E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1 



SINCE OUR LAST issue went to press 

 thore was hold at Salt Lake, Utah, Feb. 20 

 and 21, an i ni - 



The New League 



Again. 



proniptu or inform- 

 al meeting of the 

 representatives of 

 some of the California and Rocky Mountain 

 co-operative honey exchanges, to discuss 

 ways and means whereby all the honey of 

 the districts named could be gathered and 

 sold by a central agenc}-, such agency to 

 have headquarters at a central depot and 

 sell the honey at the best price the market 

 could afford. There were present from these 

 exchanges Chas. B. Justice, Chas. Orr, and 

 E. W. Horn, of the California Exchange; 

 P. S. Farrell and C. E. Dibble, of the Idaho- 

 Oregon Exchange; B. F. Hastings, of the 

 Colorado Honey Producers ' Association, and 

 a committee from the Utah Beekeepers ' As- 

 sociation, not yet organized, but which has 

 already taken the preliminary steps to unite 

 with the organization under Mr. Farrell. 

 These various representatives met and pass- 

 ed a resolution favoring some agency plan 

 that would not only stabilize the western 

 market on honey, but prevent, as far as pos- 

 sible, the indiscriminate cutting of prices 

 by independent and unorganized beekeepers. 



As was naturally to be expected, there 

 were some at Salt Lake who felt that a 

 general marketing scheme for the whole 

 West would be too big to be workable; that 

 the alfalfa of the Rockies was much superior 

 to the alfalfa of California; that in general 

 the honeys of California were distinctly dif- 

 ferent from those of the Rockies. 



On March 9, lU, and 11 there was held at 

 Buffalo another and what was declared the 

 final meeting of the National Beekeepers' 

 Association. On the last day a resolution 

 was presenteil and adopted, merging the old 

 National into the American Honey Produc- 

 ers' League — the organization that was pro- 

 jected at Kansas City on Jan. 6 and 7 last. 

 For fuller particulars see page 233 of the 

 department Just News, where will be found 

 the letters of three prominent beekeepers re- 

 porting on the new League as endorsed at 

 Buffalo. 



What will be the future of the League 

 will depend on how well the beekeepers of 

 the West (and in a larger way of the East) 

 will take hoM of it. A good start has been 

 made at Buffalo. No organization of the 

 kind outlined at Kansas City, Salt Lake, or 

 Buffalo, can succeed if there are local jeal- 

 ousies or political wire-pullings. It is sin- 



cerely to be hoped there will be none. 

 "Politics" in bee associations? Yes, sir. 

 There always has been a lot of it in the 

 past, and there will be in the future, unless 

 beekeepers will be broad enough to sink 

 local jealousies for the best good of aU. 



Gleanings stands ready to support any 

 organization that is for the good of beekeep- 

 ers. If the new League can stabilize the 

 market and better beekeeping conditions, 

 we are for it heart and soul. Something of 

 the kind is needed, and Gleanings will do 

 its part. 



30^©5= 



IN OUR February issue, page 79, we omit- 

 ted one important factor in getting brood 

 to the top-bars — 

 Getting Brood namely, the factor 

 to the Top-bars, of top protection. 

 Again. No matter how well 



frames may be wir- 

 ed, nor how well the foundation is reinforc- 

 ed against stretching, the queen may or may 

 not go above the two-inch space below the 

 top-bar if the top of the hive does not have 

 a warm cover. Where there is a board of 

 only a single thickness, a great deal of cold, 

 if the weather is chilly, can penetrate dur- 

 ing the night. The queen is not likely to 

 stretch her brood up into a cold area. If 

 she does not occupy the s^^ace, the bees will 

 be likely to fill it later on with honey. In 

 the case of a two-story hive, when the 

 frames are properly wired we should expect 

 the brood to go clear up to the top-bar in 

 the lower story, but not in the upper story 

 if it has an ordinary single-board cover. 



The moral of this whole thing is, a hive 

 should have a warm top, and frames so 

 wired that neither the combs nor the foun- 

 dation will stretch. 



THE TORONTO Beekeepers' Association 

 has recommended to the postoflfice depart- 

 ments of Canada and the United 

 States the extension of the limits in 

 weight of parcel post between the 

 two countries so that live bees in 

 packages of up to 11 lbs. weight 

 may be received into Canada, and that all 

 such shipments be handled by "outside 

 mail" so that the bees be not smothered. 

 The queen and bee breeders of this country 

 should urgently write the Postoflfice Depart- 

 ment at Washington asking that the recom- 

 mendation be adopted. 



