20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1920 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



to taste this dainty usually finds it so much 

 to his liking that, as long as the honey 

 cakes are procurable, a plateful is bought 

 every day for his own particular use. 



Oddly enough, too, in the Island of Bour- 

 bon, a dependency of the French Republic, 

 in the Indian Ocean, the folks, both white 

 and colored, use in somewhat similar cakes 

 a most delicious and fragrant honey from 

 the wild bee. The hue of this honey is a 

 light green, and from the heat of the cli- 

 mate it is so liquid that it is always kept 

 in black wine-bottles. The Bourbonese work 

 crushed bananas into the dough, with a 

 most pleasing result. A. Tegnier. 



Eayleigh, Essex, England. 



BEES IN THE OKANAGAN VALLEY 



A Fruit and Vegetable Country Where Bees Are a 

 Necessity 



The Okanagan Valley, B. C, extends from 

 the border line at Oroville on the south to 

 Salmon Arm on the north, but in this article 

 reference is made chiefly to that part of the 

 valley lying between Penticton and Vernon, 

 B. C, and adjoining Okanagan Lake. 



The population of this area is probably 

 about 20,000, most of whom are fruit-farm- 

 ers, with a fair j)roportion of vegetable- 

 growers at the northern end. The chief 

 products of the valley comprise apples, 

 pears, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, 

 grapes, melons, tomatoes, celery, and onions. 

 The average rainfall being but 12 inches in 

 the year, irrigation is general except in the 

 extreme north. 



More than $4,000,000 was received by 

 Okanagan growers last .year, from which it 

 may be inferred that there ts considerable 

 fruit bloom to be pollinated by our friend 

 the bee. Unfortunately, the profusion of 

 fruit blossoms in the spring is largely offset 

 by comparative scarcity of wild blossoms, 

 and during the latter part of the summer 

 in many districts there is a meager supply 

 of nectar. Alfalfa is very generally grown 

 as a cover crop in the orchards, and where 

 this is left to blossom the problem is solved; 

 but, in most cases, it is cut for feed and the 

 bees get but little from it. There is, how- 

 ever, a fair sprinkling of white Dutch clover 

 in many parts, and some areas have a great 

 deal of sweet clover as a roadside crop. 

 Where there is any seepage from the irri- 

 gation flumes this plant flourishes in abun- 

 dance and is constantly covered with bees. 

 A good deal of sage also grows here and 

 helps out considerably. 



One of the largest apiaries in the valley 

 is that of L. J. Harris, who is the Provincial 

 bee-inspector for this district. Mr. Harris 

 operates for both xomb honev and extracted, 

 and, I understand, supplies the C. P. E. with 

 a good deal of the former m small "indi- 

 vidual" cartons for use in their dining cars. 



At Kelowna, further south, the most ex- 

 tensive bee business is run by D. E. McDon- 

 ald, whose apiaries are at Rutland and El- 

 lison, both a few miles inland. 



D. B. Lyons, also of Kelowna, keeps quite 

 a large number of colonies of Italians as 

 aids to his main business, which is the grow- 

 ing of^ cucumbers, grapes, and tomato plants 

 under glass. 



A little further up the lake is Okanagan 



.\ t.\i)i<;il BritifJi C'dlumbiu ;ilii:iry, tliat of F. R. Gartell at yuiniiurlaiid, 15. C. 



