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y

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At Gornell University
Dthaca, N. Y.

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Cornell University Library
SF 523.P388b

Beginner's bee book,

Cornell University

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The original of this book is in
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003437948

BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

Queen Drone Worker

ITALIAN BEES

BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

BY
FRANK C. PELLETT

ASSOCIATE EDITOR AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, FORMER STATE APIARIST OF
IOWA; AUTHOR “PRODUCTIVE BEEKEEPING,”
“PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING,” ETC

ILLUSTRATED

PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

COPYRIGHT 1919, BY J. L. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED BY J. ». LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S: A.

PREFACE

In writing this book the author has an-
swered such questions as are put to him in the
hundreds of letters that come to his desk from
every part of our own country and from many
foreign lands. There is a constantly increas-
ing interest in beekeeping. Men and women
in large numbers are looking to beekeeping as
a possible source of livelihood, while others
find an interesting diversion from routine duties
with a few colonies of bees. The novice wants
a book that covers the fundamental without
going too much into detail regarding the vari-
ous systems of honey production. This book
is designed to meet such a need, and does not
pretend to cover the whole field of beekeeping.
The business is too complicated to make pos-
sible anything more than a casual introduction
in a book of this size. Those who desire to make

a more extended study, will find “ Productive
5

6 PREFACE

Beekeeping,” by the same author, or some sim-
ilar book, of assistance in pursuing the subject
further.

It has been the author’s aim to set down
only such facts as will be of practical value to
the beginning beekeeper in producing and mar-
keting honey. The author has had practical
experience in the commercial production of
honey. His work as State Apiarist of Iowa
and as Associate Editor of The American Bee
Journal, has given him opportunity to visit
many of the most extensive beekeepers in the
United States and Canada, and to observe the
various systems of honey production which are
profitably followed. Nothing is included here
which it is not believed will stand the test of
general usage under a variety of conditions.

Frank C. PELLETT.
Hami.tton ILuIno!s,
April, 1919.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I Attractions or BEEKEEPING

eT RMacwiec clown eal x BS etpatnm ase 11
TI OutLook ror BEEKEEPING..............0.0.00000.0005 17
TI Tue Honty Bre Faminy...............0..00.0.0.000. 25
IV Necessary EQUIPMENT... ........... 0000 e cece ee 46
V Hives ano Hive Parts...........000..0 cece cee eee 61
VI Pasture FOR BEES........0.. 00600 c cc eenene 70

VII Succestions ror GETTING StTaRTED witH BeEgs........ 85

VIII Wuen Bees Must Be Fep........................0.. 100
IX Us or FOUNDATION..........0.0.0 0000s cece eee cee 109
X Breepine Berrer Bues.............0...0. 0.00 c eee eee 118

XI Gertine THE Honey To MaRKET..................... 183

XII Enemies anp Diseases or BEES.............-...-- 149
XIII Winter PREPARATION............6.00 000 e eee eee eens 154
XIV Review or tHe Season’s WoRK...........--.+0--55- 160

GLOSSARY iio di mn tegaies peers eng sing oar e os 169

FIG.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The Queen, the Drone, and the Worker....... Frontispiece
A Good Smokers io. j54 i ba waecnack acdsee hans eww ecngaended es 47
The Value of the Hive Tool is Far Above Its Cost......... 52
- It is Easy to Remove Honey from the Hive by Placing a
Bee-escape under the Super................... 00.0... 54
. Honey is Extracted by Placing the Combs in the Baskets
and Revolving Them Rapidly......................... 58
oe He Lan StrOthy PYAR Sse seascs ese narevecse aan amarante oop woe webb 63
. The Hivebody is Like an Empty Box........ ........... 66
. Hivebody With Frames in Place............0...00....000. 66
. Hive for Production of Honey in Sections, or Comb Honey. 67
. Hive for Producing Extracted Honey. . ie Sse 68
. A Good Brood Comb as a Result of a Full Bist, of
POUNG SHO Moc sce aceon eace moe ananbeand 5 5 Meats tenmmanndinn et 11

. A Comb Composed Largely of Drone Cells as a Result of a

Narrow Startetinn aay: yc chcanmotis ete ee tem oe ese: 111

. FullSheet of Foundation in Wired Frame, Ready forthe Bees 113
. Different Methods of Using Foundation in Sections........ 116
. The Thin Sheets of Wax Are Impressed With the Cell Bases

of Proper Size to Induce the Bees to Build Worker Combs. 116

- Queen Cells Produced by the Cell Cup Method............ 128
. The Queen Excluder Prevents the Queen from Passing into

HERS UP ERs 4. csevascamansonte seh fi 5 aap HrortoreemaiRTANNMRR Maa ehenet 129

. Hive Divided into Three Compartments for Mating Queens 131

BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK
CHAPTER I

ATTRACTIONS OF BEEKEEPING

BEEKEEPERS as a class are very enthusias-
tic about their occupation. The successful
beekeeper who is not an enthusiast is an excep-
tion and there is no class which welcomes new
recruits more warmly or gives the secrets of the
business more freely. One who having once
attended a typical convention of beekeepers, or
a field day, does not feel something of this
animated interest commonly spoken of as
“bee fever,” is never likely to become a honey
producer.

