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EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS
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Cornell University

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The original of this book is in
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There are no known copyright restrictions in
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000495527

Fifty Years
Among the Bees

BY
DR. C. C. MILLER

Copyrighted 1915
by Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, Ills.
All rights reserved

SD

TRIBUTES TO DR. MILLER
BY E, RB. ROOT.

{Dr. C. C. Miller died Sept. 4, 1920. The following tribute was paid
him in the October (1920) Gleanings in Bee Culture by his old-time friend
and close acquaintance, Editor E. R. Root. This tribute tells of Dr. Miller’s
contributions to beekeeping rather more exactly and with less modesty than
Dr. Miller has told of them himself. ]

A great voice has been stilled; but those bright and breezy
sayings from the Sage of Marengo, always labeled with smiles,
will live after. Such a life can not die; but all that is earthly
of Dr. C. C. Miller passed away on Sept. 4, 1920, in his nine-
tieth year.

When he was obliged to give up his department of Stray
Straws in Gleanings in Bee Culture some months ago, on ac-
count of severe sickness and his advanced age, there came a
feeling over me that I must see him once more before he
passed from the scenes of earth, feel his handshake, and see
that face so beaming with smiles.

As I was scheduled to be present at a Chautauqua held at

' Madison, Wis., on Aug. 16 to 20, I decided that on my return
--} would pay Dr. Miller a visit between trains. On arriving at
the Chautauqua I told Dr. E. F. Phillips that I purposed to go
and see the man who wrote Stray Straws, and asked him if it
would not be possible for him and Mr. Geo. 8. Demuth to go
along with me. Precisely that thought was in the minds of
both of these men, and we were not long in making up a little
party to motor from Madison to Marengo. This party was
made up of Dr. E. F. Phillips, Geo. 8. Demuth, H. F. Wilson,
and the writer.

We had expected to see Dr. Miller showing his age, and
the once virile face and form infirm with years; but we were
agreeably surprised to see apparently the same man with the
same vigor of body and mind that I had seen 35 years earlier.
He seemed to be at his very best, and the members of our
party all agreed that his mind was as alert and keen as ever.
He appeared to be a man of 60 or 70 years rather than 90.

That wonderful smile that betokened the happy nature
within must have camouflaged whatever of bodily infirmity

6 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

there might have been. And surely there was some, because
he died just two weeks to a day after our visit. I said,
“Doctor, I’d give 20 cents for a picture or two of you;” and
instantly he came back with a laugh, saying: “Beg pardon.
I'll have to charge you 35 cents this year.” At this the camera
clicked, and the result is shown in the accompanying photo,
showing him in laughing mood at 90 years of age.

I had told him I had come to convey the best wishes of
my dear old father, and it gave me pleasure to tell the Doctor
of the joy that his letter of Aug. 7 gave to A. I. Root. I
further added that father wanted to pay him a visit, and
hoped that he might yet do so. I shall never forget how that
smile seemed to fade a little, and then how it came back with
its wonted sweetness in these words:

“T should dearly love to see your father again, for he
and I are about the only ones left of the old group. But tell
him he must come soon, as sometimes I think I have not many
days to live. If I do not see him on this side, I surely shall
on the other side.”

The grand old man of beedom never claimed to be an in-
ventor. He never claimed he had any secrets, for he had none.
His great service to the bee world was not in discovering new .
things but in discovering practical methods for producing
more and better honey with the appliances that the beekeeper
already has. One would never find anything in the Doctor’s
apiary but standard hives, standard Langstroth frames, and
standard equipment sold by every supply dealer in the coun-
try. While he did not invent, he did pick out of the mass of
erudities inventions that he approved. Tho Dr. Miller did
not claim to be an inventor, there are some things that bear
his name, for instance the Miller feeder and the Miller intro-
ducing cage.

There is hardly a standard article sold by manufacturers,
and accepted by the beekeeping public today, that was not
passed upon by Dr. Miller before it went on the market. For
example, the eight and ten frame dovetailed hives were sub-
mitted to Dr. Miller before being introduced to the public.
In the same way brood-frames, self-spaciffg frames, bee-es-
capes, and introducing-cages were passed before the critical

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 7

eyes of Dr. Miller. If he pronounced them good the manu-
facturers made them and they went to the public. The fact
that these things have been in use for 20 and even 30 years
by practical beekeepers all over the United States shows how
nearly Dr. Miller was right.

Perhaps the biggest thing the Doctor ever did for bee
culture was to show to the world the real nature of European
foul brood. He blazed the way in perfecting a new cure for
that disease—a cure that is accepted today. E. W. Alexander
furnished the basis for the treatment, and S. D. House, Camil-
lus, N. Y., showed that the period of queenlessness could be
reduced. He also showed that a resistant stock of Italians
would go a long way in curing the disease and keeping it out
of the apiary. But the ideas advanced above by Alexander
and House were so revolutionary that there were but very few
who took any stock in them. Only too well do I remember
how I was criticised for publishing these “false” doctrines.
But it was not until Dr. Miller had tried them out and had
proved that they were along right lines that the beekeeping
world began to take notice. The good Doctor went further
than either Alexander or House in showing the true nature of
the disease, and, possibly, how it spreads. When, therefore,
Dr. Miller introduced these new methods of treatment the
whole of beedom turned right about face. Later work by Dr.
Phillips and his assistants proved the soundness of Dr. Mil-
ler’s views.

Dr. Miller, later on, brought out, if he did not invent, a
plan for uniting bees with a sheet of newspaper. The plan
is very simple and effective. He moved the weaker of the two:
colonies to be united and placed it on top of the stronger one.
Between the two stories was placed a sheet of newspaper
(with or without a small hole punched in it). The bees would
gradually unite thru this paper; and because the uniting was
so gradual there would be no fighting and less returning of the
moved bees to their old stand.

Dr. Miller would have been great in any line of work or
profession. Had he stayed in music his fame would have gone
over the world, I verily believe; and if he had kept on in the
practice of medicine he would have advanced the profession

8 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

materially. Even in the early days he said people did not
need medicine so much as they needed common sense in treat-
ing their bodies. Fifty years ago he believed that hygiene,
plenty of water inside and out, rest, and temperance in eat-
ing, are far more important than drugs. Our best doctors
today would testify that he was fifty years ahead of his time.
The modern schools of medicine are advocating less drugs and
more hygiene, plenty of good air and water. When Dr. Mil-
ler was going thru college he did not know that he could
overwork, but soon found that he was burning the candle at
both ends. He came out of college a full-fledged graduate
with several hundred dollars to the good, but with health
broken. All his life he had to be careful what he ate, as a
consequence. He was always obliged rigidly to deny himself,
but the result was that he kept himself active in mind and
body. He was not only a great teacher but a great healer.

This little sketch would be incomplete, were I not to refer
to a very admirable and dominant characteristic in Dr.
Miller—that temperament or quality in his nature that makes
the world delightful and everything lovely—so much so that
it showed out not only in his face but in his writings. I
think some of the happiest times of my life have been spent
in Dr. Miller’s home. Not only did he carry optimism thru
the printed page, hut we found it at the breakfast-table and
all thru the day without a break. He went further. His con-
versation was one ripple of merriment thruout. He never
ridiculed, but he could see the funny things of life, and some-
times I have come away from his table sore from laughter. He
had the habit of taking one by conversational surprise, and
would have him holding his sides almost before he knew it.

I said to him 30 years ago: “Doctor, I wish there were
some way by which you might reproduce those breezy remarks
you make at conventions and in your home—those little side-
lines that are so helpful and seem like a drink of cold water
on a hot day. Is it not possible that you could send Gleanings
a page or two of short items of general comment each month?
and 1 would suggest the name ‘Kernels of Wheat,’ as we al-
ready have a department, ‘Heads of Grain.’”

He liked the idea; but for a title he suggested that “Stray

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 9

Straws” would be much more appropriate. ‘That would be
more in line with his ability, he said. Our older and younger
readers know how well he succeeded in giving us “Stray
Straws.” They were really kernels of wheat. Dr. Miller’s
paragraphs of five to a dozen lines were worth whole articles;
and almost every one of those paragraphs was replete with
smiles.

Years ago at some of the conventions there was more or
less strife; and well do I remember that Dr. Miller, in his
quiet way, with a smile that was more persuasive than a police-
man’s club, would smooth out all the difficulties, leaving a
good feeling all around. In this respect he and Prof. Cook
were without a peer. I remember one day he came to me, in
the history of the National Beekeepers’ Association, when
there seemed to be a bitter fight on. He said to a group of
us: “You have asked me to pour oil on the troubled waters.
The job is too big for me, boys. But I will try my best if you
will offer a prayer that only good may prevail”—and it did.

This brings me to avother important side of Dr. Miller’s
character—an abiding faith in God. Come what might, with
him all was well. There came a time when, thru some mis-
management on the part of others, he lost a considerable part
of his savings. With a sweet spirit of resignation he wrote:
“T have not lost all. I have my good wife and my sister. I
have a few years of vigorous life left to me yet. I have in
prospect a good crop of honey. The Lord has always taken
eare of me, and I am not worried over the future.”

E. R. Root.

BY DR. E. F. PHILLIPS.

[The following tribute to Dr. Miller was written by Dr. EH. F. Phillips,
in charge of Bee Culture Investigations, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Wash-
ington, D. C., and printed in Gleanings in Bee Culture for November, 1920.
Dr. Miller and Dr. Phillips were close and cherished friends to each other.]

The life and work of Dr. C. C. Miller were a benefit to the
beekeeping. of America and of the whole world which can be
measured accurately only in after years. Those of us who have
had the pleasure of laboring in this field while he was mathe

. . . . . Ly
his contributions to the science and art of beekeeping kriow

10 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

well that in many ways we are indebted to him, but it will take
time for the proper weighing of his life in terms of helpful-
ness to fellow beekeepers. One can now do no more than to ex-
press feebly a sense of personal loss and to tell a few of the
more outstanding benefits from his work. One thing is clear:
there has been no beekeeper of the past half century who was
his superior. :

Beginning in 1861 and until his death, Doctor Miller was
interested in bees, a record of prolonged activity in this voca-
tion rarely if ever equalled. Since 1878 it was his sole business.
Naturally his earliest beekeeping was unimportant, but in 1870
he made his first contribution to the beekeeping press and for
fifty years his writings have formed an important part of our
literature. Even the editors of the bee journals have not con-
tributed more to the current literature than did he, and prob-
ably he wrote he wrote more “copy” than did any other writer
of the time. His writings are distinguished by accurate diction,
clarity, humor, and sympathy.

To discuss in detail the investigations that Doctor Miller
carried on in beekeeping would virtually be to write a history of
beekeeping of the past half century, for there have been no im-
portant discoveries or events of that period in which he did not
play some part. He began beekeeping before the days of the
comb-honey section and lived until the time when extracted
honey largely replaced comb honey. The period of comb-honey
production brought forth the keenest work in beekeeping prac-
tices of any period in beekeeping, for all the problems are
greatly intensified in comb-honey production. Naturally we do
not give to Doctor Miller credit for all the brilliant work of this
period, but all must admit that no man of the time made more
important contributions to comb-honey production than he did.

In his first book, “A Year Among the Bees,” he recognizes
the two great problems of that and of the present day as fol-
lows: “If I were to meet a man perfect in the entire science
and art of beekeeping, and were allowed from him an answer
to just one question, I would hesitate somewhat whether to ask
him about swarming or wintering. I think, however, I would
finally ask for the best and easiest way to prevent swarming,
for one who is anxious to secure the largest crop of comb

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 11

honey.” His later books contain almost the same phrasing, ex-
cept that he omits mention of the winter problem, indicating
clearly that during the comb-honey period swarm control stood
out above all other problems in importance. In the brilliant
work on this subject he had no superior and to his work we go
for the methods which finally won out. However, comb-honey
-- production, and the small colonies incident to the beekeeping
methods of that period, brought on the wintering problem
acutely, and in this work also he excelled. A careful study of
his writings reveals a knowledge of the needs of the bees during
the winter, and his results were better than those of most other
beekeepers of the time.

Altho comb honey is passing, until recently Doctor Miller
continued to produce it, and as late as 1913 (at the age of 83)
he broke all records of per colony production of sections. But
even at his advanced age he did not stick tenaciously to his old
methods, for during the past few years, altho reducing the size
of his apiary, he took up the production of extracted honey.
We can not paint an adequate picture of the character of the
man, but we get an illuminating sidelight in the fact that he
took up this new line, not to make his work easier, not because
others were producing extracted honey, but because he might
thereby help to make honey a more freely used food on the
table of the average family.

The more recent changes in beekeeping methods i in no way
reduced the importance of Doctor Miller’s work and influence.
One of the most important, if not the most important, con-
tributions of his life came late in his experience. In 1909 (one
is tempted to say fortunately—for beekeepers) European foul
brood broke out virulently in his apiary. Up to that time various
methods had been advocated for its control, but there was no
agreement on the subject and virtually no progress was being
made. Doctor Miller’s location is not one in which this disease
would continuously do serious damage, but thru a total failure
in the white-clover honey crop that year his apiary became
heavily infected, giving him abundant experimental material.
The work which he did that summer and the careful record
which he month by month laid before the beekeepers thru the
journals form the basis for the first real progress in the control

12 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

of the disease, which has caused and is still causing losses of
thousands of dollars annually. The point which deserves spe-
cial emphasis in an appreciation of the man is the fact that
the disease was virtually absent from his apiary the following
year, and from that time on he was not seriously troubled by it,
for in one season he had solved the problem of European foul-
brood control. To the work he took an accurate knowledge of
the efforts and mistakes of others, an appreciation of the
nature of the disease and, above all, a keen scientific mind. His
work on this disease is his greatest monument.

To have led beekeepers in investigations of better methods
was an accomplishment, but perhaps as great a service lay in
his efforts to prevent mistakes. The comb-honey era was replete
with bad methods, proposed in the effort to solve the serious
problems of the time, and no beekeeper outdid Doctor Miller in
pointing out the errors arising from incorrect or too scant ob-
‘servations and from faulty conclusions. He was at all times
tolerant, yet he could in his finished style lay bare in a few
words the foibles of the upstart or the vicious advice of the
unserupulous. He was tender with those who erred thru lack
of information, and it sometimes takes a close observer to detect
his glee in the slaughter of the ungodly.

We can continue to point out the good things that Doctor
Miller did, and beekeepers will continue so to do for many
years, so long as beekeeping is carried on. These things serve
to make clear the admiration and respect in which he is held
by his fellow beekeepers. Such statements fail, and fail utterly,
to make clear the affection and love in which he was held by
beekeepers everywhere thruout the country. I have had the op-
portunity to speak before groups of beekeepers in most parts
‘of the country, and it has rarely been possible or desirable to
close a talk on bees without telling of something that Doctor
Miller did for the industry. Reference to his work and to him
invariably brings forth a warm smile of appreciation. A few

“years ago I took some photographs of him in the apiary and
these have been used all over the country as lantern slides;
never have they been shown that they did not call forth ap-
plause. How may we account for this high esteem in which he
is held by all his fellow workers?

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 13

The outstanding characteristic of Doctor Miller’s life, and
the thing for which he is most loved, was his keen interest in
“things,” as he expressed it. Two weeks to the day before his
death five beekeepers visited him, and of those present at that
happy meeting no one was younger in mind than he. He told
us then that he had always supposed that as one grows old his
interest in things would fade away, but that on the contrary he
found himself more and more interested as the years passed.
The youthful spirit of the man is illustrated by the fact that
when over eighty years of .age he took up a new line of work,
the growing of gladioli. Always a lover of flowers, he began
this work at this age as a specialty. He grew corms for sale by
the thousands. The flowers were not for sale, however, for
aside from the dozens of cuttings in his home his best “cus-
tomer,” as he expressed it, was a children’s hospital in Chicago,
to which the cut flowers were sent daily. Not only was he grow-
ing’ these flowers on a commercial scale, but at his advanced age
he carried out experiments in cross-pollination. Recently he
made several hundred crosses and grew the resulting seedlings.
and of the number he saved out for further work over a hun-
dred of some promise. Of these he finally selected over twenty
of the best and he told us that he hoped from these to get six
or eight varieties worthy of perpetuation and naming. It takes
perhaps ten years to secure enough corms to offer a variety for
sale, but this seemed not in the least to decrease his eagerness
for new forms, which he could scarcely hope to use commer-
cially. His interest in these flowers was so keen that he hesi-
tated to let us, uninitiated in gladioli, to find out how “crazy”
he was about them, and he refused to tell us what he had paid
for certain rare and valuable corms. This at the age of ninety
years! Such a man is one for whom a person a half century
younger in years can feel the same friendship and affection as
for one of his own age. His mind was as young as ever; only
his body was old.

To explain the heartfelt affection in which he was held by
beekeepers generally would be a foolish task for any but a mas-
ter writer. In essential respects I have an advantage over the
master writers, for I knew Doctor Miller, and, too, I know how
beekeepers feel, I know that his death brings to all of us a feel-

14 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ing of great and irreparable loss. Yet at the same time our
feeling can not be that only of sorrow, for his death was but
the closing of a finished life. He had finished his work, per-
mitted to him by the worn body that served as a vehicle for his
young mind, and our feeling at this time can scarcely be other
than one of thankfulness that he lived so long and that we were
privileged to know hin, to learn from him and to imitate him
in his all-embracing desire to help those with whom he had con-
tact.

To put these thoughts in words is not an easy task, nor
would it now be attempted were it not for an assurance that the
readers of these comments will charitably say that here are
stated feebly what we all think: in the death of Doctor Miller
we have lost a dear and close friend, but we are better beekeep-
ers because of his work and better men because of his life.

Washington, D. C.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 15

PREFACE.

In the year 1886 there was published a little book written |
by me entitled “A Year Among the Bees.” In 1902 it was en-
larged, and appeared under the title “Forty Years Among the
Bees. In preparation for the present edition I undertook the
revision with little thought of the number of changes to be
made or the number of pages to be added in order to bring it
fully up to date (about one-eighth being new matter), but it is
hoped that the changes and additions may make it of more
value to the reader. As I began beekeeping in 1861, fifty years
ago, the present name seems appropriate.

However much some personal friends may like the brief
biographical sketch that occupies the first few pages, others
may think that the space could have been better occupied.
There remains, however, the privilege of skipping those few
pages.

Most of the pictures are from photographs taken by my-
self or under my immediate supervision, at least so far as con-
cerns “touching the button.” The Eastman Kodak Co. “did
the rest.”

Marengo, IIl., 1911. C. C, Minter.

INTRODUCTION.

One morning, five or six of us, who had occupied the same
bedroom the previous night during the North American Con-
vention at Cincinnati, in 1882, were dressing preparatory to
another day’s work. Among the rest were Bingham, of smoker
fame, and Vandervort, the foundation-mill man. I think it
was Prof. Cook who was chaffing these inventors, saying some-
thing to the effect that they were always at work studying how
to get up something different from anybody else, and, if they
needed an implement, would spend a dollar and a day’s time
to get up one “of their own make,” rather than pay 25 cents
for a better one ready-made. Vandervort, who sat contempla-
tively rubbing his shins, dryly replied: “But they take a world
of comfort in it,” I think all beekeepers are possessed of

oa

16 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

more or less of the same spirit. Their own inventions and
plans seem best to them, and in many cases they are right, to
the extent that two of them, having almost opposite plans,
would be losers to exchange plans.

In visiting and talking with other beekeepers I am generally
prejudiced enough to think my plans are, on the whole, better
than theirs; and yet I am always very much interested to know
just how they manage, especially as to the little details of
common operations, and occasionally I find something so mani-
festly better than my own way, that I am compelled to throw
aside my prejudice and adopt their better way. I-suppose
there are a good many like myself; so I think there may be
those who will be interested in these bee-talks, wherein, besides
talking something of the past, I shall trv to tell honestly just
how I do, talking in a familiar manner, without feeling obliged
to say “we” when I mean “I.” Indeed, I shall claim the privi-
lege of putting in the pronoun of the first person as often as
I please; and if the printer runs out of big J’s toward the last
of the book, he ean put in little i’s.

Moreover, I don’t mean to undertake to lay down a
methodical system of beekeeping, whereby one with no knowl-
edge of the business can learn in “twelve short lessons” all
about it, but will just talk about some of the things that I think
would interest you, if we were sitting down together for a
familiar chat. I take it you are familiar with the good books
and periodicals that we as beekeepers are blest with, and in
some things, if not most, you are a better beekeeper than I;
so you have my full permission, as you go from page to page,
to make such remarks as, “Oh, how foolish!” “I know a good
deal better way than that,” ete., but I hope some may find a
hint here and there that may prove useful.

I have no expectation nor desire to write a complete
treatise on beekeeping. Many important matters connected
with the art I do not mention at all, because they have not
come within my own experience. Others that have come within
my experience I do not mention, because I suppose the reader
to be already familiar with them. I merely try to talk about
such things as I think a brother beekeeper would be most in-
terested in if he should remain with me during the year,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 17

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES.

BIOGRAPHICAL—BOYHOOD DAYS.

Fifty miles east of Pittsburg lies the little village of
Ligonier, Pa., where I was born June 10, 1831. Twenty miles
away, across the mountains, lies the ill-fated city of Johnstown,
where my family lived later on. The scenery about Ligonier
is of such a charming character that in recent years it has
become a summer resort, a branch railroad terminating at
that point. Looking down upon the town from the south is a
hill so steep that one wonders how it is possible to cultivate it,
while between it and the town flows a little stream called the
Loyalhanna, with a milldam upon whose broad bosom I spent
many a happy winter hour gliding over the icy surface on the
glittering steel; and in the hot and lazy summer days, with
trouser-legs rolled up to the highest, I waded all about the dam,
the bubbles from its oozy bed running up my legs in a creepy
way, while | watched with keen eyes for the breathing-hole of
some snapping turtle hidden beneath the mud, then cautiously
felt my way to its tail, lifted it and held it at arm’s length for
fear of its vicious jaws, and with no little effort carried it
snapping and struggling to the shore. Ever in sight was the
mountain, abounding in chestnuts, rattlesnakes, and huckle-
berries, and I distinctly recall how strange it seemed, when all
was still about me, to hear the roar of the wind in the tree-tops
on the mountain eight or ten miles away.

EARLY EDUCATION.

My earliest opportunities for education were not of the
best. Public schools were not then what they are today, for
they were just coming into existence. I recall that we children,
upon hearing of a frée school in a neighboring village, decided
that it must be a very fine thing, for what else could a free

18 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

school be than one in which the scholars were free to whisper
to their hearts’ content. The teachers, in too many cases,
seemed to be chosen because of their lack of fitness for any
other calling. The one concerning whom I have perhaps the
earliest recollection was a man who distinguished himself by
having a large family of boys named in order after the presi-
dents, as far as the United States had at that time progressed
in the matter of presidents, and who extinguished himself by
falling into a well one day while he was drunk.

But with the advent of free schools came rapid improve-
ment, and I made fair progress in the rudiments, even though
the advancement of each pupil was entirely independent of
that of every other. Indeed, there was no such thing as a class
in arithmetic. Each one did his “sums” on his slate, and sub-
mitted them to the “master” for approval, the master doing
such sums as were beyond the ability of the pupil, in some
cases a more advanced pupil doing this work in place of the
teacher. Tom Cole was a beneficiary of mine, and every time
I did a sum for him he gave me an apple. I do not recall that
I lacked the apples, and apples then and there were worth 12%
cents a bushel.

PARENTS.

When ten years old I suffered a loss in the death of my
father, the greatness of which loss I was at that time too young
fully to realize. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church,
but for one of those days very tolerant of the views of others.
He was most lovable in character, and the wish has been with
me all through my life that I might be as good a man as my
father. I think he was chiefly of English extraction, although
his ancestry had for many generations lived in this country.
His father had tried to make a tailor of him, but he did not
take kindly to that business, and became a physician.

My mother was a German, her father and mother having
both come from the fatherland. Like many others at that day,
her education never went beyond the ability to read, and I am
not sure that her reading ever went outside of the Bible. Pos-
sibly confining her reading to so good a book was one reason
why she was a woman of remarkably good judgment, and tq

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 19

her credit be it said that she spared no pains to carry out the
dying wish of my father that the children should be allowed
to secure an education. She was a faithful Methodist; and,
although belonging to the two different churches, my parents
usually went to church together, first to one chureh and then
to the other.

When my mother married the second time, she married a
Methodist, and as the children came to years of discretion they

Fig. 1—Home of the Author (from the Southwest).

were impartially divided between the two denominations, three
to each (there were six of us—myself and five sisters).

Two years were taken out of my school life to clerk in a
country store three miles away. For the first year I got twenty-
four dollars and board, my mother doing my washing. The
second year I was advanced to fifty dollars.

BEGINS STUDY OF MEDICINE.

Then I undertook the study of medicine under the tutelage
of the leading—I am not sure but he was the only—village
physician, The Latin terms met in my reading tripped me

20 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

badly, and by some means I got it into my head that if I could
spend three months at the village academy I might be so good
a Latin scholar that my trouble would be overcome. Dr. Cum-
mins was very insistent that it was vital for my strength of
character that having begun to read medicine I should not
be weak enough to be dissuaded from my purpose by a little
thing like the lack of Latin, and if I must have the Latin I
could work half time at it, spending the other half in his office.
Possibly he needed an office boy.

ATTENDS ACADEMY.

But I was equally insistent that I must have one uninter-
rupted term at the academy, and at it I went, taking up other
studies as well as Latin. When the term was completed I felt
pretty certain that two or more terms were needed to make a
complete scholar of me, and by the time I had finished the two
more terms I had settled into the determination that I would
not stop short of a college course. A college course, however,
took money, little of which I had. At my father’s death it was
supposed he had left a fair property, but it was in the hands
of others, and by some means it soon melted away. I kept on
at the academy, taking part of my college course there.

ENTERS COLLEGE.

While yet in my teens J taught school at Shellsburg, and
afterward in Johnstown. I entered Jefferson College at Can-
onsburg, Pa., which college was afterward united with Wash-
ington College, and from there went to Union College, at
Schenectady, N. Y. This last undertaking was a bit reckless,
for when I arrived at Schenectady I had only about thirty
dollars, with nothing to rely on except what I might pick up by
the way to help me to finish up my last two years in college.
I had a horror of being in debt, and so was on the alert for
any work, no matter what its nature, so it was honest, by which
I could earn something to help carry me through.

WORKS WAY THROUGH COLLEGE.

I had learned just enongh of ornamental penmanship to
be able to write German text, and so got $44.00 for filling in

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 21

the names in 88 diplomas at the two commencements. I taught
a singing school; I worked in Prof. Jackson’s garden at seven
and a half cents an hour; raised a crop of potatoes; clerked at
a town election; peddled maps; rang one of the college bells;
and, as it was optional with the students whether they taught
or studied during the third term senior, 1 got $100.00 for
teaching during that term at an academy at Delhi, N. Y.
Neither were my studies slighted during my course, which was
shown by my taking the highest honor attainable, Phi Beta
Kappa, which, however, was equally taken by a number of my
class.

Tig. 2—Peabody Honey-Extractor.

T secured my diploma, allowing me to write A.B. after my
name, and left college with fifty dollars more in my pocket than
when I arrived there. It was not, however, so much what I
earned as what I didn’t spend that helped me through. I kept
a strict cash account, and if I paid three cents postage on a
letter or one cent for a steel pen or two blocks of matches, it

-was carefully entered, and probably a good many cents were
saved because I knew if I spent them I must put it down in
black ink.

22 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
CHEAP BOARD-BILLS.

The item that gave me the greatest chance for economy
was my board-bill. I boarded myself all the time I was in
college. My board cost me thirty-five cents a week or less most
of the time. The use of wheat helped to keep down the bill.
A bushel of whole wheat thoroughly boiled will do a lot of
filling up. The last ten weeks, with less horror of debt before
me, I became extravagant, and my board cost me sixty-six and
a half cents a week.

In the long run, however, I paid dear enough for my board,
for its quality, together with a lack of exercise, so affected my
health that I never fully recovered from it. Strange to say, I
was so ignorant that I did not know exercise was essential to
health. That was before the day of athletics in college.

STUDY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

After teaching a term in Geneseo (N. Y.) Academy, I took
up the study of medicine in Johnstown, Pa., attended lectures
in Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, Mich., and received the
degree of M.D. I practiced medicine a short time in Earlville,
Ill., and went to Marengo, Ill., for the same purpose, in July,
1856.

It did not take more than a year for me to find out that I
had not a sufficient stock of health myself to take care of that
of others, especially as I was morbidly anxious lest some lack
of judgment on my part should prove a serious matter with
some one under my care. So with much regret I gave up my
chosen profession.

TEACHES AND TRAVELS.

In 1857 I abandoned a life of single blessedness, marrying
Mrs. Helen M. White. I spent some years in teaching vocal and
instrumental music, and was for several years principal of the
Marengo public school. Before devoting my entire time to
beekeeping, I was for one year principal of the Woodstock
school, most of the time driving there thirteen miles each morn-
ing, and returning to Marengo at night.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 23

I traveled two years for the music house of Root & Cady,
making a specialty of introducing the teaching of singing in
publie schools. In 1872 I went to Cincinnati, where, I spent
six months helping to get up the first of May musical festi-
vals under the direction of Theodore Thomas. At the close of
the festival I began work for the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co.
at their Chicago house.

FIRST BEES.

To go back. July 5, 1861—I was in Chicago at the time
~-a swarm of bees passing over Marengo took in their line of
march the house where my wife was. She was a woman of
remarkable energy and executive ability, generally accomplish-
ing whatever she undertook, and she undertook to stop that
swarm. * Whether the water and dirt she threw among them
had any effect on the bees I do not know, but I know she got
the bees, hiving them in a full-sized sugar-barrel.

In her eagerness to have the bees properly housed—or
barreled—she could not wait the slow motion of the bees, but
taking them up by double handfuls she threw them where she
wanted them to go. In so doing she received five or six stings
on her hands, which swelled up and were so painful as to make
it a sick-abed affair. This was a matter much to be regretted,
for ever after a sting was much the same as a case of erysip-
elas, preventing her from having anything whatever to do with
handling bees except in a case of extremity.

Previous to that time I had not been interested to any great
extent in bees. When a small boy I had captured a bumble-
bees’ nest and put it in a little box, but I do not recall that
there was a remarkable drop in the price of honey on account
of there being thrown upon the market a large amount of honey
produced by those bumblebees.

BEE PALACE.

When I was a little older I remember helping my step-
father carry home, one night, a colony of bees in a box hive
(movable-comb hives were not yet invented), the colony being
intended to stock a “bee palace.” This bee palace was a rather
imposing structure. I think it cost ten dollars. It was large

24 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

enough to contain about four colonies and was raised about
two feet high on four legs. On the top was a hole over which
the box hive was placed, with the expectation that the bees
would build down and oceupy the entire space. The bottom
was made very steep, so that wax-worms falling upon it would,
however unwillingly, be obliged to roll out! When a nice piece
of honey was wanted for the table, all that was necessary was
to take a plate and knife and cut it out, a door for that pur-

rig. 3—Wide Frame.

pose being in one side of the palace. The plate and knife
were never called into requisition, the magnitude of the task
of filling that palace being so great that the bees coneluded to
die rather than to undertake it. Many years after, I saw at
the home of an intelligent farmer near Marengo the exact
counterpart of that bee palace, whieh an oily-tongued vender
had just induced him to purchase.

BEES IN BARREL.

Notwithstanding my utter ignorance of bees, I began to
Feel some immediate interest in the bees my wife caught. T put

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 25

them in the cellar, and at some time in the winter I went to a
beekeeping neighbor, James F. Lester, and with no little anxiety
told him that some disease had appeared among my bees, for I
found under them a considerable quantity of matter much re-
sembling coarsely ground coffee. He quieted my fears by tell-
ing me it was all right, and nothing more than the cappings
that the bees had gnawed away to get at the honey in the sealed
combs.

In the spring I sawed away that portion of the barrel not
occupied by the bees, and when the time for surplus arrived I
bored holes in the top of the hive and put a good-sized box
over. There were holes in the bottom of the box to correspond
with the holes in the hive. I made three box hives, after the
Quinby pattern, with special arrangement fer surplus boxes,
and they were well made.

“TAKING UP” BEES.

When the bees swarmed I hived them in one of the new
hives, and later on “took up” the bees in the barrel. Alto-
gether I got 93 pounds of honey from the barrel and am a little
surprised to find it set down at 1214 cents a pound. Perhaps
butter was low just then, for in those days it was a common
thing for honey to follow the price of butter. .

I left one of the hives with a farmer, and he hived a prime
swarm in it, for which I paid him five dollars. In the remain-
ing hive I had a weak swarm hived, paying a dollar for the
swarm. I bought a colony of bees besides these, paying $7.00
for hive and bees.

WINTERING UPSIDE DOWN,

The bees were wintered in the cellar, and according to
Quinby’s instructions the hives were turned upside down. That:
gave ample ventilation, for when the hives were reversed the
entire upper surface was open, all being closed below. I doubt
that any better means of ventilation could be devised for win-
tering bees in the cellar. There is abundant opportunity for
the free entrance of air into the hive, without anything to force
a current through it. Equally good is the ventilation when all
is closed at the top and the whole bottom is open, as when the

26 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

hives without any bottom-boards are piled up in such a manner
that the bottom of a hive rests upon the top of a hive below it
at one side, and upon another hive at the other side, and the
ventilation is perhaps as good when there is a bottom-board so
deep that there is a space of two inches or more under the
bottom-bars.

rig. 4—Heddon Super.

SEASONS 1863—1865.

The four colonies wintered through, and I nd charged to
the bees’ account for 1863 three movable-frame hives at. $2.00
each, three box hives at $1.00 for the three, and some surplus
boxes at 10 to 20 cents each. These surplus boxes held from 6
to 10 pounds each, some of them having glass on two sides,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 27

and some having glass on four sides. Small pieces of comb
were fastened in the top of each box as starters. I also bought
another colony of bees at $7.00, and I bought Quinby’s text-
book, “Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained.” I think I had
previously read this as a borrowed book: I got 82 pounds of
honey, worth 15 cents a pound.

I began the year 1864 with seven colonies, which had cost
me $23.39; that is, up to that time I had paid out $23.39 more
for the bees than I had taken in from tliem, reckoning interest
at ten per cent, the ruling rate at that time. Besides getting
new hives that year, I bought a colony of bees for $5.00, and
twenty empty combs at 15 cents each. I took 54 pounds of
honey, 39 pounds of it being entered at 30 cents, the balance at
25 cents.

The year 1865 opened up with nine colonies, and the total
crop for the season was 10 pounds of honey. Alas! that it was
so small, for that year it was worth 35 cents a pound.

FIRST ITALIANS.

In 1866 I got my first Italian queen, paying R. R. Murphy
$6.00 for her, and the following year I paid $10.00 for another
to Mrs. Ellen 8. Tupper, who was at one time editor of a bee
journal. The crop for 1866 was 10034 pounds of honey, which
that year was worth 30 cents.

GETTING EVEN.

T took 131 pounds of honey in 1867, worth 25 cents a
pound, and this for the first time brought the balance on the
right side of the ledger, for I began the season of 1868 with
seven colonies and had $10.40 ahead besides. It will be seen,
however, that bad wintering had been getting in its work, for
there were two colonies less than there were three years before.

There was certainly nothing at all brilliant after seven
years of beekeeping to be able to count only two colonies
more than the total number I had started with, together with
the four I had bought. But there was a fascination in beekeep-
ing for me, and it is very likely I should have kept right on,
even if it necessitated buying a fresh start each year. At any
rate, my friends could no longer accuse me of squandering

-

28 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

money on my bees, for there was that $10.40, and the time I
had spent with the bees was just as well spent in that way as
in some other form of amusement. Indeed at that time I am
not sure that I had much thought that I was ever to get any
profit out of the business. Certainly I had no thought that it
would ever become a vocation instead of an avocation.

rig. 5—T Super.

GETS AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.

In 1869, while away from home, I came across a copy of
The American Bee Journal. I subseribed for it, and also ob-
tained the first volume of the same journal. That first volume,
containing’ the series of articles by the Baron of Berlepsch on
the Dzierzon theory, has been of more service to me than any

~~

FIFTY YEARS \MONG THE BEES 29

other volume of any bee journal published, and to this day I
probably refer to it oftener than to any other volume that is as
niuch as two or three years old.

Among the most frequent contributors to The American
Bee Journal when I subscribed for it were H. Alley, D. H.
Coggshall, C. Dadant, E. Gallup, A. Grimm, J. L. Hubbard,
J. M. Marvin, M. Quinby, A. I. Root, J. H. Thomas, and J. F.
Tillinghast, most of which are well-known names a third of a
century later. G. M. Doolittle did not appear on the scene till
late in 1870.

A. I. Root, under the nom de plume of Novice, was then
just as full of schemes as he has been since, and was trying a
hotbed arrangement for bees, and in my first communication
to The American Bee Journal, in 1870, I wrote, “I am waiting
patiently for Novice to invent a machine for making straight
worker-comb; for as yet I have found no way of securing all
worker-comb, except to have it built by a weak colony.” At
that time he probably little thought that he would come so near
fulfilling my expectations, sending out tons upon tons of fo.n-
dation.

ATTEMPT AT COMB FOUNDATION.

I made some attempts myself in that line, simply with
plain sheets of wax. I poured a little melted wax into a pail
of hot water, and when it cooled I took the sheet of wax and
gave it to the bees. It was not an immense success. I dipped
a piece of writing paper into melted wax, and gave it to the
bees in an upper corner of a frame where no brood was reared,
and for years you could hold that frame up to the light and
looking through the comb see the writing that was on the pa-
per. Then when foundation came upon the market, what a
boon it was!

VISITS A. I. ROOT.

In 1870 I made my first visit to Medina, then several miles
from a railroad station. Mr. Root was then a jeweler; his
shop had been burned up, and his house (not a large one at
that time) was doing duty as both shop and dwelling. Just
then he was full of the idea of having maple sap run directly:

30 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

from the trees to the hives. I showed him how to use rotten
wood for smoking bees, and he thought it a great improvement
over the plan he had been using. I do not now remember what
his plan had been, but hardly a tobacco-pipe, for I have heard
that he has some objections to the use of tobacco. Pleased
with his newly acquired accomplishment, I had hardly left
town when he tried its use, and succeeded in setting fire to a
hive by means of the sawdust on the ground. Whether it was
burned up or merely put into jeopardy I do not now remem-
ber. He did not send me the bill for it.

At that time he knew nothing of a bee-smoker, and neither
of us then thought that in the next third of a century he would
send out into the world three hundred thousand of them.

ADOPTS 18X9 FRAME.

In 1870°I made a change in hives. I cannot now tell the
size of frames I had been using, but I think the frames were
considerably deeper than the regular Langstroth. I say “the
regular Langstroth,” for in reality all movable frames are
Langstroths, but the regular size is 175g x 91%. J. Vandervort,
a man well known among the older beekeepers as a manufac-
turer of foundation mills, had at that time a machine shop in
Marengo, and upon his moving away in 1870 I bought out his
stock of hives. The frames were 18x 9, 3@ of an inch longer
than the standard size, and 1% of an inch shallower.

CHANGE TO REGULAR LANGSTROTH.

So little a difference in measurement could make no appre-
ciable difference in practical results, yet after going on until J
had three or four thousand of such frames, the inconvenience
of having such an odd size got to be so great that I felt I must
change so as to be in line with the rest of the world, and be
able to order hives, frames, ete., such as were on the regular
list, without being obliged to have everything made to order.
The change to the regular size cost a good deal of money, and
a good deal more in labor and trouble, extending over several
years.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 31
PEABODY EXTRACTOR.

In that same year, 1870, I got a honey-extractor. With
much interest I made my first attempt at extracting, the su-
preme moment of interest coming when after having given per-
haps 200 revolutions to the extractor I looked beneath to see
how much honey had run into the pan below. Very vividly,
I remember my keen chagrin and disappointment when I found
that not a drop of honey had fallen. The machine was one of

Fig. 6—Heddon Slat Honey-board.

the first put on the market, a Peabody extractor (Fig. 2), the
entire can revolving, and it had not occurred to me that the
same force that threw the honey out of the comb would keep
it against the outer wall of the can so long as it kept in motion.
When the can stopped revolving, a fair stream of honey ran
down into the pan, and I resumed my normal manner of breath-

ing.
TOO RAPID INCREASE.

I began the season of 1870 with eight colonies, increased
to 19, and extracted about 400 pounds of honey. This warmed

32 FIPTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

up my zeal considerably. In the winter I lost three colonies,
so I commenced the season of 1871 with 16 colonies, took 408
pounds of honey, and, the season being favorable, I increased
without much difficulty until I reached thirty or forty, and I
thought it would be a nice thing to have an even fifty, so I
reached about that number, for so many of them were weak,
that I am not sure exactly how many it would be fair to: call
them. I fed them some quite late, too late for them to seal
over, and they were put into the cellar with little anxiety as to
the 2 result,

‘In et winter they became quite uneasy, and February
11 I took out five colonies, which flew a little, and then I put
them back.. They continued to become more and more uneasy
and to .be affected with diarrhoea, and, February 22, I took
them all out and-found only twenty-three alive. They flew
a little, but it was not warm enough for a good cleansing flight;
and soon after there came a cold storm with snow a foot deep,
and by April I had only three colonies living, two of which I
united, making a total of two left from the forty-five or fifty.

It was some comfort to know that nearly every one had
lost heavily that winter, but what encouragement was there to
continue under such adverse cireumstances? I was on the
road traveling for Root & Cady all the time, with only an occa-
sional visit to my bees, and no certainty of being there upon
any particular date, and evidently with no great knowledge of
the business if I had been home all the time. To be sure, I
may have got enough money so as to feel that there was no
particular money loss, but after eleven years of beekeeping,
and after having bought, first and last, quite a number of colo-
nies, here I was with only two colonies to show for all my
efforts !

I do not remember, however, that any question as to. con-
tinuance occurred to me at that time. Perhaps I didn’t know
enough to be discouraged. Instead of selling off the two colo-
nies and going out of the business, I bought five more colonies
early in April. They were in box hives, and one of them died
before the season warmed up, so I began the season of 1872
with six colonies. These I increased to nineteen, and I think I

DISASTROUS WINTERING.

FIPTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 33

took no honey. With the number of empty combs 1 Led on
hand, there was nothing to exult over in this increase, especial-
ly as the colonies were not in the best condition as to strength.

WINTER IN CINCINNATI,

The thousands who have been charmed by the delightful
music rendered under the guidance of the baton of that prince
of conductors, Theodore Thomas, of the May Musical Festivals

Fig. 7—Two Carrying with Rope.

held in successive years in Cincinnati, will have no difficulty in
understanding that a congenial although somewhat arduous
occupation was afforded me when the managers offered me the
position of “official agent,” charged with doing the thousand
and one things needed to be done to carry out their wishes in
preparing for the first of these festivals. I began this work in
1872, some six months in advance of the time for the Festival,
making my abode in Cincinnati, although I still called Marengo
my home. In the winter I went back home, put the bees in the
cellar December 7, and then locking up cellar and house for the
winter I took my wife and child to Cincinnati, from which
place we did not return till late the following May.

34 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

The bees were left, entirely to their own devices throughout
the winter. In the latter part of March the weather at Cincin-
nati became quite warm, and I wrote to my beekeeping friend,
Mr. Lester, to get him to take the bees out of the cellar. He
took them out under protest, for Cincinnati weather and Maren-
go weather are two different things, and when they were taken
out, March 31, they were probably ushered into a rather cold
world. They were in bad condition when taken out—hbees do
not always winter in cellar in the best possible manner with
their owner several hundred miles away—and when I got home
in May I found only three of the nineteen left alive.

THREE YEARS IN CHICAGO.

Immediately upon the close of the Cincinnati Festival I
began work for the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co.,:at their. Chi-
cago office, where I stayed three years. My wife and. little boy
stayed on the farm at Marengo during the summer:and. spent
the winters with me in Chicago. Notwithstanding the tact hat
I could have only a few days with the bees each summer, L sti
clung to them. At least I could lie awake nights dr eaming | “and
planning as to what might be done with bees and I could do
that just as well in Chicago as Marengo.

One thing that resulted from. that three years’ sojourn in
Chicago was an appreciation of country life that I had never
had before. The office, 80 and 82 Adams Street, was in the
heart of the burnt district left bare by the great fire of 1871,
and to one with a love for everything green that grows it was
desolate indeed. A few weeds that grew in a vacant lot hard by
were a source of pleasure to me; and my chief delight was to
stand and admire a bunch of white clover that grew near Clark
Street. I think all my years of country life since have been the
brighter for the dismal months spent in that burnt district of
the great city.

The three colonies that were left in the spring of 1873 were
increased to eight in fair condition, and I took perhaps 60
pounds of honey. These eight were put into the cellar Nov. 10,
and December 10 Mrs. Miller gave the cellar a good airing by
opening the inside cellar door so as to communicate with the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 35

upstairs rooms, and then she closed up the house to go into
the city to spend the winter with me.

March 30, 1874, I went and took them out of winter
quarters and was delighted to find them in superb condition,
the whole eight alive and hardly a teacupful of dead bees in
all. These eight I increased to 22, taking 390 pounds of honey.
Of course they were increased artificially.

I attributed the previous winter’s success partly to their
having been taken in earlier than ever before, so I decided to
take them in still earlier, and went out for that purpose October
29. But the bees decided they would not be taken in, and when-
ever I attempted to take them in they boiled owt. So, just as I
had done a good many times before, I had to give up and let
them have their own way, leaving Mrs. Miller to get them in
when the weather was cool enough for them.

November 19 they had a good flight, and November 20
they were taken in by Mr. Phillips, a farmer with the average
knowledge—or perhaps the average ignorance—of bees, aided
by “Jeff,” Mrs. Miller’s factotum, one of the liveliest specimens
of the African race that ever jumped, with considerably more
than the average fear of bees. December 12 my wife gave the
cellar a good airing, and then it was closed up for the winter.

The winter of 1874-5 was one of remarkable severity, and
I felt some anxiety about the bees. The last of February my
wife went out and warmed up the house and cellar, finding the
bees somewhat uneasy, but after being warmed up and aired
they became quiet. Then the house was again closed up, and
they were left till April 6, when the men took them out.

ITALIANS FROM ADAM GRIMM.

Three of the twenty-two had died, leaving nineteen to be-
gin the season of 1875. May 10 two colonies were received
from Adam Grimm, for which I paid thirteen dollars per col-
ony for the purpose of getting Italians to improve my stock,
for notwithstanding the several Italian queens I had got, some
of my bees were almost black. May 27 I made my first visit,
and I did not find the colonies very strong. Two colonies had
died of queenlessness, so that with the two Grimm colonies I
had still only nineteen.

36 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

June 25 I visited Marengo again, and was surprised to find
very little gain in the strength of the colonies. The season had

been extremely unpropitious. July 7 I made another visit, of

three days, and found seareely any honey in the hives. I made
a, few new colonies, and by giving empty combs and plenty of
room I left them feeling that there was little fear of any
swarming for that season. m

TROUBLE WITH SWARMING.

But a sudden change must have come over the bees and the,

season, and the bees must have built up with great rapidity, for
letters kept coming to me saying that the bees had swarmed,
and Mrs. Miller was kept busy superintending the hiving,
“Jeff” doing the work. It was a mixed-up business for them,
for I had left the queens clipped, and swarms would issue
only to return again, and then in a few days there would be
after-swarms, and they didn’t know which swarms were likely
to have young queens, and which clipped queens. Some swarms
probably got away, but in the round-up when I went out again,
August 10, I found the whole number of colonies had reached
40, there having been an increase of 12 by natural swarming in
addition to the nine colonies I had formed artificially.

BACK TO COUNTRY LIFE.
(

Clearly, keeping bees at long range was a very unsatisfac-

tory business. City life was also unsatisfactory; a traveling ~~

life was worse. So in spite of the reduced chance of making
money, I decided for a life in the country, turned my back
upon an offer of $2500 and expenses, and engaged to teach
school at $1200 and bear my own expenses; all because I
wanted to be in the country and have a chance to be with the
bees all the time. I have never regretted the choice. If I had
kept on at other business, I would have, no doubt, made more
money, but I would not have had so good a time, and I doubt
if I would be alive now. It’s something to be alive, and it’s a
good deal more to have a happy life.

I did not, however, get away from the city till August 12,
1876, but that was early enough to see that all colonies were

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 37
1
well prepared for winter, and to be sure of being with them
through the winter.
Six of the 40 colonies were lost in the preceding winter,
and the remaining 34 had given 1600 pounds of honey, mostly
extracted, and had been increased to 99.

Fig. 8—Carrying with Rope.

IMPROVED WINTERING.

The advantage of being home through the winter was ap-
parent, for in the next four years the average loss was only 2
per cent, while for the preceding four winters it had been
nine times.as great. A new factor, however, had come in, to
which part of the change was to be attributed. There was

chance enough to ventilate the cellar, for two chimneys ran

38 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

from the ground up through the house, a stovepipe hole open-
ing from the cellar into each. But the only way to warm the
cellar was by keeping fire in the rooms overhead, and by open-
ing the inside céllar-door. One day when I came home from
school—I think it was in December, 1870—I found my wife
had decided to hurry up the manner of warming the cellar,
and had a small stove set up, and throughout the winter there
was a fire there a good part of the time.

FIRST SECTION HONEY.

In 1877 I gave up extracted honey, the introduction of
sections having made such a revolution that it seemed better to
go back to comb honey. The sections of that day were crude
compared with the finished affairs of the present day. One-
piece sections were then unknown, four-piece sections being the
only ones, and there was not a remarkably accurate adjustment
of the dovetailed parts, so that no little force was required to
put the sections together. When a tenon and mortise did not
correspond, pounding with a mallet would make the tenon
smash its way through.

In order to fasten the foundation in the section, the top
piece of the section had a saw-kerf going half way through the
wood on the under side. The,top was partly split apart, the
edge of the foundation inserted, then the wood was straightened
back to place. I was not well satisfied with my success in fast-
ening in the foundation, and in 1878 wrote to A. I. Root for a
better plan, describing minutely the plan I had been using, giv-
ing a pencil sketch of the board I used on my lap, with the dif-
ferent parts upon it. In June Gleanings in Bee Culture my let-
ter appeared in full, pencil sketch and all, and he sent me a
round sum in payment for the letter, but no word of instruction
as to any better way! I hardly knew whether to be glad or mad.

WIDE FRAMES.

The sections were put in wide frames, double-tier, making
a frame hold eight sections (Fig. 3). I had an arrangement by
which the sections, after having been lightly started together,
were all punched into the frame at one stroke, driving them

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 89

together at the same time, and another arrangement punched
them out after they were filled with honey. The super in which
they were put was the same in size as the ten-frame brood-
chamber—in fact, there was no difference whatever in the two
except that the bottom-board was nailed on to the brood-cham-
ber and an entrance cut into it. The super held seven frames,
and that made 56 sections in a super. Lifting these supers
when they were filled was no child’s play, especially when load-
ing them on the wagon at an out-apiary, and unloading them
at home, as I had to do in later years.

BROOD-COMBS AS BAIT. eS

In order to start the bees promptly to work in the-sections,
a frame of brood was raised from below, and the sections fac-
ing this brood were occupied by the bees at once if honey was
coming in. Care had to be taken not to leave the brood too
long, for if the bees commenced to seal the sections while it
was there they would be capped very dark, the bees carrying
some of the old black comb over to the sections to be used in
the capping.

BEEKEEPING SOLE BUSINESS.

In 1878, at the close of the school year in June, I decided
to give up teaching for a time, and since that time I have had
no other businéss than to work with bees, unless it be to write
about them.

In 1880 I began out-apiaries in a tentative sort of way, a
few bees in two out-apiaries. In March of that year my wife
died. When the bees were got into the cellar for winter I
closed up the house, took my boy with me, and went to Johns-
town, Pa., to spend the winter with my sister, Mrs. Emma R.
Jones. When I returned near the close of the following April,
deep snow-banks still surrounded the house, and matters were

‘in anything but a happy condition in the cellar.

DISCOURAGEMENT.

When the bees were ready to begin upon the harvest of
1881, there were 67 colonies left out of the 162 that had been

40 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

put in the cellar the previous fall. A loss of 59 per cent was
additional proof that it is better for the bees and their owner
to spend the winter in the same State.

ENCOURAGEMENT.

Beginning 1881 with 67 colonies, I took 7884 pounds of
comb honey, and inereased to 177 colonies. An average of

Fig. 9—Philo Carrying a Hive.

11774, pounds of comb honey per colony, and an inerease of
164 per cent, which would be nothing so remarkable in some’
localities, but I consider it so in a place where there is no bass-
wood, buckwheat, nor anything else to depend upon for a crop
exeept white clover. Certainly it is not the usual thing here,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 41

but remember there were only 67 colonies, and if I were again
reduced to 67 colonies I think I might do a shade better now.

AVERAGE YIELD DEPENDS MUCH UPON NUMBERS.

In general, I suspect that the number of colonies in a place
is not sufficiently taken into account. JI remember at one time A.
I. Root’s commenting upon the case of a beginner with a very

Fig. 10—Colonies Intended for Out-apiaries.

few colonies making a fine record, and he thought it was be-
cause of the great enthusiasm of the beekeeper as a beginner.
T think instead of unusual enthusiasm it was unusual opportu-
nities for the bees. I can easily imagine a place where five
colonies might store continuously for five months, and where a
hundred colonies on the same ground might not store three
weeks. There might be flowers yielding continuously through-
out the entire season, but so small in quantity that, although
they might keep a very few colonies storing right along, they
would not yield enough for the daily consumption of more than
ten to fifty colonies. Remember that the surplus is the smaller

42 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

part of the honey gathered by the bees. Adrian Getaz com-
putes that at least 200 pounds of honey is needed for home
consumption by an average colony. So far as enthusiasm and
interest are concerned, I do not believe my stock of those com-
modities is any less than it was fifty years ago. A born bee-
keeper never loses his enthusiasm.

TOTAL CROP RATHER THAN PER COLONY.

Some one may possibly ask, “If you can do so much better
with 67 colonies, why not restrict yourself to that number?”
But I can’t do any better; at least not in any average season.
For it is not the yield per colony I care for, unless it should
be to boast over it; what I care for is the total amount of net
money I can get Pron my bees. In the year 1897 my average
per colony was 7134 pounds, only about three-fifths as much as
in 1881; but as I had in 1897, 239 colonies, my total crop was
17,150 pounds, or more than twice as much as in 1881. _

A BAD YEAR.

In the year 1887 my crop of honey was a little more than
half a pound per colony, and in the fall I fed 2802 pounds of
granulated sugar to keep the bees from starving. in winter.
But I could not tell then, neither can I now tell whether it was
because the season was so bad or because the field was over-
stocked, for I had 363 colonies in four apiaries. Possibly if I
had had only half as many bees, the balance might have been
on the other side ef the ledger. But I don’t know.

Somewhere there surely is a limit beyond which one cannot
profitably inerease the number of colonies in an apiary, but
just where that limit is can perhaps never be learned. If I
were obliged to make a guess, I should say about 100 colonies in
one apiary is the limit in my locality.

If I were to live my life over again, and knew in advance
that I should be a beekeeper, I never would locate in a place
with only one source of surplus. When white clover fails here
the bottom drops out. Unfortunately the years in which the
bottom drops out have been unpleasantly frequent.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 43

In the fall of 1881 I married Miss Sidney Jane Wilson,
who was born on the Wilson farm where one of my out-apiaries
was for years located. There was some economy in the ar-
rangement, for she could go to the out-apiary for a day’s work,
and visit her old home at the same time.

A GOOD YEAR.

Of the 177 colonies with which the year 1881 closed, two
died in wintering, and I sold one in the spring. That left 174

Fig. 11—Hive-staples.

for the season of 1882, and these gave me 16,549 pounds of
honey, nearly all in sections. That was 95 pounds per colony,
and the increase was only 16 per cent—quite a falling off from
the amount per colony of the previous year. But the addi-
tional nine thousand pounds in the total crop reconciled me
to the “per colony” part of the business. It would be inter-
esting to learn how much the difference in the yield per colony
was due to the season, and how much to the inereased num-
ber, but that is one of the things past finding out.

44 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

HEDDON SUPER.

In the year 1883 I tried the Heddon super (Fig.4) to the
number of two hundred. The Heddon super is much in form
like a T super, but it is divided lengthwise into four compart-
ments. This prevents, of course, the possibility of having sep-
arators running the length of the super, so no separators are
used. James Heddon and others had reported success in ob-
taining sections that were straight enough for satisfactory
packing in a shipping case, but with me too many sections were
bulged, their neighbors being correspondingly hollowed out. I
did not continue the use of this super very long. ~
T SUPER.

Rs

In the latter part of the same year I attended the North
American convention at Toronto, Canada, and while there D.
A. Jones showed ‘me the T super (Fig. 5). I was much im-
pressed with.it. The next year I put a number of T supers in
use, and the more I tried them the better I liked them. I have
tried a number of other kinds since, but nothing that has made
me desire to make a change.

THICK TOP-BARS.

When attending that same convention, that very practical
Canadian‘ beekeeper, J B. Hall, showed me his thick top-bars,
and told me that they prevented the building of so much burr-
comb between the top-bars and the sections. Although I made
no immediate practical use of this knowledge, it had no little
to do with my using thick top-bars afterward. I was at that
time using the Heddon slat honey-board (Fig. 6), and the use
of it with the frames I had then was a boon. It’ kept the bot-
toms of the sections clean, but when it was necessary to open
the brood-chamber ‘there was found a solid mass of honey
between the honey-board and the top-bars. It was something
of a nuisance, too, to have this extra part in the way, and I am
very glad that at the present day it can be dispensed with by
having top-bars 11% inches wide and % inch thick, with a space
of 14 inch between top-bar and section. Not that there is an

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 45

entire absence of burr-combs, but near enough to it so that one
can get along much more comfortably than with the slat honey-
board. At any rate there is no longer the killing of bees that
there was every day the dauby honey-board was replaced.
But it would take up space unnecessarily to follow farther
the course of the years, especially as these later years are
familiar to more of my readers than are the former years, so I
will proceed to fulfill my chief purpose in telling about my

Fig. 12—Bottom-rack.

work throughout the course of the year, reserving, however,
the right to refer to the past whenever I like.

SEASONS HAVE CHANGED.

Tt is only fair to remark, however, that in later years the
crops have not always been so good as formerly. At least that
is true as to the early crop. The fall crop, however, seems to
be on the increase. Just why, I don’t know, unless it be that
there are two important pickle-factories at Marengo, and the
bees have the range of some two hundred acres of cucumbers,

46 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Sweet clover may have a little to do with it, and also hearts-
ease. If the yield of fall honey keeps on the inerease, it will
hardly do to say, there is @¢nly one source of honey—white clo-
ver. The season of 1902 emphasized the change in seasons.
During the proper time.for white clover, the bees would have
starved if it had not been that they were fed about a thousand
pounds of sugar. Clover grew well, but blossoms were scarce.
The bloom, however, kept increasing, and during the latter part
of August and the first part.of September a number of colo-
nies stored fifty pounds and more each. How much of the
honey was from clover I cannot tell. As late as the last half of
October I saw bees busy on both red and white clover.

TAKING BEES OUT OF CELLAR.

