The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, December 10, 1926, Page 14

PAGE TWELVE North Dakota a Great Beekeeping State—Something About Region Where the Largest Crops of Honey Are Gathered Prot r Jager tells us how at Carrington From left to right: J. H, Beatty, W. L. Boylan, Frank Pellett, Professor Jager, Professor Thompson (Editor's Note lished herewith wa «. Pellett, American Bee ¢ Novem which ni nen The writt pub 1 by Frank f th ind publisned wo dargs circulation inted throughou ccuntry Phe net in the Tribune with the perm: of the editors of America Journ: and the euts as: trate the story were Tribune by them.) on honey producing short time as in North Dako possibilities in = the poorest beekeeping st Dakota has become one of the in the short period of le: dozen years. My first trip to that about twenty-five years i th best than o. 1 found a beautiful region of raw prairie and fields of golden grain. There was little general farming; farmers were not interested in livestoc and no udows except. the wild prairi¢ were to be seen. A friend of mine who had homesteaded not far from Ellendale had been a beckeeper be fore going there, He said tha could not live in North Dakota be cause there was nothing for them to live upon, and, if there was, the wind blew so hard that they would be un uble to maintain themselves. Later developments hive shown that he was mistaken in his estimates as far as the winds are concerned, and there is no longer room for complaint of lack of bee pasture The change has come about as a result of the ch ice in re grow wheat » but they have ry to grow tion in order yield, Sweet c¢ which is gener builder, It is the for that purpe furnishes mor acre than Diversif in agricultural in found large it nee something else in to magatain the ver is the one ¢ grown a st thing. and in addition it ture for Is ything i farming is ing in and the one-crop farmer has nearly disappeared from the, north ern plains region. It was on bout five years ago), that the out world began to b ar about beekeeping in t In fact, the la 708 hives of b as against 495 hives in 1910. kept bees for m years with erate success; some secured crops, but the world at knew nothing of it. When farmers began planting sweet clover those who had bees piled up the honey in a way to surprise the natives, Naturally they devided that it would be well to get more bees. Unusual alway attracts attention, and 3 A few mod good man who hota was overlookine a real oppor. fact that North Dakota has an im- tunity. On Webster's invitation I me eu of potential beekeeping piade my second trip te the state territory. In soific neighborhoods I {was amazed change that found little sweet clover, while a few in the urnal were large fields. nties the acreag "1 although it to year, It miles di appeared ° those on the ground it not ne to settle in a section « better crops of honey than were re- where t » already several bee ported elsewhere, During the st men present, for there are whole five “years expansion has been very counties without a commercial honey rapid in the Red River) producer as yet. Valle In neighborhoods where livestock The deason just passed is reported and dairy are becoming important as the poorest since beeke oue finds the best opportunities. In came an important industry, but it too many cases the sweet clover, been far from the failure that) grown for soil building purposes m « known in other re- only, is plowed under before it ons eeping bees for many blooms, and then the beekeeper is J. A. Munroe, State Economist, W. L. Boylan, Mayor of Carrington, J. Ti. Beatty, thirty-third degree Mason, at Carrington years in a white clover location! out of luck. I met some beekeepers where an average of 100 pounds of who have been in the state for sev- surplus honey per colony would be eral years who found it necessary to considered ah . it is hard to move most of their bees the past he season to new pastures beeause the of weet clover on which they formerly or more, which are so often obtained! depended had been turned under. in the sweet clover districts. This is the uncertain feature of the 1, it is not the ¢ Dakota region and one that the bee- but the ten-year , kee should look into carefully that cou Bees have been kept befor ttling permanently. In years in the ta sweet clover country) when seed prices are high there will long enough to m it appear safe/be ample bee pasture in sections say t ral tained t the average returns are if not better than those ob- anywhere else in Amer which will plow it all seed prices rule low. under when The Sweet Clover Region Extent of Sweet Clover After my former trip T wrote as Tn ent advertisement, the; follows in the Journal for Mar Great Northern Railway culled at succeeds with any enterprise is likely to be surrounded by others who tempt to duplicate his effort. g A Big Story That Started a Boom F. C. Bennett, at Jamestown, was one of the pioneer beekeepers. Abou! six years ago he secured 360 pounds + of comb honey from one colony of + bees. At that time honey sold very * high in North Dakota. Boom prices ) prevailed generally and there was little honey to be had. He accord- ingly sold much’ of this honey for - 60 cents per section. ceipts from the one hive of bees was $150 cash. Such a story was too good to keep and he told in detail what he had done in a letter to A. I. Root. je beekeeping