June, 1914. 



American Hee Jonrnajj 



vention of beekeepers ever held in 

 America, which met in Indianapolis, 

 Ind., during the winter of 1871. 



In case Dr. Miller was at that con- 

 vention and is 83 years old, he will 

 pass, but not otherwise. Mr. M. M. 

 Baldridge, of St. Charles, 111., was at 

 the convention, and I think is still liv- 

 ing, but I do not think that he is as old 

 as myself. 



G. BoHRER, M. D., Chase, Kan. 



Save Your Beeswax Refuse. — Bees- 

 wa.x is high in price now, some pro- 

 ducers have been ofifered in the neigh- 

 borhood of 35 cents per pound for their 

 accumulations. It behooves the bee- 

 keeper to save every scrap that may be 

 turned into beeswax. While on the 

 rounds of our apiaries one hive was 

 found in which the combs had. been 

 completely demolished by the moths 

 last fall, after they were thought to be 

 safe. It seemed plausible that this 

 sediment left by the moths ought to 

 contain at least a small percentage of 

 beeswax. The black looking dirt was 

 gathered up and carried home to be 

 run through a Hershiser wax press as 

 a trial. 



From what had been 10 full combs, 

 Dadant size, was extracted 14 ounces 

 of beeswax. This, too, in view of the 

 fact that the lot made so small a batch 

 that not a little proportion of the wax 

 must have been left in the burlap pack- 

 ing when pressing. 



Do not let the moths destroy your 

 combs by any means, but if they do de- 

 stroy them, do not throw away the 

 residue as unfit for any use. Save it 

 together with bits of bur comb, and 

 render it together with your other 

 slumgum, or, if you prefer, send it to 

 some of the supply men who make a 

 business of rendering old combs and 

 slumgum into wax. 



A good way to preserve old and 

 crooked combs from moth until you 

 have leisure time to render them is to 

 keep them covered with water in a tub 

 or barrel. 



Development ol Ap culture. — Russian 



apiculture progressed last year, the 

 production of honey being above the 

 average. The year was an unusual one 

 in many respects ; the spring was early, 

 warm weather setting in as early as 

 March, and many beekeepers brought 

 out the hives from their winter abodes. 

 At the end of March the first honey 

 appeared. However, the warm weather 

 was not of long duration ; after the 

 middle of April a wave of cold spread 

 over Russia. In the southern regions 

 this happened during the flowering 

 period of the fruit and destroyed buds 

 and blossoms. The cold weather lasted 

 for some time, and May, which is us- 

 ually the chief month of the bees' 

 activity, proved unsatisfactory, the bees 

 not resuming work until June. In well 



kept apiaries, where the bees were pro- 

 vided with warm hives and sufficient 

 food, they did not suffer much from 

 this delay, but in the ordinary apiaries 

 of the peasants a great number perished 

 of hunger and cold; and those that 

 survived were able to collect later in 

 the season only the necessary winter 

 supply of honey. A great improve- 

 ment was noted in June in the central, 

 eastern, and southern provinces of Eu- 

 pean Russia, where white clover, buck- 

 wheat, sunflowers, and many other 

 plants furnished a large supply of food. 

 In the western territories the weather 

 continued cold and wet through June. 

 In the wooded districts, where the pro- 

 duction of honey depended upon the 

 flowering of trees and shrubs, the out- 

 come of the season was poor. For in- 

 stance, the honey obtained from lime 

 trees, which is preferred to other kinds 

 by the consumers, and is produced in 

 large quantities in the province of 

 Nizhni-Novgorod, was very scarce last 

 year. On the other hand, apiaries sit- 

 uated in the open country and the step- 

 pes showed a large yield. 



Good results were obtained from the 

 following provinces of central Russia: 

 Kostroma, Vladimir, Moscow. Ryazan, 

 Tamboff, Penza, and part of Tula; and 

 in the following northern and eastern 

 provinces: Vyatka, Perm. Ufa, Nizhni- 

 Novgorod, Simbirsk, and Kazan. 



Detailed statistical data have been 

 obtained from the instructor appointed 

 by the Department of Agriculture in 

 the province of Kostroma. In this 

 province there are 100,000 hives, and 

 the yield of honey has been good, aver- 

 aging 41 pounds per hive; the yield of 

 wax averaged 0.7 pound per hive. In 

 several rare instances as much as 433 

 pounds of honey were obtained from 

 one hive. The average prices were 15 

 cents per pound of honey and 37 cents 

 per pound of wax. The total revenue 

 from apiculture in Kostroma for 1913 

 amounted to more than $500,000. 



