rainfall is only five inches, and the country is a desert except in the high mountains, where the seasons are short. I have kept from 50 to 300 colonies — all Italians. Our bee-range at Tularosa is three miles long and one and a half miles wide.” Westward of Tularosa is the noted “Journey of Death,” a desert 30 to 40 miles wide. A remarkable feature of this region is the “White Sands,” an area of 300 square miles covered with dunes of almost pure granular gypsum. In Tertiary times an ancient lake, known as Lake Otero, occupied an area of nearly 2000 square miles.

The third important river valley in New Mexico for the production of honey is that of the San Juan River in the northwest corner. There are here nearly 1,000,000 acres of excellent red sandy loam lying mostly on sloping mesas, with numerous arroyos providing ample drainage, which can be brought under irrigation. Late frosts in spring seldom occur, so that this region is particularly well suited to apple orchards. According to a report from Kirtland there are probably 50 beekeepers in this county who ship annually three cars of comb honey besides some extracted honey. The larger apiaries contain about 100 colonies, but there is one at Farmington with 150 colonies and another at Kirtland with 200 colonies. A failure occurs only about once in seven years, and the surplus varies from 50 to 300 pounds per colony. The alfalfa weevil and grass-hoppers often curtail the production to a considerable extent. The early honey is nearly white, but the main crop is light amber. Besides alfalfa the most important honey plants are sweet clover, which yields on an average for three weeks; Rocky Mountain bee plant, which in some seasons yields for two months; wild sunflower; rabbit-brush and milkweed.

Along the western border in the desert valleys, on the great mesas and lava beds, and among the numerous mountain ranges there is little alfalfa and very few colonies of bees. From Tohatchi, McKinley County, a beekeeper writes that he brought there a few colonies in the spring, fed nearly all that year, and finally obtained a little surplus which was used for feeding the following year. There are a few colonies in Grant County in the southwest corner, but no commercial apiaries.

IDAHO

Total area, 83,888 square miles. The northern and east-central portions of the state consist of a series of mountain ranges belonging to the Rocky Mountain System. In this section are found the largest forests of white pine in North America, besides many thousand acres of spruce, cedar, juniper, and hemlock. Large areas in the timbered lands are suitable for grazing. The land adapted to agriculture, which lies along the streams and in the open prairie country, comprises about 6,000,000 acres, and is devoted chiefly to growing the cereals, wheat, oats, and barley. As the rainfall in the northern section of Idaho is sufficient for maturing crops, it is known as the humid belt in distinction from the southern or arid belt, where, over an area of 65,000 square miles, agriculture can not be carried on without irrigation. The southern portion of the state, with the exception of a small area in the southeastern corner, is occupied by the Snake River Valley, which along the west border extends northward as far as Clearwater River. The surface of the valley is generally level, and is covered chiefly with different kinds of sagebrush. The soil, derived mostly from volcanic rock and ash, responds quickly to irrigation and produces large crops of alfalfa, sweet clover, corn, and potatoes. In 1920 there were under irrigation 2,488,000 acres, and under cultivation 650,000 acres of alfalfa.

There are four localities in Idaho which are well adapted to commercial beekeeping: The extreme northern portion of the state, sometimes called the