TWENTY-NINTH REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 33 



The last spring short course in Flathead County, called by Mr. 

 Leonard Eliason, County Agent, seemed to be quite successful. An 

 average number of ten persons attended four three-hour meetings 

 on consecutive days. Small attendance was compensated for by the 

 interest and enthusiasm of the group. Nowhere else in the State 

 is amateur beekeeping conducted on such a high level of success 

 as in the vicinity of Whitefish. Here amateur beekeeping reflects 

 the results of the short course and the friendly personal influence 

 of one skillful beekeeper. Short courses may show good results in 

 areas where the population is of sufficient density to yield an 

 interested group. But in many sparsely settled isolated areas 

 distance is a controlling factor. When funds and organization 

 permit a more active extension program a correspondence course 

 or radio lecture series would serve a useful purpose where short 

 courses would prove impractical. Present policy has been to 

 focus as much time and attention as possible on the problem of 

 disease control. 



BEEKEEPING AND THE WAR EFFORT 



Beekeeping occupies a rather significant though somewhat ob- 

 scure place in Montana's agriculture. In the products, honey and 

 beeswax, we find an essential food and an extremely critical war 

 material. Honey exists as a luxury in minds of many individuals. 

 But honey is sugar, or more exactly, a water solution of natural 

 sugars. It displaces an equivalent amount of granulated sugar in 

 the diet. It behaves as a sugar supplement in the market. Sugar 

 shortages created a honey boom during World War I and the story 

 has been repeated in 1942. Limited shipping has cut off our im- 

 ports of beeswax as well as sugar. During normal times we import 

 half of the beeswax we consume. Domestic production must now 

 supply the entire load. The demands for beeswax for ammunition 

 jjreage^ finishes, waxes, polishes, leather dressings, machine pat- 

 ternsTpharmaceuticals, dental impressions, must and will be met; 

 demands for modeling, cosmetics, candles and other industrial uses 

 probably will not be met 



Still the most important contribution of bees is not that of 

 honey and wax. The production of fruits, certain vegetables, 

 leguminous forage crop seed is largely dependent on the services 

 of honey bees in the pollination of blossoms. For example, studies 

 by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station on sweet cherries 

 in Lake County showed that orchards where bees were provided 

 had a blossom set two and one-half times that of orchards farthest 

 distant from bees. By flower visitation bees have entered the 

 production lines of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, leath- 

 er, and wool, and thus have taken an essential place in a balanced 

 agriculture. 



