1058 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



tion of the beekeepers of this cuuntiy. If 

 ■every beekeeper in every state were com- 

 pelled to make out a report of the condi- 

 tions of his colonies, and particularly 

 whether they have any bee disease, it would 

 assist the bee inspectors materially in their 

 work. Perhaps such a i^rovision would not 

 be practicable in this country; but if every 

 beekeeper were compelled to make a report 

 whether he had bee disease or not, and fail- 

 ing to make, such report would be subject 

 to a fine, it would save the bee insj^ectors 

 from going over territory that is probably 

 clean, and direct them at once to the diseas- 

 ed spots. 



Government Figures on the Honey 

 Crop for 1916 



From the Monthly Crop Report publish- 

 ed by authority of the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, D. C, we find on page 91 

 of the Sei:)tember issue a table of average 

 yields of surplus honey per colony, spring- 

 count of 1916, up to September 1, as com- 

 pared with 1915 to the same time: Con- 

 necticut, Virginia, West Virginia, North 

 Carolina, Georgia, Minnesota, North Dako- 

 ta, Alabama, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, 

 Idaho, Oregon, and California show a small- 

 er crop than in 1915. All the rest of the 

 states show a larger crop Avith the exception 

 ■of Rhode Island and Wisconsin, which show 

 the same average crop both years. The 

 states which show the greatest increas? over 

 last year are New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, 

 Indiana, and Illinois. 



JBeekeeping for Pleasure as well as for 

 Profit 



If there is any i^lace in Uncle Sam's 

 •domains where bees can be kept for pleasure 

 as well as profit it is along the Florida 

 rivers, particularly the Apalachicola, St. 

 John's, and the Indian rivers. It is just 

 fun to run back and forth to the outyards 

 on the river banks in that mild and salubri- 

 ous climate; and while the keeping of bees 

 along these livers may not mean a large 

 profit it will mean renewed health and a new 

 life. On the St. John's and Indian rivers, 

 the apiaries will necessarily be small — a few 

 colonies at a place. As we go further south 

 toward the Florida Keys the yards may be 

 larger. 



The pictures by C. H. Clute in this issue, 

 pages 1069 and 1070, bring back to the edi- 

 tor pleasant memories of when, three years 

 ago, he was fighting chills and fever, and 

 Avhen he got back his health. There is some- 



thing besides dollars in this world; and the 

 big'gest asset one can have is good health, 

 ro matter what it costs. The editor has not 

 found it necessary, like Ponce de Leon, to 

 }i}mt for the fountain of eternal youth in 

 Florida. He found it on thess rivers. 



Outdoor versus Indoor Wintering 



While the tendency ssems to be decidedly 

 toward outdoor wintering as mentioned in 

 our issue for Nov. 1, page 1011, some figures 

 presented by our old friend Doolittle on 

 page 1066 of tliis issue would seem to argue 

 very strongly for cellar wintering. Accord- 

 ing to Doolittle's figiires the consumption of 

 stox'es by colonies indoors is less than half 

 of those outdoors. Other investigators made 

 similar com])arisons in former years and 

 discovered about the same ratio. Were it 

 not for tlie fact that the colonies wintered 

 outdoors are in many cases considered to be 

 an advance over those wintered indoons, 

 every one would use cellars where the cli- 

 mate is severe enough. Canadian beekeep- 

 ers are inclined to believe that, in spite of 

 the larger consumption of stores, tlie out- 

 door bees are enough ahead to make up the 

 difference. Or, to put it another way, the 

 outdoor colonies it is believed will have a 

 larger force of young bees for the liarvest. 

 A colon}' that is strong enough to gather 

 100 lbs. of honey may be worth the extra 

 stores. 



The exact relative difference in honey 

 producing betv;een an outdoor and indoor 

 Avintered colony has never been tested out 

 exiaerimentally. We hope some experiment 

 station Avill try this out on Iavo groups of 

 25 or 50 colonies so as to get an average. 



A Chain of Bee Conventions 



A CHAIN of bee conventions Avill be held 

 in Kansas Nov. 20 and 21; Indiana, Nov. 

 27, 28; Ohio, Nov. 29, 30; Michigan, Nov, 

 HO, Dec. 1 and 2: Chicago-NortliAvestern, 

 Dec. 4, 5; Minnesota, Dec. 5, 6; loAva, Dee. 

 5, 6 ; Wisconsin, Dec. 7, 8 ; Ontario, Dee. 12, 

 13, 14; Idaho-Oregon, Dec. 5, 6. 



The Kansas meeting Avill be held at To- 

 peka. Secretary, 0. A. Keene. 



The meeting in Indiana will be held at 

 the State House, Indianapolis. 



The meeting in Michigan will be held at 

 Lansing. A banquet v/ill be given by the 

 A. I. Root Co. and M. H. Hunt & Sons. 

 See Convention Notices. 



The meeting of the Chieago-Northwestern 

 Avill be held in Chicago, Great Northern 

 Hotel, Jolni C. Bull, secretary. 



