104 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



Answers. — 1. Sow the white sweet clover. 

 Better sow it in the fall or early winter. 



2. This answer, on page 312, was by Dr. 

 Miller, one of the last answers he made. If 

 there is enough of a crop, both the divisions 

 might give a surplus. But this is always a 

 doubtful matter. If you want as much honey 

 as possible, better make no divisions. 



3. Apparently the honey in the blossoms of 

 buckwheat is produced only early in the day. 

 We sometimes see the bees on it in the early 

 afternoon, and conclude that there has been a 

 little more honey produced than usual, on such 

 days. 



Red Clover Bees 



I would like to know something of the red 

 clover bees, and where I may obtain them. 

 WEST VIRGINIA. 



nswer. — The Italian bees work a little 

 oftener upon the red clover bloom than the 

 common bee, but none of them succeed in 

 getting honey from it, except at irregular 

 periods when the corolla is shorter probably 

 owing to dry weather. The so-called red clo- 

 ver queens have not yet, so far as we know, 

 produced bees that would work on red clover 

 at all times. Every breeder keeps trying, 

 but the goal i^ probably far y?t. 



Spanish Needles 



I am situated in close proximity to thou- 

 sands of acres of meadow on niarsli land, 

 which is sometimes flooded in tlie fall by tHe 

 waters of the Great South Bay, the meadows 

 being submerged for the period of one or two 

 tides only. Goldenrod, asters, heartsease and 

 some wild carrot thrive on these meadows. 1 

 am wondering it Spanish needles would grow 

 here, and if so, where seed could be pur- 

 chased. Can you advise me regarding the 

 probability, also as to the seed ? 



Brookhaven, L. I. 



Answer — We have no doubt that the golden- 

 yellow Spanish needle of our marshes would 

 thrive .on land inundated with fresh water. 

 Whether it could be made to thrive upon land 

 flooded with brakish water, remains a question. 

 We would gladly send yon a few seeds during 

 the winter, if you remind us of it. 



The Spanish needle is a Bidens and there 

 are other varieties of the Bidens that thrive 

 on brackish soil. The B. bidcntoides belongs 

 to the shores of the Delaware River and the 

 Bay. The B. Eatoni is found on the brackish 

 shores of the lower Merrimac River, in Mas- 

 sachusetts. The E. laevis also belongs near 

 the coast of the Atlantic. The same is said 

 of the B. trichospernui. Whether these would 

 be honey producers remains to be tested. Ours 

 is the Bidens aristosa. The western bur- 

 marigold {Bidens ini'olucrata), (American 

 Honey Plants, Pellett) is also a very good 

 honey plant. Both grow on vet soil. 



Perhaps some of our American Bee Journal 

 readers will be willing to inform us concern- 

 ing those seashore varieties of the Bidens. if 

 they have ever taken notice of them. 



ODDS AND ENDS 



Dr. Miller's Memory 



At the meeting of the l'\'(kTazi(iiie 

 Apistica Itahaiia, at Ancoiia, Italy, 

 January 23, official mention was made 

 of the death lof Dr. Miller which had 

 heen already annomnccd in the maga- 

 zine puhlished in that city, "L'Apic.ol- 

 tura Italiana." Resolutions of regret 

 were passed to be forwarded to Mrs. 

 Miller and to Dr. Miller's friends in 

 this country. 



Idaho Bees 



Idaho reports 35,900 colonics of 

 bees in 1920, compared to 21,903 colo- 

 nies in 1910. The honey crop for 

 1920 was 1,208,229 pounds, or a per 

 colony production of 34 pounds. 



cause you say this weed is a serious 

 pest to the farmer, I hesitate to in- 

 troduce it. 



Bro. Alphonse Veith. 

 Indiana. 



Inspection Work in Utah 



We have before us the biennial re- 

 port of Mr. F. B. Terriberry, State In- 

 spector of .'\piaries for Utah, for the 

 period ending November 30, 1920. 



The report, though short, strikes us 

 as illustrating what can be done by 

 efficient management, combined with 

 active co-operation on the part of the 

 good beekeepers of the State. ' 



Under the foulbrood law, inspec- 

 tion is carried on by the county sys- 

 tem, under the State Bee Inspector. 

 Although the appropriation for in- 

 spection is only $6,000 and although 

 the per diem pay .of county inspectors 

 is but $3.50, inspection was efficiently 

 carried on in all counties but five, and 

 some of these have very little bee- 

 keeping. Only one bee inspector re- 

 signed owing to the small pay. 



