E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



1 



EDITORIAL 



SIXCIO iiiaiiv 

 tioiis are tak 



of tlio ln'i'koi'jirrs " assoi-ia 

 y up tlio subject of the Dr. 

 Miller momor- 

 The Miller Memorial ial, at their 

 Library Fund. winter meet- 



iiigs, thus add- 

 ing constantly to tlie list of donors, we have 

 decideil to wait until the April issue before 

 publishing this list in Gleanings, thus giv- 

 ing time for us to include the contributions 

 now being made at these meetings. Tlie 

 names of contributors to this fund who 

 made their contributions thru Gleanings 

 and The A. 1. Koot Co. up to November 

 were reported to C. P. Dadant, Hamilton, 

 111., chairman of the committee in charge of 

 this fund. Tliese names were printed in 

 the January issue of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



THE American Farm Bureau Federation 

 suggests that county farm bureaus would do 



well to use the 



Movement Among 



Farmers to Increase 



Acreage of Clover. 



facts and fig- 

 ures of the corn 

 situation as a 

 basis for dis- 

 cussions on the limitation of- corn acreage 

 and the expansion of the legume acreage for 

 1922. This great federation suggests that 

 "Pitch Clover" may be better than "Plant 

 Corn ' ' for the coming year. Such a move- 

 ment should benefit beekepers wherever any 

 of the clovers are grown. While the farm- 

 ers are debating as to just what legume to 

 plant in reducing their acreage of corn, it 

 is a good time for beekeepers to see that 

 their farmer neighbors are well supplied 

 with good literature on sweet clover (both 

 the Hubam and biennial varieties) and al- 

 sike clover in regions where these plants do 

 well. Several bulletins on growing sweet 

 clover as a farm crop have been published 

 by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture within recent years, and at least 

 one (Farmers' Bulletin 1151) on alsike clo- 

 ver. No doubt many of these can still be 

 had free by writing to the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington. In addition to 

 these, several states have published simi'ar 

 bulletins, which can be obtained by writing 

 to the state agricultural colleges. By con- 

 sulting with the county agent or the local 



farm bureau, beekeepiM's can, no (biubt, 

 make arrangements for a wider distribution 

 of sucli literature in their localities, which 

 should benefit the farmers as well as the 

 beekeepers. 



a -t a ^,95= to 



OUR readers will note the tremendous in- 

 crease in the amount of lioney sold locally, 



as reported on 



More Honey 



Sold Locally 



Than Ever Before. 



o u r m a r k e t 

 page by honey 

 producers them- 

 selves, wlio are 

 reporting for this page (see page 69, last 

 column). 



The figures given this month should be 

 comjjared with those given last month, 

 where the percentage of the total crop of 

 honey sold locally is given by the same re- 

 ])orters. While these figures, to a certain ex- 

 tent, reflect the handling of the reporter's 

 own crop, they are in each case, so far as 

 possible, a report for the community repre- 

 sented, so that the figures here given are 

 representative of conditions as they exist 

 thruout the country. 



Much of the honey sold locally this year 

 must have gone to new consumers, since in 

 many locations, where it has been the cus- 

 tom for beekeepers to ship away practically 

 all the honey produced, a large percentage 

 of honey produced last season has been sold 

 locally. This new outlet for honey, which 

 has been created by the beekeepers them- 

 selves, is largely responsible for steadying 

 the honey market last fall. If the honey 

 carried over from 1920, together with the 

 1921 crop, had been dumped upon the gen- 

 eral market to be handled thru the regular 

 trade channels, the results would have been 

 disastrous. 



The honey producers of this country are 

 to be congratulated in finding these new 

 outlets for their product. One serious mis- 

 take has- been made by some in selling hon- 

 ey in a retail way at tlie wholesale price. 

 This abuse will, no doubt, correct itself ulti- 

 mately, especially if market information, 

 such as that furnished by our market page 

 and other bee journals as well as that fur- 

 nislied every two weeks by the Bureau of 

 Markets and Crop Estimates, can be suf- 

 ficiently distributed among beekeepers 

 e\ervwliere. 



