A run.. I '.1122 



CLEANINGS IN B K K CULT U R K 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Mississippi.— O" the date of writing 

 ri^ tlie state is m the gi'ip 



of a cold wave tliat may do some damage to 

 bees, especially here on the Gulf Coast. 

 Colonies examined yesterday averaged six 

 frames of brood. Titi and willow are in 

 full bloom. The citrus groves will be in 

 bloom in about one week. If the tempera- 

 ture drops to freezing and endures for many 

 hours, the bees will have to forsake a large 

 portion of their brood. The beekeeper will 

 consequently gather a shorter crop when 

 black gum and tupelo bloom next month and 

 Avhen gallberry blooms early in May. The 

 various species of Nyssa and gallberry are 

 the sources of the best honey made in the 

 Coastal Plain. I miglit add that these hon- 

 eys are hard to beat for quality. 



The advocate of packing would get a more 

 attentive audience on a day like this. Per- 

 haps in this section packing is not needed, 

 but the Gulf offers no protection when a 

 "norther" blows. And northers are not un- 

 common in this country. In three or four 

 days, Avhen it is warm and sunshiny again 

 and all the chilled brood is carried out, the 

 beekeeper will have forgotten that it was 

 ever cold and ridicule the idea of protection. 

 Perhaps he is right. We need some experi- 

 mental work done to lead us out of our ig- 

 norance. 



February was especially conducive to 

 brood-rearing in north Mississippi, and colo- 

 nies may be expected to be strong early. 

 Bees were noticed working in great numbers 

 on chickweed early in the month, the first 

 time the writer has observed this lowly flow- 

 er being worked. Bees have been working 

 maple, elm and mustard. Last year 's mus- 

 tard plants were in full bloom early in the 

 month and afforded the bees great delight. 

 Mustard is used as a green in the South. 



The sweet clover in the prairie section is 

 in excellent condition. Tliere seems to be an 

 exceptionally large number of new plants 

 from seed germinated in February. If only 

 it were all Hubam! E. B. Willson. 



Agricultural College, Miss. 

 » » » 



In North Carolina.— ^t * \ '^, * ^ V^ ^ 



(March 5) spring 

 conditions are most promising in every way. 

 Of course, there are several things that can 

 befall the bees or the pasturage in this state, 

 either to reduce seriously or cut off entirely 

 the 1922 honey crop. Frosts a little later 

 during critical periods of developments of 

 the flora, protracted rain or disagreeable 

 weather in the midst of these honey flows 

 must always be considered as possible. 



However, right now bees are demonstrat- 

 ing the fact that they have come through 

 the winter in fine condition where they had 

 anything like adequate supplies to start 

 with, or have been fed. This applies in the 

 case of careful beekeepers who use the mod- 



ern hives. Of course, following the very 

 lean honey season of 1921, probably thou- 

 sands of colonies in old box or gum hives 

 died out even before the real winter sot in 

 and many more are showing up "dead" this 

 spring; but those losses can very readily be 

 counted as a "blessing in disguise," since 

 such laggard beekeepers will have had a 

 most impressive demonstration of the in- 

 compara.ble advantages of the improved hive 

 and will adopt it far more readily. 



Bees in even the weakest of the colonies 

 that have "wintered" have been gathering 

 pollen right along since early in January 

 and for two weeks have evidently been get- 

 ting in considerable honey from early peach 

 or other fruit bloom and, in this section, par- 

 ticularly from the mistletoe, arbutus and 

 others of the earlier flora. The maple will 

 be blooming very soon now, and by April 1 

 the tupelo, black gum and holly will be 

 coming in all along the Carolina Atlantic 

 Coastal section. These will be followed by 

 the gallberry in May. All these, of coursC; 

 stand a chance to be curtailed or cut off en- 

 tirely by cold or to have the bees kept away 

 from them to a more or less serious degree 

 by prolonged rains. But beekeepers are op- 

 timistic and are preparing, especially in the 

 matter of having equipment ready at hand, 

 to give the bees ample room for the hus- 

 banding of a bumper crop. 



Wilmington, N. C. W. J. Martin. 



» * * 



In Utah.— ;j^« are having a seveTe win- 

 ter on thig side or the Kockies. 

 Up to Dec. 20 the weather was very mild, 

 and bees were more active than usual, which 

 caused them to consume more stores than 

 they otherwise Avould have done. Since Dec. 

 20, measured as it fell, there has been seven 

 feet of snow, and the temperature has been 

 as low as 24° below zero. For Aveeks there 

 were more hours when the temperature was 

 below zero than above. 



There has been no weather yet for a 

 cleansing flight, and some colonies are show- 

 ing signs of dysentery. There is still on 

 March 11 20 inches of old snow on the level. 



Many colonies are on their summer stands 

 with no protection, and there must be a 

 severe loss in all such cases. Part of my 

 own bees are in the cellar; but 400 colonies 

 are outside, packed, but not as they should 

 have been for a winter like this. 



During the Avintor I am assistant instruc- 

 tor to the federal men Avho are taking prac- 

 tical bee culture at the Utah Agricultural 

 College at Logan, and yesterday we looked 

 over the college bees as best we could with- 

 out opening the hives. We found them in 

 fair condition but showing some signs of 

 dysentery. 



Isn't Dr. Phillips right when he advises 

 to prepare bees every winter for the worst? 



Hyrum, Utah. M. A. Gill. 



