Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colo. 



BEE INSPECTION DURING 1911. 



Full reports have not been received from 

 all counties; but more than twelve thousand 

 colonies were inspected, of which something 

 in excess of 10 per cent were found diseased. 

 The expense to the counties and the State 

 has been about $2000. 



THE HONEY SITUATION. 



Colorado at the present time has been 

 about cleaned up on comb honey, but we 

 are well supplied with extracted. The lat- 

 ter is selling now for 7>^ to 9 cts. in 60-lb. 

 square cans. Comb honey sells locally in 

 small lots at about $3.00 per case of 24 sec- 

 tions for No. 1 grades. The price tends to 

 go above this figure, as the smaller bee- 

 keepers with but a few cases of honey are 

 getting pretty well cleaned up. 

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BANKING HIVES WITH DIRT. 



Some of the bee-men near Rocky Ford 

 are banking dirt up around three sides of 

 the hives, and they claim to have good suc- 

 cess. The Arkansas Valley country is very 

 dry in winter, and this method might suc- 

 ceed there when it would fail almost any- 

 where else. The objections to this method 

 are that the hives would tend to be damp- 

 ened by the dirt, and then the hives and 

 bottoms would be more subject to decay. 

 Otherwise this wintering method might 

 work all right. 



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A STARTERING-MACHINE. 



Mr. D. S. .Jenkins, of Ijas Animas, is the 

 inventor of a machine which will cut, and 

 in one operation insert in a section honey- 

 box, a starter of any desired size. The Las 

 Animas bee-keepers in that vicinity who 

 have used it have discarded every other 

 make, whether a combined machine or not. 

 His is simplicity itself, and does not cost 25 

 cents for material. Mr. .Jenkins has made 

 and sold several for S2.50 each. He uses an 

 auto in his bee-w'ork, and this, too, is large- 

 ly of his own manufacture. He says one 

 has to become accustomed to the machine 

 for startering sections before being able to 

 use it successfully. 



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TALKS ON BEES AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



The Colorado Agricultural College is con- 

 ducting a series of farmers' institutes in the 

 Arkansas X'alley, Colorado. The writer is 

 giving talks on bee management and foul 

 brood at the institutes, and on the habits of 

 the honey-bee, before some of the high 

 schools and i:)ublic schools. Courses in ag- 

 riculture and domestic science are being 

 carried on in many of the schools, and 

 these classes are especially interested in the 

 honey-bee and its product. In some places 

 the whole school is dismissed while our 

 corps of speakers are in town, and in other 

 places we go to the schools and speak there. 

 Institutes are being held at Wiley, I>amar, 



Las Animas, Cheraw, Rocky Ford, Swiiik, 

 I^a Junta, Fowler, JJoone, Fountain, Sug:ir 

 City, and several other towns. 



WHAT OF THE NEW YEAR? 



Some time ago my wife was looking 

 through the bee-journals, hunting for her 

 husband's bee material and remarks thereon 

 by the other correspondents, when she said, 

 "You bee writers don't do much else than 

 nod back and forth at each other in your 

 departments." 



It struck me as being rather apt, even if 

 my wife did say it. The reason, no doubt, 

 is principally because of lack of better ma- 

 terial. Each one of us who tries to keep his 

 department going should have an experi- 

 ment station in operation to furnish actual 

 results as a basis for his results. It would 

 do away with a lot of guesswork and mere 

 ideas on certain subjects. But as we can 

 not do this except as our own apiaries are 

 experiment stations, we shall have to keep 

 right on in the way we are going, with a 

 constant endeavor to improve our methods 

 and the material we furnish. 

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COLORADO BEE INSPECTION IN 1912. 



Plans are being made to do thorough in- 

 spection in every county in Colorado where 

 bees are kept if the county commissioners 

 will set aside enough money to pay a coun- 

 ty deputy inspector to work under the di- 

 rection of the State Entomologist's office. 

 Most of the counties are cooperating in this 

 way; and if all will heljo, great good can be 

 done. The bee-keepers in each county not 

 having a local inspector should call a meet- 

 ing of the bee-men at some time when the 

 commissioners are in session, and appoint 

 a committee to see the commissioners or else 

 have the bee-keepers see them in a body. The 

 writer, if notified, will gladly meet with the 

 bee-men and take up the matter with the 

 commissioners, explaining the way the new- 

 law operates, and the means of getting the 

 most benefit from it. It is important to get 

 this started soon, as the commissioners 

 w-ant to know some time in advance as to 

 the expenses they will be called upon to 

 vote for different kinds of county work, and 

 the bee-keepers should not be at the tail end 

 of the ap]^ropriations. The State funds are 

 not sufficient to keep me in the field more 

 than six or seven months; and when there 

 are a dozen or more county inspectors at 

 w'ork the office work takes a great deal of 

 time. However, I shall be able to i)ut in 

 one or two weeks in each county, working 

 with the county deputy inspectors. 



Let us all make an extra elTort to get foul 

 brood under control in Colorado. It can be 

 done if we make an extra effort. In the fu- 

 ture our work will consist in seeing that 

 cleaning up is done. Inspection avails 

 nothing if treatment is not given promptly. 