Beekeeping has some decided advantages
over poultry, gardening, fruit growing, or
other light occupations often spoken of as in the,

same class. The first advantage is that no spe-
ul

12 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

cial situation is necessary. If the bees are
within flying distance of nectar-producing
flowers they can be kept almost anywhere. It
is surprising in what unpromising places bees
are to be found. An occasional hive will be
found in the attic with an opening through a
window sash, or on the roof when there is no
more convenient place for them. Roof apiaries
are not uncommon in the cities. The author has
visited many back lot apiaries in various cities
and has found that many of them are the source
of several hundred dollars of yearly revenue.
By placing the bees at the back end of the lot
and facing the entrances away from the street
there is seldom complaint of annoyance of
neighbors, especially when a gentle strain of
Italian bees is kept.

Another great advantage of beekeeping lies
in the fact that one can so plan his work that a
day’s absence from home does not result in dis-

aster or inconvenience. In fact, at some sea-

ATTRACTIONS OF BEEKEEPING 13

sons of the year, the bees need little attention
for days or weeks at a time. Poultry must be
fed daily, while the bees gather their own food.
Business or professional men or women who
are looking for a light occupation to take them
into the open air will find just the thing in car-
ing for a few bees. On stormy days when it is
unpleasant to go out, the bees are better for
being undisturbed. The work is mostly clean
and light, just the kind of work that should
engage the attention of one who is tired from
office work.

The product of the apiary is ready to serve
when it is taken from the hive and needs no
special preparation on the part of the house-
wife. This fact is too often overlooked in com-
paring the price of honey with other foodstuffs.
If the housewife who buys the family groceries
will take account of all the time spent in pre-
paring fruits, vegetables, etc., for the table and
add the cost of fuel for cooking them, she will

14 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

find that honey is a very economical food to
serve as frequently as her family can enjoy it.

Tur Busy Brers.—The activities of the
bees are sufficient in themselves to attract many
people, even though there was no profit to be
made from the production of honey. On bright
days when one most enjoys being in the open
air, the bees are tremendously active. ‘There
will be a great bustle and hurry about the hive
that makes one feel like sitting in the grass and
watching them for hours at a time. There is
something of mystery, also, in the little com-
munity where many thousand active little crea-
tures live together in perfect harmony, all bent
on the one aim of piling up as much honey as
possible while the nectar is abundant in the
fields. When the workers are no longer of use
to the community they receive no considera-
tion from their busy sisters, but are permitted
to drag themselves off to die alone. If they
are slow about leaving the hive they are often

ATTRACTIONS OF BEEKEEPING 15

dragged out, as there is no place for the decrepit
and the infirm in the economy of the bee.
When the season is over the drones are no
longer likely to be useful in the fertilization of
virgin queens, they are also driven out without
mercy to die of cold or hunger in the open air.
On chill autumn days. little groups of discon-
solate drones huddled together beside the hive
are acommon sight. When they are no longer
permitted to return to the warmth of the cluster
they gather into little bunches to get such com-
fort as they can from each other.

While we may not be pleased with their con-
duct toward the helpless members of the com-
munity, we cannot but admire the singleness
of purpose with which they pursue their daily
activities. Seldom do we find a student of na-
ture but sooner or later becomes interested in
bees and since there is so much to be learned
concerning them it is usually a lifelong at-
traction.

16 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

BEEKEEPING FoR Women.—The woman
who keeps bees does not have problems that are
essentially different from those which confront
aman. Many women are engaged in honey
production successfully, and while there is some
work for which she is not physically adapted,
such as putting the bees into the cellar, where
they are wintered in that way, it is usually pos-
sible to have such heavy work done by men or
boys.

Beekeeping can be developed to occupy
one’s entire time for the year or merely: the
summer season, as best suits one’s inclination

and opportunity.

CHAPTER II
OUTLOOK FOR BEEKEEPING

THE outlook for beekeeping was never bet~-
ter than it is now. Greater prosperity for an
agricultural specialty has always come with its
general development over a large scope of
country. This has been notably true of the
dairy industry which formerly returned but a
small part of the revenue that it does to-day.

Beekeeping as a business is very new, so
new in fact that many people do not yet realize
that beekeeping offers an opportunity as an ex-
clusive occupation. It is only within the past
half century that honey production has become
commercially possible and but a very few years
have passed since the first agricultural college
established beekeeping as a regular part of its

curriculum. Within the recent months many
2 17

18 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

more agricultural colleges have added this sub-
ject to their regular work.

The total output of the apiaries of the entire
country probably does not amount to more than
a pound or two of honey per capita for the
population of the country, while many times
the amount of sugar is consumed by the public.
This fact should offer assurance that there is
no immediate danger of over-production if the
beekeepers use good business methods in the
development of markets.

