M-*v. 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T TJ R E 



267 



foniior days the bottlers were blending the 

 two. These honeys are now already bleniled 

 by the bees, altho there are localities where 

 pure alfalfa is still obtained. No alfalfa in 

 the South will have sweet clover mixed with 

 it. 



Northern Idaho with Eastern Washington 

 is a coming field for honey production, ami 

 a number of large apiaries are being estal)- 

 lished in favorable locations. Yakima Val- 

 ley produces in favorable years large quan- 

 tities of choice honey. It is reported on 

 good authority that about 25 cars of honey 

 were shipped from the central part of Wash- 

 ington during the season of 1919. 



In northern California there is some new 

 bee territory being discovered. There is a 

 prospect of a wonderful development taking 

 place in the next few years. The seasons 

 are more even from year to year than thej' 

 are in the southern part of the State. Star- 

 thistle honey, which some experts think is 

 the finest honey in the world, even better 

 than clover, is produced in central and 

 northern California. Then there is the far- 

 famed carpet grass or Li/ipia nodiflnra, that 

 is found in the Sacramento regions. AH of 

 this country is developing rapidly in fruit- 

 growing and truck-farming. In fact, the 

 Sacramento Valley promises to be the great 

 garden area of the Pacific coast. More 

 wonderful still, white clover is a very im- 

 portant plant in northern California, par- 

 ticularly Shasta and Siskiyou counties. 

 Prof. W. A. Coleman of the University of 

 California is authority for the statement 

 that white-clover honey is produced and 

 shipped by the carload from that part of 

 the State; and white-clover honey — well, it 

 never takes a second place anywhere so far 

 as quality is concerned. He also says that 

 in San Mateo County there are^ 75,000 acres 

 of sweet clover, and that it is being intro- 

 duced elsewhere in the State. 



There is a prospect this year of a fair 

 crop of sage honey in central and southern 

 California, and there will be the usual flow 

 of orange. The prospects are much better 

 than last year. 



In Arizona a great and wonderful change 

 in beekeeping conditions has taken place. 

 The desert plants are about the same as 

 they were. But alfalfa, the great source of 

 honey in former days, is rapidly giving 

 way to the production of long-staple or 

 long-fiber cotton that is used in the manu- 

 facture of automobile tires. The Goodyear 

 Rubber Co. owns and operates 12,000 acres 

 for cotton growing. In fact, cotton in the 

 Salt River Valley, Arizona, has practically 

 absorbed all the alfalfa area, so that alfalfa 

 is almost a thing of the past. At first this 

 fiut the beekeepers up in the air; but they 

 soon found that cotton, while not as heavy 

 a yielder per acre, produces a very superior 

 light-colored honey — lighter in color, in 

 fact, than that from alfalfa. Many are 

 finding that what was supposed to be a 

 calamity may be a blessing after all. Where 

 the beekeepers had a light-amber honey be- 



fore they now have a white honey and of 

 a very mild flavor. A similar change has 

 taken place in Imperial Valley, California, 

 but on a much more moderate scale. 



Some beekeepers of Arizona are taking 

 advantage of the deserts, of which there are 

 thousands of acres, and no overstocking. 

 Few people like or can stand these deserts; 

 but those who can are finding that wild In- 

 dian wheat, wild hollyhock, and bottom wil- 

 low, besides a score of plants that yield 

 honey and pollen the year round, build up 

 colonies so that they are booming in March. 

 These colonies could spare to advantage 

 from two to three pounds of bees each. 

 This desert country can furnish thousands 

 upon thousands of pounds of bees in pack- 

 age form for the orange bloom in Califor- 

 nia. In fact, it could supply in early spring 

 the whole Rocky Mountain regions with 

 packages of bees to boost colonies that are 

 below par. If interested, write the Lovett 

 Honey Company, Phoenix, Ariz. 



In New Mexico the business of wholesale 

 spraying has all but killed out beekeeping 

 in parts of the State, especially around Ros- 

 well — not because the trees are sprayed 

 while in bloom, but because the sprays fail 

 on the cover crop beneath the trees. If 

 these cover crops are red clover, sweet 

 clover, or alfalfa, and are yielding honey 

 at the time, the bees are killed off by the 

 hundreds of colonies. Precisely the same 

 thing has occurred in parts of Colorado. 



In and near Uvalde, Texas, the once 

 famed paradise of bees, the conditions are 

 much the same as they were twenty years 

 ago. The niesquite, the catclaw, and guajil- 

 la hold sway as formerly; but they have 

 their good and bad years. Twenty years 

 ago this territory was covered with bee- 

 keepers, ^d all of them were producing 

 good crops; but a series of bad years in- 

 tervening put many of the bees and beekeep- 

 ers out of business. The territory is rapidly 

 recovering, and now there appears to be a 

 prospect of honey from these desert sources. 

 Broomweed, another important desert plant, 

 is scattered over the southern and eastern 

 part of the State. 



Texas, like Arizona, on account of the 

 high prices, has gone wild over cotton. A 

 large part of the cultivated land is being 

 turned into cotton, apparently, northeast 

 of the San Antonio. Dry farming is prac- 

 ticed mainly, and cotton thrives; and where 

 cotton grows well will be found bees. While 

 many desert plants like broomweed grow all 

 thru this area of central and northeastern 

 Texas, cotton is the main source of honey. 



Honey from cotton is floral honey only 

 in part. Most of this honey is a secretion 

 that the bees gather from the leaves of the 

 plant. 



In later issues Mr. Root hopes to go into 

 details, with pictures, pointing out some 

 good bee territory not occupied by bees. 

 Irrigation and sweet clover are doing won- 

 ders in the West, and Gleanings hopes to 

 keep its readers jtosted. 



