S20 



a T. E A N I N G S IN REE C IT T. T U R E 



August, 1919 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



friends who motored from Pennsylvania 

 (luring the time we had our most extreme 

 heat. They had a great amount of luggage 

 with them", and by a roundabout way I 

 learned that they had brought lots of heavy 

 underwear with them to wear while up in 

 "cold" Canada. I jokingly asked them 

 why they were not utilizing all those extra 

 garments at the time they were at our place 

 — the thermometer standing at 98 degrees 

 at the time. But if they come up here 

 some time next January or February I will 

 advise them to bring the same equipment 

 along, even if they didn 't need it this time. 



Honey prices are being discussed these 

 days among the beekeepers fortunate 

 enough to get a crop, and about every mail 

 brings letters asking my opinion on the 

 matter. Frankly I do not have any idea as 

 to how prices will run. Everything else is 

 so very high in price that I hesitate to 

 make even a guess at prices for honey. 

 Raspberries are bringing 37 to 38 cents a 

 small box today in Toronto in a wholesale 

 way, retailing out at 40 or over — we are 

 shipping raspberries to dealers and honestly 

 I am ashamed to take such inflated prices 

 for such a small article of food. But what 

 is a person to do in such a casef The dealer 

 pays the price with no bargaining on the 

 seller's part, so the only way I see to square 

 up is to take the money and then shell out 

 some of the proceeds to needy institutions. 

 But there is something wrong, and I tremble 

 to think of the final outcome of this orgy 

 of high prices for food if it is continued too 

 long. If export to Britain assumes propor- 

 tions to amount to anything, honey w^ill be 

 as high as last year or higher. If there is 

 no export demand, I do not think honey will 

 be as high as last year — especially buck- 

 wheat — even if the crop is light. That is 

 my guess, and time will tell if it is a good 

 one or not. 



Speaking of buckwheat, prospects were 

 never better than they are this year for a 

 crop from that source. Recent rains are 

 bringing along hundreds of acres, and, as 

 there has been practically no swarming, 

 colonies will all be in the best of condition 

 to take advantage of the flow if it should 

 yield. But prospects were never better for 

 clover than this year, and yet few localities 

 have obtained very much from that source. 

 Beekeepers, however, are always hopeful, 

 so I am looking for tons and tons of buck- 

 wheat honey this year, provided the buck- 

 wheat yields nectar. 



This mysterious disease going under dif- 

 ferent names, understood by no one seeming- 

 ly and quite appropriately best known as 

 ' ' disappearing disease, ' ' gave us a call 

 again this year. During all the extreme 

 changes of the spring and all of June we 

 watched the yards for signs of the disease, 

 but none appeared even if the weather was 

 verv hot and dry or verv cool and wet. On 



July 1 we noticed quite a numlier of worker 

 bees and drones traveling fast in an aimless 

 way so far as directions were concerned, but 

 eventually ending up in piles of bees wher- 

 ever there were any hollows in the ground. 

 The next day there were thousands of bees 

 crawling around so thick that one could 

 not walk thru the yard without tramping 

 on many of them, and the next day there 

 were none crawling around, and hardly a 

 bee since. I have no explanations to offer. 

 The days the bees were dying were the days 

 that clover yielded the most for the season. 

 The weather was hot and clear. 



Markham, Ont. J. L. Byer. 



« * « 



In Northern California.— ^"7"^ *1\^ 



past month 

 there has been much discouragement among 

 beekeepers thruout almost our entire section. 

 It might be said and without fear of contra- 

 diction that colonies were in better shape 

 both as to bees and brood during March and 

 April than they were in June. May and 

 June were both ' ' downhill ' ' months, due to 

 continued cold days and nights and windy 

 weather. At this writing (July 5) your 

 correspondent doubts whether there is much 

 more than a ton of honey on his colonies at 

 the present time, whereas last year at this 

 date over 12 tons had been extracted. Be- 

 ginning with July alfalfa commenced to 

 yield. At various points thruout our section 

 grasshoppers (central) and army worms 

 (southern) have caused considerable dam- 

 age, but on the other hand butterflies are 

 not near so prevalent as they have been 

 during the past two years. The factor, how- 

 ever, that concerns the beekeeper most is 

 the condition of the colonies at the present 

 time. Despite continuous feeding by many 

 beekeepers there are thousands of colonies 

 in the valleys today that have not more 

 than five or six frames of brood and hardlj' 

 enough bees to work in the supers. Should 

 we take it for granted that there will be 

 an excellent fall flow, nevertheless we may 

 not expect a full crop this year. Alfalfa is 

 the mainstay, and on the first few weeks 

 of flow from this source the bees are build- 

 ing up to full strength, which necessarily 

 means less honey. In the southern part of 

 our section alfalfa is going to do better than 

 the forecast of a few weeks ago indicated. 

 Of the fall plants alkali weed looks the most 

 promising, and this is especially true thru- 

 out the eastern part of our southern section. 

 The stand of bluecurls is not of the best, 

 and we need not anticipate much nectar 

 from this source. 



What are we going to get for our honey f 

 This question is now being asked constantly. 

 Unquestionably, California will have a short 

 crop, foi- orange and sage were off and al- 

 falfa will be. The California Honey Produc- 

 ers ' Co-operative Exchange will market al- 

 most all of our honey, and its officials know 



