AUGUST 1, 1915 



Beekeeping Among the Ecdckie: 



Wesley Foster, BouMer, Colorado. 



CROP CONDITIONS 



III the Kooky Mountain region, 

 lioncY-crop conditions are still u\) 

 ill the air, so to speak. In Idaho 

 many discouraging' i-eporls have 

 l)een ivreived. Wind has interfered 

 with (lie flow in the Idaho Falls 

 district, and feeding was done until the first 

 of July, and in some })lace.s probably later. 



Cold, cloudy, and rainy weather in the 

 Twin Falls district kept the bees from tak- 

 ing advantage of the first crop of alfalfa. 

 Bees went backward in l\Iay and early June, 

 but feeding was not necessary as late as in 

 some districts. Prospects are good now 

 (July 10), and early July saw many col- 

 • onies building queen-cells, and most colonies 

 will donbiless make some surplus honey. 



Reports from Utah are discouraging in 

 the exti'eme on account of the ravages of 

 the alfalfa wee\'il. 



Mesa County, Colorado, has had no flow 

 from first alfalfa, and grasshoppers are re- 

 ported very bad. with prospects poor. 



frarfield County reports a good flow early 

 in July, and fair prospects. 



Delta County conditions are fair to good 

 with indications that some new comb honey 

 will be taken oft' by the middle of July. 



Conditions are backward in Montrose 

 ( oiinty, with nothing favorable to report. 



In the Arkansas Valley new honey is re- 

 |)orled being stored in the hives in and 

 about Canon City and in the Ordway dis- 

 trict. From Kocky Ford to Los Animas 

 conditions are very much behind what they 

 should be. and little new honey showing. 



In the lower Ai'kansas Valley things are 

 a little better, bees having stored some 

 honey from first crop of alfalfa, only to go 

 backward early in July; but to-day, July 

 10, things seem to be picking up, and 

 some colonies are beginning work in the 

 comb-honey suj)ers and extracting-chambers. 



Swarming has begun in the southwestern 

 l>art of Colorado, and prospects for a sur- 

 plu.s crop are fair. 



In northern Colorado prospects are the 

 poori'st of any place in the state. This con- 

 dition is largely caused by the fact that the 

 bees are not ready for the honey-flow, or 

 very few of them are. In large areas there 

 was a dearth of pollen and also a lack of 

 stores. Many beekeepers did not feed suffi- 

 ciently ; and where pollen was scarce it did 

 little good. 



If Boulder <"ounty has half a crop of 

 honey I shall be agreeably surjjrised. Many 



colonies have gone backward until I hey are 

 little moi'e than nuclei. 



Sweet clover looks fine; and with good 

 weather appearances might change, and a 

 fair crop be harvested; but a nucleus in 

 July cannot be counted on for sur])liis. 



To sum up, a few restricted districts will 

 have a crop of honey this year; but a gen- 

 eral good yield is past hoping for. 



NON-SKPAr-ATOli'KD OR SKPARATORED HONEY. 



Mr. Latham, page 530, July 1, says that, 

 after weighing thousands of sections of both 

 separatored and non-separatored honey, 

 there is no more variation in weight in one 

 than in the other. Did Mr. Latham weigh 

 his own honey, or was it the honey of the 

 average beekeeper? I will controvert the 

 statement if he will apply it to the average 

 producer of marketable comb honey. 



I have seen sections of non-separatored 

 honey, practically all sealed, weighing not 

 more than eight ounces. I have not seen 

 any separatored honey as light as this. I 

 ]ia^ e seen non-separatored honey, completely 

 sealed, weighing 21 ounces; and I have 

 never seen a separatored section of honey 

 woigliing over 17 ounces. I have in mind 

 the 41,4x4^/4x1% two-beeway section. 



If as good results can be secured as Mr. 

 Ijatliam says he gets, there is ground for 

 the belief that some commercial honey-pi'o- 

 ducers Avould profit by discarding separat- 

 ors; but it will require closer attention to 

 super work than most honey-producers give; 

 and the exti'a time taken would doubtless 

 offset the advantages. 



T agree with Mr. Latham that all comb 

 honey should be cartoned: but why does 

 lie refer to the bottomless-topless cai'ton 

 when you are supposed to slip the section 

 in from the side, and the two-beeway sec- 

 tion then practically seals the package? It 

 is. of course, not as closely sealed as the 

 regular carton. 



I think the argument that the flat surface 

 of separatored honey tends to strengthen the 

 idea that comb honey is manufactured is a 

 poor one. I have never heard it. The 

 most damaging idea the public gets is the 

 comb foundatioii used by beekeepers, which 

 many i)eople think is maimfactured comb, 

 and flic fact that often beekeepers buy larsre 

 quantities of sugar to feed the bees. Added 

 (0 tliis, the granulation of honey has its ef- 

 fect on the public. These are our obstacles. 



Take the product of fifteen beekeepers 

 >vho use separators and fifteen who do not, 

 and pack both lots and size up results. 