Foop VaLuE or Honry.—In a recent bul-
letin by the Food and Dairy Department of
Iowa, it has been shown that for actual food
value, honey is one of the cheapest of foods.
While with most foods, a large part of the bulk
is waste which adds neither fuel to warm the
body nor rebuilds dead tissue, the bees have
removed most of the waste from honey, so that
it is nearly all consumed within the body. When

its actual food and fuel value is considered, it is

OUTLOOK FOR BEEKEEPING 19

shown to be a low-priced product, rather than
a luxury as it is generally regarded. The fol-
lowing table shows the comparative value of
several common commodities at pre-war prices
as shown by the bulletin above mentioned.

At average prices:

Honey;,'7 ounces 2. sce esecsweseewe 7 cents
Milk 1 quan’ noc.) eas eee oe 10 cents
Cream cheese, 5.6 ounces .......... 9 cents
Bes) VO see cet eacice ean ten a oe ae tek ace 25 cents
Round beefsteak, 12 ounces ........ 15 cents
Boneless codfish, 15 ounces ...... 20 cents
OREMBES AS aigeiina ean aside cae ee alee 20 cents
Walnuts, 814 ounces ............. 13 cents

It will be noticed that for actual food and
fuel value, honey is the cheapest food in the list.
The table is designed to show a quantity of
each article exactly equal in such value to any
one of the others shown. Prices have since
greatly changed.

If the beekeepers will use diligence in lay-
ing these facts before the public there will
shortly be no lack of demand for the product of
the hive. Most people like honey, but for some

20 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

reason its use has been neglected by many, who
have substituted the cheaper corn syrups so
widely advertised. When it is considered that
these low-priced substitutes are low in sweet-
ening value and also injurious to the digestive
system, it will only require that the public be
informed of the facts to restore honey to its
former popularity as a food product.

The establishment of courses in beekeeping
in so many agricultural colleges will tend to
popularize its use, since its merits will be in-
vestigated and made known by the domestic
science departments as well as apiculturalists.

BEEKEEPING A SPECIALTY.— Beekeeping is
becoming more and more a specialty. While
there are still thousands of professional people
who keep a few bees as a diversion, the bees
under the apple tree on the general farm are
becoming fewer every year. The spread of dis-
ease is largely responsible for this condition.
While it is not difficult for the well-trained bee-

OUTLOOK FOR BEEKEEPING 21

keeper to deal with bee diseases, bees that re-
ceive no attention, other than to give them a
super for surplus in the spring and to remove it
in the fall, sooner or later fall victims to ad-
verse conditions.

While beekeeping is not difficult, bees can
never be profitable without intelligent atten-
tion. ‘Those who are devoting their attention to
bee culture are receiving as large returns as
those who follow other agricultural specialties
and the work is no more trying nor is the risk
any greater.

In few localities are there bees enough to
gather the nectar in the fields, most of which
now goes to waste. While good bee pasture
is not plentiful in an occasional limited local-
ity, there are many places where commercial
orchardists are offering some inducement for
beekeepers to locate within reach of their or-
chards, because of the better fruit crops that

will result from the increased number of insects

22 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

among the blossoms. There are untold hun-
dreds of good locations that will support profit-
able apiaries in any one of several of the
northern states and perhaps as good openings
in many of the southern states. In only a few
states has beekeeping been commercially spe-
cialized, although the development bids fair to
be much more rapid in the very near future.

PossisLE DrveLOpMENT.—There are men
of limited observation who are breaking into
print with a warning against a possible over-
production of honey. Their arguments are
very weak, and it is safe to say that the present
output might be doubled two or three times over
before there would be any danger of over-
production. As an example of the possibilities
of market development, it is only neces-
sary to point to the growth of the -orange
business during the past few years. Concern-
ing the growth of that industry Mr. R. C.
Gano, in the American Bee Journal, writes
as follows:

OUTLOOK FOR BEEKEEPING 23

EXPERIENCE OF OrANGE GROWERS

Back in 1895 the orange situation was much what the
honey situation is to-day. Though at that time our
national population was over 65,000,000, nearly two-thirds
of what it is today, the California citrus growers found it
difficult to sell at a fair profit an orange crop which was
one-ninth the size of the crop they sell at a good profit
to-day. These figures are absolutely authentic. The Cali-
fornia citrus production in 1895 was less than 5000 car-
loads whereas the normal crop to-day is 45,000 carloads.
The orange crop has increased 900 per cent., while the
population has increased 50 per cent., and this indicates
what is an actual fact, namely, that the people of the
United States eat to-day seven or eight times as many
oranges in a year as they did in 1895. What has changed
their habits, in this regard? Nothing more nor less than
advertising.

In 1895 they not only sold fewer oranges per capita,
but they received a smaller profit per box.

In 1895 orange growers were every year afraid of
over-production.

About that time the California Fruit Growers’
Exchange was formed, because the growers realized that
something would have to be done to develop a future for
their business. To say that it began working miracles right
from the start would hardly be an exaggeration. It
studied the science of selling, and soon had the marketing
end of the industry on a business basis. It began put-
ting agents in the various market centres, and when a car-

24 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

load was ready for shipment it knew from its agents where
to send it to get a good price. Fear of over-production
soon became a thing of the past.

