VOL. LX— NO. 1 1 



HAMILTON, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1920 



MONTHLY, $1.50 A YEAR 



BEEKEEPING IN SUNNY TENNESSEE 



Notes on a Trip Through a State Far- Famed for its Great Diversity of Products 



and for the Hospitality of its People 



PERHAPS no one of the States 

 has received more praise in song 

 and story, outside its own bor- 

 ders, than has Tennessee. It is doubt- 

 ful, also, whether in any other we 

 can find so many advantages common 

 to both North and South, as in Ten- 

 nessee. Iowa and Illinois boast loudly 

 of the great crops of corn, so like- 

 wise does Tennessee. Mississippi 

 and Alabama proclaim to the world 

 the excellence of their cotton. So, 

 also, does Tennessee. 



It was during the last week of Au- 

 gust that the writer, in company 

 with Prof. H. F. Wilson, of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, enjoyed a tour 

 among the beekeepers of the States 

 of Tennessee and Mississippi. The 

 trip was arranged by that prince of 

 good fellows. Prof. G. M. Bentley, 

 State Entomologist. On our arrival 

 at Knoxville we were surprised to 

 find that Bentley had a class of 

 sixty-seven returned soldiers taking 

 a course in beekeeping at the Uni- 

 versity. A number of these men are 

 serious in their intentions, and expect 

 to make beekeeping an exclusive 

 business. It is surprising what a great 

 interest is being developed in the 

 business of honey production at the 

 various agricultural colleges. The 

 boys leave the classes with the idea 

 that beekeeping is a business wor- 

 thy the attention of a full-sized, red- 

 blooded man, rather than a fad suited 

 to old men and boys. Bentley gives 

 the boys as much contact with bee- 

 keeping outside the college apiary as 

 possible. On the first day of our visit 

 a trip was made to Jellico, to visit the 

 queen-rearing yards of Curd Walker. 

 -Although Walker lives just across the 

 line, in Kentucky, his postoffice is in 

 Tennessee, so the beemen of both 

 States claim him. 



Walker is located in the Cumber- 

 land mountains, where sourwood is 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT 



an important source of nectar. There 

 are a number of honey plants in the 

 mountain region which are not com- 

 mon to the lower levels. Among 

 them may be mentioned the buck- 

 thorn (Rhamnus caroliniana), which 

 is a valualjle shrub wherever found. 

 It is closely related to the Cascara Sa- 

 grada or Chittim of the Pacific North- 

 west. Northern Tennessee is a good 

 apple-growing section and everybody 

 enjoyed the ripe apples which were 

 just then falling from the trees in the 

 apiary. 



One day the entire class was loaded 

 into army trucks and taken to Con- 

 cord to visit the apiaries of bee- 

 keepers there. The region south of 

 Knoxville is a splendid farming coun- 

 try, and land is high in price. On the 



Curd Walker at home 



return trip the visitors taunted Prof. 

 Bentley with the stateme;it that all 

 the watermelons must be shipped 

 down from Illinois. Of course the 

 professor could not stand any such 

 insinuation as that and it was not 

 long until they were treated with all 

 the melons they could eat. After 

 that, everywhere we went, we had 

 to stop and eat watermelons until we 

 had to confess that they raised bigger 

 and better melons in Tennessee than 

 anywhere else. 



Four days were spent in this way, 

 driving from place to place with the 

 boys who were taking the beekeeping 

 course at the University. They .were 

 delightful days and everybody seemed 

 to enjoy them immensely. We then 

 spent a night on the sleeper, riding 

 across the mountains to Nashville, 

 and down to the little town of Spring 

 Hill, in middle Tennessee, where the 

 famous Davis queen yards are lo- 

 cated. Prof. Bentley and his assist- 

 ant, John Tillery, and Hamilton 

 Steele, who has charge of the bee- 

 yard at the University, accompanied 

 the visitors, as did also several of 

 the students. Only a very short time 

 could be spent at the Davis home, 

 owing to the necessity of getting 

 across to Dyersburg for a meeting the 

 following day. It is about 500 miles 

 across the State in a straight line 

 from northeast to southwest. Until 

 one has traveled over the State one 

 can hardly realize how big it is, or 

 what a great variety of conditions 

 are to be found within its borders. 

 Although it was getting rather late 

 in the season, we found everybody at 

 Spring Hill very busy in an endeavor 

 to catch up with orders. All the 

 queen breeders had to return more 

 orders unfilled the past season than 

 they were able to fill. An unprece- 

 dented demand for queens and an un- 

 favorable season swamped the breed- 