The difficulty of wintering bees, at the North, is not en-
tirely without its compensations. I am almost willing to meet
some losses, for the sake of the sharp interest with which J look
forward to the time of taking the bees out of the cellar in the
spring. I live on a place of 37 acres, about a mile from the
railroad station, and on my way down town a number of soft-
maple trees are growing. How eagerly I watch for the first
bursting of the buds! and when the red of the blossom actually
begins to push forth, with what a thrill of pleasure I say, “The
bees can get out.on the first good day!”

In former years I did sometimes bring out the bees earlier,
because they seemed so uneasy, but I doubt, if I gained any-
thing by it. I have known years when a cold, freezing time
came on at the time of maple bloom and I did not take out the
bees for a good many days, but generally I go by the blooming
of the soft maples. So I watch the thermometer and the clouds,
and usually in a day or two there comes a morning with the
sun shining, and the mercury at 45 or 50 degrees, with the pros-
pect of going a good deal higher through the day.

TAKING OUT WITH A RUSH.

This is one of the times when I want outside help, for
carrying two or three hundred colonies of bees out of the cel-
lar is not very light work if it be done with a rush; and I want

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 47

them all out as soon as possible so as to have a good flight
before night. If any should be brought out too late to fly, it
may turn cold before the next morning, when a lot of bees
might fly out to meet their death. To be sure, I could get
along without outside help by having one of the women-folks
help me, for my hives have cleats on each end, the cleats be-
ing clear across the hive, so that a rope can be slipped over
them, and one can take hold of the rope at each side, making
the work not so very hard. Indeed, the two women have some-
times rendered, efficient service by taking a hive between them,
as shown in Fig. 7. An endless rope is used, making it the work
of a very few seconds to throw the rope over each end of the
hive. The same rope may be used to make the work lighter for
a single person (Fig. 8). But the work is not so quickly ad-
justed as when two persons use it.

On the whole, it is better to have a strong man who can
pick up each hive without any ceremony, carry it directly to its
place, and set it on its stand. In this work the end-cleats of the
hive serve an important purpose, for the carrier can let the full
weight of the hive come on his forearms by having an arm
under each cleat, each hand lightly clasping the hive on the
opposite side (Fig. 9).

CELLAR AIRED BEFORE CARRYING.

When it is warm enough to carry out bees, it will be
understood that the cellar is likely to become a good deal
warmer than 45 degrees, the temperature near which it is desir-
able to keep the cellar throughout the winter. So if carrying
out is undertaken without any previous preparation, when the
cellar-door is opened the bees will pour out of the hives and
out of the cellar-door, sailing about in confusion, causing
some loss and making the work of carrying out exceedingly un-
pleasant. This must be avoided; so the previous evening, as
soon as it becomes dusk, cellar door and window are thrown
wide open.

Having the cellar open the previous night makes it much
pleasanter to carry out the bees, which do not generally come
out of their hives till some time after being set on their stands.
If at any time a colony seems inclined to come out of the hive,

48 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

a little smoke is given at the entrance. At other times it would
be bad to have smoke in the cellar, but as the bees are immedi-
ately to have a chance to fly, it does no harm to have the cellar
filled with smoke. The hive entrances are left open; and as
the hives have been taken into the cellar with covers and bot-
tom-boards just as on the summer stands, the work can be done
rapidly.

Before each hive leaves the cellar, J make sure there are
live bees in it, by placing ny ear at the entrance. If I hear

mi

Fig. 13—Entrance-blocks.

nothing I blow into the entrance. That generally brings an
immediate response, but sometimes I will blow several times
before getting a sleepy reply from a strong colony. That pleases
me. If any are dead they are piled to one side in the cellar.

PLACING OF COLONIES.

Colonies intended for the home apiary are set upon their
stands. Those for the out-apiaries are set upon the ground not
far from the cellar, being placed in pairs, two hives almost
touching, then a space of a foot or more between that pair and

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 49

the next pair, so as to occupy as little-room as possible (Fig.
10). Sometimes some attempt is made to have colonies oceupy
the same stands they occupied the previous year, but oftener
no attention is paid to this. Close attention, however, is paid
to selecting the colonies that are to be in the home apiary.

BEST BEES FOR HOME APIARY.

The hives with queens having the best records were all
marked the previous fall by having a stick tacked on the front.
These are all put in the home apiary—not that queens will be
reared from all of them. The one or two very best colonies
may furnish all the young queens, the rest will furnish choice
drones. By doing this from year to year I ought to have better
stock than if I allowed the poorest drones to remain in the
home apiary.

TAKING BEES ALL OUT AT ONCE.

Some object to taking all the bees out at the same time, for
fear of so much excitement that bees will swarm out and return
to the wrong hives. I have never had much trouble in that way.
Neither have I had any evil results from putting colonies on
stands different from the ones they occupied the previous fall.

I am not sure that-I can tell for certain just why there
should be this difference in different apiaries, but I think I can
see some reason for it. As already mentioned, the cellar is left
wide open all night the night before the bees are carried
out, and it is possible that just in that little thing lies the secret
of the difference. When the weather begins to warm up in the
spring before it is time to carry out the bees, it often happens
that there comes a warm day when the outside temperature runs
up to 50 degrees or more, and possibly this may continue more
than a day. Such times are hard on the ventilation of the cellar.

TEMPERATURE AND VENTILATION.

Please remember that the ventilation of the cellar depends
on the difference of the weight of the air in the cellar and the
weight of the outside air. Also remember that the difference in
weight depends on the difference in temperature. Warm air is

50 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES %

lighter than cold air. -So when the air outside the cellar is
colder and heavier than that inside, it forces itself in and crowds
up the warm air, precisely in the same way—although not with
the same degree of foree—that water would pour into the cellar
if a body of water surrounded the cellar. If the water were
lighter than the air, no water would flow into the cellar. So
long as the outside air is colder than the inside, ventilation
continues.

Suppose, now, that the air in the cellar stands at 45 or 50
degrees, and that the outside air becomes warmed up to the
same temperature. There will be an equilibrium in weight, and
there will be no ventilation. The air in the cellar is all the time
becoming vitiated by the breathing of the bees, and, no matter
what the ventilation of the hives, it can do little good so long
as there is no pure air in the cellar. The bees become frantic
in their desire for fresh air, and if carried out while in this
condition they will rush out of the hive, the excitement becom-
ing so great that soon after being put on their stands whole
colonies will swarm. If the cellar has been open all night, they
will find little change of dir on being carried out, and so will
not fly out of the hives for the sake of getting air, but only to
take their cleansing flight.

Of course, there is an understanding with the women-folks
about the time the bees are taken out, lest they spot the clothes
on the line on a wash-day; but the bees have the right of way,
and if there is a clash, the wash-day must be postponed.

SIZE OF ENTRANCE.

While the bees were in the cellar they had an entrance 124%
x 2 inches, and during the cool days of spring, after they are
taken out of the cellar, it is no longer desirable to have so large
an entrance. So, as soon as the bees are on their stands, the
entrance is closed: down to a very small one by means of an
enlrance-block. Before describing this IT must tell you about
the hive and the bottom-board. .

OLEATS FOR HIVES.

The hive is the ordinary 8-frame dovetailed, only I insist
upon having on each end'a plain cleat 137g x1l44x%. There

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 51

are more reasons than one for having this cleat, rather than the
usual hand-holes. It is more convenient to take hold of when
one wants to lift a hive. Latterly the manufacturers use a very
short cleat, which is a great improvement on the hand-hole, but
it does not allow one to carry the hive with the weight resting
on the whole forearm, as shown in Fig. 9. This way of carry-
ing a hive is one gotten up by Philo Woodruff, the hired man
who helped me for several years, evidently to make the work
easier for him. One day he was carrying a hive that had no
cleats, only hand-holes, perhaps the only one of that kind he
had ever carried. He seemed disgusted with it, and as he set
the hive down he grumbled, “I wish the man who made them
hand-boles had to carry them.”

Another advantage of the cleats is the strength-it gives to
the rabbeted ends of the hive. Without the cleat the rabbet
leaves the hive-end at the top only 7/16 of an inch thick for
more than 34 of an inch of its depth, and the splitting off of
this part is unpleasantly frequent. With the added cleat the
thickness is three times as much, and it never splits off.

These cleats, not being regularly made by manufacturers,
can be had only by having them made to order, so hives are
generally made without them, but quite a number of experi-
enced beekeepers are quietly using them because of their dis-
tinct advantage, notwithstanding the inconvenience of having
them made to order.

BOTTOM-BOARD.

The bottom-board is a plain box, two inches deep, open at
one end. It is made of six pieces of % stuff; two pieces 221%
x 2, one piece 121% x 2, and three pieces 13% x 744. When so
desired, the bottom-board is fastened to the hive by means of
four staples 114 in. wide, with points 3% inch long (Fig. 11).

With such a bottom board there is a space two inches deep
under the bottom-bars, a very nice thing in winter, and at any
other time when there is no danger of bees building down, but
quite too deep for harvest time. Formerly I made the bot-
tom-board reversible, reversing it in summer so as to use the
shallow side, but latterly I leave the deep side up, summer and
winter.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

on
ie)

Of course, with a 2-inch space under the bottom-bars the
bees would build down, sometimes even as early as dandelion
bloom. Before that time I shove under the bottom-bars a
bottom-rack. As material for a rack there are two pieces 18 x1
x 34, and 21 pieces 1044 x 94 x 3/16. The little pieces are nailed
upon the %4-inch sides of the two larger pieces, ladder-fashion,
with 14-inch space between each two strips. The strips are
allowed to project over at each side about an inch.

Fig. 14—Wagonload of bees.

I value this bottom-rack highly. It prevents building down,
and at the same time gives the bees nearly the full benefit of the
deep space, preventing overheating in hot weather, thus serv-
ing as no small factor in the prevention of swarming. It also
saves the labor of lifting the hive off the bottom-board to re-
verse the bottom-board and then lifting the hive back again,
spring and fall. Instead of being made in the way described, a
board 101% inches long may be split up irregularly and used
for the eross-pieces. Such a bottom rack is shown at Fig. 12.

ENTRANCE BLOOK.

Now for that entrance-block. Formerly I made it heavy
(Fig. 13), but now it is thin, Y¥g inch or so thick, 12 inches long

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 53

and 3 inches wide. It is lightly nailed upon the hive by one or
two small nails, and at one lower corner a notch 1 inch square
or less is cut out. I think that small entrance helps to prevent
“drifting” when the bees take their first flight.

GIVING STORES.

When the bees are being carried out, if any are noted as
suspiciously light, they are marked, and the next day frames of
koney are given them. If, unfortunately, these are not to be
had, sections of honey are put in the hive in wide frames, or
shoved under.

HAULING BEES.

As soon as the bees have had a good flight, those not in the
home apiary are ready to be hauled away. I like to get them
away as soon as possible, so as to have advantage of the spring
pasturage at the out-apiaries, but sometimes the condition of
the roads causes delay. I first hauled four colonies atva time on
a one-horse wagon, which you may imagine was very slow-werk,
That was ‘years ago, and the- number has been gradually:-in-
creased until.now 40 or-50 colonies are taken at a load: *,.

WAGON FOR HAULING. ete

After several changes; I used for a good whilea common
farm-wagon with heavy springs put under the box. Nine colo-
nies wexe put in the box; then a rack (Fig. 15) (made in two
part’ for convenience in handling) was put on the box, and 22
colonies were set on the rack, making 31 colonies in a load.
After that I used a flat hayrack or a drayman’s platform, tak-
ing 40 or 50 colonies at a load.

PREPARATIONS FOR HAULING.

All the hives have fixed-distance frames, so no preparation
is needed in the way of fastening frames in place before haul-
ing. The only thing to do is to fasten the cover and close the
entrance. The cover is fastened to the hive by two staples (the
same as those used to fasten the bottom-board to the hive), one
staple at the middle on each side. Hives that were brought
from the out-apiaries the previous fall have the covers already
fastened, for they have never been opened since coming home,

54 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

unless they were so light as to need feeding. If things were
always done just right, there never would be any opened be-
cause suspiciously light; but things are not always done just
right.

ENTRANCE-CLOSERS.

The entrance is of course closed with wire cloth, and after
trying a yood many entrance-closers I have settled down upon
the simplest of all. It is a piece of wire cloth just large enough
to close the 121% entrance and project an inch or so up on the

Trig. 15—Rack for Hauling Bees.

front of the hive. To make the edges at the bottom and at the
two ends jnore firm, and to prevent them from raveling, the
wire cloth is cut about 1314 x4, and then about 34 of an inch
folded over at the bottom and at each end. These edges are
folded over the edge of a saw. When finished, the closer is 121
inches long or a trifle less, so it will easily fit in the bottom-
board. The closer is put in place, a piece of lath 1314 inches
long is pushed up against it, and fastened by a nail in the mid-
dle of the lath. Then to make it more secure, a nail at each end

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 5b

is placed perpendicularly against the lath and driven a short
distance into the outer rim of the bottom-board. The three
nails used to fasten the lath are finishing or wire casing nails
2% inches long or longer. Being so long and not driven in
very deep, one can generally pull them out with the fingers,

At Fig. 16, in the middle of the cut, will be seen an en-
trance-closer, above it none the lath to fasten the closer in
place.

Before the hives are put on the wagon I make sure there is
no possible leak in any of them. This is hardly necessary where
everything is in good condition, but some of my covers and
bottom-boards are pretty old, and I must plug up any hole that
would possibly allow a bee to escape.

When the hives are placed on their stands in the ont-
apiary, the entrance-closers are removed, a little smoke being
used if the bees appear belligerent. Then the entrances are
Closed with the entrance-blocks.

I speak of taking bees to out-apiaries as if I were still
keeping up out-apiaries. As a matter of fact, I have had no
bees away from the home apiary since 1909. That year I kept
bees in the Wilson apiary for the last time, having given up the
Hastings apiary some years before, and the Belden apiary still
earlier. But it is more convenient, sometimes, to speak of past
things as if present, so the reader will please pardon any dis-
erepancy that may appear in this book at any time on that
acccunt.

NUMBERING HIVES.

Numbers for hives are made in this way: Pieces of tin
4x 2% inches have a small hole punched in each one, near the
edge, about midway of one of the longer sides. With 14-inch
wire nails, nail them on the top of a wooden hive cover or other
plane surface. Then give them a couple of coats of white paint,
and, when dry, put the numbers on them, from 1 upward, with
black paint. There is room to make figures large enough to be
seen distinctly at quite a distance. These tin tags are fastened
on the fronts of the hives with 34 or inch wire nails driven in
not very deep, aking it easy to change them at any time from
one hive to another.

56 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

1 bave also used manilla tags with figures printed on
them, but the figures are not seen at so great a distance as on
the white tin tags. The tin tags cost more in the first place,
but are cheaper in the long run, for they last twenty years or
more, while the manilla scarcely last a fifth of that time in
satisfactory shape.

ORDER OF NUMBERS:

When the hives are put on the stands in the spring, the
numbers are all mixed up. The first thing to be done is to enter
upon the record book these numbers. ‘The first hive in the
first row should be No. 1, the next No. 2, and so on; but in
the place of No. 1 stands perhaps 231; on the place of No. 2
stands 174, ete. So, on the new weeord book I write No. 1
(231) on the first page at the top; one-third the way down the
page I write No. 2 (174), and so on.

Just as soon as convenient the tags are taken off the hives
where they are wrong, and the right ones put on. If on No. J
the tag says 231, then that tag is taken off and the tag that
says 1 is put on.

THE RECORD BOOK.

I can tell more or less of the history of every colony of
bees since I began keeping bees in 1861. At first I kept the
record of each colony from year to year in the same book, but
for a good many years I have had a new book each year. The
book I like is 12 x 51% inches, containing about 160 pages (Fig.
17). Three colonies are kept on each page, so the book is a
good deal larger than I need, for I have never had quite 400
colonies. But a good many pages are used for memoranda and
other things, and it is better to have too much room than too
little. While the size of the book is not so very important, the
binding is. If the book were bound the same as the book in
which you are now reading, it would come to pieces if it should
be left out long enough in a soaking rain. Of course a book
should never be left out in a rain, but of course it sometimes
is. So I want a book that will suffer no greater harm than to
have the cover come off if it should be rain-soaked. It must be

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 57

stitched together through the middle, so that the one set
of stitches does the whole business, the first leaf.being continu-
ous with the last leaf, the second continuous with the next to
the last, and so on.

HISTORY OF QUEENS.

While the record book is very important to keep track of
the work from day to day, it is perhaps more important for the
purpose of tracing the history of queens from year to year. On
each page is left a margin of about 34 of an inch. In that
margin is put the last two figures of the year in which the
queen is born, 99 if she was born in 1899, ’01 if in 1901, and
so on. In that margin is also found anything important to
have recorded about the queen. “Very cross” may be in the
margin if the workers distinguish themselves in that direction;
“seals white” if the capping of sections was uncommonly
white; “dark” if the workers were unusually dark, ete. Es-
pecially am I interested in the memoranda in the margin relat-
ing to swarming and storing. You will find sw if the colony of
ihat queen swarmed last year; no c if no queen-cells were found
in the hive during the whole of last season; 2k if I twice killed
queen-cells that were started. No doubt the printer will feel
like putting some periods after these contractions. Please don’t
do it, Mr. Printer, for I never take time to use such embellish-
ments when making entries. The number of sections stored by
the progeny of the queen the preceding year has a place in this
margin; 24 sec if 24 sections were stored; 160 sec if so many
sections were stored. If an unusual number of sections was
reached, that record follows the queen as long as she lives. For
instance, in the year 1902 may be found in one case on the mar-
gin, 44 ser, 60 sec in 1900, 178 in 1899. That means that the
progeny of that queen stored 44 sections in the preceding year,
1901, 60 sections in 1900, and 178 sections in 1899. An un-
usual record, considering the character of the seasons in 1900
and 1901. If, in the year 1902, a 1900 queen is by any means
replaced by a young queen, a line is drawn through the 00 and
02 is written below it.

As soon as I have entered in the record the old numbers

58 PIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

that were on the hives, as previously mentioned, I am ready to
enter the respective ages of the queens. If, for instance, I find
at the beginning, No. 1 (231), I turn to No. 231 in last year’s
record and find the year set down for the age of the queen, and
put it in the new book at No. 1. This I do throughout all the
numbers.

ADVANTAGE OF BOOK FOR RECORD.

I do not need to be in the apiary to do this work; it can be
done in the house just as well. Indeed J spend a good deal of
time in the house with my record book, studying and planning,

Rte
sthat ob

icpateile
Sk kb ca hag

Br eee

Fig. 16—Entrance-closers.

perhaps lying on the lounge. I had two out-apiaries, one three
miles north at Jack Wilson’s, on the old farm where my wife
was born; the other five miles southeast at cousin Hastings’.
Frequently I studied my book most of the way in going to one
of these apiaries, making my plans and jotting down memo-
randa of what was to be done when I got there. That saves
time. Another advantage is that my records are safe from in-
terference, For with slates, stones, ete., in the apiary, there is

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 59

always danger that records may be changed, either through
accident or mischievous design. One disadvantage of the book
is the danger of forgetting it. One may forget it at an out-
apiary, and then have to make a special trip to get it. I’ve done
that.

SPRING OVERHAULING.

After the bees are hauled to the out-apiaries, I am ready
for the spring overhauling as soon as the weather is right for it.
I do not want to open up the hives except at a time when it is
warm enough for bees to fly freely. Too much danger of chill-
ing the brood. Sometimes there may come.one good day fol-
lowed by a week of weather too bad for bees to fly. So I may
commence overhauling in April, and perhaps not till in May;
and if I do begin in April J may not get all done till well on
in May.

HIVE-SEAT,

Having due regard for my own comfort, I want a seat
when I work at a hive. Mr. Doolittle once tried to poke fun at
me in convention, because I accidentally admitted that I sat
down to work at bees. If I were obliged to work all the season
without a seat, I am afraid I would have to give up the busi-
ness from exhaustion. Moreover, if I had the strength of a
Samson I don’t think I should waste it stooping over hives,
so long as I could get a seat. I generally have three or four
seats about the apiary, and they may not all be of the same
kind. A common glass-box is more used than any other. To
make it convenient for carrying, a strap of leather or cloth
may be nailed to two diagonally opposite corners on the bot-
tom. Or the cover may be nailed on the box with a hand-hole
in the middle. The box being of three different dimensions,
one has a choice as to height of seat. It is a little curious to
know what a difference there is in this respect as to the prefer-
ences of different persons. My assistant never uses the highest
seat the box affords, while I never use the lowest.

Fig. 18 shows a hive-seat with a strap-handle, the kind I
prefer; Fig. 19 shows one with hand-hole, which my assistant
prefers.

60 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
A DIGRESSION.”

Perhaps I ought to digress a little, and tell you about my
lielp. Years ago, my wife, her sister Emma, and sometimes my
boy Charlie (I have no other children), all worked with me at
the bees. Those were delightful days. I think Charlie would
have made a very bright beekeeper, but somehow he did not
take kindly to the business, and has spent his later years in
the army and government service. My wife is one of the sort
who is never happy unless she is doing something for some one
else, so for years she has been confined to the house so as to
help make a pleasant home for others, sometimes of my rela-
tives, sometimes of hers. Ever since the year of our Lord
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight there has dwelt with us my
wife’s mother, Mrs. Margaret Wilson, a blessed old Scotch
saint, whose presence in the home I feel to be much like the
presence of the ark in the house of Obed-edom, when “it was
told King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of
Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the
ark of God.” She is a great consumer of honey, and her tem-
per is correspondingly sweet.

ASSISTANT BEEKEEPER.

So for a number of years Miss Emma M. Wilson has given
me the only assistance I have had in the apiary. Hired help
does some such work as carrying out and hauling bees, putting
together hives, etc., unloading honey brought from the out-
apiaries, taking sections out of supers, etc. Sometimes it has
been a convenience that I could call on the hired help in the
employ of my good brother-in-law, Ghordis Stull. Ghordis has
the place pretty well filled with raspberries and strawberries,
and he is ’way up in such matters. Previous to his occupancy
of the place it was chiefly in grass, for I could give no attention
to cultivated crops. The only thing I pretend to oversee of the
farm work is the cultivation of the rose-beds. I could hardly
live without roses, and my wife is an expert in chrysanthe-
mums. With the fruit crop I have nothing whatever to do
except with the finished product, and only so much of that as
we can finish in the house—by no means a small quantity.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 61

Miss Wilson was a school-teacher with health run down,
and in 1882 she stopped a year for the outdoor life of bee-
keeping. She is still stopping. Although never rugged in
health, I think she has never missed a day’s work in the apiary
during all the years since, when there was work to be done.
Small of stature and frail of-build, she yet has a remarkable
capacity for work, perhaps owing to the fact that she is full-
blooded Scotch, and she will go through more colonies in a day
than I can, do my best. I think, however, that the bees prefer
just a little to have me work with them. They have more time
to get out of the way, and not so many of them get killed.

T-SUPER SEAT.

Well, I started in for a digression, but I didn’t mean to
write a history. We were talking about seats. Another kind
of seat is made of an old T super. A piece of lath is nailed to
opposite diagonal corners, and another piece nailed to the other
two corners. That stiffens and strengthens it, so it makes a
good seat for one who doesn’t like a low seat.

HIVE-TOOLS.

Of all the hive-tools I have tried, I like best the Muench
tool (Fig. 20). Its broad, semi-cireular end with sharp edge
can hardly be excelled for the purpose of raising covers and
supers, and when the other end is thrust between two frames,
a quarter turn separates the frames with the least possible ef-
fort. Miss Wilson has a liking for the Root tool. I have not
used it much, but it has the special advantage that it is a fine
scraper. Besides the hive-tool for opening the hive and start-
ing the frames, if the hives are to be cleaned out, another tool
is needed.

After trying a number of different things for hive-clean-
ers, I have been best satisfied with a hatchet, the handle sawed
short, so that it will not be in the way when working in the
bottom of the hive, the edge dull and a perfectly straight line
and the outside part of the blade also ground to a straignt line

-and at right angles with the edge. The right-angled corner is
to clean out the corners of the hive. In cleaning, the hatchet
is moved rapidly back and forth, or rather from side to side,

y FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the blade being held at right angles to the surface being cleaned.
The weight of the hatchet is quite a help, something like a fly-
wheel in machinery.

It would be a nice thing to clean the propolis out of all
hives every spring, because I am in a region for profitable

Fig. 17—Record books.

propolis production if it ever comes to be a staple article of
commeree; but it takes some time to clean the hives, and it is
not done every spring.

PREPARING TO CLEAN HIVES.
Tf the hives are to be cleaned, an empty clean hive is ready

in advanee. The empty hive is placed at right angles to the
hive to be overhauled, the back end of the empty hive near the

PIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 63

front end of the other hive, thus leaving plenty of room for my
seat beside the full hive, and leaving the empty hive within
easy reach.

OPENING HIVE.

A single puff at the entrance if the smoker is going well,
or two or three puffs if it is yet scarcely under headway, noti-
fies the guards that they needn’t bother to come out if they
feel a little jar. The cover is cracked open the least bit at one
corner by the tool, then the other corner is cracked open and
the cover lifted. It could be lifted without using the tool twice,
simply prying up one corner enough, but that would jar the
bees more, and excite them. The desire is to get along with the
smallest amount of jar and smoke possible, for the queen is
to be found, and too much smoke or jarring will set the bees
to running so the queen cannot be found. As soon as the
cover is raised, a little smoke is blown across the tops of the
frames, not down into the hive. While it is bad to use too
much smoke, it is also bad to use too little, for if the bees are
once thoroughly aroused it takes more smoke to subdue them
than it does to keep them under in the first place.

CLEANING HIVES.

When the cover is removed the dummy is taken out. If
the dummy was on the near side, the frames are all crowded to
that side, allowing me to lift out the further frame. Whether
that further frame is now to be put into the empty hive
depends upon circumstances. It is to be put in if the next
frame contains brood; otherwise not. For I want the brood-
nest to begin with the frame next to the further outside frame,
at least that is generally the way. Then I can tell at any time
afterward how many frames of brood are in a hive, merely by
finding where the brood begins on the side next me. One af-
ter another the frames are changed into the empty hive, making
sure that at least those containing brood maintain their origi-
nal relative positions.

When the old hive is empty, then it is set off the stand and
the other takes its place. The order of proceeding may be

‘changed by first setting the full hive off the stand and putting

64 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the empty one in its place. Or the change may be made when
half the frames have changed their places. The last makes
the lifting a little lighter, but takes more time.

The empty hive is now to be cleaned out, the hatchet being
used for all but the rabbet, which is a separate contract. Prop-
olis is used in large quantities in my locality, and the trough
formed by the tin rabbet will, in the course of years, become
completely filled.

rig, 18—Hive-seat with Strap-handle.

In the matter of propolis, there is a difference in bees as
well as in localities. The worst daubers I ever had were the
so-called Punics or Tunisians from the north of Africa. One
colony put so much propolis at an upper entrance that I rolled
up a ball of it somewhere between the size of a hickorynut and
a blackwalnut.

To clean out the rabbet the small end of the hive-tool is
well adapted. Holding it perpendicularly, with the edge of the
tool diagonally in the trough, I play it backward and forward
until the trough is emptied of propolis. Still better is a serew-
driver, rather sharp, ground to just the right width to fit easily
in the trough.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 65

The empty hive is now used to take the place of the next
hive to be overhauled, which in its turn is cleaned and then used
again, and so on.

While the frames are being changed from one hive to the
other, observations and necessary changes are made. If there
is no cleaning of hives, then the work is shortened. The dummy
is taken out, and one frame is also taken out so as to leave
freer working room. This one frame may be put in an empty
hive standing convenient; or it may, be leaned against the hive
being operated on, or against an adjoining hive. If the dummy
was on the near side, then the frames are all pushed toward
me, two or three being started at a time, and when all are
started the tool is pushed down between the further frame and
the side of the hive, and all the frames at one push shoved to-
ward me enough to give plenty of room at the further side. If
the frames are Hoffman (a few hives contain Hoffman frames)
then it is necessary to start each frame separately before it
can be lifted out.

WATCHING FOR QUEEN.

As the frames are being handled, the thing that receives
closer attention than anything else is to see the queen so as to
know whether she is clipped or not. For if a colony should
have an unclipped queen there is a fair chance that it might
swarm and decamp; and it is possible that almost any colony
may have superseded its queen the previous fall, leaving it with
an unclipped queen.

IMPLEMENT FOR CLIPPING.

If the queen is unclipped, of course I clip her. Nearly al-
ways I use a pair of scissors for clipping, although I have
tried a knife. The strongest argument in favor of the knife is
that a knife is always on hand. But it is just as easy to have
a pair of scissors always on hand. They may be tied to the
record book, and the record book is sure to be always on
hand. Most of the time I have had a pair of embroidery scis-
sors tied to my record book with a string long enough to allow
the scissors to be freely used, but I have been surprised to
find that much larger scissors will do very good work. Latterly

3

66 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

I have used a common pair of gentleman’s pocket scissors, and
I am not sure but I like them as well as the embroidery
scissors. It is just as easy to have a pair of these as a knife
constantly in the pocket. To make good work clipping, a knife

Tig. 19—Hive-seat with Hand-holes.

should be very sharp, and I find it is harder to have a sharp
knife constantly on hand than a sharp pair of scissors. Neither
is it so necessary that the scissors be sharp.

FINDING QUEEN.

Before a queen is clipped she must be found. I have seen
some attempt at rules for finding a queen, but after all is said,
you must do more or less hunting for a queen if you would
find her. I generally begin looking on the first frame of brood
I come to—hardly worth while to look on any frame before the
brood is reached—and as I raise the frame out of the hive I

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 67

keep watch of the side next me. Then when the frame is lifted
cut of the hive, before looking at the opposite side, I glance
at the nearest side of the next frame in the hive; for it requires
scarcely any time to do this, and if she happens to be in sight it
will be a saving of time to lift out immediately the frame she
is on. Not seeing her on the frame in the hive, I look over both
sides of the frame in my hand, and continue thus through all
the frames. Although it was not worth, while to look for her
on any comb before the brood-nest was reached, it is worth
while to look for her on the comb or combs remaining after
passing over those that contain brood, for in trying to get away
from the light she will go to the outside combs.

This trying to get away from the light on the part of the
queen, by going from one comb to the other, makes me go. over
the combs as rapidly as possible without looking too closely, for
if I do not see her with a slight looking, the chances are that she
is on another comb, and I count it better to run the chance of
going over the combs again, rather than to go too slowly. For
if one goes over the combs slowly enough, it is a pretty safe
thing to say that the queen will be driven clear to the other side
of the hive.

My assistant, however, who is an expert at finding queens,
holds a different theory, and as a consequence her practice is
different. She thinks it better to go more slowly and make
sure of finding the queen the first time going over. She takes
more time to go over the combs the first time, but she doesn’t
often have to go over the combs a second time; so perhaps
one way is as good as the other. ;

If the queen is not found the second time going over, she
may be found the third time, but it is quite possible that she is
hid in such a way that it may be impossible to find her with
long searching. So it is economy to close the hive, and try again
another day, or at least to wait half an hour.

AIDS TO FINDING QUEEN.

If, for some special reason, it is very important to find the
queen without any postponement, sometimes the combs are put
in pairs. Two of the combs are put in an empty hive, the two
being close together; then another pair is put an inch or more

68 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

distant from the first pair, and the remaining combs in the hive
on the stand are arranged in pairs the same way. Wherever the
queen is, it will not be long before she will be in the middle of
whatever pair of combs she is on. Going on with work at an-
other hive, I return after a little, and look again for the queen.
Lifting out the comb nearest me, I look first on the side of its

Muench Hive-tool.

rig. 20

mate in the hive, and if I do not see the queen there, I quickly
look on the opposite side of the comb in my hand. I am pretty
sure to find her in the middle of one of the pairs.

If the pairs are sufficiently separated from each other (I
don’t mean the two combs of each pair separated, for the two
combs in each pair should be as close together as possible, but
that one pair should be far enough from another pair so that

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 69

the bees should not communicate), the bees will, after standing
long enough, show signs of uneasiness by running over the
combs, all but the one pair that has the queen on, and the quiet-
ness of the bees on that one pair is sufficient warrant for seek-
ing the queen there.

If the bees get to running, it is hardly worth while to con-
tinue the search for the queen until they have quieted down.
Sometimes she will be on the side or the bottom of the hive,
and will be found only by lifting out all-the combs,

BEE-STRAINER.

A strainer may be used for straining the bees through and
leaving the queen. A queen-excluder is fastened to the bottom
of an empty hive-body, and that makes the strainer. The
strainer is set over a hive-body in which there is a frame of
brood but no bees—at least it must be certain that the queen
cannot possible be in the hive-body under the strainer. Then
all the bees are shaken and brushed from the combs into the
strainer. The workers will go down through the excluder, be-
ing hurried by a little smoke if necessary, while the queen will]
be left in the strainer.

On the whole the queen is generally found so easily by the
ordinary looking over the combs that it is seldom that any other
plan is resorted to.

It happens once in a great while that the queen is on the
cover when it is lifted off the hive, so it is well to glance over
the under surface of the cover as it is removed from the hive.
Once in a great while I have known the queen after no little
searching to be on the shoulder or some other part of the oper-
ator. How she managed to get there I don’t know.

CATCHING THE QUEEN.

When the queen is found, she must be caught before she is
clipped. I want to catch her by the thorax or just back of the
thorax, and if she is in motion, by the time I reach for the
thorax it will have passed along out of reach. So I make a
reach more as if attempting to catch her by the head, and the
movement she makes is likely to bring my thumb and finger
down on each side of her thorax, and in that position she is

70 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

held firmly on the comb (Fig. 21). There is no danger of
hurting the queen by giving a pretty hard squeeze on the
thorax, and indeed there is not so very much danger if the
hold is further back and the abdomen gets a little squeeze.

Then the thumb and finger are slid up off the thorax, at
the same time pressed together, and this gives me a grip on the
wings, when she is lifted from the comb, fairly caught (Fig.
22).

All this is done with the right hand, generally, although
oceasionally she is caught with the left hand. At any rate, she

Fig. 21—Catching the Queen.

is now shifted to the left hand, and held between the thumb
and finger, back up, head and thorax between thumb and
finger, head pointing to the left, ready to clip (Fig. 23).

CLIPPING THE QUEEN.

Then one blade of the scissors is slipped under the two
wings of one side, and they are cut off as short as they can
conveniently be clipped (Fig. 24).

The queen will be just as helpless about flying if only the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES va

larger wing on one side is clipped, and clipping the one wing
will not mar her looks so much, but when a queen is scurrying
across a comb, or when you get just a glimpse of her in the
hive, it is much easier to tell at a glance that she is clipped if
both wings on one side are cut off.

ADVANTAGE OF CLIPPING.

Although nowadays the practice of clipping has become
quite general, there are a few who doubt its advisability. I
would not like to dispense with clipping if I had only one
apiary and were on hand all the time, and with out-apiaries
and no one to watch them it seems a necessity. If a colony
swarms with a clipped queen, it cannot go off. True, the
queen may possibly be lost, but it is better to lose the queen
than to lose both bees and queen.

If there were no other reason for it, I should want my
queens clipped for the sake of keeping a proper record of them.
A colony, for example, distinguishes itself by storing more
than any other colony. I want to breed next spring from the
queen of that colony. But she may be superseded in the fall
after that big harvest, and if she is not clipped there is no
way for me to tell in the following season whether she has
been superseded or not. Indeed I can hardly sce how it is pos-
sible to keep proper track of a queen without having her
clipped.

Sometimes when a queen is being found, she will quickly
run under and out of the way, giving one a mere glimpse of
her, so that it is not easy to say whether it was a queen or a
worker that was seen, in which case the missing wings aid in
recognizing her. To this, however, it may be replied that there
is less need to find queens where they are not kept clipped.

BEE-SMOKERS.

You who have used smokers ever since you began working
with bees hardly know how to appreciate them. At least it is
doubtful if you appreciate them as much as you would if you
had done as I did when I first began beekeeping, going around
with a pan of coals and a burning brand on it, or else a lighted

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

a
bo

piece of rotten wood (indeed this last was quite an improve-
ment over the first), the only bellows I had being a sound
pair of lungs. Any one of the various makes of smokers I have
tried will do quite satisfactory work. I have used up more
Clark smokers than any others. Although low in price, the
Clark is really more expensive than any other. It works beau-

Fig. 22—Caught!

tifully while new, but the “new” wears off entirely too soon.
The bellows become ineapacitated by reason of the smoke
sucked into it, and then there is no good way to elean it out.

CONTINUOUS AND CUT-OFF BLAST.

The Bingham, Corneil, Crane, and others, are all good.
The cut-off blast lengthens the life of a smoker, but shortens its
blast, The continuous blast, as in the Clark, allows one to send

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 73

the smoke with more force, but, as already mentioned, shortens
the life of the smoker, because the bellows becomes foul with
smoke. The Crane has the advantage of the ‘full strength of the
blast without the weakening of the cut-off, and works to per-
fection for a long time. Still, in the course of time, the metal
valve becomes dirty, and it must be cleaned. Fortunately the
part containing the valve can be taken off, allowing all to be
made just as clean as when new. It takes quite a bit of time to
do this, but it is time well spent, and one cleaning a year, even
with heavy use, is sufficient. Those who do not care for so
strong a blast will prefer a Bingham, Corneil, or other smoker
with a cut-off never needing to be cleaned, while those who like
the strong blast will be willing to spend the time occasionally
cleaning the Crane. The latest Root smokers are the favorite
of all.

CLEATS ON SMOKERS.

Using a smoker all day long is a hard thing on the muscles
that work the bellows, and the stiffer the spring of the bellows
the more tiresome the work. But unless the spring be quite stiff,
the smoker will drop out of the hand when the grasp is relaxed
so as to allow the bellows to open. I think it was W. L. Cogg-
shall who suggested little cleats on the smoker, and these cleats
lave given great satisfaction. They are merely strips of wood
one-fourth inch by one-eighth, extending across the upper
end of each bellows-board and about half way down the sides
(Fig. 80). The sharp edges of the cleats cling to the fingers,
allowing the spring to be—I don’t know just how much weaker,
but I should. guess only half as strong as without cleats. Most
of the latest smokers are now made so that no cleats are needed.

SMOKER-FUEL.

It is a matter of much importance to have plenty of the
right fuel and lighting material. Time is precious during the
busy season, and it is trying on the temper to have to spend
much time getting a smoker started, or relighting it when it
has gone out. There are a great many different things that
can be used for fuel, and it is largely a matter of convenience
as to what is best. for each one. Pine needles, rotten wood,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

~

sound wood, excelsior rammed down hard, planer shavings,
greasy cotton-waste thrown away along the railroad, peat, rags,
corn-cobs, old bags—in fact almost anything that will bum
may be used in a smoker. Whatever is used, however, there
should be a good stock of it on hand thoroughly dry, with no
chance for the rain to reach it.

Trig. 283—Ready for Clipping.

GREEN FUEL.

And yet there are times when something green is better.
When a continuous and strong smoke is wanted, after a hot
fire has been started in the smoker, it is a good thing to fill the
smoker with green sticks from a growing tree. The hot fire
and the continuous blowing make it burn freely, and the
smoke from green wood is sharper than that from dry.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 75

But it is only on special occasions that it is desirable to
have green wood, and it should at all other times be not only
dry but very dry. Nothing is better as a standard fuel than
sound hard wood sawed into proper lengths and split up into
pieces about a quarter of an inch thick. The only objection is
that such wood is rather expensive, for it takes a great deal of
time to prepare it. Much the same thing without the cost of
preparation may be had at any woodpile where hard wood has
been chopped—I mean the chips to be found there—and that
has been the favorite smoker-fuel “in this locality” for some
time. When the weather is dry, the chips may be picked up in
the chip-yard and filled directly into the smoker, but a stock is
always kept on hand well covered up, ready to use immediately
after the heaviest shower of rain.

SMOKER-KINDLING.

When live coals are at hand in the cook-stove, nothing is
handier than to put a few of them in the smoker to start the
fire. These are not always at hand. I have used for kindling
carpenter’s shavings, kerosene, rotten wood of some hard wood,
especially apple, that kind of rotten wood that is somewhat
spongy and will be sure to burn if the least spark touches it—
all these have given more or less satisfaction, but nothing quite
so much as saltpeter-rags. Like the right kind of rotten wood,
the least spark will light a saltpeter-rag so that it will be sure
te go, but it is not so slow in its action as the rotten wood, and
makes a much greater heat, so that chips of sound hard wood
will be at once started into a secure fire.

SALTPETER-RAGS.

To prepare the saltpeter-rags a crock is’ kept constantly
standing, containing a solution of saltpeter. The strength of
the solution is not a matter of great nicety. A quarter or half
a pound of saltpeter may be used to a gallon of water, and if it
evaporates so that the solution becomes stronger, water may be
added. A cotton rag dipped in this solution will be ready for
use as soon as dried. As a matter of convenience, quite a lot

76 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

of rags are prepared at a time. They are wrung out of the
solution and spread out to dry in the sun, and when thoroughly
dry are put in the tool-basket, which always contains a supply.
When taken out of the crock, the rags may be wrung quite dry,
thus containing not so much saltpeter, or they may be wrung
out just enough so the liquid will not run off on the ground and
waste, in which condition they will be strongly dosed with salt-
peter.

A plentiful supply of dry smoker-fuel, with a correspond-
ing stock of saltpeter-rags, is a great saving of the “disposi-
tion.”

POUNDING BEES OFF COMB.

Mention was made of getting bees off combs. Sometimes
shaking is used altogether, sometimes brushing, and soinetimes
both. The weight of the comb has something to do with the
manner of shaking. The most of the shaking—in facet all of
the shaking, unless the combs be very heavy or the bees be
shaken on the ground—is done as shown in Fig. 26. Perhaps it
might better be called pounding bees off the comb. The comb
is held by the corner with one hand, while the other hand
pounds sharply on the hand that holds the comb. By this
manner of pounding I ean get almost every bee off a comb with
a few strokes, unless the comb be too heavy.

DOOLITTLE PLAN OF SHAKING.

With a very heavy comb, G. M. Doolittle’s plan is better,
and is the one used. Let the ends of the top-bar be supported
by the first two fingers of each hand, the thumbs some distance
above. Keeping the thumb and fingers well apart, let the
frame drop, and as it drops strike it hard with the balls of the
thumbs, then catch it with the fingers, raise it and repeat the _
operation. The bees are jarred both up and down, and don’t
know which way to brace themselves to hold on, so a very few
shakes will get most of them off.

PENDULUM PLAN OF SHAKING.

Often it is desirable to shake the bees back into the hive.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 77

In that case brushing may be better than shaking, but the
pounding plan serves very well. A space may be made by
shoving the combs apart, and the frames to be pounded held
well down in the hive. But many times it is as well to shake
the bees on the ground. This may not be so advisable if the
queen is likely to be among the shaken bees. Yet I have often
shaken the queen off among the bees on the ground, and I am
not sure that she ever failed to find her way with the bees back
into the hive. When the bees are to be shaken on the ground
the pendulum plan is used almost altogether. With the right
hand I take hold of one end of the top-bar, letting the frame
hang with the bottom-bar pointing forward, and then swinging
the frame backward like a pendulum I let it swing again for-
ward, and then as it falls back I lt the lower end of the top-
bar strike the ground in such position that a diagonal from
the point that strikes the ground to the opposite end of the
bottom-bar shall be nearly vertical. It is easier than the
other plans, and takes less time.

BEE-BRUSHES.

Sometimes it is not desirable to get all the bees off, in
which case, or with very light combs, no brushing is needed.
But if all the bees are to be cleaned off, and the combs are not
very light, then brushing must be resorted to. I know of no
brush better than one made of some growing plant, such as
asparagus, sweet clover, goldenrod, aster, ete., no little bit of
a thing, but a good big bunch, well tied together with a string
(Fig. 27).

But like many a thing that costs nothing, these weed
brushes are very expensive, for they dry up so that a fresh one
must be made every day, and that takes a good deal of time.
So I generally use a Coggshall brush (Fig. 28). The essential
thing about a Coggshall brush is that it must be made of long
broom-corn with a very thin brush, and not trimmed at all at
the ends. One of these is always in the tool-basket.

Of course no shaking or pounding of combs is admissible
if queen-cells are on the combs that are considered of any value,

78 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

TOOL-BASKET.

The tool-basket spoken of is simply a common splint bas-
ket (Fig. 29). At different times I have had different ar-
rangements for carrying the things most generally needed, at
least two different tool-boxes having been made for that special
purpose with separate compartments for the various articles.
But the basket is hghter, and although things get a little mixed
up in it, it seems to have the preference at present. At one
time I tried to keep an outfit at each apiary—smoker, hive-

Fig. 24—Clipping the Queen.

tools, ete.—so that there should be no need to carry anything
from one apiary to another, but one gets used to tools and
prefers to use the same ones day after day, so the basket is
used.

CONTENTS OF TOOL-BASKET.

Of course, the number of objects carried in a basket must
be somewhat limited. The bulkiest part is the apron, sleeves,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 79

and gloves of my assistant. The record book must always be
present. Then there will be smokers, hive-tools, hammer, cages,
matches (although matches are always kept covered with the
fuel in each apiary), saltpeter-rags, nails, and any other light
objects that may happen to be needed at any particular time.
Of course there will be heavier articles, not convenient to carry
from one apiary to another, and each apiary must have its own,
as a hive with a closed entrance and a robber-cloth, ready to
contain at any time frames of brood or honey safe from rob-
bers. Generally, however, there will be no need to be so care-
ful against robbers, and the one or two frames lifted out of a
hive will be leaned up against it, taking pains to stand any
frame where the hot rays of the sun may not strike too di-
rectly upon it, and to stand it up straight enough so it will not
sag with its own weight..

RESTING FRAME DIAGONALLY IN HIVE.

With one frame out of the hive there will be room enough
for the rest to be moved about in the hive, and returned to it
as soon as examined. Sometimes when it is desired to set a
frame back in the hive very quickly, or when a queen has been
caught and is held in the fingers, so that the frame must be
bandled with one hand, it is convenient to set the frame in the
hive resting diagonally, as shown in Fig. 36. The frame is
lowered until one end of the top-bar rests upon one rabbet, and
then the bottom-bar is allowed to rest upon the other rabbet.

Perhaps oftener, however, I use both hands to handle a
frame, even while holding a queen with one hand. While search-
ing for the queen the frame is held in both hands, and as soon
as she is seen the end of the frame held by the right hand is
rested upon the hive, the right hand catches the queen, and she
is then allowed to run upon the leg of my trousers, upon the
thigh (it is an exceedingly rare thing that a laying queen will
offer to fly), and then I catch her in the hollow of my right
hand, holding her in the hollow formed by the three fingers,
while with the thumb and forefinger I am free to handle the
frame at leisure.

80 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

BEES BALLING QUEEN.

When a colony is being overhauled, it sometimes happens
that the queen is found balled. This balling is likely more be-
cause the colony, being frightened, is seeking to protect the
queen than because of any hostility to her. Fig. 30 shows a
queen thus balled, or rather the balling bees are shown, the
queen being hidden by them. The ball is small, whereas a ball
of bees bent on the destruction of a strange: queen is liable to
be as large as a hickorynut, or larger.

Whether the object of the bees be to protect the queen or
not, anything that tends to excite them sufficiently may lead
them to do violence to the queen. So when IJ find the queen
thus balled, I always close the hive immediately, not generally
touching it again till the next day, when everything will be
found all right.

MAKING RECORDS.

After the overhauling of a colony is completed, a record
thereof must be made. If May 10, 1902, should be the date of
the visit, and if I should clip the queen at that visit, I would
inake the entry, “May 10 cl q (01),”’ which means that I clipped
the queen May 10, and that she was a queen reared in 1901. If,
later in the season, I should clip a queen reared that same
season, the entry would be “el q (02), meaning that the queen
was reared in 1902. In either case the year of the birth of the
old queen in the left-hand margin has a line drawn through it,
and the birth-year of the new queen is written under it, If I
find a clipped queen in the hive, then the entry is“q el,” which
means the queen was already clipped. It might not seem
important to enter that the queen was already clipped, but if
I do not find her the first or second time looking over the combs
T leave it till another day, leaving the blank after the date, and
that keeps me in mind of the fact that I have not yet seen the
queen.

After clipping the wing of the queen I put her on the top
of a frame directly over the brood-nest. If you hold her on
your finger over the brood-nest she displays a great degree of
perverseness and persists in crawling up your hand, right away

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 81

from her proper home. So I let her crawl upon a leaf, little
stick or other object, lay this on the frames, and she will di-
rectly go down into the cluster.

Not always, however. Too often she will run about over
the tops of the frames, and even over the side of the hive, and
when thus excited there is some danger she may be balled when
she gets down in the hive. So I like better to have a frame of
brood covered with bees, lying flat, or held flat, by an assistant,
and then I drop the queen right among the bees on the middle
of the comb.

Fig. 25—Home from the Out-apiary.

On this first visit I also generally enter in the record book
the amount of brood present. If the record is “2 br,” or “3
br.” it means that two combs or three combs are fairly well
filled with brood—at least half filled with brood. If the record
is “br in 2,” that means that brood is found in two combs, but
that at least one of them is less than half full. So you will
see that “br in 3” might be a good deal less than “2 br”, for
“2 pr” might mean two very full combs, and at the least will
be as much as one very full comb, while “br in 3” may mean
there is only a little spot of brood in each of three combs.

Any other item that needs especial mention will be record-

82 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ed, but generally there is no record made beyond those men-
tioned.

MENDING COMBS.

In handling the combs, if any are found with drone-comb
or with holes in them, and if we are not too crowded for time,
the defects are remedied. Very likely I may turn over these
combs to my assistant, who mends them before they are re-
turned to the hive. The usual plan is to mend them in this way:

She takes a common tea-knife with a thin, narrow, sharp
blade, cuts out the piece of drone-comb if the hole is not already
made, lays the frame over a piece of workér-comb (this piece
of worker-comb may be the part or whole of some old or objec-
tionable comb), with the point of the knife marks out the exact
size and shape of the hole, removes the frame, cuts out the piece
and crowds it into the hole.

Or the following plan may be used, especially if the frame
is wired: After the hole is made (the mice have probably made
the holes in the wired frames), the cells on one side are cut
away to the base for a distance of 44 to 4% inch from the hole,
and a piece of foundation cut to the right size is placed over
the hole and the edge pressed down upon the base that sur-
rounds the hole. The foundation must not be too cold. Before
fall thesé patches cannot be detected, unless by the lighter color
where the foundation has been used.

HIVES NOT PAINTED.

Now that the apiary is all in running order, you may want
to take a look at it. You “don’t think it looks remarkably
neat’? Neither do I. If I had only a dozen colonies and were
keeping them for the pleasure of it, I should have their hives
painted, perhaps ornamented with scroll work, but please re-
member that I am keeping them for profit, and I cannot afford
anything for looks. I suppose they would last longer if paint-
ed, but hardly enough longer to pay for the paint. Besides, in
the many changes constantly taking place, how do I know that
I may not want to throw these aside and adopt a new hive?

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 83

CHANGES IN HIVES.

I have already changed five times, having begun in 1861
with a full-sized sugar-barrel, changing the next year to Quinby
box hives, then to a movable-frame hive made by J. F. Lester,
and afterward when J. Vandervort, the foundation-mill man,
came and lived perhaps a year in Marengo, I bought out his
stock of hives. I supposed they were the exact Langstroth
pattern, but they had frames 18 x 9 inches, not different enough
to make any appreciable difference in results, but different
enough so that they were not standard, and after I had a few
thousand of them on hand and wanted to change to the regular
Langstroth size, the trouble I had would be hard to describe.
T still have some of them, but not in regular use. These hives
were 10-frame, and in course of time I cut them down and
made them 8-frame. Then I changed to the 8-frame dove-
tailed hive, and I don’t know what the next change will be.

Another reason for not painting the hives is that I am
afraid bees do not do quite so well in painted as in unpainted
hives, especially in winter.

Except the full-sized cleat already mentioned on each end,
my hives are the regular dovetailed. But the frames are Miller
frames.

LOOSE-HANGING FRAMES.

For a good many years handling frames was much slower
work than it is today, because for a good many years I had
loose-hanging frames. In moving the frames from one side of
the hive toward the other, each frame had to be moved separate-
ly. It would not do to shove two or more at a time, because in
so doing bees would be mashed between the frames. Then when
the frames were returned to place each one had to be carefully
adjusted, judging by the eye when it was at the right distance
from its neighbor. This was slow work, and when done with
the utmost care it was only approximately exact. There was
no dummy to lift out to make extra room; and the frames had
to be crowded together so as to make room to get a first frame
out. That disarranged the spacing of several of the frames,
even if there were no other occasion for disarranging them,

84 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

SELF-SPACING FRAMES.

Then there came a time of struggling for some self-spac-
ing arrangement, closed-end, partly closed-end, and what not. I
tried a good many different kinds. Closed-ends were probably
warmer for wintering, and were certainly self-spacing, but it
took time to avoid killing bees, and the trouble with propolis
was no small matter. Half-closed ends were the same in kind,
only different in degree.

Of these last the Hoffman is probably the most popular.
and I put in use enough to fill a few hives, and some of them
are still in use. When new they work very nicely, but as propo-
lis accumulates the difficulty of handling increases, and the
frames become more and more crowded, until it is almost im-
possible to get out the dummy, the easier thing being to pry out
with a good deal of force the first frame, either with or with-
out the dummy. Indeed, the difficulty of getting out the frames
is so great that the sight of a set of Hoffman frames when the
cover is removed always produces something like a shudder.

Although I could not have anything in the line of closed-
ends I wanted the advantage of the self-spacing and not find-
ing anything on the market to suit me I was, in a manner,
compelled to adopt something of my own “get-up,” and so for
several years I have used with much satisfaction the Miller
frame (Fig. 95).

MILLER FRAME.

The frame is of course of the regular Langstroth size,
1754 x 944. Top-bar, bottom-bar, and end-bars are uniform in
width, 14 inches throughout their entire dimensions. The top-
bar is % inch thick, with the usual saw-kerf to receive the
foundation, and close beside this is another kerf to receive the
wedge that fastens in the foundation. The length of the top-
bar is 185% inches, and % x 9/16 is rabbeted out of each end
to receive the end-bar. The end-bar is 89/16x1l14gx%. The
bottom-bar consists of two pieces, each 1752 x14x%. This
allows ¥g inch between the two parts to receive the foundation,

making the bottom-bar 14% inches wide when nailed. y

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 85

In Fig. 95 the frame is upside down, one-half of the bot-
tom-bar nailed on, the other half above, while below is seen the
long strip that serves as a wedge to fasten in the foundation.

Some of my latest frames, however, have the bottom-bar in
one piece, 144 inches wide, and |]’m not sure but I prefer them.
The only object in having the bottom-bar in two pieces is the
convenience vf an exact fit of the foundation without the
trouble of cutting it carefully to the right size. With the bot-
tom-bar all in one piece, the foundation fitting down close upon
it, and melted wax run along the joint, the bees may be less
inclined to gnaw a passage under the foundation than with the
double bottom-bar without the melted wax.

Fig. 26—Pounding Bees Off Comb.

SPACING-NAILS.

The side-spacing, which holds the frame at the proper dis-
tance from its next neighbor, is accomplished by means of com-
mon wire nails. These nails are 1144 inches long, and rather
heavy, about 3/32 inch in thickness, with a head less than one-
fourth inch across. By means of a wooden gauge which allows
tllem to be driven only to a fixed depth, they are driven in to

86 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

such a depth that the head remains projecting out a fourth of
an inch.

Each frame has four spacing nails. A nail is driven into
each end of the top-bar on opposite sides, the nail being about
an inch and a half from the extreme end of the top-bar, and a
fourth of an inch from its upper surface. About two and a
fourth inches from the bottom of the frame a nail is driven
into each end-bar, these nails being also on opposite sides. Hold
the frame up before you in its natural position, each hand hold-
ing one end of the top-bar, and the two nails at the right end
will be on the side from you, while the two nails at the left end
will be on the side nearest you.

The object of having the nails so heavy is so that they may
not be driven further into the wood when the frames are crowd-
ed hard together. Once in a great while the wood is split by
having so heavy a nail driven,-and if such a nail could be
obtained it would be better to have a lighter nail with a head
a fourth of an inch thick, so that it could be driven automati-
cally.to place without the need of a gauge, and without the pos-
sibility of being driven further in by any amount of crowding.

I have never tried the metal spacers now used on what are
still called Hoffman frames, but it seems to me they must be an
immense improvement over the original Hoffman frames, such
as IT had. I think, however, I should still prefer such a nail as
I have mentioned, because there is less opposing surface, and so
less chance for propolis. Such nails are in use in Europe.

Objection has been made to metal spacers because they are
in the way of the uncapping-knife. But why should I, who do
not use an uncapping knife, be denied the frame that is best for
my use, because, forsooth, it doesn’t suit an uncapper? Yet I
must say I am very skeptical as to the objections to metal
spacers on even extracting frames. The spacers are only at
one end of the frame at each side, and if the knife starts at the
spacer-end it does not seem necessary to dull it on the spacers.
I have tried it enough to form something of an opinion, and I
have been told by those who ought to know that the objection
is a thing largely of imagination. ;

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 87
END-SPACING.

The end-spacing is done by means of the usual frame
staple, about three-eighths of an inch wide. The staple is
driven into the end-bar, immediately under the lug of the top-
bar. This lug being only half an inch long, there is room for a
bee to pass between the end of the lug and the upper edge of
the hive-end, so no propolis is deposited there. I like this fea-
ture as much as some dislike it. They complain that with so

Fig. 2.—Weed Brushes.

short a top-bar the frames drop down in the hive, a nuisance
not to be tolerated. J do not have this trouble, although the
hold of the top-bar on the tin support is so slight that if the
work were not exact I can easily imagine the frames dropping
there. Possibly those who complain do not have very exact
work. I am not sure but I would rather put up with a little
dropping down of frames, rather than to have the ends of the
top-bars glued.

It will be seen that while the frames are automatically
spaced very firmly, the points of contact are so small that the
frames are always easily movable. These points of contact are

88 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the thin metal edges upon which the top-bars rest, the two end-
staples, and the four nail-heads. The same spacing isin use in
other frames, only staples are used for side-spacing instead
of nails. The staples do not seem quite so substantial, and there
is more danger, when the frames are crowded hard together,
‘that the staples may be driven in deeper, or that the head of
the staple may dig into the adjoining wood.

The top-bar and end-bar being 14g wide, and the spacing
of the nails 44 inch, the frames are spaced just 13g from center
te center. It is just possible that a little wider spacing than
1%4 might be better, but 136 is the general fashion, and so, far
as possible I like to adopt standard goods. I may be asked,
then, why should I use a frame not regularly made by manu-
facturers. Possibly prejudice has a little to do in the case, but
I think the Miller frame enough better than anything I can
find listed, that I prefer to be out of fashion so long as I can
find nothing listed that is quite close to what I want.

USING STANDARD GOODS.

In general I think it is best to adopt standard goods. They
can be more cheaply made, and it is more convenient to get
them. It cost me no small sum to change my frames so little
as to'make them only % of an inch less in length and an eighth
of an inch more in depth, but I made the change, and made it
solely because my frames were not of standard size. Years ago
I changed from four-piece to one-piece sections solely because
I wanted to be in fashion, although I think I prefer the one-
piece now.

WORKING FOR IMPROVEMENT.