During the first five years of the Exchange’s operation
the citrus crop increased 255 per cent., from 1900 to
1905 it increased 71.7 per cent., from 1905 to 1910 it
increased 10.9 per cent., and from 1910 to 1914 it in-
creased 48.5 per cent. Two hundred million dollars is
now invested in this industry in California.

The development of the markets can be ex-
pected to keep pace with the growth in pro-
duction, at least until such a time as the amount
of honey produced equals the output of many
minor articles of food not in general demand.
When we consider the enormous development
of which the beekeeping industry is capable,
there is certainly no need of being alarmed
about over-doing it, while still much less than
one per cent. of the available honey harvest is
being gathered. To the author’s way of think-
ing there is no better opportunity for the man
of limited means in the whole agricultural

field than is offered by beekeeping.

CHAPTER III
THE HONEY BEE FAMILY

Wiru all the multitude of species of insects,
man has been able to adapt very few to his own
immediate needs. Hundreds of insects render
an indirect service, such as the pollenation of
blossoms, and a few have been used for food, as
John ate locusts in the wilderness. Because of
the social habit whereby thousands of bees live
together in a single community and lay up a
common store of honey, man has been able to
provide them with a suitable home, in the hive,
and so to manipulate the combs which they
build as to greatly increase the amount of honey
stored and to profit thereby. By the preven-
tion of swarming at the time when the honey
harvest is at its best, by reducing the number of

non-producing drones which the colony is per-
25

26 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

mitted to raise and by improving the strain by
selecting queens from the most vigorous stock,
it is possible to secure several times the amount
of surplus that could be taken from bees in the
old-fashioned box hive or gum, managed on the
let-alone plan.

Other insects, such as ants, termites, etc.,
have formed communitites and live from a com-
mon store. However, none of the others are of
direct service to man as is the bee. For cen-
turies their habits have been studied and much
still remains to be learned concerning them.
The life of the hive
centers in the queen, which is the mother of the

Tue Bee FamIty.

colony and upon whose vigor the prosperity of
the hive depends. Should she die, and the bees
be unable to replace her, the colony would soon
perish. While the workers are also females,
the sexual organs are undeveloped and they
could not supply the place of the queen mother.

In queenless colonies laying workers often ap-

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY QT

pear, but since they have never been mated,
their offspring are all drones and the life of
the community is not thereby prolonged. A
prosperous hive contains many thousands of
workers whose purpose in life is the gathering
of the food supply, building of the combs, pro-
tection of the store, cleaning the hive and other
labor necessary to the comfort of the inmates.
The drones are males, but do not share in any
productive work for the community. They
are dependent upon their industrious sisters
for their entire support and are tolerated,
apparently, because of necessity for the per-
petuation of the species. Late in fall when con-
ditions no longer favor the gathering of honey,
and when brood rearing has greatly diminished,
or in seasons of scarcity, they are driven from
the hive to perish.

In common with other insects, bees pass
through four stages in completing their devel-
opment. Strangely enough, different periods

28 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

of time are necessary for the growth of the dif-
ferent sexes and even of the queen and worker.
First the eggs are laid by the queen mother,
who lays hundreds and even thousands daily
during the height of the season. Worker eggs
are laid in the same kind of cells in which the
honey is stored. Drone eggs are laid in similar
cells somewhat larger in size, while eggs which
are to produce queens are laid in specially built
cells shaped like an inverted thimble and which
have little depressions giving them something
of the appearance of peanuts. At times only
worker eggs will be laid for days at a time.
When the colony gets very strong, and the hive
is getting crowded, eggs will be laid in drone
cells also, and queen cells may be built in prep-
aration for swarming.

Three days are required for the eggs to
hatch, all the eggs being alike in this respect.
For the first three days all the larve are ap-
parently treated alike, being fed on royal jelly,

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 29

a milky white substance furnished in abun-
dance by the nurse bees. When the eggs hatch
the little larve are very delicate, white in color,
and show few external organs. By close ex-
amination the beekeeper can see them floating
in the royal jelly so freely supplied. The
queen larve are fed with this rich food through-
out the entire larval period and complete the
larval development in about a half day less
time than is required for the workers. Any
worker egg may be made to develop into a queen
if the egg or newly hatched larva is transferred
to a queen cell where it is fed on the richer food
and has the larger cell in which to develop.
Beekeepers take advantage of this fact. to rear
queens from good stock in large numbers. The
worker and drone larve are only fed royal
jelly during the first three days of their growth
and then are weaned and fed on coarser food.
Six days are required for the development of
the worker larve and a few hours longer for

30 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

the drones. During the earlier stages of their
development the little larva remain curled up
in the bottoms of the cells, but when they com-
plete their growth they stretch out lengthwise
in the cells and spin very delicate cocoons and
the cells are sealed over with wax.

The bee now enters upon the third stage of
its life, that of the pupa. During this stage it
takes no food and remains in absolute quiet.
In something less than eight days the queens
will complete the transformation, only sixteen
days being required from the time the egg is
laid until the mature queen is ready to leave
her royal cell. The workers require twelve days
for this stage and drones fifteen days. Twenty-
one days is the time required for worker bees
to develop from the egg and twenty-four days
for the drone. It will be seen that it takes eight
more days for the male bee to develop than for
the perfect female, and three days more than
for the worker or modified female.

