GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



been featured before; but there is always 

 so much new ai'<i valuable informatiou 

 coming up all the time that there are plenty 

 of new thing's to be said about out-apiaries. 

 If you have one, tell us so. Details on 

 which we wish contributions are specified in 

 a paragraph in advertisement elsewhere. 



It may be that wax is a side line with 

 you, very much aside. And yet there are 

 profits in beeswax, especially for the man 

 whose freights on comb and extracted hon- 

 ey are high. In fact, we have had several 

 inquiries of late about whether it would be 

 possible to run bees for wax primarily, and 

 make honey a by-product. What do you 

 think? And how would you go about it? 

 This will be the meat of the June 1st num- 

 ber, the special on wax production. 



Just as we have done in former years, we 

 chose these special topics from suggestions 

 which our readers have obligingly sent us 

 during the past year. While a considerable 

 number of articles are already on hand, 

 there is plenty of room for more good ones. 



Government Data on Wintering in 

 the United States ; Causes of Winter 

 Losses. 



Bulletin No. 325, of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, among other 

 things, concerns itself with wintering. 

 The data were secured from 650 honey- 

 producers in 42 states, covering 80,000 colo- 

 nies of bees. These reports came mainly 

 from the best honey-producers; and the 

 presumption is that the averages show up 

 better than if returns were taken from 

 beekeepers from all over the United States. 

 Some interesting data have been secured; 

 and among them, briefly summarized, are 

 the following: 



The average quantity of honey for stores 

 reported in the hives at the beginning of 

 winter is in excess of what is usually con- 

 sidered to be necessary to eaii'y a colony 

 from one honey-flow to another. As every 

 up-to-date honey-producer will be on the 

 safe side, he will put in more than enough. 

 Those who report belong to this class. The 

 figures show 32 lbs. per colony for the 

 United States when 25 lbs. are usually con- 

 sidered enough. 



We estimate that bees in the South re- 

 quire more stores than those in the North, 

 for the simple reason that brood-rearing in 

 some of the more southern places may go 

 on every month in the year. But a study 

 of the tables shows that there is but very 

 little variation between the food supply, 

 either north or south. This may be and 



probably is accounted for by the fact that 

 bees in the North are confined in their hives 

 for a long period of time without flight. 

 This causes more or less bowel disturbance, 

 and toward spring a large consumption of 

 stores, thus aggravating the trouble until 

 dysentery pulls the colony down. 



As would natui'ally be expected, the re- 

 ports show that winter protection varies 

 according to the latitude north or south. 



Winter losses range from 15 to 20 per 

 cent in the more northerly states, and from 

 5 to 15 in the more southern. The cause of 

 winter losses is usually thought to be miss- 

 ing or worn-out queens. A considerable 

 percentage of the reports failed to state the 

 cause of death, and it is believed that the 

 heaviest mortality is due to starvation. 



In the line of honey-yields, the July 1st 

 honej^ report indicates that the honey sea- 

 son had been late from one to three weeks 

 over most of the country, due to the cold 

 and generally wet weather. The average 

 of surplus honey up to July 1, 1915, was 

 estimated at 18.3 lbs. as against 20.7 for 

 the preceding year. Taking the country as 

 a whole, this amount, however, is only about 

 50 per cent of the total crop for the entire 

 season, estimated up to Sept. 1. On that 

 basis the average would be twice as large, 

 or 36 and 40 lbs. respectively. The yield 

 from the small apiaries, especially of the 

 backlotters and of the up-to-date farmers 

 would be higher than that from the large 

 apiaries. 



The northern states, with the exception 

 of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, show 

 that a high proportion (from a half to 

 two-thirds) of their production is in the 

 form of comb honey, while in the South 

 and West generally it is only from a third 

 to one-half of all. 



Reports show that 60 per cent of the 

 honey removed from the hives is consumed 

 locally. However, more than half is shipped 

 out of Vermont, New York, Florida, Ken- 

 tucky, Louisiana, Texas, Wyoming, Colora- 

 do, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and 

 California. 



California is estimated to furnish about 

 a fourth, and Texas one-eighth of practical- 

 ly all the extracted and comb honey pro- 

 duced in the United States. If the figures 

 from all the producers could be secured we 

 believe that the two states mentioned are 

 credited full high. 



Copies of the bulletin above referred to 

 can be obtained of the Superintendent of 

 Documents, Washington, D. C, for 5 cents. 



An editorial in the second January issue 

 will discuss data from this bulletin on hon- 

 ey imports and exports. 



