582 



ed to be added. The hive record is as fol- 

 lows : 



June 11.... 129 lbs. June 25.... 179 lbs. 



June 12.... 129 lbs. June 26.... 183 lbs. 



June 13.... 132 lbs. June 27.... 180 lbs. 



June 14.... 137 lbs. June 28.... 183 lbs. 



June 15.... 138 lbs. June 29 . . . . 180 lbs. 



June 16.... 139 lbs. June 30.... 184 lbs. 



June 17.... 143 lbs. July 1 182 lbs. 



June 18.... 148 lbs. July 2 180 lbs. 



June 19.... 145 lbs. July 3 182 lbs. 



June 20.... 146 lbs. July 4 181 lbs. 



June 21 147 lbs. July 5... 181 1/2 lbs. 



June 22 158 lbs. July 6... 180 72 lbs. 



June 23 172 lbs. July 7 180 lbs. 



June 24 174 lbs. July 8... 1801/2 lbs. 



July 9 180 lbs. 



It will be seen that on June 23 the colony 

 gained 14 lbs. in 24 hours, and that on June 

 27 the colony weighed exactly the same as 

 last night, July 9. Our clover is over ; bass- 

 wood, which is very limited, will open in a 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



few days, and on an average I do not believe 

 I have a surplus of 30 lbs. to the colony, 

 and covering a large area of the Province 

 reports are the same. 



Quebec is having a fairly good honey-flow, 

 and eastern Ontario is doing much better 

 than we are. A. A. Qurea, Renfrew, reports 

 after a dry spell a heavy rain followed by 

 clover and raspberry honey, and in one 

 week ten-frame extracting supers filled. 



It is, perhaps, just as well we have little 

 honey. Even with a very light crop in east- 

 ern Ontario and the report of a light crop 

 in Quebec, a great deal of the honey of 

 1913 is still in the beekeepers' and dealers' 

 hands ; and if we had even an average crop 

 we should not know what to do with it. 



Brant ford, Canada. 



CENTRAL NEW YORK ; ONE SUPER OF LIGHT 



EXPECTED 



BY S. D. HOUSE 



My report of the honey-crop conditions 

 in central New York includes about 6000 

 colonies. Investigation shows that bees win- 

 tered well in this section. Although late in 

 starting their brood-rearing in the spring, 

 they bred up fast and were very strong when 

 willow and fruit bloom opened about May 

 15. During fruit bloom they gathered about 

 25 lbs. per colony, storing it in extracting- 

 combs. This flow lasted until about May 

 25, very warm weather prevailing up to 

 May 28, then turning cool, with no honey 

 coming in. The bees gathered an extra 

 amount of pollen, filling the combs with it, 

 which reduced the brood-rearing. 



From May 25 to June 23 the bees con- 

 sumed the gi^eater part of the fruit-bloom 

 honey, as there was nothing in bloom that 

 yielded nectar, although alsike clover opened 

 June 12. Examining large fields of it, I 

 could not find a bee on it. 



June 23 sumac opened, and yielded some 

 honey for four or five days, but not fast 

 enough to start drawing combs in sections. 

 Many colonies prepared to swarm. From 

 June 28 to July 7 there was practically no 

 honey gathered. The few new colonies hived 

 had to be fed to prevent starvation. 



July 8 basswood opened, and is yielding 



some honey. About half the basswood-trees 

 are budded; and if weather conditions are 

 favorable for the secretion of nectar we 

 might look for about a third of a normal 

 crop of white honey, which will be from 

 basswood and sweet clover. The small white 

 clover was conspicuous by its absence; but 

 copious rains during the season have started 

 a new growth which is showing some bloom, 

 and it is yet to be seen whether it will yield 

 nectar or not. 



To-day, July 10, basswood is yielding 

 fairly well. Bees have started their sections, 

 and I shall ex^Dect at least one super per 

 colony. 



Information from many parts of the State 

 coming in this morning shows that there 

 was no surplus honey gathered ui3 to July 

 7. The acreage of buckwheat will be about 

 normal in this section of the State, owing 

 to the destruction of cabbage-plants by an 

 insect working in the plant-bed, and the 

 fact that the fields were in good condition 

 for plowing and sowing, which encourages 

 the farmer to grow the crop. This leaves us 

 some hopes that we may get some dark 

 honey. 



Camillus, N. Y. 



THE SAGE BELT OF CALIFORNIA; THE CROP GOOD AND BAD 



BY P. C. CHADWICK 



This report is compiled from correspon- 

 dence, conversation, and from my own per- 

 sonal observation. To my knowledge there 

 has never been a season when there was so 



much variation in conditions to take into 

 consideration. Heretofore we either had a 

 crop, a fraction of a crop generally speak- 

 ing, or no crop. This season some beekeep- 



