MAY 1, 1916 



347 



BEEKEEPING AMONG the ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colorado 



With sugar selling at seven dol- 

 lai"s and sixty-five cents per hun- 

 dred pounds bee feed will cost 

 heavily this year, and the bees are 

 going to require a lot of feeding 

 too. Sweet clover and alfalfa are 

 in fine condition, dandelions are in 

 bloom, and breeding is going along in fine 

 shape. It ought to be easy to have all colo- 

 nies in excellent shape; and if judgment is 

 used much increase can be made at no 

 expense of honey crop. All that the bee- 

 keeper needs now is enthusiasm, good judg- 

 ment, and hard work to have the colonies 

 in prime condition. 



* * * 



A few weeks ago it looked as if we 

 should have a very early spring, and that 

 there was great danger of the fruit bloom 

 freezing; but it turned cold soon enough to 

 hold back the fruit bloom. Apricots, cher- 

 ries, and a few apples have suffered ; but 

 the great majority of the orchards are safe 

 at this writing. Dandelions have been kept 

 back by the cold weather, and look a little 

 the worse for the freezes. We may not 

 have so many of them tliis year. Bees that 

 have had protection have wintered well in 

 Idaho, and colonies with good queens and 

 honey have come thru well in Colorado. 



Prospects are favorable generally. The 

 prospects are poor in the Arkansas Valley, 

 according to reports I have received. Bees 

 are not in good condition there, on account 

 of the poor season last year. Several cars 

 of bees are to be shipped out of the valley 

 this year. The older irrigated sections are 

 not the honey locations they used to be. 

 Cultivation is too intensive, and sweet clo- 

 ver gets little chance to grow. 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 



In letters that I received from members 

 and non-members, while secretary of the 

 National Association, the thought was ex- 

 pressed that the National ought to do some- 

 thing for the beekeeper. Instead of ask- 

 ing what shall I benefit if I joinf it would 

 be better to say, what will the association 

 ask me to do if I join? If the beekeepers 

 want anything it is up to them to get it. 

 There has been too much waiting for the 

 railroads, the legislatures, the government, 

 the honey-buyers, the commission men, and 

 the National Association to do something 

 for the beekeepers. If the beekeepers want 



anything individually or collectively they 

 had better go after it. Let us not complain 

 of these agencies. Let's quit expecting 

 charity, and let's dig down and pay for 

 what we want. And do not expect a dollar 

 fee in any association to solve all our bee- 

 keeping troubles. 



If the beekeepers expect the marketing 

 problem solved it will have to be handled 

 in a business way, and the building will 

 have to be done from the bottom up. The 

 l^roducers who have the surplus must get 

 together and work with the beekeepers who 

 have no surplus, but are nevertheless vitally 

 interested in seeing prices kept up. The 

 beekeeper is just like any other individual. 

 He will sacrifice future profit for present 

 advantage, not so much because he does not 

 look into the future as because he has the 

 l^resent to contend with. Members of asso- 

 ciations will sell honey for cash at ten per 

 cent below what could be secured by hold- 

 ing thirty days, and they will sell to com- 

 petitors of their own a'ssociations. A little 

 more capital would enable them to stick by 

 the associations, and on the average they 

 would do better and would be contributing 

 to the life and success of the association. 



The National Association has elected 

 officers who will push the association along 

 educational lines only, leaving the commer- 

 cial interests to others. This, it is hoped, 

 will limit the activities to lines that can be 

 successfully pursued. We cannot lose sight 

 of the fact that too much education cannot 

 be carried on covering foul brood, winter- 

 ing, and overstocking, and as much, if not 

 more, is lost from overstocking than from 

 the other two, speaking of the inter-moun- 

 tain region. 



It is a pleasure to see that such an 

 amiable and enthusiastic man as Prof. 

 Jager has been elected president of The 

 National Beekeepers' Association, and Dr. 

 Copenhaver, of Helena, Mont., as the new 

 vice-president. Dr. Copenhaver was elected 

 president of the Montana State Beekeepers' 

 Association a year ago at the time of its 

 organization. He is an efficient enthusiast, 

 and will well represent the interests of the 

 Northwest. My best wishes go to all the 

 new officers of the National. Serving as an 

 oHicer of that association will give one an 

 opportunity to do a great deal of work that 

 may be of much value to American beekeep- 

 ing. The writer is glad to be relieved of 

 the duties of secretai-y, as his work is such 

 that the office could not be well carried on. 



