August, 1922 



G L l'', A N I N G S IN BE E C U L T U R E 



531 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



Tlio south coast is bone-dry. Cattle arc 

 starving, and all the grass has been burnt 

 up by the extremely dry weather there. 



There is a little honey being gathered in 

 the hill districts. Coffee has been blooming, 

 and this is stimulating to the colonies. 

 Never in my experience of the Island have 

 I seen the hives so bare of honey up to 

 June first as they have been this year. 



Aibonito, Porto Eico. Penn G. Snyder. 



In Iowa ^•'^1^ ^'^ ^^'^^ date (July 3) the 

 flow has been up to normal in 

 tliis locality. In fact one might say above 

 normal if we get rain soon. The fields are 

 in- many instances white with clover yet, 

 but the stems are getting short, though 

 yielding lots of honey to this date. How- 

 ever, unless we get a shower within the 

 next few days it will soon be dropping off. 

 It has held its own exceptionally well on 

 account of the ground having an abundance 

 of moisture prior to the flow. Many of the 

 colonies have filled three full-depth bodies 

 and are still bringing it in. 



Swarming has not been so hard to control 

 this season as at other times with the same 

 flow. Our queens have had the run of two 

 hive-bodies all spring until June 15, when 

 we commenced putting them below the ex- 

 cluder, and with the exception of a few 1921 

 queens that were crowded for room to lay, 

 and some colonies that were superseding, we 

 . should have but few swarms. These old 

 queens should have gone out of the yard last 

 season, but on account of the poor flow we 

 let them go and so did the bees; consequent- 

 ly we had some failing queens. These old 

 queens are the cause of many swarms. The 

 moral is, requeen all colonies having queens 

 that are liable to fail next spring. 



Dr. Miller always left that part to tlie 

 bees, and considered that they attended to 

 it at the proper time, but our bees do not 

 always do it when it should be done. From 

 our own experience, a queen of this year 's 

 rearing, going through two good honey flows 

 having the use of two bodies, will be a fail- 

 ing queen the next season unless she is an 

 exceptional queen. These old queens are a 

 loss to any beekeeper, and wliile I have .al- 

 ways held that any up-to-date beekeeper 

 sliould be able to rear a few queens, if they 

 can 't do it, it is money well invested to 

 buy queens and requeen all colonies that 

 liave queens that are liable to fail next 

 spring. The colony requeen ed will make 

 enougli more honey to pay for several 

 queens. 



T said every beekeeper sliould be able to 

 rear a few queens. This does not mean that 

 you should not buy some good queens from 

 some reliable queen-breeder. Nearly every 

 year we introduce some new blood in order 

 to keep some pure stock. P>ut if one is to 



breed up a strain of honey-getters, they 

 must breed from queens that "bring home 

 the bacon." An observing apiarist knows 

 full well the colonies that have produced the 

 most honey. They liave noticed the colonies 

 that are bad-tempered; the ones that cap 

 their honey wliite; the bad waxers; the hus- 

 tlers; and the ones that had rather swarm 

 than make honey. These points are under the 

 apiarist's observation and he can pick one 

 or several breeders from his own yard (we 

 are supposing you have Italian stock) that 

 in all probability will outstrip anything he 

 can buy. This is not knocking the queen- 

 breeders by any means, for we must have 

 them; but a queen purchased from any 

 breeder is an unknown quantity until tried 

 out. I would not want to rear queens from 

 a purchased queen until tried out the pre- 

 vious year, if I was breeding a strain of 

 honey-getters. I believe it will pay any 

 apiarist to buy 10 or 15 good queens every 

 year from some reliable breeder. After try- 

 ing them out one season, mark the best 

 queens, start your cells from part of the 

 best ones the next season, and give the 

 others a frame of drone comb. Flood the 

 yard with good yellow drones, and thus 

 offset some of the thousands of black fel- 

 lows your good (?) neighbor is furnishing 

 you from his box hive free of charge. 



W. S. Pangburn. 

 Center Junction, Iowa. 



In Oregon. 



Practically no rain has 

 fallen in many sections of 

 the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades 

 since April, which has resulted in the clover 

 drying up early. Following the clover flow 

 there has been a medium flow from Frencli 

 pink (Ceiitauira a/anus). As a result, the 

 honey flow is slightly less than normal and 

 darker. The flow from fireweed,will prob- 

 ably be light as a result of the drouth. 



In the irrigated sections of western Ore- 

 gon the alfalfa and sweet clover flow will 

 be slightly better than normal. 



From many sections reports continue to 

 come in telling of heavy winter and spring 

 losses. To many the past winter has clearly 

 demonstrated the importance of giving more 

 attention to wintering. Those who gave 

 their bees some protection wintered well 

 with little loss. As a result, many of the 

 large commercial producers are seriously 

 considering packing of some kind. The im- 

 portance of having a large force of young 

 bees reared during August and September 

 should be empliasized, as well as the need of 

 abundance of stores. The writer believes 

 50 pounds should be the minimum for west- 

 ern Oregon where more stores are used than 

 in colder sections, due to frequent flights. 



Corvallis, Ore. H. A. Scullen. 



