DK( K.MBKR, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



739 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



tion and tlie Bee Culture Division at the 

 University Farm, as well as the beekeepers 

 thruout the State, for which he feels very 

 firateful. This fine spirit of co-operation and 

 the kindly offering of helpful suggestions 

 wonderfully lighten the burdens and lessen 

 the difficulties of the work of the inspector. 

 And while writing on this subject I wish to 

 say that after having served six years as 

 inspector that I have no sympathy whatever 

 with the views now and then appearing in 

 tlie columns of the bee journals advocating 

 that the inspector's work should be limited 

 to instruction. I think that it will be a long 

 time before the beekeepers of Minnesota 

 will ask to have the authority of the in- 

 spector nullified. If we had been compelled 

 to work under the suggested limitations last 

 year, there would be no such report this year 

 as we are able to show. In several instances 

 whole communities would have become in- 

 fected, if we had been compelled to use the 

 roundabout methods so strenuously insisted 

 upon by some idealists. If the Minnesota law 

 is changed I think it will have more teeth 

 in it, certainly not less. 



The bee culture division of the University 

 is planning greater and larger things for 

 the coming year. Prof. Jager, assisted by 

 Prof. Matthews, plans to rear a much larger 

 number of queens next year than usual. He 

 is also planning to test the Jumbo hive in an 

 apiary of 40 to 50 colonies. Besides this Prof. 

 Matthews will conduct an experimental pro- 

 ject with 18 colonies, 12 being in square hives 

 of Jumbo depth — one-half of them with IMi- 

 inch spacing and the other half with 1%- 

 inch spacing — ^and six colonies in the stand- 

 ard Hoffman hives. The annual short course 

 in beekeeping will be held at the University 

 farm Jan. 3 to 8 under the direction of Prof. 

 Jager. The first four days will be devoted 

 to the problems which are of special interest 

 to the beginner and the amateur. Friday and 

 Saturday will be devoted to commercial bee- 

 keeping. Plan to be present. 



Minneapolis, Minn. Chas. D. Blaker. 



T_ Texas '^^^ honey eaters of Texas 



have been much interested in 

 the article in Gleanings on vitamines in 

 honey, and now are equally interested in 

 bulletin No. 250 of the Colorado Agricultural 

 Station, by Dr. Walter G. Sackett. In this 

 he gives the results of his experiments with 

 "Honey as a Carrier of Intestinal Diseases." 

 Dr. Sackett made the common observation 

 that bees in their thoro search for food and 

 water often visit places where they might 

 become carriers of disease. He, therefore, 

 made a number of solutions of honey and 

 water, and into these he introduced the bac- 

 teria causing the more common intestinal 

 troubles. He found that in pure water these 



bacteria would live 40 days or more, and in 

 the solution of honey and water the length 

 of life decreased as the per cent of honey 

 increased, and in extracted honey alone they 

 would live only from two to four days. Thus 

 he showed that the chance of contracting an 

 intestinal disease from honey is much less 

 than from water, milk, or other substances 

 having a high water content. 



The annual bee-cave story is again in 

 print. This time the cave is located in 

 Menard County, Tex., and contains acres of 

 solid comb honey. The bees in a solid cloud 

 and with a roar like that of distant thunder 

 leave and enter the cave. These bees collect 

 this store of honey from the Rio Grande Val- 

 ley and Mexico (only 150 miles away). A 

 company is being formed to drill wells into 

 this cave and pump out the honey. The 

 story came to us from a Seattle paper, and 

 shortly afterward a lawyer in Ohio wrote 

 us that a client of his wanted information 

 about the cave as he was about to buy stock 

 in it. Let us warn the public that; while 

 there are numerous small bee-caves in the 

 limestone hills of Texas, the above story is a 

 hoax and any such company is unknown here. 

 If you must buy stock in wildcat schemes, 

 try oil and you will not get stung — at least 

 by bees. 



The county fairs have about recovered 

 from the war. This fall large numbers of 

 the counties of Texas had very creditable 

 fairs. In most of them the beekeepers were' 

 in evidence and their exhibits attracted 

 much attention. The Guadalupe County fair 

 held at Seguin had a very fine exhibit. The 

 State Fair at Dallas also has the largest bee- 

 keepers' display in years. One of the best 

 queens shown was reared in the State Ex- 

 perimental apiaries. 



The dry weather of September and early 

 October caused such a shortage of honey 

 flow that in many sections bees were suf- 

 fering from lack of stores; but the rains 

 have come, the broomweed is yielding, and 

 the bees will go into winter in good shape. 

 The galls on the live oak, from which a 

 heavy flow of poor-quality honey is com- 

 monly obtained, have failed to appear this 

 fall. Horsemint is yet douVjtful, as there 

 was little moisture at the time the seed 

 ripened. Many seedling plants are now to 

 be seen, and the old honeymen say that the 

 prospect is very good for another big horse- 

 mint year. 



Henry Brenner, well known as a beekeeper 

 in the United States and "West Indies, a 

 fluent writer of bee literature and the orig- 

 inator of the very excellent system of queen- 

 rearing which bears his name, has returned 

 to his home at Seguin, Tex., from a year's 

 absence in Santo Domingo, where he has 

 /arge apiary interests. He will again engage 

 m the bee work here. H. B. Parks, 



