November, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



hope that the bees will winter. At the first 

 opportunity, sugar should be secured and 

 made into bricks of hard candy. This food 

 can be given at any time during the winter 

 and the colony kept alive until it is possible 

 to feed liquid food in the spring. 



The many Michigan friends of P. W. Er- 

 baugh, formerly Deputy Apiarj^ Inspector, 

 will be pleased to learn of his safe return 

 from France and of his recent marriage to 

 Miss Carol Fribley of Bourbon, Indiana. 

 It was hoped and expected that Mr. Er- 

 baugh would resume his former work in 

 Michigan, but a much more remunerative 

 position has been accepted by him in In- 

 diana. His home address is Bourbon, Ind. 



The clover continues to appear in spots 

 where it seemed that the drought must have 

 killed it. Next season 's prospects are ' * look- 

 ing up." The forest fires in the northern 

 part of the State have burned over thou- 

 sands of acres. While the raspberry has 

 been destroyed in such places for a time, 

 just the right condition has been made for 

 an excellent growth of fireweed next year. 

 A crop of fireweed honey is worth making 

 some special efforts to secure. 



The Government estimate of 29 lbs. per 

 colony for Michigan seems to be liberal 

 when only the summer honey crop is consid- 

 ered. However, many sections in the south- 

 ern half of the State have had an unusually 

 good fall honey flow. In the vicinity of 

 Lansing the fall crop averages from 20 to 

 25 lbs. per colony. The principal source of 

 this honey was goldenrod. This is particu- 

 larly appreciated in view of the scarcity of 

 sugar. A large part of the State, of course, 

 was not so fortunate, and it is to be feared 

 that the mortality this winter may approach 

 that of two years ago. 



Last winter was particularly favorable in 

 Michigan for the wintering of bees outdoors, 

 with little or no protection. It should be 

 borne in mind that the chances are very 

 much against having such a mild winter this 

 year. Many of the exponents of little pro- 

 tection have pointed with pride to their suc- 

 cess of last winter. How distinctly we re- 

 member the colonies that wintered success- 

 fully without protection, and how easily we 

 forget that from 50 per cent to 80 per cent 

 have died or just barely survived other win- 

 ters of the past! It may be a happy trait of 

 human nature to forget our troubles and ad- 

 versities, but when applied to the bee busi- 

 ness it sometimes proves a very unwise and 

 expensive habit. 



By action of the Executive Committee of 

 the State Beekeepers' Association, the an- 

 nual convention will be held in the first 

 half of December, the tentative date de- 

 cided upon being the 9th, 10th, and 11th. 

 An effort is being made to secure a number 

 of outside speakers, and the date may have 

 to be changed a day or two to accommodate 

 them. It is hoped to bring together at this 

 convention some of the most successful hon- 



ey-producers in the middle West. The pro- 

 gram will be divided into beginners, pro- 

 fessional, social, and business sections. A 

 complete announcement will be made in the 

 December issue and will reach the readers 

 in time to come to the convention. Advance 

 programs can be secured from the secretary, 

 B. r. Kindig, East Lansing, Mich. These 

 will be ready for distribution about Nov. 15. 



By the co-operation of the Extension De- 

 partment of the Agricultural College and 

 the office of the State Inspector of Apiaries, 

 it is possible to offer to the beekeepers of 

 the State a series of two-day Beekeepers ' 

 Schools. It is planned to hold a two-day 

 school in each of 63 counties of the State 

 having either a county agent or a county 

 beekeepers ' association. The work will be 

 started between the first and the fifteenth 

 of November. Anyone particularly interest- 

 ed in these schools should write the State 

 Inspector of Apiaries, East Lansing, Mich., 

 for a schedule of the schools and a copy of 

 the program that will be presented. It is 

 impossible for the thousands of beekeepers 

 of the State to attend the College Short 

 Courses. We therefore feel it necessary to 

 carry as much of the work as possible direct- 

 ly to the beekeepers in the form of these 

 schools. 



The committee appointed at the summer 

 convention of the State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation to jneet with the representatives of 

 the Federal Bureau of Markets for the pur- 

 pose of formulating plans for launching a 

 Michigan Honey Producers' Exchange met 

 at Cadillac on October 8. After a thoro dis- 

 cussion of the various plans of handling the 

 marketing problem, it was decided to ask 

 the Michigan Potato Growers' Exchange to 

 take on honey as another line of their ac- 

 tivity. The committee will meet with the 

 directors of the exchange on October 13 for 

 the purpose of asking them to form a new 

 department for grading, packing, and sell- 

 ing honey. The Exchange already has a 

 well-established organization with about 85 

 local shipping associations and a yearly 

 business of several million dollars. It 

 seems that by combining with the Exchange 

 the work would be very much simplified, as 

 they already have every facility for doing 

 business profitably and efficiently. The Ex- 

 change not only handles potatoes but also 

 apples, small fruits, grains, seeds, and other 

 farm products, and in addition has a pur- 

 chasing department which buys all kinds of 

 supplies needed by the members. Whatever 

 action is taken by the committee will of 

 course have to be ratified by the convention 

 of the State Beekeepers ' Association in 

 December. B. F. Kindig. 



East Lansing, Mich. 



» * » 



In Ontario. Following a cool August. 



we have had here in On- 

 tario unusually mild weather for September 

 and October up to date (10th). I fed up 



