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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BEEKEEPING AMONG the ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colorado 



I The Boulder County Fair will be 

 held September 5 to 8 inclusive, at 

 Longmont, Colorado. The premi- 

 ums for the Apiary DejDartment 

 amount to $75.00, which is an in- 

 crease of $50.00. The amount is 

 sufficient compared with premiums 

 offered in other departments. The Boulder 

 County Fair is equipped with the best 

 buildines and grounds of any county fair in 

 Colorado, and the attendance will undoubt- 

 edly be very large. 



* * * 



Grasshoppers are reported vei*y bad in 

 places, and the farmers are beginning a 

 fight on them. Alfalfa was not injured by 

 late freezes, except in a very few localities. 

 Horsemint was injured by freezing, how- 

 ever, and also suffered by the drouth in 

 June. 



The bees were checked in their swarming 

 preparations according to rule this year. 

 Just as swarming was about to get under 

 way the alfalfa was cut, and sweet clover 

 was not yielding sufficient to keep up 

 swarming preparations. We shall doubtless 

 get swarms in Augiist this year, if the flow 

 is good, but we look for the swarming prop- 

 osition to be easily controlled this season. 



* * * 



The weather has been very unfavorable 

 in Idaho, but there will doubtless be some 

 honey produced this year for shipment. 

 Colorado, as a whole, has had a flow from 

 the first alfalfa, and the bees are well start- 

 ed in supers ; if sweet clover and alfalfa will 

 keep them going, things may come out well. 

 A bumper crop Avill not be harvested unless 

 there is a quick change in the matter of 

 moisture. 



* * * 



SWEETEN BERRIES WITH HONEY. 



The Colorado Honey-producers' Associa- 

 tion is distributing among the fruit-grower 

 beekeepers near Denver thousands of little 

 slips printed with these words: " Have you 

 ever sweetened berries with honey? If not, 

 try it ! It is delicious ! " These slips are 

 put in the bottoms of the berry-boxes; and 

 when the berries are emptied out, there is 

 the slip for the lady to read. It will have 

 a wonderfully good and stimulating effect, 

 now that the price of sugar is so high. 

 There is no patent on the idea, and beekeep- 

 ers are urged everywhere to copy it. These 

 nises of honey, where honey is so manifestly 

 superioi- to sugar, should now be pushed. 

 Honey for sweetening coffee is fine where 



the quality of honey is the best. For sweet- 

 ening lemonade, honey is not as desirable as 

 sugar, in the writer's estimation. ' 



DROUTH HURTING SV^EET-CLOVER FLOW. 



The first crop of alfalfa is now (July 6) 

 all put up, and sweet clover is in full bloom. 

 The flow f lom the first crop was better than 

 it has been for several years. It is exceed- 

 ingly dry, and a few good rains would mean 

 much to the beekeepers of Colorado. If we 

 do not get rain, the yield from the second 

 crop of alfalfa will be light and the flow 

 from sweet clover will be very small indeed. 

 The iDrecipitation is about four inches below 

 normal, and all Ave can depend on now is 

 snow, which is melting very rapidly these 



hot days. 



* « * 



SUPERING. 



It is well to remember that all comb- 

 honey supers should go on top until the 

 second crop of alfalfa proves what it will 

 do in the way of nectar secretion. Lifting 

 supers and putting empty ones beneath, 

 during the first alfalfa flow, is poor prac- 

 tice with most colonies. If we had all colo- 

 nies like the best, it would be different, but 

 we never do unless we have but a few colo- 

 nies. When the second alfalfa blooms, then 

 we can judge pretty well whether supering 

 may be liberally done. It is always safe 

 to keep an empty sutler on top as a safety- 

 valve. 



HONEY PUBLICITY. 



A few years ago the raisin-gTowers of 

 California were up against a glutted mar- 

 ket, and they began a publicity campaign, 

 carrying it forward with such efficiency that 

 there was no railroad running out of Cali- 

 fornia but that served raisin bread, and 

 raisin bread only, on their dining-cars. I 

 have been in dining-cars when I could get 

 no plain bread. I have never liked the 

 raisin-gTowers for this, for I do not like 

 raisins in my bread. Let them push raisin 

 pie all they wish to, but stop putting raisins 

 in bread for me. And I hope that honey 

 publicity will keep fairly within the realm 

 of common sense. I boost honey all I can ; 

 but I don't like honey in my tea, coffee, or 

 postum, and maple syrup tastes just a little 

 better on hot cakes than does honey — prob- 

 ably because we have honey on the table 

 every meal, and maple syrup is a scarce 

 article. There is a limit to honey publicity, 

 and we must use it or we shall do no perma- 

 nent good. 



