JliLV, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



555 



FROM reports 

 r e a. e h i ng 

 this office 

 from all parts of 

 t li e U n r i e d 

 States and Can- 

 ada we should 

 judge that the 

 white - clover 



prospect is generally very fair. Ontario, 

 Michigan, and Wisconsin send word of some 

 excellent clover conditions. A few locali- 

 ties report bad clover conditions. From 

 all parts of the country comes word of a 

 season generally a month late, and in many 

 places bees in an almost starving condition 

 at a time of year when they are generally 

 providing plenty of food for themselves. 

 Cool winds and generally unfavorable weath- 

 er conditions have been the almost universal 

 complaint from the Pacific Coast to New 

 England up to the middle of June. Cali- 

 fornia, however, broke into the hot-weather 

 column early in the month, and Florida and 

 the southern states report extracting hav- 

 ing begun in many cases about June 1. 



The month of May, 1917, won the unenvi- 

 able distinction of being the coldest May in 

 Ohio since the establishment of the United 

 States Weather Bureau in 1871. The tem- 

 perature averaged from 10 to 20 degrees 

 below the seasonal normal. So Ohio bee- 

 keepers are in about the same backward con- 

 dition as is all the rest of the country. 



Mr. Elmer Hutchinson, raspberi-y-honey 

 producer at Lake City, Mich., writes under 

 date of May 25 that he had saved all his bees 

 from the forest fires prevailing in that re- 

 gion, but that so many of the berry bushes 

 had been burned that many of his bees 

 would have to be moved to avail them of the 

 scattered patches of berries left unburned. 

 On that date. May 25, Mr. Hutchinson re- 

 ported a foot of snow covering the ground 

 in I hat region. 



In Massachusetts a number of beekeepers' 

 meetings have been held under direction of 

 Burton N. Gates, of the State Agricultural 

 College, to promote an increase of honey 

 production in view of war exigencies. At 

 these meetings a general survey of the cur- 

 rent beekeeping situation was presented. 

 Emphasis was laid upon the utilization of 

 the bees at present available ratlier than to 

 recommend the increase of apiaries. It was 

 also explained that the apiaries where prac- 

 ticable should be utilized for extracted- 

 honey production, as, colony for colony, at 



least double the 

 •number of 

 pounds of honey 

 could thus be 

 turned out. Par- 

 ticularly was it 

 r e e m mended 

 that what honey 

 may be ))ro- 

 duced this year be procured with tlie idea 

 of supplying the home demands. Bee- 

 keepers were advised to place their orders 

 for supplies, including particularly contain- 

 ers for jDacking their honey in the fall, as 

 soon as possible. Under the authority of 

 the Massachusetts State Board of Agricul- 

 ture local ai^iary advisors, or agents of the 

 board, were to be appointed. A limited 

 number of these appointments are made, 

 which appointees will serve to afford infor- 

 mation to their neiglibor beekeepers and as 

 informants to the office in Amherst. It is 

 expected that this system will greatly facili- 

 tate the help which the state offers to the 

 beekeepers. A census of honey-extractors 

 has been made. Practically all extractors 

 are now listed in Amherst so that the bee- 

 keepers of the state who desire to extract a 

 little honey, but who do not have the facili- 

 ties, upon applying to the office in Amherst 

 can learn of the nearest available extractor. 

 Nearly every beekeeper who owns an ex- 

 tractor has kindly offered the use of it, in 

 the emergency, to his neighbor beekeepers. 

 The interest shown by those who attended 

 the meetings has been keen. The beekeep- 

 ers show their willingness to co-operate, and 

 signify their intention to do their best to 

 produce more honey. 



It has been arranged to hold the annual 

 beekeepers' school under the auspices of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 

 Dalton, in the heart of the Berksliires, July 

 11 to 14 inclusive. All persons interested 

 are invited to attend. Copies of the pro- 

 gram will be mailed upon request. There is 

 no fee nor expense attached to attending the 

 school. The first day is to be beginners' day. 

 The second day will deal with the problems 

 of swarming; measures of swarm control; 

 the making of increase ; comb-honey produc- 

 tion ; queens and queen-rearing. The third 

 day is extracted-honey-production day. The 

 fourth day is a general field day, announced 

 by the Berkshire County Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



Mr. L. A. Syverud, state bee inspector of 

 South Dakota, has moved from Troy in that 

 state to Yankton, so as to perform better his 

 duties as inspector. 



