May, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



377 



Banks, Dowelltown, for tlie purpose of 

 forming a county organization. Mr. C. E. 

 Bartholomew was present, and they had 

 looked forward to having Mr. Pellett witli 

 them; but unfortunately, on the 2d, Mr. 

 Pellett received word of an accident to his 

 little son, and hurried home. We are all 

 hoping the accident may not have proven 

 serious, and we greatly regret missing Mr. 

 Pellett at the various meetings he had i:)lan- 

 ned to attend — including that of our own 

 county. And we hope he will come back. 



There was only a baker's dozen present 

 at the meeting in our apiary to organize 

 the Davidson County* Association, but we 

 organized. The constitution which Mr. 

 Bartholomew presented as the one adopted 

 with some modifications by other county as- 

 sociations states the object to be "to promote 

 the beekeeping industry of the county, to 

 unite the beekeepers in one compact body, 

 to create a power the units of which, work- 

 ing in harmony of purpose, will foster fra- 

 ternal relations and intercouise among tlie 

 beekeepers; safeguard the material inter- 

 ests of the industry, elevate the standards, 

 and improve the methods of beekeeping; 

 encourage and help to introduce beekeep- 

 ing instruction into elemental and high 

 schools; secure the enactment and enforce- 

 ment of just inspection laws, and enlighten 

 the general public regarding the value of 

 honey for a pure food." 



Now, that's a whole lot to take upon one's 



'organized county self as one's object, and 

 probably for a while this particular county 

 organization will content itself with the 

 " material interests " and the " fraternal re- 

 lations." But that, I contend, is a begin- 

 ning, and a good beginning. Mr. Allen 

 was chosen president, Mr. E. J. Adkisson 

 vice-president, and W. Edward Lee secre- 

 tary-treasurer. Later we shall have com- 

 mittees, and the committees will do things. 



Of course the feature of the meeting was 

 Mr. Bartholomew's convincing address set- 

 ting forth the advantages and possibilities 

 of organization — co-operation of effort for 

 the large producers, and instruction for the 

 beginners. There was evident an earnest 

 appreciation of this opportunity, and plen- 

 ty of humorous, friendly conversation thru- 

 out. 



And here is the importance and signifi- 

 cance of any such meeting. Davidson is 

 only one county in one state in this great 

 country ; but get this sort of thing sufficient- 

 ly widespread, and see what you will have. 

 If, for instance, the beekeepers in every 

 county in Tennessee should band themselves 

 .together to make the individual members 

 high-class and progi'essive, and their county 

 a leader in the industry, what couldn't and 

 wouldn't Tennessee as a state achieve? 

 Then suppose that same thing of every state 

 in the Union. And that is the end toward 

 which any effort, however small and seem- 

 ingly unimportant, works ; and the possible 

 final results are scarcely to be predicted, as 

 to new standards of efficiency and success. 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



I. L. Byer, Markham, Ont. 



BEES had a 

 }) a r t i a 1 

 flight March 

 22 in this part 

 of Ontario — their first outing since Novem- 

 ber. Then on the 25tli and 2Gth the ther- 

 mometer went up to about GO, and all colo- 

 nies flew nicely. In spite of the long 

 and exiceptionally cold winter, the bees 

 seem to have wintered splendidly outdoors 

 — at least all who have reported to me 

 so far tell that story, and our own bees are 

 in nice shape at all of the yards so far as 

 we can juclge at this season of the year. 

 Today, April 5, snow has been falling near- 

 ly all day, just to remind us that summer 

 is not here yet, and tliat wintci' still has 

 a kick or two left. 



* * * 



We have just returned from the yard 100 

 miles from home, where over 250 colonies 

 wintered outside. This yard was never vis- 



ited by any of 

 us since last 

 October, and not 

 a person u p 

 there did a taji to the yard till on the even- 

 ing of March 21, when some snow was tak- 

 en from the entrances, as prospects seemed 

 good for a flight the next day. Judging ])y 

 five years' wintering on the let-alone plan, 1 

 have come to the conclusion that all Ihc 

 tinkering done at home yards, suck as rak- 

 ing out dead bees from entrances, etc., 

 amounts to little; but of course there is a 

 certain amount of satisfaction in doing this 

 " tinkering," even if there is no money in it. 

 Did you ever spend some time in helping 

 some ];oor chilled bees to get into the en- 

 trance (if tlieir hive after being caught out 

 by some sudden changes of weather, even 

 when you felt that you were doing very 

 little actual good from a monetary stand- 

 point? We have often done that very 