At the same time it is one’s privilege—perhaps one’s duty
to make some effort toward improvement, if one can only
keep from thinking that a thing is necessarily an improvement
because it is different from what has been. The things and
plans gotten up by me that were different from others would
make a pretty long list. Unfortunately, a full trial has in most
cases convinced me that my supposed improvements were no

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 89

improvements at all, so they were cast aside. A few, how-
ever, have stood the test; the Miller feeder and the Miller
introducing cage having become standard articles on the price-
lists, while bottom-starters, the robber-cloth, bottom-board, and
some other things have had from my brother beekeepers a
reception of which I have no reason to complain. While the
tendency toward something different needs to be kept in bounds

Fig. 28—Coggshall Bee-brush.

it would be a sad thing if no changes had been made, and we
were set back just where we were a quarter or half a century
ago.

GETTING COMBS BUILT DOWN TO BOTTOM-BARS.

While upon the subject of frames, I may as well tell how
I manage to have them entirely filled with straight combs which
are built out to the end-bars and clear down to the bottom-bars,
a thing I experimented upon for a long time before reaching
suecess. The foundation is cut so as to make a close fit in
length, and the width is about half an inch more than the inside
depth of the frame, The frame is all complete except that one

90 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

of the two pieces of the bottom-bar is not yet nailed on. The
frame is laid on a board of the usual kind, which fits inside the
frame and has stops on the edges so that when the foundation
is laid on the board it will lie centrally in the frame. The half
of the bottom-bar that is nailed on lies on the under side. The
foundation is put in place, and one edge is crowded into the
saw-kerf in the top-bar. Then the lacking half of the bottom-
bar is put in place, and a light nail at the middle is driven down
through both parts. Then the frame is raised and the ends of
the two halves of the bottom-bar are squeezed together so as to
pinch the foundation, and nailed there. Then the usual wedge
is wedged into the fine saw-kerf in the top-bar.

As already said, I am not sure but it is just as well, or
better, to have the bottom-bar in one piece, with the founda-
tion cut to fit close upon it.

FOUNDATION-SPLINTS,

Now we are ready for the important part. Little sticks or
splints about 1/16 of an inch square, and about 14 inch shorter
than the inside depth of the frame, are thrown into a square
shallow tin pan that contains hot beeswax. They will froth up
because of the moisture frying out of them. When the frothing
ceases, and the splints are saturated with wax, then they are
ready for use. The frame of foundation is laid on the board
as before; with a pair of plyers a splint is lifted out of the
wax (kept just hot enough over a gasoline stove), and placed
upon the foundation so that the splint shall be perpendicular
when the frame is hung in the hive. As fast as a splint is laid
in place, an assistant immediately presses it down into the
foundation with the wetted end of a board. About 144 inches
from each end-bar is placed a splint; and between these two
splints three others at equal distances( Fig. 31). When these
are built out they make beautiful combs, and the splints do not
seem to be at all in the way (Fig.32).

Five splints in a frame works all right for medium brood
foundation, but in 1909 I filled a number of frames with light
brood foundation, and used seven splints in a frame.

A little experience will enable one to judge, when putting

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 91

in the splints, how hot to keep the wax. If too hot there will
be too light a coating of wax.

It must not be understood that the mere use of these splints
will under any and all circumstances result in faultless combs
built securely down to the bottom-bar. It seems to be the nat-
ural thing for bees to leave a free passageway under the comb,
no matter whether the thing that comes next below the comb be
the floor-board of the hive or the bottom-bar of the frame. So
if a frame be given when little storing is going on, the bees will
deliberately dig away the foundation at the bottom; and even
if it has been built down but the cells not very fully drawn out,
they will do more or less at gnawing a passage. To make a
success, the frames should be given at a time when work shall
go on uninterruptedly until full-depth cells reach the bottom-
bar.

In Fig. 32 will be seen two such frames of splinted founda-
tion that have been built out and filled with honey. The upper
one is built out solid to the frame all around, while the lower
one has a hole at one of the lower corners, through which a
queen can play hide-and-seek.

In Fig. 33 are two that have been built out and filled with
brood. They are built out solid to the wood, excepting one
hole in each at one of the lower corners, but these two holes are
covered up by the fingers so that you cannot see them. Look
carefully at the frame at the left hand, and you will see at least
three places where the capping is slightly elevated, because of
the splints beneath.

BROOD TO THE TOP-BAR.

Incidentally your attention may be called to this comb as a

- fine specimen of one well filled with brood. It is literally filled,
all the cells, sealed and unsealed, containing brood. It shows

that there is no necessity for shallow frames to have brood clear

to the top-bar. At the time when it is desired to get bees to

start work in sections, the brood will be up so high in the combs

that bees will start in the sections just as promptly with stand-

ard frames as with those that are shallower. After the bees

have been at work storing for some time, the brood in the stand-

92 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ard frame will not be as near the top-bar as in a shallow frame,
but that will be no hindrance to the continuance of storing in
supers.

For a long {ime it puzzled me to understand why others
should say that in a Langstroth frame a space of one or two
inches would be left under the top-bar where no brood would
be reared, while in my hives, in the height of brood-rearing,
frame after frame would be filled with brood clear to the top-
bar. It was urged that the trouble arose because the frame
was too deep. Finally it was suggested that horizontal wiring
allowed enough sagging so that the upper cells were stretched
just enough so they would not be used for brood. In my
frames, with foundation-splints, there was no chance for -
stretching, and so the row of cells next to the top-bar and bot-
tom-bar could alike be used by the queen.

Even if brood were not reared in the upper part of a
Langstroth frame, I should still prefer that depth for comb
honey, whatever might be true as to extracted honey. At one
time I had two hives with shallow frames, and the amount of
pollen in sections filled over those shallow frames was greater
than in all the other thousands of sections filled over the Lang-
stroth frames.

Please do not misunderstand that all my combs look like
the four in Figs. 32 and 33. Many of them do, but more do
not, because so many of them were built in seasons of compara-
tive dearth.

There is another way to get combs built down to the bot-
tom-bar. Suppose you have a comb with a passageway under
it more or less of its length. Cut it free from the bottom-bar,
and then cut straight across an inch or more above the bottom-
bar; then turn this piece upside down and let it rest on the
bottom-bar. The bees will immediately fasten this piece to the
bottom-bar (of course it must be at a time when bees are work-
ing freely), and very soon they will fill in the gap above the
piece.

HIVE-DUMMY.

A good dummy is a matter of no light importance. It is
handy to fill up vacant space, its chief use being to make an

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 93

easy thing of removing the first comb from a hive. With self-
spacing frames there can be no crowding together of the frames
so as to give one of them extra room as is the case with loose-
hanging frames, and if a hive be filled full of self-spacing
frames it would be about impossible to remove the first frame
after a fair amount of propolis is present. A dummy at one
side is the thing to help out.

An eight-frame dovetailed hive is 121% inches wide inside.
Eight frames spaced 18g inches from center to center will oc-

cupy 11 inches, leaving at one side a space of 11 inches, abund

Fig. 29—Tool-basket.

ance of room to lft out the first frame easily. A dummy put
into that space will prevent the bees from filling it up with
comb, and it ought never to be difficult to lift out the dummy.
If a dummy a trifle more than a fourth of an inch thick be
put in, leaving a fourth of an inch between dummy and frame,
there will be left between the dummy and the side of the hive a
space little more than half an inch, a space that the bees will
never fill with comb in such a place. As propolis accumulates,
however, this space will become less.

The dummy should be light and at the same time quite

94 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

substantial, and the one I use fulfills these requirements (Fig.
42). The principal board of the dummy is 164g x 834 x 5/16,
of pine. The other parts are of some tougher wood. The top-
bar is 18% x5/16x5/16. Each end cleat is 834 x 5/16.

It will be seen that the dummy is neither so long nor deep
as a frame. That makes it easier to handle, and being at the
side of the hive it never makes any trouble. If I were making
new dummies, I think I would make the principal board 15 ,
inches long instead of 164g. It would be easier to handle, and
bees are little inclined to fill in comb at the ends of the dummy.
While the cut-off top-bars in the frames work nicely, they do
not work so well in dummies, as I found upon trying a number
of them. The principal objection to this dummy is that the
top-bar, being only 5/16 square, is sometimes broken off, or
pulled off, when the dummy is pried out of a hive where it is
glued in. Some of them are made over in a simple way that
is very satisfactory. The top-bar is entirely torn off, and for a
lug at each end is used a common tenpenny wire nail, which is
3 inches long and 1% inch thick. Lay the nail on top of the
dummy, with the point projecting as far as.it can and yet ad-
mit the dummy into the hive. The head of the nail will not al-
low it to lie down flat. All the better. Hammer on the head
till the nail does lie flat. Now take a piece of tin 314 to 4
inches long and wide enough to cover the part of the nail that
lies on the dummy, not including the head. Lay this tin on
top, bend down over each side, and near the lower end drive
through two light wire nails an inch long or longer, and clinch.
There’s a feeling of solid comfort every time one opens a hive
containing such a dummy.

HIVE-COVERS.

At the risk of losing caste as a beekeeper, I am obliged to
confess that I never got up “a hive of my own,” never even
tried to plan one, but I have tried no little to get up a hive-
cover to suit me. A hive is so seldom moved that I care less for
its weight, but when J, or more particularly, my female assist-
ants, have to lift covers all day long, when hot and tired, a
pound difference in weight is quite an item. The first covers I
had for movable-frame hives were 8 inches deep and weighed

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 95

about 18 pounds. Needless to detail the different covers I have
devised and tried, with upper surfaces of tin, oilcloth, and
wood, painted and unpainted. Although I don’t paint hive-
bodies, I want covers painted or at least waterproof. Some of
my covers have been the common plain board cover, and I
don’t like them. Some of them are of two boards united at the
middle by a V-shaped tin slid into saw-kerfs, and I like these

4 Pe. eens
Fig. 30—Balled Queen.

still less. A new board cover is a nice thing. After a little it
warps, and then it is not a nice thing. Put a cleat on each end
so it can not warp—cast-iron cleats, if you like—and it will
twist so that there will be a grinning opening at one corner to
allow bees to walk out and cold to walk in, to say nothing of

robber-bees.

96 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

TIN COVERS WITH DEAD-AIR SPACE.

I have fifty covers that I like very much. They are double-
board covers, the boards being %% thick, the grain of the upper
and lower boards running in opposite directions, with a %
dead-air space between them; at least it would be dead-air if it
were not for cracks, and I do not consider the cracks a neces-
sary part if the covers were properly made. The whole is cov-
ered with tin and painted white. The lower surface is per-
fectly flat, with no cleat projecting downward, for such cleats
do not help rapid and easy handling. Such a cover is light,
safe from warping and twisting, is cooler in summer than the
plain board cover, and warmer in winter. The greatest objec-
tion is the cost; I think they cost 25 cents or more each.

| Two of these tin covers will be seen at Fig. 37, the one at
the right showing the under surface of the cover.

ZINC OOVERS,

Fifty other covers are made on the same plan and covered
with zinc. These are not painted. So long as they remain
whole there’ is no need of paint, and whenever there seems to
be a possibility of their approaching anything like a leaking
condition they can be covered with paint. The same might be
said of the tin, only I expect the zinc to stand the weather
unpainted much longer than the tin would.

At Fig. 38 may be seen two of these zine hive-covers. The
one at the right shows the upper or zine surface. The left one
shows the under or wood surface; and if you look at the right
end of this last cover you will see that the upper layer of thin
board projects three-fourths of an inch so as to serve as a
handle. One of these covers weighs five pounds.

A cover sent me by The A. I. Root Company covered with
paper and painted, has been in use several years, and so far
it seems to stand as well as zinc or tin. Possibly this paper
may do as wel! as the metal and save expense. I would rather
pay a good price for a good cover, rain-proof, bee-proof, non-
warping, non-twisting, with a dead-air space, than to take a
poor cover as a gift.

The hundred covers T have mentioned were made specially

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 97

to order, but I am glad to see that The A. I. Root Company
have now on their list a cover made on the same principle.

HIVE-STANDS.

My hive-stands are simple and inexpensive (Fig. 39).
They are made of common fence-boards 6 inches wide. Two
pieces 32 inches long are nailed upon two other pieces - or
cleats 24 inches long. That’s all. Of course the longer pieces
are uppermost, leavi ing the cleats below. Two similar cleats,
but loose, le on the ground under the first-mentioned cleats.
This makes it equivalent to cleats of two-inch stuff, with the de-
cided advantage that only the loose cleat will rot away by lying
on the ground, without spoiling the whole stand, These stands
are leveled with a spirit-level before the hives are placed on
them (sometimes not till afterward), being made ‘perfectly
level from side to side, with the rear one or two inches higher
than the front. Each of these stands is intended for two hives,
with a space of 2 to 4 inches between the two hives. It _
mueh easier to level a stand like this than to level-one for a
singlé hive. There are other advantages.

For years I was well satisfied with these stands, but longer
experience has made me become greatly dissatisfied with them.
More than a square foot of the under surfaée of the bottom-
board lies flat. wpon; the boards of the stand. When it rains the
water soaks in between these two surfaces, and favors rotting.
Worse still, it makes the nicest kind of a place for the large
wood-ants to make a nest and honeycomb the wood of the bot-
tom-board. Perhaps the coming stand is of cement with but a
small surface in actual contact with the bottom-board.

HIVES IN PAIRS.

; This putting in pairs is quite a saving of room; for if

room were allowed for working on each side of a hive, only
two-thirds the number could be got into the row. But so far
as the bees are concerned, it is equivalent to putting in double
the number; that is, there is no more danger of a bee going into
the wrong hive by mistake, than if only a single hive stood
where each pair stands. If hives stood very close together at

4

98 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

regular intervals, a bee might by mistake go into the wrong
hive; but if a colony of bees is in the habit, as mine sometimes
are in the spring, of going into the south end of their entrance,
they will never make the mistake of entering at the north end,
as you will quickly see if you plug up, alternately, the north
and south ends of the entrance. When the north end is closed
it does not affect the bees at all, but close the south end and
dire consternation follows. To the bees the pair of hives is
much the same as a single hive, and they will not make the mis-
take of entering the wrong end.

Fig. 31—Foundation with splint supports.

A space of 2 feet or so is left between one pair of hives
and the next pair, so as to leave plenty of room for a seat.

GROUPS OF FOUR HIVES.

In two of the apiaries there is still further economy of
yvoom by placing a second row close to the first, the hives stand-
ing back to back. That, you will see, makes the hives in groups
of four. I do not know of any arrangement that will allow a
larger amount of hives to stand on a given surface. The dif-
ference in the amount of travel in the course of a year in such

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 99

an arrangement as compared with one without any grouping,
is a matter not to be despised.

SHADE.

Trees shade most of the hives at least a part of the day,
and at one end of the home apiary the trees were so thick that
I cut out part of them. I had previously thought that shade
was important, and that with sufficient shade there was never
any danger of bees suffering from heat, but after having combs
melt down in a hive so densely shaded by trees that the sun did
not shine on it all day long, I changed my mind. I value the
shade these trees give, not so much for the good it does the
bees, but for the comfort of the operator working at them. I
don’t believe bees suffer as much from the hot sun shining di-
rectly on the hives as they do from having the air shut off from
them by surrounding objects. I have had combs melt down in
hives, the honey running in a stream on the ground, one of the
hives at least being in a shade of trees so dense the sun never
shone on it, and I suspect it was for lack of air. <A dense
growth of corn was directly back of the hives and a dense
growth of young trees and underbrush in front. I didn’t know
enough to notice this, although when working at the bees my
shirt would be as wet as if dipped in the river. I had the young
trees thinned out and trimmed up, the corn-ground in grass, so
the air could get through, and now I work with more comfort,
and no comb has melted down for 30 years.

Sometimes I have found it desirable to shade one or more
hives singly. An armf{uvl of the longest fresh-cut grass obtain-
able is laid on the hive-cover, and weighted down with two or
three sticks of stove-wood. But I do not think anything of the
kind is needed on double covers.

MOVABLE SHADE.

For hives that are not in the shade, especially during cer-
tain parts of the day, a movable shade (Fig. 58) is a great
comfort to the operator when the sun shines with blistering
heat. Four standards are made of 7/16-inch rod iron. Take a
piece of the iron 6 feet 2 inches long; bend the upper end into

100 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

a ring or eye, and sharpen the lower end. Twelve inches from
the point or lower end bend the rod at right angles. Two inches
higher up bend again at right angles, leaving the rod straight
except that knee of two inches, upon which you can set your
foot and drive it into the ground as when spading.

The cloth used for the shade is about as large as an ordi-
nary bed sheet, and is usually the linen lap-robe, which is al-
ways at hand, and on which a string is kept tied on each corner
so as to be always ready to set up in a twinkling. The string
has both ends tied around the cloth at the corner, leaving the
string in the form of a loop. The loop is thrust through the
eye of the standard, looped back over the eye, and there you
are. :

When the sun is not far from the horizon, only two stand-
ards are used, from which the lap-robe hangs as a wall between
the operator and the sun.

FEEDING MEAL.

I used to read about feeding meal in the spring. I tried
it, put out rye-meal, and not a bee would touch it; baited them
with honey, and if they took the honey they left the meal.
Finally, one day, I saw a bee alight on a dish of flour set in a
sunny place. It went at it in a rollicking manner as if delight-
ed. J was more delighted. At last I had in some way got the
thing right, and my bees would take meal. The bee loaded up,
and: lugged off its load, and I waited for it and others to come
for more. They didn’t come, and that was the first and last
load taken that year. I cannot tell now exactly when the
change came about, neither do I know that I have done any-
thing different, but I have no trouble now in getting the bees
to take bushels of meal. I suppose the simple explanation is
that there was plenty of natural pollen for the few bees I had
in the first years, but not enough for the larger number of
colonies I had later.

About as soon as the bees are set out in the spring, I begin
feeding ,them meal, although some years I do not offer them
any substitute for pollen. For this purpose I like shallow boxes,
and generally use old hive-covers 4 inches deep. These are
placed in a sunny spot about a foot apart, one end raised three

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 101

or four inches higher than the other. This may be done by
putting a stone under one end, although I generally place thew.
along the edge of a little ditch where no stone is needed, and
they can be whir.ed’ around as if on a central pivot. One ‘toad.
box is used for every 10 to 20 colonies, although I am guided
rather by what the bees seem to need, adding more boxes as fast
as the ones already given are crowded with bees..

SUBSTITUTES FOR POLLEN.

I can hardly tell what I have not used for meal. I have
used meal or flour of pretty much all the grains, bran, shorts,
and all the different feeds used for cows in this noted dairy
region, ineluding even the yellow meal brought from glucose
factories for -cow-feed, although, if this last were known, it
might be reported that I filled paraffin combs with glucose and
seated them over with a hot butcher-knife. I think this glucose
nieal is perhaps the poorest feed I have used. As to the rest T
hardly know which is best, and I have of late used principally
corn and oats ground together, partly because I was using that
for horse and cow feed, and partly because F think it aa, be
as good as any. "5

When the feed-boxes are put in place, in the morning” (and
I commence this feeding just as soon as the bees are out of the
cellar), I put in each box at the raised end about four to six
quarts (the quantity is not very material) of the feed, The
more compact, and the less scattered the feed the better. “Whe
bees will gradually dig it down until it is all settled in the lower
end of the box, just the same as so much water would settle
there. This may take an hour, or it may take six, according to
circumstances. As often as they dig it down, I reverse the
position of the box, just whirling it around if it stands on the
edge of the ditch. This brings the meal again at the raised end
of the box. When the bees have dug it down level there is little
to be seen on the top except the hulls of the oats, and what fun
it is to see the bees burrow in this, sometimes clear out of sight!

It is always a source of amusement to see the bees working
on this meal, and the young folks watch them by the half-hour.
By night the oatmeal and finer parts of the corn are nearly all
worked out, and after the bees have stopped working, the boxes

102 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

are emptied, piled up, one on top of another, and at the top,
one placed upside down so that no dew or rain may affect them.
If I think it is not worked out pretty clean, I may let them
work it over the next day, putting three or four times as much
in a box. When the bees are done with it, there will be empty
oat-hulls on top, and the coarse part of the corn on the bottom.
It does not matter if it is not worked out clean, for it is fed to
the horses or cows afterward.

After the first day’s feeding, the boxes must be filled in
good season in the morning, or the bees annoy very much by

Fig. 832—Combs of Honey.

being in the way, and throughout the day, while the bees are at
work, if I go around the feed-boxes to turn them, or for any
other purpose, I must look sharp where I set my feet, or bees
will be killed, as they are quite thick over the ground, brushing
the meal off their bodies and packing their loads. Before many
days the meal-boxes are deserted for the now plenty natural
pollen, although if you watch the bees, as they go laden into the
hives, even when working thickest in the boxes, you will see a
good many carrying in heavy loads of natural pollen,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 103

It seems to be a beneficent natural law, that bees do not
like to crowd one another in their search for pollen or nectar,
or else the meal-boxes would be untouched and all the bees
would work upon the insufficient supply of pollen. In conse-
quence of this law it is necessary to furnish a sufficient number
of boxes, for although the bees will work quite thick if only
5 boxes are left for 150 colonies, they will work scarcely thick-
er if only one box is left.

OUTDOOR FEEDING.

I have fed barrels of sugar syrup in the open air, and it is
possible that circumstances may arise to induce me to do it
again, but I doubt.

There are serious objections to this outdoor feeding. You
are not sure what portion of it your own bees will get, if other
bees are in flying distance. Considerable experience has proved
to me that by this method of feeding, the strong colonies get
the lion’s share, and the weak colonies very little. Moreover, I
have seen indications that part of the colonies get none, both of
the weak and strong. You are also dependent on the weather,
as wet and chilly days may come, when bees cannot fly.

As already mentioned, when bees are brought out of the
cellar, colonies are marked that are suspiciously light, and their
immediate wants supplied as soon as possible. But with eight-
frame hives there will be a good many colonies that will run
short of stores before there is any chance for them to supply
themselves from outside.

STIMULATIVE FEEDING.

Some would say that I ought to practice stimulative feed-
ing for the sake of hastening the work of building up the col-
ony. But it takes a good deal of wisdom to know at all times
just how to manage stimnlative feeding so as nat to do harm in-
stead of good; and I am not certain that I have the wisdom.

“Whatever else may be true about spring, I am pretty
fully settled in the belief that it is of first importance that
the bees should have an abundant supply of, stores, whether
such supply be furnished from day to day by the beekeeper,

104 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

or stored up by the bees themselves six months or a year pre-
viously. Moreover, I believe they build up more rapidly if they
have not only enough to use from day to day, but a reserve or
visible supply for future use. If a colony comes out of the
cellar strong, and with combs full of stores, J have some doubts
if I ean hasten its building up by any tinkering I can do. So
my feeding in spring is to make sure they have abundant stores,
rather than for the stimulation of frequent giving.

RAPID CONSUMPTION OF STORES.

After so many years of experience in that line, I am never-
theless still surprised sometimes to find how rapidly the stores
have diminished under the constantly increasing demands made
by brood-rearing. So there is little danger of getting too much
honey in the hive. “It is not enough to have sufficient to last
till the white-clover harvest begins. To be sure, that might be
all right so far as the building-up of the colony is concerned.
But no honey will be put in the supers so long as. there are
empty cells in the brood-chamber, and it is better to have
enough honey left in the brood-chamber so that the first white
honey shall go straight into the supers.

SURPLUS COMBS OF HONEY.

Nothing is better than to have plenty of full combs of
sealed honey saved over from the previous year, with which to
supply any colony that may need them. ‘If I were as good a
beekeeper as I ought to be, there would always be enough of
these so that nothing else would be needed to take their place.
But I am not as good a beekeeper as I ought to be, and while
some years I may have all.the extra combs of honey that can
be used, at other times they may run short, even to not having
enough to supply the pinching wants of colonies just taken
from the cellar. There may, however, be some combs at least
partly filled that have been taken from colonies that died in
winter, or from the uniting of colonies in spring, and these
may supplement the number of combs saved up from the pre-
vious year.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 105
FEEDING SECTIONS OF COMB HONEY.

When the combs of honey are all gone, the next best thing
is to give sections in wide frames. This seems like an extrava-
gant thing to do; but if the sections contain dark or objection-
able honey, and if they can be cleaned out and used for baits,
there is no very great extravagance about it. I have given
sections by sliding them under the bottom-bars, a thing very
easily done with bottom-boards two inches deep, but such
sections are ruined for use as baits, and all you ean do with thie
empty comb in them is to melt it into wax.

FEEDING TO FILL COMBS.

If neither combs of sealed honey nor suitable sections are
to be had, then feeding with Miller feeders is in order, But
colonies that need feeding in spring are not always very strong,
and a weak colony makes rather poor work on a feeder at that
time. Instead of distributing feeders to all colonies that need
feeding, they are limited to a small number of the very stronig-
est, whether these need feeding or not. Then filled combs are
taken from these strong colonies and: given to the needy colo-
nies whether at home or in the out-apiaries, for the feeders are
generally used only at home.

It may be that these strong colonies are already well sup-
plied with honey. Whatever honey they have is taken from
them, unless it be in combs containing brood, and empty combs
given in place. The feeder is put directly on the brood-cham-
ber. After the bees get a fair start on the feeder an upper
story with empty combs may be given, but just at first they will
make a better start without this second story. When the feeder
is put on 5 or 10 pounds of sugar is poured in, and an equal
quantity of water poured on the sugar. It is much better to
have the water hot. 1t would be well to fill the feeder full, but
in that case a good portion of it would be left to get cold, and
faster work will be done if no more is given each day than will
be taken that day. Very often when I go around to the feeders
next morning I find most of them with sugar still in the feeder,
but the liquid all taken. That doesn’t matter; more water can
be added. Indeed, 12 or 15 pounds of sugar may be put in the

106 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

feeder, and then each day only so much water as the bees will
use out that day; for they are not likely to do much at night
unless the weather be quite warm.

WHOLESALE FEEDING.

There come times, however, when the feeding must be
rushed, and there can be no puttering with getting one colony to
store for another. One of those times came in the year 1902.
The second week in June, at the time when in a good season

Fig. 33—Combs of Brood.

there ought to be lively work piling on supers, I found nearly
every colony on the point of starvation. If there was any dif-
ference the strongest colonies were the worst. The combs were
filled with brood, requiring large daily consumption, stores in
the hive were exhausted, and not enough for daily supplies
coming in. It would hardly be proper economy to have combs
filled with honey saved up for such emergencies, seeing that
they are not expected to come often, so the whole force of feed-
ers, some fifty, were put into action.

Part were put in the home apiary and part taken to the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 107

out-apiaries. When going to an out-apiary a bag of sugar was
taken along. Water was put in the wash-boiler on the cook-
stove and a good fire built under it. A good-sized tin pail was
filled half full or more with the heated water, then sugar was
poured in till the pail was nearly full, and it was stirred with
a stick till fairly well dissolved, which did not take very long.
The syrup was then poured into the feeder on one of the hives,
a pail half full of water was taken in and poured into the boil-
er, and then another colony was fed, and this was continued till
all the feeders were supplied. The next day or so the feeders
were shifted to another set of hives, until all were fed.

FEEDING IN JUNE.

You will notice this is considerably different from the early
spring feeding. The colonies were stronger in June, the
weather warmer, and the bees made rapid work carrying down
the feed. It was better to dissolve the sugar before putting it
in the feeders: (perhaps it is better at any time), for then there
was no danger of having dry sugar left in the feeder. Perhaps
there was no real gain in using hot water when the colonies
were strong and the weather warm. I tried cold water in some
cases, and it worked all right, only it took more stirring.

ORIGINAL MILLER FEEDER.
|

Most of my feeders are of the original pattern (Fig. 40).
At Fig. 41 is seen one of them dissected. The lower part is an
ordinary section-super. On this rests the feeder proper, with
the little board at one end removed, also the little board at one
side, so as to show the inside wall under which the syrup may
flow, and the outside wall, which lacks enough of coming to the
top so that the bees can come up over it and go down into the
feed.

IMPROVED MILLER FEEDER.

The improved Miller feeder of the catalogs, instead of
being all in one has two parts, and the bees go up through the
middle. I thought it was an important improvement to allow

108 PFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the bees to go up the middle instead of up the two sides, because
the heat ought to be greater at the middle. After a thorough
trial of the two, side by side, I am obliged to admit that the
improvement is one in theory only, and that the bees go up the
sides whenever they will go up the middle, and it seems a little
better to have the feed all in one dish.

If it were not for the expense of keeping two sets of feed-
ers, I should like to keep a set of Doolittle division-board
feeders, for there may come a time when it is cool and bees will
not take feed readily from a Miller feeder, yet would take it
from a division-board feeder, because closer to the brood-nest.
But most of the time I should prefer the Miller, so that has the
preference. :

CROCK-AND-PLATE FEEDER.

I have used the crock-and-plate feeder (Fig 43), and it
answers a very good purpose. It has the advantage that any
one can make a feeder at a minute’s notice with materials al-
ways ready to hand. Take a gallon crock, fill it half full of
granulated sugar; then fill nearly full of water, all the better
if stirred till dissolved; cover over the crock a thickness of flan-
nel or other woolen cloth, or else four or five thicknesses of
cheesecloth; over this lay a dinner-plate upside down; then
with one hand under the crock and the other over the plate,
quickly turn the whole thing upside down. Of course a smaller
quantity of feed may be used if desired.

The feeder is then set over the frames of a colony, an
empty hive-body placed over, and all covered up so no bee can
get to it except through the regular hive-entrance.

WATERING-CROCK.

This crock-and-plate feeder is a good one for those who
like outdoor feeding, if only a small quantity is to be fed. It
also makes a good watering place for bees, if one does not mind
the trouble. Better than this is a six-gallon crock standing
upright with a few sticks of firewood in it for a watering-
erock (Fig. 44). A little salt thrown into the water helps to

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 109

keep it sweet, and prevents it from be’ng a breeding place for
Inosquitoes.

CORK CHIPS FOR WATERING.

But I hit upon something that is so effective, so cere and
so little trouble, that I can hardly imagine anything better. Go
to your grocer and ask him to save you some cork chips, such
as he gets in kegs of grapes, and probably throws away. Take
a pail or other vessel (I use a half-barrel), put in as mueh

Fig. 34—Part of Home Apiary (from Northwest).

water as you like, and on this put so much of the cork chips
that the water will barely come up enough for the bees to reach.
A bee can not drown in ae When the water gets low, a
fresh supply can be poured in, and it does no great harm to
pour it directly on the bees. "They climb easily to the top of
the cork after their bath. The cork remains effective through-
out a whole season.

It is important to start the watering-place early in the
season, before the bees make a start at some pump or other
place where they will be troublesome,

110 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

LACK OF SYSTEM.

I would like to say that I am very methodical about over-
hauling and seeing to the building-up of colonies, from the
time they are placed on the summer stands till the honey har-
vest begins, but it would hardly be in accordance with facts.
Conditions of bees or weather may make a difference in the
course of action. Possibly some other duties aside from the
direct care of the bees may make a difference. So when I at-
tempt to tell things just as they are, my want of system con-
fronts me, and makes the task somewhat difficult.

At this point I fancy I can hear some of my good friends
saying, “Why don’t you keep a smaller number of colonies, so
that you can have system enough to be able to tell a straight
story, and derive more pleasure and profit?” I know it would
be more pleasure; but as to the profit, I doubt. If I had so
few that I could at all times do every thing by a perfect sys-
tem, I am afraid I should have part of the time a good deal of
idle time on my hands. Neither is it fair for me to charge my
lack of system entirely to the number of colonies. Some of it
comes from ignorance in not knowing how to do any better,
some of it from changing plans constantly, and perhaps some
of it from lack of energy in doing every thing just at the right
time.

DIVISION-BOARDS.

In former years I made some attempt to keep the bees
warmer by the use of a division-board, closing down to the
nuimber of combs actually needed at the time by the bees. I
was disappointed to find no clear proof that any great good
came from it. Since then the experiments of Gaston Bonnier
have shown that combs serve as good a purpose as a division-
board, so the trouble of moving a division-board from time to
time to accommodate the size of the colony is avoided.

VERY WEAK COLONIES IN SPRING.

I have had, one time and another, a good many very weak
colonies in the spring, and I am puzzled to know what to do
with them. It seems of no use to unite them, for I have united

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 111

tive into one, and the united colony seemed to do no better than
one left separate. About all I try to do is to keep the queen
alive till I find some queenless colony with which to unite them.

One year I took the queens of five or six very weak colo-
nies, put them in small cages, and laid the cages on top of the
frames, under the quilt, over a strong colony. When I next
overhauled this colony, its queen was gone, probably killed by
the bees on account of the presence of other queens, but the
queens in the cages were in good condition, and became after-
ward the mothers of fine colonies. I had put two of the queens
in one cage, as I was short of cages, and did not attach much
value to the queens, and these two did as well as the others. Of
course this was an exception to the general rule.

In my locality I do not think the colonies can ever be-
come strong and populous too early in the season. Theoretical-
ly, at least, then, I see that every colony as soon as it comes out
of the cellar has plenty of stores to last it for some time. I
know this is a very indefinite amount. Perhaps I might make
it more definite by saying, for an ordinary colony, the equiva-
lent of two full combs of stores. If they do not have so much
I supply them. I formerly thought it desirable to have any
feed given them as far as possible from the brood-nest, so that
they might have the feeling that they were accumulating from
abroad. Further observation makes me place less confidence
in this.

STRONG VERSUS WEAK COLONIES.

I think that with increasing years I have an increasing
aversion to weak colonies. At the time of the honey harvest
40,000 bees in two colonies will not begin to store as much as
the same bees would do if they were all in one colony. Of
course you have thought of that, but possibly you have not
noticed so clearly that something like the same rule holds good
about building up in spring. Take a colony that comes out of
the cellar with only enough bees to cover two combs. It will
remain at a standstill for a long time. Indeed, it may not
stand still, but may become weaker, so that it will not have as
much brood June 1 as May 1, with a possibility of pegging out
altogether before the harvest opens, On the other hand a col-

112 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ony with bees enough to cover well three frames is likely to
hold its own, beginning to increase slowly as soon as weather
permits; and if it has bees enough to cover four frames it will
walk right along increasing its brood-nest.

GIVING BROOD TO STRONGER.

Shall I take frames of brood from strong colonies to give
to the weaklings? Not I. For the damage to the strong colo-
nies will more than overbalance the benefit to the weaklings. If
any taking from one colony to give another is done in the spring,
it will be to take from the weak to give to those not so weak.
If one colony has four frames of brood and another two, tak-
ing from the stronger frames for the weaker would leave
both so weak they would not build up very rapidly, whereas
taking one from the two-frame colony and giving it to the
four-frame colony would make the latter build up so much fast-
er that it could pay back with interest the borrowed frame.

GIVING BROOD TO WEAKER.

Not till a colony has six or eight frames of brood is it
desirable to draw from it brood for weaker colonies, and there’s
no hurry about it then. When a colony has its hive so crowded
with brood that the queen seems to need more room, then a
frame of brood can be taken from it to help others. The first
to be helped are not the weakest, but the strongest of those
with less than four frames of brood. When the three-framers
are all brought up to four frames, it is time enough to help
the weaker ones. Toward the last the little fellows can be
helped up quite rapidly. Perhaps a colony with two or three
brood (if you will allow me to use brood for short when I mean
frames of brood) has had brood taken ‘from it, leaving it with
only one brood. It has stood for several weeks, and now it can
have three or four brood given to it, setting it well on its feet.

When brood is thus taken, generally the adhering bees are
taken with the brood, of course making sure that no queen is
taken. Where a single brood is given with adhering bees to a
colony, I have never known any harm to come to the queen of
the reinforced colony. In rare cases I have had the queen ~

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 113

Killed when several frames of brood have been given at a time
to a very weak colony. A precautionary rule is that when
more than one brood is given at a time, each one is taker from
a different colony.

GIVING SECOND STORY.
When a colony is beginning to be crowded and there are no

colonies needing help, and sometimes even when others do need
help, a second story is given. This second story is given below.

Fig. 85—Part of Home Apiary (from Southwest).

Putting an empty story below does not cool off the bees like
putting one above does. The hees can move down as fast as
they need the room. Indeed, this second story is often given
lone before it is needed, and sometimes two empty stories are
eiven, for it is a nice thing to have the combs in the care of
the bees. They will be kept free from moths, and if any are
mouldy they will be nicely cleaned out ready for use when
wanted.

Sometimes when a colony is very strong and a story of
empty combs is given below, a frame of brood is taken from

114 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the upper hive and put below, an empty comb being put in its
place above, But unless the colony is very strong, this hinders
rather than helps the building up.

So good a beekeeper as G. M. Doolittle practiced giving
the extra story on top. I protested, at least mentally, against
dissipating the heat of the colony in that way. Yet in the
spring of 1914 I did exactly that thing myself! By the middle
of May colonies were unusually strong, and there were no long-
er any weak colonies to which brood could be given after be-
ing taken from the stronger colonies. The only thing to do was
to give extra stories to colonies which needed more room, or else
to limit the queen to one story, a very unwise thing up to the
time of giving supers. So I began giving to the strongest col-
onies an upper story, putting in it two brood from below. I
put the extra story above instead of below, not because it was
better for the bees, nor to gratify Doolittle, but because that
was the easier thing for the beekeeper, and the bees would just
have to stand it. A day or two later it began to be evident that
any colony in the apiary might need more room, and so I made
a wholesale business of giving an extra story to each colony,
with the exception of one or two. To make the work still easier
for the beekeeper, instead of putting two frames of brood in
the upper story, I merely put in it five empty combs. That
took less than half the time, and would take much less time
when it came to putting on supers, especially in the case of a
colony which had started no brood above. That gave plenty
of room above for the queen to use if she needed it. If she
didn’t need it no harm was done beyond cooling off the heads
of the bees more than they might like.

I may say here that after a good deal of experience with
colonies having two stories I find that there is no trouble from
having the queen stay exclusively in one or other of the stories.
She passes up and down freely, keeping filled with brood in
both stories as many combs as the bees will care for.

SUBSEQUENT OVERHAULING.

Any overhauling subsequent to the first is an easy matter.
As a broodless frame was left at the further side at the first
overhauling, and the brood-nest commenced with the next:

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 115

frame, I ean count that the bees will continue this arra ange-
ment, only in some cases there will be brood found in the out-
side frame. So in any examination after the first, I commence
at the near side; and when I come to the first crane of brood,
I need go no further, for I know that the brood-nest will oc-
cupy all the rest of fie combs except the outside one. If they
have not plenty of feed, of course it can be given, although it
may not often be necessary to give stores the second time, for
in this locality they can get good supplies from fruit bloom. I

Fig. 56—Comb Resting Diagonally in Hive.

suppose they can forage upon 10,000 fruit trees without going
a mile.

If, however, the first frame of brood I come to contains
only sealed brood, I must look further to see whether they have
eggs or very young brood, for it is possible they may have be-
come queenless. If eggs are plentiful, but no unsealed brood,
I know that they have a young queen which has commenced
laying, and I must find her and clip her wings.

If there is nothing but sealed brood, and no eggs, I am not
sure whether they have a queen or not, and it is not safe to
give them one till I do know, so I give them, from another col-

116 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ony, a comb containing eggs and young brood. I make a record
of giving them this young brood thus: “May 20, no eg gybr,’
(no eggs; gave young brood), and in perhaps a week I look to
gee in what condition they are. If I find queen-cells started I
am pretty sure they have no queen.

QUEENLESS COLONIES.

What shall be done in that ease depends. If the colony is
weak, it is at once broken up, brood and bees being given
wherever they may be needed, and I heave a sigh of relief to
think I am rid of the weakling. If it is strong—an accident
may have happened to the queen of a strong colony at the last
overhauling—it may be broken up and the hrood and bees dis.
tributed where they will do the most good, but more likely a
weaker colony with a good queen will be united with it. Just
possibly, the queen-cells started may be allowed to go on to
completion.

BROOD AS A STIMULANT.

If it happened that they had a virgin queen when the
young brood was given them, the presence of this brood is sup-
posed to stimulate the queen to lay the sooner, and I may find
eges on this later inspection. It may be, however, that I shall
find neither eggs nor queen-cell, in which ease I consider it
probable that they have a queen which has not yet commenced
to lay, and they are left for examination later.

LAYING WORKERS.

Although laymg workers are not so likely to be found
early in the year, it is still possible. Jn some cases the scat-
tered condition of the brood awakens immediate suspicion. This
scattered condition is shown in Fig. 59, but the picture does not
clearly show how the sealed brood projects above the surface
like so many little marbles, being thus projected because drone-
brood is in worker cells.

Often the presence of laying workers can be detected be-
tore there is any sealed brood, by the fact that drone-cells are

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 117

chosen in preference to worker-cells, that is, drone-eells will be
filled with eggs or brood—perhaps two or more eggs in a cell—
while plenty of unused worker-eells seem handy. Kges in queen-
cells are also likely to be found, and if you find a queen-cell
with more than one egg in it you may be pretty sure laying
workers have set up business. Sometimes a dozen of ege’s may
be found in one queen-cell. An ege in a queen-cell with no
other brood or eggs present is a pretty sure sign of laying
workers.

Fig. 3 —Painted Tin Hive-covers.

TREATMENT OF LAYING-WORKER COLONIES.

When a colony of laying workers is found early in the
season, about the only thing to do is to break it up, and it mat-
ters little what is done with the bees. They are old, and of
little value. Indeed, there are never any very young bees with
laying workers, when the bees are Italians or blacks, and it may
be the best thing in all cases to break them up, distributing the
bees and combs to other colonies.

Yet if a strong colony is found at any time with laying
workers, and if, for any reason, it may seem desirable to con-

118 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

tinue the colony, a queen-cell, or a virgin queen just hatched
may be given, for it is not easy to get them ‘to accept a laying
queen.

DRONE-LAYING QUEENS.

Drone-brood in worker-cells may be present with no lay-
ing workers—the work of a drone-laying or failing queen. The
brood in that case, however, will not be so scattering as in Fig.
59. Such a colony is more amenable to treatment, and can be
well utilized by uniting with a weak colony having a laying
queen.

BREAKING UP FAULTY COLONIES,

When fruit blossoms are about ready to burst forth, and
bees are carrying pollen whenever it is warm enough, I do not
expect to lose any more colonies except those that are queenless
or have faulty queens. But I do expect to have the satisfaction
of breaking up every colony that does not have a good queen,
for when I find a colony that is queenless or one whose queen
is more or less a drone-layer, it is no longer any satisfaction to
me to nurse it and coax it along for the sake of saying I have
not lost that colony. The real satisfaction is in having it out of
the way. Time was when it seemed a nice thing in case of
finding a strong colony without a queen to give it young brood
and let it rear a queen; but much observation has shown that a
queen reared thus early is only an aggravation nine times out
of ten. So when a colony is found that is not queen-right, it is
remorselessly broken up, and distributed amongst other colo-
nies, or united with a weak colony having a good queen. The
breaking-up of such colonies does not make the number less
in the long run, for by fall the number can be made greater
than if no breaking-up had taken place.

RECORD ENTRIES.

While care is taken to omit no entry in the book that will
be of future importance, there is really not such a great deal
of writing done, as will be readily understood when it is remem-
bered that only one page is allotted to three colonies, allowing

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 119

only 22 square inches for each. It is seldom that a colony re-
quires more than its allotted space in the season, hardly half
the space being used on the average. There is a great deal of
monotony about the entries, and there are a few words which
are so frequently used that abbreviations aid much in saving
room and time for making entries. Some abbreviations that are
constantly used are as follows: b for bees, br for brood, ¢ or qe
for queen-cell, g for gave, k for killed or destroyed (ke means

Fig. 38—Zinc Hive-covers.

I destroyed the queen-cells), q for queen, s for saw, but se
means sealed queen-cell, t for took, v for virgin queen, [|
for super.

PLACE FOR PENCIL.

To make sure of always having a pencil handy to make
entries, it is tied to the book, as is also a pair of scissors for
clipping queens unless the latter is replaced by a pair of pocket
scissors. A strong string is put in the middle of the book,
passed around the back and tied, and to this is tied a long string
that holds the pencil and another for the scissors. To prevent

120 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the scissors hanging open with its two sharp points, a common
rubber band is so fastened on the handles as to hold them to-
gether. While the band holds the scissors together when not
in use, its elasticity allows their free use when needed.

KILLING GRASS.

This is a good time to salt the ground at and about the
entrances of the hives, to kill the grass, although too often I
leave it till it has to be cut with a sickle. ..Grass growing in
front of the hive annoys the bees, and that growing ‘at the side
annoys the operator, especially, if* the operator is of the female
persuasion, and the grass is wet with dew or rain.

HARBINGERS OF HARVEST.

There are certain things always noticed by a beekeeper,
with much interest, as heralding the beginning of spring or of
the honey harvest. Among these are the singing of frogs, the
advent of bluebirds, and the opening of various blossoms. With
me the highest*interest centers in white clover. As I go-back
and forth to the out-apiaries, I am always watching the patches
of white clover along the roadside. If your attention has never
been called to it, you will be surprised to find how long it is
trom the time the first blossom may be seen, till clover opens
out so bees will work upon it. I usually see a stray blossom
days before it seems to have any company. In my location I do
not count upon anything usually besides white clover for sur-
plus, so no wonder I am interested in it.

VARIOUS HONEY PLANTS.

Yet there are a good many other plants whose help, all
taken together, is not to be despised. If*I kept only a few
colonies, it is quite possible that I might secure some surplus
from more than one of them.

Dandelions help no little in brood-rearing.

Raspberries are eagerly visited by the bees, but there are
not enough of them.to give a noticeable amount of raspberry
honey. Tt is a very pleasant sight to see the bees thickly cover-
ing a field of raspberries in full bloom (Fig. 45).

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 121

Red clover may yet be of importance. Whether it be the
change in the bees or the change in the season I do not know,
but formerly I never saw a bee on red clover except at rare
intervals, and now it is quite common. I think it may be that
the bees are different.

Alsike clover is becoming common.

SWEET CLOVER.

It is hard to tell just how much, but I think the bees gather
quite a little from sweet clover (Fig. 46). The earlier part of
the sweet-clover bloom is probably of no great value, because
it comes at the same time as white clover, but it continues after
white clover is gone, thus making it of greatér value. It has a
habit of throwing out fresh shoots of blossoms on the lower
part of the stalk after the whole stalk has gone.to seed and ap-
pears dead, and thus it continues the blooming season till
freezing wanther comes on. A branch of this kind will be seen
at the right in Fig. 46. I value sweet clover for hay.

Yellow sweet clover blooms from two to four weeks earlier
than white sweet clover, and on that account is of less value in
a year when common white clover yields well. But in the years
when common white clover is a failure yellow sweet clover may
be of very great value, for so far as J know there are no years
of failure with either kind of sweet clover. There may be no
small advantage in having the annual variety of yellow sweet
clover.

Alfalfa (Fig. 47) has become quite common here, a boom
for it having started about 1912. But it is a rare thing to see a
bee at work upon it, and I think it is generally understood that
it does not yield nectar east of the Mississippi.

GIANT WHITE CLOVER.

A new honey plant was mentioned a good deal in foreign
bee journals, a giant white clover, called Colossal Ladino (Fig.
48). I succeeded in getting some seed from Switzerland, sowed
a few of them in the window in the winter, and had the plants
blooming in the summer of 1902. For the purpose of compari-
son you will see in Fig, 48, at the right, a branch of red clover,

4142 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

and at the left a plant of common white or Dutch clover, both
grown on the same ground. As you will see by looking at the
picture, the new plant has leaves as large as those of red clover
and in appearance I think they are identical. The blossom,
however, which you will see toward the left, looks precisely like
a large white-clover blossom. The habit of growth, too, is that
of the common white clover, running along the ground and
taking root as it goes. A look at the picture will show this,
the roots being seen coming from the stalk at the left.

Just how much value there is in this new clover I do not
know. As will be seen, it grows much larger than the common
white, but only as its leaves and leaf stems are larger, for it
does not grow up. and throw out branches like red clover. It
died out the second winter.

LINDEN, CATNIP, GOLDENROD, ASTERS, HEARTSEASE.

Linden or basswood (Fig. 49) is a scarce article, the flavor
of linden honey being seldom perceptible in- any honey stored
by my bees. I take great pleasure, however, in the sight of a
row of lindens running from the public road up to the house
(Fig. 50).

Catnip (Fig. 51) is scattered about in some places quite
plentifully where it has the protection of hedges, for which it
seems to have a great liking. It has a long season.

Goldenrod (Fig. 52) grows in abundance in several vari-
eties, and while other insects may be seen upon it in great
numbers, a bee is seldom seen upon it. Much the same may be
said of the asters (Figs. 53 and 54). In some places both
these plants are said to be well visited by the bees.

The summer of 1902 was very wet, and for the first time in
my observation heartsease (Fig. 55) was busily worked upon
by the bees. Probably it was not plentiful enough before. At
any rate it has now become a honey plant of importance. In
some localities heartease is, I believe, the chief honey plant pro-
ducing amber honey. But I think it yields very light honey
here.

CUCUMBERS.

I think the white-clover crop, for some reason, is more

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 123

unreliable than it was years ago. Some years there is a profu-
sion of clover bloom, but there seems to be no nectar in it. As
some compensation, I think there is more fall pasturage than
formerly. One reason for this is that two pickle-factories are
located at Marengo, and my bees have the run of one or two
hundred acres of cucumbers. And yet I must confess that I am
not at all sure what cucumber honey is. Sometimes the honey
stored at the time of cucumber bloom is objectionable in flavor,
and sometimes the flavor is fine. Two or three years the bees

Fig. 39—Hive-stand.

at the Hastings apiary stored in the fall some fine honey, re-
markable for whiteness, and I’ve no idea what it was gathered
from unless it was heartsease. On the whole I am in a poor
honey region, and would have sought a better one long ago but
for ties other than the bees.

ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE.

T have made some effort to increase the pasturage for
my bees. Of spider-plant I raised only a few plants. It seemed
too difficult to raise to make me care to experiment with it on a

124 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

larger scale. Possibly if I knew better how to manage it, the
difficulty might disappear. Or, on other soil it might be less
difficult to manage. The same might be said of the other things
T have tried. My soil is clay loam, and hilly, although I live in
a prairie State. I am at least a mile distant from prairie soil.
I had an acre of as fine figwort as one would care to see. It
died root and branch the second winter; even the young’ plants
that had come from seed the previous summer. It was on the
lowest ground J had, very rich, and much like prairie.

When the boom for Chapman’s honey plant (Echinops
spherocephalus) was on, I was among the first to get it, and I
succeeded in having a large patch. Bees were on it in large
nuinbers, but close observation showed that a great proportion
of them were loafing as if something about the plant had made
them drunk. I concluded I did not get nectar enough from it
to pay for the use of the land, to say nothing of cultivation.

One year I raised half an acre of sunflowers, and I have
tried other things. but given them up.

APPLE BLOOM.

Quite likely if a second crop. of apple bloom came a month
or two later than the usual time, I might get some surplus from
that; but coming so early J think there are hardly bees enough
to store it. Still, the bees are at this time using large quanti-
ties of honey for brood, and so the apple bloom is of very great
value. Another advantage is that the great quantity of bloom
has somewhat the effect of prolonging its time, for the latest
blossoms, that with a few trees would amount to little or noth-
ing, are enough to keep the bees busy. So it happens that of-
ten I can scarcely recognize any interim between fruit bloom
and clover. A few items from a memorandum for 1882 may
be interesting.

MEMORANDA OF 1882.

April 4.—Last bees taken out of cellar.

May 8.—Plum bloom out. Bees still work on meal and
sugar syrup.

May 10.—Wild plum, dandelion, cherry, pear, Siberian,
Duchess of Oldenberg.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 125

May 31.—Saw first clover blossom.
June 5.—Apple about done.

June 12.—Commenced giving supers.
June 13.—Clover full bloom—plentiful.
June 20.—Locust out.

August 1.—Clover failing.

August 5.—Robber bees trouble.

You will notice that the earliest apple bloom (Duchess of
Oldenberg) commenced May 10, while the Janets and other late
bloomers were still in blossom on June 5, several days after the
first clover was seen, making about four weeks of apple bloom.
Possibly this was unusual—certainly the clover lasted unusually
long, about 744 weeks from the time the bees commenced work-
ing on it, for they do not seem to commence work till after
the blossoms have been out some time..

TIME FOR GIVING SUPERS.

You see that I did not commence putting supers on till 12
days after I saw the first clover blossom, and if I had had only
a dozen colonies, I might have waited later, but with a large
number I must commence in time so that all shall be on as soon
as needed. Usually I put on supers as nearly as convenient to
ten days after seeing the very first white-clover blossom. A
little time before bees commence work in supers, little bits of
pure white wax will be seen stuck on the old comb about the
upper part, yet I hardly wait for this, but go rather by the
clover.

Another year (1884), I saw the first clover blossom on
May 21, apple being still in full bloom; and I commenced put-
ting on supers June 2. One year, I remember, clover failed on
July 4, the earliest I ever remember. ‘

MEMORANDA OF 1901,

Turning to another year, the year 1901, I give a few
entries:

March 17.—Bluebirds, prairie chickens, robins, larks.

Mareh 25.—Frogs. ,

April 5.—Soft maple.

126 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

April 28.—Dandelion.

May 1.—Hard maple, plum.
May 2.—Cherry.

May 5.—Apple.

May 6.—Strawberry.

May 23:—White clover.
June 20.—Sweet clover.
June 29.—Linden.

WHITE CLOVER UNCERTAIN.

That year, 1901, had perhaps the finest show of white-
clover bloom ever known, but it was a dead failure, perhaps on
account of the terrible drouth, although sometimes white clo-
ver blossoms bountifully and fails to yield honey when nothing
that can be seen in the way of weather is at all at fault. About
the middle of August the bees began storing, perhaps from
cucumbers and sweet clover, and gave a surplus of 16 pounds
a colony. It would have been better to have had it all stored
in brood-frames, I think.

The following year, 1902, was still more exceptional. As
already told, the bees would have starved in June but for feed-
ing, yet later on they did some good work, some colonies yield-
ing as much as 72 sections. The bulk of this was stored toward
the last of August or later.

Fig. 70 is from a photo taken Oct. 1. In the picture the
bee appears to be perfectly still, but these are not moving pic-
tures, and J assure you that that bee was in very lively motion
when taken.

OVERSTOCKING.

To a beekeeper who has more bees than he thinks advisable
to keep in the home apiary, pasturage and overstocking are
subjects of intense interest. The two subjects are intimately
connected. They are subjects so elusive, so difficult to learn
anything about very positively, that if I could well help myself
J think I should dismiss them altogether from contemplation.
But, like Banquo’s ghost, they will not down. I must decide,
whether I will or not, how many colonies will overstock the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 127

home field, unless I make the idiotic determination to keep all
at home with the almost certain result of obtaining no surplus.
I do not expect ever to have any positive knowledge upon the
subject, because if I could find out with certainty just what
number of colonies a given area would support in one year,
I have no kind of assurance that the same kind of year will
ever occur again. So I act upon the guess that in my locality
it is never wise to have more than 100 colonies in one apiary,
and possibly 75 would be better.

SURPLUS ARRANGEMENTS.

The first surplus honey I obtained worth mentioning was
secured in boxes holding somewhere from 6 to 10 pounds. The
boxes had glass on one or more sides, and were placed on the
top of box hives. Then for a year or more my surplus was
extracted honey obtained with the old Peabody extractor (Fig.
2), in which the whole affair, can and all, revolves.

SECTIONS.

Then I started on sections of the four-piece kind, and later
used one-piece. I have used the 4% x 4144 x 1% size much more
than any other. I have used a few hundreds of the tall sections,
but my market does not seem to like them any better than the
square sections, if as well. I have tried 414 square sections of
several widths, 115/16 inches wide, 7 to the foot, also 8, 9, and
10 to the foot. I have made some trial of plain sections, but
for my market I am not sure that there is advantage enough in
them to make me change from the two-beeway sections.

T SUPERS.

The T supers I use are 1214 wide inside, just right for
eight- frame hives. Just why I adopted this size I do not
know, for at that time I was using 10-frame hives, and it was
a little awkward to use a super so much narrower than the
hive. But at least part of the time I used only eight frames
in the 10-frame hives.

128 PIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
HOW TO MAKE A T SUPER.

So many have asked me how to make a T super that it
may be well to give directions here. It is a plain box without
top or bottom, the inside width being the same as that of the
hive and the depth 14 inch more than the depth of the sections
to be used. Mine being for the 8-frame dovetailed hive, and
for 414 x 414 sections, are 17% inches long, inside measure,
121% inches wide, and 41% inches deep. If they were all to be

made over again, I think I might prefer to have them ¥g inch

Fig. 40—Original Miller Feeder.

shorter.. Unless the lumber is very thoroughly seasoned, the
depth should be a little more than 144 inch more than the depth
of the sections. To support the sections, three T tins are need-
ed, and there must be something to support these T tins, 3 sup-
ports on each side. With your super lying before you upside
down, make a mark on the edge of each side at the middle.
Now, half way between this mark and each inside end of the
super, make another mark. These three marks on each side will
tell you where the middle of each support is to be. Most of the
supers have for these 6 supports pieces of sheet iron 14g x1

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 129

inch. Lay the piece flat on the edge of the side of the surer,
and fasten it by 2 nails about 44 inch from the inside edge of
the side of the super. As the wall of the super is 7% thick, that
will allow the support to project inside about 14 inch, and the
support is of course 1 inch wide. Some of the latest of my
supers, instead of these squares of sheet iron, have staples as
supports. A staple is driven in about 14 inch from the inside
edge, then bent over and hammered down flat. The staples are
an inch wide. To support the sections at each end of the super
a strip of tin is nailed on. It is 1314 x 5g, and is nailed on so as
to project inward 14 inch. The 12-inch T tins are bought ready
inade. The super is hardly long enough to close the top of the
hive. I like this. When the harvest is booming I let the super
be shoved forward enough so there will be at the back end
a space of 14 inch for ventilation, which is an important factor
to prevent swarming. But the sections near this ventilation
will not be finished so rapidly, and at the beginning and toward
the close of the season a cleat is nailed on the super to close
fully the opening. Yet I remember at least one year when it
worked the other way, and the sections were sealed sooner at
the open end than at the closed end. Perhaps it was because
the weather was very hot.

The separators used are plain wood, and are generally
bought new every year, for it is about as cheap to buy new as
to clean the old, and more satisfactory. The usual follower fills
out the super, wedged in with a super-spring.

TOP VENTILATION OF SUPERS.

In working for extracted honey it is an easy thing to
give a good deal of ventilation to each story, and it works well
as a great hindrance to swarming. It makes no great difference
if the bees should not seal the combs so well at the openings for
ventilation. For years I dreamed of trying to have some way
of having the same advantage for comb honey. To be sure,
it had worked well enough, at least part of the time, to have a
space for ventilation between hive and super at the back end.
But to have ventilation between each two supers could hardly
fail to make bad work about sealing where the openings came.

130 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

1f we could only have ventilation at the center, where sealing
is first done, instead of at the ends where the last sealing is
done! Well, why not at the center? In 1912 I tried it, mak-
ing a ventilation-cover. Here is the bill of material for it: 2
pieces 20 x 45g x 14; 2 pieces 4x 45x14; 2 pieces 13% x 1px
Wy; 2 pieces Tx 14x.

