918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1917 



were lost. A}3iil 15, at the opening flow 

 from white clover, colonies oontained less 

 than half the working force they had in 

 February, and were on the v^rge of star- 

 vation. There would be a few days of 

 warm weather, when bees would work vigor- 

 ousljr; then cold northwest winds would 

 stop everything. Such being our weather 

 conditions till the last of May, queen-rear- 

 ing was, to say the least, most discoiiraging. 



June 1 the bloom from white clover was 

 almost over, and the bees had gotten but 

 little more than a living. Then the first 

 week in June we had a honey-flow that sur- 

 prised us when we learned the source — corn ! 

 Usually when com begins to tassel, bees 

 work busily gathering quantities of pollen 

 and a little honey; but they have never 

 gathered to any api^reciable extent until 

 this year. The honey was light amber, of 

 a good flavor, while the honey that we liad 

 previously thought came from corn was 

 dark and of strong flavor. The flow con- 

 tinued for a month or more. Cornfields 

 swarmed witli bees — a sight such as we never 

 before witnessed. Extracting supers were 

 filled in a short time; also some fine comb 

 honey was obtained. Colonies that were 

 in good condition averaged a hundred 

 pounds from this source alone. 



After June 1 our season changed from 

 dry and cold to dry and hot. weather. 

 Bees were busy all the time, and queen- 

 rearing was carried on under most favor- 

 able conditions. Bees are still storing 

 from heartsease (Oct. 10), which has given 

 us a fine Qov/. Goldenrod is just opening, 

 and in another week aster will be jjlenti- 

 fiil, so the bees will again go into winter 

 quarters with plenty of stores. Even nu- 

 clei will not have to be helped in the matter 

 of winter stores. Altho the conditions 

 since June 1 have been so satisfactory, it is 

 safe to say beekeejiers in the South hope 

 never to experience another such season 

 as we had the first six months of 1917. 



Loreau\'ille, La. F. E. Shaw. 



\AEATHKR CHANGES WHENEVER THE WIND 



CHANGES. 



Our spring weather is very uncertain. 

 We have cold snaps all tliru March and 

 April; in fact, the weather changes every 

 time the wind does. Some years ago I 

 sent a queen advertisement to Gleanings^, 

 and along came the orders befbre any 

 queens were ready. When I wrote that 

 the queens were not ready, my prospective 

 customers said T should not advertise queens 

 until T had them, so since then I have al- 

 ways advertised the date on which I expect 

 to have the queens ready. 



Tf we have any honey-flow here it is in 

 May and June, and not later than the 10th 

 rf July; then no more until about Sept. 

 20. However, good queens can be reared 

 by feeding until about the first of Septem- 

 ber when the nights begin to get too cool. 

 But there is no month in the year here 

 when we are not likely to ha\'e a few days 

 of rainy weather that will keep the bees 

 in. Then when the sun dees come out, 

 everj'thing is in an uproar, and the young 

 queens get lost in one way or another. 



I think customers make a rais"ake some- 

 times in demanding that the queens or bees 

 be sent by return mail or the money re- 

 turned. I have had such dem.ands when I 

 could have filled the order in three or four 

 days ; but in order not to lose this customer 

 it certainly would be wrong to rush thni his 

 shipment and let others wait still longer. 

 In fact, T have sometimes returned such 

 orders when I could have filled them in the 

 same time, for I think that, in this matter, 

 breeders should do as I'equested by cus- 

 tomers; but I also believe that customers 

 sliould give a few daj's for filling an order, 

 and not risk sending to another and find- 

 in s' him also behind in his shipments. 



Eandleman, N. C. D. T. Gaster. 



daytime^, nighttime^ all the time. 



Two unusual tilings occurred to the pack- 

 ag<e-shippei's and queen-breeders the past 

 season — namely, great demand flor bees 

 and queens, and peouliariy linfaivorable 

 weather everywhere all the season. 



The increased demand and the soaring 

 price of lioney, together with the govern- 

 ment's slogan, " a hundred million more 

 honey," caused beekeepers to order bees and 

 queens as they never did before. It seemed 

 as if everybody sent in an order for bees 

 and queens, and, not being prepared for 

 such a demand, many breeders after work- 

 ing hard all day had to sit up half the 

 night returning orders tliey could not pos- 

 sibly fill. All tbat could be done was to 

 accept such orders as there was a possibility 

 of being able to fill on time. 



Tlien another unusual thing oecuiTed — the 

 early spring weather looked for did not 

 come; and all thru the summer there was 

 more or less unfavorable weather, with a 

 heavy loss in virgin queens and a conse- 

 quent delay in filling orders booked. It 

 seemed as if the weather was the cause of 

 the failure to realize the " hundred mil- 

 lion more of honey ;" and what proves un- 

 favorable to honey production is doubly so 

 to the queen-breeder, as eveiy breeder in 

 the lancl can tell from the past season's 

 experience. It will be necessary to exer- 



