November, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



703 



B FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



of Texas. In a few hours, floods, washouts, 

 and wrecks were the order of the* day. The 

 one redeeming feature of the storm was that 

 no wind accompanied it, with the exception 

 of one small locality near Austin. We have 

 reports of only a few losses of bees by the 

 flood. This moisture threw many plants 

 into bloom, and by September 20 a good 

 honey flow was on all over the State. Cot- 

 ton, brazil, granjeno, white brush, sumac, 

 and broomweed are giving a surplus. This 

 flow promises to be prolonged, and the bee- 

 keepers are planning to get most of their 

 partly filled supers completed. 



Last spring the beekeepers taxed them- 

 selves a cent a hive for State advertising. 

 This money was spent in publishing a recipe 

 booklet for the use of honey. These book- 

 lets will be distributed at the Dallas Fair. 

 The same booklet, including an ad, will be 

 issued by a number of honey producers. Al- 

 ready 15,000 of these books have been con- 

 tracted for. The effect of this, together with 

 the American League advertising, is already 

 felt as the demand for honey is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



Among the plants blooming after our big 

 rain is Ei/senhnrdia amorphoidef^. The only 

 common name we know for this species is 

 Eock Brush. This name cannot be relied 

 upon, however, as several other kinds of 

 rock brush are common. This species has 

 leaves somewhat resembling catsclaw and a 

 cluster of bloom reminding one of white 

 brush. It has no thorns and has a peculiar 

 odor. The plant is a legume and is much 

 visited by bees. It blooms in May and 

 June and again when rains come in the fall. 

 Two beekeepers report a surplus from it. 

 Old beekeepers who are good observers say 

 that this plant is rapidly increasing in num- 

 bers especially between San Antonio and the 

 coast. H. B. Parks. 



San Antonio, Tex. 



better west, at least as far as we have had 

 any reports. Local showers were the rule 

 this summer with us, and 1 have never seen 

 a good honey flow with these conditions. 

 The season was too dry during the time 

 when the honey flow should have been on; 

 besides we did not have the clover we had 

 last summer, for some reason which I cannot 

 understand. The clover looked fine this 

 spring, but many fields that had plenty last 

 season scarcely had a blossom. We have 

 had a superabundance of rain the past 

 month. The ground is soaked and clover is 

 surely looking fine, so we are living in hopes 

 as all true beekeepers do. 



Honey sales have taken a decided change 

 from several months ago. Local demand 

 has been good the past two weeks, as well 

 as mail-order business. It begins to look 

 as tho honey is going to move this fall and 

 winter. I again say, as I said in a former 

 article, that beekeepers should keep their 

 heads and not slash prices below reason, be- 

 cause it will all be sold at a reasonable price 

 before another crop is harvested. Beekeep- 

 ers must be mindful of the fact that we 

 cannot produce honey and sell at prices that 

 prevailed before the war, and pay the prices 

 for supplies that are being asked. Honey 

 should never again sell at pre-war prices, 

 and it never need sell again at those prices 

 if beekeepers do a little work along educa- 

 tional lines. Eead again in October Glean- 

 ing 's Editor Demuth's editorial on "Honey 

 deserves to be better known." It is a 

 shame to us beekeepers that it is not better 

 known. Who's fault is it? "Brethren, these 

 things ought not to be." If honey were as 

 well known as many other articles of food 

 that people buy as necessities and which 

 contain far less food value than honey, there 

 would not be enough to go around once. 

 "Let us put it over." W. S. Pangburn. 



Center Junction. la. 



In Iowa This season will go down in 



history at the Pangburn api- 

 ary as the poorest year we have ever had. 

 We have not extracted a pound of clover 

 honey, and there will be but little of the fall 

 crop that the bees will not need to bring 

 them thru the winter. The bees, however, 

 are in fine condition for winter, provided 

 they are given plenty of stores. Colonies 

 are full of young bees; in fact, they are bet- 

 ter than I expected, and I would now say 

 they are fully up to normal; but beekeepers 

 will do well to examine closely and make 

 sure they have plenty of honey, as they are 

 unusually light in stores this fall. 



The honey crop in this State has been 

 spotted. About 3,5 miles cast the crop was 

 much like it was with us, and 35 miles west 

 they were getting a good flow while we were 

 getting nothing. The flow seemed to get 



In W^isconsin Wisconsin beekeepers 



have just passed thru 

 one of the most peculiar seasons ever wit- 

 nessed in this State. The winter of 1920-21 

 was very mild, and the bees were able to 

 fly practically every month of the year, but 

 tho mild winter was very hard on the clover 

 and most of it was frozen out. Spring con- 

 ditions were good, and the bees should have 

 built up in splendid shape; but, because of 

 the mild weather, they consumed stores rap- 

 idly and in the great majority of cases did 

 not have suflScient to build up on. 



In a number of cases where beekeepers 

 fed sugar or honey, the colonies were very 

 strong at the beginning of the honey flow 

 and produced a fair crop even in the poorest 

 localities. During the time of the clover 

 bloom the weather was very hot and dry, 

 with little or no rain, and very little surplus 



