OCTOBEE, 1921 G I. E A X r N G S IN B K F. CULTURE 639 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



on account of the sudden flow which came 

 before supei'S enough were given to the 

 bees. This condition h;is existed, but it will 

 affect only those yards which are not han- 

 dled by well-informed beekeepers. Unless 

 we have some rain within the next two 

 weeks there will be no fall flow from broom - 

 weed or the sumacs, as these plants are now 

 in poor condition; and, if their blooming is 

 delayed by a lack of moisture, the honey 

 flow will come too late for the bees. Some 

 rain between now and the middle of Septem- 

 ber may induce a second blooming and some 

 honey flow from the early spring plants, 

 such as catsclaw, huajilla, and mesquite. 

 The cotton section of the State has not pro- 

 duced a very abundant flow, because of the 

 ravages of the boll-weevil and the dry 

 weather. What the fall flow will be from 

 i-otton d(>pends on rain between now and 

 the middle of September. 



Lloyd R. Watson, apiculturist at the 

 Texas Experiment Station, has just put into 

 operation one of the most unique pieces of 

 apparatus ever used in bee investigations. 

 This instrument consists of a 500-pound ca- 

 pacity Toledo automatic scale, to which is 

 attached an automatic register controlled 

 by an eight-day clock. This scale is so sen- 

 sitive that 250 bees leaving the hive will 

 cause a movement of l-32nd of an inch in 

 the line on the record sheet. To one who 

 is accustomed to watching bees, it is very 

 easy to interj)ret the action of the bees just 

 by observing one of these records, as the 

 flight of the bees in the early morning, the 

 beginning of the storage of honey, the 

 slacking away of work during the heat of 

 the day, the return of the bees from the 

 field at night, and the evaporation of honey 

 during the night are all j)lainly shown. Mr. 

 Watson and Dr. Tanquary, Chief of Divi- 

 sion of Entomology, are very enthusiastic 

 over this scale and believe that it will gi\e 

 some very important information on bee 

 behavior within the next two or three 

 years. 



The United States census report gives 

 Texas first place in the number of colonies 

 of bees owned on the farms, with 235,111 

 colonies, and ranking second in the amount 

 of honey produced, having 5,026,095 pounds 

 to her credit. She also ranks second in wax 

 production, having produced 93,822 pounds. 

 This gives the State an average produc- 

 tion of 21 pounds per colony which is 

 62% gain over 1909. While' Texas de- 

 creased in the number of colonies of bees 

 1.3%, she increased in honey production 

 62.5%. This is due very largely to the 

 work of the Extension and Experiment 

 Station, and of the bee journals. Beekeep- 

 ers learned thru these agencies to use mod- 

 ern methods and to requeen annuallj'. 

 It was very fortunate for the beekeepers 



of the State that Bexar County saw fit to 

 elect E. G. LeStourgeon as one of its legis- 

 lators. The foul l)rood and experimental 

 apiary appropriation was saved thru his ef- 

 forts, and an additional .$4,000 was apj)ro- 

 priated to augment the foul brood insiiec 

 tion work. 



The beekeepers of the Unite<l States wlio 

 are members of associations would be niucli 

 interested in reading a bulletin sent out by 

 the Aberdeenshire - Kincardineshire Bee- 

 keepers' Association of Scotland. This is 

 a pamphlet of 75 pages of printed material 

 and 50 pages of advertisements. This bee- 

 keepers' association started in 1910 with 

 only 95 members and in 1920 i)ossessed 1640 

 members. The annual dues to the associa- 

 tion are 60 cents. This association main- 

 tains its own paid inspectors, does its own 

 extension work, and maintains its own 

 honey and bee exhibit every fall. The as- 

 sociation is divided up into sections and 

 each section has its own secretary. 



San Antonio, Tex. H. B." Parks. 



In Michigan.— Honey is being sold lo- 

 o cally as never before. 



The demand for retail glass and tin packages 

 is said to be the greatest ever. This surely is 

 a very desirable condition of the industry 

 and one that has long been desired. Prob- 

 ably not more than from 10 to 15 per cent 

 of the Michigan honey crop ever goes into 

 the wholesale markets. The lower that per- 

 centage can be reduced, the greater will he 

 the beekeepers' prosperity. 



The above par;igraph is written with th'^ 

 supposition that the producers retail their 

 honey at retail prices and not at wholesale 

 prices. The facts are that many .-ire retail- 

 ing their honey at less than a reasonable 

 wholesale price. Fortunately this is not be- 

 ing done by a large number, but unfortu- 

 nately at least one such person seems to be 

 present in nearly every county. The prob- 

 able reason is that some ha\e more honey 

 this year than they ever dreamed that they 

 would produce; others are terribly fright- 

 ened by the falling prices and are trying to 

 unload before the price gets still lower. It 

 is unfortunate that producers do not make 

 a closer stud}* of economic and market con- 

 ditions. Our greatest financial experts say 

 that when prices do stabilize, they will be 

 about 60% above pre-war levels. They also 

 say that the bottom has been reached in 

 foods. If these two statenuuits are true, 

 then some of our producers are going to 

 find themselves in a rather embarrassing po- 

 sition a little later on. They are now re- 

 tailing at pre-war prices. They are giving 

 their customers to understand that they can 

 continue to buy at the same price or less. 

 If prices stabilize within the next year or 

 two at the level indicated above, then there 



