GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



APRIL 15. 1914 



Part of A. J. McClanahan's 240-colony apiary near Payette, Idaho 



halt of the yard. 



the cover of this issue. 



the bees were removed, the pear-growers 

 themselves would be the first to have them 

 come back. I accordingly recommended 

 that the beekeepers remove their bees from 

 the vicinity of . the pear-trees. This was 

 done. But the very next year, and the year 

 following, and from that time ou, the pear- 

 growers have asked the beekeepers to place 

 their bees as near their pear-orchards as 

 possible. 



While we have to admit that bees can 

 carry a blight of any kind, as they cari-y 

 pollen from blossom to blossom, "yet the 

 good they do more than counterbalances the 

 damages they do at certain seasons. To 

 remove the bees because there was twig- 

 blight, pear-blight, and flre-blight, would 

 not help matters very much, because there 

 would be wild bees and common ordinary 

 insects that would scatter the blight just the 

 same as it did in California after the tame 

 honey-bees were removed. The only tlung 

 to be done is to get as many bees around 

 the pear-orchard as possible because bees 

 are almost indispensable for the proper 

 pollination of a good many varieties of 

 apples, pears, peaches, and certain stone 

 fruit. 



Prof. M. D. Waite, of the Department of 



Agriculture, went into this matter very ex- 

 haustively some years ago, and his decision 

 was most emphatically in favor of the bees 

 in spite of the damage they might do in 

 certain years in carrying- blight. 



You doubtless would be interested in the 

 last report of the Massachusetts Fruit 

 Growers' Association of 1914 that was held 

 at Springfield, Mass. If you have not seen 

 this I think you would do well to send for 

 a copy. I refer you to Harold L. Frost, of 

 Arlington, Mass., or to F. Howard Brown, 

 Secretary and Treasurer, at Marlboro, 

 Mass. Wliile this does not have much to 

 say concerning the blight question, it docf 

 have some very important testimony on the 

 value of bees as pollinators of fruit-blos- 

 soms. 



I am also sending you our booklet, " Bees 

 and Fruit." You will find farther infornia 

 tion under the subject of "Apple-blossonis" 

 in our A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture 



A coui)le of weeks ago I talked with M''- 

 Charles Repp, of the famous Repp Brol ti- 

 ers, of New Jer.sey, the largest apple-grow- 

 ers, probably, in" the United States. M'- 

 Repp told me that the more bees they coiihl 

 have the better, and tliat (he question of 

 blight didn't cut very much figure with 



them because they knew they must have the 

 bees, and the matter of blight was a small 

 item. 



You, as a practical fruit-grower, know, 

 of course, that the first thing to do when a 



blight shows itself is to cut it off. Of course, 

 if ordinary apple-twig blight shows up you 

 can not very well do this; but this will last 

 but the one season, and next year it will 

 disappear probably. — E. R. Root.] 



A 240.COLONY APIARY IN IDAHO 



BY A. J. il'CLANAHAN 



The photogra])h of the 240-colony apiary 

 shown herewith is one of my out-yard 27 

 miles from my home at Payette, Idaho, ll 

 is located near the Owyhee River in Oregon, 

 ' V2 miles from Nyssa. 



I run my bees altogether for comb honey. 

 I am not genius enough to be an inventor, 

 ^o I take all of the best bee-journals aiul 

 keep myself posted on the very latest meth- 

 "ds of proL'edure. 1 try in a small way 

 whatever I think would be an improvement. 

 H it proves better than my old way 1 use 

 ']'■ if not, I discard it. In this way, there- 

 '^"le. I lose no time in trying to invent new 

 ■ipldian'-es. 



. I use a super that measures 17 1-1 (i 

 "K'hes, inside measure, and use loose section- 

 sliils without end-pieces, which make slats 



easy to clean and store away in winter. 1 

 use only the 4I/4 by iV^ beeway sections. 



I still stay by the old bottom-board as 

 made years ago, with %-inch openjng, and 

 not reversible. I find our climate too 

 changeable for very wide entrances in comb- 

 lioney production. Our surplus-honey yields 

 are not as good as they were a few years 

 back, on account of so many colonies ship- 

 ped in from (^olorado the last few years. 

 Some have not been as careful as thev 

 should have been about the rights of those 

 wlio were here before them. Ada (^anyon 

 and Washington Co., in Idaho; Malheur 

 Co.. in Oregon, all locations for apiaries, 

 are taken up; but if one wants to come 

 here and locate he can easily find apiaries 

 for sale already located: and beekee])ers 