At each side will be one of the 20-inch pieces, and between
them, one at each end, the 4-inch pieces. These will be nailed
upon the 13% pieces, one at each end, and the 7-inch pieces
will come at the inside ends of the 4-inch pieces. We now have
a cover with a central opening 12x 4% inches. This is laid
upon the super with the 14-inch square pieces uppermost, and
on this is placed the usual cover. If desired, this ventilation-
cover can be lightly nailed to the hive-cover, to be removed at
the close of the super-season. These ventilation-covers have
not been thoroughly tested, but give promise of being an ac-
quisition,

SUPER SPRINGS.

‘Until the introduction of super springs, my supers of
sections were wedged together by crowding in behind the fol-
lower a straight stick about as long as the inside length of the
super, and 14x % inch. I find the super springs a very great
improvement. When the sections are filled into the super, the
corners, which have been wet, are not yet entirely dry, and no
matter how tightly wedged, as they dry out there will be
shrinkage of the contents of the super, so that in some cases
the wedge-stick will drop down. The metal springs will adjust
themselves to this, and continue to press the sections together,
although with less force, after all have entirely dried out. It is
easier to put the springs in, and very much easier to take them
out. In a word, the sticks are not always a fit, and the springs
are.

Another thing of perhaps still more importance is that the
stick, being crowded in diagonally, forms a pocket in which the
bees are apt to congregate when one is trying to get them out
of the super, and it is very hard to dislodge them from this
pocket. The spring forms no such pocket.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 181

I am not sure whether it is better to use one spring or two
to a super.

The T tins are not fastened to the super, but loose (Fig. 5).
SECTIONS READY IN ADVANCE.

The work of getting sections and supers ready for use has
been all done long before the time for putting on, and some-
thing will be said about how that work is done.

At the time the supers are needed for putting on the hives,
they are all nicely piled up in the storeroom of the shop, ready
to carry out.

Years ago I thought I was doing pretty well if I had ready
in advance as much as 4 supers filled with sections for each
colony. Certainly, if I could average, one year with another,
96 finished sections per colony, it would not be such a bad
thing. But if preparation is to be made in advance, it must be
not for an average crop, but for the largest crop possible. Al-
lowance must be made, too, for unfinished sections that will be
taken off at the close of the season, and also for a good many
that the bees have not begun on at all. Being caught short of
sections and having to get them ready right in the rush of har-
vest made me change my mind as to the number that should
be ready in advance. Several times I had to change my mind,
each time setting the mark a little higher, for as the years went
by the big yields of big years became bigger. One reason for
this was no doubt the improvement in pasturage. Another was
the improvement in bees by continuous breeding from the
best storers.

AN EMPHATIC SEASON.

The year 1903 was one of the years that emphasized the
need of having a big stock of sections ready in advance. It
emphasized also the variableness of the seasons. Another item
of no small importance was the harvests of the present and fu-
ture as compared with the past. Some have said that, with
the advance of civilization, the plow and the ax have cut off
our resources for nectar, and we are no more to expect such

132 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

crops as we have had in the past. We shall see where the year
1903 put the emphasis in that matter.

A furnace put in the cellar somewhat late the previous
winter had made bad work with the wintering, so that by the
12th of May, 1903, I could muster only 124 colonies all told,
and some of them were very weak indeed. The dense carpet of
white clover promised well, provided the weather was good (as
it turned out there was too much cold and wet for best expec-
tations), but enough supers were piled ready-filled to satisfy
any reasonable demands. The cool wet weather hindered stor-
ing no little, but was no doubt an advantage in the long run,
for it kept the clover growing and blowing, and I don’t know
really when it did cease to yield.

The season was remarkably early, so that second stories
were given some colonies by May 13, and May 25 we began
giving supers. Three days later there were evidences of abun-
dant storing. July 1 we began taking off supers, and from that
on had a busy time both taking off and putting on—no trouble
with robber-bees; supers could be set on hives and left till the
bees all ran out of their own accord, standing all day if neces-
sary. This up to July 18, after which time the bees would
have spells of letting up, only to go at it afresh after the pause.

Finally it began to dawn on us that our stock of filled
supers was running dangerously low. More sections were or-
dered. Getting them ready as needed was added to our already
heavy task. We were kept on the jump till near the middle of
August. Then came the National convention at Los Angeles.
Some 12,000 finished sections were piled up in the house, but a
lot more were on the hives, and I hesitated about going. But
my assistant insisted I should go; the bees had let up on stor-
ing, and I thought it would do no great harm to leave all sec-
tions on till I got back, so I left August 12, getting back the
28th.

Scarcely had I got out of sight when the bees made a fresh
start as fierce as ever, and gave Miss Wilson the busy time of
her life. Up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get sections ready,
then to one of the apiaries to take off and put on supers, with
no let-up in the work of going through colonies to keep down
swarming. Yes, indeed, there was swarming galore, and had

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 133

. been all through the season. It is generally understood that
when bees are busily engaged at storing they give up all
thoughts of swarming. Not in 1903. I’m not sure I ever knew
so bad a season for swarming. We fought our best to prevent
it, but every now and then the bees would get the start of us.

Some 6000 finished sections were taken off during my 16
days’ absence, and on my return I found everything about the
work kept up in as good shape as if I had been at home. And
Miss Wilson was still alive.

Fig. 41—Miller Feeder Dissected.

We didn’t get the last sections off the hives till well along
in September, and the final footing up was not conducive to
despondency. From 124 colonies, spring count, we had 18,150
pounds of comb honey (about 20,000 finished sections), in-
creasing to 284 colonies; or an average of more than 146 pounds
per colony, with 129 per cent increase. As the storing was
mainly by one set of colonies and the increase by another, it
would perhaps be fairer to say that 100 colonies averaged 18114
pounds per colony with no increase, and that each of the re-
maining colonies was increased to 72; colonies with no surplus,

134 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

The best colony gave 300 sections, and several colonies were
close on its heels.

NUMBER OF SECTIONS NEEDED PER COLONY.

Clearly, in such a season as 1903 it would not do to have
ready only 4 supers per colony, and I did some figuring to de-
termine what would be the right number. That average of 146
pounds per colony was equivalent to about 160 sections per
colony. With 24 sections to the super, these 160 sections would
lack 8 sections of filling 7 supers. There were probably more
than 8 unfinished and empty sections per colony, so it will be
readily seen that for another year like 1903 it will be a con-
servative estimate to count on having 7 supers of sections ready
in advance for each colony. Such a year may never come again,
but then again it may. So remembering the old saw, “It is
better to be ready and not go than to go and not be ready,” it
will be the wise thing to have 7 supers filled in advance each
year. If they are not needed they will keep over all right, even
if kept so long as 4 or 5 years.

Perhaps it will be well, as a general rule, to have ready as
many as will be needed in your best year, and then an extra
super besides for each colony. That, of course, might make it
more, or it might make it less, than 7 supers to the colony.

A PHENOMENAL SEASON.

Just ten years later came the season of 1913, again upset-
ting all figures. The season opened with 83 colonies; 11 of
these were devoted to extracting-combs, and 72 to sections, and
these 72 had no help from the other 11. There was abundance
of fruit bloom and dandelion, and colonies became strong. May
27 appeared the first bloom on alsike and white clover, just as
fruit bloom closed. Two days later we began putting on supers,
and the bees were not long about occupying them. There was
a steady flow from clover for at least 11 weeks, and I don’t
know how much longer, for about August 18 sweet clover and
heartsease began to mix in, continuing till Sept. 20, supers
being taken off Sept. 22. Thus there was a continuous flow,
with scarcely a break, for about 16 weeks. Timely rains oc-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 135

curred to keep the bloom at its best, but they generally occurred
in the night, allowing the bees to be on their job the next
morning.

After the flow was well under way, with every prospect of
continuance, Miss Wilson began to urge that more sections
should be ordered. I laughed at her. I said, “There is no need
of more than 7 supers per colony, spring count. We had at
the beginning of the season 660 supers ready to put on the
hives. That’s a little more than 9 supers per colony. We never
have needed anything like that number of supers, and never
will. No matter how hard the bees are working now, there are
always setbacks, as you will see, and at the close of the season
we will have empty supers to burn.” But with Scotch persist-
ence she kept insisting, and finally I ordered more sections,
with no expectation they would be needed. It would, however,
satisfy Miss Wilson, and the sections would keep for another
season. But the expected setbacks did not come, and the big
flow kept right on flowing until the 660 supers had been put on
the hives, and we began to put on some of the fresh lot. Then
Miss Wilson had the laugh on me. I bore it calmly.

The increase from these 72 colonies was only one colony,
the other 11 colonies furnishing all needed increase.

There was no stinting of surplus room. As fast as needed
an empty super was added below, and as a sort of safety valve
an empty super was kept on top. Throughout the whole of
July there was on the hives an average of 5 supers each. A
few colonies had as many as 7 or 8 supers each at one time.

June 24 we began taking off supers. Each colony had
careful credit for all honey taken from it. Not only were full
sections counted, but sections partly filled were estimated and
credited. Footed up at the close of the season, there were
19,186 sections, or an average of 266.47 sections per colony, for
the 72 colonies, spring count. If reduced to pounds it would
probably be about 244 pounds per colony.

The number of finished, marketable sections was 17,684,
or 245.6 sections per colony, spring count. Reduced to pounds,
that would be something like 225 pounds per colony.

Returning to the total credits, the poorest colony was
eredited with 68 sections, the best with 402. Only 10 colonies

136 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

gave less than 200 sections each. The best six colonies gave
respectively 383,384,384, 390, 395, 402.

Whether you count the total 266.47 sections per colony, or
only the 245.6 finished sections, I think that 1913 crop stands as
the world’s record for the best yield of comb honey for as many
as 72 colonies. It could hardly be expected that I should not
feel a little proud of holding such a record; but-I am not proud:
that in such a season there should be as many as 10 colonies
giving less than 200 sections each. I can take no pride in the
season; that’s one of God’s good gifts; I can only take pride in
good management and careful breeding; and for those am I not
equally indebted to the same God?

SHOP FOR BEE WORK.

The shop (Fig. 71) in which the filled supers are stored is
a plain wooden building 18 x 24, two-story, with a bee-cellar
under it. The bee-cellar, however, has not been used for some
years. The upper story is used for storing empty supers, hives,
and other articles not very heavy, or such as are not often
needed. The outside door opens into the middle of the east
side of the house into a storeroom; immediately in front of you
as you enter are the stairs leading to the upper story, and at
your right a door opens into the workroom. In this work-
room is a coal stove, and the room, being ceiled up, is comfort-
able in the severest weather.

ROOM FOR QUEEN.

Up to the time of putting on supers the queen has had
unlimited room with the design of encouraging the rearing of
as much brood as possible. When the harvest begins, she may
have as much as 6, 9, 11, even up to 14 frames well occupied
with brood and eggs. A good deal depends on the season, as
well as the queen. At one time I thought I ought to be able to
make a success of continuing the two stories of brood-frames
throughout the harvest. It seems that when a colony is so
strong as to have 12 or 14 frames of brood, there ought to be
no difficulty in having good super-work done by putting the
supers above the two stories; and one season of failure the only

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 137

super I had filled was on a two-story colony. But I was never
able to have that thing repeated, and whatever the reason may
be, I have not been able to make a success of putting comb-
honey supers on two-story colonies. Even if the two-story plan
would work all right it involves much extra lifting.

REDUCING TO ONE STORY.
So before putting on supers the colonies are reduced to one

story each. If a colony has 9, 10, or more frames of brood, all
but 8 are taken away. The surplus frames of brood are given

4 *
rs —
kg
. *
3 i

Fig. 42—Hive-dummy.

to those which have less than 8 frames of brood each, the effort
being to have in each hive 8 frames well filled with brood when
a super is given. The season may be such that it will not be
possible to have as many as 8 brood in each hive. A colony
strong enough to have 6 frames well filled with brood is likely
to be in condition for good super-work, but the work will be
better if it has 7 or 8. On the other hand the season and the
early condition of the bees may be such that when each colony

138 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

is brought up or down to its 8 frames of brood, a considerable
surplus of brood may be left.

DISPOSAL OF EXTRA BROOD.

Circumstances will decide what shall be done with this
extra brood. It may be needed for building up nuclei, or for
new colonies. It may be piled up temporarily in piles of three,
four, or five stories each, to be used later in any manner desired.
It does not take three times as many bees to care for the brood
in three stories as it does to care for the brood in one story.
If two or three stories of brood with adhering bees are piled
up, in two or three weeks there will be enough bees there so
that’ when reduced to one story it will be all right for suyer-
work. Or it may be left just as it is, and allowed to store in
combs for the next spring’s use, or for extracting.

BURR-COMBS.

At the time of putting on supers, it is desirable that there
shall be as little inducement as possible toward the building of
burr-combs between top-bars and supers. A very strong in-
ducement of that kind consists in the presence of any begin-
nings of such combs already there. Formerly I had a space of
¥@ of an inch over top-bars, and if a super of sections were
placed directly on the hive, burr-combs in abundance would be
built.

HEDDON HONEY-BOARD.

In such conditions the Heddon slat honey-board (Fig. 6)
was a boon. Between the top-bars and the honey-board was a
mass of burr-combs filled with honey, making a disagreeably
dauby, sticky, dripping mess when the honey-board was re-
moved; but the space between the honey-board and the bot-
toms of the sections was left beautifully free from burr-combs,
so the section bottoms were left clean. This while everything
was new; for if honey-boards were put on a second year with-
out cleaning there would be the beginnings of burr-combs be-
tween honey-board and sections, or more than the beginnings if

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 139

the honey-boards had gone more than one year without cleaning.
So at some time before putting on the honey-boards they were
earefully cleaned. But cleaning the honey-boards was not
enough. The tops of the frames had to be cleaned as well, and
this cleaning was done with a common garden-hoe, an assistant
smoking the bees out of the way while the top-bars were hoed.

CORRECT BEE-SPACE.

It was a great step in advance when we learned that in-
stead of a space % of an inch there should be only %4 inch, or
perhaps a shade less. In other words we learned that a bee-
space, or that space in which bees were least inclined to put
either comb or propolis, was a scant quarter of an inch. With
a correct bee-space between top-bars and sections, we can dis-
pense entirely with anything in the shape of a honey-board.
There will be a little trouble with the building of bits of comb
under the sections, but not enough to make it worth while to
use a honey-board. But that trouble will be greatly aggravated
if there be any beginnings of burr-combs on the tops of the
frames when supers are given. So the tops must be cleaned off
wherever there is anything to clean off before the supers are
put on the hives.

THICK TOP-BARS.

Another thing that may help to keep down burr-combs is
the thickness and width of top bars. My top-bars are 7% thick
and 114 wide, leaving a space of 44 inch between them. There
are more burr-combs than I like built between them, and I have
wondered whether any other space would be better. If the sides
as well as the tops of the top-bars were cleaned off at the time
of giving supers, it would help to keep the bottoms of sections
clean, but I doubt its paying.

THICK TOP-BAKS FOR WHITE SECTIONS.
Even if the % thickness of top-bar were of no other

advantage, I should want it for the sake of keeping the cap-.
pings of the sections white. At one time I had wide frames of

146 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

sections facing brood-frames (the brood-frames were used to
bait the bees up into the supers), and if the brood-frames were
left there till the sections were sealed, the sealing would be
almost if not quite as dark as the sealing of brood-combs. The
bees seem to carry bits of the old, black brood-combs to use in
capping the sections. So the thick top-bar increasing the dis-
tance of the sections from the brood-combs helps to keep the
former whiter.

NO EXCLUDER UNDER SECTIONS.

“Before putting on the super, would you advise me to put
a queen-excluder (Fig. 56) over the brood-chamber?” It
would increase the space between the brood-combs and the
sections, and in that way would be a further help toward pre-
vention of dark cappings on the sections, and it would make a
sure thing as to preventing burr-combs on the bottoms of the
sections. But I don’t believe there would be enough advantage
in both ways to pay for the excluders.

I think I heard you say, “But wouldn’t it pay to use ex-
cluders for the sake of keeping the queen out of the supers?”
I may reply that the queen so seldom goes up into a super that
not one section in a hundred, sometimes not more than one in
a thousand, will be found troubled with brood. So on the
whole I hardly think that all the advantages to be gained from
using excluders would pay for the time and trouble of using
them. I need not consider so very much the cost of them, for
I have a lot on hand lying idle. At one time I thought I had
a plan for prevention of swarming by the use of excluders,
and was so sanguine about it that I got 150 of them. I think a
great deal of queen-excluders, and wouldn’t like to do without
them, but I did not need 150 of them, for my excluder-swarm-
}revention plan did not turn out to be a howling success.

EXPERIMENTING ON TOO LARGE A SCALE.

Allow me to digress long enough to confess that one of my
weaknesses is being a little too sanguine about new plans while
they are yet in the raw, and so experimenting on too large a
scale. More than one crop of honey has been lessened by means

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 141

of some foolish project that I thought might increase the erop.
But I haven't done as badly as I might have done, for my good
wife has acted somewhat as a balance wheel, advising me to
“go slow” and not experiment on too great a scale, and she has
always been abetted by her sister, who is perhaps over-con-
servative. I could have tested my plan with 15 exeluders just
as well as ten times that number, but I knew the plan would
work, and I couldn’t wait! I thmk I didn’t consult my wife
about ordering the 150 excluders. As I grow older I may
learn caution, and experiment on a smaller seale, but too much
should not be expected of me.

ee ere

Tig, 43—Crock-and-plate Feeder.
PLEASURE OF EXPERIMENTING.

As an offset to the mischief done by experimenting on too
large a seale, I may say that one of my keenest enjoyments is
the working out of problems connected with beekeeping. There
is never a time, summer or winter, when I am not cooking one
or more schemes, plans or projects connected with the business.
No doubt more money could be made at beekeeping if every-
thing in the business were fully settled and we knew before-

142 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

hand just exactly the right step to take in any given case, but
there wouldn’t be nearly the fun in it.

BROOD AND POLLEN IN SEOTIONS.

It may be asked why it is that I have so little trouble with
queens laying in sections, while some others are much troubled
in that way. Possibly the thickness of top-bars may have some-
thing to do with it, but very likely it may be that the amount of
foundation in sections has a bearing on the case. Some use
small starters in sections, while my sections are filled as full as
possible with foundation. When drone-comb is absent from the
brood-nest, there seems to be such a desperate desire for drone-
brood that I have known the queen to leave the brood-nest and
fill with eggs a patch of drone-comb two or three frames dis-
tant from the brood-nest. On the same principle she would
go up into the sections if drone-comb were there, and nearly
always when I find brood in the sections it is drone-brood. With
small starters in sections there is plenty of chance for building
drone-comb, but when the sections are full of worker founda-
tion there is no chance for it, hence no special temptation for
the queen to go above unless very much crowded for room.

Of course, when brood enters the sections, pollen is likely
to follow. Perhaps a more common cause of pollen in sections
is the shallowness of brood-frames. Against this, an excluder
is powerless to help. I had a little experience with frames
shallower than the Langstroth, and had more pollen over one
hive with the shallower frames than over fifty of the others.

PREPARING SUPERS OF SECTIONS,

This work is done in the winter, or at least so early in
spring that it will not interfere with other work, but as an
understanding of it may help just a little toward understanding
some of the summer work, I will talk about it here.

OLEANING SUPERS AND T TINS.

The propolis is seraped from the supers by means of the
hatchet already mentioned, Cleaning T tins is another matter.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 143

The plan used is the invention of my assistant, and I think I
cannot do better than to let her tell about it by copying the
following article which she wrote for Gleanings in Bee Culture:

“When we commenced work in the shop, the first super I
filled with the nice clean sections, I looked at the T tins all
covered with propolis and thought to myself: ‘If we are to have
sections unstained by propolis it will never do to put them on
these dirty T tins. But, oh dear! it will be an endless task to
serape them all. I can never do it. Just then a happy thought

Fig. 44—Watering-crock.

struck me. Why not boil the propolis off? Sure enough, why
not?

“T repaired to the kitchen, placed the wash-boiler on the
stove (one we use for such work), filled it with water and T
tins, then went back to the shop to work, and left them to boil
at their own sweet will, delighted to think I had such an in-
spiration. In about an hour I went back to the kitchen to see
how my T tins were progressing. I fully expected to see them
all nice and clean, and was most bitterly disappointed to find
that they looked even worse than they did when I put them in,
as the propolis was more evenly distributed all over them,

144 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

“T next tried scrubbing them with a broom in the boiling
water, but it would not work. I meditated awhile, then con-
cluded I would try concentrated lye, provided Dr. Miller did
not object. I did not know what effect the lye would have on
the tins. He said I might try it. I put the boiler back on the
stove to try once more. I did not feel quite so sanguine as I
poured in part of a can of concentrated lye.

“T did not leave it this time, but anxiously watched to see
what.effect it would have. It brought it off pretty well, but was
not quite strong enough. I put in the rest of the can of lye,
and eureka! the propolis disappeared as if by magic. I stirred
the tins with the poker to insure the lye reaching all parts of
them; then with the tongs I lifted them into a tub and rinsed
them off with cold water and set them up in the sun to drain,
as bright and as clean as when they came from the tinner’s,

“T filled up the boiler with T tins again, and so on, until
the strength of the lye was all used up, when I turned it out,
filled up the boiler afresh, and began all over again, continuing
until they were all done. I used a can of lye to a boiler of
water.

‘“Hvery time I fill up a super with the nice clean T tins 7
feel more than paid for the work it took to make them so. T
am pretty sure that washing fluid would clean them almost if
not quite as well as the concentrated lye, provided it were used
strong enough, although I have never tried it. However, I
think I should prefer the lye, as it does the work most thor-
oyghly and does not hurt the T tins in the least that I can see.

“Tf you have a lot of dirty T tins I advise you to clean
them in this way, and see if you are not as delighted as I was
to see them come out so bright and clean. Be sure to use
plenty of water in rinsing them off.”

WETTING SECTIONS.

The well-known Hubbard section-press is used for putting
the sections together. If the sections are fresh from the manu-
facturer and as good as they ought to be, they can be put to-
gether at once without any preparation. If they have been held
over from the previous year they may be so dry that too many

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 145

of them will break in folding. The joints of these are wet in a
somewhat wholesale manner. If they are crated in such a way
as to be favorable for it, the whole crate of 500 are wet before
being taken from the original package, one side of the crate
being removed so as to expose the edges of the sections. If
the crate is not of the right kind for this, then the sections are
taken from the crate and put in the proper position in an empty
crate lying on one side with the ‘top and one end removed. Of
course the sections do not lie flat, but on their edges, the grooves
of each tier corresponding with the grooves of the other tiers,
so that a small stream of water poured into the grooves at the
top will readily find its way clear through to the bottom. If
necessary the sections must be wedged together, so there will be
no room for water to get between them only at the grooves.

A pint funnel is specially prepared for the work. A
wooden plug is pushed in from above, projecting below two
inches or less. The lower end of the plug is whittled to a
point, and either by means of a bad fit or by means of a little
channel cut in one side of the plug, there is just leak enough so
that when the funnel is filled there will be a continuous fine
stream of water running from the point of the plug.- Holding
the funnel in one hand I pour into it boiling water from a tea-
kettle held in the other, at the same time holding the funnel
se that the stream from the point of the plug shall be directed
into the grooves, moving the funnel along just fast enough
so that the water shall be sure to go clear through to the bot-
tom. Cold water will not work well.

A plan I like better is to have a vessel of hot water some-
what elevated, with a small rubber tube running from it, so
that the stream from it can easily be directed into the grooves.
A fountain syringe works nicely.

Before wetting, the box of sections should be stood so that
the sections are on end, and then jolted heavily, so as to make
the grooves correspond the whole depth of the box. After the
sections are wet they swell immediately, making them fit too
tightly in the box to be gotten out without much difficulty. The
boards are torn off one end of the box, and after the sections
are taken out the boards are nailed on again, if it be desired to
preserve the box.

146 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

FOLDING SECTIONS.

Sometimes I put sections together myself, but generally
some boy or girl does the work unless my wife be pressed into
service. The operator seated at the machine (Fig. 57) has a
pile of sections laid at a convenient height at her left hand,
the sections piled so that ends correspond. As fast as the sec-
tions are taken from the press they are neatly piled in order
on a board at the right of the operator. (I know that some
throw the sections indiscriminately into a basket as they leave
the press, and it seems this ought to take less time, but I think
in the long run my way saves time.) It is desirable that the
board upon which the sections are piled should be light, as no
great strength is required, and sometimes several thousand
folded sections will be piled up ahead, and it is pleasanter to
handle the light board. A dummy or almost any board will
answer, but oftener hive-covers are used. One of these is of
such size that there may be placed upon it side by side three
rows of sections with eleven sections in each row. Upon these
are placed three other rows, break-joint fashion, with ten sec-
tions in each row, and this piling up may continue till the
upper rows contain four or less each. Generally the piling
goes no higher than to have six sections in the upper rows,
making 153 sections a boardful. As fast as one board is filled
another takes its place, and the filled board is piled up, unless
Miss Wilson is putting in foundation at the time and is ready
. for a fresh boardful of sections.

SIZE OF STARTERS IN SECTIONS.

Foundation for sections comes from the factory in sheets
large enough to fill several sections. At different times the
sheets have been of different sizes, but for some time past they
have measured 3% x1514. This size is just right to make four
top starters 314 inches deep, and four bottom starters 5g inch
deep. Occasionally a bottom-starter of this depth makes trou-
ble by lopping over, but not often, and a shallower starter is
more likely to be gnawed down by the bees. Moreover, I think
the deeper the bottom-starter the more promptly the two start-
ers are fastened together,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 147

With two starters of this size in a 41 section, there should
bea space of 4 inch between the two if it were not that the
space is made larger by the melting away of the edges of the
starters when they are put in the section (Fig. 60).

CUTTING FOUNDATION.

I have one time and another used different plans for
cutting. A simple way, and one that is quite satisfactory, is
the following: Take a board 18x12 inches or larger; on one

Fig. 45—Field of Raspberries in Bloom.

end nail a block as a stop for the ends of the sheets of founda-
tion to rest against, and on one side nail four blocks about 21%
inches long as stops for the one edge of the foundation to rest
against. It is well also to nail one of these 214-inch blocks on
the other side near the stop at the end, so as to make a space of
7%, inches in which the ends of the foundation shall be con-
fined, otherwise the foundation has a disagreeable habit of
sluing off to one side when the first cut is made at the other
end. Of course these stops are to be nailed on the upper sur-
face of the board and not on the edges. The two blocks that
are nailed nearest the end-stop are to be tight against it, the

148 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

others at such intervals as to allow for cutting the 314 starters.
The size of these blocks is not important, 5g square being a
good size. With a rule of any convenient length 12x 4, this
rule being used to guide the knife in cutting, the machine would
now be ready for the foundation if one had an eye accurate
enough to put the rule in the right place. In order to do this
quickly and accurately, nails against which to place the rule
at the right places are partly driven in on both sides; 24-inch
wire finishing-nails are good for this purpose. The board is
to lie before you, having the side with the four stop-blocks
nearest you. Drive a nail into each side of the board so that
there shall be a space of just 314 inches between the end-stop
and the nail. I don’t mean you shall mark a point 314 inches
from the end-stop and drive your nail there, for that would
make 314 inches from the end-stop to the middle of the nail,
whereas it should be 314 from the stop to the nearest side of
the nail. The distances of the other nails from the end-stops
will be as follows: 644, 934, 13, 1354, 1414, 14%. Now your
cutting board is all ready for work.

Two knives are needed, one to be heating while the other
is cutting. For heating I use a common kerosene lamp put in
a box deep enough so that when a board is laid over the top of
it and a knife is laid on that board the end of the knife-blade
shall be directly over the lamp, nearly or quite touching the top
of the chimney. I don’t know what kind of knife is best. A
Barlow knife makes good work, but I think I like better a
common tea-knife with a thin steel blade broken off, so it is 24%
or 3 inches long, and somewhat square at the point.

Preparatory to cutting, the foundation must be carefully
and evenly placed on the board. Take several sheets and even
them up true and nice, and lay the pile with one end tight
against the end-stop and one side against the side-stops. Now
lay a similar pile close beside it. Beginning at the right-hand
end, place your rule against the left-hand side of the nails, and
with a quick stroke make a cut with the knife held flat against
the rule. If you don’t look out you’ll hold the rule so that you'll
cut a piece off the tip of the thumb or fingers of the left hand,
but you'll not be likely to do it many times. Jf you are not
careful to hold the knife flat against the rule you will be likely

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 149

to eut into it. To avoid this T have tried covering the rule with
tin, but do not like it so well. The rapidity of the stroke is
important. If your knife is hot enough you can cut clear
down through at one stroke, but that’s bad. The edges of the
foundation will be melted together, and you will have trouble
getting them apart. Turn down your lamp, and get it so three
or four strokes will be needed.

Trig. 46—Sweet Clover.

Latterly I have given up heating the knife, and lke it
better. The small blade of a pocket-knife is used, and it is kept
very sharp, especially at the point. Three rapid strokes do the
business. The rapidity of the strokes is important, but some
practice is needed, for with the very quick strokes there is some
danger that the knife will cut into the stock. If the wax is
warm enough two strokes will do.

Although this plan takes more strokes, it still saves time
for there is no heating or changing of knives. It also saves

150 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the time of pulling the pieces apart, for with the hot knife
there will always be at least a little melting together at the
edges. Of course the cutting must not be done when the foun-
dation is too cold, or it will be more or less broken.

Cutting foundation in a miter-box with a corrugated
bread-knife was highly commended. I tried it, and was quite
pleased to think it made faster work, although hardly such ex-
act work. Then I timed it by the watch, and was surprised to
find that it took more time than the old way.

When the boardful is cut I take a super with a bottom in
it, gather up and put into it 48 bottom-starters, also the 48 top-
starters, making these last in a neat pile.

Instead of using a single rule, I have for some time pre-
ferred to have a rule for every cut, making a saving of time.
Take seven rules and lay them on the board on the proper
places for cutting. On the ends of the rules, at each side, lay
a thin strip of wood 15 inches long or longer—a one-piece
section without the grooves does nicely—with one end of each
strip tight up against the end-stop. Now nail together in this
position, clinching the nails. You will use this with the other
side up, the rules above, the side strips below (Fig. 61). Of
course the guide nails are not needed with this arrangement.
In the picture three of the rules appear all right, but the other
four, which are very close together, look as if they were all one.
The cutting board rests on a little worktable (Fig. 62),
which is quite convenient for this and other purposes.

The sections being folded and the foundation cut, we are
now ready for putting starters in the sections. This is the work
of Miss Wilson, and she is an expert at it. After trying a
number of foundation-fasteners, I have found nothing with
which I can do better work than with the Daisy fastener.

DIVISION OF LABOR.

I may remark in passing that when I speak of doing things
it does not always mean that I do such things personally, for
it may be that some one else does the work entirely. But when
any new implement is to be used or new plan tried, I first care-
fully study it up and try to learn just how it ought to be used,
and then I instruct the one who is to make a specialty of that

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 151

part of the work, and in a short time the specialist far exceeds
the instructor. Miss Wilson can put in, I think, five starters
to my one; my son Charlie, when a little chap, could distance
me in putting together sections; and I think Philo can beat me
at taking sections out of supers.

PUTTING STARTERS IN SECTIONS.

The Daisy foundation-fastener is so well known that I
need say nothing about the use of the machine itself. As the
operator sits at the machine with a small pile of starters in the
lap, a boardful of sections is at the left hand at a convenient
height, the side of the board toward the operator (Fig. 87).
The bottom-starter is put in first, then the top-starter. When
the section has its fwo starters, it is put directly into the super.
With a starter as deep as 314 inches it would hardly do to
throw the sections in a basket. Formerly the sections when
filled were placed in order on a board the same as the board
from which they were taken, and it was a separate job after-
ward to fill them in the super.

PUTTING SECTIONS IN SUPERS.

By means of an implement of my own devising, which for
want of a better name may be called a “super-filler (Fig. 63),
the separate job of filling sections in supers is now entirely
dispensed with, and the sections go directly from the Daisy
fastener into the super, taking no more time to be put into the
super than it would take to put them on a board. Indeed, I
think it takes a little less time, for there is not the same need of
care in placing the sections so that other sections will not be
knocked off the board, but the sections are shoved into place in
the super in a sort of automatic way. Then, too, it is a com-
fort to get them directly into the super, for while on a board,
even for a short time, there is always danger of some mishap
by which a boardful may tumble over and come to grief,

SUPER-FILLER.

T’'ll tell you how to make a super-filler. Take a board as
large as the outside dimensions of your super or larger. (The

152 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

one in the picture is a board hive-cover.) Nail a cleat on one
end of the board, and another cleat on one side as in the pic-
ture. These cleats may be 4 by 4 inch, but the dimensions are
not important. Now put a super on the board, shoving one
corner snug up in the corner made by the cleats. With a lead
pencil, mark on the board, on the inside of the super, where

Fig. 47—Alfalfa.

the sides of the super come. Put eight sections in the super.
four on each side, with three T tins in their proper places.
With a pencil rule across the board each side of each T tin,
so as to show where the T tins come. Now take off the super
and its contents, and get six strips, each 1114 inches long and
¥, inch square. Nail these on as shown in the picture, so as

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 153

to keep at equal distances from the pencil mark of the super
at each side, and about a fourth of an inch distant from the
marks made for the T tins. The super-filler is now complete.

It stands at a convenient height at the right-hand side of
the one who operates the Daisy fastener, with the side-cleat at
the further side (Fig. 87). A super is placed on it with one
corner of the super tight against the angle made by -the cleats;
but no T tin is yet put in the super. As the sections come from
the fastener they are placed in the super at the end toward the
back of the operator. When the first row of six is completed,
the T tin is slipped under these sections into its proper place.
In a like manner a second row of sections and a T tin; then
a third row and a T tin, and lastly the fourth row. Then,
without rising, the operator lifts this filled super to one side
and gets an empty one.

PUTTING IN SEPARATORS.

Generally these filled supers are not separatored till the
day’s work of fastening foundation is done. Then a small table
is used at which the operator sits. This table is made of three
hive bottom-boards, or boards 21 x 14. Stand two of the boards
on end; nail the other board on top; nail light boards on one
side for a back, or brace with two pieces of lath diagonally,
and there’s your table (Fig. 62). Being convenient for other
purposes, several of these little tables are on hand. The table
is placed near a pile of supers to be separatored, and the sep-
arators are filled in.

TOP SEPARATORS.

As the sections now stand, there is some space between
them endwise, allowing them to be out of square, and making a
convenient place for the bees to deposit a disagreeable quantity
of propolis. To remedy this, there is crowded in at the top
between each two rows of sections a little stick 1144 by %4 by
seant 1%. Then the follower is wedged in with a super-spring,
and when all are done the supers are carried into the south
room or storeroom, and piled up to await the harvest time.

154 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

BAIT-SECTIONS.

Bait-sections are put in enough supers so that the first
super put on each hive shall be baited. Generally only one
bait-section is in a super, the bait bemg in the center, and
these baited supers are piled in the storeroom where it will be
convenient to reach them first.

Fig. 48—Colossal Ladino Clover.

SATISFACTION IN HAVING SUPERS READY.

There is a feeling of real satisfaction in seeing the larger
part of the storeroom filled with piles of supers ready to go on
the hives. How many times I have counted them and admired
the nice even piles reaching to the ceiling! Perhaps I should
not appreciate them so much if I had not, years ago, felt the
annoyance of running out of sections or foundation right in
the middle of the honey season, waiting days for it, and the
honey wasting.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 155

Having spent this much time telling what was done the
previous winter, let us get back to warmer weather.

GIVING ADDITIONAL SUPERS.

Understanding now that each colony has had a super given
to it about ten days after the very first white-clover blossom
has been seen, or sooner, the further history of this super and
its possible successors is a matter that varies so much in differ-
ent seasons that it is difficult to tell it straight. By the way,
you may think that I’m always thrilled with the sight of the
first clover blossom. I’m not. Searcely ever a thrill. The col-
onies are rarely all of them as strong as I would like for the
beginning of the harvest, and that first clover blossom is mere-
ly a warning thaf the time for building up for the harvest is
becoming very short.

UNCERTAINTY OF SEASONS.

As to giving additional super room, it may or may not be
necessary. That first clover bloom may have so few successors
that there will be no harvest; or bloom may be abundant with
no nectar. So sometimes it happens that after it becomes a
clear case that the harvest is a failure, the supers are taken off
as innocent of honey as when they were put on. Oftener it
happens that the bait-section in ench super is filled and sealed
and not a cell drawn out in the other sections. From that up,
the seasons will vary so that the average number of sections to
each colony will be 10, 24, 48, and up to 150 or more, although
these latter seasons do not come with any alarming degree of
frequency. :

If one could. know in advance just what the season was
going to be, he could tell a good deal better what to do in the
way of giving additional super room. One may give so much
room that there will be an undue proportion of unfinished sec-
tions at the final taking off, or one may leave the bees so
crowded for room as to lose part of the crop. I am not likely
to make the latter mistake, which I consider a good deal worse
than to have too many unfinished sections.

156 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

GUESSING ABOUT MORE SUPER ROOM.

On the whole, there is a mixture of judgment and guess-
work as to putting on any super after the first. Perhaps the
nearest to a general rule in the matter is to give a second super
when the first is half filled. If, however, honey seems to be
coming in slowly, or if the colony is not strong, and the bees
seem to have plenty of room in the super, no second super is
given, although the one already there may be nearly filled with
honey. On the other hand, if honey seems to be coming with
a rush, and the bees seem crowded for room, a second super
may be given although there is very little honey in the first.
These same conditions continued, a third super may be given
when the second is only fairly started and the first not half
full, and before the first super is ready to take off there may
be four or five supers on the hive.

RISKING IN GOOD SEASON.

In the year 1897—a remarkably prosperous year—there
was on the hives in the Wilson apiary, an average of four
supers to each colony, some colonies with less than four and
some with more before a single super was filled. As I would
hie at night thinking it over, I would say to myself, “What if
there should come one of those sudden stops to the flow that
sometimes occur, and you should be caught with those tons of
honey with scarcely any sections finished in the lot? Wouldn’t
you wish you had gone a little slower, and had the bees finish
up what they had, rather than coax them to spread out over
more territory?” And then the cold chills would run up and
down my back. But the sudden stop didn’t come, and the
crop was finished in good style. The supers were all well filled
with bees, and although I took some chances as to unfinished
work, I feel pretty sure that if I had allowed less room it
would have been at a loss. But that was a very exceptional
case.

Usually, in a fair season, when the harvest is in full blast
and fairly along, there will be three, four, or more supers upon
each hive, at one time, and in an extra season there may be a
few hives having seven, or even eight, supers each. That does

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE REES 157

not mean, by any means, that all of them will be finished, for
very likely the last super given will have very little honey in
it when the harvest is over. But it will not do to let the bees
be crowded for room, and if all the sections on the hive are
about full, if the harvest has not entirely closed an empty
super must be given, in ease they might need it.

Tig. 49—Linden or Basswood Blossoms.
SUPERS FOR OUT-APIARIES.

If there is guessing about the number of supers to put on
in the home apiary, there is still more guessing as to the num-
ber to be taken when starting to an out-apiary. If I take a
smaller number than needed, I may have to make a special trip
for more. If I take more than are needed, I will hardly want

158 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

to take them back home with me, and they are put in piles and
covered up in the hope that they may be used the next time.
But there is some danger of their being affected by rain when
piled up at the out-apiary, so there is trouble either way. On
the whole it is better to take too many than too few, and so
there are generally some extra ones at the out-apiaries.

To take supers to the out-apiaries, they are piled up on
the wagon in five piles, a lath is nailed from top to bottom on
each pile, and they are braced on top with lath (Fig. 64).
Fifty empty supers can be taken at a load, but it is not often
that as many as forty filled supers are taken at a load.

ADDING SUPERS UNDER OR OVER.

As the harvest advances I am more. chary about giving
room, and it is given only when the sections already on are
pretty well filled. Suppose toward the last of the season I
come to a colony that has its sections nearly all filled. There
is a possibility that the bees may be able to finish up what they
have and a few more in an additional super, but the great
probability is that they will do no more than to finish what
they have. Although that probability may amount to almost
a certainty, I do not act upon it, but go for the possibility and
give the extra super. But I put it on top of the others, so
that the bees will not commence work in it unless actually
crowded into it.

’ During the early part of the harvest, so lott as there is a
reasonable expectation that each additional super will be
needed, the empty super is put under the others, next to the
brood-chamber. Work will commence in it more promptly
than when an empty super ‘is placed on top, and that greater
promptness in occupying the new super may be the straw to
turn the scale on the side of keeping down the desire for
swarming. But when a super is put on toward the close of
the season, not because it seems really needed, but as a sort of
safety valve in case it might be needed, I do not wish to do
anything to coax the bees into it, so it is put on top, and the
bees can do as they please about entering it. It is true that
if an empty super is put under the others at a time when the
harvest is nearing its close, the bees may not do a thing in it,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 159

but merely go up and down through it and keep to work in
the super above. But it is not so well to have them working
so far from the brood-nest with empty space beneath.

No bait-section is needed in any super after the first.

EMPTY SUPERS ON TOP.

Latterly I have fallen into the practice of giving an empty
super on top, even when an empty super is put under. This
for more than one reason. It sometimes happens that the up-

Trig. 50—Row of Lindens in Bloom.

per starter of foundation is not securely fastened the entire
length. If fastened half way across the top-bar of the section,
it will look all right, but if put under the other supers, next
to the brood-chamber, a heavy weight of bees coming upon it
suddenly will drag down the foundation at one side. If put
on top, the bees will enter the super only gradually, and the
foundation will be fastened in place before any great weight
of bees comes upon it. This empty super on top gives a less
crowded feeling, and may help a little toward preventing
swarming. No matter how full or empty the lower super may
be, this top super serves as a sort of safety valve, in case any

160 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

need for more room should arise. The next time there is need
to give a super below, this top super is moved down and an-
other empty super put in its place. When the top super is
put down, I think the bees start work on it just a bit sooner
than if it had not been above.

SWARMING NOT DESIRABLE,

If I were to meet a man perfect in the entire science and
art of beekeeping, and were allowed from him an answer to
just one question, I would ask for the best and easiest way to
prevent swarming, for one who is anxious to secure the largest
crop of comb honey. There are localities where a large crop
of honey is secured in the fall, and in such places, or in any
other place where the honey flow is long enough, a larger crop
may be secured by increase, but I am not so sure about that.
If a man in such a place start in the spring with 75 colonies,
he may get a larger crop by increasing early enough to 150,
supposing 150 colonies to be the largest number his field will
bear; but would he not have a still larger crop if he had 150
all through the season and made no increase? However that
may be, in my locality, which beekeepers generally would con-
sider a poor one, where white clover is the chief if not the only
source from which a crop may be expected, and where the har-
vest is all too short, if, indeed, it comes at all—in such a place
I am satisfied that more honey can be harvested by commenc-
ing in the spring with the largest number the field will bear and
holding at that number, always provided that the means taken
to keep down increase shall in no wise interfere with the best
work on the part of the bees.

If I were working for. extracted honey, I suppose the mat-
ter might be managed, to a great extent, if not to the fullest
extent, by simply giving abundance of room in every direction;
but with comb honey, I do not believe that an abundance of
room in the brood-nest is compatible with the largest yield of
surplus.

Or, if I were working for extracted honey, I might at the
beginning of the harvest put all the brood over an excluder in
an upper story, leaving the queen on empty frames below, but
that would hardly work for comb-honey production.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 161

MANAGEMENT OF SWARMING COLONIES. ;

\

From my first using movable frames, I think I have kept
my queens’ wings clipped, so my experience in having natural
swarms with flying queens has been very limited. But my
experience in having swarms issue where and when I did not
want them, has been very large. Only extreme modesty and
humility prevent my being very proud of so large an experi-
ence. If I should ever reach that point where I shall be equally
successful in preventing swarms, I make no promise to be
either modest or humble.

So long as success in prevention of swarms has not been
reached, it remains an important matter to know the best thing
to do when swarms do issue. Under ordinary circumstances
some one must be on hand to watch for swarms. For several
years I have had no watching for swarms and have had no
swarms except those which swarmed in spite of my efforts to
prevent them. Yet if I had only the one apiary, it is just pos-
sible that I might allow swarming, at least so far as to allow
the bees to swarm and then return to their old hives. At any
rate there are a great many so situated as to allow their bees to
go thus far in swarming, and I feel pretty sure that for them
there may be some interest in knowing what I did when swarms
did issue, so I will give an account of my management when I
formerly allowed the bees to swarm.

WATCHING FOR SWARMS.

With as many as 100 colonies in an apiary, the one who
is on watch can hardly be allowed to do anything else. The
regular noise is so great among so many that the added noise
of a swarm is hardly noticed; so sight, not hearing, must be
depended on. I have gone on with my regular work and taken
a look once in five or ten minutes along the rows to see if any
swarms were out, but it is not a very satisfactory way of doing.
A bright boy or girl can watch very well, if faithful. It is
not necessary, of course, to watch all day; and the weather has
much to do with the hours at which swarms may be expected.
On a hot morning a swarm may issue as early as six o’clock;
but this is exceptional, and if the weather has been cloudy

6

162 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

through the day, clearing off bright and warm in the after part,
a swarm may issue after 4 o’clock. Ordinarily, however, it is
not necessary to be on the lookout before 8 4. M., or much af-
ter 2p. mM. I had a swarm issue once in a shower, but that is
so unlikely to oceur that I would not think it worth while to
keep any watch at such a time.

Fig. 51—Catnip.

The watcher will soon learn the points of advantage from
which he can easily command a view of the whole apiary, not
needing to stir from his seat unless a swarm issues. Some-
times, however, there is so much playing going on among the
bees, that there is no alternative but to travel about and take
a close look at each colony that shows unusual excitement. It
is an advantage at this time to have the hives in long rows. I

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 163

have 30 or 40 hives in a row. At the middle is a shady place
to sit. A clock or watch lies ‘in open sight so that a look at
every hive may be taken once in five minutes. If there is no
timepiece to go by, the watchér may become interested in some-
thing else, and think the five minutes not up when double that
time has. passed; but having the time measured out, he is free
to read or do any thing else between times. At each five min-
utes, the watcher, who is sitting at the middle of the middle
row, rises, glances along the back row to the north end;
then along the middle row to the north end; then, stepping for-
ward, glances along the front row to the north end; then along
the same row to the south end; then to the south end of the
middle row, and lastly to the south end of the back row. All
this has taken less time than it takes to write it, and the wateh-
er is ready to sit down till another five minutes is up.

If, however, unusual commotion is seen—and, sighting
along the rows in this way, it can easily be seen—the watcher
goes to the hive for a closer look. Up to the middle of the day
or later, there is not often much excitement, unless there be a
swarm; but after this time so many colonies take their play-
spells that the watcher needs to spend most of his time on his
feet.

ONE-CENT CAGES.

The watcher is provided with a number of queen-cages.
These are easily made and the material costs less than a cent
apiece. I take a pine block, 5x 1x inch, and wrap around it
a piece of wire cloth 4 inches square. The wire cloth is allowed
to project at one end of the block a half-inch. The four sides
of this projecting end are bent down upon the end of the stick
and hammered down tight into place. A piece of fine wire
about 10 inches long is wrapped around the wire cloth, about
an inch from the open end, which will be about the middle of
the stick, and the ends of the wire twisted together. I then
pull out the block, trim off the corners of the end a little so that
it will easily enter the cage, slide the stick in and out of the
cage a number of times so that it will work easily, and the
thing is complete (Fig. 65). When not in use, the block is
pushed clear in, so as to preserve the shape of the cage. Such

164 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

cages can be carried in the pocket without danger of being in-
jured.

FINDING QUEEN OF SWARM.

When the watcher finds a swarm issuing, he is pretty dull
if he does not become interested in looking for the queen. I do

rig.

a

2—Vase of Goldenrod.

not know of any sure way to find the queen, but she is not of-
ten missed. I think I can find her most easily by watching on
the ground in front of the entrance. Very frequently she
comes out at the back end of the hive or at the side, when the
hive is raised on blocks. Rarely she may be found at some dis-
tance from the hive, on the ground, with a group of bees about
her. If not found, she is most likely in the hive, and the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 165

swarm may re-issue in a day or two. She may be lost, but at
this particular time her loss is not so very great. There is no
danger of the swarm being lost; it will return to the hive in a
few minutes; although I have known them to cluster for half
an hour or more before returning. It may happen, sometimes,
that a swarm may go into a hive whose colony has swarmed
a little while before, and where it is always peacefully received.
I do not like this doubling up, but I do not know that I lose
any thing by it, for the bees can store up just as much in one
hive as in another.

When the watcher finds the queen, she is caged. Hither
the cage is held down for her to run into, or she is caught and
then caged. After the queen is in the cage, the block is pushed
in an inch or so, and the cage put where the bees can take care
of it. Usually it is thrust into the entrance, close up against
the bottom-bars, so that if a cool night should come there will
be no danger that the bees will desert it.

The watcher keeps a little memorandum book, and puts
down in it the number of the colony that swarmed; for it might
make bad work if it should be forgotten and neglected until the
emergence of a young queen to lead out an absconding swarm.

DOOLITTLE’S PLAN.

Some years ago Mr. G. M. Doolittle gave a plan for man-
agement of swarming colonies when no increase was desired.
I do not think that he uses it now. I do not know that I shall
ever use it again, and yet it was valuable to me, and for some
circumstances nothing may be better. The plan, in brief, was
this: The queen being caged and left in the hive, all queen-
cells are cut out in five days from the time the swarm issued,
and five days later all queen-cells are again cut out and the
queen set at liberty.

I used this one season with great satisfaction, and I do not
remember that any colony thus treated swarmed again.

VARYING DOOLITTLE’S PLAN,

The next season I varied the plan. Instead of leaving the
queen with the colony to remain idle for ten days, I took her

166 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

away and gave her to a nucleus, a new colony, or wherever a
queen was needed. At the end of the ten days I returned her
to the colony, placing her directly upon a comb taken from
the middle of the brood-nest. Often, however, I gave them a
different queen, for after an absence of ten days I doubt if
they could tell their own queen from any other. Besides, they
were in a condition to take any queen without grumbling.

After the first year, however, I had some colonies swarm
again after the queen was given them. Whether it was the
season, the change in the plan, or some other cause, I am un-
able to say.

PUT-UP PLAN.

I then adopted a plan which relieved me of the necessity
of hunting for and cutting out queen-cells. No matter how
careful I might be, there was always a possibility that I might
overlook a queen-cell, although this very rarely happened, if
ever. But it took a great deal of valuable time. I give here-
with the plan, which I think is an improvement.

When a swarm issues and returns, it is ready for treat-
ment immediately; although usually it is put down in my mem-
orandum of work to be done, and the time set for it may be
the next day or any time within five days, just as suits my con-
venience. The queen is caged at the time of swarming, and left
in the care of the bees, as already mentioned.

Within the five days, I take off the super, and put most
of the brood-combs into an emipty hive. Indeed, I may take
all the brood-combs, for I want in this hive all the combs the
colony should have. In the hive left on the stand, I leave or
put from one to three frames, generally two. These combs
must be sure to have no queen-cells, and may be most safely
taken from a young or weak colony having no inclination to
swarm. The two combs are put in one side of the hive, two or
three dummies placed beside them, and the rest of the hive
left vacant.

The question may be asked, “Will not the bees build comb
in this vacant part of the hive?” No; at least they do not for
me. Queenless colonies are little given to comb-building, and
not at all inclined to make a fresh start in a new place.

¢

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 167

If I did not do so at the time of taking out the frames, I
now shake the bees off from about half the frames, not being
particular to shake them off clean. These bees are of course
shaken off into the hive on the stand. The supers are now put
on this hive with its two or three frames of brood, the cover
is put over the supers, and the “put-up” hive filled with brood
is placed over all.

Please understand that there is no communication what-
ever between the lower and the upper hive, each hive having
its own cover and bottom-board.

GETTING THE BEES TO DESTROY THE QUEEN-CELLS.

A plenty of bees will be left to care for the brood, the
queen will commence laying, all thought of swarming is given
up, and every queen-cell torn down by the bees. In perhaps two
days I take a peep to see if the queen is laying, for it some-
times happens that at the time when I “put up the queen”
(as I eall the operation I have just described), there is already
a young queen just hatched, and then the old queen is pretty
sure to be destroyed. In this latter case I may remove the
young queen and give them a laying one, or I may let the young
queen remain.

PUTTING DOWN THE QUEEN.

In ten days from the time the swarm issued—sometimes
ten days from the time I “put up the queen”—I put down the
queen. If by any chance a young queen is in the upper hive, I
do not like to put her down until she commences laying and her
wing is clipped, for fear of her taking out a swarm. It seems
a foolish operation for them to swarm when there is nothing in
the hive from which a queen can be reared, but I have had it
happen. The operation of putting down is very simple. I lift
the hive off the top, place it on the ground, remove the supers,
take the hive off the stand, place it on one side, put the hive
containing the queen on the stand, and replace the supers.

You will see that this leaves the queen full chance to lay
from the minute she is uncaged, and at the time of putting
down there will be as much brood as if the queen had remained
in her usual place, Most of the bees, of course, adhered to

168 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the lower hive when the queen was put up, but by the time she
is put down quite a force has hatched out, and these have
marked the upper hive as their location. Upon this being tak-
en away, the bees as they return from the field will settle upon
the cover, where their hive was, and form a cluster there;

Fig. 55—Two Asters.

finally an explorer will crawl down to the entrance of the hive
below, and a line of march in that direction will be established
immediately. In a day or two they will go straight to the
proper entrance.

GOOD CHANCE FOR NUCLEI.

We left, standing on the ground, the hive with its two
combs, which had been taken from the stand. These two combs,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 169

when the queen was put up, probably had a good quantity of
eggs, and brood in all stages. They now contained none but
sealed brood, some queen-cells, and a pretty heavy supply of
pollen. Or, it may be that eggs from a choice queen were giv-
en, and the queen-cells are to be saved. A goodly number of
bees adhere to the two combs and I know of no nicer way to
start a new colony than simply to place the hive in a new loca-
tion. Or, the bees may be shaken off at the old stand and
the combs given to a nucleus which needs them.

I may remark in passing, that these queenless colonies will
produce queen-cells not excelled by those of a swarming col-
ony, and not surpassed in excellence by those produced by any
of the best plans used by queen-breeders. In short, I do not
believe it is possible to have better. Jt must be remembered,
however, that all of them ara not of equal excellence. For the
bees will continue to start cells for several days, and the last
ones started will be from larve too old to make good queens.
You may be able to distinguish these cells by their poorer look,
or, if you give the bees several cells, among them at least one or
two of the finest looking, they will make no mistake-in making
the proper selection.

WORKING OF QUEENLESS BEES.

It may be objected that this keeping bees queenless for ten
days makes them work with less vigor. I am not sure but it
ought, but I must confess I have had no strong proof of it
come directly under my own observation. So far as I could
tell, these bees seemed to work just as hard when their queen
was taken away as before. In the spring of 1885 one colony
was, by some means, left entirely away from the proper rows
—some three rods from any other colony. I took it away, put
it in proper line, and left to catch the returning stragglers a
hive containing one comb, this comb having no brood and very
little if any honey. This colony having been a very weak one,
very few bees returned to the old spot, but these few surprised
me by filling a good stock of honey in the empty comb, before
they were put with the rest of the colony.

Swarms treated on this “putting up” plan often swarmed
again, but if they did they were put up again. An objection

170 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

to the plan was that these “putups” were in the way and had
to be lifted down when any thing was done with supers. Still,
for any one who allows the bees to swarm, and who does not
object to the lifting, the plan is a good one.

VARYING THE PLAN.

To avoid the heavy lifting, there has been a tendency
toward a variation, by way of putting up only two or three
frames of brood with the queen. (Indeed the number of frames

Fig. 54—Three Asters.

put up may be anywhere from two to the whole number.) If
only two frames are put up, the lifting is light, but there is
more work in killing the cells in the lower hive, both at the
time of putting up the queen, and at the time of putting down.
Putting up the larger number of frames has the advantage
that the queen has the chance to lay without hindrance, keeping

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 171

up the full strength of the colony. On the other hand, when
only two frames are put up I think the colony is more likely
to continue the rest of the season without swarming.

GIVING NUCLEUS TO SWARM.

A plan that has seemed to be as satisfactory as any other,
although it is not always convenient to use it, is upon the issu-
ing of a swarm to pick up the queen so as to have her out of
the way, remove the old hive from the stand and place on the
stand a nucleus in a regular hive. The supers are put upon
this hive, and the swarm is left to return at its leisure. This
takes little time and trouble, and there is no danger of fur-
ther swarming. I have seen it stated that when the swarm re-
turns the queen of the nucleus may be killed, but that does not
occur “in this locality.”

PREVENTION OF SWARMING.

I don’t quite like that heading. It may be understood to
mean that I am entirely successful in profitably preventing
swarming, and I am not certain that I have yet attained to that.
I say profitably preventing it, for there might be such a thing
as preventing it in a way that would hardly pay. If a colony
disposed to swarm should be blown up with dynamite, it would
probably not swarm again, but its usefulness as a honey-gath-
ering institution would be somewhat impaired. Swarming
might also be prevented by means of such character as to in-
volve an amount of trouble that would make it unprofitable;
or it might be prevented in such a way as to have a very un-
profitable effect upon the honey crop. The thing I am after is
profitable prevention.

NO DELIGHT IN SWARMS.

I have read of the great delight felt by the beekeeper at
the sight of an issuing swarm, the bees whirling and swirling
in delirious joy, but such things do not appeal to me. I do
not like swarming. I never did. I don’t think I ever shall. In
my many years of beekeeping experience, I think I never

173 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

looked upon the issuing of a swarm with feelings other than
those akin to pain, unless it might be the first swarm I ever had.

BAD MANNERS OF SWARMS.

I am not an expert at hiving swarms. They don’t act nice-
ly for me. After I have climbed a tree with laborious pains
and shaken down a swarm with a hive under it at just the
right place, the swarm instead of entering in a well-mannered
sort of style will just as likely as not keep flying back every
time it is shaken down, unless it should take it into its head
to give me more exercise by taking another tree. I got a
Manum swarm-eatcher, but I do not remember that I ever used
it with suecess. One day when I was trying to use it, J. T. Cal-
vert, the energetic business man of The A. I. Root Co., was
here. He helped me. He made a catcher of his hands and put
the bees in the catcher by main strength. But they wouldn’t
stay ‘“catched,” and they didn’t. So I don’t like swarming,
even if I didn’t think it interfered with the honey crop.

WHY DO BEES SWARM?

Upon no other subject connected with beekeeping have I
studied so much, tried so many plans, or made so many fail-
ures, as with regard to prevention of swarming. If I knew all
about just what makes a colony swarm, I would be in better
shape to use preventive measures; but I don’t know all about
it. Of course I know that want of room and want of ventila-
tion may hasten swarming, and possibly some other things of
that kind; but after all there is a good deal of mystery about
the whole affair.

VENTILATION AND ROOM.

I think it is of some use to take pains to see that the bees
are never cramped for room. I believe that raising the hive on
blocks 34 of an inch or more is a good thing. It is also a good
thing to rear queens from stock that has shown little inclina-
tion to swarming. Indeed, with room enough and ventilation
enough it is possible that bees would never swarm. Some one
will say to me that bees may swarm with a hogshead of room.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 173

Yes, but the combs may be in such condition that the queen
will be cramped for room, even in a hogshead.

NON-SWARMING PILES.

