Evening star., 1922-01-01
DISTRICT HONEY BEE is A VERY BUSY
AND THOROUGHLY EFFICIENT INSECT

year he sold from his own hives more
than 81 900 worth Of honey, and would
have sold as much this year but Tor
the unprecedented failure of the
honey CROP S. A. Jones, who super
vises the bee reports Of the bureau
Of crop estimates. for several years
has operated an apiary in the yard OF
his Georgetown home.
This years failure of the honey crop
was due TO the mild winter. which
spoiled the clover. the bad spring
weather. which injured the blooms
Of the tulip trees and kept the bees
from exploring them, and late spring
freeze. which play ed havoc with locus;
blossoms. The tulip trees are the
main sourcs OF honey flows" outside
the District proper. Tulip honey,
though tasty, is dark, and therefore
not as marketable as some other
kinds. Sweet clover, both within and
outside of the District proper, is
subsidiary source of honey. but the
acid soil of this section prevents its
growth widely in a wild state; hence
ii cannot be trusted as a main source
of supply. The locust trees offer
good secondary source of nectar, AS
ungatilered honey is known. The
basswood or linden trees are an ex-
ccllent source of supply, but being an
introduced plant. none grows wild
outside the District.
* x x
THOUGH nectar producing blossoms
are not as numerous III this 10
cality as in some others. this was the
first year Of complete failure of the
honey crop" SO far as local bee keep
ers can recall. Never before did they
fail to get a fair surplus. But the
fow was SO small last spring that
| many of the bees were unable to get
sufficient stock for their own needs
and will have to be fed during a part
Of the coming winter. They are fed
on plain cane sugar, about ten pounds
per hive being sufficient for a season.
What is known as tho 'honey flow
/ lasts in this territory only from one
to three weeks. being tho period when
the tulip tree, the locust and the bass
wood are in bloom. During that period
the annual crop is made or lost Sue
cess in getting full harvests from the
crop depends upon the number Of bees
that can work at it and. very Inn
portant, the condition and general
quality Of the bee stock at the time Of
the "iow." If hives are run down,
either in number or physical condi-
he
we'll populated and healthy and
strong, results will be good provided
nothing interferes with the flowers
or with the bees in foraging from
them. Thus many factors enter into
honey production. Some of them can
be Influenced. If not controlled, by the
intelligent and industrious bee keep
er; others, such as the weather ~on-
ditions, are beyond him.
What specialists in bee keeping in
s!st upon most firmly is that the
honey bee does not lend itself to lazy
and inattentive management. Once 1t
was believed that all one had to do
was to provide hive with home.
which at the proper time you could
rob Of it's surplus food stores, then
look out for swarming, and bees
would take care of themselves and
provide the sweetest of all natural
saccharine products. That belief Is
one reason why the bee-keeping in
dustry is not so large as it should be.
It is estimated that not SO much as
10 per cent of the available annual
honey crop is now gathered. for tho
reason that there are not enough bees