Sl'll'TK.MHKR, 192i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



591 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



from keeping bees for the pleasure which 

 they bring us, are making a fair profit? K. 

 M. Eandall is now acting secretary of the 

 association. Correspondence, I believe, 

 should be directed to the organization's 

 licadauartcrs at Hutchinson Building, Oak- 

 l.^jj(l/ M. C. Eiehter. 



Big Sur, Calif. 



T T-*.Ya<s It is often said that prosper- 

 in iCXcia.- .^y comes only through ad- 

 versity. The meeting of the Texas Bee- 

 keepers' Association at College Station, 

 Texas, July 25 and 2G, was attended by a 

 f-ir larger Clumber of beekeepers than the 

 meetings of former years.' During the first 

 session a roll call was held at which each 

 beekeeper gave a report on the honey crop 

 condition in his section. This report showed 

 that the honev crop of 1922 will be the 

 smallest in vears, but it also showed that 

 the beekeepers were very optimistic and 

 more devoted to beekeeping than ever be- 

 fore Pome few localities reported fair av- 

 erages, and the beekeepers in the cotton 

 section have their crop yet to gather so 

 that, after all, Texas may make a tan- 

 crop. „ 



J D. Yanev of Bay City, Texas, gave one 

 of the best papers that has been read before 

 the association for many years. Mr. Yancy s 

 location is unique in that it lies along the 

 swamps at the mouth of the Colorado Eiver 

 and some of the larger creeks that enter 

 the gulf in the same vicinity. Mr. Yancy 

 is one of the few beekeepers that has made 

 a study of his honey flora and manipulates 

 his bees so as to take advantage of these 

 flows His description of the relationship 

 between his bee-work and honey flows was 

 extremely interesting. Mr. McKee of Valas- 

 co gave\a verv unique description ot his 

 beekeeping activities. He does his beekeep- 

 ing by boat. He owns a line of out-apianes, 

 located on the banks of the Brazos Eiver ex- 

 tending 60 miles up the river from the gult. 

 Mr McKee described his system of visiting 

 his'outvards, using his boat as an extract- 

 ing-house and hauling liis honey m a barge 

 towed bv the boat. Messrs. Yancy and Mc- 

 Kee are' both barrel-honev men. Thev find 

 that this method of packing honey is the 

 best adapted to their use, as the proximity 

 to salt water causes tin to corrode very rap- 

 idly W. O. Victor gave his experience m 

 making increase with bees. The discussion 

 which followed this paper brought out some 

 yery interesting facts relative to Texas bee- 

 keeping. The majority of those present de- 

 sired to know how to manipulate bees with- 

 out making increase, and the answers to this 

 question gave some very unique methods of 

 swarm control that are in use among the 

 Texas beekeepers. Will Zimmerman explain- 

 ed the workings of his system of bee msm- 

 a<^ement with his universal liive-bodv. He 

 illustrated his talk with his hive-bodies 



themselves. Dr. M. C. Tanquary, assisted by 

 his force, gave a full report upon the in- 

 spection work and the experimental apiaries. 

 E. G. LeStourgeon of San Antonio reported 

 upon the activities of the Honey Producers' 

 Association. 



A number of other interesting papers 

 were given and the beekeepers voted the 

 1922 meeting a complete success. 



The weather condition for the past 

 month has been normal summer weatlier. 

 The honey secretion of the cotton plant has 

 given yields far beyond its accustomed lim- 

 its. It is believed by the beekeepers of 

 southwest Texas that the chaparral plants 

 are coming into a better condition than for 

 a number of years. 



In connection with the work of the ex- 

 pei-imental apiaries, a few colonies of bees 

 were placed at seven of the sub-stations of 

 the Experiment Station, and beekeepers 

 were surprised to find that the bees on the 

 sub-stations at Spur and Lubbock, which 

 are located in the northwest section of the 

 state where beekeeping is unknown, have 

 done extremely well. H. B. Parks. 



San Antonio, Tex. 



* « * 



In Wisconsin.— ^^ '' « \'^ « ^ s f "^"l^^-! 



comes to us slowly, but 

 your correspondent gained considerable 

 knowledge and lost two perfectly good hive- 

 bodies and several inches of skin today in 

 one second. This morning while fumigat- 

 ing some hive-bodies with carbon bisulphide 

 I thoughtlessly brought a match near tAvo of 

 them. Naturally, the result was an explo- 

 sion which completely demolished the hive- 

 bodies and frames and almost demolished 

 the writer. While unable to move about 

 freely, I am still able to write. 



Contrary to reports, Wisconsin does not 

 have a bumper crop of honey this season. 

 As a matter of fact, the indications are 

 that the crop is only fair at flie present 

 time although tlie fall flow may increase pro- 

 duction in some parts of tlie state. In the 

 vicinity of Madison the honey flow is prac- 

 tically over, leaving the beekeepers with a 

 surplus of from 50 to 75 pounds and in some 

 cases eveu more ])er colony. The crop was 

 secured about two weeks earlier this year 

 than last;' and it is evident that the mar- 

 keting season has now started, as a number 

 of l)eekeepers in the state have started ped- 

 dling honey at 15c per pound. This is al- 

 ways sad news to the beekeeper who is try- 

 ing to get a fair return for liis labor and 

 product; but in the end practically every 

 beekeeper is ;tl)le to dispose of his crop, and 

 the few beekeepers who cut prices do not 

 seem to hurt local conditions a great deal. 

 The situation in Wisconsin seems to be im- 

 nroving generally. More and more bee- 

 keepers are writing in, asking about prices 

 and also expressing a desire to engage in co- 

 operative marketing. Eeports from other dis- 



