Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Wesley Foster, Boulder. Colo. 



THE COLORADO CONVENTION, FOR DEC. 12 

 AND 13. 



We have work to do at our convention to 

 be held in Denver, Dec. 12, 13, at the Audi- 

 torium Hotel. Freight and express rates 

 will be discussed, and a plan outlined for 

 the association to work on. 



A comb-honey-grading contest will be 

 held, and this will be in the line of an edu- 

 cational test. Every comb-honey producer 

 should make preparations to take part. 

 There are a few minor changes in the grad- 

 ing-rules that will be considered. The dis- 

 cussion of the foul-brood situation in Colo- 

 rado will be a very important one, and the 

 drafting of several amendments to be intro- 

 duced at the next meeting of the legislature 

 will be taken up. The exclusion of ship- 

 ments of diseased bees should be made easi- 

 er, and the fixing of penalties for failure to 

 treat diseased colonies should be incorporat- 

 ed in our present law. Railroads will give 

 rates on account of the convention of the 

 American National Live-stock Association. 



COLORADO HONEY AND THE EASTERN MAR- 

 KETS. 



Colorado's bee-range is spreading rapidly, 

 and it is probably true that there are not 

 more than half the bees in the State that 

 could be kept profitably. There are three 

 causes for this unoccupied territory: First, 

 failure of the honey crop in northern Colo- 

 rado, and the removal of the bees, or death 

 from starvation; second, the ravages of 

 American foul brood on the western slope, 

 where some quite extended districts have 

 been rendered destitute of bees, or nearly 

 so; third, the new irrigation projects now in 

 operation, and not old enough yet to be ful- 

 ly stocked with bees. Colorado should treble 

 her honey shipments within the next ten 

 years; and if the older irrigated districts 

 "come back" as honey-producers this treb- 

 ling of the crop will be i)robable. 



The most successful bee-keepers in Colo- 

 rado are averaging only 40 to 60 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey, and 25 to 35 lbs. of comb hon- 

 ey. They make up on the number of bees 

 operated. There are about 25 bee-keepers 

 in Colorado who operate more than 500 colo- 

 nies each; four or five who have over 1000 

 colonies, and one or two who have over 2000. 



A STRONG PLEA FOR NATIONAL GRADING- 

 RULES. 



Now that the National Association has 

 adopted the Colorado double- tier shipping- 

 case and 4X><4XXl% section as the stand- 

 ard, why not have National grading-rules? 

 iShall we hereafter designate the double-tier 

 24-lb. case as the Standard, the National, or 

 the American shipping-case? Now, if we 

 can only get together and adopt National 

 rules, a big advance will be made. Here in 



the West we feel confident, of course, that 

 the Colorado rules would meet with the 

 same approval as have the double-tier case 

 and the 4Xx4XXl?^-inch section. 



We are bound to have one universal dis- 

 tributing system before many years, the 

 same as the orange-growers, and the move 

 for unity in supplies points the way. It is 

 but a stepping-stone to more economical 

 and direct dealing between producer and 

 consumer. 



For some reason much more extracted 

 honey was produced in Colorado the past 

 year than formerly. The slow flow that has 

 been the rule for the past few seasons may 

 have had an effect in driving bee-keepers to 

 extracted -honey production. Extracted 

 honey can be bouglit in Colorado for 6^ 

 cents on the western slope, and for l}i to 9 

 at Colorado common points in eastern Colo- 

 rado. The freight rate (fourth class) from 

 the western slope to Denver or Pueblo is 75 

 cts. per hundred, which accounts for the 

 lower price in western Colorado. 



Comb honey will remain in favor so long 

 as it sells so readily, and so long as extract- 

 ed honey sells so slowly. 



IMPORTANCE OF REINSPECTION OF DIS- 

 EASED APIARIES. 



One of the greatest mistakes made by the 

 average bee-inspector is in neglecting the 

 reinspection of the diseased apiaries. The 

 inspector should be able to show the owner 

 how to treat his own bees; and, although 

 his work is largely educational, he should 

 see that the bees are promptly treated ac- 

 cording to directions. It does far more good 

 to the industry in the development of capa- 

 ble bee-keepers to take time in showinghow 

 to cure foul brood than to burn up a whole 

 lot of bees; but one must be firm in demand- 

 ing that thorough treatment be given with- 

 in a reasonable time. 



Every bee-inspector should pass an exam- 

 ination as to fitness for the work. There 

 are inspectors who are capable in every way 

 except eyesight. Others do not have an 

 adequate knowledge of the sphere of an in- 

 spector's wi>rk, especially on the education- 

 al side. Some are too easy and others too 

 severe, and 1 have known several who did 

 not know foul brood when they saw it. 



Politics has jtlayed too large a part in the 

 appointment of inspectors. One inspector 

 so appointed told me that we had no bee-in- 

 spection law that amounted to any thing, 

 but at the same time he was drawing pay 

 from the county fur work that was supposed 

 to be done, to the extent of several hundred 

 dollars a year. 



Mr. Demuth, of the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy at Washington, sent an excellent paper 

 to the National convention entitled "Meth- 

 ods of Bee Inspection," which every inspec- 

 tor and bee-keeper should read. 



