98 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 as NEWS ITEMS f 



Maryland Convention 



The January meeting of the Mary- 

 land State Beekeepers' Association 

 was held in the Rennert Hotel, Balti- 

 more, Md., on the night of the 27th. 



Approximately 40 people were pres- 

 ent from Baltimore and the adjacent 

 towns. Mr. C. G. Cale, Extension 

 Apiculturist of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, delivered the 

 main address of the evening, in which 

 he emphasized the importance of the 

 beekeeper adapting his practice to 

 the instincts and behavior of the bees. 



Mr. S. G. Crocker, Jr., Vice Presi- 

 dent of the Association, delivered a 

 brief talk on the co-operative buying 

 of bee supplies, advising that, if possi- 

 ble, supplies be bought in double 

 quantity every other year rather than 

 annually, except for those items which 

 must of necessity be bought each year. 

 He reported that the carload of sup- 

 plies bought this year has been ship- 

 ped to the individuals with the excep- 

 tion of a very small amount. 



E. N. Cory, Secretary-Treasurer, 

 spoke briefly of routine matters and 

 then opened the meeting for a round 

 table discussion on individual prob- 

 lems. In answering the questions that 

 were propounded, Messrs. Cale. 

 Crocker, Cushman, Atkinson and 

 Cory helped to supply the answers. 



The meeting adjourned at 11 p. m. 

 The next meeting will be held about 

 the middle of February. 



Nebraska Convention 



The annual meeting of the Nebras- 

 ka Honey Producers' Association was 

 held January 19 and 20, and was very 

 well attended. At this meeting the 

 association pledged its support to the 

 American Honey Producers' League. 

 The officers for the next year are: 

 President, R. W. Livers, of Hardy. 

 Secretary-Treasurer, O. E. Timm, of 

 Bennington, Neb. 



National at Buffalo 



The annual convention of the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association will 

 meet at Bufifalo, N. Y., on March 9, 10 

 and 11, at the Statler Hotel. This 

 date is a week later than first an- 

 nounced. 



Illinois Beekeepers, Notice 



I expect to make a trip through the 

 south part of the State this spring, so, 

 friend beekeeper, let me hear from 

 you, and I will gladly come your way 

 and assist you in any way possible. 

 Don't delay, but write nie at once. 

 A. L. KILDOW, 

 State Inspector, Putnam, ill. 



been oflfered by the Iowa College of 

 Agriculture at Ames. The course has 

 been very popular. The fee is $3 to 

 residents of the State and $4 to those 

 a living in other States, and includes 

 two books on beekeeping. So many 

 students after finishing the begin- 

 ner's course have asked for advanced 

 work that an advanced course has 

 recently been provided, with a fee of 

 $3 for residents and $3.50 for non- 

 residents of Iowa. The fee includes a 

 textbook. Since several hundred 

 students have already completed the 

 first course offered, it is expected 

 'that the advanced course will prove 

 equally popular. 



An Experimental Project 



A co-operative experimental pro- 

 ject has been effected between the 

 University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

 and the Forest Ferguson Farms of 

 Dyersburg, whereby experiments of 

 benefit to Tennessee beekeepers will 

 be carried out. O. H. Reichley, a 

 graduate of the University of Ohio, 

 has been placed in charge of the 100 

 colonies of bees in the experimental 

 apiary. Mr. Reichley was named 

 President of the Tennessee Beekeep- 

 ers' Association in December. The 

 Forest Ferguson Farms consist of 

 1,360 acres, where better Tennessee 

 farming is being featured. 



A Successful Correspondence Course 



.For the past two years a corres- 

 pondence course in beekeeping has 



Honey Plants in Japan 



By Yasuo Hiratsuka 



JAPANESE honey plants ought to 

 be dififerent from American, I 

 suppose. There are in spring 

 months : 



Ume (prunus Mume, Sieb et Zuce). 

 This is a garden tree mostly ;■ yields 

 some honey and an abundance of 

 pollen. The bees make their force 

 from this flower. 



Tsubaki (Tea Japonica, Nois). 

 Wild and garden flower; much pol- 

 len; blooms in January to March, ac- 

 cording to locality. 



Apples are not so common. 



Aburana (rape) (Brassica chinen- 

 sis, 2) is a common cultivated plant 

 for the use of its seed to make oil; 

 blooms Marcli-April. 



Genge (Japanese clover) (Astraga- 

 lus sinicus L.) is our principal honey 

 source in Japan, at least in the mid- 

 dle or southern parts of this country. 

 Honey of the genge is water-white, 

 or very light colored, fine quality; 

 blooms in May for about thirty or 

 more days. 



Then comes a dearth season for 

 honey flow. It is rather rainy 

 weather almost every year. So our 

 summer months are a heavy handi- 

 cap for Japanese beekeepers; hence 

 most of them go to northern parts of 



the country for migratory beekeep- 

 ing with their bees. 



In autumn there are hagi (bush 

 clover) (Lespedeza bicolor, Turcy). 

 The honey is light amber. The same 

 is found in some mountain land. In 

 low lands it does not yield nectar at 

 all. 



Soba (buckwheat) Fagopyrum es- 

 culentum, Moench), is a cultivated 

 plant. Honey is black or heavy am- 

 ber, as you know. 



Xaginata-kauju (Ehcboltria pa- 

 trini, Garcke) is a wild plant in 

 Hokkaido (our northernmost dis- 

 trict) only, or at least mostly. The 

 honey of it is heavy colored. 



China (tea) (Thea sinensis, L), 

 blooms from about the first of Octo- 

 ber till the latter part of December. 



It is planted in all of the middle or 

 southern part of the country for the 

 use of young leaves to make tea. It 

 is only in use for winter stores, be- 

 cause it is so late of season. 



Bima (Eriobotrya Japonica, Lin- 

 dle) blooms about November till De- 

 cember or later. Honey is light in 

 color. In some warm localities we 

 can take some surplus from this 

 flower. 



Of course there are many sub- 

 flows of honey from many wild plants 

 that I cannot mention in so short a 

 report. 



Japan. 



Ligurian Queens Always Stayed m 

 the Bottom Box 



Some years ago, in describing my 

 methods of manipulation in the 

 American Bee Journal, I stated the 

 above fact; but judging by the com- 

 ments made on my article the bee- 

 men on your side did not catch on to 

 what I meant; that is, not exactly. 

 The matter was brought to my notice 

 again by the article of Mr. Arthur C. 

 Miller, page 309, American Bee Jour- 

 nal for September, under the heading 

 of "One-story Juinbo, etc." In this 

 he mentions that in a large propor- 

 tion of the 2-story hives he had ex- 

 amined, the queens had gone up 

 above and deserted the bottom box. 

 One peculiarity of leather-colored Li- 

 gurian queens is that they will stick 

 to the brood nest, and if they are 

 compelled by lack of room to go 

 above, they will return entirely to 

 the former as soon as the pressure 

 for room eases. In my opinion any 

 breed of bees which deserts the 

 brood nest under any conditions is 

 not much good and should be gotten 

 rid of. 



MAJOR SHALLARD. 

 N. S. W., Australia. 



(There is no doubt that leather-col- 

 ored Italians, or, as Major Shallard 

 calls them, Ligurian queens, place 

 their brood in more compact form 

 than the common bee or the hybrid. 

 But our experience is that any queen 

 which finds herself crowded for room 

 to breed will leave the lower story. 

 After all it is perhaps a question of 

 latitude as to their returning below. 

 —Editor.) 



