GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Nashville, Teim. 



So many beekeepers in the great 

 Southeast, and not a department in 

 all Gleanings we could call our 

 own ! And the North and the West 

 and the East, and the Southwest 

 and the far West and the North- 

 east, all there at the gathering of 

 the " localities," and no corner for a Dixie 

 bee to hum ! It was after the convention of 

 Tennessee beekeepers that we cried out, and 

 the editors heard our cry and said, " You, 

 too, shall have a page." And that I under- 

 stood; but when they said, " Toti shall have 

 the page," that I could not understand. 

 Only the editor can 

 explain that. For in 

 all frankness I am 

 not a beekeeper of 

 great experience. In 

 fact, I am distinctly 

 in the beginners' 

 class. But, if my 

 suspicions are cor- 

 rect, that may be one 

 reason the editor 

 asked me to take this 

 page. Not only a 

 new section, but also 

 a new class, they 

 would thus have. So 

 while this page is to 

 be especially for and 

 about the Southeast, 

 it will also aim to be 

 of interest to begin- 

 ners, and to women 

 beekeepers — a sort 

 of Dixie bee that 

 hums contentedly 

 within its proper 

 geography ,but waves 

 its wings tenderly 



over the amateur and the woman apiarist. 

 A high-school teacher, writing back to her 

 pupils from Europe, once said, " I hope 

 you may all take this wonderful trip some 

 day ; but my solemn advice is, never do it 

 for the first time." If one could only write 

 a page once a month for Gleanings, and 

 never do it for the first time ! 



CLOVER PROSPECTS AFTER THE COLD SPRING. 



Our winter might have been borrowed 

 from the North, so long and cold it has 

 been. Even as late as March 30 it snowed 

 all day. But throughout this part of Ten- 

 nessee the bees seem to have wintered ex- 

 cellently — unusually well, some beekeepers 

 judge (most of them on aster honey at 

 that)- But they are late building u}). In 



Alv INVITATION 

 In May come down to Tennessee, 



Tennessee, Tennessee! 

 Ill May come down to Tennessee — 



It's honeysuckle-time! 

 We'll drive among the win.some hills 

 Wliere tangled honeysuckle fills 

 The cup of scent that spills and spills 



In honeysuckle-time! 



The mockingbirds will all be .singing, 

 Redbirds flashing round and flinging 

 Flaming colors through the springing 



Honeysuckle-time ! 

 The murmur of the bees, that slips 

 Along the wind from blossom lips , 

 AVill thrill you to your finger tips 



In honeysuckle-time ! 



In May come down to Tennessee, 



Tenneswse*, Tennessee! 



In May come down to Tennessee — 



It's honeysuckle-time! 

 ■^ ou'l! think the magic of the bee 

 And wine-like air and sun-bright tree 

 Is fairyland. Ifn Temies-see 



In Iioiicj/suckir-timc ! 



one of our hives we could not find the 

 slightest evidence of brood-rearing as late 

 as April 4, though another right beside it 

 was well filled with eggs and very young 

 brood. All we looked into had plenty of 

 stores. 



Any way, I fancy we shouldn't have 

 o])ened our hives that day, as the bees, with 

 not a blossom in all their world, went wild 

 over the honey odors, and the little yard was 

 presently in an uproar. We apologized to 

 the defenders, expostulated with the rob- 

 bers, piled straw over much-contracted en- 

 trances, sprayed it with carbolic water, and 

 recorded anotlier les- 

 son learned. To-dav 

 (April 7) the old 

 plum in the back 

 yard is in full bloom, 

 and the bees are 

 making it ring with 

 music. 



We are hoping, 

 modestly, for Avhite 

 clover this year. 

 Last year there was 

 none in this section, 

 owing to the drouths 

 of 1913 and 1914. 

 There are no bloom- 

 ing prospects now ; 

 but from adjoining 

 counties come re- 

 ports that it is show- 

 ing up a little, and 

 surely I saw signs of 

 some to be, out on the 

 commons whei'e this 

 end of town runs in- 

 to country. One of 

 our most successful 

 beekeepers fears that 

 the bees have been so held back by the late 

 spring that they can scarcely build up a 

 strong working foi'ce in time to do much 

 good if the clover doees materialize. But 

 we are all hoping. 



TENNESSEE FIELD MEETINGS. 



" What is an association for, if not for 

 co-operation?" asks Mr. W. B. Romine, of 

 Pulaski, Tenn., the new president of our 

 state association. And that seems to me a 

 splendid association spirit. Some of the 

 members in this neighborhood are going to 

 try getting together informally several timas 

 during the approaching summer to get bet- 

 ter acquainted and talk shop and learn, 

 learn, learn. A bore to those who already 

 know? But of all whom 1 know, those who 



