464 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1917 



GLEANINGS FROM THE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, AND WEST 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Grace Allen, Nashville, Tenn. 



AL L the 

 f a r m e rs 

 and near- 

 farmers in this 

 section predicted that the excess of rains 

 in February and March naeant a drouth 

 later, and "they hit it right as to Api'ih 

 Day after day and week after week went 

 by without a drop of rain. Then, just 

 as locust swept into full bloom, the dry 

 spell broke. In fact, in several counties it 

 fairly smashed, bursting into a hailstorm 

 that ruined gardens and tore the locust 

 bloom to bits. 



On Sunday, April 22, when we came home 

 a roundabout way so that we could get a 

 walk by the creek and across the commons, 

 we were surprised to find a few, a very 

 few, white-clover heads nodding at us, with 

 the black-locust trees only just coming into 

 bloom. That was good time for the locust, 

 and fully two weeks earlier than I have 

 happened to see clover before. However, 

 one white-clover blossom doesn't make a 

 honey crop ; and while just in the yards 

 around Nashville it has opened up nicely 

 by now, May 7, the stock that runs loose on 

 the commons keeps it cropped discouraging- 

 ly close. In other counties, it is reported 

 as coming late and slow, and thru all this 

 part of the state the dry April has hurt our 

 prospects materially. 



At present, in this early May, we are go- 

 ing thru a run of cold gray weather, with 

 bees flying very little — some days not at all. 

 I have found dead drones on the alighting- 

 boards, with drone brood outside — a sight 

 not normally scheduled for May in Ten- 

 nessee. A wet spell, then a dry spell, then 

 a cold spell — what does that spell ? 



County Agent Ebb Thomas delivered an 

 interesting address to the Davidson County 

 Beekeepers' Association at their second 

 meeting. He stressed the grave food situa- 

 tion, and the necessity for the maximum 

 of production, and called on the beemen 

 to do their bit. And so they will. Mi'. 

 Bartholomew voices the same thought in 

 one of his circular letters : " Not all of us 

 can do military service, but there are plenty 

 of things to do in addition to carrying arms. 

 Do your share to aid in the campaign for 

 increasing the honey crop, and, by so doing, 

 heljD ' do your bit.' " 



Two such beautiful covers — the dande- 

 lions of April and the fruit-bloom of May ! 



Are we not for- 

 tunate to have 

 work that throws 

 us into touch 

 with Nature, with all her wonders and her 

 beauties and her mysteries, her " divine 

 things more beautiful than words can tell " ? 



it i ^ 



Recently I read a long article reprinted 

 from The Medical World. It was entitled 

 " King Candy," and gave interesting testi- 

 mony to the great value of candy and other 

 sweets to conteract the habit of alcoholism. 

 As I read it, I wished they had gone a step 

 further and called attention to the superior 

 virtues of honey. Candy is surely less 

 harmful than alcohol, and honey is more 

 beneficial than candy. 



* * * 



THE BEE AND POULTRY DEMONSTRATION 

 TRAIN. 



On a sunny day in late April we went to 

 the country, one of us leaving a prosy 

 office behind, and the other a still prosier 

 house-cleaning job. The day was filled with 

 dog'wood blossom and black - locust bloom 

 and the sweet, sweeping scent of them. We 

 lunched under old trees, wonderful with new- 

 born leaves, and then, at 2 :00 P. M., went to 

 the siding by the little country station arid 

 entered the Auditorium Car of the N. Cv 

 & St. L. Ry. Co., where the lectures on bees 

 and poultry were being given. On April 9 

 they had left Nashville, making three and 

 four lecture-stops each day for one week. 

 The next week they rested, then out again 

 for another week. Mr. Bartholomew, the 

 federal bee expert, and Mr. Crane, the fed- 

 eral poultry expert, both of the University 

 of Tennessee at Knoxville, made the entire 

 trip, while Mr. J. H. Judd, the N. C. & St. 

 L. Special Agricultural Agent, and Mr. A. 

 D. Knox, the Assistant Agricultural Agent, 

 were each out part of the time. The private 

 observation car, with sleeping - rooms and 

 library, and the Auditorium car, were drop- 

 ped off at the siding by some train, the 

 lectures delivered, questions asked, and 

 friends made ; then some other train picked 

 them up and ran them on to some other 

 siding at some other station to repeat the 

 good program. It was on the last day of 

 this second week that we went out. 



There were pictures of different breeds of 

 poultry on the walls of the ear, and bee 

 supplies and model chicken-coops up in 

 front by the speaker's table, while the rest 

 of the car was filled with chairs — arranged 

 as in any public hall — even tho the aisle 