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 31

The normal food of the bee is honey and
pollen, both of which are gathered from flow-
ers. Water is essential, especially during
brood rearing and the bees seek it eagerly in
early spring. In time of scarcity bees will take
fruit juices or other sweets, but when there is
plenty of nectar in the fields they pay little at-
tention to anything else. At such times even
honey may be exposed in the open air for days
without attracting the bees.

Nectar.—Since the bees are known to be
very useful in distributing the pollen among
the flowers it seems that nectar is secreted for
the purpose of attracting the bees and other
insects and thus insuring proper fertilization
of the bloom. When first gathered by the bees
it is very thin and watery, but a change of com-
position, called inversion, takes place in the
honey sac of the bee, in which it is carried to the
hive. After being placed in the cells it is evap-
orated and thickened and finally sealed. If

32 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

honey is taken from the hive too soon it is thin
and will sour. The process of evaporation and
thickening which takes place in the hive is called
ripening. Usually honey that is well sealed is
sufficiently well ripened for use, but honey
from some flowers requires a good deal of time
before it will reach the best condition.

Pollen, often called bee-bread, is used in
large quantities as food for the young bees. A
mixture of pollen and honey furnishes food for
the worker larve after they are three days old.

Both queens and drones when in the hive
are fed by the workers. Aside from pollen and
nectar the bees also gather another substance,
called propolis. This is used as a glue to close
up the cracks on the approach of winter, to
fasten down the cover, or other similar use.
The beekeeper finds it difficult to remove the
propolis from his hands after a few hours’ work
in the apiary on a warm day.

When the worker emerges from her cell she

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 33

does not go at once to the field, but remains
within the hive for several days. At first she
is as downy as a little chick and probably does
nothing for a day or two. Soon, however, she
begins her work as a nurse to the larve, which
is probably her first duty. She shortly takes
hold wherever a task needs attention, whether it
be to feed the queen or drones, clean the hive,
build combs, guard the entrance to the hive, or
fanning to keep up a circulation of air, or any
of the many duties necessary to care for such a
large family.

After a few days the young workers will
take short flights outside the hive, thus becom-
ing familiar with surrounding conditions. At
first they fly back and forth in front of the hive,
never going more than a few feet from the en-
trance. With several hundred workers taking
their first flights on a warm day, there is an
appearance of great activity and the novice

may be deceived into thinking that there is
3

34 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

much honey coming to the hive or that strange
bees are robbing them. The distance of the
flight is gradually lengthened until the worker
becomes so familiar with the hive and its sur-
roundings that it is no longer necessary for
her to make note of her situation. She will then
fly directly to the field and return to the exact
place where the hive stood, even though it has
been removed before she left. It thus becomes
necessary to use great care in moving the hive
to either make the distance so great that every-
thing will be strange and the bees will make
note of the change or else move it but a very
short distance each day so that they will be
able to find it after they return to the former
position.

After the worker is two or three weeks old
she will begin her trips to the field in search of
honey or pollen and will continue the outside
work as long as she lives.

In summer when the harvest is on, the

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 35

worker bee lives but a short time, probably not
much more than six weeks. If the harvest is
over before she emerges from her cell she may *
live for six months and help to begin the next
season’s garnering.

Tue Swarm.—When the warm days come
in spring the population of the hive will in-
crease very rapidly. Apparently there is no
settled rule that governs swarming. It is the
natural method of increase, and as soon as a
colony becomes strong, preparations for a
division of the household may be made. In late
May or early June, in a favorable season, the
hive will be getting crowded. Thousands of
workers will be gathering honey and caring for
the multitudes of young bees that are daily
hatching. By this time drones will be getting
numerous and an examination may disclose
from one to a dozen or more queen cells. The
box hive beekeepers of our grandfathers’ day
would say that the bees will swarm, when they

36 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

begin to lay out in large clusters outside the
hive. Practical beekeepers of the present day
furnish the bees with sufficient room in which
to work, and thus guard against such loafing.
Under such conditions there was nothing for
the bees to do but to swarm, since there was not
room for them all in the hive, and, with honey
abundant in the fields, the instinct to gather it
was too strong to permit them to spend a sum-
mer in idleness.

When the beekeeper finds a number of
queen cells in the hive at this season of the year
he knows that the bees are preparing to swarm
and makes plans accordingly. The bees will
build queen cells also, when the queen is grow-
ing old and beginning to fail. This is done to
insure a young queen to replace the feeble
mother and is called “ supercedure.” When
the old queen is replaced during the honey flow
the bees are very likely to swarm anyway, even
though there is an abundance of room in the
hive.

