1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



421 



around it, and it carries very well. A 

 wrapping of paper prevents dripping. 

 I look to see this package very popu- 

 lar in the near future, for local trade. 

 Conditions Here 



A heavy white clover flow com- 

 menced here about June 10th. The 

 bees worked about half the time, on 

 account of rain, but July 11 I ap- 

 peared to have an average of 100 

 pounds to the colonj', and increased 

 6J per cent, almost entirely with 

 captured swarms, which introduces a 

 new wrinkle. 



Decoy Hives 



This season I sent decoy hives to 

 farmer friends with a note, telling 

 them if they would put the box up 

 a tree and catch me a swarm I'd 

 come after it and give them a can of 

 honey. So far I have secured twelve 

 swarms, the smallest of which 

 weighed three pounds, the largest 

 six. I caught eight myself. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



BEEKEEPING IN WESTERN 

 CANADA 



By Norman S. Rankin. 



With the exception of British Col- 

 umbia and Manitoba, beekeeping in 

 the west can hardly be said to have 

 attained the status of a prosperous 

 industry, though the great interest 

 aroused of late years would indicate 

 a more general following of this in- 

 teresting branch of farming on com- 

 mercial lines. What has been indis- 

 putably proven is the adaptability of 

 the prairie provinces to successful 

 honey production, and that every 

 farmer in western Canada can profit- 

 a-bly handle a few hives for his own 

 domestic production. 



Canadian honey is unsurpassed in 

 quality by that of any country. Owing 

 mainly to the warmer summer and 

 abundance of nectar-producing flow- 

 ers, the average yield per colony is 

 greater than in the British Isles. Bees 

 can be raised and honey produced as 

 successfully in the west as in the east. 

 The natural bloom of Alberta, 

 throughout the season, affords abund- 

 ant food for the bees, and the alfalfa 

 fields of the irrigated districts of the 

 south, and clover fields of the central 

 and northerly sections, give adequate 

 supplies of nectar and pollen for 

 countless hives. In British Columbia, 

 conditions are naturally excellent, es- 

 pecially in the fruit districts, and 

 honey production in the Pacific prov- 

 ince is increasing yearly. In Saskat- 

 chewan apiaries are successfully op- 

 erated in many parts of the province, 

 while Manitoba is fast forging ahead 

 as one of the leading beekeeping 

 provinces of the Dominion. In the 

 latter province apiaries are to be 

 found where many tons of honey are 

 produced annually. 



Experimentation carried out by the 

 government experimental farms dis- 

 covered the following net production 

 per colony of bees and honey in the 

 different provinces : Brandon, Man., 

 $3.27; Indian Head, Sask., $11.83; 

 Lethbridge, Alta., $16.49; La Combe, 

 Alta., $12.79; Invermere, B. C, $13.26; 

 Summerland, B. C, $11.81. 



The production of British Columbia 



in 1919 was 344,580 pounds of honey, 

 there being 1,855 beekeepers and 

 aliout 10,000 colonics in the province. 

 Manitoba, in 1918, witli 921 beekeepers 

 and approximately 15,000 colonies of 

 bees, produced 944,104 pounds, or 64 

 pounds per hive. In the Kootenay 

 district of British Columbia alone last 

 year 23^ tons of honey was pro- 

 duced the average surplus per hive 

 being 50 pounds, as against 38 pounds 

 for the whole province. One Slocan 

 X'alley farmer had a surplus of 2,100 

 pounds from three hives. 



As a proof of the adaptability of 

 the Alberta climate to bee raising 

 and the profits to be derived there- 

 from, the experience of an Edmon- 

 ton farmer may be cited. Starting 

 out si.x years ago with a swarm of 

 mixed bees, he managed, by import- 

 ing high-bred queens, to so improve 

 his stock that in a few years he had 

 an almost pure-bred strain of Italian 

 bees. He keeps from ten to fifteen 

 hives and disposes of the increase in 

 the spring or fall. In the year 1919 

 the 9 hives he possessed in the spring 

 increased during the sutnmer to 21, 

 and the honey produced, less that re- 

 quired for winter feed, was 827 

 pounds, which sold at from 35 cents 

 to 40 cents per pound. In 1913 the 

 record of production from this apiary 

 was 100 pounds per hive, or at pre- 

 vailing prices a revenue of $40 from 

 the honey of each hive. 



Everything goes to show that bee 

 culture and honey production are on 

 the increase throughout the west. The 

 Manitoba Beekeepers' Association, 

 established in 1903 and reorganized in 

 1914, had 921 active members in 1918, 

 with 15,000 colonies of bees ; and the 

 Beekeepers' Association of British 



Columbia, 1,183 members, with 6,830 

 colonies. There is also a Kootenay 

 Beekeepers' Association. 



This colony yielded one division and 196 sec- 

 tions of honey. The division yielded 75 

 pounds, making, in all, 271 pounds from one 

 colony at beginning of season Apiary of L. 

 Madsen, Gardner, 111. 



CLIMBING BONESET, OR DUCK 

 BLIND 



Dear Mr. Pcllett : The climbing 

 boneset (Mikania scandens) grows in 

 great natural arbors along the Kan- 

 kakee marshes, forming festoons 

 over the bushes. It is known among 

 the people of the region as "Duck- 

 blind." The vast marshes along the 

 Kankakee appear to be a good 

 honey-producing region, and the 

 duckblind, with its roots in the moist 

 soil and its flowers high up in the 

 air, should be a good nectar-yielding 

 plant. If there were no danger of" 

 its becoming a nuisance it would be 

 worthy of introduction in the low 

 grounds among the willows that 

 fringe other rivers. It seems to have 

 a wide range, according to the bota- 

 nies, but little seems to be known 

 about it among the beekeepers. 

 H. WALTON CLARK, 

 Fairport, Iowa. 



My first introduction to the climb- 

 ing boneset was in the Mississippi 

 River bottoms in Arkansas, across 

 from Memphis, Tenn. A party of 

 local beekeepers went across the 

 river to visit an apiary, with W. E. 

 Drane as pilot. We found the bees 

 working hard on the climbing bone- 

 set and apparently getting a good 

 deal of nectar. None of the bee- 

 keepers in the party knew what it 

 was. Later I found it growing in 

 great profusion in many localities in 

 Mississippi, but apparently few of 

 the beekeepers were familiar with it. 

 So far I have been unable to find 

 any reference to the plant in the lit- 

 erature, and Mr. Clark's- letter is 

 the first reference to it that has come 

 to this office. It is mentioned inci- 

 dentally in the article on Tennessee 

 in the November Journal. 



Although the plant is said to occur 

 in swamps and moist places from 

 New England and Ontario south to 

 Florida and Texas, it is evidently not 

 common over the greater part of 

 that area, else it would be better 

 known. It is said to occur also in 

 the West Indies and South America. 

 The bloom is similar to that of other 

 bonesets, and the season seems to be 

 about the same. It was about the 

 first of September that we saw it in 

 Arkansas and Mississippi. It grows 

 luxuriantly, climbing over fallen logs. 

 fences, weeds and other objects of 

 support. 



Mohr states that it occurs in low. 

 damp thickets from the mountain 

 region to the coast plain of Alabama, 

 but that it is most common in the 

 lower pine region and the coast plain. 



There are a large number of re- 

 lated species common in South Amer- 

 ica, especially in Brazil. 



Since the above was written a sam- 

 ple of this same plant has been re- 

 ceived from Jess Dalton, of Borde- 

 lonville. La., with the statement that 

 it is one of the best honey plants in 

 that locality. He states that there 