A satisfactory yield was obtained in 

 the provinces of Kovno, Grodno, Smo- 

 lensk, St. Petersburg, and Pskov, and 

 an average yield in Volhynia, Podolia, 

 Samara, Saratof, and Tver; but in both 

 regions the production was inferior to 

 that of the previous year. These terri- 

 tories show a great variety of prices, 

 depending upon the facilities for mark- 

 eting the product. Results were un- 

 satisfactory in Poland, Vitebsk, Vilna, 

 and Orel, where in manv apiaries the 

 honey produced hardly sufficed for 

 keeping the bees through the winter. 



Last year again demonstrated the 

 lack of organization in the marketing 

 of honey, and the dependence of the 

 beekeeperson the wholesale purchasers 

 who often make a profit of 200 to 300 

 percent. 



Serious drawbacks to apiculture were 

 the prevalence of sickness among the 

 bees brought on by the unfavorable 

 weather and the beekeepers' ignorance 

 of modern methods. Apiculture is de- 

 veloping every year, and the need of 

 instruction in scientific beekeeping is 

 recognized by most of the producers. 

 The Government has been asked to 

 provide such instruction. 



president of the Central French Bee- 

 keepers' Association. He was secre- 

 tary of the International Congress of 

 Beekeepers at the Paris Exposition of 

 1000. Mr. Alin Caillas, the chemist, is 

 his son. 



Meeting of Iowa Beekeepers at Delmar. 



—The meeting at Delmar, July 7, will be 

 held at the Coverdale farm. Mr. Cover- 

 dale has become famous as a grower 

 of sweet clover, and is considered au- 

 thority on the subject. He has experi- 

 mental plots showing what sweet clover 

 will do when handled scientifically. 

 Mr. Coverdale will deliver an address 

 explaining what sweet clover will do 

 for the farmer and stock raiser. Any 

 one contemplating sowing sweet clover 

 can well afford to make a trip across 

 the State to hear Mr. Coverdale, and 

 see his experimental plots as well as 

 his large acreage. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant will probably at- 

 tend and deliver an address. He has 

 been asked to choose his own subject. 



Mr. Frank C. Pellett, Iowa's State 

 bee-inspector, will also speak on foul- 

 brood conditions in Iowa, foulbrood 

 laws, etc. Mr. Pellett is a lecturer of 

 note, and ispresident of ourState Asso- 

 ciation and a live wire. He isn't very 

 large, but you will know he is at the 

 meeting nil right. Other subjects will 

 be discussed informally, but the three 

 addresses will be well worth your time. 



Don't forget the basket dinner. 



Let everybody come whether a bee- 

 keeper or not. Let us all boost for the 

 Delmar meeting. W. S. Pangburn. 



Cool, Cloudy Weather The follow- 

 ing note from California is self-ex- 

 planatory as to conditions there: 



Orange bloom passed with a very 

 small amount stored compared to 

 former years. Black sage is yitlding, 

 but the riow is very slow. Cool, cloudy 

 weather is the rule, and only occasion- 

 ally a day when bees will not rob when 

 extracting. Expect one-third to one- 

 half of a crop. White sage is begin- 

 ning to bloom. L. L. Andrews. 

 .Corona, Calif., May 15. 



Necrology.— Died, at Paris, March 30, 

 at the age of 74, Mr. E. P. Caillas, vice- 



Beekeeping in Germany At the end 



of 1012 there were counted 2,61!l,y91 

 bee-hives in Germany, over half of 

 these being in Prussia. Silesia leads 

 the Prussian provinces with 187,264, 

 and all of the non-Prussian States, only 

 Bavaria has more (over 400,000). The 

 province of Posen counted 122,705. 



The Silesian Chamber of .'Agriculture 

 is given a fund to promote bee-culture, 

 which it uses according to plans pro- 

 posed by the General Association of 

 Silesian apiculturists. The association 

 is composed of 103 societies with a 

 total membership of 7300. The pro- 

 vincial exhibition was held last year at 

 Hirschberg. The chief instruction 

 course was given in a Breslau suburb, 

 and auxiliary courses at Trachenberg 

 and Richtersdorf. Seventeen observa- 

 tion stations were in operation during 

 the year. The chamber also advises in 

 legal matters, assists in marketing 

 honey, and maintains a library of books 

 on bee-culture. A trial honey market 