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 37

The swarm may issue at any time after the
queen cells are sealed, though it often delays
until the young queens are ready to emerge.
Everything will apparently be going on as
usual, when, suddenly, the bees begin to pour
out of the hive like mad. They fairly tumble
over each other in their haste to reach the open
air, where they begin circling about with a loud
buzzing. 'The queen may be among the first to
leave the hive or she may be near the last.
While her going is necessary, and unless she
does go the bees soon return to the hive, there is
no more attention paid to her going, as far as
can be seen, than to that of any other bee.
After circling about for a short time the swarm
usually clusters on a limb of a tree, or in some
other convenient place. The place which proves
most convenient for the bees is often most in-
convenient for the beekeeper when there are

large trees about.
The time was when there was a great beat-

38 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

ing of pans and other noise-making implements
when the bees swarmed. The idea was that the
noise would cause the bees to cluster. Bee-
keepers know now that ninety-nine times out
of one hundred they will cluster anyway with-
out so much fuss, and the hundredth time they
will leave without ceremony in spite of the
noise. Clustering is a normal part of the
swarming and is as much to be expected as any
other natural impulse.

It is an easy, matter to hive the swarm by
placing a hive in position and shaking the bees
in front of it. They will usually go in without
difficulty. If a small cluster remains on the
outside, care should be used to see that the
queen is not left behind, for otherwise the bees
will not stay long inside the new home.

The first swarm to issue is called the prime
swarm and there is no way to foretell its ap-
pearance without an examination of the in-

terior of the hive. Since the colony is divided

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 39

for the purpose of founding a new establish-
ment, the bees will fill their sacs with honey so
that they are prepared to begin building combs
at once. The swarm may remain clustered for
several hours, or even for a day or two, in rare
cases. The beekeeper should be prepared to
hive his swarm at once to prevent them from
absconding, or leaving for parts unknown. It
is evident that scouts are out in search of a new
home. It often happens that bees will be seen
about a suitable opening for several days, when
suddenly a swarm will appear and take pos-
session. Where swarms remain clustered for
long periods, it is apparent that the scouts have
not yet found a suitable habitation.

The parent queen will leave the hive with
the new swarm, which also attracts most of the
field bees. The first queen to emerge from the
cell after the swarm has left will usually seek
for other queen cells and at once kill her rivals,

unless she is prevented from doing so by the

40 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

bees. It often happens, however, that the bees
have the swarming fever to such an extent that
they are not satisfied with casting a prime
swarm but will at once prepare for an after-
swarm. In this case the queen is not permitted
to injure the others still in the cells, but after
a day or two a second swarm with this new
queen will emerge. It often happens that sev-
eral virgin queens will emerge and go with an
after-swarm. Sometimes several after-swarms
issue at brief intervals until the parent colony
is reduced to a point where it is almost
worthless.

Excessive swarming results disastrously to
the dreams of a honey crop on the part of the
beekeeper. Where natural swarming is per-
mitted, steps should be taken to see that not
more than one swarm is permitted to issue. The
usual method is to place the new swarm on the
old stand and to move the old hive some dis-

tance away. In this way the returning field

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 41

bees will go with the new swarm and the old
stock will be so badly reduced that excess queen
cells will be destroyed, and the bees will there-
after attend to business. It is well, also, to
open the hive and remove all queen cells but
one, or if a virgin queen has already issued and
is present in the hive to remove all remaining
queen cells.

Ture Marine Fiicur.—When the young
queen has been out of her cell from four to eight
days she takes her mating flight. In the mean-
time she takes short flights outside the hive,
apparently for the purpose of marking the lo-
cation. When time for mating arrives she
circles high in the air, pursued by drones that
chance to be flying near at hand. The mating
always takes place in the air, the act being fatal
to the drone. One mating is sufficient for life,
under normal conditions, and the queen returns
to the hive to remain until such time as she shall

leave with a swarm. If perchance the queen

42 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

fails to become fertilized at the proper time, she
disappears or becomes a drone layer. It has
been proved beyond question that an unmated
queen can produce male offspring. In fact,
this is rather a common occurrence in the
apiary. An unmated queen is worthless, how-
ever, since all her offspring will be drones, and
unless she is replaced the colony will soon die.
With a drone-laying queen, conditions in the
hive are very similar to when there are fertile
workers, as already mentioned. Since the drone
is hatched from an unfertilized egg, he has no
father. This is the case with several other in-
sects, as is well known to naturalists.
ACTIVITIES OF THE NEW CoLony.—As
soon as the swarm is settled in the new quarters
the bees will form a compact cluster for the
purpose of secreting wax and building combs.
The wax scales are exuded from between the
segments of the abdomen. A high temperature

seems to be necessary to enable the bees to pro-

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 43

duce the wax and several pounds of honey are
digested for each pound of wax secreted.
Within a few hours the wax scales will be plen-
tiful and the bees will begin building the new
combs. Since the queen will need worker cells
for immediate use the first cells built will be
all of the worker size. If the queen is prolific
the bees may build the hive nearly full of
worker cells, but ordinarily it will not be long
until the bees have more comb built than she
can occupy, so the bees begin to build drone
cells, which are larger and apparently easier
to construct. It often happens that a new
swarm which is allowed to build the combs with-
out interference will construct from one fourth
to three-fourths of the combs of drone cells.
Too much drone comb insures that the follow-
ing season large numbers of drones will be
reared and that the colony can never be very
profitable. The drones not only require more
food, because of their larger size, but they add

44 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

nothing to the product of the hive and consume
large quantities of stores after they have
reached maturity. This condition is easily pre-
vented by filling the frames with full sheets of
foundation. Foundation is pure beeswax
rolled very thin and impressed with the exact
size and shape of worker combs. The bees are
quick to avail themselves of this big start
toward building their combs and a hive full of
worker combs is the result.

