OcTOHKK, 1 '.)-- 



a L E A N r NMi S I N B K E C II L T U R K 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



the business have no regular maikels worked 

 up for their product, but during the past 

 few years this was not noticed so much when 

 honey could be sold almost anywhere and 

 almost at any fair figure asked. This year 

 it is different, and honey has been "dump- 

 ed'' freely. But it is not only the new men 

 in the game that have done tliis. I am 

 creditably informed of at least one extensive 

 producer who has been delivering all over 

 tlie country by truck, at a price less by two 

 cents than many of us sold for in carlots. 

 However, the present state of affairs may 

 work out all right in the end, for although 

 much work lias been done by our association 

 in buying su^jplies nothing has been done 

 in tlie matter of selling the crop co-opera- 

 tively. This niaj'' be a means of drawing 

 tlie producers together so that, when the 

 crop is good, it may be intelligently dis- 

 tributed instead of having large lots dumped 

 at some centers while others go bare, as is 

 the case today. 



Buckwheat has given a larger surplus 

 than usual, at least in some localities. In 

 two of our beekeeping centers there is no 

 buckwlieat, but here at home there is a 

 large acreage and the crop has been good. 

 Bees are in good condition for winter as 

 to population, but much feeding will have 

 to be done since the brood-chambers are 

 none too heavy. Alsike prospects are good 

 for another year, as the spring "catch" is 

 good and the new clover is blooming in stub- 

 ble fields. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



* * » 



In Idaho "^^^^ season of 1922 will be 



remembered as one of ex- 

 tremes, in the territory covered by the Ida- 

 ho-Oregon Honey Producers ' Association, 

 for, even in localities not many miles apart, 

 conditions have varied to an unusual de- 

 gree. 



During the spring-breeding period condi- 

 tions were generally quite favorable; but 

 when June came with its alfalfa bloom, sup- 

 plemented by the various clovers, in some 

 of our ranges in some localities bees made 

 a bare living if that, though there seemed 

 to be a fair flow of nectar, wliich proved 

 to be mostly water. 



Naturally, in the ranges where little or 

 no surplus was secured, there was practic- 

 ally no swarming except with occasional su- 

 persedure colonies; while in other districts, 

 not 40 miles away, there was a good flow 

 of nectar, with universal preparation for 

 swarming. To such an extent did this 

 swarming fever extend that not nearly so 

 large a crop was harvested from the June 

 flow as might have been taken, if the colo- 

 nies had early abandoned swarming. De- 

 mareeing in the usual way only aggravated 

 the difficulty, if the beekeeper did not ar- 

 rive for the next examination before the 



possibility of young (jueciis cnicrging in the 

 brood placed above the excluder. 



[Was the brood placed immediately above 

 the excluder or on top of the supers V In the 

 East there is apparently no trouble from 

 swarming when the young queens emerge, 

 provided there are at least two standard- 

 depth supers between the brood-chamber be- 

 low and the brood raised above. — Editor.] 



In this connection, it seems that more of 

 our own producers are planning a more or 

 less complete abandonment of orthodox De 

 mareeing and other methods of raising brood 

 above excluders, and falling back on the 

 establishment and maintaining of a single 

 brood-chamber for each colony. After June 

 it is rare for colonies in our ranges to 

 swarm, no matter how good the honey flow, 

 and if cells are destroyed in a single-story 

 brood-chamber there is less labor expended 

 than -with most of the other plans, and no 

 more swarming. Where there may be a later 

 flow, as from our second crop of alfalfa, such 

 queens, held down to a single story, probably 

 "hold up" in their laying better than 

 would be the case if they had been permitted 

 almost to exhaust their fertility by laying 

 freely in two or more stories. 



With the coming of the honey flow from 

 the second crop of alfalfa, again conditions 

 varied exceedingly. In our own apiaries, 

 none of them over 15 miles from home, there 

 was not a day when bees would not rob if 

 given the opportunity. At no time was the 

 honey flow heavy, though the best colonies 

 gave a very good account of themselves. 



Nuclei, even though helped with frames 

 of emerging brood, were slow to build up. 

 Demareed colonies did not fill the lower 

 story with brood; but, after the bees had 

 all emerged from the brood placed above 

 the excluder in June, they dwindled down 

 and were in very unsatisfactory condition. 

 In other districts there were a few' days of 

 very heavy honey flow, and quite generally 

 cans and cases were ordered far in excess of 

 the actual need. 



Quite generally little or no increase was 

 made. With the prices for honey prevail- 

 ing for the past two years and continuing 

 high prices of most of our needs, there is 

 no incentive for increasing our investment 

 in bees, as it is apparent that only those 

 who operate so few bees as to do nearly ail 

 theii' own work are finding the business re- 

 munerative. 



Market conditions remain unsatisfactory, 

 with few sales, though fortunately there is 

 but little old honey remaining unsold. 



Colonies, so far as reported, are quite gen- 

 erally going into winter in good condition, 

 though the later light flows have been dis- 

 appointing. It may be, with our usual warm 

 days and cool nights prevailing for weeks 

 at a time, that stores will be very seriously 

 depleted, especially since not five per cent 



