1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1125 



ably right. On a limestone formation it does 

 best, as it has a liking for lime, and there are 

 some places where every thing seems to be to its 

 tas'e, and possibly there are such places in the 

 Isle of Springs. In some of the "dry" islands 

 of the West Indies it stands a fair chance of suc- 

 ceeding, more particularly at an elevation. 



ALFALFA IN VIRGINIA. 



The Old Dominion is coming forward to take 

 its place am>ng ihe alfalfa States. One farmer 

 is putting down 1500 acres to it just as fast as he 

 can get the land in the proper condition. He 

 first plants the clean well-manured land to crim- 

 son clover and then to cow peas. After that fol- 

 lows a heavy application of lime. Planted on 

 such a bed the alfalfa comes alongat a great rate. 

 In the judgment of experts it will yield as heavily 

 as it does in Colorado or Montana. If this is so, 

 and it seems to be absolutely true, it means a 

 tremendous boost for old Virginia. The Wing 

 brothers, ot Mechanicsburg, Ohio, strongly urge 

 all would-be growers of alfalfa in the South to 

 apply lime heavily — as much as eight tons of 

 ground lime per acre if financial circumstances 

 permit. 1 imagine that, in so warm a climate, 

 alfalfa will j ield some honey. 



General 

 Correspondence 



IMPERIAL VALLEY, OF CALIFORNIA. 



A Note of Warning to Those who Believe 

 this a Bee-keeper's Paradise. 



By J. W. GEORGE. 



W. K. M., page 894, July 1.^, has jumped at 

 conclusions without making proper deductions. 

 Perhaps a little write-up from one who is on the 

 spot, and who is fully conversant with the actual 

 conditions, might not be amiss just now. 



Imperial Valley \s t^O'i/g to be one of the great- 

 est valleys in the United States. I will not take 

 space to describe it minutely; but suffice it to 

 say, it is a large basin below sea level, with a per- 

 fectly level surface, and is about fifty miles 

 square, practically all susceptible of cultivation, 

 and a portion of it is now under cultivation. Till 

 a few >ears ago it was known as the Colorado 

 desert. There is a considerable acreage in alfal- 

 fa, which helps the bee-man; but there is a limit 

 to all good things. Let me sound a warning 

 right here, and give a little history. 



The real-estate men and the local newspapers 

 have financially ruined many a man in this val- 

 ley. This year they published and talked of the 

 great profits in raising cantaloupes for the eastern 

 market until people almost believed that dollars 

 grew on cantaloupe-vines. The result was that 

 hundreds of men planted cantaloupes, and har- 

 vested failures. Why.f" There were too many in 

 the business — hundreds of men lost all they had. 

 Now the local papers and real-estate men have 

 taken up the honey cry, and it may bring about 



the same result for bee-men. With that in view 

 I will give you the actual facts and conditions as 

 nearly as I can. 



As closely as I can estimate, last year s crop 

 was about two cases of extracted honey per colo- 

 ny. This year, indications are for a little better 

 than one case per colony. Last year there were 

 about three carloads of bees in the valley to 

 gather the honey; this year there were 15 carloads 

 of bees shipped into the valley, which makes a 

 total of 18 carloads. Our crop will probably 

 amount to 12 or 15 carloads of honey. I am not 

 going to say that the increased number of bees is 

 entirely responsible for the average reduction in 

 yield per colony; yet there are some who think 

 it is. 



The country here that is sown to alfalfa in suf- 

 ficient acreage to be profitable to the bee industry 

 is all occupied. I would advise any one contem- 

 plating coming here with bees to make haste 

 slowly. You had better come and look the situ- 

 ation over. However, don't think that the bee- 

 keepers of Imperial Valley are hide-bound, and 

 don't want other bee-men to live. Let me give 

 you an instance to prove the contrary: 



One of our fellow bee-men had his entire apiary 

 (with the exception of two colonies) burned, fix- 

 tures and aU. The bee-men of the valley donat- 

 ed from three to ten colonies each, and made for 

 him a new apiary. They actually hauled the 

 colonies to him, some of them coming as far as 

 twelve miles. 



We have an incorporated association for the 

 purpose of marketing our honey and purchasing 

 our supplies. Our officers are, D. D. Lawrence, 

 General Manager; Directors, J. B. Whittaker, 

 Henry Perkins, George Jenifer, Thomas Philip; 

 J. W. George, President. Our secretary is a very 

 busy man, having a large apiary of his own; still 

 I think he would answer any question through 

 the bee-papers that would be of interest to any 

 one contemplating moving bees here. 



One thing I did not mention — this is not a 

 paradise to live in. 



Imperial, Cal. , July 25. 



SIX MONTHS OF WINTER. 



Bees Confined for so Long a Period Need 

 Good Stores and Good Ventilation ; 

 the Value of the Right Combi- 

 nation of Conditions. 



BY H. H. ROOT. 



In localities where the honey-flow is more or 

 less continuous, or where there is usually a flow 

 of good honey in the fall, it may be unwise to 

 substitute sugar syrup for the winter supply of 

 food. But in some cases the fall honey is not a 

 proper winter food, or the winters may be very 

 long, so that sugar syrup is the safest to use. Mr. 

 C. F. Smith, of Sheboygan, Michigan, finds that 

 the syrup gives him much more uniform results, 

 owing to the length of the cold season, which 

 averages about six months. ■ 



At the convention of the Northern Michigan 

 Bee-keepers' Association, Mr. Smith gave some 

 interesting data concerning his locality. The 

 honey-flow begins about the 18th of June, and 

 lasts only about thirty days, there being not 