If the swarm finds a home in a hollow tree
or other natural cavity or is hived in a box, the
combs will be curved and built in an irregular
fashion, that facilitates the passing from one
part of the brood nest to another. The opera-
tions of the beekeeper necessitate straight
combs that can be examined without difficulty,
so frames are placed in the hives and founda-
tion placed in them as above mentioned, to in-
sure straight and even combs, as well as cells

of the desired size.

THE HONEY BEE FAMILY 45

The combs serve the bees for several pur-
poses. First the cells serve to provide snug
receptacles for the young. They also serve as
places to store the reserve food supply of honey
and pollen and resting places for the bees.

The combs when first built are white, gradu-
ally growing darker with use until some old
combs are almost black. However, there is a
difference in color of the wax depending upon
the source of the honey which the bees were
gathering at the time. In some warm climates
the wax is quite dark, and even in our northern
states where white wax is the rule, some is yel-
low even at first.

CHAPTER IV
NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

THE equipment which the beginner should
buy will depend upon the extent to which he
wishes to engage in honey production, and
whether he intends to produce comb or ex-
tracted honey. If the intention is to engage
in beekeeping on a commercial scale as soon as
possible, a very careful study of the local flora
and of honey-producing systems should be
made before starting, in order to avoid the pur-
chase of a large amount of equipment which
will later be discarded.

If the intention is to take up beekeeping
merely as a diversion and only to keep a few
colonies, extracted honey will probably be
more satisfactory in nine cases in every ten.
Equipment recommended in this chapter will

be more especially for the novice who wishes to
46

w.

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 47

keep but a few bees. The advice will be sound,
however, for the man or woman who wishes to
develop as rapidly as possible into a commercial
business. ‘‘ Productive Beekeeping,” by the

Fic. 1—A good smoker.
author of this book, is designed especially for
commercial beekeepers, and considers many

problems not possible in a book of this size.
ImporTANCE OF A Goop SmoxeER.—The
first implement that the novice should buy is a
good smoker (Fig. 1). If he has black or
mixed bees, it will be next to impossible to do

48 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

anything with them without the use of smoke.
To appreciate the value of smoke in bee con-
trol it must be remembered that the beehive
contains a highly organized community. While
apparently there is no overlord who directs the
work, each individual dee fills a place in per-
forming the duties of the hive. As mentioned
in the previous chapter, some are nurses, some
are foragers, some are guards, etc. Probably
every bee that lives out her normal life cycle
performs all of these duties at some period of
her existence. The only division of labor
seems to be one of age. The young bees feed
the young, secrete wax, etc., while the older
ones go to the fields for nectar, pollen, ete.
Aside from this general division of labor be-
tween young and older workers, the bees seem
to take hold wherever inclination leads, or
where the need is most pressing. Since the
prime object of the labor of the community is
the accumulation of a store of honey, guards

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 49

are very important to the safety of the hive.
On the approach of strange bees or strange
men, these guards are likely to use their stings
vigorously to prevent the looting of their
treasure.

By the use of smoke, the beekeeper can
quickly disorganize the whole community and
tear the hive to pieces without resistance. If
the bees are blacks, much more smoke will be
necessary than with gentle Italians or Cau-
casians. By placing the nozzle of the smoker
against the front of the hive and blowing a few
puffs of smoke into the entrance, and then re-
moving the cover and blowing more over the
tops of the frames, even cross bees are likely to
be quickly quieted and to lose all thought of
defence. Care should be used not to use any
more smoke than is necessary, a very common
fault with beginners. If the bees are gentle
it will not be necessary to use smoke at the en-

trance, but only a little across the top of the
4

50 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

frames when the cover is removed. During the
honey flow it is often possible to manipulate the
hives of gentle strains without using any
smoke.

When the smoke is blown into the hive the
bees rush about confusedly for a moment, and
then seek the open cells of honey. Their honey-
sacs are filled as though they were about to
swarm. When a worker bee is carrying a load
of honey she seldom shows any desire to sting.
This is why swarming bees are usually gentle.
When the swarm is about to depart each bee
will take a load, which will furnish a supply of
available food for several days after the new
home is reached.

PROTECTION FROM Stincas.—While ex-
perienced beekeepers often work among the
bees without protection, especially during a
honey flow, it is very unwise for the novice to
do so. The experienced beekeeper is so famil-
iar with the habits of the bees that he is not

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 51

likely to disturb them under conditions that will
arouse serious resentment. On the other hand,
the novice may be greatly surprised by a furore
of excitement in the hive and numerous stings,
even though he approaches the hive exactly as
he may have done on other occasions without
seeming to attract much notice from the bees.
The inmates of the hive are very responsive to
changes in weather or other conditions, and
their temper varies accordingly. During a
bright day when there is a good honey flow they
may be very gentle, while on a chill or cloudy
day when there is no honey coming from the
fields, they may be very cross and easily
aroused.

