March, 1917 



GLEANINGS T N R K K O IT I, T TT R E 



195 



N 



ORTH Car- 



c 



o r ganized 

 a State Beekeep- 

 ers' Association, 

 with a niiclens 

 membership o f 

 t h i r t y - three. 

 Prof. Franklin 



Sherman, Jr., of Raleigh, is Pa-esident ; Mr. 

 W. C. Flemming', of Greensbox^o, is Vice- 

 president, and Mr. S. S. Stabler, of Salis- 

 bury, Secretary-Treasurer. The start has 

 been made with enthusiasm, and we all wish 

 the association great success. 

 « » * 



This has proven a hard winter on our 

 Dixie bees, to date. Weather conditions 

 haA'e been unusually severe, as tho trying 

 to show our federal extension workers how 

 bad they could be ! We have had all sorts 

 of sudden changes, with wide daily ranges 

 of temperature. Two or three times we 

 have struck practically zero Aveather. 



From North Carolina comes a similar re- 

 port, with the prediction of 30 per cent loss, 

 due to the hard winter and low stores. An 

 examination on January 30, when the bees 

 had a good flight, showed less brood in pack- 

 ed hives than in unpacked. 



The Tennessee State Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion met on Februarj^ 2, with the mercury at 

 two degrees above zero — good clustering 

 weather, said Prof. Bentley, state entomolo- 

 gist. The weather undoubtedly kept some 

 of our members away, but at that there was 

 a fair attendance. Pres. Ben. G. Davis in 

 his opening addi'ess made a brief plea for 

 continued improvement in Tennessee bee- 

 keeping, deploring the necessity of large 

 shipments of honey into this state, when we 

 could and should raise enough for ourselves 

 and our neighbors. 



In his report of the year's work. Dr. J. S. 

 Ward, state inspector, gave us some interest- 

 ing figures covering both 1916 and 1915. 

 This is a long state from east to west, and 

 on an appropriation of $1000 it is obviously 

 impossible to visit the entire state in one 

 3-ear. Dr. AVard's figures follow. 



1915 1916 



Apiaries visited 43 73 



Colonies inspected 1374 2060 



Queenyards inspected 6 4 



Cases of American foul 1 rood 58 97 



Cases of European foul Ijrood 150 113 



Cases of sac brood 46 32 



Cases of paralysis 20 13 



Demonstrations given 32 40 



Lectures with lantern 12 6 



There was an able jiaper by J. M. Bu- 

 cliaiuin, Franlvlin, on " Spring Manage- 

 ment," explaining the use of two stories for 

 winter and early spring; another by J. Ivan 



THE DIXIE BEE 



1 



Grace Allen 



Banks, of Dow- 

 elltown, on "Tlie 

 Value of Young 

 Queens," i n 

 whicli Mr. Banks 

 advocated re,- 

 queening every 

 year, and still 

 another by J. E. 

 Ring on " Marketing Honey." 



As was to be expected, the particular in- 

 terest of the meeting centered in the talk by 

 Mr. C. E. Bartholomew, the federal exten- 

 sion expert, on "Wintering Bees." Early 

 in his address Mr. Bartholomew referred to 

 our winter loss as 50 per cent. If this 

 figure is accurate, the average loss must be 

 enormous up in the mountain districts or 

 " back in the sticks," for among tlie ])rogr.es- 

 sive beekeepers in tliis section it is much 

 less — much less. He quoted in some detail 

 the interesting weather reports of daily tem- 

 perature range and winter averages and 

 summaries, concluding with the assertion 

 that Tennessee bees need i^acking worse 

 than the bees of Canada! And he backed 

 it up with the reports of those scientifically 

 conducted experiments at Washington. 



Mr. Bartholomew also made a vigorous 

 plea for stronger organization. Moreover 

 he reported three good county organizations 

 already formed — ^one in Smith County, one 

 in Overton, one in Lincoln, with formal 

 printed constitutions and schedules for 

 monthly meetings. One interesting feature 

 is the marketing committee, to look after not 

 only the marketing of the honey crop to 

 best advantage, but also the jiurchasing of 

 supplies for the association. Each of these 

 county associations is a unit in the county 

 agricultural society as well as Ihe state bee- 

 keepers' association. Other counties were 

 urged to follow the progressive example of 

 Smith, Overton, and Lincoln. 



The question-box brought out some ani- 

 mated discussion. The question " What is 

 the best way to make increase in this local- 

 ity?" brought some smiles thru the instant 

 answer, " Buy your bees from your neigh- 

 bors!" Another question of interest was 

 " How many at this meeting use some pro- 

 tection for their hives in winter?" The 

 president called for a show of hands. Not 

 one! May be some one will ask the same 

 question next year. May be tlie answer will 

 be different. 



The following were elected officers: Dr. 

 J. S. Ward, President; Mr. J. M. Buchanan, 

 Vice-president; Mr. C. E. Bartholomew, 

 Secretary-Treasurer. 



Mr. Kenneth Hawkins, federal specialist 

 for the South at large, has been compelled 

 by poor health to discontinue his work. 



