November, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



liorseiiiint How next year; the young plants 

 are showing up well now, and where the 

 seed was sown are so numerous that they 

 must be thinned. Where horsemint grows 

 in quantities its blooming season can be pro- 

 longed to almost double its normal length 

 by topping when the plants are about six 

 inches high. This may be done with a 

 mowing scythe. This topping causes the 

 plants to branch out, thus delaying the 

 blooming season and increasing the blooms. 



A very interesting thing has come to light 

 in subjecting a partly filled aluminum comb 

 to beenioths. This comb was placed in a 

 pile of worm-infested wax combs. At the 

 end of two weeks it was removed. The only 

 damage done to it by the larger beemoth 

 was to tie webs to part of the wax caps, 

 and to build several cocoons just inside the 

 end-bars. Altho the cells had been drawn 

 flush with the top-bar, there was not room 

 enough for the larger worm to build its silk 

 tube, and consequently little damage was 

 done to the wax addition to the comb; also, 

 the cells were not deep enough to allow a 

 cocoon to be built. Now here comes the 

 interesting thing — the lesser beemoth (an 

 insect almost unknown to the beekeeper be- 

 cause of its confusion with the large bee- 

 moth) had been able, on account of its small 

 size, to run its silk tubes between the ends 

 of the metal cells and the wax caps, and also 

 to build cocoons in the metal cells. It must 

 be said in justice to the metal comb that 

 moths would not work on it until it was 

 placed in this pile of infested combs. 



College Station, Tex. H. B. Parks. 



In Minnesota. 



The annual meeting of 

 the Minnesota Bee- 

 keepers ' -Association will be held on Decem- 

 ber 3 and 4 at St. Paul in connection with 

 the annual meeting of the State Horticul- 

 tural Society. An interesting program is 

 being arranged and when printed will be 

 pent to all the members of the association. 

 If beekeepers who are not members will 

 write to the secretary, L. V. France, Uni- 

 versity Farm, St. Paul, enclosing a stamp, 

 copies of the program will be mailed them. 



This year the Department of Bee Culture 

 of the State Fair adopted the score-card 

 system for the judging of honey. The plan 

 worked so well that it will, in all probabili- 

 ty, be continued in the future, altho it may 

 seem best to make some changes in the 

 make-up of the cards. The following score- 

 points were used: For coinV> honey, flavor 

 and true to name of source 40 points, finish 

 20, color 20, uniformity 10, package 10; for 

 extracted honey, flavor and true to name of 

 source 40 points, body 30, color 20, package 

 10. 



The beekeepers of Fillmore county held 

 their annual meeting at Harmony on the 

 25th of September. They practically re- 



organi/.ed their society, forming an associa- 

 tion with co-operative features. This sec- 

 tion is an extra-good honey locality. 



The beekeepers of Aitkin Co. plan for 

 greater things. They expect to form a county 

 organization and hold meetings for discus- 

 sions along lines of better and more exten- 

 sive beekeeping. There the bees were 

 bringing in nectar on the 17th of Septem- 

 ber, and considerable brood was found in 

 the hives. This could not be said concern- 

 ing some localities in the State. For in- 

 stance, I had a colony on scales that made a 

 net gain of 160 pounds from June 9 to Aug- 

 ust 14, but lost 15 pounds from that date 

 to October 3. The weather was of the best, 

 with no frost, bees flying nearly every day, 

 but no nectar coming in and consequently 

 the greater depletion in the stores. The soil 

 here is light, and dry weather seems to have 

 caused the failure of the fall flow. On ac- 

 count of the sugar shortage we predict that 

 many colonies will go into winter quarters 

 this fall short of stores. 



Minneapolis, Minn. Chas. D. Blaker. 



In Northern California. — o^"' ^'""'j^y 



season for 

 1919 is about to close (Oct. 5). For some 

 beekeepers it closed some little time ago — in 

 fact there are not a few who will maintain 

 that the season never really opened this 

 year. Thruout our southern portion the sea- 

 son was truly disastrous, and it might be 

 said that during the year 1919 the Upper 

 San Joaquin experienced its worst season in 

 honey production since the beginning of the 

 industry. With the exception of a few cars 

 of orange honey early in the season the hon- 

 ey crop might be said to have been totally 

 a failure. In our central and northern por- 

 tions we fared better and produced from 

 half to two-thirds of a crop. Alfalfa yield- 

 ed better north of Merced County, which 

 accounts for the fact that the central por- 

 tion got half a crop from this source. The 

 fall plants, altho possessing n, good growth, 

 did not commence to yield until about Sept. 

 17. These flowers (excepting blue curls 

 which secreted practically nothing) yielded 

 only half their normal nectar up to the end 

 of September when a rain came and ended 

 their usefulness for the balance of the sea- 

 son. The rain retarded, but did not shut 

 off, the aphid flow along the rivers. Thus, 

 in the central portion beekeepers may ex- 

 pect during October honey from the aphid 

 on the willow, from eucalypti, and possibly 

 some from blue curls. In the northern por- 

 tion of the State alfalfa gave about half a 

 crop, star thistle better than half, and in 

 most sections blue curls not more than half 

 a crop. Star thistle honey is an excellent 

 product having a very thick body and fine 

 flavor. The body is so heavy that consider- 

 able difficulty is experienced in extracting. 



