738 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1920 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



rise, last year's prices. Generally speaking, 

 the price asked is 25c for extracted in a 

 wholesale way, and 30c in retail lots. We 

 know of one beekeeper who sold his crop 

 early to a jobber for 25c. The most we have 

 been offered in a jobbing way was 20c. 



We sold our comb honey at $7.00 per case 

 at the apiary without a case, and $7.50 where 

 it was shipped out. The demand for comb 

 has been good, livelier than last year, and 

 the comb in these parts is cleaned up. But 

 there is quite a little extracted honey in this 

 State still in the hands of producers, and 

 from several letters received from Dr. Bon- 

 uey (the president of our State association) 

 inclosing letters from large producer's and 

 from our own experience with our mail-order 

 trade, the demand is nothing like the past 

 three years. Naturally we might expect 

 some reaction, but there is no dodging the 

 fact that the demand is very moderate. The 

 local store trade is on the blink. Frankly we 

 have been too busy to give this trade the 

 attention we usually do, but in some of our 

 territory there has been some honey offered 

 by other beekeepers in 5-pound pails at 18c, 

 and some comb sold to the merchants at 20c 

 per pound. 



This is one reason why the market is dull. 

 Merchants and others soon learn the wide 

 range in prices between beekeepers and con- 

 sequently are afraid to buy in any quantity, 

 if at all. Especially is this true this time, 

 with the price of everything the farmer has 

 to sell going down, and with the upset of 

 the markets in general. 



If there was only some way to educate 

 some beekeepers as to what it costs to pro- 

 duce honey, and what they should get for it, 

 considering the high cost of labor and sup- 

 plies, money invested "plus a profit," 1 

 wish some guy would go after it. 



If we beekeepers ever get down to brass 

 tacks we must stabilize our prices in some 

 way, and do it mighty soon. Don't under- 

 stand me to mean to boost prices beyond 

 reason, for that would only act as a boom- 

 erang. But there is no good reason why one 

 beekeeper should ask 30c for his honey and 

 get it, and another in the same State, yes 

 county, asks 18c — and, of course, gets it. 

 This is simply running the knife into the 

 other fellow 's' back, and at a very material 

 loss to the one who does it. This has always 

 been the worst drawback in the local mar- 

 kets. 



By the time this reaches your readers the 

 bees in this part of the State will in all 

 likelihood be snugly put away in the cellar, 

 as that is the general manner of wintering 

 in our locality. In all the time we have 

 kept bees we have never wintered a colony 

 out of doors. Some of the more careless far- 

 mer beekeepers winter outside with no pack- 

 ing, but it is not thought of by those having 



much at stake. If colonies are to be win- 

 tered outside of a cellar, some manner of 

 packing should be provided, as the winters 

 of eastern Iowa are generally too severe to 

 winter without, and expect bees to come 

 out in the spring strong and ready to gather 

 a honey crop when it arrives. 



Center Junction, la. W. S. Pangburn. 

 * * * 



In Minnesota. — ^i'*^ annual meeting 

 or the Minnesota 

 Beekeepers ' Association will be held in Min- 

 neapolis on December 9 and 10 in connec- 

 tion with the State Horticultural Society, the 

 date having been changed from the 7th and 

 8th on account of failure to secure the room 

 for holding the meeting at the time origin- 

 ally announced. 



Minnesota beekeepers have good reasons 

 to feel that this has been one of their best 

 years. It is true that many lost heavily in 

 bees last winter and spring, but the honey 

 flow has been abundant in most localities. 

 More alsike clover is being sown every year 

 and the prospect for the future of beekeep- 

 ing in Minnesota is very promising. The 

 farmers are putting in also more alfalfa; 

 but some claim that it does not yield nectar 

 in this climate, while others say that their 

 bees produce considerable honey from it. 

 Does it make a difference whether the seed 

 sown has been produced in this climate or 

 in a different climate? Can any one tell us? 

 The yield from basswood was exceptionally 

 good, and, as a consequence, many colonies 

 that wintered poorly and were too weak to 

 gather a surplus from the clovers did bring 

 in a 50-pound or larger surplus from bass- 

 wood. 



I feel that I can assure the beekeepers 

 that foul brood is not increasing in Minne- 

 sota. This year the state inspector and his 

 deputies inspected 33 per cent more apiaries 

 than last year and found 34 jjer cent less 

 colonies infected with American foul brood 

 than last year. Of course, it will be impossi- 

 ble to entirely eradicate American foul 

 brood as long as infected honey and bees 

 are shipped into the State from outside; and, 

 inasmuch as it is practically impossible to 

 keep infected honey out, we may count on 

 there always being American foul brood in 

 the State. But I am thoroly convinced that 

 it can be so far controlled as to cause very 

 little loss. I trust that what I have said 

 will not cause any beekeeper to become care- 

 less, for eternal vigilance is the watchword. 

 I agree most heartily with what J. A. Green 

 said in Gleanings (September, 1919, page 

 596), "While I am not afraid of the dis- 

 ease, I have a wholesome respect for it and 

 regret that some people believe it an easy 

 and simple matter to control foul brood." 

 The inspector has had the hearty co-opera- 

 tion of the Minnesota Beekeepers' Associa- 