world never saw a more enthusiastic booster than this man Root, and he published the ‘story. Naturally such a big story inspired 2 good deal of, doubt in the minds of many well-informed bee- whose experience had been outside the sweet clover stigation. é F. C. Bennett of Jamestown. His total re-; equal to what we would call a fair crop in less favored sections. The Reason Why Sweet clover is grown in many places where it fails to yield nectar in the generous manner that it se- cretion. Rich limestone soils, a mod- erate umount of moisture, long days of sunshine, with moderately cool | nights, seem to meet its requirements fully. In the corn belt, with its hot | nights following the hot days, we do not find such yields of honey, al- though it does well there. Thus in southern Iowa it yields less freely than in the northwestern part of that state. Nearly all of North Dakota except small areas of Badlands, has rich loam soils with clay subsoil. The summer meeting. physical condition is such as to cause a low evaporation of moisture. Al- though the precipitation is rather light for the entire state, for the most part rain falls during the grow- ing season, from April to September, when it is of most value. The frost- free season is short. Summer comes late and winter comes early. We thus find a short, intensive season, with the bees active from its beginning |until its end. When the crop is over ithe bees stop brood rearing and con- sume a minimum of stores until time to begin the next year’s operations. |It thus happens that a much greater t of the honey gathered finds its 0 the supers and later to mar- is the case where brood i A moderate variation be- temperatures ich always occurs in this latitude 3 to be an important factor in jarge yields. The beekeeper in this region in a location must find first a {sufficient aren of sweet clover within {reach. Next he should look for early blooming trees and plants to stimu- Ngte spring brood rearing. Willows, jmaples, box elder,’ elm, dandelions, ete, are second in importance only he principal pasture crop. On these wind-swept prairies the sclec- tion of the immediate apiary site is also very important. A locatjon with | ood wind protection is worth a great deal. Bees build up very much faster and consume less: stores in a situa- ition where they ure protected from jthe winds. Groves are not always within reach and to many apiaries lare placed in the open with no wind- break. {Bee Men and Their Problems | season. tween day and night vhose story of a big crop from one hive started a bo.m tention to six counties in its terri-| “In the . writer's opinion the tory with more than fifteen thousand greatest honey producing region in res of this crop. Grand Fi America will shortly be found from jcounty leads with an area of 27,053 ‘res. Ramsey county comes next 24,782 acres. Pembina county the lowest in the list with acres, Cass, Towner and } |counties also are included with more than the acreage listed for Pembin northwestern Iowa, northeastern Ne- braska, northward through the Da- kotas and prairie provinces ef Canada, The reason fer this opinion is simply that sweet clover is re- garded as the greatest plants in America, and sweet clover | Beeause of the publicity that h is found at its best in this region.” lattended the success of the be The prophecy has been fulfilled |keepers in the Red River Valley, and what has already been done {a most of the new recruits who have but a small part of what will yet ‘engaged in the business on a large come. Sweet clover is extending its scale have gone to that section. A/ range every year and is being plant- trip across the state, however, shows |ed in neighborhoods where it has not clearly that there are numerous lo-|been previously, krown. The areas calities where there is a large acre-|where bees can be kept profitably Jage of sweet clover available and no| ten years hence will be much greater bees to gather it. than the areas now available, yet the ‘The man who is looking for a loca-|bees have not yet reached nearly all tion in North Dakota will do well to! off the territory where sweet clover visit that state in summer and take|is already planted in substantial long drives through the counties | acreage. aes ry where beekeeping has not yet de-| Good years are always followed by veloped. By going to unoccupied | poor ones, and the present season in locations he will have less competi-|the sweet clover section will only tion in the local market in disposing | serve to call attention to the driving for hundreds ~of miles over | sections, th the state I was impressed with the to sell, i of honey} | The change that has taken place fo quickly has brought new problems {to the beekeepers. Formerly the erop could be'sold in the local market, at top pric ‘Now the output is so large that djstant markets must be jsought.. The beekeepers are seeking some means of distribution which will enable ‘them to avoid competi- at the same time move the honey a fair price. : The College of Agriculture is lend- ing its assistance in pection and making a serious effort to prevent the spread of disease among the be ‘of the staté. J. A. Munro, State En- tomologist, has recently taken up’ the able experience with beekeeping and knows the honey producers’ lems. j. Although Association the State Beekeepers’ ‘]be almost at a standstill for weeks weak coloni However, the long winters and cold and windy spring, weather are very hard on’ the bees. The most expert beekeepers find it difficult to carry their bees through from the close of one crop to the beginning of another. Winter and spring losses are heavy and it often happens that the bees will seem to at a time in spring. While the re- gion offers good bee pasture, it also requires good beekecping to get the big crops, and it is no place for a man to undertake large scale opera- tions unless he knows his busines: WAR VETERANS MUST HURRY'0 GRT'N.D. BONUS,” Legislgture May Be Asked to Fix Early Closing Date For Filing Claims © Bismarck, N. D., Dec. 10.