666 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1919 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



in Ontario as in the U. S., and I think those 

 in a position to know will bear me out in 

 this statement. J- L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



* * * 



T nTftxas '^^^ beekeepers of south - 



western Texas are suffering 

 from a very severe attack of "The Disap- 

 pearing Disease." The area affected reaches 

 from Travis County on the north to Live 

 Oak on the south, and Dimmit County to 

 the west. The disease broke out August 15 

 and has covered almost the entire section, 

 hardly an apiary escaping. Some apiaries 

 that were strong with young bees have suf- 

 fered but little, while in others many colo- 

 nies have died. The description of the be- 

 havior of the bees' attack by this trouble 

 coincides in almost every particular with 

 the description already printed in Glean- 

 ings. As usual, when a new disease puts in 

 its appearance the beekeepers at once sus- 

 pect that the bees have been poisoned. A 

 large number of plants are suspected of hav- 

 ing caused this trouble. It is a significant 

 fact that the large majority of these plants 

 yield pollen only. Many of our best bee- 

 keepers have noticed that for some peculiar 

 reason it has been hard to keep queens in 

 the hive this summer, and now that this dis- 

 ease has become so prominent they have 

 connected the high death rate among the 

 queens with it. When the disease attacks 

 the hive, it is reported that the queen dies 

 first, then the worker bees, later the young 

 workers and brood, and the drones last. 

 Just what the loss in Texas will be, cannot 

 be estimated for at least two months. 



The fall season has opened with the pros- 

 pects for a fine honey flow. The division 

 between the summer and fall blooming pe- 

 riods was never more pronounced than this 

 year. During the last three weeks of Au- 

 gust even tho we had an abundance of rain 

 there were practically no native flowers in 

 bloom. Cotton during this season gave a 

 steady honey flow. Bitterweed, the "banc" 

 of the beekeeper, seems to have completed 

 its blooming period. With the beginning of 

 September a large number of fall plants 

 came into bloom, and the flow promises to 

 be heavy and prolonged. Broomweed is 

 very abundant and will be at the height of 

 its blooming within three weeks. At the 

 present time the bees are working on five 

 species of Eupatorium (boneset). The vari- 

 ous varieties of Compositae called rosinweed 

 will be in bloom shortly. Thruout the 

 Trinity and Brazos Valleys, heart 's-ease 

 or smartweed has become thoroly establish- 

 ed, and the bees are working it heavily. If 

 conditions are favorable, there may yet be 

 a fall flow from cotton; but it is doubtful 

 at the present time, as the leaf worm has 

 defoliated a large per cent of the cotton in 



Texas. It will require a month for the cot- 

 ton to come into bloom again. 



As evidence of what the honey flow has 

 been in the cotton section of Texas, one of 

 the prominent honey-producers of that re- 

 gion writes that he has already taken off 

 20,000 pounds and that there is now 10,000 

 pounds in his hives to be extracted. He has 

 made no estimate on a fall honey flow, but 

 5,000 pounds would not be a high estimate. 

 Thruout the black land belt of Texas cotton 

 and bees form a combination that can not 

 be excelled. 



A start has been made in establishing the 

 regional experimental apiaries. It will be 

 remembered that the work was made possi- 

 ble by the appropriation of $6,000 a year 

 for this purpose by the last legislature. The 

 yard at College Station will be used for 

 work requiring daily attention and special 

 equipment. The one at Dilly in Frio Coun- 

 ty wnll be used to solve the problems of the 

 southwest Texas beekeepers. A queen-rear- 

 ing yard in Bexar County will be used ex- 

 clusively in tests on a large scale on the 

 subject of bee improvement. 



The beekeepers of the State are a unit 

 in their expression of surprise at the an- 

 nouncement that F. B. Paddock has resigned 

 the position as Entomologist and State Api- 

 ary Inspector of Texas, to become Apiarist 

 of the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, 

 Iowa. Mr. Paddock has been identified with 

 the work of the Texas Experimental Station 

 for eight years, and for four years has had 

 complete charge of the work of foul-brood 

 control. It was thru his efforts that the 

 present system of county inspectors became 

 possible, and thru them is the present keen 

 interest in the betterment of beekeeping. 

 With the expressions of regret over the loss 

 of Mr. Paddock, are the wishes for success 

 in his work in Iowa. The loss of the leader 

 has only momentarily staggered the bee- 

 keepers. Trained as they have been by him 

 and now the responsibility thrown on them, 

 they will rally to the aid of the new leader, 

 whoever he may be, and the work will go 

 forward as never before. 



The bee moth is a subject of interest to 

 all beekeepers, and especially to the begin- 

 ners who have not as yet learned that strong 

 colonies and regular care render the moth 

 almost harmless. As commonly spoken of, 

 the bee moth, or wax worm, refers to the in- 

 sect destroying the comb of bees; and, 

 farther, this damage is supposed to be large- 

 ly the w^ork of the large bee moth, GaUcria 

 meJboncUa, the lesser bee moth, Achroia 

 (jrisclla, not being widely distributed. It is 

 interesting to note that in Texas the lesser 

 moth is more prevalent in the portion of the 

 State east of the Trinity Eiver. In the ter- 

 ritory between the Trinity and the Brazos 

 the two moths are found in about equal 

 numbers, and west of the latter-named river 



