the Farm Manual Series, to 

 which belongs Frank C. Pellett's book 

 " Productive Beekeeping." 



The new book is entitled " Produc- 

 tive Dairying," and is written by that 

 excellent authority on the subject, R. 

 M. Washburn, who is Professor of 

 Dairy Husbandy at the University of 

 Minnesota. The book contains 432 

 pages and 131 illustrations. The aim 

 of the author is to take dairying out of 

 the inefficient businesses and put it on 

 a paying business basis, 



