GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1922 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



comb-honey colonies are in eight-frame hives 

 and have eight frames of brood; so better 

 keep a close watch on all colonies. Hunt up 

 the feeders, and see that there are no leaky 

 ones unless you have plenty of full combs. 

 A writer of my acquaintance once said that 

 cigarets and an automobile are two good 

 things for a boy to raise the devil with, and 

 he might have added a leaky feeder. 



The bees are in good condition so far as 

 strength is concerned, and all they will need 

 is to make sure of plenty of stores of good 

 quality with the proper protection. 



Center Junction, la. W. S. Pangburn. 



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In Alabama.— Jh*' ^^^^""^.r. ^"^* Pf^^'l 



has been the worst all 

 around of any that we have h-ad for many 

 years. The weather in January and Febru- 

 ary was so warm that the bees consumed 

 enormous quantities of stores, causing a 

 shortage of package bees. The colonies 

 were more or less run down at the begin- 

 ning of the honey flow. 



During the early part of the honey flow 

 there was rain every day, but on June 4 it 

 quit raining and turned so hot and dry that 

 the nectar dried up in the flowers. Some 

 bees will need feeding for winter. 



The annual convention of the Alabama 

 Beekeepers' Association was held in Mont- 

 gomery on August 23; officers were elected 

 and an interesting program rendered. A 

 reward of $50.00 was offered by the asso- 

 ciation for the arrest and conviction of any- 

 one stealing bees from the members of the 

 association. 



The fall flow seems to be the best of the 

 year, as the bees are working fine every 

 morning, making conditions better for re- 

 qneening than in most years. 



Montgomery, Ala. J. M. Outts. 



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Jy\ Ontario ^*^ report from Ontario 

 in last issue of Gleanings 

 does not necessarily mean that there has 

 been nothing doing in beekeeping in that 

 province worth reporting. But it does mean 

 that the writer of these notes has, in com- 

 mon with scores of other beekeepers, been 

 very, very busy. While many parts of the 

 province have been blessed with good crops 

 of honey, other factors that have come into 

 prominence during the past few years have 

 made the honey season a more strenuous 

 one than usual, aside from the matter of the 

 size of the crop. Chief among these factors 

 here in our home section is the growing of 

 sweet clover. Formerly, when alsike clover 

 was our only source of white honey, the 

 honey flow would be over by about .Tuly 10 

 or 20 at the latest, and we had ample time, 

 bv hustling a bit, to get the white honev 

 off before buckwheat came in. Xow. with 

 sweet clover following the close of the al- 



sike honey flow, there is no let-up, and the 

 white honey flow merges right in with the 

 buckwheat honey flow. This season by 

 using a large number of escape-boards we 

 were able to keep some 20,000 pounds of 

 clover honey from getting mixed with buck- 

 wheat; but it meant a tremendous amount 

 of work, and this work had to be done in 

 a hurry. While we lost quite a lot of buck- 

 wheat honey by colonies becoming jammed 

 before we could get the clover honey off and 

 sufficient empty supers given; yet in the end 

 we gained a good deal by this manipulation, 

 since it was a case of handling less honey 

 for more money. A few thousand pounds of 

 buckwheat honey were better lost than to 

 have ten tons of clover classed as buck- 

 wheat, and then get a little more buckwheat. 



This is the third year that sufficient sweet 

 clover has been grown in our locality to 

 mean anything, one way or another, to the 

 commercial beekeepers. During two seasons 

 of the three it has yielded honey freely, 

 while in the other year it yielded very lit- 

 tle. The year of failure was hot and rather 

 dry, while the years of plenty were cool 

 and wet during the time of the honey flow. 

 Sweet clover will yield best in comparative- 

 ly cool and damp weather, when under simi- 

 lar weather conditions alsike will not yield 

 at all. On the other hand, alsike will yield 

 well in hot dry weather when sweet clover 

 will yield little if any nectar. With the two 

 clovers in the same section, one is almost 

 sure of a fair yield from each or both, and 

 that is the only redeeming feature, as I see 

 it, in the growing of sweet clover in a sec- 

 tion! like ours; for, as more than once stated 

 in these columns, alsike clover will not be 

 grown for seed for a number of years on 

 ground that has produced sweet clover seed. 

 But the boom of sweet clover is already 

 waning in our locality, and, aside from grow- 

 ing it for pasture, I do not think we shall 

 long have this plant as a honey plant in our 

 immediate vicinity. 



While, as already stated, Ontario has a 

 nice crop of honey, yet the size of the crop 

 does not justify the panicky condition that 

 many beekeepers have been stricken with, 

 and as a consequence have thrown their 

 honey on the market at any price almost 

 that the buver would pay for it. Unscrupu- 

 lous dealers have taken full advantage of 

 this attitude, and today the market in some 

 centers is paralyzed, so far as making large 

 sales is concerned. The great abundance of 

 all kinrls of fruit has been a factor in slow- 

 ing UP local sales of honey, and there is no A 

 question but that conditions will be better m 

 after this surplus of fruit is disposed of. 

 TpTider fruit must be sold at once — honev 

 will keep, and that is one thing in favor of 

 our -nroduet as compared with many other 

 lines. 



Many beekeepers who recently starterl in 



