May, 1 9'2'J gleanings IN BEE C U li T U R K 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



317 



by the cool weather before that time, or 

 tliat it was due to the fact that, as the 

 colonies were short of stores in the fall, 

 they were given large quantities of sugar. 

 It is possible tliat, due to the fact that 

 they had little pollen in the liives, they 

 waited for pollen this spring before be- 

 ginning brood-rearing. At any rate, the 

 colonies have come through in fine shape and 

 seem contented with the sugar stores, and, 

 as the soft maples come on with their pol- 

 len, the bees are gathering it at a great rate 

 and brood-rearing is coming on with a rush. 

 I believe they will be stronger for the honey 

 flow than they have been when they began 

 brood-rearing earlier. Time will tell. At 

 this date, April first, plum blossoms are 

 creeping out and the pear buds and the 

 peaches are swelling, so that the season 

 looks good for normal brood-rearing. So 

 much for the favorable conditions. Now for 

 the unfavorable ones. In many sections 

 near here the fall crop was a failure. In 

 some cases the bees got a little from Span- 

 ish Jieedles and in others a slight stimulative 

 flow from smartweed. This caused them to 

 fill the hive with brood, and winter found 

 the hives full of bees but short of honey. If 

 the beekeeper was on the job and supplied 

 them with stores, they are in fine condition; 

 but if he did not, about 25% are dead at this 

 time from starvation and another 25% will 

 die between now and the time of our honey 

 flow, the latter part of May. So I wish to 

 sound a warning, and I wish Gleanings 

 would print it in large letters with red ink. 

 EXAMINE YOUE BEES AT ONCE and, if 

 they have not three or four combs paieked 

 full of stores from top to bottom, FEED or 

 the bees will starve. 



Vincennes, Ind. Jay Smith. 



* « « 



In Pennsylvania.— ?^.^^ '^^7, wintered 



' fairly well. Those m 



cellars have not fared quite as well as those 

 outside in good packing cases. Several re- 

 ported taking bees out of cellars in early 

 March because of dysentery. Many of these 

 cellars are too cold. ' 



Late honeydew and aster honey are re- 

 ported to be the causes. Because of these 

 bad foods gathered in late summer most of 

 the bees in the state would winter much 

 better if fed 15 pounds of granulated sugar 

 after brood-rearing is over. 



The usual heavy winter loss and weak col- 

 onies have occurred among neglected bees. 

 Such bees cannot be made to yield a good 

 honey crop. However, the beekeeper will 

 be well repaid in supplying plenty of food 

 to colonies which are short, giving needed 

 breeding room for the queens, providing pro- 

 tection for the hives and replacing all fail- 

 ing queens. The plan of wintering in two- 

 story hives, the upper one full of honey, a 

 good packing ease and good queens reared 



in the previous August, has proven its worth 

 this winter. Colonies thus prepared are in 

 fine condition. This plan solves the winter 

 and spring and European foul brood prob- 

 lems, and gets a big honey crop. 



Nectar-bearing plants of all kinds are in 

 splendid condition. Most of the state had 

 an abundance of rain last summer and fall. 

 No winter-killing is apparent and spring is 

 advancing slowly. All this is favorable to 

 a good honey crop this year. Most of the 

 nectar will go to waste because of the lack 

 of bees to gather it. 



Numerous inquiries indicate a lively inter- 

 est in the new law making it a misdemeanor 

 to keep bees in anything but movable comb 

 hives after July 1, 192.3. After that date a 

 penalty is attached to keeping bees in hives 

 that will not permit the inspector to take 

 out freely the combs for examination. The 

 object of this law is to reduce the danger 

 from American foul brood. 



Thousands of box hives in the state should 

 be transferred in order to make the bees 

 profitable to their owners. Geo. H. Eea. 



State College, Pa. 



* * » 



In Iowa *^ur bees went out of the cel- 

 lar March 15, earlier than 

 usual, but owing to the uneasiness of the 

 colonies it was tliought best to put them out. 

 This condition has been happening altogeth- 

 er too frequently in late years, and is an 

 unexplainable circumstance as far as we are 

 concerned. We never have wintered a bee 

 other than in this cellar as long as we have 

 been beekeepers, which is close to 20 years. 



We have held the bees in this cellar until 

 April 15, and had them no more uneasy 

 than they were this year a month earlier. 

 The past three years they have consumed 

 more stores than usual, which I cannot ac- 

 count for. However, we noticed a row of 

 bees, which were in a measure isolated from 

 the rest, being more quiet and the winter 

 mortality not being so high, and wondered 

 if we were not crowding our bees too closely 

 in the cellar. The rows are piled five high, 

 with a space of two or three inches between 

 piles. Then comes a two-foot alley and an- 

 other row piled facing the other row. If a 

 few colonies happen to get a little uneasy it 

 is possible they might stir up the others. 

 Who knows? 



If the beekeepers in this part of Iowa do 

 not keep a close watch, they will lose heav- 

 ily in bees, as well as having what colonies 

 do pull through far too weak for the clover 

 flow. Bees will have to have the attention 

 of the apiarist this spring if they make good 

 on the flow, which usually starts about 

 June 1. 



The ground is soaked and has been ever 

 since last fall. The clover is starting nicely 

 and appears to have come through the win- 

 ter well notwithstanding the ground was 