For a good many years I have been in the habit of having
in each apiary one or more colonies whose hives were kept as

Fig. 55—ITeartsease.

a sort of storehouse where extra frames of brood or honey
could be put. to be drawn from as occasion required, but often
there has been no drawing, and these “piles” have grown to be
four or five stories high with an immense force of bees. |
never knew one of them to swarm. But the ventilation was
as immense as the force of bees, for each story had an en-

174 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

trance of good size, and perhaps the superabundance of ven-
tilation was the secret of their not swarming.

YOUNG QUEENS AND SWARMING.

It was said that colonies with queens of the current year’s
rearing would not swarm, and one year I supplied all the col-
onies of one apiary with young queens about the beginning of
the honey harvest. It didn’t work.

Once when a colony swarmed, and returned to its hive, I
removed its queen and gave it a queen that I think had not
been laying more than two or three days. Within three days
that queen came out with the swarm. It seems the condition
of the colony has more to do with the case than the condition
of the queen. C. J. H. Gravenhorst,-late editor of Deutsche
Illustrierte Bienenzeitung, gives what I think is the truth about
young queens and swarming: A given colony will not swarm
with a queen of this year if the queen was reared in this col-
ony; if reared elsewhere it may swarm. Why that difference
he did not know.’ But some have claimed exceptions to this
rule.

TAKING TWO FRAMES OF BROOD WEEKLY.

One season I kept eight brood-combs, in the hive, and
every week or ten days took out two of the central combs, re-
placing them with foundation or empty combs. This was to give
the queen so much room that there should be no desire to
swarm. It was successful in most cases, but there were too
many exceptions to make the plan reliable.

TAKING AWAY ALL BROOD.

Afterward I carried the same thing' to its extreme limit in
a good many cases, taking away all the brood. One frame of
brood, however, was left for two or three days, perhaps a week,
for fear the bees would be discouraged and desert an entirely
empty hive. This one frame of brood was then taken away
because it was the common thing for the bees to start queen-
cells on it. Yet it is just possible that no swarming would
have taken place, in spite of the queen-cells.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 175

FORCED SWARMING,

This plan has come into great prominence lately under the
name of forced, shaken, or brushed swarms. Gravenhorst, the
great German authority, practiced and advocated it in the sev-
enties of the last century. L. Stachelhausen was earnest in his
advocacy of the plan in this country, and E. R. Root, editor of
Gleanings in Bee Culture, took it up with great enthusiasm.
‘Probably a good many had done more or less at it independent-
. ly, for it would naturally suggest itself that taking away all
the brood would leave a colony in much the same condition as
if they had swarmed; and in actual practice most of those who
had tried the plan have found bees no more inclined to swarm
after it than after natural swarming.

FORCED VERSUS NATURAL SWARMING.

Many have found the plan a material advance over natural
swarming. One very great advantage is sufficient to commend
it; the beekeeper is master of the situation, and is not depend-
ent upon the whims of the bees as to when they shall swarm—
an inestimable boon to those who have out-apiaries, and in-
deed to any one who does not wish the trouble of watching
for swarms.

It also gives the beekeeper control over the number of bees
that shall remain with the swarm. In natural swarming there
may be too few bees go with the swarm for best results in stor-
ing, while there may still be not enough for any hope of
good work in the parent colony, with a possibility of this lat-
ter force being still further divided by after-swarms. In the
case of a forced swarm, all the bees may be allowed to remain
on the old stand except merely enough to care for the brood
which is taken away. This brood may then be put on a new
st.nd, and with the addition of a queen or a queen-cell allowed
to start out on its career as an independent colony.

SHAKING OFF ALL BEES.

Or the forced swarm may be made still stronger by giving
jt all the bees, and distributing the brood to nuclei, weak col-

176 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

onies, or wherever it will do the most good. In no ease, how-
ever, would it be a prudent thing in this locality to follow the
recommendation of some, by putting the brood on a new stand
without any bees, trusting to the warmth of the weather to
hatch out young bees fast enough to care for the brood. If
such a colony—if you ean eall it a colony-—should not fall a
prey to the robbers, there would in most cases be a serious loss
of brood from starvation and ehilling.

Fig. 50—Queen-excluder.

NO FORCED SWARMING TILL QUEEN-CELLS STARTED.

In no ease did I practice this forced swarming till T found
by the presence of queen-cells that the bees were thinking of
swarming. There would be less labor in the long run (suppos-
ing that all were to be swarmed sooner or later), to do up the
whole business at a suitable time, without waiting for the bees
to take the initiative. Indeed, conditions may be such in some
localities that there might be a loss to wait for queen-cells.

But the harvests here are such that it is usually better to
have swarming delayed. Moreover, a good many of iny colo-
nies, if let alone, will go through the entire season without at-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 177

tempting to swarm, and such colonies are the very ones that
give the best yields, and forced eaten would be practiced
upon them only at a loss.

DISADVANTAGE OF FORCED SWARMING.

With all the advantage forced swarming has over natural
swarming, it still leaves something to be desired. As already
said, those colonies which hold their force intact throughout
the entire season are the ones that give the best results. It is
true that in forced swarming the entire force of bees may be
left on the old stand, but there are thousands of prospective
bees in the brood taken away. If you take away that brood
today, you are taking away the bees of tomorrow, and of twen-
ty more days to come.

' “But the bees that emerge tomorrow do not emerge as
field-bees, and will not be field-bees until they are sixteen days
old. If the harvest closes in sixteen days the additional force
will only be a lot of useless consumers.” While the first part
of your statement may be true enough, I cannot say as much
for the second.

BEES DO THE WORK MOST NEEDED.

While the bees that emerge tomorrow may do no field-
work for sixteen days, they begin housework at a very tender
age—housework that would have to be continued by older bees
if this brood were taken away. As fast as one of these young
bees is ready to begin housework, it takes the place of an older
bee, which can now go afield. I know that, as a general rule,
the different departments of work are done by bees of certain
ages, but I also know that bees accommodate themselves to
circumstances. I have seen bees at five days old carrying in
pollen because there were no older bees in the hive to perform
that duty, and we all know that in early spring nursing and
housework are done bv bees several months old.

So it is reasonable to believe that at least to a certain ex-
tent the necessities of the case rather than the matter of abso-
lute age decide what duties a bee shall perform; and the
logical conclusion from that is that the larger force of hees we

178 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

have in a hive the more storing we shall have even if a good
many of the bees be quite young.

Without, perhaps, giving any satisfactory reason for it,
I am also quite of the opinion that better work is generally
done when bees are allowed to go right along rearing brood
at their own sweet will; for toward the close of the harvest
they, of their own accord, curtail work in that direction.

Fig. 57—Folding Sections.

NON-SWARMING PREFERRED TO FORCED.

While I yield to no one in my appreciation of the advan-
tages of foreed swarming over natural swarming, I believe
that the advantages of no swarming whatever over forced
swarming are as great as the advantages of forced over na-
ural swarming.

So you will hardly blame me if instead of resting content
with forced swarming I continue to pursue that will-o’-the-
wisp—in the opinion of many—non-swarming,

KEEPING COLONIES QUEENLESS.

The next season after practicing the removal of two
frames of brood, I settled upon a plan which I felt pretty sure

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 179

would prevent the possibility of swarming. It was a no less
radical measure than to keep the colony queenless. I reasoned
that as I had never had a queen hatched inside of eleven days
from the time the queen was taken away, or from the time the
bees started queen-cells, the colony was safe from swarming if
once in ten days I took away their brood and gave them fresh;
also, that it was only bees over two weeks old that worked in
the field; add to this the three weeks that it took from the egg
to the full-fledged worker, and it was five weeks or more from
the time the egg was laid till the bee became a gatherer. Clearly,
then, only such bees as came from eggs laid five weeks or more
before the close of the honey harvest were available as gather-
ers. Why not have the colony queenless during this five weeks?
So I took away the queen, leaving in the hive three combs, one
of which contained eggs and brood in all stages, the other two
containing nothing from which queen-cells could be started.

Once in ten days the comb of young brood with its queen-
cells was taken away and a fresh one given them, and at the
close of the five weeks, which was about the close of the har-
vest, the queen was returned.

NOT A SUCCESS.

As a preventive of swarming, it was a complete success.
Not one colony thus treated swarmed; how could it? As a
means of securing a large crop, I think it was an egregious
failure; although I can hardly tell with great definiteness, the
season itself being a failure. Possibly the absence of the queen
itself had something to do with lessening their stores, but I
doubt it. But when all combs of brood but one were taken
away, a large force of prospective bees were taken away that
would have hatched out in the next twenty-one days.

If I had allowed four or five frames of brood, changing
every ten days, the result might have been quite different.
Moreover, the one frame they did have was, for the most part,
filled with brood so young, that little or none of it hatched
while in the hive. If I should try any thing in the same line
again, I should keep four or five frames in the hive, and this
should be mainly brood well advanced so that much of it would
hatch out to replenish the wasting numbers,

780 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
KEEPING QUEENS CAGED.

Suecess was reported by others with the plan of keeping
queens caged in the hive during part or the whole of the har-
vest, and although I tried it on a large scale there was no case
of success with me.

FASTENING YOUNG QUEENS IN.

The good old-fashioned way of managing after-swarms
was to return them as fast as they came out. This gave the

Fig. 535—Movable Shade.

young queens a chance to fight it out till only one was left, and
when only one was left there would be no more swarming. So
I planned to let the young queens fight it out without the trou-
ble of returning swarms. I put a queen-excluder between the
bottom-board and hive, so that no queen could get out. As no
queen could get out, no swarm could leave. When the young
queens emerged they could settle thei little differences to
stuit themselves till only one queen was left. I would keep
track of what was going on in the hives sufficiently to take
away the excluder after all but one queen had been put out

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 181

of the way, so the young queen could go out on her wedding
trip. The thing was so certain to work that I spent $37.50
for queen-exeluders to put the plan in practice.

n

SWARMING GALORE.

In due time when queen-cells were sealed the swarms be-
gan to issue. Then they returned. Then they came out next
day. Then they returned again. After doing more or less of
this, the time came when the young queens began to emerge.
Business became lively. Swarming ‘once a day did not always
satisfy them. The number of issues in a day became such that
several swarms would be out at a time, and they were not at
all particular to keep separate. Neither were they as method-
ical as prime swarms about returning to their own hives. Al-
most any hive seemed to suit them provided there was a good
deal of noise at the entrance, and when swarming got well
under way for the day there were plenty of hives with noise
at the entrance. Whether the excluders leaked queens, or
whatever may have been the reason, there were some cases
of young queens being out, and when there was a young queen
in a swarm there was no telling how many swarms would unite
with it.

ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR.

After a swarm had’ been balked in its efforts a number of
times there seemed to be a reckless disregard in a good many
cases as to the propriety of returning when they had had
plenty of time to discover that no young queen had come out
with them, and sometimes they would settle and remain clus-
tered for half a day, perhaps several swarms in the cluster.
Nothing so very bad about that, if I had only been entirely
sure that some time they would return; but when IJ stood gaz-
ing on a bunch of bees as big as my body when I’m in best
condition, and meditated upon the chance of there being a
young queen in the bunch to incite them to sail off into the
ethereal blue—well, it was not the sort of meditation most con-
ducive to composure of mind.

Inside of the hive the program as laid down was pretty
generally carried out; at the proper time the excluder was re-

182 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

moved, and in due time the young queen was laying. The plan
is a good one if one could only induce the bees to refrain from
swarming out until only one young queen is left in the hive.
I could not induce them to do that.

REARING QUEENS IN “PUT-UP.”

It is not necessary to tell of all the plans that were tried.
One was finally hit upon that proved to be quite satisfactory,
so far as tried. When the presence of well-advanced queen-

Trig. 59—Brood of Laying Workers.

cells showed that a colony was bent on swarming, all but one
or two frames of brood were taken from the hive and put in
another hive that was “put-up” on top, of conrse having no
communication with the bees below. In the old hive below the
old queen was sometimes left, and sometimes the bees were left
without any queen; but in either case care was taken that no
queen-cell was left below, and ten days later search was made
for queen-cells below, or else the brood was exchanged for
brood from a colony where there was no danger of queen-cells,
and the old queen was removed. To the “put-up” was given,
at the time of putting up, a virgin queen or a ripe queen-cell,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 183

and as soon as the young queen was laying the old hive was
taken away and the “put-up” hive was put down in its place.
Thus the whole foree of the colony was kept together, there
was a young queen of the current year’s rearing, practically
reared in the hive, and that colony was past the anxiety for
the season. Some, however, say that such a queen will swarm
with them.

GETTING BEES TO DESTROY CELLS.

I said the brood was put up, but said nothing about the
bees or the queen-cells. No attention was paid to the queen-
cells, and about half the bees were shaken off the combs—
perhaps more than half. Just how many bees to leave in the
“put-up” hive was not an easy matter to gauge. If too few
there would be chilled brood. If too many the young queen
would leave with a swarm. ‘Of course the latter danger could
be avoided by destroying all queen-cells in the “put-up,” but
that would make more work, and if there are few enough bees
all superfluous cells will be destroyed by the bees themselves,
and there will be no danger of swarming.

NUCLEUS TO PREVENT SWARMING.

A modification of the plan sometimes used was to take a
nucleus from somewhere else and put in the place of the col-
ony. But in this case the colony was made queenless two or
three days in advance. Hither plan left the colony without
any diminution of its forces, and with no very great check to
its work, and these plans might have been continued if it had
not been that I struck upon a plan that seemed equally effec-
tive but quite a little easier. This was at first called the foun-
dation plan, and afterward the excluder plan. Before speak-
ing of this, however, it will be well to describe the prelimi-
nary work, which is the same for all colonies, whether the
after treatment will be on the “put-up” plan or some other

plan.
PRELIMINARY WORK.

As soon as colonies become strong and are working busily,
we begin to be on the lookout for queen-cells. This generally
will not be till the bees are at work on clover bloom, although

184 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

it may happen in some seasons that preparation for swarming
begins during the last of fruit bloom. Of late years dandelion
has become so important that there is a possibility it may start
swarming. Whether it be in apple or clover bloom, we begin
to examine some of the strongest colonies to see if any prepar-
ations for swarming are made. If we find none in the strone-
est colonies it is hardly worth while to look through the rest.
When, however, we find one or more queen-cells with an ege

rig. 00—Top and Bottom Starters in Section.

im each, then it is time to begin a systematie canvass of all
colonies, and to keep it up in all so long as we continue to find
queen-cells in any, except in a case where a colony has already
been treated or has treated itself in such a way that it need not
be expected to swarm.

COLONTES THAT DO NOT NEBKD WATCHING,

In struggling with the swarming problem, there are a few
things that may be relied upon with some degree of certainty.
A swarm that has been hived in an empty hive this season will
not send forth a swarm this year, with rare exceptions. Equally
safe from swarming is a colony whose queen has been removed

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 185

and the colony allowed to rear a new queen, provided only
one queen is allowed to mature. Also a colony kept queenless
about 10 days and then given a laying queen of the current
year’s rearing. Colonies that do not come under either of these
heads will need watching until the time comes when bees have
given up starting cells in all colonies.

LOOKING FOR QUEEN-CELLS.

We plan to go through each colony about once in ten days
to look for queen-cells.. I: say about once in ten days, for it is
not always possible to be exact. Jt may happen that one or
two days in succession will be rainy, and then the ten days
become eleven or twelve. Or, it may be that on account of
some interference with our work that we can see in advance,
we may think it best to shorten the ten days to nine or less.

Suppose we go through a certain colony and find no queen-
cell with as much as an egg in it. The next time around it may
be in the same condition, and so it may continue throughout
the season. In that case there is nothing to be done with that
colony beyond the examination every ten days but to let it
alone and be thankful. Such cases are not so plentiful as I
should like, but I think they are on the increase.

DESTROYING EGGS.

Suppose, however, that upon one of our visits we find one
or more cells containing eggs. We destroy the incipient cells
by mashing them, and in the record-book write after the date,
“keg,” a contraction for the expressive, if not very elegant
entry, “killed eggs.” It is possible that upon the next visit we
may find no more queen-cells started, and that may be the last
of them for the season.- So long as we find only eggs, we do
nothing more than to destroy them.

Generally, however, when eggs are found in cells, the next
visit will find cells with grubs well advanced. When large
grubs are found in cells, then the colony must be treated.

As already mentioned, an easier plan than the “put-up”
plan was struck upon, and for a time that had arun. It may
be called the excluder plan, and I will now give it as we first
practiced it. i

ca

186 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

EXCLUDER PLAN OF TREATMENT.

We find and cage the queen, destroy all queen-cells, remove
the hive from its stand, and put in its place a hive containing
three or four frames of foundation. .The foundation is on one
side of the hive with a dummy next to it. The rest of the hive
is left vacant. Upon this hive is put a queen-excluder, and
over the excluder the old hive with its brood and bees, and
over this the supers as before (Fig. 66). Then the queen is

Fig. 61—Cutting Foundation.

run in at the entrance of the lower hive, and the colony is
left for a week or ten days. Ten days is safer.

At the end of the week, or as soon after that time as we
can conveniently reach it we take away the lower story with
its excluder, and put back the queen in the old hive, which is
left on the stand. When we remove the lower story with its
three or four frames that a week ago contained foundation,
there will be less advance made in those frames than you would
be likely to suppose. The vacant part will still be vacant, the
amount of honey will be very small, generally only one or two
frames will have been occupied by the queen, and possibly
nothing beyond eggs will be found, If larvae are found, they

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 187

will be still small, and not in large quantity. It appears from

this that there is some sulking for a time on the part of the

queen, or else that the bees are rather slow to prepare the

foundation for her. It is possible that this interim without

sa laying may be an important part of the treatment. I don’t
ow.

SOME FAILURES.

At any rate, in the first two seasons of using the plan,
‘there was no case of any colony making any further prepara-
tion for swarming after being thus treated. The third season
(1902) every thing did not work so smoothly, but possibly
the treatment was not fairly administered in all cases. Some
of the colonies did not take kindly to the foundation, and in
a few cases it looked as if they might have swarmed out, rather
than to use the foundation. In one case they built comb and
started a brood-nest in the vacant part, leaving the foundation
untouched. But there was some excuse for this as the founda-
tion was weather-beaten and hard.

WORKING TOWARD NON-SWARMING.

Of ‘course it is no little work to go through the colonies
every ten days up to the time’of treatinent, and I think it
likely that it would work all right to treat every colony on the
excluder plan, or some other plan, early in the honey flow,
whether they had grubs in queer-cells or not. But there are
some colonies that will go through the whole season with never
a grub in a queen-cell. Possibly one or more eggs may be
found in queen-cells at each of several successive visits; pos-
sibly eggs may be found at one visit, and none at suc-
ceeding visits. And exactly these colonies that never start
cells, or are willing to be thwarted in it, are the ones most
likely to give record yields. To interfere with their work,
even for a week in a slight degree, is not desirable. There is
also another important reason for allowing every colony
willing to do so to go through the whole season without any
preparation for swarming and without any interference. I
am trying all the time to work at least a little toward a non-
swarming strain of bees, and if all colonies were treated in
advance how would I know which were the non-swarmers

188 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

from which to choose my breeding stock? Their careful rec-
ord must be kept.
EMPTY FRAMES USED.

Some time later a little change was made so as to make
the queen better satisfied with her new quarters. Instead of
putting foundation under the excluder, a brood-frame is put
there, at one side. It is preferably one with very little brood
in it, the object being merely to hold the queen in the hive, but
not to encourage her to do much in the way of laying. Asa

Fig. 62—Litile Work-table.

further discouragement to laying and comb-building no other
comb is put in the hive, nor ever the least starter of founda-
tion. Two or three other frames entirely empty are placed
beside the brood-comb. No dummy is needed. You might ex-
pect that the bees very promptly fill with comb one or more
of these empty frames. They don’t. At the end of a week
or ten days you may find one frame half filled, with a very
little comb in the second; perhaps only a little comb in the
one frame.

As to the rest, of course the proceeding is just the same
as when foundation was used,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 189
DESTROYING QUEEN-CELLS TO PREVENT SWARMING.

Among the first things a beginner thinks he has learned
is that destroying queen-cells will prevent swarming, and then
he is sorely disappointed to find that he is mistaken about it.
But I must confess that I have a good deal more faith in it
than I formerly had. Not that I would for a minute trust to
it as a sole means to prevent swarming. But I do know that in
a good many cases it is efficient. Perhaps one cause of my
change of view is the change in my bees. Breeding constantly
for improvement in storing, and at the same time giving pref-
erence to those least inclined to swarm, it is possible that de-
stroying cells has more effect than it formerly had.

It may be well to give some examples, taking just as they
come in order some colonies that needed no other treatment to
prevent swarming. I take them from the year 1908, one of the
Lest honey years. The first one I come to had a two-year-old
queen, and June 23 I destroyed a grub in just one queen-cell.
No other queen-cell was started. If that had not been de-
stroyed, I suppose the colony would have swarmed, and that
would have lessened the number of sections produced, which
was 181, besides finishing up some “go-backs.” The next had a
three-year-old queen, and gave 244 sections. June 23 one egg
in a cell was destroyed, and that was all for the season. The
queen was superseded after August 8. The next had a two-
year-old queen, and gave 276 sections. I destroyed, June 15,
one egg in a queen-cell, and June 24 one grub. The next had
a queen of the previous year and gave 100 sections. It never
had even an egg in a queen-cell the whole season. The next
had a yearling queen, and gave 145 sections, besides having
taken from it, in May, three brood with adhering bees. Not
an egg in a queen-cell. The next had a yearling queen, and
gave 211 sections. It had.one egg in a queen-cell June 6, also
July 27 and August 6. That may be enough to show that at
least in some cases destroying cells was worth while. Perhaps
one colony in three will behave thus well.

THOROUGH WORK AT KILLING CELLS.

Some have said that if a frame or two were lifted from
the center of the hive and no cells found in them, there was no

190 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

need to look further. No such slipshod work will answer here.
Every comb in the hive must be carefully examined. It may
be that not a cell is found in the hive except upon the very last
comb lifted out. Neither will it do to examine a comb with all
its bees upon it. The bees must be shaken off, so that the cells
can be plainly seen. If at the previous overhauling eggs or
cells were killed, or if for any reason it is suspected that the
colony is in danger of swarming, then the queen is found, and
the comb upon which she is found is put into an empty hive
standing near before the bees are shaken off the combs. If any
combs were shaken first, it would make it difficult to find the
queen.
DEQUEENING TREATMENT.

Latterly no one plan of treatment is followed exclusively.
It may be the “put-up” or the excluder plan, or it may be
dequeening for about 10 days. The dequeening treatment is
the one most generally used. The queen is removed, the queen-
cells are killed, and in 10 days the queen-cells are again de-
stroyed and their own queen returned, or another queen given.
Sometimes a queenlessness of a week seems to do as well. At
any, rate, a queen in a provisioned cage may be given in a
week, for it will be a little time before she is out ready to lay.
Possibly, instead of waiting ten days and giving a laying
queen, a ripe queen-cell or a newly born virgin is given at the
time of removing the old queen. This has the advantage that
if there is any thing like European foul brood in the case, it
may be considered somewhat in the light of a cure. It has
the disadvantage that my assistant is quite strongly opposed to
the idea of having a virgin in a honey-hive, lest she should take
it into her head to get the colony to swarm out, a thing that
may happen once in a great while in reality, and in the imagi-
nation of my assistant quite frequently.

REPLAOING WITH BETTER QUEEN.

On the whole, perhaps the most common thing is to re-
place the removed queen with a young laying queen taken from
a nucleus. This will generally result in replacing the old queen
with one of better stock, for the young queen will be. reared

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 191

from best stock. If, however, the old queen be an extra-good
one, she will be put in a nucleus when removed, and then re-
turned at the proper time. Whether the old queen be returned
or a new one given, she is likely to be given with a frame of
brood and adhering bees from the nucleus, so there is no in-
terruption in laying. If for any reason she is given in an
introducing eage, the cage is thrust into the entrance of the
hive, in such way that the bees will be sure to take care of it,

Fig. 63—Super-Filler.

and where it can be looked at at any time without opening the
hive. I am not sure but that a queen at the entrance is a little
better received than elsewhere. Of course there might be a lit-
tle danger of chilling in a very cold time.

If the old queen is returned there is a possibility of fur-
ther attempts at swarming. But if a young queen be given,
after ten days of queenlessness, that colony is considered set-
tled for the season, and no further watch is kept against
swarming.

Somewhat curiously, it is the common thing, upon open-
ing a hive a week after giving the queen, to find one or more

192 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

queen-cells started. I don’t know why. Perhaps the bees have
been frightened because of their spell of queenlessness, and
want to provide against its happening again. At any rate,
when these cells are killed they are not replaced. Possibly the
bees would destroy them themselves after finding that the
queen was settled to work.

Some think it best, when a queen arrives at a certain age,
to replace her with a young queen. It is held by some that a
queen does her best work in her first year, and that no queen
should be allowed to do a second year’s work, because there
will always be a gain by replacing her with a younger queen.
Some of the men that hold such views, and practice according-
ly, are such successful beekeepers that J dare not say they are
wrong. Whether it be a difference in bees, in locality, manage-
ment, or what not, I do not believe that such practice would
be best for me.

I am pretty sure that many of my queens do as good work
in the second as in the first year, possibly better. But it is not
altogether a question as to whether a queen does as well or
better in her second year, comparing it with the first. The
question is rather as to what she will do in her second or third
year as compared with what would be done by the average
young queen that would replace her. However it may be else-
where, the rule with my bees is that a queen which distinguishes
herself by a good crop of honey in her first year, will keep
above the average as long as she lives. And J. can count on
the bees superseding her at the close of harvest whenever she
reaches an age when it would seem profitable for me to re-
place her with a younger queen.

Another thing may be worth considering. It is claimed,
and with some show of reason, that longevity in bees is an im-
portant factor. One colony will be stronger in bees and.
brood than another beside it, while the latter will store more
honey. The explanation given is that the bees in the second
colony are longer-lived. It may not be unreasonable to suppose
that if one has a strain of bees with queens which live to an
unusual age, that the workers will also live to unusual age. So
it may be the part of wisdom to encourage those queens which .
show a disposition to live beyond the usual span,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 198

On these accounts it is my practice to leave the matter of
superseding entirely to the bees in all cases, except where for
some reason other than age it will seem an improvement to
replace with a younger queen. That reason may be that the
workers of a queen are unusually vicious, that they do not seal
their honey white enough, or there may be some other fault,
but generally it will be because they did not store honey enough
the previous year, When, then, the colony of such a queen
shows persistence in the matter of preparation for swarming,
she will be replaced by another as part of the treatment of that
colony. But old age alone will not endanger her life.

An item of some interest is the fact that when I look
through the colonies in the spring to clip any queen that may
have whole wings, I find very little use for the scissors if the
previous season was very poor, whereas after a big honey-
yield I generally find a good deal of clipping to do. In other
words, there seems to be more superseding at the close of a
good than of a poor year. Has it only happened to come so,
or does a good harvest wear out the queen faster?

THE “JUMBO” HIVE.

At one time I had strong hopes that by the use of a large
hive with a large frame I might greatly diminish, if not entire-
ly suppress, swarming. Others reported success with what was
called the Jumbo hive. At Fig. 67 will be seen one of these
hives. The frame is 24 inches deeper than the regular Lang-
stroth frame, and if you will look at the front of the hive in
the picture you will see that it is 24 inches higher than the
eight-frame dovetailed hive by its side. The Jumbo has ten
frames, and the extra depth makes it equivalent to a twelve-
frame Langstroth.

I put bees in two of these hives in the home apiary, and
waited to see what would result the next summer with much
interest. The very first colony to send out a swarm was in one
of these Jumbo hives! I was sorry, but it didn’t make me sick
abed. I had become hardened to failures and disappointments
in following after the will-o’-the-wisp—non-swarming.

(

194 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

PILES OF STORIES.

The problem of prevention of swarming would be very
much easier if I were running for extracted honey instead of
comb. I am very much of the opinion that I could pile up
stories as in Fig. 68, and not have one colony in a hundred
swarm, the fact that no such pile ever swarmed for me con-
firming that opinion; and I have had a few such ae every
year for a number of years.

VENTILATION TO PREVENT SWARMING.

It is not, I think, so much the abundance of room as the
abundance of ventilation that prevents swarming, although
the room is important. Notice the opportunity for ventilation
in that pile in Fig. 68. The entrance, which you cannot see, is
12 inches wide and 2 inches deep. The second story is shoved
forward on the first story so as‘to make a ventilating space of
half an inch at the back between the two stories. The third
story is shoved back to make a space in front; and the venti-
lating space between the third and fourth stories is at the back.
Lastly the cover is shoved forward to make a space of half an
inch or more. Thus you see there is a fine chance for a free
circulation of air right through the whole pile. Alas that such
a thing cannot be used for comb honey!

DEMAREE PLAN,

If I were running for extracted honey, I could get along
with little or no swarming by following the plan of G. W.
Demaree. When the time comes that there is danger of swarm-
ing, put into a second story all the frames from below except
one containing the least brood, fill up the vacancies with empty
combs or frames of foundation, put a queen-excluder between
the two stories, and leave the queen in the lower story. Then:
as the brood hatches out in the second story the combs will be
filed with honey and become extracting combs.

SHAKEN SWARM WITHOUT INCREASE.

Another plan that I would enjoy trying if I were running
for extracted honey is one variation of forced or shaken

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 195

swarms. It is the simple plan of making a shaken swarm, say
from A, and then piling all the brood from A on another
strong colony, B. European beekeepers tell us that with this
accession of brood B will not swarm. S. Simmins, of Eng-
land, and. some others, give A half the bees from B. A would
be all right for comb honey, but B would not—at least not
right away—but it would be all right for extracted honey.

ACCIDENTAL SWARMS.

The best I can do there will sometimes be what might be
called accidental swarms. Perhaps a strong colony has in
some way lost its queen in the busy season, and when the first-
reared young queen emerges—if one is allowed to emerge—
there will surely be a swarm issue. Generally such a thing will
be headed off before the young queen has a chance to emerge,
but once in a great while she gets ahead of me.

Although there is to me nothing entrancing in the sight of
such a swarm whirling through the air, there is one thing I do
very much enjoy in it—it is the sight of the seething mass
hurrying into the hive when dumped in front of it, as in Fig.
69. You will see that a deep bottom-board has been placed
in front of No. 32, on which the swarm was dumped (it had
previously settled on a low plum tree), and the bees have
flowed all over the sides of the bottom-board, and also over the
front of the hive. But I don’t want the distress of seeing them
pouring out of the hive in a swarm for the sake of the plea-
sure of seeing them hustle back into the same hive when
dumped down in front of it.

TAKING OFF SECTIONS.

As fast as supers are filled they are taken off. I do not
think I could be bothered to take off each section as fast as
finished, putting in an empty one to take its place. It would
take too much time. Neither do I like to wait till every section
in a super is entirely finished. Unless the bees are crowded
very much, there will be some uncapped cells in the outside
sections which the bees will be very long in sealing. If these
are waited for, the central sections may lose a little of their

196 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

suowy whiteness—the thing which, perhaps, helps 1 3st to sell
them.

A super is, then, taken off when all but the outside sections
are finished. This ean be pretty well told by glancing over the
top of the super, although sometimes the sections may be all
sealed at the upper part and hardly filled below. A look at the
under part of the upraised super will decide it. The sharp,
circular end of the hive-tool is thrust under the supers to pry
apart the attachment of bee-glue.

rig. 64—Load of Forty Supers.

Unless care is taken, bees will be killed when a super,
which has just been taken off, is put back again. Sometimes
there may be so few bees in the way that the super can be put
on quickly without danger. Oftener too many bees are in the
way for this, so I put one end on its place, and with a series of
rapid-up-and-down motions gradually lower the other end to
its place. This gives the bees time to get out of the way, and
there are seldom any crushed by it.

CLOSE OF CLOVER HARVEST.

Formerly I took off all supers at the close of the white-
clover harvest. Of late there has been a tendency to leave them

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 197

on for the later flow. I am not sure whether this is wise,
except in the few years in which from some unknown source
some exceptionally white sections were secured at the Hastings
apiary. In other years at the Hastings apiary, and in all the
years at the other apiaries, the honey stored during the cucum-
ber flow is rather dark in color, and is likely to have an un-
pleasant appearance on the surface, as if lightly varnished
with bee-glue. But of late years the late honey has been im-
proving, both in color and flavor. I don’t know why. Pos-
sibly a greater proportion of sweet clover may have improved
the flavor. Possibly, also, the increase of heartsease may ‘have
something to do with it. Although I think my bees get no
inconsiderable quantity of honey from cucumbers, I confess I
don’t know what pure cucumber honey tastes like, but I am
afraid it does not rank very high in flavor.

LATE HONEY.

As I said, I am not sure that it is ever wise, except in the
Hastings apiary, to allow supers to stay on after the white-
clover harvest is over. True, a considerable amount of honey
may be got in sections from the late flow, but it is not all of it
of the best, and if it were stored in brood-combs and saved as
extra combs to be crowded into the brood-chamber the next
year before the beginning of the harvest, there might be nearly
or quite as many more sections of white-clover honey stored
to offset what was lost in sections in the fall.

OBJECTS TO PORTER ESCAPE

For the purpose of getting bees out of sections I have
tried pretty thoroughly the Porter escape and other escapes
which work on the principle of allowing the bees to go down
out of the supers without the chance of returning, but they
do not work fast enough to suit me. When I go to an out-
apiary, I always want to bring home with me all the honey
taken off that day. Even at home I want it all taken in the
same day that it is taken off. I may want to go elsewhere the
next morning, and I don’t want to be hindered from an early
start by having to get it in before starting. Besides, I am

198 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

just a little afraid that if I should make a practice of leaving
honey out over escapes till the next day, some one none too
scrupulous might learn the trick and by a night visit save me
the trouble of taking off some of the honey. So whatever
honey is taken off any day is got into the house before we go
to bed that night; for sometimes it happens that when we
have a big day’s work at an out-apiary we do not get home
till 8 o’clock or later.

Fig. 65—One-cent Queen-Cage.

SMOKING BEES DOWN.

When a super is to be taken off, smoke is blown down into
it until a sufficient number of bees have gone down out of it.
What that sufficient number is depends upon cireumstances.
If it is early in the day, and we do not care to take the honey
home fill late, there is no need to drive out so many bees.
Other circumstances may also make a difference, and we “cut
our coat according to the cloth.”

SUPERS STANDING OPEN.

Suppose the honey flow is in full blast, and we commence
to take off supers early in the day, or at least in the forenoon.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 199

At such a time there is little need to be very careful about
robbers, and it may be that honey may stand exposed for
hours without being troubled by them. So when the super has
been smoked it is taken off and set on the ground leaning:
against the hive, the hive-cover is put on the remaining supers,
and then our removed super is set on its end on top, so as to
project a little over the side of the hive. After a time, perhaps
half an hour, the bees are likely to start a trail from the super
over the side of the hive to join the bees of the colony below.
A number of supers may be thus standing at a time on
their respective hives. Sometimes two supers are taken from
the same hive, and, in rare cases, especially late i in the season,

three.

WATCHING FOR ROBBER BEES.

These supers, left standing on the hives, however, are
never left entirely out of mind, and a glance is given toward
them every few minutes. If at any time bees are seen flying
with their heads toward | a super, immediate attention is given
to the matter, and the supers hustled off the hives. When the
bees are nearly out, or at any time when it is not desirable to
leave supers standing on the hives, they are put in Piles, pre-
ferably not more than ten high.

WHEN ROBBER BEES TROUBLE.

If fear of robbers does not-allow the supers to stand ex-
posed, the super is still put on top of the hives, and a good
many of the bees are at once driven out by smoke. The smoker
is held on the side toward the wind, so that the wind will help
drive the smoke between the sections, and from time to time the
bees are brushed off. The bee-brush generally used is the
Coggshall, but if it were not for the trouble of preparing one
fresh every ‘day, I think I would prefer a good-sized bunch of
asparagus, sweet clover, goldenrod, or something of the kind
tied together.

MILLER TENT-ESCAPE.

In piling the supers a sunny place is preferred, to entice
out the bees. A deep bottom-board is put on the ground, a
super placed on it, and the entrance closed with wire cloth

200 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

somewhat as a hive-entrance is closed for hauling (Fig. 72).
Then over the super is thrown what Root’s “A B C of Bee
Culture” has been pleased to call the Miller tent-escape (Fig.
73). (Later on I’ll tell you how it’s made.) When a second
super is brought to the pile, the escape is kicked off, the super
placed on the pile and the escape thrown over it. When the
pile becomes too high to kick off the escape, it is shoved off
with the hand, but still allowed to fall to the ground, and
afterwards picked up.

Fig. 66—Colony at left treated for swarming.
£ y g

The bees can now make their exit through the top of the
escape at their leisure, and from time to time those that have
gathered on the wire cloth below are allowed to escape. Mat-
ters may be hurried up a little by blowing in smoke below. But
this is hardly advisable, for the smoke, being more or less con-
tined, is likely to give an unpleasant flavor to the sections.
When there is abundance of time for the bees to get out with-
out being hurried, or if the pile is only five or six high, it is
better not to have any opening at the bottom of the pile, but
to set the first super on a flat surface that admits no light, or
right on the grass.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 201

KEEPING TALLY OF SECTIONS.

The number of the colony from which each super is taken
is marked in peneil on one of the middle sections, perhaps
when the super is first taken from the hive, certainly before it
is taken from the hive entirely. A board or a slip of paper is
kept where the supers are piled, and as each super is taken to
the pile the number of the hive and the number of sections in
the super are taken. Occasionally the number of supers in the
pile is counted, so as to see whether it tallies with the number
taken on the memorandum, for without this there is danger
that some super might be forgotten, and the colony not have
proper credit. When convenient, possibly while we sit rest-
ing a little while after the supers are all piled, possibly not till
the next morning, the numbers on the memorandum are used
to give each colony its proper credit in the record book.

CREDITING COLONIES.

The credit to each colony is entered over the first line that
belongs to that colony, so that it may easily be seen at a glance,
and so that it may be convenient to have all the credit on one
spot. Ifa super containing 24 sections is taken from a colony,
the number 24 is entered over its first line. Then when another
24 sections is taken from that colony, +24 is written after the
first 24, and whatever number is taken each time, that num-
ber is put down with the plus sign preceding. Sometimes it
happens that a super partly filled is taken from one hive and
put on another. Suppose it is estimated that the super con-
tains the equivalent of 7 sections, and that it is taken from No.
21 and given to No. 45. At No. 21 will be entered +7, and
at No. 45 will be entered —7. At the-end of the season the
whole will be summed up. In an extra-good year, an average
colony may have some such account as this: 2448+48—7+16
+24 equals 153. But the minus sign very seldom occurs.

WHEELING SUPERS IN.

At the home apiary, the piles of supers are generally left
till nightfall, so the bees will have abundance of time to be

202 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

fully out. Then they are taken on a wheelbarrow to the
honey-room (Fig. 74).

You will notice that the wheelbarrow is innocent of any
box or tray. It is a common railroad barrow, with the tray
removed. In this shape it is very convenient for wheeling
supers or stove-wood, the principal uses to which it is put.
When desired the tray can be replaced to be used for other
purposes.

Fig. 67—Jumbo Hive (at right).

HAULING SUPERS FOR OUT-APIARY.

At the out-apiaries the supers must be loaded on the
wagon, and sometimes at the close of the season that is a rather
ticklish job. When we go to the apiary in the morning, we
drive pretty close to the place where the piles of supers are
to be—mucelh closer than it will be safe to take the horses at the
close of the day’s work when the bees are thoroughly stirred
up—and after the horses are unhitched the wagon is taken by
hand to the most convenient spot for loading on the supers.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 203

LOADING SUPERS ON WAGON.

Unfortunately, although the wagon was built especially
for the purpose, some irons prevent a perfectly level floor on
which to put the supers, so strips of thin board or lath are laid
so the supers will be level. The size of the wagon-box is such
as to take on one side three supers running crosswise, and on
the other side two supers running fore and aft. Great care
is taken to build up the piles true, and when all are on they are
fastened together by laths with nails driven partly in, so the
nails can easily be drawn upon reaching home. Each pile has
a lath vertically; across the top, laths are braced in both di-
rections, so that the whole load is practically one solid pile
(Fig. 64). As the load comes mainly on the hind axle, 40
supers are as many as we like to haul at one load. We seldom
take so large a load.

As I have said, putting the load on the wagon at the close
of the season is something of a ticklish job, and is mostly done
under cover of smoke, my assistant playing the smoker where-
ever it will do the most good. The character of the tent-escape
comes into fine play here, for it can’ so quickly and surely
be thrown into the right place that the robber bees have little
chance at the piles, so the smoking is mostly done at the wagon.
A robber-cloth (Fig. 75) is even a little better than the tent
escape.

When the load is all on, the wagon is drawn away to a
distance safe for the horses. This may be 8 or 10 rods, or it
may be more than twice that distance. Fortunately, at each
out-apiary the ground lies in such a way that after the first
few rods the ground is descending, making it easy to draw
the load the longer distance. Then the horses are hitched on
as speedily as possible.

HONEY-ROOM.

Generally, Philo will be ready to take off the load when
we get home, unless we get home too near bedtime and Philo
has gone home, in which case I am not always a good enough
fighter to keep the women from helping to carry the supers to
the honey-room. This is an addition built on to my dwelling

204 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

house. It is 20x15 feet, and the floor timbers are blocked up
with stones so that it will sustain a great weight without break-
ing.
When the supers of sections are taken in, they are piled up
near the center of the room with no very great precision,

Fig. 6S—Pile of Stories.

usually being piled crosswise, that is, each super placed across
the one under it, for the double purpose of ventilation and to
make it easier to lift the supers off the pile than they would be
if piled straight and stuck together with bee glue.

PUSH-BOARD.

Perhaps the sections will be taken out of the supers the
next day, possibly not for a week or more. A push-board

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 205

(Fig. 76) is used to push the sections out of the super. This
is made as follows:

Take a board 165¢ inches long and 11 inches wide. Take
boards 12 inches long and % inch thick and nail them across
the first board so as to cover just its length, and project 14
inch at each side. This makes a surface 165g x12 inches. If
this board be now put inside an empty T super, and the T
super raised, it will be seen that the board will easily drop
through the super, except where it is upheld by the three T tin
supports on each side. Places must be cut out of the board so
that the supports will present no hindrance. In order to
make these places abundantly large, I cut them 144 x % inch.
When cut out, the measure will be, from the corner of the
board to the first place or hole, 314 inches, then 144 inches for
the hole, then 213-16 inches to the next hole. Measure the
same way from each of the other three corners, and you will
have on each side three holes that will allow the supports of
the T tins to pass through without obstruction.

Occasionally, after pushing sections out with the push-
board, I found at the lower part of some of the central sec-
tions some of the cells looking watery, showing that the push-
board had crowded down a little too hard at the central part.
To obviate that I put a little cleat about 14 inch wide and ¥g
thick at the outer edge of the board on all sides, giving the
pressure right where it is needed. If the outer part of the
sections comes out, there is no danger that the rest of the
sections will not keep company. Unfortunately, the picture
does not contain the little cleats.

TAKING SECTIONS OUT OF SUPER.

Being now ready to take out the unfinished sections, the
first thing is to see whether there are any to take out. If a
careful inspection shows that all sections in a super are sealed
down to the bottom, it goes directly to the pile of finished sec-
tions. If any sections are seen that are not finished; the super
is placed on the table, and the little sticks removed that were
crowded between the ends of the sections on top. A flat hive-
cover, or a board a little larger than the super, is placed upon
it. Then super and board are both turned upside down, the

206 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

board being firmly held on the super by one hand while revers-
ing. If the super should be reversed without this board being
held on it, there might be a possibility of sections tumbling
out and breaking. (The board is needed under the reversed
super in any case.) The super is now lying upside down on
the board, the board even with the edge of the table. The side
of the super having the follower is nearest, and I slide the
super toward me enough so that I can push the follower down

Fig. 69—Swarm dumped before No. 32.

and let it drop out. Then I push the super back on the board
and lay the push-board on the bottoms of the sections. Before
putting the push-board on the sections, however, I remove any
bits of wax that may be on the bottoms of the sections, other-
wise the push-board coming down hard upon them will crush
the comb enough to make the sealing on the lower part of the
sections look watery, if it does no greater damage.

As the super now les, the sections are not resting on the
board beneath, there being 14 inch space there. JT push the
push-board down till the sections rest on the board below,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 207

EXCEPTIONALLY TROUBLESOME CASES.

The sections may fall that quarter of an inch with their
own weight, and they may not go down at all without urgent
coaxing. If the honey was stored with a rush in the early part
of the season, there will be very little gluing, and the sections
will come out easily. The later in the season, and the slower
the storing, the more gluing, and the more trouble. If there
is a lot of glue, and if it is warm, stringy, and sticky, it must
be humored a little. It can hardly be jerked loose suddenly
any more than if were nailed; but if it is allowed time enough
the weight of the sections may be enough to bring them down.
Of course a little insistence will hasten matters to some extent,
but it seems to be a matter of principle with that kind of glue
not to let go too suddenly. Sometimes I take a super of that
kind and place it low enough to sit down on the push-board,
and then let it take its time. When I feel it give way under
me, I give up my seat, unless I continue matters a little longer
by taking hold of the super at each end and lifting up while
still sitting on the push-board.

WHEN THE GLUE IS BRITTLE.

Sometimes the glue is brittle, especially if quite cold. The
case is then quite different. Sitting on it all day would do
no good, unless one is heavy enough to bring down the whole
thing suddenly. If pushing down with the hands on the push-
board produces no effect, I pound with the fist at each corner
enough to make the start. Then lifting on the super at each
end with the fingers, I push the sections out of the super by
pushing down on the push-board with the thumbs (Fig; 77).

After the first start is made, perhaps the super is at once
lifted off without any trouble, and perhaps further coaxing is
needed, and the super must be treated somewhat as one treats
a refractory bureau drawer. I lift on each end alternately,
holding down the push-board with one hand and lifting with
the other, then with both hands lift off the super (Fig. 78).

This sounds a little as if were hard work getting sections
out of supers, because I have spent so much time talking about

208 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the troublesome cases, but these are the exceptional cases, and
in general the work is easy enough to be done rapidly.

TAKING OUT UNFINISHED SECTIONS.

The empty super being set down and the push-board re-
moved, the unfinished sections are picked off, and the super
is put back on the sections as it was before. Then the super
and the board under it are reversed, and the board lifted off.
Finished sections from another super used for that purpose

Fig. 70—Bee Working on Red Clover.

are put in to take the places of the unfinished sections that
were removed, and the super with its 24 finished sections is put
on the pile.

BLOCKING UP SUPERS OF SECTIONS.

The piles of finished sections are 20 supers high, the piles
being about 6 inches from each other and from the wall. Four
blocks 7g of an ineh thick are placed under the corners of the
first super in the pile, and four are put on the corners of
each super before the next super is placed over it. This for
ventilation (Fig. 79). The sun has a fair chance to make this
room a pretty warm place, and screened doors and windows
allow free passage for the air.

FUMIGATING SECTIONS.

Years ago it was very important to fumigate these sec-
tions, or else a good many of the larvae of the bee moth would

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 209

disfigure them. The trouble gradually faded away until for
several years I have done no fumigating whatever, and no
harm has come from the omission. I do not know why there
should be so much change except a change in the character of
the bees that stored the honey. Years ago black brood was
present in my bees to a larger extent than now. The weeding
out of bees too lazy to fight away the wax moths may have
much to do with it.

“GO-BACKS.”

The unfinished sections that were taken out are to be dis-
posed of. They are filled into supers and returned to the
bees to be finished up, and these supers of sections that are to
go back to the bees for finishing are called “go-backs,” for
short. In filling up these supers of “go-backs;” no very great
eare is taken as to assorting them, although it is desirable so
far as convenient to have all in the same super at nearly the
same stage toward completion.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS IN ‘'GO-BACKS.”

All except the two outside rows. In these two rows are
put the sections that are the least advanced, the four corner
sections often containing only foundation.

There are two objects in having these outside rows differ-
ent from the others. The bees will not make as rapid work fin-
ishing them as the others, and if all were alike the super would
have to be left on too long before all would be finished. So
there is no expectation of their being finished, and it is not
worth while to put in the outside row any that are near com-
pletion. There is another reason. Toward the close of the
season, especially, there will be no other supers on a hive
that has “go-backs,” and these outside rows are needed to give
them a chance to do some storing while finishing up the seal-
ing of sections that allow little or no room for storing.

COLONIES FOR “GO-BACK” WORK.

Being more convenient, the “go-backs” are all given to
colonies in the home apiary. When the first are given, the

210 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

honey harvest is usually still in full blast, and a good many
colonies in the apiary will have “go-backs,” each colony having
only one, that being placed on top of its other supers. We keep
watch to see which colonies make the best work on “go-backs.”
Some seal faster than others, some seal sections with extra
whiteness. In order to help keep track of the rate of progress,
each “go-back,” at the time it is put on, has marked on one of
the middle sections the word “go-back” and the date. If the
super were not thus marked, the colony would get more credit
than it deserved when the super was removed.

A little later in the season the number of colonies chosen
for this work is limited, only those which do the best being
continued at it, and these are not allowed to have any other
supers. Generally two supers at a time will be enough for a
colony to have, but sometimes three will be given. As fast as
one super is ready to come off another takes its place.

ROBBER-CLOTH.

Before fulfilling my promise to describe the tent escape,
I must describe a robber-cloth (Fig. 75), which forms an es-
sential part of the tent-escape. I take a piece of stout cotton
cloth (sheeting) or burlap large enough to cover a hive and
hang down four inches or more at both sides and at each end.
This must be weighted down at the side with lath, and for this.
purpose I take four pieces of lath about as long as the hive. I
lay down one piece of lath with another piece on it, and one
edge of the cloth between the two pieces of lath. I then nail
the two together and clinch the nails.. I use the other two
pieces of lath for the opposite edge of the cloth. This makes a
good robber cloth as it is, but it is better to have the ends also
weighted down, especially on a windy day. For this purpose
I make a hem in each end, and put in it shot, nails, pebbles,
or something of the kind, stitching across the hem here and
there so the weighting material will not all run together at
one side or the other.

QUICK COVERING WITH ROBBER-CLOTH.

In any case where one wants to cover up a hive quickly
against robbers, as when opening and closing the same hive

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 211

frequently for the sake of putting in or taking out combs, this
robber-cloth will be found a great convenience. No careful
adjustment is needed, as in putting on a regular hive-cover,
but one can take hold of the lath with one hand, and with a
single throw the hive is covered securely, with no killing of
bees if any should happen to be in the way.

Fig. 71—Shop (looking South).

MILLER TENT-ESCAPE.

Having made the robber-cloth, an escape, not in the shape
of a cone, but in the shape of a pyramid, is fastened centrally
upon it( Fig. 73). Take three triangular pieces of wire cloth,
each of the three sides measuring alike. Put them together
in the form of a tent, sewing the edges together at the three
sides by weaving fine wire through. At the top, however, let
each of the pieces be folded out, so that a hole large enough
to push your finger in will be left. Lay the tent centrally on
the robber-cloth and mark where the three corners of the tent
come. Now starting at each of these points, eut the cloth to the
center. Cut away the three flaps of cloth all but about 1144
inches, and turn this 114-inch margin up on the outside of the
tent and sew there with heavy thread,

212 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Another way is a little easier to do, and it is a little better.
although a little harder to describe. Take a piece of wire cloth
21% times as long as it is wide. Mark a point at the middle of
one of the longer sides, and on the other side mark a point
half way from each end to the middle, as shown in the figure.
Make a fold at each of the dotted lmes. The wire cloth may
be cut away at the two outside dotted lines, or, what is better,
the end pieces may be folded over and sewed down. Now
bring the two parts of the upper margin together and sew with
wire, and then proceed to fasten. the tent in place as before.
In this latter case, of course, a hole must be cut in the top of.

the tent. Before the tent is sewed together, cut a slit about
an inch deep in the two dotted lines at the top, and then fold
out the three points.

' When one of these tent-escapes is placed on a pile of
supers, or on a hive containing bees, the bees will pass out
freely at the top, but the bees that try to get in attempt to
make the entrance further down. Once in a great while there
will gather a bunch of the outgoing bees at the top so as to
clog the exit, and then the robbers will settle on this bunch
of bees and work their way in, but a little smoke will scatter
the bunch of bees.

But bees are persevering creatures, and are not likely to
stay scattered. In that case it is a good thing to put two es-
capes over the pile, a larger one over a smaller one. The piece
of wire cloth used in making some of mine is 22 x 914 inches,
and in others it is 14x 6. The smaller ones seem to work just
as well as the larger, and it is a convenience to have the two

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 213

sizes when a case such as I have mentioned oceurs. But it
does not often occur.

“ONCE A THIEF” NOT “ALWAYS A THIEF.”

For many years I believed what perhaps is generally be-
lieved, that the saying, “Once a thief, always a thief,” is
true of any bee ever guilty of robbing. There is, no doubt,
some ground for such belief, for a bee that has spent today
robbing from a certain hive will very likely start in on the
same business tomorrow, if any more plunder is to be had in
the same place; but it is not true that a bee that has been en-
gaged in one robbing scrape will never after return to honest
labor.

Indeed, so far as the bee is concerned, getting honey out
of another hive probably seems just as honest work as to
gather nectar from the flowers. And the more active a bee
is when engaged in the field, the more active might we expect
to find it in trying to rob when there is nothing more to ‘be
found in the field. .

Many a hive is robbed out in the spring, and many a bee
is engaged in the robbing; yet the first day in which an abun-
dance of stores can be had in the field, every bee of sufficient
age gleefully joins in the quest abroad, and the fact that honey
may be exposed with little danger shows that the bees that were
formerly so intent upon robbing are now afield with the others.

LEAVING SOMETHING FOR ROBBERS.

A practice that is just as far from right as the theory
about which we have been talking is the practice of taking
away whatever the robbers are working upon, without leaving
any thing in its place. If by carelessness I have left a section
of honey on a hive, and find the robbers at work upon it, I can
‘hardly do a worse thing than to take it away.

Tf I leave it, the bees will stick to it, and clean it out, and
for some time a number of robbers will stick to it after the
honey is all gone, but they stick to that one spot, and if the
empty comb is left there, they keep hunting it all over and over,
and by and by conclude the honey is all used out of it and go
about their business. If the section is taken away and nothing

214 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

left in its place, they seem to think they, have made a mistake
as to the place and hunt all around for the missing section,
until they force their way into the nearest conquerable colony.

If a weak colony is attacked, I may sometimes take it
away, but if I do, I immediately put in its place an empty hive
in which I put some seraps of comb containing a little honey.

ig. 72—Hive, No. 12, Closed for Hauling.

They will rob this out and that will be the end of it. It is
possible that dry comb without any honey might answer.

ROBBING FAULT OF BEEKEEPER.

Except in case of queenless colonies, I am somewhat of
the opinion that most cases of robbing have been through my
own carelessness. When there is nothing to do in the fields,
the bees may be seen busily trying to enter cracks about hives
so small that there is no possibility of their entering, and they
are sharp to observe any change. If, at such times, a fresh
opening be left anywhere about a hive, it is sure to be dis-
covered. An entrance at the top of the brood-chamber, at the
back end, may be left open all the season without being dis-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 215

turbed by robbers. But if it has been kept closed until a time
when robbers are troublesome, and then opened, whether it be
that the robbers are stirred up by seeing the change, or whether
the bees of the colony are not in the habit of protecting them-
selves in that quarter, the robbers are pretty sure to give the
new entrance especial attention; and if the colony be not very
strong there may be serious results,

STARTING ROBBING BY FEEDING.

As feeding is done only in a time of scarcity, it is one of
the most common causes of robbing among careless beekeepers.
When general feeding is done with Miller feeders, there is little
danger, no matter what time of day the work is done; but if
some weak colony is short of stores I try to be somewhat care-
ful to do nothing to attract especial attention to it. I have
sometimes fed at night, and so far as convenient prefer to feed
late in the day, but convenience does not always allow it.

One time I found a colony at the close of the honey har-
vest, by some means about at the point of starvation. With
more carelessness than was excusable, I gave them, I think in
the forenoon, two or three combs filled with sugar syrup. Some
time after, I happened to look toward that end of the apiary,
and saw what looked to be a swarm. The bees had become ex-
cited over their new-found stores; the robber-bees had joined
in, and the bees of the colony seemed to think forage was
so plentiful that it wasn’t worth while to be mean about it,
there was enough for all; so the robbers were doing a land-
office business without let or hindrance.

1
STOPPING ROBBING WITH WET HAY.

I closed the entrance of the other hives in the immediate
neighborhood, so that only two or three bees could pass at a
time, and then threw a lot of loose wet hay at the entrance of
the besieged hive.

Not only did I put hay at the entrance, but piled it up
all around to the top of the hive. For some time I kept every
thing very wet around the hive by pouring on pails of water,
then left them till next day.

216 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

No other hives were attacked. I somewhat expected to find
the queen killed, but she was all right next day, and no further
trouble occurred, as the colony was a strong one, and, when in
its right mind, capable of taking care of itself.

DO ROBBED BEES JOIN THE ROBBERS?

One of the venerable traditions that is perhaps generally
accepted without question is that when a colony is being robbed
it is a quite common thing for the bees that are robbed to join

rig. 73—Miller Tent-Escape.

the robbers and help carry off the stores. I am very skeptical
as to there being any truth in the tradition. I do not say such
a thing never happened, but I never saw such a case, and I
have seen from first to last a number of cases in which all the
stores were emptied out of the combs by robbers, and the bees
o! the colony seemed to be all left, and generally by taking
the right kind of pains I have succeeded in re-establishing such
a eolony. In such eases there was certainly no joining the
robbers.

I have found other eases in which the bees were entirely
gone, and T could only guess what had become of them. My
guess was that after being robbed of all their stores, and hav-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 217

ing used up all the honey in their honey-sacs, perhaps some
time after the robbers had ceased to pay any attention to them,
they had swarmed out as any hunger-swarm will do, and had
united, or tried to unite, with some other colony. Would they
not be likely to join some colony other than the one that had
treated them so unkindly?

SUPERS ON HIVES SELDOM ROBBED.

Piles of four or five stories with abundant ventilation at
each story are inno danger from robbers under ordinary cir-
cumstances; but if you ever have such piles, and are so unfor-
tunate as to get the robbers once started at them, you “better
watch out.” Even if there should be a dearth for some time,
robbers are not likely to attack a pile; for they: have probably
got into the habit of thinking that such a pile is not to be med-
dled with; but just. you do something to call particular atten-
tion to the pile, such as letting a comb of honey stand by it
exposed, and there are so many exposed places to defend that
the robbers are likely to have things their own way.

A BAD CASE OF ROBBING.

One time George W. York was here when bees were not
busily at work in the fields, and I opened up a pile’ of’ four
stories, for what purpose I do not now remember; very likely
I was trying to show off in some way. At any rate I showed
him a fine case of robbing, for the robbers pounced down upon
every exposed point, and before I had noticed what was going
on they were having a gay time. Of course I couldn’t build a
haystack about the four stories, but I had to do something, for
although the colony was a powerful one it was utterly inade-
quate to the protection of four exposed stories, and without
any interference on my part its doom was sealed. I closed all
cntralces except the lower one, and then applied the hay and
water to the lower story successfully.

