584 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



lustration on page 591. Incidentally I 

 might remark that the picture shows a part 

 of the campus and some of the buildings of 

 Oberlin College. These bring back to me 

 pleasant memories of when I was a student 

 at Oberlin some twenty-two or twenty-three 

 years ago, where I spent four years of time, 

 and where I put in some of the hardest 

 work I ever did in my life. 



But to return: I asked Mr. Fowls the 

 question whether he could not have con- 

 structed the building at one of the outyards, 

 where it was to be located, more cheaply 

 than he could build it in the barn and then 

 imove it out afterward. 



"Possibly," said he. " But the building 

 viould not have been put up when I had the 

 spare time, in the barn. Rain or shine, I 

 could go on with my work, a little to-day 

 and a little to-morrow, and so on until I 

 had completed it; and the only cost of mov- 

 ing was the hard-wood axletree for the rear 

 wheels. " 



His regular bee-horse, the one that was 

 nearly stung to death, was put at the work 

 of drawing the building to its permanent 

 location. Permanent, I say — permanent 

 until some other yard might be deemed bet- 

 ter for bees; and herein is a possible advan- 

 tage in having the building portable. One 

 can never tell how long he will use some 

 particular location. Farmers may change 

 their crops from alsike or red clover to timo- 

 thy. Basswoods may be cut off to such an 

 extent as to render the location, once good, 

 very poor. Moving the yard say a mile or 

 two might make the difference between a 

 good profit and a loss. B3' constructing 

 the extracting-house so that it is portable at 

 all times, one is in position to "pull up 

 stakes and go to pastures new" and better. 



This building is large enough to store 

 quite a crop of comb honey. Mr. Fowls 

 mentioned to me the number of thousand 

 pounds; but any one can figure out just how 

 much it would accommodate and still leave 

 sufficient room for the extractor, the uncap- 

 ping can or box, and other necessary tools 

 for the work. 



THE HONEY CROP FOR 1903. 



The season has been very peculiar 

 throughout the United States. At the be- 

 ginning of the season the conditions were 

 exceptionally favorable. In California the 

 bee-keepers were rejoicing in the fact that 

 thej' had a sufficient number of inches of 

 rain to insure a crop; but cooler, chilly 

 weather came on, and the result is in doubt, 

 although it is probable that there will be a 

 light crop. In Colorado so far as we know 

 there will be the usual crop of alfalfa. In 

 the central portions of the country there 

 have been continued drouths. This was 

 finally broken by downpours of rain, and 

 chilly weather continuing clear up to the 

 present, with the result that we have been 

 getting too much of a good thing. While 

 there are thousands of acres of clover-fields 

 in bloom the bees have rot been able to get 

 out to anj' very great extent. If the weath- 



er should turn warm from now on, a fair 

 crop of clover for some sections could be se- 

 cured. In portions of New York State and 

 especially in New England the drouth has 

 been very severe. Rain has begun to come, 

 but the probabilities are it has come too 

 late. Taking it all in all, the general con- 

 ditions seem to indicate only light crops of 

 honey throughout the United States. The 

 next ten days will tell the story. There is 

 yet a chance for a good basswood flow and 

 some clover honey. 



A. I. R. reports for Northern Michigan 

 that there has been no rain for three weeks. 

 Here we have had rain every day, and that 

 is a fair sample of the variable conditions 

 of weather over the United States. In one 

 place it is severe drouth; in another, too 

 much rain and cold, and in some sections 

 awful floods. It is a queer season taking 

 all in all. 



The condition for Ontario, Canada, is 

 thus stated by a correspondent: 



Mr. E. R. Root: — After reading the report of Mr. J. 

 D. Bixby, of Guilderland Center, N Y., in which he 

 states that thej' have been fortj'-five days without rain, 

 I thought that I would just report to you the condi- 

 tions in this locality, which I fancy are worse even 

 than in Mr. Bixby's. From the 2d of April until the 

 7th of June (65 days) we did not have ten minutes of 

 rain — bees barely living; no swarms yet and very 

 poor pTospects of any; hives ver5' light in gennral. 

 All kinds of crops are stunted so that they will not 

 amount to anything much this year. What little 

 clover there is, is just beginning to bloom. We had a 

 nice rain on June 7. We have had a number of fires 

 also, and some very disastrous, on accovint of the 

 drouth; but please remember, Mr. Root, that such a 

 drouth as this is a verj' unusual occurrence herein 

 Ontario. A. G. i,EE. 



Addison, Ontario, Can. 



Our subscribers all over the United States 

 are requested to send in postal cards tell- 

 ing something of the season and the pros- 

 pects. Make inquiries and then report on 

 a postal. Don't write long letters, but 

 condense your statement into a half-dozen 

 lines if possible. 



Just before going to press. — Weather con- 

 ditions are very much improved. Wisconsin 

 reports a good honey -flow. 



"spraying crops;" when and how to 



DO IT. 



A newly revised edition of the bock, 

 " Sprajdng Crops," of 136 pages, by 

 Clarence M. Weed, Professor of Zoology 

 and Entomology of the New Hampshire 

 College, has just been issued from the press 

 of the Orange Judd Co. It is clear up to 

 date, covering the whole subject from be- 

 ginning to end, and profusely illustrated. 

 The first chapter relates to general princi- 

 ples; to spraying; enemies to be destro3'ed 

 by the poisonous mixtures; to their habits; 

 the parasitic fungi which have to be de- 

 stroyed b3' contact poisons. The book also 

 includes the spraying of shade-trees, orna- 

 mental plants, flowers, vegetables, field 

 crops, and even domestic animals. Partic- 

 ular emphasis seems to be given to just 

 how to prepare the mixtures for the differ- 

 ent kinds of work enumerated. But that 

 part which is particularly interesting to 



