XOVEMBER, 1922 



OLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Northern Michigan.— ^h^^^ reports 



ern Michigan this seasou vary cousiderably, 

 due both to local weather conditions and to 

 the honey plants, the latter of which the 

 great diversity of the soil materially affects. 



A very rapid honey flow started early in 

 June from a source not generally known for 

 a certainty. I must admit my ignorance in 

 the matter, although I have tried to ascer- 

 tain the source. The honey is light amber 

 and somewhat strong. The source in the 

 past has been attributed to the water-maple, 

 often called swamp or spotted maple, but 

 this has been pretty well cut away. Mr. 

 Chapman of Mancelona claims it to be the 

 beech tree bloom. I watched the beech trees 

 this year but saw no bees, although they 

 were heavy with bloom and we have a large 

 crop of beechnuts this fall. 



The raspberry bloom was in and out al- 

 most before it was realized; then the milk- 

 weed plants, which we depend upon for one 

 half the surplus, was affected by drouth so 

 that only in very favorable localities did it 

 yield more than one-third its quota. The 

 buckwheat areas were spotted — some locali- 

 ties getting none, others a plenty — but the 

 yield was light. The sweet clover is going 

 to play an important part in our honey crop 

 in the future. For the past two seasons it 

 has been sown in large quantities, and even 

 during this season in some sections consid- 

 erable honey was stored from this source. 



Generally speaking, Michigan honey is 

 dark this season. Even in the white clover 

 section of "The Thumb," David Eunning re- 

 ports it unusually dark, but the flavor and 

 body are good. 



A year ago nearly every beekeeper pailed 

 up his honey and started to sell it locally. 

 Competition was strong. This season several 

 large producers have sold to jobbers. Some 

 have shipped their honey to city markets 

 and Avill pail and sell it there, while others 

 are selling locally as usual. 



All old honey has been cleaned up nicely, 

 and the new honey should start off well. 

 Early sales were not good, due to a super- 

 abundance of fruits of all kinds and warm 

 weather. Remember the price set for honey 

 now controls the price for the season. It's 

 a long time till next July, and the eon- 

 sumption of sweets has only just nicely 

 started. 



Colonies bred up strong on the light fall 

 honey flow, but w-ere practically destitute 

 for winter stores and required heavy feed- 

 ing. Those who have not given the bees 

 feed will report heavy losses next spring. I 

 fed 4,400 pounds of sugar to 350 colonies, 

 run for extracted honey. The comb-honey 

 colonies required no feed. 



Many forget or neglect to contract the 

 entrances during fall and winter. This is 

 all wrong — a wide entrance allows the air to 



circulate around the combs, while a small 

 entrance prevents the movement of the air. 

 Don't forget that windbreak this winter; 

 it's more than half the winter protection. 



Plenty of bees, stores and protection spell 

 successful wintering. Take away any one 

 of the three requisites, and it spells failure. 

 Old combs and wax cappings should be ren- 

 dered out now. Remember how delayed that 

 foundation was last spring, due to not get- 

 ting off the wax early enough. 



East Jordan, Mich. Ira D. Bartlett. 



In Wisconsin.— ^«^«^ if ™«^"lg ^^1^!^ 



well. The worst part m 

 couueetion with the honey movement is a 

 lack of uniformity in prices. A few beekeep- 

 ers act independently of all others and are 

 retailing at wholesale prices, and some of 

 these sell for the same price to the con- 

 sumer as they do to the stores. Another 

 class of honey producers are those who have 

 gotten into the game recently and have no 

 established trade; some of these are cutting 

 prices, as they Avant to unload fast. This 

 has a bad effect on the honey movement as 

 a whole. The worst part about it is that, 

 if the rest of us also lowered our prices, the 

 other fellow would sell for still less again. 

 The end might be fewer beekeepers, less 

 bees and less honey in the future. 



Too much has been said in the past about 

 beekeeping being the very best paying 

 branch of any agricultural work. It is mis- 

 leading, when tin smiths, carpenters, masons 

 and other skilled laborers are being paid 

 around one dollar an hour just for the skilled 

 labor performed. Surely it requires skilled 

 labor to keep bees, and keep enough of them 

 so that tlie proceeds Avill pay the price of 

 skilled labor plus all the other expenses. 

 Yes, we should have more than that, we 

 think, because we are obliged to take bees' 

 stings though we may bear the pain and 

 smile (?). We are also obliged to wear ex- 

 tra clothing and a veil in the hottest weath- 

 er. Surely this ought to be worth more than 

 other skilled labor. "We are very sure that 

 our health in general suffers from bee-sting 

 poison. Surely it requires extra time and 

 energy for our bodies to throw off this ex- 

 tra amount of poison in connection with the 

 regular amount of other body poisons. Those 

 who are big, strong and hardy may laugh 

 at this, but suppose one needs an extra 

 hour of sleep or rest to throw off this poison. 

 We think this time might well be charged up 

 against the bees and honey. We must find 

 ways and means to low^er the cost of pro- 

 ducing honey, or we shall be working for 

 little or no pay. 



Normal colonies are in normal condition 

 here. In our own yards very little requeen- 

 ing was done, and such colonies are not so 

 strong in young bees as they ought to be. 



