June, 1915. 



193 



American Vee Journal 



about the so-called sage weevil. 



Our sages here were somewhat af- 

 fected. In some places black sage 

 looked rather bad. I will quote from a 

 letter from Mr. Mendleson, of Ventura, 

 as to conditions there some I<» days ago : 

 " Weather still very cloudy. The scale 

 hive losing 'i to ^4 pounds per day. 

 The worm is making sad havoc in 

 many places in both black and purple 

 sage. It destroys the whole case of 

 the blossom and buds. It has not ap- 

 peared at my main location yet. Warm 

 sunshiny days will kill the pest. Many 

 are feeding large quantities of syrup to 

 keep the bees alive. A condition I 

 have not seen heretofore. The ground 

 is wet deep. Hot weather will give us 

 the desired honey flow. I have not 

 seen so rr.uch moisture before and no 

 nectar secretion, though 1884 was simi- 

 lar. It looks to me as though those 

 having white honey this year ought to 

 get a good price." This was written 

 on May 9. 



The desired warm, bright weather 



has come, and the black sage is look- 

 ing much better, and the conditions 

 at present look favorable. 



The year 1884 spoken of by Mr. Men- 

 dleson was one of great rainfall and a 

 late season for the bees, but we got a 

 fine crop. 



The worm that has affected the sage 

 is the larva of a moth, as reported by 

 our Horticultural Commissioner, Mr. 

 Bishop, and not a weevil. He has sent 

 the specimens we took him, to the 

 State E.xperiment Station for identifi- 

 cation. It is a small bluish white 

 worm about '4 inch in length. 



With the present honey-flow the bees 

 are perceptibly overcoming European 

 foul brood in the infected apiaries. Of 

 course, this may be only temporary, 

 but the outlook is favorable toward 

 helping to eradicate it to a consider- 

 able extent. We have now had six 

 days of bright weather to date. May l.'i, 

 and the indications are for continued 

 fair weather. 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo, 



Using Lye for Cleaning Separators 



Several beekeepers have told me that 

 lye makes the wood separators brittle, 

 and that they soon break to pieces. If 

 this is the case, lye should be used with 

 care. Probably the separators, if 

 washed oflf with clean water at once, 

 would not be seriously affected. 



A 36-foot cattle car was loaded with 

 (312 colonies. Three rows of hives ran 

 lengthwise of the car on each side of 

 the alley, running the full length of the 

 car. This alley was about two feet 

 wide, and made it possible to spray 



every colony with water. Each row of 

 hives was six layers high, which 

 brought the top hives to the top of the 

 car, or very near it. 



Wire screen frames were nailed on 

 top of each hive, and two 2x2 inch 

 strips :!)^ feet long were laid on top of 

 each three hives between the alley and 

 the side of the car. These two inch 

 pieces made it possible to spray every 

 colony easily. Nine hives in length 

 and three hives in width on each side 

 of the alley were in one end of the car, 

 and eight hives in length and three 

 hives in width on each side of the alley 

 were in the other end. All were six 

 hives in length. This left nearly all the 

 space between the doors for bracing 

 and for placing the water-cans, pump, 

 and other material. 



In the other car, which was a .50-foot 

 automobile car. were placed 186 colo- 

 nies, most of which were so strong in 

 bees that supers were placed on top to 

 give abundant space for clustering. 

 The covers and supers were placed in 

 the ends of this car, and the 186 colo- 

 nies were loaded near the doors. 



In bracing the sides of the piles of 

 hives in the alley, 1x4 inch stuff was 

 used for uprights with 2x4 inch run- 

 ning across for braces. 



The day we loaded was very warm, 

 and the bees were very cross. It was 

 a tedious and painful job, but both cars 

 were loaded on time, and before the 

 cars were 20 miles on the way the brac- 

 ing was all finished. Fortunately the 

 weather turned cool, and this made it 

 easier on the bees 01 route. This ship- 

 ment was sent to Filer, Idaho, and was 

 one of the best outfits I have seen, tak- 

 ing condition of bees and hives into 

 consideration. 



Western Conditions 



Bees are building up rapidly and 

 prospects seem favorable in spite of 

 the freeze two weeks ago (or early in 

 May). Alfalfa and sweet clover were 

 frozen down pretty badly, but it will 

 not seriously affect anything but the 

 first crop of alfalfa and make the sea- 

 son some later. Dandelions and fruit 

 bloom are now just past their prime, 

 and many colonies have stored and 

 sealed large amounts of dandelion 

 honey. There will be a large increase 

 in bees this year, if present conditions 

 prevail. 



The West will have honey to ship 

 this year, as it has always had some in 

 the past, but whether it is a full crop 

 or a partial one remains to be seen. 

 Sweet clover is in more evidence this 

 year than last, and we hope for a good 

 deal of help from it this year. 



Conducted by J. L. Bter. Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



Shipping Two Carloads of Bees 



Preparing two carloads of bees (800 

 colonies) for shipment a thousand 

 miles, during the middle of May, is no 

 small task, but for the last two months 

 we have been at it, and the bees were 

 shipped May 13. The colonies were all 

 in 8-frame Laiigstroth hives with fairly 

 uniform bottom-boards. 



Prospects for Ontario 



Prospects for a crop of honey are 

 fair for the Province of Ontario. In 

 some sections, including York county, 

 the acreage of alsike, which is our 

 main source of honey, is very light. 

 But on the other hand, the clover 

 everywhere is in good shape with prac- 

 tically no winter or spring damage. 

 Rains during the past two weeks have 

 been general and vegetation is looking 

 fine. In many sections the clover is 

 plentiful, and I am glad to say that 

 such is the case at our large apiary up 

 north. Of course the mere fact that 

 we have clover in many parts of the 

 Province does not insure us a crop of 

 clover honey by any means, but when 

 we have no clover we are quite sure 

 there will be no crop. 



Conditions in Our Two Yards 



The unusually warm weather during 

 the latter part of April that forced veg- 

 etation ahead rapidly, has been fol- 

 lowed, as is generally the case, by just 



the opposite for the first ten days of 

 May. Today, May 12, has been the first 

 day that bees have done anything for 

 about two weeks, and the yellow wil- 

 lows and hard maples passed their 

 period of blooming without the bees 

 getting a taste from them. These are 

 the best early sources of nectar we have 

 in these sections, and as a result of 

 their failure, brood-nests in our York 

 county yards are very light in honey, 

 almost all of it being consumed during 

 the last three weeks, as breeding has 

 been going on rapidly. 



At the yard 100 miles north, willows 

 are at their best, and bees are working 

 on them nicely. Strange as it may seem, 

 although these bees are so much 

 farther north than our home apiaries, 

 they are away in advance of our bees 

 at home, half of the apiary being su- 

 pered, and a few with two supers on. 

 Different reasons account for this, of 

 which the following are the main ones : 

 Total failure of the crop here in York 

 county, and that means a lot of old 

 bees going into winter quarters. Up 

 north we had a late flow of about 



