12 



GLEANINGS IN i3EE CULTURE 



January, 1920 



located directly behind the house, but does 

 not show in the picture. The 60 or more 

 colonies used by the oifice are arranged in 

 groups of four during the entire year, and, 

 as might be expected, are heavily packed 

 in winter in quadruple cases. The men at 

 the office rather pride themselves that most 

 beekeepers think tbem cranks on the winter 

 problem, but at any rate they practice what 

 they preach. They get results too, as I can 

 certify. Of course, almost anything is apt 

 to happen to the colonies in the apiary, for 

 they are devoted to experiments and not to 

 honey-production. The vicinity of Washing- 

 ton is not considered a good location for bee- 

 keeping; yet it is probable that if the Bu- 

 reau apiary were operated for honey alone 

 the average crop would be in the neighbor- 

 hood of 100 pounds annually, and it would 

 come almost every year, for the manage- 

 ment of that apiary has gone a long way to- 

 ward wiping out bad seasons. But that is 

 another story for which I do not have time 

 now. 



The grounds of the office are beautifully 

 laid out and planted. There is nothing arti- 

 ficial about the grounds, which look just as 

 if Mother Nature had done the planting, yet 

 there are many different species and vari- 

 eties of plants there which are not native 

 to the locality. The original owner of the 

 grounds, Dr. Jas. A. Nelson, formerly of 

 the Office of Bee Culture, is really a land- 

 scape artist and now his former associates 

 are enjoying the results of his labors. 



Inside the building we find five men and 

 five women at work. These represent the 

 office staff and, as I shall show later, there 

 are more men out in the field all the time. 

 The head of the office is Dr. E. F. Phillips, 

 who has had charge of the office for the past 

 14 years. It does not seem that long since 

 I first met him some 16 years ago, then a 

 student at the University of Pennsylvania. 

 At that time he came to our apiary to do 

 some original research work. I saw that 

 he had the making of an instructor in bee- 

 keeping at some one of our colleges. Later 

 on, I had the honor and pleasure of recom- 

 mending him for a position under Benton 

 in the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, 

 D. C. As our readers know, it was not long 

 before he was in charge of investigation 

 work in bee culture in the Bureau. 



On the last occasion that I visited the of- 

 fice Dr. Phillips was absent on the road. 

 However, the remainder of the office force 

 were lined up before the camera and the re- 

 sult is here presented. C. F. M. Stone of 

 Pasadena, Calif., was with me, and I in- 

 sisted on his getting into the picture. He 

 and the head of the office weigh about the 

 same; so he may be considered holding 

 down that position — in the picture at least. 



On the steps from left to right are George 

 S. Demuth, well known to all of our readers; 

 G. H. Gale, a graduate of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College, formerly of the Mary- 

 land Agricultural College, but with the office 

 since the outbreak of the war; and Arnold 



P. Sturtevant, who has charge of the bee- 

 disease investigations of the office. Stand- 

 ing on the steps are: Lloyd E. Watson, 

 formerly of Alfred University and later ex- 

 tension field man in beekeeping in Connecti- 

 cut, but with the office since July 10 (by 

 the way, he is another man I had the honor 

 of recommending to the Bureau) ; Mrs. 

 Marian A. Carter, chief clerk of the office, 

 whose initials, mac, are found on so many 

 of the letters that are sent out from the of- 

 fice; Mrs. Faith P. Gaddes, clerk; Miss Ma- 

 belle Michener, clerk and dictaphone operat- 

 or; Miss Ethel L. Coon, clerk and dicta- 

 phone operator; Mrs. Margaret B. Shoe- 

 maker, file clerk; and on the right end our 

 friend, C. F. M. Stone of Pasadena. 



Let us see what these folks do whose 

 work comes closest to the beekeepers of the 

 country. Mr. Demuth is the author of the 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, National Apiarist. 



bulletin on Commercial Comb Honey Pro- 

 duction and has another bulletin soon to be 

 issued which will interest every beekeeper 

 in the country. He was engaged with Dr. 

 Phillips in the investigation of wintering, 

 but since the countiy went into the war he 

 has spent most of his time in promoting 

 honey-production. In fact, during the war al- 

 most all the research work was stopped and 

 the entire staff was engaged in extension 

 work. Mr. Demuth has taken part in all of 

 the extension short courses given by the 

 Bureau. Mr. Cale handles especially the 

 business connected with the extension work 

 of the office and is preparing now some ma- 

 terial, which will soon be published, to assist 

 in certain parts of this work. Mr. Sturte- 

 vant, whom I have mentioned before, is a 

 bacteriologist with a vision of beekeeping, 

 which makes the work that he is doing much 

 more valuable than if he were simply a bac- 

 teriologist. He did such good work that I 



