396 



GLEANINGS IN. BEE CULTURE 



T 



'HE average 

 winter loss 

 the Unit- 

 ed States is 9.4 

 per cent, com- 

 pared with 8.5 

 per cent in the 

 preceding w i n- 

 ter, and an av- 

 erage of 12.4 per 



cent for the seven winters preceding. Weak- 

 ness of colonies or deficiency of young bees 

 due to poor queens, short food supply late 

 last summer, disease, etc., caused a loss of 

 3.6 per cent; poor winter stores, causing 

 dysentery, killed 1 per cent; failure of the 

 beekeeper to leave enough honey in the 

 hives, or to feed if the nectar flow was 

 scanty, caused starvation to 2.1 per cent of 

 all colonies; lack of proper winter protec- 

 tion permitted 1 per cent to perish; and 

 other miscellaneous and unspecified causes 

 led to the death of 1.7 per cent. All told, 

 almost one colony in ten was lost. The above 

 percentages are based on returns from thou- 

 sands of beekeepers in all parts of the coun- 

 try, 



■ * * * 



The beekeeping law for the state of New 

 York has been amended this year and 

 signed by 'the Governor. Two points of 

 amendment are worthy of consideration: 

 "Persons keeping bees shall keep them in 

 liives of such construction or form of con- 

 struction that the frames may be easily and 

 readily removed for examination of the 

 brood for the purpose of determining wheth- 

 er disease exists in the brood." There is 

 also a provision which says: "No person 

 or company shall transport, or receive for 

 transportation, any bees from a point with- 

 in the state to any other point unless said 

 bees are accompanied by a certificate signed 

 by an authorized inspector of the Depart- 

 ment stating that such bees are in good 

 healthy condition." Th^se amendments are 

 to take effect June 1, 1923. This will give 

 beekeepers an opportunity to change their 

 box hives for frame hives. 



In our "Who's Wlio in Apiculture" last 

 month we gave the name of A. W. Strick- 

 land, Big Timber, as secretary of the Mon- 

 tana State Beekeepers' Association. It noAv 

 appears that there are two beekeepers' as- 

 sociations in Montana and that the secre- 

 tary of the Montana State Beekeepers ' As- 

 sociation is Frank E. Clift, Huntley, Mon- 

 tana. For British Columbia we inadvertent- 

 ly published the name of W. J. Sheppard, 

 Nelson, B. C, as secretary of the British 

 Columbia Honey Producers ' Association in- 

 stead of that of John Brooks, Vancouver, 

 B. C secretary of the Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation of British Columbia. In Maryland 

 the name of Prof. E. N. Cory should have 

 appeared as state inspector instead of that 

 of C. H. Harrison. Mr. Harrison is assist- 

 ing in teaching in beekeeping in the college. 



June, 1922 



Also in this state 

 the answer 

 should have 

 been "yes" in 

 the column 

 showing wheth- 

 er beekeeping is 

 taught in the 

 college as well 

 as in the next 

 column in regard to inspection, although in 

 this state no separate funds are available 

 for inspection work, this being done in con- 

 nection with the regular extensios work of 

 the Agricultural College. 

 » * « 



The following is the schedule of beekeep- 

 ers' meetings as far as definitely arranged 

 by the Schedule Committee of the American 

 Honey Producers' League: South Dakota 

 meeting to be held at Mitchell on June 9: 

 Oregon at Portland on June 24 and also at 

 Hermiston on July 1, and at Ontario, on 

 July 3; Texas (Beekeepers' short course) at 

 College Station, July 24 and 25; Wisconsin 

 Beekeepers' Chautauqua at Green Bay, Aug- 

 ust 7 to 11. The following meetings are to 

 be held on the following dates but the places 

 of meeting have not yet been decided upon: 

 Central Oregon District, June 29; Missouri, 

 July 7 and 8; Mississippi, July 17 and 18; 

 Pennsylvania, August 4; New York, August 

 5; A^ermont, August 12; New Hampshire, 

 August 16 and 17; Tennessee, August 21 

 and 22; Alabama, August 23; Georgia, Aug- 

 ust 24 and 25; North Carolina, August 30 



and 31. 



* * * 



"Beekeeping in the Clover Eegion, " has 

 recently been issued by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture as Farmers' Bul- 

 letin No. 1215. The authors are Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips and Geo. S. Demuth. The clovers 

 included in the discussion of this bulletin 

 are white clover, alsike clover and red clo- 

 ver. In the introductory paragraph, it is 

 said that beekeeping practices in the United 

 States have been developed largely in the 

 clover region, and because of this fact the 

 literature of the subject deals chiefly with 

 methods applicable to this territory. Never- 

 theless the clover region is failing to pro- 

 duce the honey it should, says this bulletin, 

 chiefly because the methods that give the 

 best results for the region are not clearly 

 analyzed and there are so many to choose 

 from that the beekeeper can with difficulty 

 decide which are best. The purpose of the 

 bulletin is then stated as endeavoring to 

 simplify the problem of the beekeeper of 

 the clover region by describing those prac- 

 tices which have been proved most effective. 

 A single system is outlined in the bulle- 

 tin, and this is the one which the authors 

 believe will give the best results in most 

 clover locations. Address the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. 

 C, for Farmers' Bulletin 1215, if you wish 

 tliis valuable contribution to beekeeping. 