WHEN SUPERS ON HIVES MAY BE ROBBED.

During the usual working season there is need of some
foolishness on the part of the beekeeper to start robbing at a

218 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

pile having a strong colony; but after the weather becomes
quite cool toward fall, the case is different. Of course, all but
the lower entrance should be closed before cold nights come,
but sometimes there is a case of neglect. Jn a cold night the
colony shrinks down into the lower or the lower two stories—
all the more because there is a current of air right through the
hive—and the two or three upper stories are left without any
hees.

Fig. 74—Wheeling Load of Supers.

In the following morning they do not go up again into the
upper stories till some time after the day has warmed up. The
robbers, however, do not wait so long, but finding an upper
entrance unprotected go to work in lively style.

As late as October 6, in the year 1902, a pile was left with
an upper entrance or ventilating space still open, and on the
forenoon of that day I observed lively work at that place,
while all was quiet at the lower or regular entrance. I shoved
the cover back so as to close the space, and then took a snap-
shot of the bees trying to get in, as shown in Fig 81. Only two
stories show in the picture, although the pile was four stories
ligh. Fortunately no other place was open except the regular

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 219

lower entrance, and it was so far from top to bottom that the
robbers made no attempt below—indeed I suppose they would
have been promptly repulsed if they had—so after trying for
a time to get in the place I had closed, they gave up and left
the hive.

PLAYING BEES AND ROBBERS.

I think I can tell by carefully looking at bees when flying
with unusual commotion at the entrance of a hive whether it is
a case of robbing or bees at play, but I am not sure I could tell
some one else the difference in appearance. Looking at bees at
play in Fig. 82, and comparing with Fig. 81, there appears lit-
tle difference. In actual life there will be seen the same ex-
cited eagerness in each case.

The time of day helps to decide. During the middle of the
day, say from noon till the middle of the afternoon, playing is
common; earlier or later than. that time, if there is big excite-
ment at ‘the entrance of a weak colony, the likelihood is that
robbing is going on.

SIGNS OF ROBBING.

One pretty sure sign of robbing, when there is a good deal
of stir atthe entrance, is to see bees working frantically to
force an entrance under the cover or at some other part of the
hive, Just why they should do this at times when they seem to
have plenty of chance to get in at the regular entrance I do
not know. It seems to be a way they have.

A sure sign of robbing is to find the bees entering the
hive with empty sacs and coming out with their sacs full. The
contents of the sac can be told by killing the bee, pulling it in
two and squeezing out the contents of the sac. Indeed, the
squeezing is hardly needed.

BEES STICK TO SAME ENTRANCE.

A glance at the hive shown in Fig. 81 would show that it
is a ease of robbing, for the flying is at an opening never used
for an entrance. It is a somewhat curious fact that bees are
very persistent in continuing to use the same place for an en-
tranee,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

to
wo
=)

After the bees have become used to going in and out at the
regular place, if I make an opening at the back end of the hive,
no matter if it be as large as the front entrance, that back
opening will never be used as an entrance. One would think
that young bees taking their first play-spell would be as likely
to use the back as the front opening; but when I have had
ventilating openings at the backs of the hives I do not remem-
ber to have seen bees playing at the back. Perhaps the noise
of the regular traffic in front attracts them there.

Pig. 75—Robber-Cloth.

LOSING THE ROBBERS.

I make it a rule to stop operations usually when robbers
are very bad, but sometimes it seems necessary to fight it out.
I have sometimes taken advantage of the plan of making cross
bees or robbers lose themselves or, rather, lose the object they
are after by rapidly changing the base of operation. One day
at the Wilson apiary I had taken off some wide frames of
sections and wanted to take them from the place where they
were piled up, so as to put them on the wagon. The robbers
were so fierce and persistent that it seemed impossible to open

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 221

a crack without their immediately forcing their way in. My.
wife was provided with a smoker in full blast, and a big bunch
of goldenrod or other weeds. A robber-cloth covered the pile.
With one hand I lifted the cloth and with the other took out a
frame of sections, then quickly dropped the robber-cloth in its
place, my wife keeping a cloud of smoke in the way of any rob-
bers which should attempt to enter the pile while the cloth
was raised. Instantly the frame was out of the super, the rob-
bers made for the frame of sections. I made for the wagon
and my wife made for me. Running in a zigzag, circuitous
course, my wife followed me, puff ng and switching at every
step, and by the time we got to the wagon the rolbbers were
lost, the frame was slipped quickly into the super on the
wagon, and the robber-cloth dropped over it. The Scotch folks
at the house had a good laugh at the crazy coupie chasing one
another through the orchard, but we beat the bees. Under
ordinary circumstances it would be better to take an easier
plan or wait till dark.

PROTECTION FROM STINGS.

I have been a beekeeper since 1861, and since 1878 I have
made. the production of honey my sole business, aside from
writing about bees, and yet I have not reached that point
where I eare nothing for protection from stings. When I first
comrtienced keeping bees, a sting on my hand was a serious af-
fair, swelling to the shoulder, and troubling fn!~ as mueh the
second day as the first. Now, if i receive a nalt-dozen stings
or more, I cannot tell an hour or two later where I was stung,
except as a matter of memory. Yet I think that a sting gives
me fully as much pain for the first minute now, as it did
fifty years ago. Sometimes the pain is so severe that it liter-
ally makes me groan, especially if no one is within hearing. I
sometimes wonder at those who scout any sort of protection,
and query whether there may not be just a little of a spirit of
bravado about it. I think I could go through a year without
any sort of protection, but I do not think I ever shall. A bee
inside my clothing makes me very nervous, and I cannot go on
in comfort at my work with a feeling of uncertainty as to
where and when its little javelin shall pierce my flesh. If I

222 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

felt it crawling on me, and then cease to feel it because it is
on the clothing and not on the skin, I am in momentary dread
as to where it shall turn up next; and it is a real relief when
it stings me, for I know then the precise spot where it is, and
have no further expectations from it.

BEE-VEIL.

So I seldom go among the bees without a veil. I may not
have it over my face, but it is on the hat, ready to be pulled

Fae

Fig. 76—Push-Board.

down at any time. The veil is made of inexpensive material,
called by milliners cape-lace or cape-net. It is 21 inches wide.
A piece is cut off as long as the circumference of the brim of a
straw hat, and both ends sewed together. Shirr a rubber cord
in one end of this open bag, thoroughly soak or wash out the
starch, and sew the other end on the edge of the hat brim. It
is important for the eyesight that the stuff of the veil be black;
but the black coloring crocks one’s clothing. So of late years
a border of white cloth is sewed on the veil to receive the rubber
cord.

The rubber cord holds the veil close about one’s neck, yet

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 223

not close enough but that a bee sometimes gets under it. Al-
though a bee is not at all likely to sting when it gets inside a
veil, it is just as well to have it remain outside. So my assist-
ant devised the plan of drawing the veil down very tightly in
front, and pinning it to her waist with a safety pin. Seeing
it work so well with her, I have also adopted the plan, pinning
on to my suspenders on one side, or to my vest if I have one
on.

Sometimes a face-piece of silk net is sewed in the veil.
Instead of having the veil sewed to my hat, so that the bee-hat
must be taken along when we go to the out-apiary, I sometimes
have in my pocket a veil made with a rubber cord shirred into
each end, and when I reach the apiary the veil is slipped on
over the hat I am wearing.

BEE GLOVES AND OTHER PROTECTION.

The openings at the wrist and neck of my shirt are small,
the cloth lapping over so as to give a bee little chance for
entrance. If bees are likely to be on the ground I put my pants
inside my stockings, or, still better, put on a pair of trouser
guards such as bicyclists wear. I get a great many stings on
my hands, but the inconvenience and discomfort of gloves are
so great that for many years I felt the stings to be the lesser
of the two evils. But after working for years to get bees that
would give the most honey, without paying any attention to the
temper of the bees, I finally had bees so cross that in spite of
the inconvenience I felt obliged to wear gloves.

My assistant prefers to wear gloves, not only to avoid the
stings, but to avoid the bee glue. I may say in passing that I
am not always very particular about getting the bee glue off
my hands, but when I do clean them I usually give the bee glue
a good rubbing with butter or grease, and then wash off with
soap and water. I confess J don’t very much mind having bee
glue on my hands unless there is so much of it that it sticks
to the bedclothes at night. But I do abhor the sticky feeling
of honey on my hands; and when they get daubed, if I have no
water I pick up some soil to rub them with. That at least
takes away the sticky feeling. Perhaps you think the soil is
worse than the sticky feeling. I don’t.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

i)
to
He

BEE-GLOVES.

For some time Miss Wilson wore a kind of cheap white
glove that I think was made of pigskin. She dislikes the smell
of oiled canvas gloves, although to me the smell is not very bad,
and the smell of the pigskin is horrid. Latterly she wears

Fig. 77—Pushing Sections out of Super.

light buckskin, which are free from smell, and wash well, or
else a pair of kid gloves with a pair of 10-cent pickle gloves
over them. The latter are rather bungling.

GETTING OUT STINGS.

I like to get a sting out of my skin as soon as possible, if
not too busy. A little trick in this direction is, I think, not

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 225

known to all beekeepers. I am not sure whether I learned it
by instinct, or from the writings of G. M. Doolittle. If a bee
stings my hand I instantly strike the hand with much force
upon my leg, with a sort of quick, wiping motion. This
mashes the bee, generally, and rubs out the sting at the same
time.

SCOLDING BEES.

Ff one thinks of the thousands or millions or bees in a
large apiary, it will be seen that comparatively few bees make
any attack. Sometimes a single bee will threaten and scold me
by the hour, perhaps finally stinging me by getting into my
hair or whiskers, and for aught I know the same bee may keep
up the same thing for days—I méan the scolding, not the
stinging. It is sometimes worth while to get rid of the annoy-
ance by stepping to one side and knocking it down with a stick
by a few rapid strokes back and forth in front of my face.
I often mash it by slapping my hands together.

CROSS COLONIES.

Sometimes the bees have seemed very cross, and a little ob-
servation has shown these bees to proceed from a particular
part of the apiary, and really from only one hive. A careless
observer might have said all the bees in the apiary were cross.
I have had a few colonies so cross that merely walking by the
hive was the signal for a general onslaught. Truth obliges me
to say that I have sometimes been so badly stung by one of
these, when working at them, that I have taken refuge in in-
glorious flight, glad to get a respite and scrape out the stings.
Just why there should be one or two of these in a year in such
marked contrast with others I cannot say. The only remedy I
had was to kill the queen.

DRESS FOR THE HOTTEST WEATHER.

During the principal part of the honey flow, a prominent
element of hardship is the endurance of the heat. Sometimes
the heat really has made me sick, so that in spite of a press of
work I have been obliged to give up and lie down for an hour
or more. At such times you may be sure I am not very warmly

8

326 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

clad. One straw hat and veil, one cotton shirt, one pair cotton
overalls, one pair cotton socks and one pair shoes comprise my
entire wearing apparel (Fig. 83). Before noon, shirt and:
pants are both thoroughly wet with perspiration.

Fig. 78—Lifting off the Super.

SPONGE-BATH AT NOON.

In this heated condition, I sponge myself off with cold
water before dinner, put on dry pants and shirt, and hang up
the wet ones in the sun to be put on next day. I am sure that,
by this refreshing change, I am able to do more work. It
might be thought that applying cold water all over the body
when every part is dripping with perspiration might make me
take cold. I have never found it so, even if followed up every

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 227

day. The body is so thoroughly heated that it easily resists
the shock, and a brisk rubbing leaves one in a fine glow.

My overalls are white, such as painters or masons use. I
do not enjoy being so conspicuous when I happen to be on the
street clad in white; but I would rather be conspicuous than to
be stung; and I feel sure that I do not get so many stings as
I would with darker clothing.

WOMAN'S BEE-DRESS.

My assistant is not dressed so coolly as I. Her desire to
keep her dress clean makes her warmer than she otherwise
would be, for she wears an apron that covers al]l the dress ex-
cept the sleeves (Fig. 84). This apron is made of denim, and
has two large pockets. It is made after pattern 3696 of the
Butterick Publishing Co. To cover the sleeves of her dress,
she uses a pair of white sleeves fastened together by a strap
sewed to each sleeve across the back, a similar strap in front
being sewed to one sleeve and buttoned to the other. The
wrists of these sleeves are sewed to the wrists of her gloves,
and ripped off whenever it is necessary to wash either gloves
or sleeves. For convenience, several pairs are kept.

QUEEN-REARING—BREEDING FROM BEST.

My sole business with bees being to produce honey, I am
not particular to keep a popular brand of bees, only so far as
their popularity comes from their profitableness as honey-
gatherers. I am anxious to have those that are industrious,
good winterers, gentle, and not given to much swarming. For
some years I got an imported Italian queen every year or two.
Then for a good many years I preferred to rear from queens
of my own whose workers had distinguished themselves as be-
ing the most desirable. The chief thing considered was the
amount of honey stored. Little or no attention was paid to
color, and unfortunately no more to temper. So I had bees
that were hybrids, hustlers to store, but anything but angels in
temper. Then, beginning with 1906, I introduced quite a num-
ber of Italian queens, in the hope that among them I might
find one as good as my hybrid stock without so much ill tem-

328 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

per. By the time of the year 1913 most of the black blood was
worked out, and in that year, when I obtained the world’s
record for the highest average of sections from as many as
72 colonies, it had come to pass that my best yields were from
colonies having three yellow bands.

IMPORTANCE OF SELECTION.

The queen being the very soul of the colony, I hardly con-
sider any pains too great that will give better queens. The first

Fig. 79—Supers of Sections Blocked Up.

thing is to select the queen from which to rear, for generally
all rearing will be from the same queen, whether for the home
apiavy or for an outside apiary. The records are carefully
scanned, and that queen chosen which, all things considered,
appears to be the best. The first point to be weighed is the
amount of honey that has been stored. Other things being
equal, the queen whose workers have shown themselves the best
storers will have the preference. The matter of wintering: will
pretty much take care of itself, for a colony that has wintered
poorly is not likely to do very heavy work in the harvest. The
more a colony has done in the way of making preparations for

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 229

swarming, the lower will be its standing. Generally, however,
a colony that gives the largest number of sections is one that
never dreamed of swarming. ~

BREEDING FROM BEST.

I am well aware that I will be told by some that I am
choosing freak queens from which to rear, and that it would
be much better to select a queen whose royal daughters showed
uniform results only a little above the average. I don’t know
enough to know whether that is true or not, but I know that
some excellent results have been obtained by breeders of other
animals by breeding from sires or dams so exceptional in
character that they might be called freaks. I know, too, that
it is easier to decide which colony does best work than it is to
decide which queen produces royal progeny the most nearly
uniform in character. By the first way, too, a queen can be
used a year sooner than by the second way, and a year in the
life of a queen is a good deal. I may mention that a queen
which has a fine record for two successive seasons is preferred
to one with the same kind of record for only one season. At
any rate, the results obtained in the way of improvement of
stock as a result of my practice have been such as to warrant
me in its continuance at least for a time.

The danger from inbreeding must not be lost sight of en-
tirely. With two or three hundred colonies kept in three differ-
ent apiaries it is perhaps not great. Should signs of degener-
acy at any time appear, it will not be difficult to introduce
fresh blood.

CONDITIONS FOR QUEEN-REARING.

Having chosen the queen from which to rear, J have kept
in mind that unless conditions are favorable the royal progeny
of the best queen in the world may be very poor. Queen-cells
must be started when the weather is sufficiently warm, when
bees are gathering enough to make them feel that there is no
need to stint the royal larvae in their rations, and until near
the point of emergence it is much better that the cells shall be
in the care of a strong colony. So I do not begin operations

230 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

for queen-rearing until about the time that bees inclined to
swarming would begin to make preparations therefor.

REARING QUEENS IN HIVE WITH LAYING QUEEN.

It would be too long a story to enumerate all the plans I
have used in queen-rearing. I have reared excellent queens,
and many of them, by the Alley plan and by the Doolittle cell-
cup plan, together with is modifications by Pridgen, and others.

rig. 80—Cleated Smoker.

I think I was the first one to report rearing a queen in a colony
having a laying queen; and J have reared them in stories under
as well as over the story having the laying queen. Neither is
it absolutely necessary to have a queen-exeluder between the
stories. In lieu of an exeluder J have used a cloth with room
for passage at the corners. Neither exeluder nor cloth is abso-
lutely necessary; distance is enough. That first reported case
was on this wise:

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 231

Upon a hive containing a colony had been piled four
stories of empty combs for safe-keeping. To make sure that
the bees would not neglect the care of the most distant combs,
1 put a frame of brood in the upper story. A few weeks later
I found a laying queen in the upper story with the old queen
still below. The bees that had gone up to that frame of brood
were so far from the queen that they had reared a queen of
their own. A hole in the upper story had allowed the flight of
the young queen without invading the domains of her mother.
For those who produce extracted honey this plan might be
used to advantage.

UNQUEENING COLONIES TO START CELLS.

I have reared good queens by the old and simple plan of
taking away the queen of a strong colony. Of course this must
be a choice queen. Previous to the removal of the queen the
colony is strengthened. Frames of well-advanced brood are
from time to time given from other.colonies until it has two—
perhaps three—stories of brood. None of this brood, however,
is given less than five or six days before the removal of the
queen, The queen is taken with two frames of brood and ad-
hering bees and put on a new stand in an empty hive, an
empty comb and one with some honey being added.

TIME TO START NUCLEI.

In nine or ten days from the removal of the queen it is
time to break up the queenless colony into nuclei. It might
generally be left till a day or two later before a young queen
would come out to destroy her baby sisters in their cradles, but
it is best to take no chances. If it were true, as formerly be-
lieved, that queenless bees are in such haste to rear a queen
that they will select a larva too old for the purpose, then it
would hardly do to wait even nine days. A queen is matured
in fifteen days from the time the egg is laid, and is fed
throughout her larval lifetime on the same food that is given
to a worker larva during the first three days of its larval exist-
ence. So a worker larva more than three days old, or more
than six days from the laying of the egg, would be too old for

lo
“o
to

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

a good queen. If, now, the bees should select a larva more than
three days old, the queen would emerge in less than nine days.
T think no one has ever known this to oceur.

Fig. 81—Robber Bees.
BEES DO NOT PREFER TOO OLD LARVAE.

Asa matter of fact bees do not use such poor judgment as
to select larve too old when larve sufficiently young are pres-
ent, as I have proved by direct experiment and many observa-
tions. It will not do, however, to conclude from this that all
queen-cells started by a queenless colony left to themselves will
be equally good. Bees have a fashion of starting cells for a
number of days in succession, and will continue to start them
when larvee sufficiently young for good queens are no longer

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 233

present. So some means must be taken to make sure that no
nucleus has for its sole dependence one of these latest cells. If
several cells can be afforded for each nucleus, there is little
danger they will all be bad. Neither is there great danger if a
cell is chosen which is large and fine-looking. Perhaps the
safer way is to give the queenless colony a frame with eggs and
young brood three or four days after the removal of the queen,
and then they will not be obliged to use the old larve of the
other comb.

PLACING QUEEN-CELLS.

Two or three frames of brood. with adhering bees are tak-
en for each nucleus. If one of the frames has a cell or several
cells in a good location, well and good. If not, the lack must
be supplied. But the cells must be where they will be sure to
be well cared for. They must not be on the outer edge of a
comb, with the chance to be chilled, neither must they be on the
outer side of the comb, but on the side of the comb that faces
the other comb. Any cells that are not just where they are
wanted must be cut out. For this purpose T like a tea-knife
with a very thin and narrow blade of steel.

STAPLING CELLS ON COMB.

A staple, such as is used to fasten a bottom-board to a
hive, is used to fasten a cell in place. The cell is placed where
it is wanted, then the staple is placed over it, one leg of the
staple close to the cell, and the other leg is pushed deep into
the comb (Fig. 85).

MAKING BEES STAY IN NUCLEI.

Each nueleus is put upon a stand of its own, and the
entrance is plugged up with leaves so that no bee can get out.
One of the nuclei, however, is left without having its entrance
closed, and this is put in the place of the hive which contains
the queen, and the hive with the queen is put back on the old
stand from which the queen was first taken. The entrances
may be left closed until the shrinking of the leaves allows the
bees to make their way out, but I generally open them in about
twenty-four hours, first pounding on the hive to make the bees

284 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

mark their location upon emerging. Although queenless bees
are much better than others at staying wherever they are put,
there will be still fewer bees return to the old place if the
nucleus is fastened in twenty-four hours or longer.

LOOKING FOR EGGS.

Twelve or fourteen days after forming the nuclei I look
to see if the queens are laying. I might find eggs in less time,
but not always, and at any rate not in considerable number,

Fig. 82—Bees Playing.

and it saves time on the whole not to be in too much of a hurry.
If no eggs are found a comb of young brood is given as an
encouragement to start the young queen to laying, and a day
or two later, if queen-cells are started on this young brood, a
mature queen-cell is given.

KEEPING BEST QUEEN IN NUCLEUS.

Instead of having my best queen in a strong colony, as in
the plan just given, she is usually kept in a two-frame nucleus
throughout the summer, the nucleus being strengthened into a

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 235

full colony in the fall for wintering. One object of this is to
taake the queen live longer. It is generally understood that a
worker lives a longer time if it has little work to do, and
probably the same is true of a queen. As laying eggs is her
work, the less the number of eggs she lays the longer she ought
to live, and in a nucleus she lays a smaller number of eggs than
in a strong colony.

There is another reason for keeping her in a nucleus.
Some who have tried to have comb built in the colony contain-
ing their best queen complain that they can get only drone-
comb built. This may be avoided by filling the frame with
worker-foundation, but the better way is to keep the colony
with the queen so weak that only worker-comb will be built.
In a nucleus only worker-comb will be built.

STARTING BROOD FOR CELLS.

Having my breeding queen in a two-frame nucleus, I take
away one of the combs, and in its place put a frame in which
are two small starters four or five inches long and an inch or
two wide. One of these starters is put about four inches from
each end (Fig. 86). The nucleus must be strong enough in
bees so that a week later this frame will have a comb built in
it that will fill most of the frame, the comb: being fairly well
filled with eggs and young brood (Fig. 88). It is taken away,
and another frame with two small starters put in its place
as before. Thus this nucleus will furnish once a week a frame
of comb with brood of the best sort for queen-rearing. It will
be a day or two after the frame is given before the queen lays
in it, so that the brood will not be too old even if the bees were
so foolish as to prefer it. ;

The comb being new and tender makes it probably an
easier job for the bees to build queen-cells upon it; at any rate
they always show a preference for such comb, and start on it
a larger number of cells than they would on older comb.

BEES FOR CELL-BUILDING.

Having now arranged for the right kind of brood and
eggs to be ready on the same day of each week, the next thing
is to find the right kind of bees to start the cells, not only to

256 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

start them, but to take the very best care of them. We can
probably find no bees better fitted to produce good queen-cells
than those that of their own accord have already engaged in
the business. So a strong colony is chosen which has already
started queen-cells in preparation for swarming. All queen-
cells already started are destroyed, the queen is removed, and

Fig. 83—Bee-Dress.

one of the frames is taken away, leaving a vacancy in the cen-
ter of the hive. Most likely the colony has one or more supers.
but these are not to be taken away.

BROOD FOR QUEEN-CELLS.

We now go to the nucleus containing our best queen, take
out the frame with the virgin comb, and replace it with an

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 237

empty frame with its two starters, brushing back into the hive
the bees from the comb taken out, and closing the hive. Look-
ing at the comb taken out, you will see that, instead of the old-
est brood being in the center, it will be in two places where
the two starters were put. It was for this purpose the two
starters at the sides were given rather than a central one. For
by this means the waving contour will give opportunity for a
larger number of queen-cells on the edge of the comb than
would otherwise be the case.

TRIMMING THE BREEDING-COMB.

For a little distance at the edge, the comb contains eggs
only. This part is trimmed away, leaving the youngest of the
brood at the edge of the comb (Fig. 89). One reason for this
is that, other things being equal, the bees show a decided pref-
erence for building on the edge of a comb. Another reason is
that I decidedly prefer to have cells on the edge, thus making
them easier to cut out when wanted. The part cut away would
only be in the way of both of us.

BEES USING YOUNG LARVAE ONLY.

When a queen is taken away from a full colony, the bees
start cells from young brood, and, as I have already said, they
continue to start fresh cells for several days, and until after
there is no longer brood of the proper age, so that the last cells:
started would contain larve too old to make good queens. But
on these combs prepared as I have deseribed, they do not do
so. Rarely, if ever, will a cell be found elsewhere than on the
edge of the comb, and I have never known the bees to start a
cell after the larvee were too old. I do not know why there is
this difference. I know only the fact. But it is a very con-
venient fact.

AGE OF LARVAE FOR QUEENS.

Scientists tell us that a worker larva is fed for three days
the same as a queen larva, and then it is weaned. Theoretically,
then, up to the time a larva in a worker-cell is three days old,
it ought to be all right to rear a queen from. Practically, I
do not believe a larva three days old is as good ag a younger

238 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

one. The only reason I have for so believing is the expressed
preference of the bees themselves. Give them larve of all ages
from which to select, and they always choose that which is two
days old, or younger. Indeed, it will be seen that in the comb
from which I have trimmed the edge (Fig. 89) the larve on

Ing. 84—Woman’s Bee-Dress.

the edge of the comb have been out of the egg but a short time,
for I merely trimmed away the eggs, and possibly not all of
them.

PLACING THE BREEDING-COMB.

The breeding-comb, thus properly trimmed, is taken to the
queenless colony, and put in the vacancy that was left for it.
On the top-bar of the frame is penciled the date on which the
cells are to be cut out, allowing ten days from the time of put-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 239

ting in. Thus, if the frame be given June 27, the number 7
is put on the top-bar, July 7 being ten days later than June
27. No need to put the month on. Besides giving the date,
that figure marks the frame, so I can know at a glance which
frame to take out. At the same time a memorandum of: this
date is put in the record book to remind me when to cut the
cells.

Some one may ask, “But if you leave nearly all the old
brood in the hive, will the bees not start cells on them, with

Fig. 85—Queen-Cell Stapled on Comb.

only the smaller part on your breeding-comb?” So I thought
at first, and took some pains to have no very young brood of
the old stock left. But I found upon trial that when I left all
the young brood of the old stock, the bees ignored this, at the
most starting upon it one, two, possibly three cells, confining
their attention to the prepared frame I had given. Probably
the hardness of the old combs and the lack of convenient places
in which to build cells convince the bees that it is better to
use the soft comb where room is abundant. Of course a cell
or two on the old combs can do no great harm, for they will
not be used,

240 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

‘
MORE THAN ONE NUCLEUS IN HIVE.

The frames for nuclei are the regular full-sized frames,
and a full hive may be used for each nucleus, but it is economy
to have the hive divided up into two or three compartments for
as many nuclei. Three nuclei in one hive are mutually help-
ful in keeping up the heat, and thus it is possible to have the
nuclei weaker than if each nucleus were by itself, while results
are as good with the three weaker nuclei in the one hive as with
three stronger nuclei in three separate hives.

NUCLEUS HIVE.

For many years I have had hives divided into two or more
compartments, and have had much trouble from the bees find-
ing a passage from one compartment to another, but my latest
nucleus hives have not troubled in that way. They are made
from ordinary 8-frame hives together with the 2-inch-deep bot-
tom-board. First, two pieces are nailed on the inside of the
bottom-board, each piece 1844 x 134 x%. One piece is nailed
4% inches from one side, the other 444 inches from the other
side. These pieces do not lie flat in the bottom, but stand on
edge, with 134 inches between them. Then the hive is fastened
on the bottom-board with the usual four staples. Two division-
boards, each 1814 x 934 x 5-16, are now put in place and crowd-
ed down tight upon the two pieces in the bottom-board. These
two division-boards are 45% inches from each side, leaving 214
inches between them. The four spaces at the top, at the ends
of the division-boards, are closed by blocks 3% x14x5-16,
whittled enough to allow them to be wedged into place. Light
14-inch wire nails are driven through from the outside to hold
the division boards in place. A block 10x2x% is pushed
into the entrance centrally, and held there by a nail lightly
driven in front of it. That leaves an entrance at each end of
the block for the two side compartments, but no entrance for
the middle compartment. For this purpose an inch hole is
bored in the back end of the hive midway between the two cor-
ners, its center being about three inches from the upper sur-
face of the hive. Three boards of half-inch stuff cover the
three compartments, and over this is an ordinary hive-cover,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 241

At Fig. 90 will be seen a bottom-board for a nucleus hive.
You will notice that the two pieces that run lengthwise through
the center of the bottom-board are a quarter of an inch shal-
lower than the rim of the bottom-board. If they were 2 inches
deep instead of 134, the bottom-bars of the frames would rest
directly on them. Of course the division-boards are deep
enough to come clear down upon these two pieces.

Fig. 86—Starters in Breeding-Frame.

Two nucleus hives will be seen at Fig. 91. The one at the
right faces us, showing the entrance at each side. The back of
the left hive is toward us, showing the round hole near the
top, which serves as an entrance to the middle compartment.

LARGE SPACE FOR MIDDLE FRAME.

In one of these side compartments there is abundant room
for two frames and a dummy, and three frames without the
dummy can with care be crowded in. The central compart-
ment will, of course, take only one frame. It seems as though
21, inches is quite too much space for one frame, but I use
that space advisedly. Many years ago I made a nucleus hive
with six compartments; and at that time, not having had much

242 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

experience, I made each compartment 214: inches wide. Years
afterward I made another nucleus hive; and, smiling at my
former ignorance and congratulating myself upon the superior
knowledge I had gained with the passing years, I made the
compartments more nearly in accord with the usnal space o:-
cupied by each frame in a hive, making each compartment—
I’m not sure whether it was 15g or 134. At any rate, the bees
swarmed out of these limited quarters to such an extent that
I could not use them, whereas they had not swarmed out of the
2% compartments; neither have they swarmed out of these
later ones. Having so much room in these central compart-
ments, the bees sometimes build pieces of comb on the sides
which I must clean away, but that is better than to have them
swarm out.

CONTENTS OF NUCLEUS HIVES.

A nucleus hive is tenanted by a two-frame nucleus on each
side and a one-frame nucleus in the middle. Care is taken to
choose one of the best frames of brood for the middle nucleus,
and perhaps a few extra bees are brushed in. A third comb
may be put in each of the side compartments, or a dummy, the
same as the dummies used in the regular hives.

MAKING THE BEES STAY.

When populated, the entrances of the nuclei are plugged
up with green leaves. These are generally taken away twenty-
four hours later, after the hives are pounded to stir up the
bees, but if they are neglected the leaves will dry and shrink so
the bees can make their way out. It is better to form nuclei
with queenless bees, for they are not so much inclined as others
to go back to their old place.

BABY NUCLEI.

There has been much interest in the matter of having
queens fertilized in small nuclei containing only 200 bees or
so. About the year 1863 I had seen miniature nuclei in the
apiaries of Adam Grimm, but they had not so few bees as the
so-called baby nuclei of today. Of course, I had a number of
queens fertilized in baby nuclei, but I did not go to the trouble

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 243

of having hives specially built for them. I merely used an
8-frame dovetailed hive, putting in it sometimes a 1-pound sec-
tion nearly filled with honey, and sometimes two such sections
side by side. A frame of brood with its adhering bees was
taken from some colony, the bees shaken or brushed into the
nucleus hive quickly, a virgin not more than a day or two old
dropped into the hive among the bees, and all hastily closed,
the entrance having been closed in advance. Of course, the
frame of beeless brood was returned to its old place. Three
days later the entrance was opened, and in due time the queen
was laying.

However it may be for the commercial queen-rearer, for
the honey-producer there seems no great advancage in baby
nuclei. He generally needs to make some increase, and it is
more convenient for him to use 2 or 3 frame nuclei for queen-
rearing, and then build them up into full colonies.

REGULAR HIVES FOR NUCLEI.

One year I tried rearing queens on a commercial scale,
producing them for Editor G. W. York, of the American Bee
Journal. I may say, parenthetically, that one season was
enough to convince me it was best to stick to honey-production,
rearing queens only for my own use. But I had 50 three-
compartment hives left on hand; and in sp‘te of that, truth
compeis me to say that latterly they generally lie idle, and I
use a full hive for each nucleus, merely putting 3 or 4 frames
in one side of the hive, with a dummy beside them. To be sure,
it takes more bees than to have three nuclei in one hive, but it
is a good bit more convenient to build up into a full colony a
nucleus that has the whole hive to itself.

QULEN-CAGE.

When we go to give queen-cells to the nuclei, we are pro-
vided with introducing queen-cages. The first introducing-
cage I devised was the Miller introducing-cage, listed in the
catalogs of supply-dealers. Then I got up one I liked better,
three of which are shown in Fig. 92, the blocks containing the
candy being separate from the cages. This may be called
Miller cage No. 2. Two blocks 3 inches by % by %4 and a

244 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

piece of wire cloth 644x1% form the material for the cage.
Lay the two blocks parallel on their edges, and nail on these
one end of the wire cloth, the end of the wire cloth correspond-
ing’ with the ends of the blocks. Fold the wire cloth around
the ends of the blocks and nail it on the other side, and you
have a cage 3x 1% x15, outside measure. The plug to close

in

Sections.

+ » r
nat Sead OF ee Fy

Fig. 87—Putting Foundation
the cage is not so simple, for the eage is to be provisioned, and
the plug holds the candy. Two blocks 1144 x14 x 14, a piece of
tin and a piece of section stuff each 144, inches square form
the material for the plug. Lay the two blocks parallel on
their sides, with 44-inch space between them. On these nail
the piece of tin, turn over and nail on the section stuff, Near

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 245

one end drive a tack partly ‘in to prevent the plug going too
far into the cage. That makes all complete.

After using these for some years, I got up another that in
some respects I like still better. This is shown in Fig. 8714,
and may be called Miller cage No. 3. Make a block 334 x1%
x 5-16. From one side of the block, at one end, cut out a piece
1% x %, making the block as shown at No. 1, Fig. 874%. Cut
a piece of tin 1x2 inches. Stand the block on edge with the
eut-out place uppermést, and in this cut-out place lay a lead
pencil or similar object 11-32 in diameter. Over this bend the
tin, letting it come out flush with the end of the block. Then
laying the block on its side, still keeping the pencil in place,
drive two ¥-inch wire nails through tin and wood, clinching
on the opposite side. When the pencil is withdrawn there is
left a tube to be filled with candy. That completes the plug
(No. 2, Fig. 8714): The cage itself is made of a piece of wire
cloth 4 inches square, if one edge is a selvedge. If there is no
selvedge, it must be 4x4% and 1% inch folded over as a selv-
edge to prevent raveling. A block must be made, not to be
part of the cage, but to be used to form the wire cloth over. It
must be a little larger than the first block, say 5x 13-16 x %.
If the block were the same size as the first, there would be too
tight a fit, and if the fit be loose it is easy to wedge in a thin
slip, as a piece of wood separator. The wire cloth is wrapped
around the block and allowed to project at one end about Y
inch. A light wire is wound twice around, about 4% inch from
the selvedge end (which is the part that does not project) and
fastened. Another wire is similarly fastened about 134 inches
from the first wire. Now the projecting part of the wire cloth
is bent down upon the end of the block, and hammered down
with a hammer. That completes the cage (No. 3, Fig. 8714),
but for convenience in hanging it between brood-frames one
end of a light wire 7 or 8 inches long is fastened into one side
of the cage about % inch from the open end. To put it ina
hive, I shove the frames apart, and holding the end of the wire
lower the cage where I want it, and then shove the frames to-
gether. That leaves 3 inches or more of the wire above the
top-bars, and when I want to take out the cage I take hold of

246 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

the wire, draw the frames apart, and. lift out the cage. The
wire serves also to mark the spot where the cage is.

When the tube is filled with candy, it may be pushed so
far into the cage that the bees can not get at the candy. Then
when it is desired that the bees shall get at the candy, the
plug is drawn out until the candy is exposed (No. 5, Fig.
8714). This is more reliable as to time than to have the usual

Fig. 87Y—Miller Cage No. 8.

cage with the candy covered with cardboard. With the eard-
board there is no certainty as to whether the queen will be re-
leased in 24 hours or much longer. Sometimes it may be sev-
eral days. With the No. 3 cage you know just how long the
bees have the cage before they get to the candy, and after the
candy is exposed you may count on the bees clearing out the
candy in about 24 hours.

It may he objected that it is troublesome to open up the
hive to change the position of the plug in the cage. That is

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 247

true, and often, if not generally, the cage is not put between
the combs, but thrust in the entrance, making sure that it is
where it will be protected by the bees. After being there about
two days, it is only the work of a minute to take out the cage,
expose the candy, and put the cage back in the entrance.

Sometimes, if I want to have the work done automatically,
T use a device that delays the work about as much as the eard-
board, but is more uniform in the time it takes. I thrust
into the center of the tube of candy its whole length a weoden
splint about 1-16 of an inch square, and that delays the bees at
gnawing out the candy.

When a queen-cell is to be caged, the No. 2 cage allows
more room for the cell.

For making queen-cages, instead of the common painted
wire cloth that is used for screen doors, I like better extra-
heavy bright wire cloth. It is more substantial. But E. R.
Root says queens have been poisoned in such cages, so have a
care, although I have had hundreds of queens iv them without
noting any harm. Perhaps all tinned wire cloth is not alike.

* DISTRIBUTING QUEEN-CELLS.

When the queen-cells are to be distributed, the first thing
is to provision a number of queen-cages of the No. 2 style, with
the usual queen-candy, tacking a piece of pasteboard on the
end of the plug. Then we go to the nucleus where the cells
are stored, cut out the cells, rejecting any that do not appear
satisfactory, and put the cells in the cages. Some cells, how-
ever, are left uncaged. When we come to a nucleus that has
had no queen for a day or more, there is no need of caging the

cell, It is put against the comb in a good place, and fastened
there with a hive-staple (Fig. 85). Coming to a nucleus with
a queen which we wish to remove, we put the queen in a cage,
and give the nucleus a caged -cell, laying the cage against
the comb and nailing it there with a 11% or 1%4 wire nail (Fig.
93). This nail is slender so as to push easily through the mesh-
es of the wire cloth. Then the young queens that we have re-
moved are used wherever needed.

BRUSHING BEES OFF QUEEN-CELLS.
Before cutting cells from the comb the bees must be re-

248 ' FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

moved, and it would mean the ruin of the cells to shake the
bees off. Brushing with a Coggshall brush, although it might
do with extreme care, would be likely to result in torn cells.
Even something no stiffer than goldenrod or sweet clover needs
much eare. I like best a bunch of long and soft June grass—a
very flimsy affair to use as a brush, but it is safe.

Fig. 8S—Comb for Queen-Cells.

ADVANTAGE OF CAGING CELLS.

Of course the object of caging the cells is to prevent the
bees from tearing them down. At the time of taking a queen
out of a nucleus, if a cell were merely stapled on, the bees
would be pretty sure to destroy it; for, not yet realizing that
their young laying queen has been taken from them, they feel
no need of anything like a queen-cell. So the cage saves the
time and trouble of waiting and making a second visit an-
other day.

There is, however, another advantage in using the cage,
making it somewhat desirable to use it in all cases. We often
want to know what has been the fate of a cell, and can gener-
ally tell pretty well by its appearance. If it has the appear-
ance of most of those in Fig. 94, we know that a young queen

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 249

has emerged and must be in the nucleus. If it is torn open in
the side, like the one at the extreme right, the capping being
still perfect, we are sure that the young queen in it was de-
stroyed by the bees.

If the cells have merely been stapled on, the bees are so
prompt about removing them as soon as they are no longer of
any use that scarce a vestige of them is left, so we have nothing
to judge by. But when a cell is enclosed in a cage, the bees
are very slow about removing it, so the cage gives us a better
chance for judging.

APPEARANCE OF VACATED CELLS.

In Fig. 94 the first three cells at the left have the cap still
adhering by a neck, showing that it has been only a short time
since the queen emerged, provided the cell has not been caged ;
if it has been caged the queen may have been out some time.
The fourth cell looks entire, as if it yet contained a young
queen. But it is deceptive. The bees have a trick of fasten-
ing the cap back again as if it were a great joke, sometimes
thus imprisoning one of their own number. A very close look
will generally show a little erack, and a very little force will
be needed to pick the cap loose. The next six cells show plain-
ly that a young queen has emerged from each, and finding a
cell of that kind is just as good evidence as a sight of the
queen; only I would a little rather see the queen for the bare
chance that she may not have perfect wings. As already men-
tioned, the cell at the extreme right shows by the hole in its
side that no queen ever came out of it alive.

MILLER QUEEN-NURSERY.

Whatever the advantages of using queen-cells instead of
virgin queens, there are also advantages in having the young
queens hatch out in a queen-nursery. So I have made consid-
erable use of a nursery of my own devising, Fig. 8844. It
may take the place of a brood-frame in any hive, in the lower
story or in an upper story, and it does not matter whether a
laying queen is in the hive or not.

For this nursery I use a regular Miller frame, which lends
itself to the purpose admirably, top-bar, bottom-bar, and end-

350 FIFTY YEARS AMCNG THE BEES

bar being all of the same width, 1% inches. If you haven’t a
Miller frame, you can easily make a frame having all parts
the same width, 14 inches; only be sure the end-bars are at
least 34 thick, and have the outer dimensions of the frame the
same as the frames you have regularly in use. T’ll give in-
structions for making a nursery with a frame of the Langs-

Fig. 88Y2—Miller Queen Nursery.

troth size, and if your frames are of different size you must
act accordingly.

Make 7 pieces, each long enough to reach from top-bar to
bottom-bar (with top-bar 7% and bottom-bar 44, which makes
the length 8 inches), 14 wide, and °4 thick. Saw-kerfs must
be made on each end of these 7 pieces. Beginning 114 inches
from one end, on one side of the piece, with a very fine saw,
make a saw-kerf by sawing about halfway through. Make a
similar kerf 144 inches from the first, and then, each time
measuring off 1% inches, make 3 more kerf's, making five in all.
(Your last kerf will be more than 14% inches from the end,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 251

but that’s all right.) Do the same thing on the opposite side,
beginning at the opposite end. Make similar kerfs in each
end-bar, measuring from the top-bar for one end, and from
the bottom-bar for the other end. Of course these kerfs are
to be made on the inside of the end-bar, and none on the out-
side. Now distribute these 7 pieces at equal distances from
one end of the frame to the other, and if you are exact about
it the distance between each two will be 1 25-32 inches. Fasten
these 7 sticks in by driving one nail down through the top-bar
into each, and two nails through the bottom-bar. Before nail-
ing, make sure that each stick faces right, as mentioned fur-
ther on. Nail upon one side of your frame a piece of wire
cloth to cover it (1754x914). Have the nails not more than
2 inches apart all around and on each stick. I use bright wire
cloth, extra heavy, with meshes of the usual size in screen-
doors.

‘You now need 40 pieces of tin, 2x11 inches to go into
all the saw-kerfs. Each piece of tin serves as a shelf, thus di-
viding the whole into 48 compartments. You will now see the
necessity of having the sticks face each other so as to have
the kerfs correspond, as mentioned a minute ago. Look out
for this before you nail the sticks in place.

To close these compartments, you need 8 pieces of tin,
each 10x 2 inches. That’s % inch longer than the depth of
the frame, allowing the % to be bent over at right angles on
the top-bar. To hold these covers in place I use heavy pins
bent over. Small screw-hooks of straight pattern might do
better. Three are needed in each end-bar, and 6 in each up-
right. Of course these tin covers are put in at the top and
slide down.

You will see that each of the compartments furnishes a
large amount of room, 40 of them being 1 25-32x114 x1,
and the remaining 8 being larger. This. gives abundance of
room to put in the largest kind of queen-cell. With each cell
is given a ball of candy the size of a pea.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A QUEEN-NURSERY.

If a ripe queen-cell is given to a nucleus. or colony, there
is no way to be sure that a queen that is all right will issue

252 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

from it. She may be imperfect as to her legs, and, what is
still worse, her wings may be so deficient that she never can
fly. If she can not fly she can never be fertilized, and so is
worthless. Indeed she is worse than worthless, for she is wasting
the time of the nucleus. Sometimes, indeed, it happens that
the occupant of the queen-cell is dead. All of this is avoided
by having the virgins hatch out in a nursery. If a cell is cut
into, and is given to a nucleus, the bees will at once destroy
it, but in the nursery it will hatch out all right.

One may have a lot of queen-cells on hand with no im-
mediate use for them. It will not do to leave them without
eutting out beyond a certain time, for the hatching out of the
first one means the death of all the rest. But if they are put
into a nursery they are safe, and may be left stored in the
nursery for some days after hatching out.

Over against these advantages stands the one disadvan-
tage that in the nursery the bees are not allowed to come in
immediate bodily contact with the cells, nor with the young
queen after she issues from the cell. Some think this so serious
a disadvantage as to overbalance all the advantages of the
nursery. It is claimed that the clustering of the bees about
the cells and the young queens does more than merely to keep
up the temperature to a certain point, and that when this close
contact is lacking something will be lacking in the resulting
queens. Also that the young queens thus isolated and impris-
oned are in a frightened condition, and that a young queen
reared in such an atmosphere is not the same as one that has
the feeling that she is all the while closely surrounded by
friends.

So whether it be wise to use a nursery or not, it will
certainly be wise not to put cells into it before it is necessary
for their safety, nor to leave a virgin in a nursery any longer
than necessity demands.

QUALITY OF QUEENS.

The question has been raised whether queens reared in
the way I lave described are as good as those reared by the
latest methods. I think I can judge pretty well as to the char-
acter of a queen after watching her work for a year or two; I

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 253

have kept closely in touch with what improvements have been
made in the way of queen-rearing, and have reared queens by
the hundred in the latest style; and I do not hesitate to say
that the simple method I have given produces queens that can
not be surpassed by any other method.

BEGINNER IMPROVING STOCK.

I have been asked whether I would advise a beginner with
only half a dozen colonies, one of them having a superior
queen, to use the plans I have given to rear queens from his
best queen. I certainly should, if he intends to give much at-
tention to the business and increase the number of his colonies.
The essential steps to be taken are simple enough; and even a
beginner can easily follow them. But in a few words, here is
what I would advise him:

Take from the colony having your best queen one of its
frames, and put in the center of the hive a frame half filled or
entirely filled with foundation. If small starters are used in a
full colony the bees are likely to fill out with drone-comb. A
week later take out this comb, and trim away the edge that
contains only eggs. Put this prepared frame in the center of
any strong colony after taking away its queen and one of its
frames. Ten days later cut out these cells, to be used wherever
desired, giving the colony its queen or some other queen.

Now there’s nothing very complicated about that, is there’?

ITALIANIZING WITH NATURAL SWARMING.

Yet still there are some who don’t want to take even that
much trouble. A man says: “All I care to do with the bees is
to hive the swarms that come out, and to put on the surplus
boxes and take them off when filled. I never take a frame out
of a hive any more than if they were all box hives. But J have
Italians in one hive, and if I could I’d like to have more of that
stock.”

For such a one I would advise after this manner: Suppose
we call your Italian colony A, the strongest of the other colo-
nies B, the next strongest C, the next D, and so on. When A
swarms, hive the swarm and set it on the old stand, put A in
place of B, and put B on a new stand. All the field-bees of B

254 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

will return to A, making A quite strong again. In 8 or 10
days a young queen will be ready in A to go out with a swarm.
Hive the swarm, put it in place of A, put A in place of C, and
put C in a new place. The field-bees of C will again strengthen
A, and in a day or two another swarm will issue. Put the
swarm in place of A, put A in place of D, and put D in a new
place. Continue this as long as A continues to swarm, and
each one of your swarms will have for its queen a daughter of
your Italian queen. If you have only five or six colonies, the
whole lot may be thus Italianized.

‘QUEENS FOR OUT-APIARIES.

On any day when we are going to an out-apiary and ex-
pect to use young queens, we take them from any nucleus that
will furnish them, never putting any escort bees in the cage
with the queen, and generally one or more extra queens
are taken along, for we are never sure that they may not be
needed.

Care is taken that the record book shall always show the
condition of each nucleus; so that we always have some idea
as to which nucleus will furnish a laying queen, which one
needs a cell, and so on.

INTRODUCING QUEENS.

A queen may be introduced in a No. 2 provisioned cage,
the cage being nailed directly over the brood, as in Fig 93, or
she may be introduced in a No. 3 cage let down between the
combs or thrust into the entrance as already described. Often,
however, when it is convenient, I take from the nucleus the
frame on which the queen is found, and put frame and all in
the queenless hive. If this is done at a time when honey is
yielding, there is little or no danger, provided the colony has
been queenless long enough to be fully conscious of its queen-
lessness. Indeed, I have introduced many queens during the har-
vest into a colony conscious of its queenlessness, by merely
taking out a frame of brood and dropping the queen among
the bees on the middle of the comb. If I wish to run no risk
whatever, as in the case of a valuable imported queen, I put
in a hive without any bees several frames with no unsealed

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 255

brood, but with plenty of sealed brood, some of it just emerg-
ing, and then closing the hive bee-tight put it where there is no
danger of the brood being chilled. One way to do this is to put
it over a strong colony, wire cloth preventing the passage of
the bees from one hive to the other. At the end of five days the
hive can be set on its own stand, and these five-day-old bees,
under stress of necessity, will soon be seen carrying in pollen.

Fig. 89—Comb for Queen-Cells, Trimmed.

ARTIFICIAL INCREASE.

Fighting so bitterly against all increase by swarming, I
would run out of bees entirely if I did not resort to artificial
increase. Without pretending to give all the ways by which
inerease has been made, I may tell just a little about it.

One can make increase by drawing brood or bees, or both,
from colonies that are working for honey, and thus keep all the
old colonies storing, and at the same time make the desired in-
crease. In that way the largest number of colonies possible
are kept at work on the harvest, and one might have a feeling
tbat all the increase was clear gain. But the feeling is a de-
lusive one. It is not the number of colonies at work storing,

256 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

but the number of bees, that counts. And 60,000 bees in one
hive will store more honey that will the same number of bees
equally divided in two hives. So in planning for increase I
generally count that the colonies that are drawn upon for in-
crease shall make that their business without being expected
to be called upon to store surplus, while those at work for
surplus are to be left in the fullest strength possible through-
out the season. You cannot make something out of nothing,
and if increase is to. be made you may as well devote a certain
number of colonies to that business.

INCREASING BY TAKING TO OUT-APIARY.

The case may be different in a locality where there is a
long and late fiow, but I am talking about this locality with
white clover as the dependence for a harvest. In the year 1880
I took 1200 pounds of honey from twelve colonies and in-
creased them to eighty-one; but the honey taken was extracted
buckwheat, and I never new such a buckwheat harvest be-
fore or since. Perhaps it will be well. to tell more explicitly
how that increase was made. The success achieved will be
somewhat diminished when I say that the bees were supplied
with ready-built combs, so they had no combs to build. But
they had no help from other colonies in the way of bees or
brood except a few eges from which to rear queens.

The twelve colonies were taken from the home apiary to
the Wilson apiary, and were prepared in advance for dividing.
From part of them the queens were taken and queen-cells thus
secured. Ten-frame hives were used at that time, and by some
help from others of the twelve a hive would contain ten frames
of brood and bees without any queen, a sealed queen-cell on
each frame of brood. After standing a day or so this hive
would be taken to the out-apiary, and the ten frames put in ten
different hives. Of course every bee stayed just where it was
put. To each of these was added another frame of brood and
adhering bees that had been brought along, and whether these
bees were queenless or not there was nothing for them but to
stay where they were put. In the course of time these first-
formed nuclei were strong enough to help others, and the latest
nuclei were built up at once into fair colonies.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 257
INCREASING 9 WEAK COLONIES TO 56.

In the year 1899, at the Hastings apiary, I increased nine
colonies to filty-six, making them rear their own queens, and
building up mostly on foundation. No advantage was taken in
the way of hauling colonies from home to divide, and the same
plan would work just as well if I had had only one apiary.
The increase was very satisfactory, considering how weak the
colonies were at the start. May 29 there were only forty-one

Fig. 90—Nucleus Bottom-Board.

combs containing any brood in the nine colonies, counting each
comb with brood, even if the patch of brood were no larger
than a silver dollar. I doubt if the nine averaged any more
than three and a half good frames of brood each. On the
other hand, the year was unusually favorable for increase, for
there was a continuous though not strong flow right through
until, I think, in September.

No attempt could be made at increase until the colonies
were stronger, and the first step looking in that direction was
not made until June 12. On that date No. 237 with its seven
frames of brood and bees was taken from its stand, and a hive

258 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

of empty combs set on the stand. The queen was found and
put in the hive of empty combs, which by this time had a good
many bees returning from the field. The queen of No. 237 was
considered the best in the apiary. No. 237 was now set on the
stand of No. 235, and No. 235 was set in a new place. Please
understand that the stand holds its number, and that when the
hive that was on stand 237 is moved as stated it is now No.
235. We now have on 237 a hive full of brood and bees with-
out any queen; and while it will lose the old flying force it had
it will get the flying force that belongs to its present stand.
The colony that was moved from 235 will, of course, lose its
flying force, and will take its time to recuperate.

The bees on these two stands—235 and 237—were the
principal actors throughout the season, the other colonies in
the apiary merely serving as feeders from which to draw brood
from time to time. On 237 were left the hive of empty combs,
the queen, and the constantly increasing flying force. We now
go to the other colonies and draw from them what brood they
can spare without depleting them unwisely, leaving foundation
in place of the brood. Looking at the record I find this was
only four frames of brood. No bees were taken with this
brood. An upper story was put on 237 and these four frames
of brood put in it with four empty combs. Of course the
queen and bees would soon be up in this upper story.

Matters were left in this shape for nine days, the plan be-
ing to visit the apiary every nine days throughout the summer.
A stormy day, however, might extend the time to ten days, or
Sunday coming on the ninth day might shorten the time to
eight days.

At the expiration of the nine days, June 21, we returned.
We took the brood with queen-cells and all bees from 235, and
formed two nuclei. Just why we did not start three I don’t
know, for usually we started a nucleus with two frames of
brood, and we must have had more than four frames of brood.
No measures were taken to make these bees stay where they
were put; it was not necessary with such queenless bees.

Then we took the upper story of 237, with all its brood
and bees, and put it on 235, taking out the queen and putting
her back in the lower story on 237. Then we looked to see

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 259

what brood we could get in the seven colonies that acted as
feeders, without reducing any of them to less than four or
five brood. This time we found six brood, which we took
without any bees, and put on 237.

This was the regular program each time: forming nuclei
with the brood, bees, and cells on 235; putting all brood and

Fig. 91—Nucleus Hives.

bees from 237 on 235, always leaving the queen at 237; and
then getting for 237 a fresh stock of brood wherever it could
be spared.

As none of the assisting colonies were overdrawn, they
would be getting stronger, so that up to a certain point more
brood could be drawn each time. July 18, for the first time,
more brood was drawn than it was thought wise to give to 237,

260 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

there being twenty frames in all. Sixteen of these, or two
hives full, were taken for 237, the other four were used to
strengthen some of the nuclei. Not the weakest nuclei were
strengthened, but the earliest and strongest, for by being
helped these would become strong enough to be helpers in
turn. In fact, toward the last of the season, when there was
little time for nuclei to grow up, the earlier nuclei rendered
substantial aid to the later ones, at least one of them yielding
as many as nine frames of brood. The first nuclei were
formed June 21, as already mentioned; the last were formed
August 23.

I have gone thus fully into details because I believe this
plan can he used successfully by any one who has only a small
number of colonies and is desirous of increase. The first
nuclei are formed early enough in the season so that they have
more than time enough to become strong colonies, and the
latest must be formed only in sufficient numbers so that they
ean be strengthened up as soon as the queen gets to laying.

NUCLEUS PLAN OF INCREASE.

With nucleus hives for queen-rearing, as already de-
seribed, it is easy to carry out the nucleus system in the strict-
est sense. I go to a nucleus with a laying queen, preferring a
nucleus with two or three frames, take all the frames with
queen and adhering bees, put them in an empty hive, and set
the hive on an empty stand. A week later a frame of brood
may be added. It will be better if it can be given with
adhering bees, and still better if the bees can be queenless.
Still, there is no great danger to the queen in any case, although
the weaker the nucleus when strange bees are given, the
greater the danger to the queen. A week later on, two frames
of brood and bees may be added, and the queen will be safer
if these two frames are taken from two different colonies.
The colony will then be strong enough to be left to its own
devices.

NUCLEUS BUILDING UP WITHOUT HELP.

Indeed, it is not necessary to do anything more than to
let a nucleus stand without any help in a fair season, if it
can stand long enough. My assistant is inclined to be quite

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 261

«*

optimistic in some things, and one August she expressed her
belief that a nucleus of two frames with a laying queen would
be able without any assistance, if started on that date, Aug. 6,
to build up into a colony strong enough to winter. I said that
would be asking too much, and we would put'the matter to the
test. So two frames of brood with adhering bees were put in a
hive on a new stand, and two days later a laying queen was
given. The two frames of brood were rather better than the av-
erage, for I wanted her to see that even with an extra cnance it
was too late in the season for any such growth. I don’t know
whether she watched that colony on the sly or not, but I did.
Looking at it every few days, I could see no gain—if anything
it grew weaker. Then I thought I could see a little gain, and
in twelve days from the time it was started the two frames of
brood had increased to two and a half. Five days later there
were three brood, and from that on it walked right along to
a fair colony, although it had to be fed up for winter. But
I would not want to count on starting for a full colony so
late as that in all seasons, especially if the frames of brood
were not the very best.

INCREASE WITHOUT NUCLEI.

These different ways are all on the nucleus plan. Just one
more way I want to mention, and itis not on the nucleus plan,
but if queens are on hand I think I like it is well as any. We
take four colonies, and the first thing is to have all four
strong before anything is done. Then we take an empty hive-
body without any bottom-board, and into it we put two frames
of brood without any bees from the first hive (a few bees will
do no harm), the same from the second, and the same from
the third, filling out the hive with two empty combs or combs
with some honey. In the middle of the hive is a provisioned
introducing-cage containing a laying queen. Upon the fourth
hive we put a queen-excluder, and on this we set our hive full
of brood, and cover it up. Very soon bees enough will go up
through the excluder to take care of the brood. Three or four
hours later, or twenty-four hours later if more convenient,
this hive is set upon a bottom-board on a new stand, and the
work is all done. A way that is easier, and nearly as good,

262 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

is to set the hive, with the six brood immediately in place of
the fourth hive, setting the fourth hive in a new place. The
returning field-bees will populate the new hive. Ten days or
two weeks later the performance may be repeated if the season
is prosperous, and this may be repeated a number of times.
Of course empty combs or foundation will take the place of
the two frames of brood drawn from each hive. An advant-
age of this plan is that it makes a strong colony at once, and
there is no danger of being caught with a number of weaklings

Fig. 92—Miller Cage No. 2.

on a sudden cessation of the harvest. Each new colony formed
will in its turn soon be able to take its part in the game to
start still others.

SHAKING BEES OFF COMBS.

In this last plan, since the frames of brood are taken
without bees, there is a good deal to be done in the way of
cleaning bees off the combs. While it does not matter if a few
bees should be left on the combs, it does matter greatly that
care be taken to make sure that the queen is not among the
hees taken. So it is well to brush the combs tolerably clean,
and then one can easily see whether the queen is present.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 263

Before brushing, however, most of the bees should be shaken
off, for if this is rightly done it will be a saving of time.

