MAT 15. 1915 



To lecapilulate: There will be from one- 

 half to two-thirds of a crop of clover; 

 slijjhtly niuler an average of best gi'ades of 

 alfalfa; from one-half to a fair yield of 

 orange in California; from one-half to two- 

 thirds of a crop from mountain sage; full 

 crop in Texas. 



Practically all the comb honey of the 

 better grades is cleaned up. There should 

 be a strong demand for new No. 1 fancy 

 comb lioney. 



The price of extracted will probably rule 

 about the same as last year. But in order 

 to get this, more comb honey should be pro- 

 duced this year than last or extracted will 

 slump in price. The heavy sale of sections 

 warrants the belief that there will be more 

 produced. 



Later. — Just as we go to press our man- 

 ager at Los Angeles writes as follows : 



Southern California in general has had a series of 

 light rains coming one on top of another. This 

 should greatly increase the chances for a good sage 

 flow, while it has undoubtedly injured the possible 

 output of orange honey inasmuch as the oranges 

 have been in full bloom during the period of these 

 rains, and consequently the flow has been shortened 

 by just so many days of rains, clouds, and cold. 

 This will much more than be made up by the bene- 

 fit to the sage. 



Bees Necessary in Sootheriii Grape 

 Cullture 



Facts of pollination are of the utmost 

 importance in fruit-growing. Every horti- 

 culturist knows that some classes of fruit 

 will yield lightly, if at all, when far from 

 other varieties, and that, for best results, not 

 only should varieties be selected that pol- 

 linate well together, but some provision 

 should be made for the transference of the 

 pollen. The wind cannot be relied upon for 

 this work. 



The Muscadine grapes, according to the 

 North Carolina Experiment Station, are 

 self-sterile — that is, the vines which pro- 

 duce fruit must be fertilized by pollen from 

 other vines. The only vines capable of 

 doing tliis bear no fruit. So it is necessary 

 to plant both the male and female vines 

 close together, and thus insure that the 

 pollen be carried from one vine to the other. 



Unfortunately bees are not nearly so 

 active on tlie blossoms of the Muscadine 

 grape as they are on other plants. The 

 small proportion of flowers which develop 

 into fruit can probably be traced to tliis 

 fact. Says Bulletin 209, "Every effort should 

 be made to encourage bees. It is very 

 evident from our results that at least one 

 hive of bees should be kept where any large 

 number of vines are grown." 



S89 



The Muscadine grape is more imi n: ant 

 in tlie South ihan any other. In Nortli C'ar- 

 olina it is estimated that more Muscadine 

 grapes are grown than all others combined. 

 They flourish from Delaware south to Flor- 

 ida, and west as far as Texas. Points of 

 superiority over other grapes lie in their 

 resistance to insect pests and fungous dis- 

 eases, their ability to grow in poor dry 

 sandy soil, and their immunity from frosts, 

 due to their tardy blooming period. 



Oregoniam Beekeeping 



" Beekeeping for the Oregon Farmer," 

 by H. F. Wilson, Entomologist Oregon Ex- 

 periment Station, Bulletin No. 168, Oregon 

 Agricultural College. 



The bulletin opens, following the intro- 

 duction, with a short history of bee culture 

 in Oregon. The author believes that bees 

 were first imported the year after the dis- 

 covery of gold in California, and that they 

 were brought along during the great rush 

 for the Coast. A considerable amount of 

 gold must have been discovered in the bee 

 business, for the first colonies sold for $125 

 a colony. Following this early importation 

 not many more bees were brought in, the 

 rest developing largely from those imported 

 by tlie early settlers. 



The early portion of the report is a 

 survey of the present situation of apiculture 

 in Oregon — practically the same matter 

 whicli Mr. Wilson prepared for Gleanings, 

 page 895, December 15, 1913. Most of the 

 honey comes from central Oregon, while 

 the Columbia Basin is second, and southern 

 Oregon third. On the average, one out of 

 four farmers keeps bees. A distribution 

 map has been prepared showing the ap- 

 proximate number of 50,000 colonies. 

 These are worth, roughly, $250,000. 



" For the actual amount of money invest- 

 ed there ai'e few agi'icultural pursuits that 

 will give returns as great as those that can 

 be made by beekeeping," encouragingly 

 asserts the writer; but he is careful to add 

 that, " like every other agricultural indus- 

 try profits in beekeeping are secured by 

 hard work and careful attention to busi- 

 ness." 



The rest of the bulletin is given over to a 

 discussion of the bee business in its mani- 

 fold phases. His remarks under the head 

 " Why and When Beekeeping does Not 

 Pay " are valuable in accounting for many 

 of the failures. Varieties of bees, neces- 

 saries of equipment, types of hives, manip- 

 ulation, and general management to avoid 

 or overcome the obstacles which sooner or 

 later confront every beekeeper, are all dis- 



