AUOT'ST 1, 1915 



609 



are li'll. Swcel rlovoi- is more abuiidniit 

 this year than lor several years l)aek The 

 frequent rains have yiveii il a l)i,ii boost ; and 

 some of the white-ehiver honey will ha\e a 

 slight .'Ia\orin,i; of sweet elover. A little 

 of this honey in clover always improves its 

 fhivor; and those who have a combination 

 ot the two will i)robably secure fair i)riees. 

 Most of the white-clover honey will come 

 fi'om Die following- stales: Northern Oliio; 

 parts of I'eunsylvania ; ^'ermont, Michigan, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Mis- 

 souri, and Kansas. In all of these stales 

 there will be spots where there will be no 

 honey. Most oC the j)oor leports are from 

 the st)utherM states. In Delaware. Marylaml. 

 and New Jersey, as well of a larger pari oL' 

 the New England states, there will be an 

 almost comi)lete failure of honey. The same 

 is true of most of the southern states south 

 of the Ohio Kiver. Reports are unfavorable 

 from Oklahoma, south Texas, and parts of 

 Oregon and \\'ashington. In the two last- 

 named states there have been too many cold 

 rains and t(»o much chilly weathei'. 



In Texas it has been the reveise — too di'y 

 and )u)t. 



Calil'oi'uia seems to be coming ahead 

 nun-li better than the early reports indicat- 

 ed; but still it cannot be claimed that the 

 ag-gregate yield has been up to the expec- 

 tation of its beekeepers. Some have se- 

 cured good croiis; but the great majority 

 have only from poor to fair 3'ields. But 

 enough has been secured so that already a 

 eoujile of carloads of sage has gone east. 

 This will be shoitly followed by alfalfa from 

 the Rocky Mountain states. If the yield from 

 eastern clover siiould prove to be large it 

 would make a slight slump in the pi'ice of 

 alfalfa and California sage extracted. But of 

 this no definite statement can be made — 

 l»robably not before our next issue or e\en 

 till the first of September. 



I'rosjiects for buckwheat honey are very 

 u:ood in tiiose sei-tions of the country wheie 

 il is Lirown— i)articnlaily in New ^■(l^k. 



For some reason we have almost no re- 

 ports from Canada. AVhethei- this indi- 

 f'ates a failure of honey or not we do not 

 know; but as the conditions have so mateii- 

 ally impioved in New York, northein Mich- 

 igan, and Wisconsin, we should naturally 

 assume that the same atmospheric cmitli- 

 tious wouhl favor at least a light ciop in 

 Ontario. Canada. 



Reports are not luimei'ous fiom the 

 Rocky Mountain districts in regard to the 

 l»rol)able yield of alfalfa honey. But there 

 seems to be a sort of urider-current of feel- 

 ing that there will he nearly if not f|uite the 

 same vield that there has 1)een formerlv. As 



a general i^roposition (lie irrigated regions 

 (d' the Rocky Mountain states aie more sure 

 of a crop than almost any olhei' pari of the 

 landed Stales. 



i'i;i('i':s. 



At the i)i'esent writing il would ai)i)ear 

 that ])rices on tirsl (juality No. 1 and fancy 

 cumb honey will be firm. Whether they 

 will hold up to last season or not we cannot 

 say. Prices on clover and alfalfa extracted, 

 of best quality, will ])robably be a little 

 easier than last year, although unfavorable 

 weather during the rest of this month in 

 the clover districts mig'ht give thera an up- 

 ward trend. 



Keiiorts from most of the states south of 

 the Ohio River have been decidedly unfa\or- 

 able. The cold backward rainy weather in 

 June and the fore part of July prevented 

 the bees from getting any honey; and when 

 the weather warJiied up it seemed to be too 

 late for the clovers to do much good. Most 

 of the reports from the northern clover 

 states, if we except the New England states, 

 and Delaware and New Jersey, are good — 

 \ery good. Most of the poor reports come 

 from the southern slates south of the Ohio 

 Ri\ er, going as far west as Texas. 



Prices on southern honey on account of 

 tlie general failure in the south ought to be 

 firmer than last yeai-. They cannot l)e 

 weaker, that is sure. 



How to Get a Cheap Automobile Truck 

 for Beeyartl Work 



We ha\e been using, for two years back, a 

 regulation automobile truck with our out- 

 yard work. It has a capacity of 1500 lbs. 

 weight and at a speed of from ten to twenty 

 iriiles. At the maximum speed the engine 

 has to go at a terrific rate ; so the speed in 

 practice is not much over fifteen miles an 

 hour. This howevei', is three times as fast 

 as a team can go. 



This year we rigged up one of our old 

 live-]iassenger automobiles (an Overland), 

 35 hoi-se power, which has been used for five 

 or six years. Last winter the engine and the 

 running-gear work were overhauled, the 

 body removed, and a regulai- wagon-box or 

 truck-box was substiluted, at a small cost. In 

 our general beeyaid work it wa.s- our inten- 

 tion to use this built-ovei' fast-speed truck in 

 preference to our regular automobile truck 

 of slow speed. As a matter of fact, the for- 

 mer is oftener used; while the touring-car 

 truck will not cai'i-y more than half the load, 

 il goes so much faster and easier that we 

 have found it more profitable to use. It is 

 seldom that we desii-e to carry more than 

 700 lbs. weight; and (he fact tliat il lias an 



