Williams news., 1918-06-21
WILL HELP
 PROVIDE SWEETS
Better Care of Colonies Is Best Way to Quicken Supply of
 This Crop.
SUGAR NEEDED TO HELP WAR
Present Stock Of Honey Could Be In- creased 10 to 20 Times Without AppreeiabIe Increase in
 Cost Per Pound,

More honey is needed to help the sugar supply-and needed in 1918. It is imperative, using the language of officials of the United States depart ment Of agriculture in a recent publi- cation, that we increase not only the sugar crop in the United States, but every possible supply of sweets, and honey is one of the supplemental sweets the supply of which can be en- larged without great effort. Not only should those who already keep bees enlarge the number of their colonies, but the industry should also be extend ed, say federal officials, to localities where bookkeeping has not been tried on 8 commercial scale. It is important that efforts be made to make the honey increase immediate-more honey this year.
 Provides Nutritious Food.
 It is quite possibly for the Ameri- can beekeeping industry to be devel- oped so that the honey crop will be ten times what it is at present Not only would such development be valuable in an emergency, such as the present crisis, but in normal times, to which all hope the nation may speedily re- turn, the bookkeeping industry can pro- vide concentrated nutritious food, almost universally liked and assuredly an article of diet preferable to the in- ferior sirups and jams so commonly used. The beekeeping industry may be the means of conserving q national re- source now largely wasted, changing 1t into natures own sweet. The raw material is free on every hand the in- vestment for equipment is small in comparison with other branches of agriculture; the profits are fully con- mensurate with the study and labor in volved. It would seem profitable to stop such a waste of so desirable a supply of sugar. This waste can be prevented only by the education of bee keepers.
 In selecting a place for commercial bookkeeping, attention should be paid to the regions best adapted to the in- dustry. and it should also be remem- bered that not all localities within a main region are equally valuable The chief honey regions of the United States are CD the white clover region of the Northeast, (2) the southeastern region, west to eastern Texas, with a wide variety of nectar sources (3) the alfalfa region of the West; (4) the mountain-sage region of southern Cali fornia, and (5) the semiarid region of Texas and adjacent states. In all of these regions commercial beekeeping is practiced extensively and in all of them, too, there is room for a great expansion of the industry as a con- mercial enterprise. In addition to these larger regions many more re- stricted areas offer special induce ments to the beekeeper.
 Not Always Profitable.
 But even where colonies of bees are sufficiently numerous and where nectar is freely secreted, beekeeping is not a1- ways considered profitable. This re- suits from the nature of the industry. A colony of bees does not always gather sufficient honey for it's own use and also enough so that the beekeeper can take honey for himself. It is only when bees are properly handled that they yield to the beekeeper the fullest return, and to an unusual degree bee keeping is profitable to just the extent to which the beekeeper applies intelli- gent care.
 Success in bookkeeping depends upon the beekeeper's skill in two lines of ef- fort-keeping the colonies strong by proper care in winter and keeping the colonies from swarming. The failure 10 taks preEe: care of bees in winter ss