680 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



part of Prowers County the night before, 

 and our cool weather is doubtless from that." 



This hailstorm referred to was quite ex- 

 tensive, extending in a more or less broken 

 strip from Fowler, Otero County, through 

 Bent County, and into the western part of 

 Prowers County. 



May 25 Mr. D. C. Polhemus, of Lamar, 

 Prowers County, Colorado, wrote, "We have 

 had two quite severe hailstorms that have 

 done a great deal of damage to alfalfa. Most 

 farmers cut it off, although there was not 

 enough of it to rake up. Bees are building 

 up well, and we have commenced to put 

 supers on the strongest colonies." The bee- 

 keepers of Prowers County produce extract- 

 ed honey largely. June 5 Mr. Polhemus 

 wrote, " Bees are working well now. We 

 have got supers on about half of our colo- 

 nies, and are putting more on as fast as we 

 can." 



June 10 Mr. Charles Cheek, of Las Ani- 

 mas, wrote : " The bees have been gathering 

 honey for about ten days, and have done 

 good work for that length of time." Las 

 Animas is the county-seat of Bent County, 

 right west of Prowers County, in the Ar- 

 kansas Valley. May 24 Mr. F. W. Brainard, 

 of Hill City, New Mexico, wrote : " I have 

 300 colonies of bees, and am putting on 

 supers. Bees are working finely at present, 

 and I hope to be taking off honey soon. 

 They have the alfalfa (first cutting) nearly 

 all down, but the mesquite and other flowers 

 are blooming quite freely." 



May 29 Mr. J. H. Stoneman, Blackfoot, 

 Idaho, wrote : " Prospects look good for a 

 crop here this season. Bees have wintered 

 well, and came through strong. We can 

 make lots of increase." 



June 3 Mr. W. V. Ranney, of Lander, 

 Wyoming, wrote : " Prospects for honey are 

 fine up here at present." On June 27 he 

 wrote : " Two heavy frosts in June have 

 lessened our honey prospects here consider- 

 ably." 



May 29 Mr. J. H. Gardner wrote from 

 Garfield County, on the western slope in 

 Colorado : " Bees are not building up here 

 at Grand Valley as well as they are in the 

 upper part of the country around Rifle and 

 Silt. They are short of stores here, and 

 need feeding. We have no dandelion here, 

 but have some sainfoin. The weather has 

 been cool and windy." June 28 Mr. Gard- 

 ner wrote again : " The weather is hot here, 

 but the bees are not doing much. Some of 

 them are starting a little in the supers. At 

 Rifle it is not much better. On Divide Creek 

 the bees are booming, but near the river 

 they are not doing much." 



June 15 Mr. Robert E. Foster wrote me 

 from Rifle, Colorado : " We have just com- 



menced to super our bees. We had a bad 

 spell of weather early in June, and had to 

 feed very heavy. The small bridge on tbe 

 river washed out so we could not, get to our 

 Burnett yard for almost a week later than 

 we should, and we lost lots of bees, though 

 no full colonies were lost. Some of the 

 colonies killed all their brood, and many 

 bees were dead when I fed them. There was 

 plenty of nectar, but the weather was so 

 cold and wet the bees could not fly." 



May 17 George D. Taylor, Cortez, Colo., 

 wrote from the Montezuma Valley : " Pros- 

 pects are good for a honey crop here this 

 year. We have just had a soaking rain." 



June 19 Mr. E. D. Nichols, of Montrose, 

 wrote me : "The army-worms are destroying 

 whole fields of alfalfa and spuds ; and if the 

 pests continue there will be no honey crop 

 here this year. Things are not looking as 

 bright in the Uncompahgi-e Valley as we 

 should like; but as it is early yet we still 

 have hopes for a flow later in the season. 

 Tliis seems to be somewhat of an off season 

 for beemen. Two beemen have lost quite 

 heavily from the spraying. They think it 

 was not from the trees but from the red 

 clover that the orchards are seeded with. 

 We had quite a nice flow here on June 3 

 that was cut short by stormy bad weather 

 that lasted until about June 15, and all that 

 time I fed each day and stopped feeding 

 the 14th, and things were going fine until 

 the 18th when the bees began robbing again ; 

 so you see we had a very short honey-flow. 

 Our only hope here is for a late flow." 



June 30 Mr. Elmer Kennedy, of White- 

 water, Mesa County, Colorado, near Grand 

 Junction, wrote me : "Every thing looks well 

 here for a honey crop. The bees are working 

 well on sweet clover now." 



June 23 Gale H. Patterson, of Cedaredge, 

 Delta County, Colorado, says in a letter: 

 " Colonies of bees are unusually strong at 

 this time of year, which was quite contrary 

 to expectations, as the wet and cloudy 

 weather retarded the blooming of pollen and 

 honey-producing plants until late in the 

 spring. Wild flowers, however, came out 

 quickly in great profusion after the rains. 

 Alfalfa did not bloom until almost time for 

 cutting, and the bees had little chance for 

 working on it." 



The army-worm, or measuring-worm, is 

 doing considerable damage. It is predicted 

 that they will ruin the second crop of alfal- 

 fa. Their work on sweet clover is especially 

 noticeable. They eat the tender leaves near 

 the top of the plants, but so far as can be 

 seen they do not attack the blossom buds, 

 none of which have opened yet. Much dam- 

 age has been done to bees by orchard spray- 

 ing. Some large beeyards have been moved 