FINAL TAKING-OFF OF SECTIONS.

When the time comes that the bees are expected to do no
more work in the sections, whether that be immediately at the
close of the clover harvest or later, the supers with their sec-
tions are all brought home and piled up in the honey-room.
On some accounts it is better if the sections can be taken out
of the supers at once and taken care of, and on other accounts

Fig. 93—Caged Queen-Cell.

it is better they should stand for some time. It is a very
difficult thing to scrape the bee glue from sections while the
weather is still hot, and as disagreeable as it is difficult. There
may be some unsealed cells of honey in the outer cells of some
sections, and this will have little chance to evaporate if it is
thin, after the sections are in the shipping-cases. So the sec-
tions are likely to stand for some time in the supers after all
are taken off, being blocked up as in Fig. 79.

FUMIGATING SECTIONS.

Formerly it was necessary to fumigate the sections with
sulphur after they were brought into the house, the fumigation

264 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

being repeated two or three weeks later. I suppose I should
now prefer bisulphide of carbon to sulphur for fumigation,
but for several years I have not found it necessary to fumi-
gate. Formerly the larvee of the bee moth would make bad
work if fumigation were omitted, and sometimes in spite of
it, but now there is no trouble. I don’t know what makes the
difference, unless it be that formerly there was so large a per
cent of black blood in my bees.

When the time does come for taking the sections all out
of the supers, the work is gone at in earnest and continued
until all the marketable sections are in their shipping-cases
ready for market. It will be understood that all supers taken
off before the last have been handled as heretofore mentioned,
the marketable sections having all been piled up in the honey-
room and the others returned as “go-backs,” and the last lot
taken off will consist of every sort, from foundation un-
touched by the bees up to sections entirely filled and sealed.

SORTING THE SECTIONS.

Philo sorts the sections into four classes as he takes them
out, although some supers are assigned to one class or another
without being taken ont, because all in the super are of one
kind. One lot consists of dry sections, or those in which the
foundation either has not been touched by the bees, or else has
been drawn out so little that not a drop of honey has been put
in it. These are put in a pile by themselves.

FEEDER SECTIONS.

The second lot consists of those which have just a few
drops of honey in them, up to those which are not more than
half filled. Some entire supers will be assigned to the first or
second lot without being taken out of the super at all. When
a super feels pretty light, it is inspected with some care by
looking through it from the under side. If it is found that
there is no honey in any section in the super, it goes to the
dry pile without any taking out. If there is honey in the
super, but no section in it more than half filled, it goes to the
second pile without being emptied, even if there is only one

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 26

oF

section in the super containing any honey, and that section
having only a few drops.

BEES EMPTYING SECTIONS.

The supers of sections in this second pile are called “feed-
ers,” because the honey in them is to be fed back to the bees
(Fig. 96). Usually this feeding is not done until all the
“feeders” are ready tor the bees. They are taken into the shop
cellar, and if there are only a few of them they are put in

Lig. 9i—Vacated Queen-Cells.

piles bee-tight with an opening at the top and another at the
bottom only large enough for one or two bees to pass at a
time. If the number of supers is sufficiently large, say half
as large as the number of colonies in the home apiary, then
the supers are set singly all around against the wall of the
cellar so as to make them as easily accessible to the bees as
possible. When there are only a few sections, if the bees have
free access to them they will tear the comb to pieces.

When all the “feeders” are in the cellar, then the door is
opened wide, and the bees help themselves. The reasons for

266 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

having these “feeders” in the cellar rather than outdoors are,
first, that I Want to keep the bees away from them until the
whole of them are ready for the attack; second, that in the cel-
lay they are safe from the rain. The best of these emptied
“feeders” furnish “baits” for the following season. ¢

UNMARKETABLE SECTIONS.

The third pile Philo makes consists of those which are
more than half filled with honey, but not good enough to be
marketable (Fig. 97). This pile is never very large, and is
easily gotten rid of at home, together with some help from
relatives. Some of it will make as fine appearance as any
honey when placed on the table, although the under side on the
plate may have too many unsealed and unfilled cells to admit
it into the marketable class. There may also be some broken sec-
tions, for sections have a fashion of falling with half a chance.

BEES CLEANING DAUBY SECTIONS.

Sometimes it happens that a section otherwise good is
spoiled, and badly spoiled, in appearance, by having honey
from some sections above leak all over one or both of its faces.
Miss Wilson hit upon a plan for having such sections cleaned
up in short order, and with very little trouble. She puts them
in a super, puts the super over a colony of bees, and an hour
later, if the bees are active, they are taken from the hive as
good as new.

The rest of the sections that do not go into one of these
three piles are merchantable sections. That makes four kinds
into which Philo sorts them, and you will see that it is possible
out of one super to take sections that will go into all four of
the piles. Of course there is always standing a super ready for
any odd sections of each kind, that is, a super for dry sections,
another for “feeders,” ete.

FIRST PART OF CLEANING SECTIONS.

Having now told how Philo sorts the sections, let me
further tell what he does with them. When he comes to a super

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 267

that does not go entire to the first or the second pile, the sec-
tions are taken out in the manner described on previous pages,
leaving the contents of the super upside down on a board.
The T tins are lifted off, and any sections that are not market-
able are picked off and their places supplied with those that
are marketable. Then the super that was taken from them
is replaced by a box without top or bottom, that is, it is much
like the super, only it is perhaps an inch longer, an inch wider,

Fig. 95—Miller Frame.

and an inch shallower than a T super, the exact size not being
important. A piece of board is wedged into one side, and
another into one end, so as to hold the sections firmly in place
(Fig. 98). A case-knife with the whole length of its edge held
at right angles to the sections sweeps back and forth, and when
this has made the surface fairly clean, No. 2 sandpaper is
used. A cabinetmaker’s scraper is better than a case-knife
while it is sharp, but is harder to keep sharp. Then a board
similar to the one under the sections is laid on top, and with

268 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

one hand under the under board and the other over the upper
board he turns the whole upside down, the super resting on one
end on the table as he turns it over. The knife and sandpaper
now do their work on the tops of the sections. Then the
wedges are taken out, the box removed, arid the boardful of
sections is slid along the table to the one who is scraping.
This table, which is very convenient, is 8 ft. long and 3 ft.
9 in. wide.
FINAL SCRAPING OF SECTIONS.

Miss Wilson generally does all the scraping; that is, all
the scraping besides what Philo has done, and sometimes his
part, as in Fig. 98. She sometimes scrapes on a board on her
lap, but usually on one of the small tables heretofore mention-
ed (Fig. 99). If the section should rest upon the table, the
knife used in seraping could not freely reach the lowest parts,
so a loose block lies on the board, on which the sections rest.
Another advantage of the block is that the accumulation of
propolis is not so much in the way. The size of this block is
not material; it may be an inch thick, four inches long or
longer, and two inches wide or wider. The block could be
nailed down, but it is more convenient to have it loose, so as
to serape the propolis off the table from time to time. The
scrapings have generally been thrown away, but with a steam
wax-press it may pay well to get the wax out of it. Possibly
propolis may yet be a marketable commodity.

The knife used is a steel case-knife kept very sharp. The
sides and edges of the sections are to be scraped, and, if neces-
sary, sandpaper follows the knife. The finishing touches are
put on Philo’s work, knife marks, pencil marks, and any dis-
colored spots being carefully removed.

If it is cool enough, so that the bee glue is brittle instead
of being sticky, then sandpaper replaces the knife. The sand-
paper is not rubbed upon the section, but the section is rubbed
upon a sheet of sandpaper lying flat. This makes more rapid
work than the knife, especially in scraping the edges, for four
edges are sandpapered at one operation.

A seraper should be a careful person, or in ten minutes’
time he will do more damage than his day’s work is worth.
Even a careful person seems to need to spoil at least one sec-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 269

tion before taking the care necessary to avoid injuring others.
But when the knife makes an ugly gash in the face of a beau-
tiful white section of honey, that settles it that care will be
taken afterward.

PACKING SECTIONS IN SHIPPING-CASES.

The scraper has in easy reach two shipping-cases. In one,
as fast as they are scraped, are put all sections that are not in
any way faulty, such as appear in Fig. 100. In the other are
put any which are a little off color, either as to comb or honey,
or which have some cells unsealed. These must be sold as
second-class at a reduction of about 2 cents a pound. In Fig.
101 are shown six such sections, the upper three having the
best side out and the lower three having the poorest side out.

KIND OF SHIPPING CASES.

For some years I used double-tier shipping-cases holding
twenty-four sections each, the upper tier resting on a little
board supported by two other little boards, so that no weight
came upon the lower tier. A pile of such cases showed a
greater proportion of honey in its surface than a pile of single-
tier cases, and for this reason I liked it, but it was odd goods,
and so I changed to single-tier cases. I have used mostly the
twelve-section case, as shown in Fig. 102. But please do not
think that all my honey looks as well as that in Fig. 102. The
specimens in Fig. 100 are-fair samples, although they are pos-
sibly a little below the mark.

I have used some single-tier cases holding twenty-four
sections (Fig. 103). These are not so nice and firm to handle
as the smaller cases, but it costs less to pack a ton of honey in
the larger than in the smaller cases. Grocers who sell by the
case are inclined to prefer the larger case, for they say a
customer who buys a case at a time will as readily buy a
twenty-four-section case as a twelve-section case.

I have used several hundred safety shipping-cases, but am
none too sure they are worth the extra cost.

The most difficult thing about the packing is to prevent
veneering. It seems to come so natural, when a particularly
white and straight section goes into the case, to put it next the

270 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

glass, best side out at that. But it is especially desirable that
the outside shall be a fair index of the entire contents of the
cease. In the long run there is money to be made by it, to say
nothing of the feeling of satisfaction.

HONEY SHOW.

When the cases are filled they are stacked up in piles, and
these piles are mostly—perhaps always—so arranged as to
make the best show possible. There is no object in this beyond

e

=
e
“3
Ze
bts

*

co e8 oH =
Se teneseagae

sbstatatatatal. L

SE Pras ese sii nce

Fig. 96—Feeder-Sections.

the pleasure it gives the family to see it for a few days,
perhaps only for a day. But the sight is a beautiful one so
long as it lasts, as I think you will agree with me if you look
at Fig. 104.

PLACE TO KEEP HONEY.

I have sold a crop of honey before it was off the hives
and sometimes I have kept part of a crop over till spring.

In any case the honey for home use in spring must be kept
over. It is not the easiest thing in the world to keep it through
the winter in good shape. If kept cold it is apt to granulate,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 271

or candy, as it is usually called. If allowed to freeze, the
combs crack and look bad, and in time the honey oozes out of
the cracks. Honey is deliquescent, absorbing from the atmos-
phere a large amount of water if conditions are favorable,
Try putting some common salt in a place where you think of
keeping honey; if the salt remains dry, so would honey. But
a place that is suitable at one time may not be at another.
Years ago I filled the back end of the honey-room with honey.
It was a good place for it; the outside walls were thin and the
heat of the sun made it a hot place. When cold weather came,
however, it was a bad place, and the lower sections at the back
part—beautiful, snowy-white, when first put in—became wat-
ery and dark-looking. A fire for cooking was kept in the
adjoining room, and although there seemed but very little
steam in the air, by the time it got to the back end of the room,
and settled to the lower part, there was enough to spoil
hundreds of sections. You see, warm air is like a sponge to
take up moisture, and cold squeezes the moisture out of it.
The point to see to, then, is to have no air coming from a
warmer place to the place where the honey is. I would sooner
risk honey in a kitchen with a hot fire and plenty of steam
than in a room without fire and with a door partly opened
into a sitting-room where no water or steam is ever kept.
Indeed, a kitchen is quite a good place to keep honey, the
higher up the better.
KEEPING HONEY IN GARRET.

It is well known that a cellar, except in particularly dry
localities, is about the worst place in which to keep honey; but
it is not so well known that the place the furthest removed
from the cellar—the garret—is one of the very best places.
My mother kept some sections throughout the latter part of
summer in a garret, and after enduring the freezing of the fol-
lowing winter they were as fine as when first put there. The
roasting heat of the summer in that garret had so ripened the
honey as to make it proof against injury from freezing.

HONEY IN CELLAR WITH FURNACE.

I just spoke of a cellar as a poor place for honey except
in very dry climates, But a furnace in a cellar makes a big

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

difference. In 1902 a furnace was put in my cellar. Several
winters since then I have piled up sections beside the furnace,
at a distance of 1 to 4 feet from it, and anything better could
hardly be desired.

GRANULATED HONEY.
If comb honey becomes granulated or watery, I know of

no way to restore it. If for home use, or*if one happens to
have a market where extracted honey sells for a good price,

Wesson ss

ee a
© e

i Se! ,
‘on a

cree aS

. ee
pars a
se

Fig. 9’ —Unmarketable Sections.

the sections may be put in stone erocks, slowly melted, being
sure if is not overheated; and then when cool, the cake of wax
may be hfted off the honey.

The best place to keep comb honey is also the best place
lo keep extracted; but if extracted honey becomes granulated
or watery. if may be restored to its former, or even a better
condition. If thin and not granulated, by setting it on the
reservoir of a cook-stove and letting it remain days enough,
if will become thick. I suppose you may have known this, and
also that extracted honey, when granulated, may be liquefied

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 273

by slowly heating, but did you know that when thin honey is
warmed for a lone time the flavor is improved? I have had
the flavor improved and could attribute it to nothing but re-
maining a couple of weeks on the reservoir. JI do not mean by
this that if fine-flavored honey in good condition is placed on
the stove reservoir it will be improved. Most people, however,
who have had much to do with honey, must have noticed that
when extracted honey becomes thin from attracting moisture
from the atmosphere, it seems to acquire a different flavor—
perhaps I might say it has a sharp taste—and the slow heat-
ing seems to restore it partly if not wholly to its former con-
dition.
RIPENING HONEY.

The same thing is true of honey which is taken thin from
the hive, not yet having been brought to proper density by the
bees.

There is a difference of opinion as to whether honey, or
perhaps nectar, evaporated outside of the hive, is equal to that
which remains in the hive till thick. Of course, no large amount
could be evaporated on a stove reservoir. Some beekeepers
have large tanks in which to evaporate honey by the sun or
other heat. The general opinion, however, is that the best
place for ripening honey is on the hives.

It must not be understood that when honey has really
soured it can be made good by the process mentioned. The
only thing is to use it for vinegar; and fine vinegar it will make,

DRAINING EXTRACTED HONEY.

There is another plan which I have used to secure some
extra-fine extracted honey for our private use. Whether it
could be used profitably on a large scale, J cannot say. There
are, however, always people who are ready to pay a high price
for an extra article. After a crock of clover honey has granu-
lated, I turn it on its side or upside down, and let it remain
days enough to drain off all the liquid part. If drained long
enough, the residue—and this will be nearly all the crockful—
will be as dry as sugar, and when this is liquefied by slow heat-
ing it makes a delicious article. It will, however, granulate

274 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

very easily a second time. On a large seale, the liquid might
be drained off by boring a hole at the lower part of a barrel
of granulated honey. I spoke of treating clover honey in this
way; I do not know what other kinds may be treated the same
way, but I have had some granulated honey of smooth, even

Pig. 9S—Sections Wedged for Scraping.

texture, from which no liquid part could be drained. When
set to drain, the whole mass would roll slowly out.

MARKETING HONEY.

IT have had no uniform way of marketing honey. I should
prefer in all cases to sell the erop outright for cash, if I could
get a satisfactory price; but some years I can do better to sell]

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 275

on commission. Judgment must be used as to limiting commis-
sion men to a certain price. Some commission men will sell off
promptly at any price offered, and when sending to such men
it is best to name a certain figure, below which the honey must
not be sold. I have sold in my home market, as well as in
towns near by, and have shipped to nine of the principal
cities, and it would be an impossibility for me to say what
would be my best market next year. Prices vary according to
the yield in different parts of the country. If shipping to a
distant point in cold weather, I keep up a hot fire to warm
the honey twenty-four hours before shipping. If very cold
I wait for a warm spell.

LOADING SECTIONS WHEN SHIPPING.

On a wagon, the length of a section should run across the
wagon—on a car, lengthwise of the car. Convenience of pack-
dng in a wagon, however, is of first consideration, for with
*“ eareful driving it matters little which way the sections are
placed. On the other hand, no matter what the inconvenience,
I would have the sections in a railroad car so that when a
heavy bump comes the sections must take it endwise. I always
prefer, if possible, to load the honey directly into the car my-
self. Then I know that it Will carry well unless the engine
does an unreasonable amount of bumping.

‘
PACKING SECTIONS IN A CAR.

Very likely a number of cases of honey packed in a crate
do not need any special care in loading; but if I can make sure
that the honey will go through to its destination without any
reloading, I prefer to put the cases in the car one by one. If
the number of cases is so small that there is no need to pile one
case on another, then the cases are put in one end of the car
and kept in place by a strip of common inch lumber nailed on
the floor. If there are enough cases so they must be tiered
up, then the lower tier has a strip nailed on the floor as be-
fore, but each of the upper tiers is fastened differently. On
each side of the car is nailed a cleat to support a fence-board
which runs across the width of the car, resting flat like a shelf

276 YIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

on these cleats. Another cleat is nailed on the side of the car
over the board, so it can move neither up nor down. The
board is up tight against the cases, perhaps a little above their
middle. Then a third cleat is nailed on each side of the car
against the board to prevent the board from moving in the
least.

If there is a space at the side of the ear, straw is packed
hard into it beside the cases. If the space is very small, pieces

Fig. 99—Secraping Sections.

of old wooden separators may he wedged in. Newspapers are
laid on the bottom of the car under the cases, and newspapers
tacked on top of them.
HOME MARKET.
Mueh has been said about cultivating a home market, but
there are two sides to the matter, If beekeepers from neighhor-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 279

ing towns.come in and supply my home market at 2 cents per
pound less than my honey nets me when shipped to a distant
market, about all I can do is to leave the home market in their
hands. I suspect, however, that it would have been to my ad-
vantage to have paid more attention to developing my home
market for extracted honey.

HOME VERSUS DISTANT MARKET.

In deciding between a home and a distant market, there
are more things to be taken into consideration than are always
thought of. There is breakage in transportation, and the
greater the distance the greater the risk. If I can load my
honey into a car myself, and it goes to its destination without
change of cars, I do not feel very anxious about it. On this
account a car-load is safer than a small quantity, for a full
car-load may be sent almost any distance without reshipping.
If reshipped, it is not at all certain how it will be packed in
a car. I once sent a lot of honey to Cincinnati, and when it
arrived at its destination the sections were actually lying on
their sides! I suppose the railroad hands who packed it in the
car at the last change, thought the glass was safest from
breakage if the case was put glass side down. The strangest
part about it was that I lost nothing by the breakage. The
dogged persistence of a German consignee obliged the rail-
road company to pay all damage! for the consignee was that
staunch German and genial friend of beekeepers—the late C.
F. Muth.

There is less danger of breakage by freight than by ex-
press. Besides danger of breakage, there is risk of losing in
various ways. You may not be able to collect pay for your
honey. If sent on commission, the price obtained may be less
than the published market report. You have no means gener-
ally to know how correct the claims for breakage may be. In
fact, unless you know your consignee to be a thoroughly honest
man, you are almost entirely at his mercy.

PRICES IN HOME AND DISTANT MARKET.

Taking all these things into consideration, together with
the cost of freight and shipping-cases, it must be a good price

7S FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

that will justify a man to ship off honey to the neglect of his
home market. If shipped to be sold on commission, provided
he ships to a near market, the price should be at least 24% cents
per pound more than he can get in his home market, to justify
his shipping. If he ships to a distant market the difference
should be still more, as the additional freight may make a
difference of 1 cent per pound or more, and the risk of break-
age becomes greater.

Tig, 100-—Sections Ready for Casing.

Not always, however, must I be willing to sell in my home
market for less than I can get abroad. If there is a year of
dead failure in my locality, or so nearly a failure that the
home market must be at least partly supplied from elsewhere,
then I should get more for my honey than the grocers will have
to pay in the large city markets, for they must add freight to
the price they pay there.

FALL FEEDING.

Some seasons are so poor that the bees do not get enough
throughout the whole season to carry them through the winter.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 279

One year I took no surplus, and fed 2800 pounds of granu-
lated sugar for winter stores. Some years the clover crop will
be a failure, but plenty of stores will be gathered later in the
season to carry the bees over winter. It is not always easy to
tell in advance just what will be, but it is best to err on the
safe side; and it is no harm to have more stores on hand than
are actually needed. It is also better to have the feeding done
early. If the feed is given so early that it can be given thin
enough, the bees make chemical changes in it that make it
better for winter.

FEEDING SYRUP. |

Formerly I did not take this into account, and syrup was
prepared that approached the consistency of honey. Water
was put in a vessel on the stove, and when at or near the
boiling-point granulated sugar was slowly stirred in at the
rate of five pounds of sugar to a quart of water. When the
sugar was about dissolved, an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid
for every twenty pounds of sugar, previously dissolved in
water, was stirred into the syrup, for without the acid the
syrup is likely to turn into sugar in the combs when fed. so
thick. If I were to feed late in September, or in | I
think I should prefer the same syrup now.

= : is
FEEDING EARLY FOR’ WINTER.’

But by feeding i in Anoust or ‘early 3 in Sentai er the work
can be made much easier, and at the same time the rood will be
better for the bees. For they will so manipulate the thin feed
given them that no acid will be needed, making their winter
stores much more like the stores they obtain from the flowers.
There is nothing complicated about the feeding, and there is
not the same trouble with robbers as when syrup is made.
First, the feeders are all put on, and left standing uncovered.
Then the amount of sugar needed in each feeder is put in dry,
whether that be two pounds or fifteen pounds. Then I go
around to each feeder, and, making a depression in the center
of the sugar, put in half a pint or more of water. I do this
rather than to put in the full quota of water at first, because

280 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

in the latter case it is possible that the water would force its
way into the reach of the bees without having much sweetness
in it, for I forgot to say that I use the Miller feeder. I am
not sure that this precaution is necessary, but it can do no
harm. I now go around and put in each feeder about as much
water as will balance the sugar, counting either by pints or
pounds. Of course, if twelve pounds or more of sugar should
be in the feeder, it will be impossible to balance the sugar
with water. In that case I put in all the water I can. Next

q a se Ly
iy? 0,0 ove dl testateiy ot ht
ee Ld
fH

Fig. 101-—Second-Class Sections.

day or so the liquid will be used out, and I can fill up again.
Indeed, in many cases where equal parts of sugar and water
are given, the water will be mostly out by the next day, leaving
only damp sugar in the feeder, and more water must be added.
Practically, this is giving the feed very thin, and I suspect it
is all the better. I have never had any trouble from robber
bees while leaving the feeders open in the way mentioned, of
course covering up as soon as the water is all in; although J
have had trouble by leaving a cover on a feeder that was not
bee-tight, and with such a cover it is better first to put on a
cover of cotton cloth that hangs down all around.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 281

SELECTING COLONIES TO FEED.

I have spoken as if a feeder was put over each colony
lacking stores. That is by no means always the case—indeed,
not often the case. There are reasons why it is better to have
a comparatively small number of colonies do the storing, tak-
ing sealed combs from these to give to the weaker ones. It is
a good deal less trouble, when the feeding is begun in good
season, to have one colony store enough for five or ten others
besides itself than it is to have feeders on all the five or ten
colonies. Some colonies will store better than others, and the
best can be chosen.

FEEDING IN FALL FOR SPRING.

For some reason, bees seem to store from a feeder much
better late in the season than they do before the harvest time.
The greater strength of the colonies and the warmer weather
would make one expect a difference, but it has always seemed
to me that there was more difference than could be accounted
for without some other reason. So it is desirable at this time
to have not only enough combs filled to bridge over the winter,
but to supply any possible deficiency up to the harvest time.

An upper story of empty combs is put on, possibly two.
As fast as combs are completely filled and sealed they can be
removed and replaced by empty ones. If it is desired to have
combs filled out upon foundation, beautiful work will be done
upon them ‘in these upper stories. It will easily be seen that it
is less trouble to add sugar from time to time as needed, also
to add water as needed, than it is to apportion the smaller
amounts to a number of colonies. No great matter if too
much or too little of one or the other is present; the thing will
regulate itself. For with cold water there is no danger of the
feed being too thick, and all the harm of too large a propor-
tion of sugar is that the bees will have to wait for more water
when it is too dry to give down. On the other hand, they will
continue taking it down when it is much thinner than half-
and-half, and perhaps it is all the better manipulated when
very thin.

Perhaps it would do as well to feed as described under
wholesale feeding in spring, but in that case I should want the

282 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

feed quite thin, and there would be more danger from robbers,
and more danger of having thin feed left in the feeders to
sour.

DIFFICULTY IN DECIDING ABOUT STORES.

It is not an easy thing to determine just what amount of
stores is needed to carry a colony through to the next harvest.
Some colonies use more than others under apparently the same
conditions. Experience will enable one to judge fairly well by
inspection as to the amount of stores present, but one can be
more exact about it by actual weighing. Besides, with proper
conveniences for it, the weighing takes less time. But two
colonies may weigh exactly the same, and one may have abun-
dance and the other may starve, because, although weighing
the same, one had much more honey than the other. One had
much pollen, the other little. Or, the combs of one were new,
and the combs of the other were very old and heavy. The
only safe way is to have all so heavy that under any and all
circumstances there will be no danger. So we aim to have
each hive with its contents, its cover, and its bottom-board
weigh as much as fifty pounds. Some will weigh so much
more than this that hefting will show that there is no need of
weighing. Even a strong colony that stored well throughout
the season in a prosperous year may have had the brood-
chamber so stocked with brood that not enough honey was in
the brood-chamber; so it is well to heft and weigh even in the
best seasons, and to do this late enough so that storing from
flowers need no longer be taken into account, and so early that
there will be abundance of time for the bees to arrange matters
to their liking in the brood-chamber,

WEIGHING COLONIES.

A common spring balance with a capacity of eighty
pounds is used for weighing (Fig. 105). An endless rope
passes around the hive under the cleat at each end, then the
hook of the spring balance passes under the two parts of the
rope over the hive, and the slack is taken up by tying a string
around the two parts under the hook. A hickory stick used
as a lever passes through the ring of the upper part of the
spring balance, the short end of the lever being supported by

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 283

a light framework that stands on the adjoining hive. When
all is properly adjusted, the long end of the lever is raised,
and the weight is read, and then taken down, so that a comb
or combs may be added to bring up to the desired weight. If
no precaution is taken, the spring balance, when first raised,
will slide on the lever down against one’s hands or shoulders.
To prevent this a stout string has one end tied to the short end
of the lever, and the other end tied to the ring of the balance,
so as to keep it within bounds. When once adjusted, rope,

Fig. 102—Twelve-section Shipping-case.

balance, and lever are left -fastened together, the rope being
slipped on each end of the hive for weighing, and slipped off
when the hive is weighed.

RESERVE COMBS OF HONEY.

After all I have said about feeding, I am happy to say
that since about the time of the coming in of the 20th century
very little feeding has been done. Most years not a feeder is
put on. This is partly due to the increase of fall pasturage,
and perhaps in some degree to the fact that the present stock
of bees are more provident than they were some years ago.

284 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

In spite of the better fall feed, some colonies in eight-
frame hives might be short of stores before the white-honey
harvest. To meet such cases, combs filled with sealed honey
‘are kept in reserve from the previous fall. These reserve
combs are valuable for another purpose. Left to themselves
the bees would have very little honey in the hives at the open-
ing of the honey-harvest, and all vacancies in the brood-
chamber must be filled before honey goes into the supers.
Now if we have reserve combs on hand from the previous fall,
so as to have the brood-chamber entirely filled with brood and
honey at the opening of the harvest, then there is nothing left
for the bees to do but to tote the first honey upstairs, instead
of waiting for the brood-chamber to be filled. You may ask
what is gained by merely swapping last year’s honey for
honey in the sections. There would be nothing gained if the
honey in the reserve combs were white-clover honey. But it
is fall honey; and-for every pound of fall honey we put in
the brood-chamber we get back a pound of white honey in
sections. : ;

So I like to have one or two reserve combs on hand for
each colony in the spring. These reserve combs may be ob-
tained by taking them in the fall from colonies that are over-
heavy, giving in place of them empty combs to be again filled,
or upper stories may be given filled with combs.

NUCLEI IN FALL.

When the time for rearing queens is over, the nuclei will
be in various conditions. Some will be weak, some strong,
some queenless. Here will be a nucleus hive containing three
strong nuclei with a good laying queen in each nucleus. Noth-
ing is to be done in such a case but to leave the three nuclei
as they are, to be carried into the cellar without any further
preparation, unless it be to give some honey if it be needed.
In the case of the middle nucleus, that will mean exchanging
their comb for one as much as two-thirds or three- quarters
full of honey. In the nuclei at the sides of the hive, the heaviest
frames.of honey will be toward the center of the hive. This
will encourage the bees to cluster in that direction, thus con-
centrating the warmth of the three nuclei.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 285

UNITING NUCLEI,

3ut the hives with three strong nuclei and three queens
will be exceptional. Some will have only two queens, some
one. If a nucleus hive has in it only one queen, it may be
that a full hive is set in place of the nucleus hive, the con-
tents of the three apartments of the nucleus hive put into this
full hive, and, if necessary, enough nuclei added from else-
where to make a fair colony. If none of the nuclei in any
one nucleus hive be sufficiently strong where there is only one

Fig. 103—A 24-section Case.

queen in the hive, then the nucleus with the queen is likely to
be put in some nucleus hive that has contained only two
queens. In some cases one of the division-boards is taken
away, making one of the compartments large enough to re-
ceive five frames, besides the other with the three frames.
Thus the nucleus in the larger compartment may be built up
to a tolerably fair colony.

Thus you will see that there is little or no destroying of
queens, the effort being to have each queen supported by a
good force of bees, considering the size of her compartment.
No attention is paid to the matter of trying to make bees stay

286 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

where they are put. If they don’t like to stay they don’t
need to; they'll count somewhere. But as they are mostly
queenless bees that are moved, they are not bad about return-
ing.

DOUBLE HIVES FOR WINTER.

Not only have I wintered nuclei two and three in a hive,
but a few years ago I had considerable experience in winter-
ing full colonies in double hives. If I had not changed from
ten-frame to eight-frame hives I should have continued the

Tesi 2 oar a
Tea a im ae a
a) UL |
Tae R fk DTT bes bP pte
Bae es a Ls spe aan STE Stal LR Ty

rig. 104—Honey Show.

practice, but an eight-frame hive makes too cramped quarters
for two full colonies, even in winter. Still, I approximate
it with five frames on one side and three on the other, and of
course the hive could be divided to take four frames on each
side.

There is nothing new or original about two colonies in
one hive, among others Dzierzon’s twin hives having been
highly esteemed by him and others for many years. These,
however, are used the same all the year around, and my use of
them is only during the time of year when bees can be crowded
into a less space than a full hive.

From the time the bees are fed in the summer or fall,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 287

till perhaps the middle of May, most of my colonies would
have room enough in one half of a ten-frame hive. J am not
sure that any of them ever need more room through the fall
and winter, and in the spring they need no more till more than
four frames are needed for brood. With some, this may come
quite early, but I think I should be well satisfied if I could
get all my colonies to contain four combs well filled with

Fig. 105—Weighing Colones.

brood by the middle of May. Some of them may have at that
time brood in nine or ten frames, but more of them could have
all their brood crowded into three or four combs.

ADVANTAGE OF DOUBLE HIVES.

Now if, during the time I have mentioned, we can have
two colonies in one hive, we shall, I think, find it advantageous
in more than one direction. It is a common thing for bee-
keepers to unite two weak colonies in the fall. Suppose a bee-
keeper has two colonies in the fall, each occupying two combs.
He unites them so they will winter better. If they would not
quarrel and would stay wherever they were put, he could place
the two frames of the one hive beside the two frames in the
other hive, and the thing would be done. Now, suppose that

388 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

a thin division-board were placed between the two sets of
combs, would he not see the same result? Not quite, I think,
but nearly so. They would hardly be so warm as without
the division-board, but nearly so; and both queens would be
saved. In the spring it is desirable to keep the bees warm.
If two colonies are in one hive, with a thin division-board
between them, they will be much warmer than if in separate
hives. The same thing is true in winter. I have had weak
nuclei with two combs come through in good condition during
a winter in which I lost heavily, these nuclei having no extra
care or protection other than being in a double hive. You
would understand the reason of all this easily if in winter you
would look into one of these double hives in the cellar. On
each side the bees are clustered up against the division-board,
and it looks exactly as if the bees had all been in one single
cluster, and then the division-board pushed down through the
center of the cluster.

Now suppose we have 100 colonies that are all fed up for
winter and they are then put into double hives. Please
understand that there is little or no extra expense for these
double hives. They are just the regular hives, only we take
special pains to see that the division-board is perfectly: bee-
tight. If the hives are to be hauled home, as I haul mine each
fall, there are only 50 instead of 100 to haul; just halt the
bulk, and a much less weight than the 100 would be. Just
half the hives are to be handled in taking in and out of winter
quarters; just half the room is occupied in winter quarters;
and I think, although I do not know, that the bees will winter
better than if only one colony in a hive. If they are to be taken,
in the spring, to a distant apiary, there is the advantage of
hauling only 50 hives instead of 100. If, in the spring, any col-
ony be found queenless it is in fine position to be united with
its fellow colony.

CHANGING FROM SINGLE TO DOUBLE HIVES.

Possibly you may be ready to agree with me so far as to
say, “Certainly, the thing looks desirable, but is it feasible?
Will not the trouble counterbalance all advantage?” I know
it is usually a matter of some trouble to change a colony from
one location to another in the same apiary. I think, however,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 289

that I have reduced the trouble to a minimum. I will give you
my ‘plan and you can judge for yourself.

As I have already told you, my hives stand in pairs, and
I kept them so, years before I thought of double hives. Some
time before the change is made to double hives, the entrances
of the hives are closed at one side, so that the bees become
accustomed to using the same side of the entrance that they
will use when thrown into the double hive, that is, the right-
hand colony will use the right-hand side of its entrance, and
the left-hand colony will use the left-hand side of its entrance.
Fach colony will have four of its combs so solid with honey
that it will be well provisioned.

Remembering that the two colonies of a pair are on the
same stand, we now remove both hives from the stand and set
the double hive on the middle of the stand. Then the four
combs from the right-hand hive will be put with their bees in
the right-hand side of the double colony and the rest of the
bees brushed from the other combs. The left-hand side is
treated the-same way. Some bees will still be left in the de-
populated hives; so these hives can be set at each side, the
entrance of the empty hive at the proper entrance of ‘the
double hive, and left: there long enough for the bees to crawl
in and join their companions.

The matter is now accomplished and it has been no long
or difficult job.. -The bees use the new entrance almost as
readily as the-old. To them their hive seems moved less ‘than
its width to one side, and there is no possible danger of their
entering the wrong place. I have tried it, and watched the
result, therefore I speak of not what the bees ought to do, but
what they do do. ,

CHANGING FROM DOUBLE TO SINGLE HIVES.

Can we as easily get them back into two hives in the
spring when they become crowded in this double hive? Just
exactly as easily. We simply reverse thie operation. Take the
double hive from its place and replace it with the two hives,
then remove the contents of the double hive and put them in
the proper single hives and the bees will go every time to the
right place. I speak again from personal observation as to
what the bees actually do.

10

220 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
BRINGING BEES HOME IN THE FALL.

In the fall the bees must be brought home from the out-
apiary so as to be wintered in the cellar.

There are always a few things upon which bees can work
till quite late; so it is desirable to be as late as possible bring-
ing them home. They must, however, be brought home early
enough so they will be sure of a good flight after being brought
home and before being put in the cellar. Some say they may

rig. 106—Colonies Home from Out-apiaries.

be safely put mto the cellar without the flight, but one winter
part of mine were put in without a flight, and that part
wintered distinctly worse than the others. At the latest, I
want them home before Nov. 1. When brought home they are
placed conveniently near the cellar door (Fig. 106).

WHEN TO PUT BEES INTO CELLAR.

It is a thing impossible to know beforehand just what is
the best time to take bees into the cellar. At best it can be
only a guess. Living in a region where winters are severe,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 291

there are some years in which there will be no chance for bees
to have a flight after the middle of November till the next
spring, and I think there was one year without a flight-day
after the first of November. One feels bad to put his bees
into the cellar the first week in November, and then two or
three weeks later have a beautiful day for a flight. But he
feels a good deal worse after a good flight-day the first week
in November to wait for a later flight, then have it turn very
cold, and after waiting through two or three weeks of such
weather to give up hope of any later flight and put in his
bees after two or three weeks’ endurance of severe freezing
weather. So it is better to err on the side of getting bees in
too early. ; ;

Theoretically; the right time to cellar bees is the next day
after they have had their last flight for the season, and one
must do the best he can to judge after any flight-day whether
it is the last or not. More than one reason can be given for
taking in next day after a flight. The hives are dry; there are
no accumulations of frost, or ice inside; and the bees ‘are un-
usually quiet. All the better if the next morning is cool as it
is likely to be. Sometimes, however, one cannot have every-
thing as he wants it, and I.have been caught taking in bees in
a snow-storm. Better.take them in during the-storm than af-
ter it is all over and constantly growing colder. But it seems
to do no harm for them to be taken in covered with snow.

PREPARING THE CELLAR.

For twenty-four hours before taking in—perhaps for sev-
eral days—doors and windows of the cellar are kept wide
open, so as to air it out thoroughly, and perhaps the walls are
whitewashed and the floor limed, although this is generally
done after taking out in the spring. Strips of board are placed
on the ground so that the bottom hive has its bottom-board
an inch or two above the ground at the front end, and an inch
more at the back end.

CARRYING IN HIVES. ;
Hives are carried in just as they are, because before the

time for hauling bees home all false bottoms were removed,
and the bottom-boards fastened to the hives where necessary.

292 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

With the large ventilating space at the entrance, and with
abundance of stores, there is no need to loosen the gluing of
a cover from before the time a colony is hauled home till after
the time for hauling back in spring.

PILING HIVES IN CELLAR,
The hives are piled five high, each pile independent of the

others, so jarring one hive can jar only four others. First a
row of piles is put at the further side of the cellar, the hives

Fig. 10/—Dripping-pan Wax-extractor.

close side by side, entrances facing the wall, with a space of
about two feet between them and the wall. Then another row
is placed back to back close up against this row. Then comes a
space of about two feet, and another row facing the space, so
that entrances face each side of the space. Then comes another
row, back to back, and so on. That makes the hives in double
rows, back to back, with a two-foot space in which to get at
the entrances.

As far as convenient, the heavier hives are put at the bot-
tom, and hghter at top. It is easier work to do so, and the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 293

lighter ones have perhaps the advantage by being higher up,
where it is a little warmer.

CARRYING IN BEES WHEN ROUSED UP.

- Often the bees get so warmed up by the middle of the fore-
noon, that they fly out when their hive is lifted to be carried
into the cellar. In this case the hive is put back on its summer
stand, and another colony, less wide-awake, is taken. But if
the rousing up becomes general, operations must cease until
the after-part of the day or the next morning. Jf for any
reason, as the lateness of the season, or the fear of an ap-
proaching storm, it is thought best to carry in a hive whether
the bees are willing or not, the entrance must be stopped. For
this purpose—as there is no danger of suffocation from stop-
ping for a short time—I know of nothing better than a large
rag or cloth which will easily cover the entire entrance. The
rag must be dripping wet. In this condition it can be very
quickly laid at the entrance, and being cold and wet the bees
seem to be driven back by it, and when the rag is removed in
the cellar, few if any bees come out. If dry, the bees would
sting the rag, and upon its removal in the cellar a crowd of
angry bees would follow it.

WARMING THE CELLAR.

There is a furnace in the cellar where my bees are kept,
which has been there since the winter of 1902-3. But let us go
back to the time before that, when the chief difficulty was to
keep the cellar warm enough. Some think it a bad thing to
have fire in cellar. I would rather have the right temperature
without the fire. So I would in my sitting-room. But when
the temperature in the sitting-room without a fire gets down in
the neighborhood of zero, J would rather have the fire. Same
way in the cellar. In this latitude, 42 degrees north, I have
known the mercury to réach 37 degrees below zero, and some
winters there is very little of the time when my cellar is warm
enough for the bees. A thermometer hangs centrally in the
cellar, and I try to keep it at about 45 degrees. Sometimes it
goes to 36 degrees, but not often, and not for long. Oftener it
reaches 50 degrees, but that is neither often nor long.

294 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

STOVE IN CELLAR.

Whenever the thermometer appears to have any fixed
determination to stay below 45 degrees, a fire is started. I
would not think of using an oil stove, nor any thing of the kind
that would allow the gases to eseape in the cellar. A chimney

Fig. 108—Screwing Down Wax-press.

goes from the ground up through the house, and a hard-coal
stove is used. For many years I used a common small cylinder
stove, having an inside diameter of about 8 inches between the
fire-brick. Then I used a low-down open or Franklin stove,
and I think I like it as well or better. With either stove there
is the open fire, and one might fear that the bees would fly into
it, but they do not appear to do so. Neither does any harm

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 295

come to the hives that stand within two feet of the stove, for
the stove is right in the same room as the bees. A few minutes’
attention each morning and evening will keep the fire going
continuously, in case it is needed continuously. There have
been winters when fire was kept going nearly all the winter
through, and other winters when little was needed. The winter
of 1901-2 was one of the mild ones. A fire started Dec. 21 was
kept for three days. Another, Jan. 27, lasted one day. A third
started Feb. 3 lasted seventeen days. I think the outer temper-
ature was at no time more than 15 degrees below zero.

HEAT FOR DIARRHOEA.

I do not know for certain, but I think I have had good
results at a time when diarrhea began to trouble the bees in
the cellar, by making a hot fire and running up the temper-
ature above 60 degrees. The bees would become very noisy, but
after the cellar cooled down to the normal 45 degrees they were
quieter than before, and I suspect the bees felt better.

a

VENTILATION OF CELLAR.

I believe heartily in the doctrine of pure air and plenty of
it for man, beast, and bee. So I consider ventilation a very
important affair. With a two-inch space under the bottom-
bars and a 12x 2 entrance, there is no trouble about the ven-
tilation of the hive; but no matter how well ventilated a hive
may be, if the cellar in which it is placed contains nothing but
foul air, how can the air in the hive be sweet?

FIRE FOR VENTILATION.

I am not sure but I should want a fire in a cellar for the
sake of ventilation even if not needed for heat.

For the purpose of ventilation alone, the warmer the
weather the more the fire in the cellar is needed. Of course
there must be some limit to this, for when the temperature of
the cellar goes above 60 degrees, the bees show signs of uneasi-
ness,

WARM SPELLS IN WINTERING.

The most difficult time to keep the bees quiet in the cellar,
is when a warm spell comes in the fall soon after taking them

296 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

in, or early in the spring. At such times I open up the cellar
at dark. If very warm, all doors and windows are opened
wide and by morning generally all are quiet. I leave all open
as long as possible in the morning; sometimes till noon; when
the bees begin to fly out all must be darkened. Very likely it
would be better if there were a way to admit air in abundance
without admitting light.
COOLING AND AIRING CELLAR.

Years ago, when the temperature became too high in the
cellar in spring, and I wanted to keep the bees in the cellar still
longer, I tried cooling down with cakes of ice. But it was not
satisfactory. The trouble was not so much with the tempera-
ture as the quality of the air. Then I learned that opening the
cellar was more effectual.

OPENING CELLAR AT NIGHT.

The first time I tried that trick I got a pretty bad scare.
It was in the spring, and there came a warm spell, lasting per-
haps two or three days. It kept.getting warmer in the cellar,
and the bees kept getting noisier. At the same time I kept
getting more uneasy, not knowing just what the end would be.
After the trouble got pretty bad, I thought I would venture
to open the cellar wide in the evening, hoping that it might
become cooler through the night. I think it was 50 or 60 de-
grees outside, and not far from that in the cellar. The bees
were quite noisy when the cellar was opened, and I listened
closely for the quieting down. It didn’t come. On the con-
trary, the noise increased to a roar that could be heard some
distance from the cellar, and the bees were running all over
the hives, some of them hanging out in great clusters as if
getting ready to swarm. I felt afraid they would all leave
their hives and make a wreck. I assure you I was badly fright-
ened; but I didn’t know of any thing to do, so I didn’t do any
thing. As nearly as I now remember, I did not go to bed till
I could recognize a little subsiding, and in the morning the
bees were back in their hives as quiet as mice. More than
once since then I have gone through the same performance
without being troubled by it; only the cellar is not allowed to
get so bad before it is opened.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 297
LETTING LIGHT IN CELLAR.

Here is a memorandum written March 14, 1902: “During
the past eight days the weather has been unusually warm for
the season, varying from 29 to 65 degrees. The doors have
been wide open day and night except on the two warmest days,
and the (east) window part of the time. Three days ago it
was 65 degrees in the afternoon. Within twenty-four hours
the ground was covered with snow, and yesterday morning the
mereury stood at 29 degrees. At 7 A. M. to-day, it was 30

Fig. 109—Emptying Out Shemgum.

degrees without and 44 degrees in the cellar, doors and window
having been open all night. At 9 a. M. it was 46 degrees out-
side and 45 degrees in the cellar. The sun shone directly into
some of the entrances near the window without disturbing the
bees. At 10:30 a. um. it was 52 degrees outside and 47 degrees
in the cellar; the bees still quiet. At 11 a. M. it was 53 de-
grees without and 48 in the cellar. In five minutes by the
watch I counted fifteen bees which flew to the window. I then
closed the window, leaving the doors wide open. At 12 o'clock
it was still 53 degrees without and 49 degrees in the cellar. In

298 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

five minutes I counted five bees flying to the door. The light
does not shine directly into the room where the bees are, they
being in an inside room. I can see to read easily at the hives
nearest the door. At 3:20 it was 55 degrees outside and 50
degrees in cellar. In five minutes I counted three bees flying
to the door. It was then getting cloudy, the sun having been
shining most of the day. I opened the window for five min-
utes and twelve bees flew to it. At 6 P. mu. the window was
opened again, leaving all wide open till it should again be-
come bright enough on the next or some following day to make
the bees fly out, or cold enough to bring the mercury down too
far in the cellar.”

I have not given this as an example of the perfection of
wintering. It is far from that. But it shows that after 119
days of confinement the bees will stand a good deal of light
and warmth without showing much insubordination, provided
they have an abundance of good air. It must be higher than
45 degrees to induce them out when in good condition.

SUB-EARTH VENTILATOR.

Some years ago I put in a sub-earth ventilator of 4-inch
tile, 100 feet long and 4 feet deep. It was of common porous
draintile, and becoming a little skeptical of the quality of the
air admitted I allowed it to become filled up. I am not sure
that I did wisely. I am strongly of the opinion that an air-
tight pipe large enough and deep enough moule be a great aid
to successful cellaring.

MICE IN BEE-CELLARS.

Mice are troublesome denizens of cellars in winter. Even
if a cellar should be entirely free from them, they are likely
to be brought into the cellar with the bees when the hives are
brought in. Some winters I have closed the entrances with
heavy wire-cloth having three meshes to the inch. This shuts
out mice without hindering the free passage of bees. Even
if a mouse is shut up in a hive, it will not be so bad as to let it
have the free run of the cellar. Other winters traps have been
used and various poisons, perhaps the most satisfactory poison
being strychnine thinly spread upon very thin slices of cheese,
the cheese being then cut into tiny squares.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 299

CLEANING OUT DEAD BEES,

Aside from attending to warming and ventilating my cel-
lar, and waging war against the mice, I think of no other at-
tention given to the bees through the winter, except cleaning
out the dead bees. For cleaning them out of those hives which
have them—for some reason of which I am not yet sure, there
are some hives which contain scarcely a dead bee—I have a
very simple tool. It is a piece of round, 14-inch or smaller
iron rod, with one end hammered flat for about two inches and
bent at right angles, making something like a hook. With this
hook I ean reach into the hive under the frames and scrape out
the dead bees.

I have a common kerosene hand-lamp with a sheet-iron
chimney having a little mica window on one side—such as is
used for heating water on lamps. This serves as a dark-
lantern, making little light except in one direction. Holding
the lamp in my left hand, I look in to see whether any live
bees are in sight. Often I see the cluster near the front of the
hive, oftener at the center or back part of the hive, the bees
looking as if dead, so still are they; but in a few seconds some
one will be seen to stir. Sometimes the cluster will come clear
down so as to touch the bottom-board, and sometimes not a
bee will be seen below or between the bottom-bars. When the
cluster comes clear down, there may or there may not be bees
on the bottom-board. In any case, all the dead bees are cleaned
out that can be got without disturbing the living. There is, as
has been said, a difference as to the number of dead bees in
different colonies, and there seems also a difference in different
winters. In some cases perhaps the dead bees all reach the
cellar bottom, in others staying in the hive.

SWEEPING UP DEAD BEES.

It is very unpleasant to have the dead bees under foot on
the cellar bottom. Some fasten them in the hive. Some
sprinkle sawdust on the floor. In either case they are left in
the cellar to foul the air. It seems much better to sweep out
the cellar. During the first part of the winter very few bee»
will be on the floor, and sweeping once a month will be enough,
or more than enough. Toward spring the deaths will be very

Ex) FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

much more frequent, and the sweeping must be more frequent.
As giving a more definite idea with regard to this, I find by
referring to the record that in the winter of 1901-2 the cellar
was not swept till January 29—seventy-five days after the
bees were taken in. Then it was swept again after respective
intervals of twenty-one, nineteen, and five days, the quantity
swept out each time being about the same. That gives some

rig. 110—Nail-boxes.

idea of the greater mortality as spring approaches. One
winter, when the bees were confined 124 days, the dead bees
for each colony amounted to four-fifths of a quart or three-
fifths of a pound, whieh made about 2130 bees for each colony
I think the mortality is usually greater than that.

FURNACE IN CELLAR.

In the year 1902 the coal famine following the great an-
thracite strike caught me with four hard-coal stoves and no
coal to put in them—indeed, no prospect of getting any, and
winter close at hand. ;

About that time my friend E. R. Root happened to be
here, and strongly advised as the best way out of the dilemma

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 301

to have a furnace put in—one big enough to heat the whole
house, and of such character as to burn wood, green or dry,
coal, hard or soft, and indeed any thing having any inclina-
tion toward combustibility. I followed his advice, or rather J
outran it, for I got a larger furnace than he thought advisable,
the firepot being 27 inches in diameter. I am not sorry the
furnace is so large so far as heating the house is concerned,
for it makes a delightful summer temperature in any part of
the house, no matter how cold the weather, without any of
that unpleasant and unwholesome burnt-air effect. But it
made a matter of impossibility for me to think of keeping
the temperature of the bee-room down to 45 degrees; and since
that time, instead of having to make an effort to keep the cel-
lar warm enough, the problem has been to keep it cool enough.

UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS.

Conditions for successful wintering were by no means
the best.

The workmen that set up the furnace were late in finish-
ing up the last part of the work in the cellar, so that tne bees
were not put in till the 8th of December. On that day the
temperature was 8 degrees below zero. It would have’ been
much better to leave them out for another flight if I had been
sure of a day warm enough without waiting too long. But I
was not sure of that, and I thought it better for them to be
taken in in rather bad condition than to run the risk of leav-
ing them out longer. The sequel showed I was wise in so
doing, for no day warm enough for a flight came until Feb-
ruary 26.

A thin partition of lath and plaster is all that separates
the bee-room from the room in which the furnace is located,
and the thermometer in the bee-room generally showed a tem-
perature of 50 degrees. Some of the hot-air pipes pass
through the bee-room overhead; and a thermometer laid on one
of the two hives directly under one of these pipes nearest the
furnace showed a temperature of 70 degrees. The pipe is cov-
ered with asbestos paper, but there was only a space of about
three inches between the pipe and the top of the hives. There
was plenty of room to set these colonies in a cooler place, but

302 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

they were allowed to stay right where they were to see what
the result would be. They wintered beautifully—until they
died. They starved to death, and that not so very late in
winter, although I think they were well supplied with stores.
No doubt the heat kept them so active that they used up their
stores with unusual rapidity.

BAD WINTERING.

Under the circumstances I figured on considerable loss.
The loss went beyond my figuring. Not that the deaths all
occurred in the cellar. They were largely after the bees were
taken out in the spring; none the less, however, they were
chargeable to bad wintering. By the 12th of May there were
left only 124 colonies out of 199 ‘put in cellar, and many of
them were mere nuclei. A loss of 37 per cent was not gratify-
ing; but, beekeeperlike, I looked forward hopefully to the next
winter. :

Alas for my hopes! Instead of 37 per cent, the loss for
the winter of 1903-04 was 47 per cent, leaving 150 colonies
alive out of 284. And the loss was mainly due to lack of
sufficient stores. Some of them had died in the cellar, and
more-would have died there if they had not been taken out a
little earlier than was well, so they could be fed. But feed-
ing very early in spring is not so well as having an abundance
of stores in the fall, and the mortality continued well along
in spring. The fact that after so many years of experience,
and after advising others always to have abundant stores for
winter, I should have lost colonies by the score through starva-
tion, was humiliating indeed.

But conditions were new and I ‘needed to learn that in a
cellar with the thermometer generally ranging from 50 to 60,
and sometimes going higher, bees consume stores much more
rapidly than at a lower temperature, and to the increasing
number of those who are putting furnaces in cellars, I would
say, “Look out for starvation.”

But along with the disadvantage mentioned, there are not
lacking advantages. Perhaps I ought to say advantage rather
than advantages, for the one great advantage is that of an
abundant supply of pure, fresh air, Except in the very

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 303

severest weather, the outside cellar door is more or less open,
and the air in the cellar is sweeter than in many—perhaps
most—living-rooms. That’s good for the people living over
the cellar, and it must be good for the bees. Inside the hives
the combs are just as dry and nice as in summer. No damp-
ness, no mould, no musty smell.

It seems nice to look into a hive and find so few dead bees
fying on the bottom-board, often none. When a bee wants to
die, it is warm enough so it can come outside, just as in sum-
mer.

It would be better if it was so arranged that fresh air
could enter without the light. During the first part of the
winter, the bees do not seem to mind the light at all, and not
very much till toward spring, when the door must be closed
in daytime. But there is no need to be unduly frightened by
a few bees coming out; for bees will get old and die off, no
matter how dark the cellar is kept; and there may be some
question whether a little light is as bad as the fouler air when
the cellar is closed.

GOOD WINTERING.

Having had such a severe lesson, you may be sure that in
succeeding years I took pains to see that before the bees went
into the cellar they had enough stores to stand a winter tem-
perature of 50 or 60 degrees. The result has been very grati-
fying. I no longer have anxiety about wintering, and do not
expect any colonies to die unless it be from queenlessness.

Some one may say, “But why don’t you make sure that no
queenless colony goes into the cellar?” Possibly that might
be better; but I doubt. The queenless colony is not worth very
much at that time of year, and anything that would be done
with it would hardly pay for the trouble of hunting through a
number of colonies causing them no little disturbance.

On the whole I am quite in favor of a furnace in cellar.
To be sure, it does away with one argument in favor of cellar-
ing, for there may be as heavy consumption of stores as on the
summer stands, but that is greatly overbalanced by having the
bees practically outdoors all winter in a very mild climate.
For with the abundance of fresh air allowed, are they not
practically outdoors? Besides that, I think the hees are

304 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

stronger—I mean each individual bee is stronger—when well

wintered outdoors than. when wintered in the usual close cel-

lar, and I think there will be that same strength when wintered

jn a cellar with a furnace and a full supply of outdoor air.
EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD.

_ In the year 1907 a number of cells of dead brood were
found in colony No. 13. I cannot now be certain of it, but I
think a few such dead brood had been seen a year or two pre-
viously. A large cherry orchard in easy range of my bees had
been sprayed before the blossoms had fallen, and it was easy.
to believe that the poison sprayed on these blossoms was ac-
countable for the dead brood. Nothing was done about it, and
No. 13 turned out to be one of the best in the apiary. In 1908
i think some cells of dead brood were found in two colonies.
The season was good, and no attention was paid to it, the idea
still being that the poisonous spray was the cause of the
trouble.

Beginning with the year 1909 I decided to give up the
last out-apiary (the Wilson), and keep all colonies in the home
apiary. When J found out later what was before me I was
thankful that all were in a single apiary. Diseased brood was
found to such an extent and in so many colonies that I sent a
sample to Dr. E. F. Phillips at Washington. Back came the
report that European foul brood was the thing I had to deal
with. I do not know how many colonies were diseased at the
opening of the season, but I do kfiow that we had been doing
our very best to spread the disease throughout the whole
apiary by indiscriminate exchanging of combs of brood.

It was fairly along in the season when I got the word
from Washington, and here is what I had to face: A season of
dearth, there being a dead failure of the early honey flow:
bees in about 150 hives, counting nuclei and all, and only 22 of
them that showed no sign of disease throughout the whole
season; with a disease that at that time was said to be ten
times worse than American foul brood. I felt like giving up,
but for only a little while. If others had fought the disease,
why couldn’t 1? Besides, I could now have some live experience
with a thing I had only previously read about.

I started in to use the McEvoy treatment, brushing the

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 305

diseased colonies upon foundation, after doing some breaking
up and doubling. In all, however, only 56 colonies were ac-
tually brashed upon foundation. When I came to look how
they were building up, I found, out of those first treated, that
nine had lett, bag and baggage, leaving empty hives. That
was probably from starvation, so after that I gave to each
shaken colony one or more sections of honey taken-from dis-
eased colonies. So far as I know, this did not in any case
convey the disease. Later, to make more sure against deser-
tion, one of the diseased combs was left in the hive, and
beside it two empty frames—not even a starter in the two
frames, and the rest of the hive empty. When the bees made
a start at building in the empty frames, the old comb was
taken away, and the hive was filled up with full sheets of
foundation. Sometimes the comb the bees had built in the
empty frames was taken away after a good start was made
on the foundation, and sometimes not. The outcome seemed
to be all right either way.

Partly to please Editor E. R. Root, toward the latter part
of the summer I tried the Alexander treatment. The gist of
that treatment is to remove the queen and in 20 days give the
colony a ripe queen-cell of best Italian stock, or else a very
young virgin. Previous to the treatment, however, an impor-
tant requisite is to make the colony strong.

I varied from the regular treatment by giving hybrid
virgins instead of Italians, as my bees were mostly hybrids.
It may be a question whether hybrids are not as good as Ital-
ians in carrying out the treatment, provided the hybrids are
of equal vigor.

I made the inexcusable blunder of understanding that Mr.
Alexander had given a laying queen at the end of 20 days of
queenlessness, instead of giving a virgin. So I gave a young
virgin after ten days of queenlessness, so that there would be
a laying queen present in about 20 days from the removal of
the queen. J now think that the blunder was a fortunate one,
since there is a gain of 8 or 10 days in the time of the treat-
ment, always provided that continued trial of the plan by
myself and others should prove it to be reliable.

There were some cases of failure, but in each of these

306 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

cases the colonies had not been made very strong. Mr. Alex-
ander had emphasized the point that in order to have the
treatment effective the colony must be strong, either by unit-
ing or giving frames of sealed brood. My experience leads
me to think that not only must the colony be strong but it
must be strong in young bees.

