July, 19H. 



American Hae Journal 



river. During his talk he incidentally 

 brought to light the fact that tho'gh 

 the bee industry is little exploited as 

 compared with other agricultural 

 forms of production, yet for every 

 bushel of apples grown in Wisconsin 

 in 1913, Hi pounds of honey was pro- 

 duced. 



Inspector Pellett told of the growing 

 interest Iowa farmers are taking in 

 bees, and predicted a big expansion of 

 the industry in the State, as climatic 

 conditions are admirably well suited to 

 the purpose. 



Picnics similar to the one held on 

 McGregor Heights have been arranged 

 by Mr. Pellett for Forest City, Iowa, 

 June 17; D;*lmar, July 7; Des Moines, 

 July 15; Mt. Pleasant. July 28; Clarinda, 

 Aug. 12, and Siou.xCity Aug. 20. It was 

 voted at the McGregor meeting to hold 

 another picnic at this place next May. 

 A much larger attendance undoubtedly 

 will be had. Florence L. Clark. 



Large Apiaries Most Popular in Porto 

 Rico. — Fortunately for the future of the 

 industry, the apiaries now established 

 in Porto Rico are usually large, and 

 most of the beekeepers are planning 

 to increase both their size and their 

 number. Amateur beekeepers, so com- 

 mon in the east of the United States, 

 are conspicuous by their absence. 

 Almost all of the present beekeepers 

 are Porto Rican, only a few Americans 

 being interested so far. 



Beekeeping had not developed in 

 Porto Rico to any extent before the 

 Ameiican occupation in 1898, but since 

 that event the building of good roads 

 has enaoled more individuals to in- 

 troduce modern methods profitably. 

 Beekeeping in Porto Rico should, how- 

 ever, be done on a large scale, accord- 

 ing to the Department's investigators, 

 because of the distance from the mar- 

 ket. It, therefore, seems advisable to 



encourage professional beekeepers 

 rather than those who keep small api- 

 aries of about half a dozen colonies, 

 because the beekeepers usually sell 

 their product for too little a price, and 

 are not interested in a financial way. 



The fact that most of the beekeepers 

 have had but two or three years' e.x- 

 perience, makes it all the more remark- 

 able that they have prospered as well 

 as they have. The corporation plan of 

 beekeeping, in which the individual 

 keepers unite to form companies, has 

 not yet taken hold in Porto Rico, but 



will very probably be undertaken after 

 the keepers have had more experience. 

 The problem of long distance for ship- 

 ping supplies and crops will be aided 

 by such co-operation. In 1901, Porto 

 Rico shipped $4«i worth of beeswax out 

 of the country. From June, 1913, to 

 January, 1914, beeswax was exported to 

 the United States from Porto Rico 

 valued at $.-)ti20. For the whole of 1913 

 the export of beeswax to the United 

 Stales was worth only $042.5, which 

 shows the rapid increase of exports 

 just during the past year. 



BEE-[ftEPiNG <^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Mareneo. 111. 



More Work to Produce Comb Honey 



What alot of work there is to be done 

 with comb honey ! Producers of ex- 

 tracted honey have a comparatively 

 easy time of it. Especially is this dif- 

 ference felt in getting ready for the 

 crop. If you produce extracted honey, 

 you simply put your e.xtracting combs 

 on the hive, and there you are. But if 

 you produce comb honey you must 

 clean your supers, with whatever per- 

 tains to them, wet your sections, put 

 them together, fasten the foundation in 

 them, put them in supers, and then put 

 in separators and wedge them in. All 

 of this takes a good deal of time. It 

 may be of interest to tell the actual 

 time needed for some of the important 

 parts of the work, according to obser- 

 vations that have been taken. 



Before the sections are put together 



it may or it may not be necessary 

 to wet them. It is better to get 

 along without wetting them, not only 

 to save the time and trouble, but be- 

 cause there is some danger that when 

 they are wet not only the grooves but 

 sometimes the parts to which the foun- 

 dation is to be fastened are wet, and 

 that may make bad work about the 

 foundation adhering. If, however, the 

 wood of the sections be very dry, then 

 it may be neccessary to wet the grooves 

 to avoid loss by breaking. 



It makes some difference whether 

 the weather is very dry or wet. Also 

 it makes a difference whether the sec- 

 tions are kept in a dry or a damp place. 

 They may be put in a damp cellar for a 

 few days before making. Keeping a 

 damp sheet over them will help. If 

 they must be wet, it may be done in a 

 wholesale way, so that the time taken 



Beekeepers' Hicnic at McGregor. Iowa, May io 