There were 39,131 colonies of bees 

 in Utah in 1920, or an increase of 

 about 2,400 colonies over 1919. The 

 total honey harvested was 3,002,245 

 pounds, or a per colony average of 76 

 pounds, of which it is estimated that 

 35 per cent is consumed within the 

 State. 



Both American and European foul- 

 brood are to be found in Utah, but in- 

 spection, combined with education, is 

 gradually overcoming these diseases. 

 The State Inspector makes spring and 

 fall trips over the State for a general 

 survey of conditions. 



The inspector of Salt Lake County 

 reports that practically all the bees 

 within 10 miles of the Murray smel- 

 ter were either killed or badly dam- 

 aged by fumes in September and Oc- 

 tober, 1920. 



Mr. Terriberry and the beekeepers 

 of Utah are both to be congratulated 

 upon their efficiency. 



Census Reports 



Washington shows 53,940 colonies 

 of bees in 1920, as against 33,884 in 

 1910. The 1919 crop of honey was 

 1,502,843 pounds. West Virginia 

 claims 89,873 colonies, as against 

 110,673 colonies in 1910, and the honey 

 crop for 1919 was 919,689 pounds. 

 Massachusetts has 6.573 colonies as 

 co-mpared to 7,464 in 1909. The honey 

 crop for 1919 was 70,769 pounds. 



Poor Season 



Last season was the poorest in this 

 locality for many years, as far as a 

 honey crop is concerned. To some 

 extent this was due to adverse 

 weather conditions in time of the 

 main honey flow. Many colonies had 

 to be united and fed in the fall to 

 keep them from starving in winter. 



In this locality we have no climbing 

 milkweed, but some of the adjacent 

 counties are blessed with it and bee- 

 keepers extract honey by the thou- 

 sands of pounds. A beekeeper with 

 100 colonies extracted 10,000 pounds 

 of honey from this source in 1911. Bc- 



Extent of Bee Culture in Spain 



It is calculated that Spain has ap- 

 proximately 1,600,000 beehives, nearly 

 all of which are found in the Valencia, 

 .dragon, Valladolid, Guadalajara and 

 Majorca districts. The annual pro- 

 duction of honey amounts to about 

 19,000,000 kilos (appro.ximately 41,887,- 

 400 pounds), which at the price of 2.50 

 pesetas per kilo represents a value 

 of 47,500,000 pesetas (1 peseta equals 

 $0,198 at par value). To this figure 

 there must be added the value of the 

 beeswax. Under normal conditions 

 some 60,000,000 pesetas worth of 

 honey and wa.x are yearly produced 

 in Spain. 



— Commerce Reports.. 



Increased Honey Production in 

 Guatemala 



"At the present rate of increase in 

 number of hives," writes Vice Consul 

 Goforth, "Guatemala will soon be- 

 come an important producer of 

 honey." Climatic and other condi- 

 tions prevailing on the entire Pacific 

 slope of that Republic very nearly ap- 

 proach the ideal for the successful 

 operation .of apiaries. Bees work 

 throughout the year and, conse- 

 quently, the production of honey per 

 hive is very much greater than in the 

 United States. Moreover, it is of ex- 

 cellent quality and flavor. During the 

 calendar year 1919, honey to the value 

 of $48,917 was exported from Guate- 

 mala to the United States. It is prob- 

 able that this amount will be ex- 

 ceeded during the current year; in 

 fact, present indications are that the 

 figures for 1921 will show ex-'ports of 

 honey exceeding $1(X),(.XX) in value. 



— Commerce Reports. 



Ten-Frame Hives 



I make my 10-frame hives 14- J^ 

 inches wide on inside, that makes 32 

 4J4x45<4,xl^ inch sections just fit; then 

 on one side of the super I use screws 

 to put it together instead of nails, so 

 when taking the honey out of the 

 super I just remove the one side that 

 is screwed on and pry the ends out a 

 trifle and in that way the sections are 

 removed without any trouble. 



In your Journal you say after- 

 swarms are not desirable. I had one 

 come off June 15 last year. 1 put 

 them in an 8-frame hive. They made 

 me 70 pounds surplus, wliich I sold 

 for 30c per pound — $21. Not bad, do 

 you think? 



Jolin W. K'Orb. 



Kansas. 



Florida Bees 



Preliminary re'port of the census tor 

 I'liirida gives the number of colonies 

 in 1920 as 41,237, an increase of 7 per 

 cent over 1910. 



The production of honey was 962,488 

 pounds, or a per colony production «of 

 nearly 24 pounds. 