With the opening of the season of 1910 you may well
suppose I was on the alert to see whether any colonies were
diseased. In fact I was really hoping there would be some
cases, for I had formed a theory and wanted to try some ex-
periments. I was not disappointed. In 27 hives could be
found the distinctive mark of the disease, in some only a cell
or two, while in others as much as one cell in every ten was
affected.

Some one may think it a difficult thing to detect the dis-

ease if only one or two bad cells are to be found in a hive.

It is not difficult. The healthy brood is pearly white, while
the diseased larva being distinctly yellow is quickly spotted,
just as you would easily detect a-yellow hen in a flock of
white ones. It was impossible to say how many of the 27
cases were old offenders and how-many of them were fresh
cases brought in from outside; for there were diseased colo-

nies all about me, and there was no law in Illinois to clean’

them up.

About that theory—the theory as to how the disease is
continued in the hive and conveyed from one cell to another
—it is well known that if a larva be broken open the bees will
suck up its juices, and in a case of starvation the juices of
the larve are consumed and the white skins thrown out of the
hive. When a larva first becomes diseased, and has not yet
become offensive, it is easy to believe that the nurse-bees will
suck up its juices, and then when they feed healthy larve the
healthy larve will become diseased. But in a little while a
diseased larva will become decayed and offensive, so that it will
no longer .be eaten by the nurse-bees. If this supposition be
correct, it will come to pass that if egg-laying should stop for
5 or 6 days (the time a larva remains unsealed in its cell) there
will no longer be in the hive at the same time diseased larva
fit for the nurses to eat and healthy larve to which the dis.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 307

eased food may be given, and thus the disease should come
to an end.

It was not hard to make the test. I caged the queen of a
diseased colony after strengthening it, and freed her after six
days of imprisonment. No more diseased brood appeared in
the hive. Of course, one swallow does not make a summer,
and this might not work in all cases. Neither would I in any
bad case recommend the continuance of the old queen after
treatment. A queen that has been for some time in a foul-
broody colony seems sluggish, and is better replaced by a vig-
orous young queen.

As between the McEvoy and the Alexander—or the Alex-
ander-Miller treatment as it has been called—there is so much
to be gained in the saving of combs that, even if the first plan
always succeeds and the other sometimes fails, it may be
cheaper to use the latter and treat over again the failures. But
I may remark in passing that among the 27 cases of 1910 some
of them were of those that had been brushed upon foundation
the previous year.

With my present knowledge of the disease, here is the
treatment that I believe well worth trying for European foul
brood: Make the colony strong, preferably by giving sealed
brood so as to have abundance of young bees; remove the
queen and at the same time give a ripe queen-cell or a very
young virgin, which cell or virgin shall be of the most vigorous
stock, and trust the bees to do the rest.

In a mild case I do not think it necessary to take so much
trouble: merely keep the queen caged in the hive for a week
or ten days, and then free her. In the year 1913 about one in
four of my colonies was slightly affected, and in nearly all
cases all I did was to cage the queen for about eight days. The
fact that in spite of the disease I averaged a little more than
266 sections per colony from 72 colonies, spring count, shows
that good crops may be obtained even where European foul
brood is present. Still, I am sure I could have done a little
better without the disease.

In 1914, five cases showed up in the first week of June in
91 colonies. They were all mild, and were treated successfully
by caging the queen.

308 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Now please remember that I do not give this as a treat-
ment well tried and thoroughly reliable. My theory is only
a theory, and the plan of treatment needs confirmation, as the
newspapers say. I only say that I think the treatment worth
trying because it has worked with success so far; and if it
proves successful with others it will be no small gain.

Remember, too, that it is European foul brood I am talk-
ing about. For American foul brood the plan would be worth-
less. ;

DRIPPING-PAN WAX-EXTRACTOR.

Before the introduction of the solar wax-extractor, the
rendering of wax was generally reserved as winter’s work,
and indeed after the introduction of the solar it was often
convenient to work up in winter some of the material saved
up. A very simple arrangement on a small scale did excellent
work on much the same principle as the solar extractor, only
the heat of the stove was used in place of solar heat.

An old dripping-pan (of course a new one would do)
had one corner split open, and that made the extractor. The
dripping-pan is put into the oven of a cookstove with the split
corner projecting out (Fig. 107). The opposite corner, the
one farthest in the oven, is slightly raised by having a pebble
or something of the kind under it, so that the melted wax will
run outward. A dish set under catches the dripping wax,
making the outfit complete. Of course the material to be
melted is put in the pan the same as in the solar extractor.

SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR.

I do not know that the solar extractor has any advantage
over the dripping-pan arrangement, except that the sun furn-
ishes free heat. In either case, when old combs are melted a
good deal of wax remains in the refuse or slumgum, because
the cocoons act much like sponges. Especially is this the case
if more than a single thickness of comb is placed for melting,

STEAM WAX-PRESS.

So when the German steam wax-press came, leaving the
slumgum mostly free from wax, the solar extractor had to
take a back seat, leaving wax-rendering again a proper thing
for winter work,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 309

The wax-press is placed upon the cookstove (Fig. 108),
and the work is done according to the instructions sent out
with the machine. I find that time is an important element in
the work, and that there is nothing to be gained by trying to
hurry up matters by screwing down very hard. If the screw
be turned down as tight as can be done without sliding the can
around on the stove, that is all that is necessary. Then when
the wax ceases to run it can be turned down again. Continu-

)

Fig. 111—“Busy at the Typewriter.”

ing in this way till no more wax runs, when the slumgum is
turned out (Fig. 109) it is so free from wax that it is not
worth working over again. The wax saved by using the steam
wax-press will pay immense interest on the money invested in
its purchase.

But the tendency to specializing has invaded the domain
of wax-rendering, and now one ean send off his old combs,
cappings, and bits of wax, and have the rendering done by
specialists without the bother and muss. 3

OTHER WINTER WORK.

The work of getting sections ready for the hoped-for
harvest of the coming summer has already been mentioned,
and the winter affords opportunity for making up_ hives,

310 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

supers, or any fixtures that may be needed. As these things
are bought mostly in the flat, the chief part of the work is nail-
ing, and it is a great convenience to have the different kinds
of nails in their proper places ready for immediate use. A
set of nail-boxes, part of which are seen in Fig. 110, serves
the purpose excellently. The boxes are patterned somewhat
after a tin nail-box I saw at a tin-shop. When a box is taken
from its nail on the wall, laid flat and slightly shaken, the
nails are easily picked up from the shallow part of the box.

Truth compels me to say that so many different persons
find it convenient to-use these boxes and inconvenient to re-
turn them, that of late the boxes are not always found in their
proper places, and. when the picture was taken they were
assembled for that special occasion.

Most of the winter time, however, is occupied with. read-
ing and writing. There are some thirty or forty bee journals
to be read, and a large part of them are printed in the German
and French languages. I am a poor scholar in either German
or French, so it is not strange if I sometimes get behind in my
reading, to brig up in winter. I wish I could find the time
to read over again at my leisure in winter all the bee journals
that I read more or less hurriedly in summer. But I never
find the time. I used to think that if I ever lived to be fifty
years old I would take things very leisurely. But I am now
past fifty, and I never was more crowded in my life before.

WRITING FOR THE BEE JOURNALS.

Besides the reading, there is the writing. Some extra
writing usually to be done each winter, besides the regular
work in that line. I have written “Stray Straws” for Glean-
ings in Bee Culture ever since December, 1890, and four years
later I began writing answers to questions in the American
Bee Journal. The thought of keeping up that work year in
and year out, with never a vacation, summer or winter, would
be somewhat wearisome if it were not that I delight in the
work. If any one of my readers should hesitate about send-
ing to me any question connected with beekeeping because of
the thought that it will be unpleasant to me, let him disabuse
his mind of any such thought. The receipt of such questions
is a real pleasure.

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 311

One thing, however, that gives pain instead of pleasure,
is to find a stamp enclosed upon opening a letter, for then I
know that the writer expects an answer by mail, and, in just-
ice to others, answering bee-questions by mail is a thing I
cannot do. If I should answer one by mail I must answer
others, and the only fair way is to treat all alike. The re-
quest for me to answer a question in print will always be
cheerfully complied with without any stamp accompanying
the request.

IF BEGINNING AGAIN.

I am sometimes asked whether, if beginning afresh, I
would take the same course I have already been over. That
is not a very easy question to answer. There are some things
that can be settled only by experiment, and about such things
one cannot reply offhand. Likely, if I were beginning all
over again not many things would be different from what they
are. But it may be worth while to answer as well as I can
about a few things.

CHOICE OF LOCATION.

If I were to start in afresh, I would take some pains to
select a location as favorable for beekeeping as possible. I
didn’t choose a location. I just began beekeeping where I
was, with no thought of doing any thing in a commercial way,
and grew into the business. I certainly would not start in
afresh in a location with only one principal honey plant, and
that sometimes a failure. That was the condition here, clover
the only dependence for a crop, and that with too many off
years. Of late years, however, the fall crop is worth con-
sidering.

HIVE-STANDS.

I surely would not start in with such hive-stands as I now
have. The bottom-board resting upon so large a flat surface
makes a good place for moisture to lodge, and favors rotting
both bottom-board and stand. It also makes a fine place for
the large black ants to lodge and honeycomb the boards. Some-
thing would be better that allows a smaller area of contact.
Tile or cement might fill the bill.

ITALIAN BEES.
Through years of selection I secured hybrids that were

312 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

hustlers. But they were cross. If I had it to do over again I
would look out more for temper, and I think I would stick to
pure Italian blood, even if occasionally a hybrid colony should
store most honey. If I had persisted in breeding from pure
Italian stock, I might have had just as good hustlers, with less
tendency to change, and with better tempers.

As already mentioned, since 1912 I have mainly Italian
stock that is excellent, but not as gentle as I should like. If,
from the beginning, I had rigidly stuck to Italians, I might
now have bees of best gathering qualities, and by attending
to other qualities I might now have hustlers beautiful in ap-
pearance, mild in temper, and little given to swarming.

EIGHT VERSUS TEN FRAMES,

I changed from ten-frame to eight-frame hives, I think,
more than for any other reason because at that time it was the
fashion. I do not know that I got any better crops by. chang-
ing. When it comes to moving hives about, the advantage is
decidedly in favor of the smaller hive. The same may be said
of the supers. I am not sure the smaller hives have any other
advantage, unless it be that they occupy less space and cost
a little less. But the larger hive has the great advantage that
it can have a larger supply of stores on hand at all times,
making less danger of starvation in winter and spring. That
makes less trouble and less anxiety. An eight-frame hive is
sometimes too small for a queen without a second story, where
a single story with ten frames would answer. So if it were
to do over again, very likely I might continue the ten-frame
hive.

EXTRACTED HONEY VERSUS COMB.

I have learned the production of comb honey as a trade,
and it would be a good deal like taking up an entirely dif-
ferent business to take up the production of extracted honey.
Nevertheless I do not know that I can make more money with
comb than with extracted honey. At one time there was so
much adulteration of extracted honey that the price of the
genuine article was affected thereby. Pure-food laws have
chahged that, so that comb honey has no longer that advantage.

There is another matter that deserves serious considera-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 313

tion. If I were running for extracted honey I would undoubt-
edly produce more honey than by running for comb honey,
If more honey is produced, more of it will be consumed, and I
believe increased consumption of honey would be a fine thing
for the health of the nation. So if I were broad-minded
enough, very likely I would start in again as an extracted-
honey man.

Indeed, it is true that in 1913 I returned to the extractor
sufficiently to extract several hundred pounds, and it is not
impossible that I may do still more in that line.

“OFFICE.”

Possibly some one of my readers might desire a picture of
the office in which I do my work. That would take a number
of pictures. According to circumstances, my office may be on
the back porch seen in Fig. 1, or it may be in any one of nine
different rooms inside. A look at the furnishings in Fig. 111
will show that it is no serious undertaking to move my “office”
whenever desired. I never like to be far from the rest of the
family, and when at work I enjoy the sound of their voices,
even though I may pay no attention to what they are saying.
They are generally quite considerate in refraining from inter-
rupting my work by remarks directed personally to me, but
sometimes they forget.

I count myself singularly blessed in having a home where
all the members of the family are so united in their tastes and
enjoyments. One of our chief earthly pleasures is the love of
flowers. At our quiet country home we have room unlimited
for producing summer roses by the bushel, and the bay window
of the sitting-room brightens the days of winter with its bright
colors and luxuriant green. If you were here, I am sure you
would enjoy a sight of that window, and then I would take
pride in displaying to you my set of china honey-dishes shown
in the last picture in the book. They were painted by my sister,
each dish showing a separate honey plant, one-half the dish
being covered by a honeycomb.

I desire to record my deep gratitude to a loving Heavenly
Father for giving me so busy and happy a life; and for you,
dear reader, I can hardly express a better wish than that your
life may be as happy, if not as busy, as mine.

314 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Some years ago, at the instigation of Editor E. R. Root, I wrote a honey
leaflet which has been circulated by hundreds of thousands. It has been
thought well that it should be reproduced in more permanent form by having
a place in the present work, and here follows:

HONEY AS A WHOLESOME FOOD.

About 80 pounds of sugar on the average is annually consumed by every
man, woman, and child in the United States. Of course, many use less than
the average, but to make up for it some consume several times as much.
It is only within the last few centuries that sugar has become known, and
only within the last generation that refined sugars have become so low in
price that they may be commonly used in the poorest families. Formerly
honey was the principal sweet, and it was one of the items sent as a
propitiatory offering by Jacob to his unrecognized son, the chief ruler of
Egypt, 3000 years before the first sugar refinery was built.

It would be greatly for the health of the present generation if honey
could be at least partially restored to its former place as a common article of
diet. The almost universal craving for sweets of some kind shows a real need
of the system in that direction, but the excessive use of sugar brings in its
train a long list of ills. Besides the various disorders of the alimentary canal,
fatal disease of the kidneys is credited with being one of the results of
sugar-eating. When cane sugar is taken into the stomach, it cannot be
assimilated until first changed by digestion into grape sugar. Only too often
the overtaxed stomach fails to perform this digestion properly, then come
sour stomach and various dyspeptic phases. Prof. A. J. Cook says:

“If cane sugar is absorbed without change, it will be removed by the
kidneys, and may result in their breakdown; and physicians may be correct
in asserting that the large consumption of cane sugar by the twentieth-
century man is harmful to the great eliminators—the kidneys—and so a
menace to health and long life.”

Now, in the wonderful laboratory of the beehive there is found a sweet
that needs no further digestion, having been prepared fully by thosa wonder-
ful chemists—the bees—for prompt assimilation without taxing stomach or
kidneys. As Prof. Cook says: ‘There can be no doubt but that in eating
honey our digestive machinery is saved work that it would have to perform
if we ate cane sugar; and in case it is overtaxed and feeble, this may be
just the respite that will save from a breakdown.”

A. I. Root says: ‘Many people who cannot eat sugar without having
unpleasant symptoms follow, will find by careful test that they can eat
good, well-ripened honey without any difficulty at all.

HONEY THE MOST DELICIOUS SAUCE.

Not only is honey the most wholesome of all sweets, but it is the most
delicious. No preparation of man can equal the delicately flavored product
of the hive. Millions of flowers are brought under tribute, presenting their
tiny cups of dainty nectar to be gathered by the busy riflers; and when they
have brought it to the proper consistency, and stored it in the wondrously
wrought waxen cells and sealed it with coverings of snowy whiteness,’ no

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 315

more tempting dish can grace the table at the most lavish banquet; and yet
its cost is so moderate that it may well find its placa on the tables of the
common people every day in the week.

- IT IS ECONOMY TO USE HONEY.

Indeed, in many cases it may be a matter of real economy to lessen the
butter bill by letting honey in part take its place. A pound of honey will
go about as far as a pound of butter; and if both articles be of the best
quality the honey will cost the less of the two. Often a prime article of
extracted honey (equal to comb honey in every respect except appearance)
can be obtained for about half the price of butter. Butter is at its best
only when ‘‘fresh,” while honey, properly kept, remains indefinitely good—
no need to hurry it out of the way for fear it may become rancid.

GIVE CHILDREN HONEY.

Prof. Cook says: ‘We all know how children long for candy. ‘This
longing voices a need, and is another evidence of the necessity of sugar in
our diet. . . Children should be given all the honey at each mealtime
that they will eat. It is safer, will largely do away with the inordinate
longing for candy and other sweets; and in lessening the desire will doubt-
less diminish the amount of cane sugar eaten. Then if cane sugar does work
mischief with health, the harm may be prevented.”

Ask the average child whether he will have honey alone on his bread
or butter alone, and almost invariably he will promptly answer, ‘‘Honey.”
Yet seldom are the needs or the tastes of the child properly consulted. The
old man craves fat meat; the child loathes it. He wants sweet, not fat.
He delights to eat honey; it is a wholesome food for him, and is not expen-
sive. Why should he not have it?

HONEY BIST TO SWEETEN HOT DRINKS.

Sugar is much used in hot drinks, as in coffee and tea. The substitu-
tion of a mild-flavored honey in such uses may be a very profitable thing
for the health. Indeed, it would be better for the health if the only hot
drink were what is called in:Germany “honey tea’—a cup of hot water
with one or two tablespoonfuls of extracted honey. The attainment of great
age has in some cases been attributed largely to the lifelong use of honey tea.

COMB AND EXTRACTED HONEY.

At the present day honey is placed on the market in two forms—in
the comb and extracted. “Strained” honey, obtained by mashing or melting
combs containing bees, pollen, and honey, has rightly gone out of use. Bx-
tracted honey is simply honey thrown out of the comb in a machine called
a honey-extractor. The combs are revolved rapidly in a cylinder, and cen-
trifugal force throws out the honey. The comb remains uninjured, and is
returned to the hive to be refilled again and again. For this reason ex-
tracted honey is usually sold at a less price than comb honey, because each
pound of comb is made at the expense of several pounds of honey.

ols FIFTY YEARS AMCNG THE BEES !

DIFFERENT KINDS OF FLAVORS.

Many people think “honey is honey’’—all just alike; but this is a
great mistake. Honey may be of good, heavy body—-what beekeepers call
‘“‘well-ripened’’—weighing generally twelve pounds to the gallon, or it may
be quite thin. It may also be granulated, or candied, more solid than lard.
It may also be almost as colorless as water, and it may be as black as the
darkest molasses. The flavor of honey varies according to the flower from
which it is obtained. It would be impossible to describe in words the flavors
of the different honeys. You may easily distinguish the odor of a rose from
that of a carnation, but you might find it difficult to describe them in words
so that a novice smelling them for the first time could tell which was which.
But the different flavors in honey are just as ‘distinct as the odors in
flowers. Among the light-colored honeys are white clover, linden (or bass-
wood), sage, sweet clover, alfalfa, willow-herb, etc., and among the darker
are found heartsease, magnolia (or poplar), horsemint, buckwheat, etc.

ADULTERATION OF HONEY.

In these days of prevailing adulterations, when so often ‘‘things are
not what they seem,” it is a comfort to know that strictly pure honey, both
extracted and comb, can still be had and at a reasonable price. The silly
stories seen from time to time in the papers about artificial combs being
filled with glucose, and deftly sealed over with a hot iron, have not the
slightest foundation in fact. For years there has been a standing offer by
one whose finuncial responsibility is unquestioned of $1000 for a single
pound of comb honey made without the intervention of Lees. The offer
remains untaken, and will probably always remain so, for the highest art
of man can never compass such delicate workmanship as the skill of the
bee accomplishes. .

Extracted honey, however, is not incapable of imitation. Time was when
a tumbler on a grocer’s shelf labeled honey might contain honey, and it
might contain glucose. If you were well enough acquainted with honey you
might tell the difference by the taste; otherwise you had to trust to the
honesty of the grocer. Always, however, you could be sure of the genuine
article by getting it from the beekeeper himself. But the pure-food laws
have changed all that, and nowadays you may trust that the label correctly
represents what is under it. .

CARE OF HONE Y—WHERE TO KEEP IT.

The average housekeeper will put honey in the cellar for safe keeping
—about the worst place possible. Honey readily attracts moisture, and in
the cellar extracted honey will become thin, and in time may sour; and with
comb honey the case is still worse, for the appearance as well as the quality
is changed. The beautiful white surface becomes watery and darkened,
drops of water ooze through the cappings, and weep over the surface, In-
stead of keeping honey in a place moist and cool, keep it dry and warm,
even hot. It will not hurt to be in a temperature of even 100 degrees.
Where salt will keep dry is a good place for honey. Few places are better
than the kitchen cupboard. Up in wu hot garret next the roof is a good place,

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 317

and if it has had enough hot days there through the summer, it will stand
the freezing of winter; for under ordinary circumstances freezing cracks the
combs, and hastens granulation or candying.

GRANULATED HONEY—TO RELIQUEFY,

When honey is kept for any length of time it has a tendency to change
from its clear liquid condition, and becomes granulated or candied. This is
not to be taken as any evidence against its genuineness, but, rather the
contrary. Some prefer it in the candied state, but the majority prefer it
liquid. It is an easy matter to restore it to its former liquid condition.
Simply keep it in hot water long enough, but not too hot. If heated above
160 degrees there is danger of spoiling the color and ruining the flavor.
Remember that honey contains the most delicate of all flavors—that of the
flowers from which it is taken. A good way is to set the vessel containing
the honey inside another vessel containing hot water, not allowing the
bottom of the one to rest directly on the bottom of the other, but putting a
bit of wood or something of the kind between. Let it stand on the stove,
but do not let the water boil. It may take half a day or longer to melt the
honey. If the honey is set directly on the reservoir of a cook-stove, it will
be all right in a few days. In time it will granulate again, when it must
again be melted.

HONEY COOKING RECIPES.

Honey GEMsS.—Two quarts flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted lard, %4 pint
honey, % pint of molasses, 4 heaping tablespoonfuls brown sugar, 1% level
tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level teaspoonful salt, 1/3 pint water, % teaspoonful
extract vanilla.

Honey JUMBLES.—Twa quarts flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted lard, 1
pint honey, ™% pint molasses, 1% level tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level tea-
spoonful sali, % pint water, % teaspoonful vanilla.

The jumbles and the gems immediately preceding are from recipes
used by bakers and coniectioners on a large scale, one firm in Wisconsin

alone using ten tons of honey annually in their manufacture.
e

AIKiIn’s Honty Cookirs.—One teacupful extracted honey, 1 pint sour
cream, scant teaspoonful soda, flavoring if desired, flour to make a soft
dough. :

Sort Honry CAke.—One cup butter, 2 cups honey, 2 eggs, 1 cup sour
milk, 2 teaspoonfuls soda, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 4
cups flour.—Chalon Fowls.

Ginger Hongy Caku.—One cup honey, % cup butter, or drippings, 1
tablespoonful boiled cider, in half a cup of hot water (or % cup sour
milk will do instead). Warm these ingredients together, and then add 1
tablespoonful ginger and 1 teaspoonful soda sifted in with flour enough to
make a soft batter. Bake in a flat pan.—Chalon Fowls.

318 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

OBpRLIN Honey Fruit CaAkE.—Half cup butter, % cup honey, 1-3 cup
apple jelly or boiled cider, 2 eggs well beaten, 1 teaspoonful soda, 1 iea-
spoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, 1 teacupful each of raisins
and dried currants. Warm the butter, honey, and apple jelly slightly; add
the beaten eggs, then the soda dissolved in a little warm water; add spices
and flour enough to make a stiff batter, then stir in the fruit and bake in a
slow oven. Keep in a covered jar several weeks before using.

Honry Popcorn BALus.—Take 1 pint extracted honey; put it into an
iron frying pan, and boil,until very thick; then stir in freshly popped corn,
and when cool mold into balls. These will especially delight the children.

Honey SHORTCAKE.—Three cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1
teaspoonful salt, % cup shortening, 1% cups sweet milk. Roll quickly, and
bake in a hot oven. When done, split the cake and spread the lower half
thinly with butter, and the upper half with 4% pound of the best-flavored
honey. (Candied honey is preferred. If-too hard to spread well it should
be warmed or creamed with a knife.) Let it stand a few minutes, and the
honey will melt gradually, and the flavor will permeate all through the cake.
To be eaten with milk.

OBERLIN Honry LAYER CAkE.—Two-thirds cup butter, 1 cup honey, 3
eggs beaten, % cup milk. Oream the butter and honey together, then add
the eggs and milk. Then add 2 cups of flour containing 14% teaspoonfuls
baking powder previously stirred in. Then stir in flour to make a stiff
batter. Bake in jelly-tins. When the cakes are cold, take finely flavored
candied honey, and, after creaming it, spread between the layers.

Honry Nut-Caxres.—LHight cups sugar, 2 cups honey, 4 cups milk or
water, 1 pound almonds, 1 pound English walnuts, 3 cents’ worth each of
~ candied lemon and orange peel, 5 cents’ worth citron (the last three cut
fine), 2 large tablespoonfuls soda, 2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon, 2 teaspoonfuls
ground cloves. Put the milk, sugar, and honey on the stove to boil 15
minutes; skim off the scum, and take from the stove. Put in the nuts,
spices, and candied fruit. Stir in as much flour as can be done with a
spoon. Set away to cool, then mix in the soda (don’t make the dough too
stiff). Cover up and let stand over night, then’ work in enough flour to
make a stiff dough. Bake when you get ready. It is well to let it stand a
few days, as it will not stick so badly. Roll out a little thicker than a
common cooky, cut in any shape you like.
This recipe originated in Germany, is old and tried, and the cake will
keep a year or more.—Mrs. E. Smith.

Murn’s Honzty Caxrs.—One gallon honey (dark honey best), 15 eggs,
3 pounds sugar (a little more honey in its place may be better), 114 oz.
baking soda, 2 oz. ammonia, 2 Ibs. almonds chopped up, 2 lbs. citron, 4 oz.
cinnamon, 2 0z. cloves, 2 02. mace, 18 lbs. flour. Let the honey come almost
to a boil; then let it cool and add the other ingredients. Cut out and bake.
The cakes are to be frosted afterward with sugar and white of eggs. :

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 319

OBERLIN Honey Cook1es.—Three teaspoonfuls soda dissolved in 2 cups
warm honey, 1 cup shortening containing salt, 2 teaspoonfuls ginger, 1 cup
hot water, flour sufficient to roll.

Honny TEA CakE.—One cup honey, % cup sour cream, 2 eggs, % cup
butter, 2 cups flour, scant % teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful cream of
tartar. Bake 30 minutes in a moderate oven.—Miss M. Candler.

Honry GINGER-SNAPS.-—One pint honey, % lb. butter, 2 teaspoonfuls
ginger. Boil together 4 few minutes, and when néarly cold put in flour
until it is stiff. Roll out thin, and bake quickly.

Honey CARAMELS.—1 cup extracted honey of best flavor, 1 cup gran-
ulated sugar, 3 tablespoonsfuls sweet cream or milk. Boil to ‘‘soft crack,”
or until it hardens when dropped into cold water, but not too brittle—just
so it will form into a soft ball when taken in the fingers. Pour into a
greased dish, stirring in a teaspoonful extract of vanilla just before taking
off. Let it be % or % inch deep in the dish; and as it cools, cut in squares
and wrap each square in paraffin paper, such as grocers wrap butter in.
To make chocolate caramels, add to the foregoing 1 tablespoonful melted
chocolate, just before taking off the stove, stirring it in well. For chocolate
caramels it is not so important that the honey be of the best, quality.—0O. C.
Miller.

Honty Grape JELLY.—Stew the grapes until soft; mash and strain
them through cheese-cloth, and to each quart of juice add one quart of
honey, and boil it until it is thick enough to suit. Keep trying by dipping
out a spoonful and cooling it. If you get it too thick it will candy. Any.
other fruit juice just treat the same way.

Moorzr’s Honty GINGER-SNAPS.—One pint of honey, one teaspoonful
of ginger, and one teaspoonful soda dissolved in a little water, and two
eggs. Mix all, then work in all the flour possible, roll very thin, and bake
in a moderately hot oven. Any flavoring extracts can be added, as you
may wish. :

Moorr’s HoNEY JUMBLES OR COOKIES are made in the same way as the
above, without any sugar or syrup, but add some shortening. In using
honey for any kind of cakes, the dough must be as stiff with flour as pos-
sible, to keep them from running out of the stove.

To Spicer APPLES, PEARS, OR PEACHES.—One quart best vinegar, 1
quart of honey, % ounce each of cloves and stick cinnamon. Boil all
together 15 minutes, then put in the fruit, and cook tender. Put in a stone
jar with enough of the syrup to cover the fruit. It will keep as long as
wanted:

For Sucgag-curina 100 Pounps or MrAt.—KHight pounds of salt, 1
quart of honey, 2 ounces of saltpeter, and 3 gallons of water. Mix, and
boil until dissolved, then pour it hot on the meat, ,

PIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

io
rs

Mrs. BArsBer’s Honwy CANpDy.—One quart honey, 1 small teacup of
granulated sugar, butter size of an egg, 2 tablespoonfuls strong vinegar.
Boil until it will harden when dropped into cold water, then stir in a small
teaspoonful of baking soda. Pour into buttered plates to cool. Without the
vinegar and soda it can be pulled or worked a long time, and is just the
thing for an old-fashioned candy-pull, as it is not sticky, and yet is soft
enough to pull nicely.

Scripture Honey Cakse.—One cupful of butter—Judges v. 25; 3%
cupfuls of flour—I Kings iv. 22; 2 cupfuls of sugar—Jeremiah vi. 20; 2
cupfuls of raisins—I Samuel xxx. 12; 2 cupfuls of figs—I Samuel xxx. 12;
1 cupful of water—Genesis xxiv. 17; 1 cupful of almonds—Genesis xlili.
11; little salt—Leviticus ii. 13; 6 eggs—Isaiah x. 14; large spoonful of
honey—Exodus xvi. 31; sweet spices to taste—I Kings a. 2,

Follow Solomon’s advice for making good boys, and you will have a good
cake—Prov. xxiii, 14. Sift two teaspoonfuls of baking powder in the flour;
pour boiling water on the almonds to remove the skins; seed the raisins and
chop the figs. It makes one large or two small cakes,

Mrs. BArBEer’s Honey Cookres.—One large teacupful of honey. One
egg Lroken into the cup the honey was measured in, then 2 large spoonfuls
sour milk, and fill the cup with butter or good beef dripping. Put in one.
teaspoonful of soda and flour to make a soft dough. Bake in a moderate
oven a light brown.

GornaM Honry Gina@rR Caxe.—Rub % of a pound of butter into a
pound of sifted flour; add a teacupful of brown sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls each
of ground ginger and caraway seed. Beat 5 eggs, and stir in the mixture,
alternately, with a pint of extracted honey. Beat all together until very
light. Turn into a shallow square pan, and set in a moderate oven to bake
for one hour, When done, let cool and cut into squares.

Mrs. AIKIN’s HONEY APPLE-BUTTER.—One gallon good cooking apples,
1 quart honey, 1 quart honey-vinegar, 1 heaping teaspoonful ground cin-
namon. Cook several hours, stirring often to prevent burning. If the
vinegar is very. strong, use part water.

Howexuu’s Harp Hongy Caxe.—Take 6 pounds of flour, 3 pounds
honey, 1% pounds of sugar, 1% pounds butter, 6 eggs, % ounce saleratus;
ginger to your taste. Have the flour in a pan or tray. Pack a cavity in
the center. Beat the honey and yolks of eggs together well. Beat the
butter and sugar to cream, and put into the cavity in the flour; then add
the honey and yolks of the eggs. Mix well with the hand, adding a little
at a time, during the mixing, the 1% ounce of saleratus dissolved in boiling
water until it is all in. Add the ginger, and finally add the whites of the
6 eggs, well beaten. Mix well with the hand to a sinooth dough. ’ Divide
the dough into 7 equal parts, and roll out like gingerbread. Bake in ordi-
nary square pans made for pies, from 10x 14-inch tin. After putting into
the pans, mark off the top in %4-inch strips with something sharp. Bake

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 321

an hour in a moderate oven. Be careful not to burn, but bake well. Dis-
solve sugar to glaze over top of cake. To keep the cake, stand on end in an
oak tub, tin can, or stone crock—crock is best. Stand the cakes up so the
flat sides will not touch each other. Cover tight. Keep in a cool, dry place.
Don’t use until three months old, at least. The cake improves with age,
and will keep good as long as you will let it. Any cake sweetened with
honey does not dry out like sugar or molasses cake, and age improves or
develops the honey flavor. This recipe has been used with unvarying success
and satisfaction for 100 years in the family that reports, A year "s supply
of this cake can be made up at une time, if desired.

MARIA FRASER’S HONEY JUMBLES.—Two cups honey, 1 cup butter, 4
eggs (mix well), 1 cup buttermilk (mix), 1 good quart of flour, 1 level
teaspoonful soda or saleratus. If it is too thin, stir in a little more flour.
If too thin it will fall. It does not want to be as thin as sugar cake, Use
very thick honey. Be sure to use the same cup for measure, and to mix
the honey, eggs, and butter well together.

Honey Fruit Cake.—Take 1% cups of honey, 2-3 cup of butter, %
cup of sweet milk, 3 eggs well beaten, 3 cups of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls of
baking powder, 2 cups raisins, 1 teaspoonful each of cloves and cinnamon.

Honey GINGER-SNAPS.—-One pint honey, % pound of butter, 2 tea-
spoonfuls of ginger, boil together a few minutes, and when nearly cold put
in flour until it is stiff, roll ont thinly and bake quickly.

Mrs. Minnicx’s Sorr Honry CAKE.—Put scant teaspoonful soda in
teacup, pour 5 tablespoonfuls hot water on the soda; then fill the cup with
extracted honey. Take % cup of butter and 1 egg and beat together; add
2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoonful of ginger; stir all together, and bake in
a very slow oven.

Hongy OAke.—One quart of extracted honey, 4% pint sugar, % pint
melted butter, 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in % teacup warm water, %
of a nutmeg and 1 teaspoonful of ginger. Mix these ingredients, and then
work in flour and roll. Cut in thin cakes and bake on buttered tins in a
quick oven.

REMEDIES USING HONEY.

Honey AND 7aR CouGH CuRE.—Put 1 tablespoonful liquid tar into a
shallow tin dish, and place it in boiling water until the tar is hot. To this
add a pint of extracted honey, and stir well for half an hour, adding to it
a level teaspoonful pulverized borax. Keep well corked in a bottle. Dose,
1 teaspoonful every one, two, or three hours, according to severity of cough.

Howngy as A TAPEWORM REMEDY.—Peeled pumpkin seeds, 3 ounces;
honey, 2 ounces; water, 8 ounces. Make an emulsion. Take half, fasting,
in the morning, remainder half an hour later. In three hours’ time two
ounces castor oil should be administered. Used with great success.—Medi-
cal Brief.

322 FIFTFY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Honwy vor ERYSIPELAS is used locally by spreading it on a suitable
cloth and applying to the parts. The application is renewed every 3 or 4
hours. In all cases in which the remedy has been employed, entire. relief
from the pain followed immediately, asd convalescence was brought about
in B or + days.

Honwy ror Dyspepsid4.—aA young man who was troubled with dyspep-
sia, and the more medicine he took the worse he became, was advised to try
honey and graham gems for breakfast. He did so, and commenced to gain,
and now enjo:s as good health as the average man, and he does not take
medicine, either| Honey is the only food taken into the stomach that leaves
no residue; it requires no action of the stomach whatever to digest it, as it
‘is merely alsorbed and taken up into the system by the action ofthe blood.
Honey ‘is the natural foe to dyspepsia and indigestion, as well as a food
for the human system. - . ‘ - .e

Honky FOR OLD Provie’s CougHs.—Old people's coughs are as dis-
tinct ag¥ those of children, and require remedies especially adapted to them.
It is known by the constant tickling in the pit of the throat—just where
the Adam's apple projects—and is caused by phlegm that accumulates there,
which, in their weakened condition, they are unable to expectorate.

Take a fair-sized onion—a good strong one—and let it simmer in a
quart of honey for several hours, after which strain and take a teaspoonful
frequently. It eases the cough wonderfully, though it may not cure.

Hongy For Sromacim Cougu.—.A\ll mothers know what a stomach
cough is—caused by an irritation of that organ, frequently attended with
indigestion. The child often ‘‘throws up” after coughing.

Dig down to the roots of a wild-cherry tree, and peel off a handful of
the bark, put it into a pint of water, and boil down to a teacupful. Put this
tea into a quart of honey, and give a teaspoonful every hour or two. It is
pleasant, and if the child should also have worms, which often happens, they
are pretty apt to be disposed of, as they have no love for the wild-cherry
flavor ° : 7 7 :

Honay anp Tar Coven Canpy.—Boil a double handful of green hoar-
Joound in two quarts of water down to one quart; strain, and add to this
tea two cups of extracted honey and a tablespoonful each of lard and tar.
Boil down to a candy, but not enough to make it brittle. Begin to eat this,
increase from a piece the size of a pea to as much as can be relished. It
is an excellent cough candy, and always gives relief in a short time.

Swiss REM&ny FOR A COLD SerrLING ON THE CHEST.—Boil a quart
of pure spring water; add as much camomile as can be grasped in three
fingers, and three teaspoonfuls of honey, and cover tight. The vessel is
then to be quickly removed from the fire and set on table at which the
patient can comfortably seat himself. Throwing a woolen cloth over the
patient’s head so as to include the vessel, he is to remove the cover and
inhale the vapors as deeply as possible through the mouth and nose, occa-

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 323,

sionally stirring the mixture until it is cold, and then retire to » warmed
bed. In obstinate cases the treatment should be repeated for three evenings.

Honey Croup REeMEDY.—This is the test known to the medical profes-
sion, and is an infallible remedy in all cases of mucus and spasmodic croup’
Raw linseed oil, 2 oz.; tincture cf bloodroot, 2 drs.; tincture of lobelia, 2
drs.; tincture of aconite, 1% dr.; honey, 4 0z. Mix. Dose, % to 1 teaspoon-
ful every 15 to 20 minutes, according to the urgency of the case. It is also
excellent in all throat and lung trorlles originating from a cold. =

This is an excellent remedy in lung trouble: Make a strong decoction
of hoarhound herb and sweeten with honey. Take a teaspoonful 4 or 5
times a day. ,

HONEY ON Frosrsires.—lIf your ears, fingers, or toes become frozen’
nothing will take the frost out of them sooner than if wrapped up in honey,
The swelling is rapidly reduced, and no danger occurs.

Honey ann Cram ror Freckiss.—Have you tried a mixture of hon-
ey and cream—half and half—for frecklés? Well, it’s a good thing. If on
the hands, wear gloves on going to ted.

Dr. Kwerpp’s Honsy SAtve.—This is recommended as an excellent
dressing for sores and boils. Take equal parts honey ‘and flour, add a little
water, and stir thoroughly. Don’t make too thin. Them apply as usual.

SumMER Honey DRink.—One spoonful of fruit juice and 1 spoonful
honey in % glass water; stir in as much soda as will lie cn a silver dime,,
and then stir in half as much tartaric acid, and drink at once. .

Dr. Prrro’s Honry Sauve—for hoils and other diseases of a similar
character—is made by thoroughly incorporating flour with ‘honey until of a
proper consistency to spread on cloth. Applied over the boil it hastens
suppuration, and the early termination of the painful lesion,

Honey As A LAXATIVE.—In olden times the good effects of honey as a
remedial agent were well known, tut of late little use is made thereof. A
great mistake, surely. Notally is honey valuable in constipation, Not as
an immediate cure, like some medicines which momentarily give relief only
to leave the case worse than ever afterward, but by its persistent use daily,
bringing about a healthy condition of the howels, enabling them to perform
properly their functions. Many svffer daily from an irritable condition,
calling themselves nervous, and all that sort of thing, not realizing that
constipation is at the root of {te matter, and that a faithful daily use of
honey fairly persisted in would restore cheerfulness of mind and a healthy
hody.—Le Progres Apicole.

Cougus, CoLps, WeHoorina CoueH, stc.—Fill a hell-metal kettle with
hoarhound leaves and soft water, letting it boil until the liquor becomes
strong—then strain through a muslin cloth, adding as much honey as desired
—then cook it in the same kettle until the water evaporates, when the
candy may be poured into shallow vessels and remain until needed, or pulled
like molasses candy until white.

324

Academy, Attends ..........
American Bee Journal

Apple Bloom .............
ABLES: (an varwsea eae bwlagmes
Arrangements, Surplus

Balling of Queen
Beekeeper, Assistant
Beekeeping Sole Business....
Bee-brushes
Bee-dress, Woman’s
Bee-gloves
Bee-journals, Writing for....
Bee-palace
Bee-smokers ...........4--
Bee-space, Correct
Bee-strainer
Bee-veil
Bees all Removed at Once.
Bees, Best for Home Apiary.
Bees, Bringing Home in Fall.
Bees, Brushing from Queen-cells
Bees, Carrying when Roused.
Bees, Cleaning out Dead..
Bees do Not Prefer Old Larvae
Bees do Work most Needed.
Bees, Hauling
Bees, Italian ............
Bees, Making Them Stay....
Bees, My First ............
Bees, Pounding off Combs..
Bees, Removing from Cellar.
Bees, Robbed, Joining Robbers
Bees, Robber, Watching for. .
Bees, Scolding ............
Bees Shaken from Combs....
Bees, Shaking off..........
Bees, Smoking Down..
Bees Staying in Nuclei
Bees Stick to Same ese
Bees, Sweeping up Dead.
Bees, “Taking up” ........
Bees Using Young Larvae Only
Bees, when to Put in Cellar.
Bees, why they Swarm......
Bees, Working of Queemless.
Beginning Again ..........
Behavior Abnormal ........
Blast, Continuous and Out-off
Bottom-board
Boyhood Days .........
Board-bills, Cheap
Breeding from Best ........
Breeding-comb, Placing
Breeding- comb, Trimming for
Brood-combs as Baits
Brood as a Stimulant.
Brood, Disposal of Extra .
Brood, Giving to Weaker.
Brood, Giving to Stronger. .
Brood in Sections

INDEX.

20 Brood, Removing all.......
28 Brood, Starting for Cells....
124 Brood. to Top-bar ..........
122 Brood, Two Frames Weekly. .
127 Burr-combs .......-..0- 005
80 Cages, One-cent ..........
60 Cases, Troublesome ........
39 Oatnip soswcicesa san waco ee s
17 Cellar, Airing of ........
227 Cellar, Cooling and Airing. |
223 Cellar, Fire for ...........
310 Cellar, Furnace in .........
23 Cellar, Lighting ...........
71 Cellar, Opening at Night....
1389 Cellar, Piling Hives in......
69 Cellar, Preparing ..........
222 Cellar, Stove in ...........
49 Cellar, Vemtilation of ......
49 Cellar, arming ..........
290 Cell-building, Bees for ..... ;
247 Cells, Advantage of Caging..
298 Cells, Appearance of Vacated
299 Cells Destroyed by Bees....
232 Cells, Killing Thoroughly...
177 Cells, Stapling on Comb ....
53 Chicago, Three Years in....
311 Cincinnati, Winter in ......
233 Cleaning Supers and T-tins..
23 Cleats for Hives ..........
75 Cleats on Smokers ........
46 Clover, Giant White .......
216 Clover, Sweet ...........-
199 Clover, White, Uncertain
225 Clipping, Advantage of......
262 Clipping, Implement for ....
175 College, Enters .......
198 College, Works Way through
233 Colonies, Breaking up Faulty
219 Colonies, Crediting ........
299 Colonies, Cross ............
25 Colonies for Go-back Work.
237 Colonies Kept Queenless ..
290 ous Laying-worker, Treat-
UT2 ANG a. as earners eres wea wre eare
169 Spiontos Not Needing Watching
811 Colonies, Placing of ........
181 Colonies, Selecting to Feed...
72 Colonies, Strong v. Weak.../.
51 Colonies, Queenless :........
17 Colonies, Weak, in Spring...
22 Colonies, Weighing ........
229 Comb Foundation, Attempt at
238 Combs Built to Bottom-bars. .
237 Combs of Honey, Reserve. .
39 Combs, Mending .......
116 Conditions, Datavorable

138 Contents of Tool-basket

112 Cork Chips for Watering. .
112 Covers,: Tin, Dead-air Space.
142 Covers, Zine

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES
Ca

_FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES,

‘Crock, Watering .......... 108
Crop Total, Rather than per
Colony siadicienig execs 42
Cucumbers ............... 122
Demaree Plan ......... 194
Dequeening Treatment ..... 190
Diarrhoea, Heat for ....... 295
DIgFeSSION 5 s5.Gecnan ena decs 60
Discouragement ........... 39
Division-boards ............ 110
Doolittle’s Plan ........... 165
Dress for Hot Weather..... 216
Fduceation, Early .......... 17
Eggs, Destroying ......... 185
Eggs, Looking for ......... 234
Encouragement ............ 40
End-spacing .............. 87
Entrance-closers 84
Entrance, Size of 50
Entries, Record 118
Even, Getting ............. 27
Fxeluder, None under Sections 140
Exeluder Plan of Treatment 186
Experimenting on Large Seale 141
Experimenting, Pleasure of. 141
Extractor, Peabody ........ 31
Failures, Some ............ 187
Feeder, Crock-and-plate ... 108
Feeder, Improved Miller. 107
Feeder, Original Miller...... 107
Feeding Early for Winter... 279
Feeding, Fall ....,........ 278
Feeding in Fall for Spring.. 281
Feeding in June ...... ciwartuer LOT
Feeding, Outdoor .......... 103
Feeding to Fill Combs..... 105
Feeding, Stimulative ...... 108
Feeding, Wholesale ........ 106
Foul Brood, European .. 804
Foundation, Cutting .. 147
Frame, Langstroth, ‘Adopted. 30
Frame, Miller ........... , 107
Frame, 18x9, Adopted.... 30
Frames, 8 versus 10....... 312
Frame, Diagonal in Hive.... 19
Frames, Loose-hanging 83
Frames, Self-spacing ....... B4
Frames, Using Empty ...... 188
Frames, Wide ............ 38
Fuel, Green ........-.-06% 14
Garret, Honey in .......... 271
Glue, Brittle 207
Go-Backs ...... 209
Goldenrod ......-.20.eeeee 122
Goods, Using Standard nee 88
Grass, Killing ............ 120
Harvest, Clover, Close of... 196
Harvest, Harbingers of.... 120

Hauling, Preparations for... 53

825
Heartsease .....0....00ee .° 122
Hive, Jumbo ........... ae 193
Hive, Nucleus ..........!. 240
Hive, Opening ............ 63
Hive-coverS ........-2.-55 94
Hive-dummy ...........-45 92
Hiveseat 6 civics ince vacaas 59
Hive-stands ...........-. 97, 311
Hive-tools: 2 s0.1 e.cakeweales 61
Hives, Carrying in ........ 291
Hives, Changes in ........ 83
Hives, Changing from Double
to Single 2... ssscuwyacies 289
Hives, Changing from Single J
to: (DOUDIE: sane e.t-49 vane ey 288
Hives, Cleaning .......... 63
Hives, Double, Advantage of 287
Hives, Double, for Winter.. 286
Hives, Groups of Four...... 98
Hives in Pairs .......... 97
Hives, Not Painted ........ 82
Hives, Nucleus, Contents of. 242
Hives, Numbering ......... 55
Hives, Preparing to Clean... 62
Hives, Regular, for Nuclei... 243
Honey, Adulteration of...... 316
Honey as a Food.......... 314
Honey, Care of ..........-. 316
Honey, Comb v. Extracted. 312
Honey, Comb, Feeding Sec-
tions: Of 40.08 c5 ee ee ae 105
Honey, Draining Extracted. 273
Honey, First Section........ 38
Honey for Remedies....... 321
Honey, Granulated ...... 272, 317
Honey in Cellar with Furnace 271
Honey, Late ...... eee eee 197
Honey, Marketing ......... 274
Honey Recipes ......-..---- 317
Honey, Ripening .........- 273
Honey, Surplus Combs of. 104
Honey, Various Uses for.... 315
Honey, Where to Keep. 270
Honey-board, Heddon 138
Honey- -plants, Various ...... 120
Honey-room .....-. ee eee eee 203
Honey-show ...---s seer eee 270
Improvement, Working for.. 88
Increase, Artificial ......... 255
Increase by Taking to Out-
ADIALY” iz 35.4. 5 a Sedisavstie Seg, Sarees 256
Increase, Nucleus Plan of . 260
Increase of 9 to 56........ 257
Increase Too Rapid ....... 31
Increase without Nuclei..... 261
Italianizing with Natural
Swarming 222s. .s2ceecras 53
Italians from Adam Grimm.. 35
Italians, My Tirst.......... 27
June, Feeding in .......... 107
Labor, Division of ........ 150
Life in Country, Back to.... 36

Linden
Location, Choice of
Market, Home ............-
Markets, Distant

Meal, Feeding ............
Medicine, Practice of
Medicine, Study of
Memoranda of 1901
Memoranda of 1882
Mice in Bee-cellars
Miller, Dr., Tributes to......

Nails, Spacing
Non-swarming
Forced
Non-swarming,
ward
Nuclei,
Nuclei,
Nuclei
Nuclei,

Preferred to

iy
Chance for ...
in; Wall si escaucavn
Several in Hive....
Nuclei, Time to Start......
Nuclei, Uniting
Nucleus Built without Help. .
Nucleus Given to Swarm....
Nucleus to Prevent Swarming
Numbers, Order of

Office, Author’s
Overhauling, Spring

Overhauling, Subsequent
Overstocking ............0.
PATON TE). ice siece Gatien acess
Pasturage, Artificial .......
Pencil, Place for .........
Piles a Target for Robbers. .
Piles, Non-swarming .......
Piles, Robbing of ....

Plan, Put-up

Plan, Varying
Playing Bees and Robkers..
Push-board

Queen, ids in Finding....
Queen Balled by Bees......
Queen, Best, in Nucleus ....
Queen, Catching
Queen, Clipping
Queen, Finding
Queen, Putting down
Queen, Replacing with Better
Queen, Room for
Queen, Watching for..
Queen-cage
Queen-cells, Brood for
Queen-cells Destroyed by Bees
Queen-cells Destroyed to Pre-
vent Swarming .........
Queen-cells, Distributing ....
Queen-cells, Looking for....

FIFTY YEARS’ AMONG THE BEES

Queen-cells, Placing ........
Queen-nursery, Advantages of
Queem-nursery, Miller
Queen-rearing .............
Queen-rearing, Conditions for
Queens Reared in ‘‘Put-up”..

Queens Reared with Laying

QUEENIE » sin cserticerceniindsnced/crancisesiaue
Queens, Confining Young...
Queens, Drone-laying
Queens, History of.........
Queens, Introducing
Queens, Keeping Caged. .
Queens, Quality of
Queens for Out-apiaries
Queens, Young and Swarming

Record-book
Record, Advantage of Book.
Records, Making
Reducing to One Story.....
Risking in Good Season...

Robbers, when Troublesome.
Robbers, Watching for.....
Robbers, Losing the .......

233
251

Robbers, Leaving Something for 213
210

Robber-cloth
Robber-cloth, Quick Covering

WIN: aaa s ke etn sees
Robbing, Bad Case of......
Robbing is Fault of Beekeeper
Robbing Started by Feeding

215

Robbing Stopped with Wet Hay 215

Robbing, Signs of
Root, A. I., visit to........

Saltpeter-rags
Seasons of 1863-1865 x
Seasons, Change of........
Season of 1903
Season of 1913 Phenomenal. .
Seasons. Uncertainty of.....

Sections, Unmarketable .....
Seat, T-super .....-.....005
SECHONG: 6 seeagrd siasur wh ieiterilla rg
Sections, Bees Emptying.

Sections, Blocking up Supers of eee

Sections, Cleaning

Sections, Dauby, Bees Cleaning 266
Sections, Feeder .......... 264
Sections, Final Scraping. . 268
Sections, Final Taking off. 263
Sections, Folding .......... 146
Sections, Fumigating . 208, 268
Sections, Getting Bees out of Be
Sections in Go-hacks .......

Sections, Loading when Ship-

PINE sécanceaada esau 275
Sections Needed per Colony. 134
Sections Packed in Car..... 275
Sections Packed in Shipping-

COBOR) co ceccicennsiair,eAcmipun aiid 269
Sections Prepared in Advance 131

FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

Sections, Putting in Supers.. 151
Sections, Removing from Super 205
Sections, Removing Unfinished 208
Sections, Sorting .......... 264
Sections, Taking off ........ 195
Sections, Tallying ......... 201
Sections, Wetting .......... 144
Sections, White,. Thick Top-

Pare: fO¥. x grecaue sas wees 139
Selection, Importance of..... 228
Separators, Putting in....... 153
Separators, Top .........- 158
Shad awoi in oserwairw eens 99
Shade, Movable ........... 99
Shaking by Doolittle Plan.. 76
Shaking by Pendulum ...... 76
Shop for Bee-work ........ . 136
Shipping-cases, Kind of..... 269
Smoker-fuel ..............08 73
Smoker-kindling ............ 75
Smoking Bees Down........ 198
Space, Large, for Middle Frame 241
Spacing, End ............ 87
Spacing-nails ......-...--. 85
Splints, Foundation ........ 90
Sponge-bath at Noon ....... 226
Springs, Super ............ 130
Starters, Putting in Sections. 151
Starters, Size of........... 146
Stings, Removing ......... 224
Stings, Protection from..... 221
Stock, Beginner Improving... 253
Stores, Choosing .......... 282
Stores, Rapid Consumption of 104
Stories, Piles of ...........- 194
Story, Giving Second........ 113
Super, Heddon ............ 44
Super Room, Guessing about 156
Super, T ........- Wis aja 44, 128
Super-filer .............-. 151
Supers, Empty, on Top.. 159
Supers for Out-apiaries..... 157
Supers, Giving Additional.... 155
Supers, Hauling from Out-

AD LATS. site. csi0 ccs iee. stacey 202
Supers, Loading on Wagon.. 2038

Supers of Sections, Preparing 142
1:

Supers Standing Open...... 98
SUPEL sy, DY oe. fieronerssseacosavonpiiaieys 127
Supers, Time to Give........ 125
Supers, Top Ventilation of.. 129
Supers, Wheeling in....... » 201
Supers, where to Add..... - 158

Swarm Prevention Not Success
Swarm, Finding Its Queen..
Swarm, Shaken, without In-

CTGHSG. s.0 4k 446 4 Oe Dee
Swarming Not Desirable....
Swarming, Forced
Swarming, Forced, Disadvan-

WEEDS OB soe 5 dtaien tay ids oe a Natlecgciaa
Swarming, Forced, Time of..
Swarming, Galore
Swarms, Not Desirable......
Swarming, Prevention of....
Swarming, Troubled with....
Swarming, Ventilation to Pre-

vent
Swarms, Accidental ..
Swarms, ae
Swarms, Management of... .
Swarms, Watching for......
Syrup, Feeding
System, Lack of

Teaches and Travels ........

Temperature and Ventilation

Tent-escape, Miller
Thieves Always auearege
Tool-basket .......

Top-bars, Thick

Unqueening to Start Cells..

Ventilation and Room
Ventilator, Sub-earth

Wagon for Hauling ........
Watering-crock .......4.%.-
Wax-extractor, - Dripping- pan.
Wax-extractor, Solar
Wax-press, Steam
Wintering, Bad
Wintering, Disastrous
Wintering, Good ...........
Wintering, Improved
Wintering Upside Down.

Wintering, Warm Spells in.
Work for Winter
Work, Prelinminary ........
Workers, Laying

Year, Bad One
Year, Good One
Yield, Average

327

471
164

co

es} FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES

ILLUSTRATIONS
PANT ALL aeRO PREEERE ere Renee ice ery 152 Miller Frame ....... ,
INSEOUR! , 2.2 Guanine aiuie cosas 168, 170 Miller queen-nursery ...
Balled Queen ...........00- 95 Miller Tent-escape ..
WBGG-AREBR siscacirsieysivneriaranemees 236 Movable Shade .......... a
Bees Playing .........005 234 Muench Hive-tool -
Bee Working on Red Clover... 208 Nail-boxes .........-5
Bottom-rack oe. eee eee eee 45 Nucleus Bottom-board ..
Brood of Laying Workers.... 182 Nucleus Hives ............
Busy at the Typewriter.... 309 One-cent Queen-cage .......
Caged Queen-cell ......... 263 Original Miller Feeder......
Carrying with Rope........ 33, 37 Painted Tin Hive-covers....
Catching the Queen........ 7 Part of Home Apiary (from
GQUALTAN DD: 5. es. sssscadu'beco) site sepoapvan ntingied ajay Northwest) ..........
Ca sa acaiercuacevanGeante seacesseataras Part of Home Apiary (from

Cleated Smoker ..
Clipping the Queen
Coggshall Brush
Colonies Home from Out-api-

UUTGS, | sires dyn ieisiaatstind sean inae. oaetese vt 290
Colonies for Out-apiaries.... 48
Colony Treated for Swarming 200
Colossal Ladino Clover..... 154
Comb for Queem-cells....... 248
Comb for Queen-cells Trimmed 255
Comb Resting Diagonally.... 115
Combs of Brood.........++- 106
Combs of Honey....... a 102
Crock-and-plate Feeder ..... 141
Cutting Foundation ........ 186
Dripping-pan Wax-extractor. 292
Emptying Out Slumgum.. 297
Entrance-blocks 48
Enutrance-closers 58
Feeder Sections 270
Field of Raspberries in “Bloom 147
Folding Sections .......... 178
Foundation with Splint Sup-

POPES cos scane anders cateveverenty nade s 98

_ Heartsease 11... sce e eevee 178
Heddon Slat Honey-board. B1
Heddon Super ........... - 26
Hive Closed for: Hauling. wee 214
Hive-dumimy ..........005 137
Hive-seat with Hand-hole.... 66
Hive-seat with Strap-handle.. 64
Hlive-stand .........e0000% 123
Hive-staples ...... 43
Home from the Out- -apiary a 81
Home of the Author. c 19
Honey-show ..... dxereueneraie 286
Jumbo Hive ........ 202
Lifting Off the Super. 226
Linden or Basswood Blossoms 157
Little Work-table ....... «.. 188
Load of Forty Supers...... 196
Miller, Dr. C. O. ......-00% 4
Miller Cages .......-005- 246, 262
Miller Feeder Dissected...... 133

Southwest) .............
Peabody Honey-extractor. .
Pile of Stories .....
Philo Carrying a Hive.
Pounding Bees off Comb.
Push-board
Pushing Sections out of Super
Putting Foundation in eocuene
Queen-cell Stapled on Comb.
Queen-excluder ...
Rack for Hauling Bees......
Ready for Clipping.........
Record-books
Robber-bees
Robber-cloth
Row of Lindens in Bloom...
Scraping Sections
Second-class Sections
Sections Ready for Casing. .
Sections Wedged for Scraping
SHOD! i d-tssus-ss
Starters in Breeding-fram a
Super-filler
Supers of Sections Blocked’ up
Swarm Dumped vere Hive.
Sweet Clover ..........0005
Tool-Basket_.
Top and Bottom-starters in
Section “scsornasasscaiee
T Super
iTvclve section Shipping-case.
Twenty-four-section case.....
Two Carrying with Rope...
Unmarketable Sections......
Vacated Queen-cells
Vase of Goldenrod..........
Wagon-load of Bees. «
Watering-crock
Wax-press, Screwing Dow.
Weed-brushes
Weighing Oolonies .........
Wheeling Load of Supers. .
Wide Frame
Woman's Bee-dress
Zine hive-covers ........ or