Imperial Valley press., 1913-11-22
Haskin Letters
Bee Keeping
BY Frederic j. Haskin

Al most Ol ITS agricultural laiIS lIiLS
season, the exhibits of comb and eX-
tracted honey, including granulated
honey pressed into solid candy form,
beeswaX of different grades and also
of the various appliances for the bee
keeping industry are larger and more
important than ever before. This is
due to the growing recognition of the
value of the bees service to the hu
man race. The honey production of
the United States is valued at S25,-
100000 annually, but in the opinion
of the bureau of entomology the ser
vice the bees render in the fertiliza
ton of fruit trees and other crops
is worth many times that sum.
The effect of placing bees in the
midst of apple, pear and peach or
chards is held responsible for great
improvement in several varieties of
each of these fruits. A single bee may
visit 10000 blossoms to secure an
ounce of honey. A thrifty hive OF
bees contains an average of from S0,-
600 to 100000 bees. This is sufficient
for the pollenation of two acres of
land. At the Kansas state expert
ment station last year six apple trees
were selected for observation in an or
chard in which several hives of bees
had been placed. When the blossom
ing began, men were employed to col
lect the various insects which visited
the flowers. The bees exceeded all the
others several times over. A num-
Der of bees were watched to see how
many flowers they would visit upon
single trip One bee was seen to visit
sixty-one before she few to the top Of
the tree and was lost to view. Otli-
ers visited from twenty-five to forty
FIVE by actual count of the men en-
ployed for that purpose.
The cranberry growers of Massa-
chusetts have discovered that the crop
of berries can be enormously increased
by having bees within access. The
United Cape Cod Cranberry Company
has recently employed an expert bee
keeper to take charge of the increase
of the colonies in order that suffi-
cient number may be produced for
the pollenization of all of their cram
berry bogs In Nova Scotia, expert
ments show that where bees are kept
in a cranberry bog the yield is thick
est nearest the hives and is thinner
away from them. The presence Of
bees is said to have improved the al
fafa crop in California and Texas.
Because of this service for crop i'm
provement bees are receiving more
care than formerly. Modern bee
keeping methods no longer permit
man to set up few hives and then
neglect them, expecting to harvest his
honey at no expense of labor to him
self. In most of the states rigid laws
have been passed compelling a bee
owner to keep his hives in sanitary
condition. The farmer who will not
do this will not be permitted to re-
tain them. He may pass them over
to his neighbor and still benefit from
their services as pollenizers, as it has
been found that their services extend
at least square mile from the hive.
Three diseases now menace the bees
of the country and each of these is due
to unsanitary hives. Because one hive
of diseased bees may spread the di-
sease over large area, rigid sys
tenn of inspection has been provided
by the legislatures of several states
and similar laws are under considera-
tion in others. In California, where
bee keeping has reached the highest
standard in the world, bee inspect
or is provided for each county. An
apiarist recently shipped three car
loads of bees into Tulare county with
cut notifying the inspector and pro-
ceeded to set up his hives in some
orange groves. He was promptly fined
$500 as bees are not allowed to be
brought into a county until they have
been inspected and pronounced free
from disease These bee diseases now
are to be found in every state and
rigid measures are being taken to
overcome them. 1t is claimed that the
loss due to them amounted to at least
a million dollars last year.
Another heavy loss to bee keepers
has been caused by carelessness in the
spraying of fruit trees to get rid of
insect pests. Laws have been enacted
in several states prohibiting spraying
while the trees are in blossom. Last
year a Vermont bee keeper suffered
the loss of enough bees from spray
poisoning to fill peck measure, and
the bee keepers organizations are
working toward securing legislation
upon this subject. 1t is claimed that
another million dollars of loss this
season is due to spraying fruit bios