NOVEMBER 1, 1913 



761 



more danger is to be suspected in the small 

 bunches stuck around farms and in boxes 

 by people who have no knowledge of bees. 



•' But why neglect any f " you say. A 

 passage or two from the State Inspector's 

 notice to Mr. Johnson explains : " There 

 being sixteen inspection districts in the 

 State, and the money appropriated for this 

 l)urpose having to be alloted to the different 

 districts, your district was given the follow- 

 ing amount for bee inspection for this year : 

 •+150 for districts Nos. 6 and 7." Mr. John- 

 son understands this to mean $75.00 for 

 district No. 6, said district being perhaps 

 one hundred miles long and a county wide, 

 the Payette Valley alone being something 

 like 10 X 30 miles. For lack of funds, Mr. 

 Johnson has not seen half of the Payette 

 Valley, and nothing- at all of Boise County. 

 Again : " I also note what you say in regard 

 to there being no bee inspector in that 

 district before. Heretofore there has been 

 no request for a bee-inspector in that sec- 

 tion. That is the reason why there has been 

 no bee inspector in the past." 



It seems a pity that foul brood should 

 render beekeeping next to impossible here; 

 for natural conditions are all but ideal for 

 the business. The fruit-bloom begins by 

 the tirst of April — very often much earlier. 

 This is soon supplemented by dandelions; 

 then white clover; then alfalfa; then white 

 sweet clover. These three last till freeziiig 

 weatlier, and are in abundance along the 

 river banks and irrigation ditches, where 

 tliey are kept perpetually green and bloom- 

 ing through the long season by reason of 

 moisture at the roots. Alfalfa is usually 

 cut when in bloom; but the borders remain, 

 and it grows, like sweet clover, in all waste 

 places. White clover is abundant, and never 

 ceases to produce nectar, apparently. 



Following is the performance of a single 

 colony : On July 28 nearly half a bushel of 

 hybrids were found on a fence-post in the 

 edge of town. I was away from home, and 

 my son hived them in an oil-box. We 

 brought them home that night. July 29, 

 near noon, I put them into a ten-frame hive 

 with full sheets of foundation. July 31 the 

 sheets were all drawn out, and partly filled 

 with honey. August 1 the queen was laying 

 in a limited space; frames heavy with hon- 

 ey, bees hanging outside at night. August 

 2, put on extracting-super witli inch start- 

 ers. Augiist 8 queen laying in five extract- 

 ing- frames which are almost fully drawn 

 out and filled. August 9 removed two 

 frames of honey, and replaced by two full 

 sheets of foundation and put a section-super 

 on top of the extracting-super. August 15, 

 found the queen back in the brood-nest ; 

 put the section-super under the extracting- 



super. Aug-ust 21, brood hatching; August 

 26, working nicely in sections; brood-nest 

 crowded with lioney. August 27, removed 

 the frame of honey and replaced with a full 

 sheet of foundation in the brood-nest. Aug- 

 ust 29, bees seem crowded for room; put 

 another super under the others. 



Mr. Johnson returned on August 6 to 

 check his former inspections and to inspect 

 other colonies. This time he came with his 

 wife in his automobile. He was able to take 

 nie and my wife and daughter all over the 

 neighborhood. That night liis auto stood 

 in our dooryard, and, after having supper 

 and an evening with us, they slept in a 

 neighbor's house. The next morning he veiy 

 kindly invited me to go home with him. The 

 trip of about tliirty miles was a great de- 

 light. We went by the " South Slope " 

 fruit-farms and ins2Dected a number of colo- 

 nies — mosth' in ramshackle boxes and gums. 

 We met the proverbial j^essimist, who de- 

 clared his bees were all right, and that the 

 insjJection was a " graft " intended only to 

 |)rovide fat i:)laces for the " friends " of the 

 legislators. But here is where Mr. Johnson 

 shone best. He gave ]\Ii'. Pessimist no 

 chance to get in a word, but talked him into 

 silence, in the mean time digging out enough 

 of his combs to illustrate his lecture on foul 

 brood, and leaving his antagonist wide- 

 mouthed with amazement and chagrin. From 

 the fruit-farms we passed through a stretch 

 of waste land, ruined by seepage and alkali. 

 This changed near New Plymouth to splen- 

 did grain and apple country, which con- 

 tinues, I am told, all the way to the Snake 

 River at the mouth of the Payette Valley. 



THE INSPECTOR AS A BEEKEEPER. 



Mr. Johnson is an old Colorado beeman. 

 He moved to Wasliington a few years ago, 

 but found conditions unfavorable. His home 

 is now at Hillsboro, Oregon, where he 

 sjiends the winters. But he moved his api- 

 ary to near Fruitland, Idaho, a few years 

 ago. There he found two acres in sage- 

 brush, with one canal on the north, another 

 on the east, and the Payette Valley railroad 

 on the south, with only the bank of the 

 canal on which to get to the main road. 

 Tliis land was too liigh to be watered from 

 the supply ditches, though it was almost 

 level. Mr. Johnson bought it cheap, then 

 cleared it; then got permission to connect 

 a neighbor's waste ditch witli the plot, so he 

 lias plenty of water free of charge. Then 

 he widened the canal bank as far as he 

 could go on the south side, and then bridged 

 it, widening the north bank thence to the 

 road. There he is in a picturesque, seclud- 

 ed spot, with great fields of alfalfa all about 

 and with tangles of sweet clover along the 

 canals and railroad. There he spends his 



