96 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



I found that I had a bunch of loafers. 

 I gave these goldens a fair chance, 

 keeping them two seasons, but I was 

 keeping them at a loss. I decided to 

 come back to the old reliable three- 

 banded Italians. I still had 21 colo- 

 nies headed with my own bred Ital- 

 ians. I commenced to requeen back 

 with my own reared queens. After 

 making increases and requeening, I 

 was still short 13 queens to clean up 

 my yard of goldens. I sent for 13 

 more three-banded Italians, 12 from 

 one breeder and one froin a New 

 York State queen breeder. These 

 queens produced fairly good workers. 

 The one queen bee which I got from 

 the New York breeder proved to be 

 the best. I did not trust this queen 

 breeder when I sent for the one 

 queen, he not being well advertised. 

 I thought he did not know his busi- 

 ness. You dont have to wait until the 

 honey season is over to pick your best 

 working colonies, as breeders. If you 

 make a practice of going through 

 your yard early each morning, when 

 the honey flow is on, you will find a 

 big difference in working colonies. 

 You may find one or more whose Pees 

 are coming and going from the hive 

 long before sunrise. You may say 

 that these early returning bees were 

 out all night. Well and good, for 

 that shows that they started out late 

 the evening before and were over- 

 taken by darkness. That's my way 

 of picking working colonies for 

 breeders. 



The following year the State of 

 Wisconsin furnished me 5 queens. 



I introduced them to 5 colonies that 

 had failing queens, which did not 

 breed up as they should. I gave them 

 the best of care to get them in winter 

 quarters in good conditions. These 

 five colonies died during the winter. I 

 decided there was something wrong. I 

 could see that these brood-frames did 

 not show up right, only thinking that 

 it must be chilled or starved bro'od, I 

 mailed a sample of this Ijrood to 

 Madison, and in three days' time I re- 



ceived my answer. It read as fol- 

 lows : "American foulbrood in its 

 highest stages." I had made a mis- 

 take in introducing these qutens in 

 diseased colonics. 



After finding 1 had American foul- 

 brood in my apiary I decided not to 

 purchase any more queens until I was 

 cleaned up of that disease. This year 

 again I bought three queens of a 

 well advertised Indiana queen breeder. 

 Placing my order rather late, I did not 

 receive these queens early enough to 

 breed up for the honey flowT, so I am 

 unable at this date to say whether 

 these queens will produce workers or 

 loafers. 



Wisconsin. 



BEEKEEPING IN THE STATE OF 

 WASHINGTON 



By H. A. Scullen 



Beekeepers who have never visited 

 one of our Western States can 

 hardly appreciate the variety of con- 

 ditions found in such a State as 

 Washington. With a rainfall vary- 

 ing from 6 inches to nearly 200, and 

 an elevation from sea level to per- 

 petual snow, we have a honey flora 

 of great variety. 



From the standpoint of bee culture, 

 however, we may divide the State 

 into five distinct regions. They will 

 be found to blend into each other, in 

 most cases, but in general they pre- 

 sent quite distinct flora and climatic 

 conditions. 



First in importance, from the 

 standpoint of present production are 

 the irrigated districts where sweet 

 clover and alfalfa are the main honey 

 plants. This so-called irrigated re- 

 gion would include portions of the fol- 

 lowing valleys : Yakima, Coluinbia, 

 Methow, Okanogan and the district 

 about Walla Walla. The acreage un- 

 der the ditch is being added to fnom 

 year to year and there is at present 

 an irrigation project being consid- 

 ered which, if completed, would more 



Sweet clover by a Wasliingtuii ruatlsidc 



than equal the present projects com- 

 l)iued. 



Most irrigated sections are quite 

 well occupied, but there are a few ex- 

 ceptions. 



A second region might be repre- 

 sented by that portion of the State 

 which is too arid for cultivation and 

 as yet is not under irrigation. In 

 general, it consists of all of the State 

 east of the Cascade Mountains which 

 is not included in the preceding or 

 the two following regions. 



The flora is largely sages and sim- 

 ilar arid plants, most of which are of 

 little value to the beekeeper. This 

 region may, however, prove to be of 

 more value than is expected when 

 further investigated, since many spe- 

 cies of plants found here are closely 

 related to flora of considerable value 

 in honey production in other sections 

 of the West. The annual rainfall is 

 as low as six inches in some portions 

 of this region. 



The third region is the extreme 

 northwestern part of the State, 

 where the annual rainfall increases 

 to considerably over 20 inches, and 

 with it the growth of timber in- 

 creases. Here we find a variety of 

 honey plants which under favorable 

 conditions yield a surplus. Among 

 these are fireweed (Epilobium angus- 

 tifolium) white clover, snowberry 

 (Symphoricarpos). .dandelion and al- 

 falfa. Due to less rainfall, fireweed is 

 far less dependable than in the coast 

 region. 



There are very few commercial 

 apiaries in this region, but there are 

 some promising locations. 



The fourth region includes the east 

 and southeast counties of the State, 

 where wheat raising is the leading 

 industry. As would bci expected, 

 honey flora is not abundant in most 

 localities. There are, however, a few 

 small beekeepers who are doing we\l., 

 Wliite clover is the principal honey 

 plant, but many native plants are of 

 considerable value. 



The fifth and largest region in- 

 cludes all that portion of the State ly- 

 ing west of the Cascade Mountains. 

 Here we find the largest number of 

 apiaries, the greatest variety of flora, 

 the most disease, the largest number 

 of box hives and neglected bees, the 

 best market and the most failures. 

 Fireweed (Epilobium angUstifoUum 

 L.) is the leading honey plant, but 

 white clover, alsike clover, Oregon 

 maple, vine maple, Cascara, huckle- 

 berry and- many others become im- 

 portant locally. The annual rainfall 

 varies from 20 inches to nearly 200. 

 Foulbrood in the State 



American foulbrood is found in 

 most localities in the Yakima Valley, 

 about Walla Walla, Spokane and 

 Colville. West of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains it is found in nearly every coun- 

 ty. No samples of Eui^opean foul- 

 l)rood were seen on the east side of 

 the mountains, but it is very bad in 

 many counties on the west side. It is 

 doubtful whether there are any 

 west iiide counties without at least 

 some trace of European foulbrood. 

 It is reported serious in British 



