GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Me Do in? 



We announce the arrival of a copy of the 

 report of the State Apiary Inspector to the 

 Governor of the State of Arizona, from 

 which we make the following clipping. 



Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 31. 

 Hon. Geo. W. P. Hunt, 



Governor of the State of Arizona. 



I have the honor of submitting my report as your 

 State Apiary Inspector for the year 1913. 



I was svsrorn in on tlie 14th of July, and entered 

 upon my duties as Inspector of Apiaries. 



I ll»ve inspected 26,838 colonies of bees; 19,858 

 colonies in Maricopa County; 3630 colonies in Yuma 

 County; 2553 colonies in Graham County; 790 colo- 

 nies in Pinal County, and 7 colonies in Pima Coun- 

 ty. 



I found 115 colonies diseased with foul brood in 

 Yuma County. I put all yards under quarantine 

 where I found disease, and instructed the owners to 

 destroy the diseased colonies by burning them. 



I have appointed one Deputy Inspector for Yuma 

 County, and I think we shall be able to rid the 

 county of the disease. 



I have collected from the five-cent inspection fee 

 per colony, $966.30 to date. 



J. P. Ivy, State Apiary Inspector. 



We have submitted this report to Geo. H. 

 Rea, inspector for Pennsylvania, who has 

 had considerable experience, and who offers 

 the following query: 



Arizona Inspector of Apiaries appointed and en- 

 tered upon his duties the 14th day of July, 1913; 

 closed up his work and made his report to the 

 Governor on Dec. 31, 1913; 147 working days be- 

 tween these dates, inclusive. Inspected 26,838 

 colonies of bees. I wonder how he did it. 



I worked hard last summer, and managed to 

 inspect an average of sixty-five colonies per day, 

 while the Arizona report shows nearly three times 

 that many. Since it is necessary for the inspector 

 to spend practically one-half of his working hours in 

 traveling and in conversation with beekeepers it 

 would seem impossible that so much could be accom- 

 plished unless he skipped or skimmed over many 

 hives. Or this might be true: The Arizona apiaries 

 are large, and comparatively close together ; but 

 even then the figiires, to an Easterner, seem large. 

 I do not raise the question in a spirit of criticism, 

 but desire to learn how my Arizona brother manages 

 to accomplish so much. 



imating Whole Apiairies 



More and more we are getting complaints 

 of wholesale poisoning of colonies of bees 

 — in fact, whole apiaries — as the result of 

 ignorant spraying of fruit-trees while in 

 bloom, or the ordinary spraying of shade- 

 trees in New England to stay the ravages of 

 the gipsy moth. It is getting to be a very 

 serious problem in some parts of Massachu- 

 setts, where some beeyards have been liter- 

 ally wiped out. It is evident that there has 

 been a widespread call for the article in our 

 Feb. 1st issue, page 91, by a Now England 

 Veteran on the subject of " Wholesale 



Spraying of Blossoms Causing Wide Dis- 

 aster." So gi'eat indeed has been the de- 

 mand that the issue containing that article 

 was entirely exhausted before we knew it. 

 There are other good things in that partic- 

 ular number, but this spraying danger looms 

 up so large tliat evidently hundreds of our 

 readers have been asking for copies to lend 

 to their neighbors who practice spraying in 

 season and out of season. On the other 

 hand, it is probable that there are times 

 when spraying in bloom causes no damage. 

 But we have too many reports of how bees 

 have been poisoned to death — whole colo- 

 nies and whole apiaries killed out — to make 

 the practice safe. 



N. B. — Perhaps there are some who would be will- 

 ing to spare their Feb. 1st issue. If so, send them in 

 .so that we can mail them to others, and thus spread 

 the truth where it can do more good. 



'■' The Masi wlio Never Loses aey Bees 



In 1882 and '83 A. I. Root had a good 

 deal to say in these colmns about " the man 

 who never loses his bees." It was during 

 that winter that the heaviest mortality oc- 

 curred that was ever known ; and yet this 

 man, Mr. H. R. Boardman, then of East 

 ToAvnsend, Ohio (now renamed Collins), 

 wintered his bees that year without loss, the 

 same as he had been doing for years before. 

 During the long interval he has been doing 

 the same thing winter after winter; and 

 three years ago, when there was such a 

 heavy mortality, he did it again. 



A few days ago we received a letter from 

 Mr. Boardman, saying he had again win- 

 tered without loss. We wi'ote asking if it 

 was in that same beehouse, and whether he 

 had been doing it right along. His reply 

 is worth publishing: 



Mr. Root : — Yes, I have wintered again without 

 loss, and have been doing so in the old beehouse of 

 35 years ago, and am still the man who winters 

 without loss unless I yield to the temptation to do 

 too much experimenting in my wintering methods. 



I need not tell you that three years ago wa^, a 

 disastrous winter for the bees ; but I wintered with- 

 out loss and sold off the increase from my stock for 

 $150 (for orchard pollination), and got a fair crop 

 of honey. My success in wintering is worth all 

 there is in the business now. One hundred colonies 

 is all I care to keep. 



Collins, Ohio. H. R. Boardman. 



Mr. Boardman will be remembered as the 

 man who held the secret for many years of 

 how to keep liquid honej^ from granulating 

 without the use of artificial heat. When we 

 ])ublished Mr. E. B. Rood's method of put- 

 ting the bottles in a solar wax-extractor, our 

 old friend very generously came forward, 

 saying that that was the method he had 

 used ; and in view of the fact that the " se- 

 cret was out," he would tell tlie jmblic of it. 



