244 THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



An Unfavorable Spring for Bees 



May, 1915, will go on record as a very unsatisfactory month for 

 beekeepers, especially, in the Northern states and Canada. A mild 

 winter had brought the bees through in usually good shape ; follow- 

 ed by an unusually pleasant and favorable April for the breeding 

 of bees, which naturally used up a large amount of stores, leav- 

 ing many colonies short. Following the nice weather of April, we 

 have had six weeks of about as unfavorable bee weather, as was 

 ever recorded. Cold, unsettled weather, with several freezing 

 nights and in some locations dry, weather about as unfavorable as 

 could be were it made to order. With this condition it is easy to 

 realize the condition of the bees during this period, breeding 

 stopped, drone brood torn down, in fact, only colonies with an abund- 

 ance of store continued breeding and they on a limited scale. Those 

 that were short of stores stopped breeding entirely and some col- 

 onies were practically without brood of any description for several 

 days. The consequences are, bees were in better shape to go into 

 the honey flow May 10th than they were June 10th, they actually 

 being less in number, and aged. 



It is now June 14th. Bees have been breeding nicely for the 

 last three or four days, for the cold backward weather let up the 

 11th of the month, since which time clover has been in bloom, and 

 the weather being such that the bees could fly about half the time, 

 and they have gathered some little honey more than they need to 

 live upon. If we have fairly good weather during the next four 

 weeks, we look for an ordinary crop from Clover. 



Data on Orange Bloom in Southern Localities, in Florida 



The following letter from a beeman of the S. W. coast speaks 

 for itself. 



St. Petersburg, Fla., May 10, 1915 

 Dear Sir: — 



This year so far as citrus bloom (honey) is concerned, has been 

 a complete failure. I am moving my bees to another locality. 



E. J. BLAINE. 



(Other reports from further south also speak of shortage of 

 orange bloom honey. We begin to feel, here in the neighborhood 

 of Deland that we were fortunate in securing at least an average 

 crop, despite the cold backward Spring and inclement weather dur- 

 ing the blooming time. See May issue of the Review for our pros- 

 pects and the June number for the hive on scales. We regret the 



