May 1. 1912 



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Wkslky Fostbr, Boulder, Colo. 



THAT SPRING MEETING. 



This will be held in Montrose, May 10 and 

 11. This promises to be a more largely at- 

 tended meeting than the regular annual 

 meeting in the winter. Montrose is going 

 to entertain the Association in good shape, 

 and every beekeeper who can possibly at- 

 tend should do so. Homeseekers' rates will 

 be on sale from Denver, Colorado Springs, 

 and Pueblo so that these rates may be avail- 

 able to a good many beemen on the eastern 

 slope. The homeseekers' rale is one fare for 

 the round trip, good for thirty days. 



Zero weather in March, with a two- foot 

 snowfall, and the bees buried beneath it (for 

 which I a[u glad) was pretty severe for Col- 

 rado; but we shall be the gainers when the 

 honey harvest comes. Water for irrigation 

 is assured already, as the snowfall passed 

 the normal for this time of year, and more 

 has fallen on the ranges than for several 

 years. There will be more arguments for 

 double-walled hives in every beeyard, when 

 this cold wave has passed, in the shape of 

 dead bees and colonies. When folks get in- 

 to a habit it takes a g od deal to make them 

 see their mistake. Perhaps we shall have 

 to have several demonstrations of the value 

 of double-walled hives or winter cases before 

 we change our ways. 



LIME FOB THE CLOVERS 



At the farmers' congress over a year ago 

 Joe Wing referred to the use of lime for our 

 alfalfa, and said we would soon need to use 

 it, if it was not necessary already. I think 

 he is probably right. Various reasons have 

 been given for the shorter growth and less 

 luxuriant bloom; but the lack of lime in the 

 soil has not been given serious consideration. 

 The winter pasturage by stock, the freezing 

 of the alfalfa that does not stool below the 

 ground, and the constant hauling of the 

 crops to market and putting nothing back 

 on the land in the way of fertilizer have all 

 been aiivanced. They are all factors, no 

 doubt; but perhaps it would be well to look 

 into the lime problem a little. The more 

 thrifty the growth, the more nectar for the 

 bees. It will not do any harm for beekeep- 

 ers to help the lime investigations along in 

 every way possible. 



FREE SUGAR. 



It looks like it; and, regardless of our per- 

 sonal interests, it will be a good thing for 

 the country as a whole. The beet-sugar in- 

 terests are opposed to it, and the farmers 

 who raise sugar Vjeetswill be drawn into the 

 fray. AN'e in America will have to come 

 sooner or later to a realization of the impor- 

 tance of supporting public benefits in the 

 face of private loss. I would vote for free 



sugar, even though it might have a ten- 

 dency to lower the price of honey. The 

 beet-sugar industry is a very important one 

 in Colorado, and I notice that our three 

 Congressmen from Colorado are against free 

 sugar. But there is no reason for alarm to 

 the industry as I see it, and any way there 

 is not a farmer who can not make as much 

 from other crops as he can from beets. In 

 fact, many farmers have given up the rais- 

 ing of beets; and the greatest difficulty of 

 the sugar company is to get contracts for 

 the raising of beetsi signed by the farmers. 



Colorado has seventeen beet-sugar fac- 

 tories, I think, and there seems to be an ef- 

 fort to make public sentiment against free 

 sugar now by putting men to work at re- 

 modeling the factories. One hundred and 

 fifty carpenters alone are reported to be at 

 work on the Longmont sugar- factory. 

 Whether this work is being done now to 

 make sentiment against free sugar, it is a 

 fact that all the news of the beet industry is 

 finding its way very quickly into the news- 

 papers. Much is made of the immense acre- 

 age signed up in the different districts. I 

 believe the majority of the citizens are in 

 favor of free sugar, and I am satisfied they 

 are throughout the whole country. Let us 

 have it. 



A beekeepers' BUNGALOW. 



I have been figuring a little recently on 

 the trend beekeeping is taking, and I am 

 convinced that, for the West, an automo- 

 bile is the cheapest method for the man 

 with 400 colonies or over. Now, what is the 

 use of building an expensive shop to store 

 all one's supplies in w^hen one building can 

 house the family and supplies, and auto too? 

 A full basement under a five or six room 

 bungalow, with the first floor three feet 

 above the ground to give light in the base- 

 ment, will house the auto and supplies for 

 500 colonies, and leave room for shopwork 

 and furnace-room and vegetable-cellar. An 

 inclined drive into the basement at the rear 

 of the house would be provided; and with 

 the first floor three feet above the ground 

 the basement floor would not need to be 

 more tlian four or five feet below the surface 

 of the ground. The furnace would heat the 

 basement to a comfortable heat for working 

 in winter, and the auto could be loaded and 

 unloaded right in this basement shop. This 

 would obviate the building of a shop, barn, 

 or garage for supplies, horses, or auto out- 

 side. The beekeeper would always be close 

 to his shopwork, and the water supply and 

 heat for the house would be available for 

 the basement shop. Most of the beekeepers 

 in the West live in town, and run outapi- 

 aries; and a home built on this plan would 

 meet the refjuirementsof many a beekeeper. 

 Some of these days I will build a bungalow 

 on this plan myself. 



