MARCH 1, 1916 



BEEKEEPING AMONG the ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster, B 



During January bees did not 

 get much chance to fly, and the 

 temperature ranged around zero 

 for a longer time than is common 

 here in Colorado. Bees, however, 

 seem to be wintering well, as none 

 but weak colonies have died so far. 

 The quality of winter stores seems to be 

 good on the whole, despite the late nectar 

 secured from the sweet-clover bloom. There 

 is abundant snow in tlie hills, and the 

 ground is in good condition. Alfalfa and 

 sweet clover are up to normal if not above. 

 Comb honey will be all gone before the new 

 ci'op comes on, and there will be very little 

 extracted left when new honej' is extracted. 



BEEMEN AS HONEY-TRADE BUILDERS. 



Colorado beekeepers are certainly not far 

 behind others in the pushing of honey sales. 

 The extracted-honey crop of Colorado was 

 very poor, and, to hold their customers, I 

 knoAv of half a dozen beekeepers who have 

 purchased in the aggregate twelve cars of 

 California, Nevada, and Arizona honey to 

 supply the trade they have built up. Prob- 

 ably more than fifteen cars of extracted 

 honey produced west of Colorado will be 

 distributed by Colorado beekeepers and 

 Colorado associations. The price paid 

 ranges from five to six and a half cents de- 

 livered in Colorado, and is sold at seven and 

 a half to nine cents in a wholesale way. 



EXPERIMENT-STATION BULLETINS. 



'i he Colorado Experiment Station has 

 just published Bulletin No. 211, " Colorado 

 Plants Injurious to Livestock," by George 

 H. Glower and W. W. Robbius. This is a 

 m.ost valuable paper to the livestock indus- 

 try, and is Avell worth reading by beekeep- 

 ers who wish to learn the relation of plants 

 and floweis injurious to animals, that are 

 of economic value to the honey industry. 



Probably ninety-nine per cent of the 

 losses to livestock come from larkspur poi- 

 soning; but the white larkspur growing on 

 the plains east of the mountains has never 

 caused any losses to livestock, so far as 

 known. The larkspur growing in the foot- 

 hills causes most of the trouble. Both fur- 

 nish nectar for bees. 



The wild cherry, of so much value to the 

 beekeeper who lives near the foothills, is 

 very dangerous to cattle if they eat the 

 wilted leaves. 



The lupines, milkweed, and the famous 

 locoweed, are some of the other honey- 

 plants that are the bane of the cattleman. 

 Tlie beekeeper who knows the various poi- 



oulder, Colorado 



sonous pilants will be better informed, and 

 of more piactical value to his neighbor, if 

 he has a tlioro knowledge of the poisonous 

 lilants of his district. He should know that 

 larkspur comes on in June, lupines and loco 

 at about the same time, and that larkspur 

 poisons generally in June and July, while 

 lupines do most of their damage late in the 

 season, when cattle and sheep eat the pods. 



THE beekeeper's SHOP. 



One of my first recollections as a boy is 

 the establishment my uncle Oliver Foster 

 had for carrying on his beekeeping opera- 

 tions. He had four separate buildings sur- 

 rounding his home apiary. On the east 

 side was the warehouse for bee-supplies, 

 which he handled in car lots. Under this 

 building was the bee-cellar. Next to this 

 building, on the southeast of the apiary, 

 was the wood-working shop where he man- 

 ufactured some of his own inventions such 

 as the Foster super. There he had his saw- 

 tables, engine, and lumber storage. On the 

 west side of the apiary was the wax-house 

 and vinegar-shed combined. This was hand- 

 ily near the ]nunp, as every beekeeper 

 readily will realize the advantage of having 

 water close by when working wax. On the 

 north side of the apiary was the extracting- 

 house, comb storage, and everything was 

 handled methodically; and there was a 

 place for everything under cover. I do not 

 recall ever seeing any empty hives piled 

 outside. A house was built at each outyard 

 so that all equipment could be kept dry. 



The extracting-house necessarily had the 

 most thought put upon its arrangement, as 

 here was where the rush work of the season 

 was done. The building was mouse-proof. 

 The uncapping-can was placed at one end 

 of a table upon which the honey was piled 

 as brought in. Filling of the cans from the 

 strainer-covered vats was done at one side 

 of the extractor, and slightly below it, as 

 honey-pumps were not used. All the work 

 in the honey-house could move forward in 

 a regular procession, no one getting in the 

 way of others. As a boy I often got in the 

 way in my desire to eat the honey-wet cap- 

 pings, and I don't know of any chewing 

 more delicious — do you? As fast as the 

 cappings were drained comijaratively fre-^ 

 of honey Ihey were taken to the wax and 

 vinegar hc.use, Avhei'e they were washed, the 

 honey water going to make vinegar, and 

 the wax into tlie rendering-vat. This house 

 also was the foundation factory where thou- 

 sands of sheets of foundation were made. 



