320 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1919 



BELIEVE 



c 



JL British Co- 

 lumbia t 

 be a fairly good 

 place for the bee 

 industry, if 

 properlj' handl- 

 ed. The winters 

 are much milder 

 than in Ontario, 



and we have some very good beemen in the 

 province. I have not seen any skyscrapers 

 yet, altho I have seen some very good piles 

 of supers stacked up. There was a fine dis- 

 play of honey at the Vancouver Exposition 

 this year and the honey was all of first-class 

 quality." — G. Guyer, Port Hammond, B. C. 



''Last spring I bought about 75 old stands 

 of old combs, dead bees, etc. They had 

 been neglected by the owner and I had sup- 

 posed that all were dead. But on the floor 

 of the old shop where the bee junk was stor- 

 ed were two stands without supers and cov- 

 ers, and an old quilt so that they could not 

 get out. In moving the outfit I found these 

 two colonies very much alive. They could 

 not possibly have had a flight for fully five 

 months. I put them in clean ten-frame hives 

 and thev did finely, making over 150 pounds 

 each. With this and other experiences I 

 believe I can winter bees almost anywhere 

 and not lose over 5 per cent, altho I have in 

 the past lost many. I started in the hard 

 winter of 1917- '18 with 38 stands and came 

 out in the spring with 37. ' ' — Silas Ralls, 

 Blaine County, Ida. 



"Arkansas has been overlooked as re- 

 gards beekeeping up to the present time, 

 but the people are awakening to the realiza- 

 tion of the fact that we have an ideal bee 

 country. We have very few up-to-date or 

 wide-awake beekeepers, and most of those 

 we have are of the old type. They have 

 their bees in ' gums ' and * rob the bees, and 

 they can remember the time when ' grandpa 

 cut a tree and got two or three tubs full of 

 honey,' etc. But we have some beekeepers 

 who are right up to the minute, and the cli- 

 mate is ideal. The honey-bearing plants are 

 many and lasting. The worst drawback is 

 the long heat of the summers, but our bees 

 make honey all thru the warm season. ' ' — 

 J. W. Rice, Sebastian County, Ark. 



"Prospects are good in this part of the 

 country now for a good year. The season 

 is at least 20 days earlier than last year. 

 Never had bees winter better." — Elmer 

 Benge, Anderson County, Tex. 



"The bee and honey industry in this 

 vicinity is progressing nicely and sweet 

 clover is getting started along the creeks 

 and waste places, so I have no doubt that in 

 a few years honey will be abundant in the 

 dry season of the year. ' ' — Eugene Buseler, 

 Washington County, Ark. 



"Have handled bees since I was 18 years 

 of age, and am now 54, still learning. Learn- 

 ed last summer not to pet my dog or horse, 

 then handle brood-frames without gloves. 



BEES, MEN AND THINGS 



(You may find it here) 



1 



^^^^^^^^^ 



lU 



One of our na- 

 tive Apache-Mo- 

 have Indians 

 told me to rub 

 my face and 

 hands with the 

 crushed blos- 

 soms of the 

 manzanita bush 

 and the bees 

 would not sting me. Worked fine where the 

 bees know the bush, but just the reverse 

 where the bush does not grow. So it is live 

 and learn. ' ' — John J. Jackson, Yavapai 

 County, Ariz. 



' ' The honey harvest in Denmark was 

 nearly a failure in most cases this year; but 

 the price is normal. Still the demand has 

 been greater in spite of the price. Again we 

 are singing the precious Christmas song, 

 'Peace on Earth,' and praised be the Lord 

 that the war is ended — for never, never 

 more to commence. ' ' — Anna Sommer, Ronne 

 Bornholme, Denmark, Dec. 26, 19|18. 



' ' In my little farm apiary of 12 to 30 

 colonies I have not had a winter loss for 

 four years. I winter on summer stands with 

 chaff super on top, with tar paper for side 

 and end protection, and a double bottom- 

 board, and % X 3-ineh entrance." — D. W. 

 Holland, Sumner County, Kan. 



' ' Bee business is certainly picking up 

 again in this locality. A 4-lb. pail of ex- 

 tracted is selling for $1.05." — P. P. Conklin, 

 Elmira, N. Y. Apr. 10. 



"In the spring of 1918 I had four colonies 

 left out of 96, and from the four I built up 

 to 30 in the summer and sold 700 pounds of 

 honey. I never saw such a flow of honey 

 since I kept bees as we had last summer. I 

 v/inter outside with bees packed in dry saw- 

 dust, with a board fence around the apiary 

 six feet high for a windbreak. ' ' — Thos. 

 Bartley, Cohoconk, Out., Can. 



"Foolish question No. 6666. Do bees 

 hear? Has any one ever heard the squeak 

 of sealed queens answered by the piping of 

 the free virgins on the combs? Has any 

 one heard caged queens in separate cages in 

 the same room pipe one to the other?" — J. 

 H. Fisbeck, Saint Louis County, Mo. 



' ' On Feb. 28 I unpacked my bees and 

 placed them on a summer stand. On open- 

 ing the hive March 7 I was surprised to find 

 very little honey had been eaten and three 

 frames of brood in every stage from eggs up 

 to emerging Irees. ' ' — B. E. Johnson, Camp- 

 bell County, Va. 



"The other day I went to a picture show 

 and saw a demonstration of the handling of 

 bees put on the screen. I thought the in- 

 formation would be welcomed by you. It 

 was the first time I had been attacked by 

 homesickness, which is so common with the 

 boys in the service. But things looked very 

 natural . After the show I heard remarks 

 piade about the bees, and the surprising 

 thing to me was the number of men who did 