—M— Letters are being sent out by the adjutant general's office to all North during the war have never made ap- cut that North Dakota vgterans, or clyims to do so before the closing | ] date o———__—_——_-* {. * Stefber i —_—_—_—__—— Merle Buc! Bill Smith ers at tion with each other in selling and ee “arte Buck and Ed. work here, but he has had consider: | Bal prob- |; is a comparatively new} Dakota world war veterans who have not perfected their claims for the state bonus, notifying them that they must do so quickly if they ex- pect the claims to be paid. ‘ The letters outline the fact that 4 the adjutant general has recommend- ed that the governor ask the legis- lature to pass at the coming session a bill fixing a closing date for the receipt of bonus claims. There are now on file in the ad- jutant gencral’s office some 6,000 claims which are only partly per- fected. Efforts have been made in each case to notify the veteran that his claim will not be paid unless he takes steps to perfect it but in practically all such cases the letters have remained unanswered, the vet- eran apparently having dropped from sight. In many cases letters sent to addresses given by veterans have been returned as undelivered. 5,000 Never Applied Records also show that some 6,000 men who went from North Dakota plication for the bonus. Many of the veterans so classified. however, apparently have applied for and re- ceived bonuses from other states, it is said. The final date for filing claims, the letter states, may be fixed by the legislature for as early as April 1, 1927. In a statement issued at the ad- jutant general's office it is pointed their dependent heirs, have had seven years in which to apply . for the bonus, a period lon than that granted by any other state. It is ex- pected that payment Of all claims now filed will be completed during 1928 and it is not desired to con- tinue the work and maintain an of- fice organization merely for the benefit’ of those who have been de- linquent in presenting their claims. Ample’ opportunity will be given all who have not filed or perfected their becomes effective, it: was said. Veterans secking information as to the status of their claims may ob- tain it by addressing a query to the adjutant general’s office here. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bergquist end family, Mr. and Mrs. John Carlson and family and Delbert Olson were visitors at the Hickel home Sunday. C. L. Malone made a trip to the coal mine Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. Julius Olson and Delbert Olson were callers at C. L. Malo! Friday evening. Miss Catherine: Doyle spent Satur- day and Sunday at the Wm. Heckel residence. , q C, L. Malone wag a Regan visitor Friday. Miss Gertrude Hickel returned to Tuttle Tuesday, after spending a few days visiting in this vicinity. C, L. Malone helped Julius Olson butcher a beef Monday. J. R. Jones, the Alta merchant, hauled a load of cream to Regun Thursdey, brifging back » load of merchandise. « Mrs, Wm. Oder received a telegram Wednesday stating that her brother at Winthrop, Iowa, had passed away. Miss Noomi Hagstrom spent the week-end at-her home near Still. D. E. Mattis motored to Bismarck Friday. Mr. and Mrs, C. L. Malone were callers at the Oder residence Satur- day evening. Julius and Delbert Olson were Re- gan visitors Friday. Hampton "| Umber was visiting at this week. kc, and of this vicinity were call- Temvik Wednesday afternoo: wassa Wes she Umber was visiting Busby home a few days thasar Frison of Linton was business ealler in this vielnity Fri- Sag ty lg ir car the z went jannon |: organization, the meetings compare | te favorably in attendance and interest with those of long standing. In addition’ to the problems ready mentioned of finding » market * ‘for their crop, and of the tendency to plow undet the sweet clover be-| Dakets et | fore it blooms, Dakota bee men have ofhis crop and will face fewer ‘com-|that a sweet, clover region is the|@ very real problem in getting their|** plications over questions of prior ‘safest of all.. Instead of the total|colonies ready for the harvest. They rights, exposure to disease, etc. In| failures which often prevail in other|are fortunate in the fact that the still have some honey| harvest comes late, thus giving many cases ‘an amount|s long period 4m whieh to build up them Jack Little to Broadcast Again Jack Little, famous radio singer, will.broadcast from the Gold Medal Station, WCCO, the week of Jan- uary 2, Little audiences is so great that during th past few months several reports have been received by WCCO and ether mid-west stations that another en- terthiner is trying to pass himself off as Little. 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