FEBRrARV, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U R E 



95 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



(■;ius(' the ])('('s to liuild tip slowly. This, of 

 cour.se, is sci-ious, I'spcH-ially for liic jcu-kai;'!' 

 sliippor. 



While the general business depression has 

 hit us pretty hard the beekeepers are opti- 

 mistic, expecting better times when things 

 open up in the spring. Practically all bee- 

 keepers are buying supplies and preparing 

 for a big year whether they get it or not. 



At extracting time last year there was no 

 market for honey; this caused an unusual 

 amount to be left on the hives, some men 

 not robbing half their bees. This, together 

 with the slack demand for queens and the 

 consequent low price, caused beekeepers to 

 leave their bees in better shape than they 

 have in many years. 



Most package shippers are expecting a 

 good year in spite of the general depression, 

 as supplies are lower than they have been 

 for years, while the price of honey is on the 

 increase. 



The unusual demand for packages and 

 queens during the war has caused many men 

 to go into the bee business in localities not 

 suited for commercial beekeeping, and oth- 

 ers are still doing this, seeming to feel that 

 beekeeping will remain on a war-time basis 

 while everything else sinks to below pre-war 

 levels. Of course, these men will go out of 

 the bee business as they went into it, poorer 

 but wiser. 



The low price of honey and high freight 

 rates seem to be a blessing in disguise, caus- 

 ing twice as much honey to be sold locally as 

 before, principally on account of the activ- 

 ity of the beekeepers in jiutting honey be- 

 fore the people. J. M. Cutts. 



Montgomery, Ala. 



In Mississippi. ^' '' general thing, 



rr over the state bees 



went into winter hea\-y with stores. Novem- 

 ber, December and, thus far, January have 

 been pleasantly mild. We do not think this 

 mildness has been harmful to our bees. In 

 fact, we are of the opinion that the liter- 

 ature has exaggerated somewhat the extent 

 to which bees wear themselves out during 

 the warm southern winters. We have made 

 some observations in the field this winter 

 that bear us out in this. 



On December 14 last we visited our good 

 friend. Dr. J. D. Shields of Natchez, Miss., 

 for the purpose of laying plans for shipping 

 nuclei and pound packages, which work he 

 will undertake in the spring. The day was 

 warm and sunny. Koses and violets were pro- 

 fusely in bloom about the house. Dr. Shields 

 was anxious to show me the color of his 

 bees to get my opinion as to their purity as 

 Italians. We left his front gallery shortly 

 after noon to look over a small yard near 

 the house, first, however, having lightly 

 complained of the heat and having shed our 



coats. The mercury was at about 7(i degrees 

 and not a bee was flying. It was necessary 

 lor us to lap at the entrance of each hive to 

 get the bees to show themselves. 



The Jiext day we visited H. F. Minn is, an 

 esteemed citizen and commercial honey pro- 

 ducer of Port Gibson, Miss. This was an- 

 other warm sunny day, but there was no 

 sound of flying bees in the air. About three 

 o 'clock we did see one bee come in with a 

 load of bright yellow pollen, probably from 

 the tiny blue aster, that was still putting out 

 a, few straggling flowers. Perhaps there 

 were not two dozen bees in this yard of 40 

 colonies that had left the quiescence of the 

 hive to rove the fields, even tho it was warm 

 and there was some little food available. 



We recently had the good fortune of a 

 trip east and the pleasure of visiting one of 

 the foremost authorities in the country on 

 beekeeping. He was of the opinion that the 

 South had seen its balmiest days in the nu- 

 cleus and package business. We are not as 

 yet, however, ready to accept this man 's 

 point of view. Those in the business are 

 anything but downhearted. A peep into the 

 bee journals witnesses the fact that they 

 are spending large sums on advertising. We 

 are confident with them, since large numbers 

 of colonies weaken or die out in the North 

 every winter, that the southern beekeeper 

 will be called on every spring to keep this 

 otherwise unoccupied equipment from be- 

 coming dead overhead. E. B. Willson. 



Agricultural College, Miss. 



4f * J^ 



In Southern Indiana.— ^\^ southern in- 



diana and Illi- 

 nois, the roadside selling of honey should be 

 more generally practiced than it is, more es- 

 pecially now that hard roads are being built 

 extensively, which brings the buyer in his 

 automobile right to your yard. Let us more 

 carefully study business methods and sales- 

 manship. A man clever enough to produce 

 honey is clever enough to sell it. A sign in 

 large neat letters, well back from the road, 

 so it may be easily read as the autos speed 

 along, is good; or, if placed close to the 

 way, it should be lettered on both sides, that 

 it can be read coming and going. Five and 

 ten pound tin pails are more and more com- 

 ing into use, and are very popular with the 

 auto trade. Nothing ruins the honey busi- 

 ness like selling at too low a figure. Honey 

 is the most delicious and wholesome of all 

 sweets, and should command a good price. 

 There are plenty of cheap syrups and glu- 

 cose concoctions now on the market that are 

 cheap in price and quality, but honey is not 

 at all in this class. We must not attempt 

 to compete with them in price, but ask one 

 that is fair and that brands our goods as 

 superior in every way. 



We are indeed unfortunate in the name 