A veil that will prevent the bees from reach-
ing the head is easily made at home, or one can
be bought from any dealer in bee supplies.
While mosquito bar sewed to the rim of a straw
hat will serve the purpose, it obstructs the
vision and is not nearly as good as one made of

52 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

wire screen, sewed to the rim of a felt hat. An
apron sewed to the bottom with a draw string
in it, prevents the bees from crawling under.
Some kind of gloves should also be worn to
protect the hands. Any protection that will
prevent the bees from reaching the exposed
parts of the body, while permitting freedom of
motion and unobstructed sight will answer the

purpose very well.

Fic. 2—The value of the hive tool is far above its cost.

THE VALUE OF A HIVE TOOL cannot be meas-
ured by its cost. While many persons get
along with a small chisel or screw driver, the
cost of a hive tool is so slight and it can be put
to so many uses that one cannot afford to be
without it, even though he has but two or three
colonies of bees (Fig. 2). The hive tool is used
to loosen the cover, pry up the frames, scrape
off the burr combs and bits of wax and propolis

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 53

attached to unnecessary and _ inconvenient
places, and for many similar purposes. If one
has a small box or can in which to drop all stray
bits of wax he will keep his frames in enough
better condition to make his work much easier
and pleasanter, while at the same time saving
enough wax that would otherwise go to waste
to pay for the tool many times over.
BreE-Escares SHouLD Aso BE INCLUDED
IN Even A SMALL OutrFit.—It is so easy to
remove surplus honey from the hive by the use
of bee-escapes that they are a practical neces-
sity. These are of different kinds, but the
principle is the same. The bees are able to go
down but cannot return. By placing a honey-
board containing an escape under a super the
bees are all down in the hive below within a few
hours, and the super can be lifted off and the
honey removed without any annoyance of fight-
ing bees (Fig. 3). If the super is taken off
without using an escape it will be full of bees

54 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

which must be driven out. This takes time, is
unpleasant and also results in more or less
damage to the honey, as the bees will gnaw the
cappings when smoke is used to drive them out.

Escapes are inexpensive, and if one has but

Fic. 3.—It is easy to remove honey from the hive by placing a
bee-escape under the super.

a few colonies of bees, but one or two will be
necessary as the honey can be removed from
one hive at atime. They can be bought singly
at about fifty cents each, board and all. In
quantities they can be had for still less.
Use.ess EQquipMentT.—The author, in com-

mon with most other beekeepers, has invested

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 55

many dollars in equipment which is never used.
While there are other articles which can be
conveniently used, and which become necessary
in handling a large number of hives, the above
meagre list includes all the tools actually neces-
sary to care for three or four hives of bees run
for comb honey. Hives and hive parts will be
considered in the next chapter, but even with
hives, simplicity and economy work for effi-
ciency in honey production.

Nearly every supply catalogue lists swarm
catchers, and they are usually about the first
thing purchased by the beginner, yet after vis-
iting hundreds of apiaries the author cannot
recall one where a swarm catcher such as is de-
scribed in the supply catalogues is used for
taking swarms.

Queen and drone traps are not useless, but
they are of little value and are very seldom used
by an efficient beekeeper. It is far easier and
cheaper to prevent the raising of too many

56 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

drones in the first place, which is easily done by
the use of full sheets of foundation in the
brood-frames, as explained later on. Numer-
ous articles of this kind appear from time to
time only to be discarded and their manufac-
ture discontinued for lack of demand. The
tendency of the supply dealers of late is to
eliminate useless equipment from their cata-
logues, so that the novice is not tempted by
things of this kind as much as formerly.

Ir A NUMBER OF COLONIES are kept, a sec-
tion press for folding the sections and a founda-
tion fastener will be necessary, as too much
time will be required in preparing the comb
honey supers without them. Since there are
several different kinds described in every cata-
logue of supplies, most all of which are good,
it is not necessary for the author to state his
personal preference here. To do so might lead
the reader to buy the special kind, when an-
other might suit him better after giving both
a trial.

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 57

SpeciaL EQuipMENT FoR EXTRACTED
Honry.—For the production of extracted
honey, an extractor, of course, is necessary. A
small two-frame hand extractor will be suf-
ficient for the small apiary. A commercial
apiary will need at least a four-frame machine,
and many of them use eight-frame or larger
machines.

To extract the honey the beekeeper takes
the frames of honey from the bees and carefully
cuts the cappings from both sides of the comb
with a warm knife. The frames are then
placed in the baskets of the extractor and
turned very rapidly (Fig. 4). The motion of
the baskets whirling inside the big can throws
the honey out of the combs and against the side
of the can. It is then drawn off through a
faucet in the bottom of the extractor. Ex-
tracted honey differs from strained honey in
thus being thrown out by centrifugal force,
instead of being strained through a cloth after

58 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

the combs have been broken up. When the
honey is extracted the combs are returned, un-
damaged, to the bees to be filled again, while
with strained honey the combs are destroyed,

Fic. 4.—Honey is extracted by placing the combs in the baskets
and revolving them rapidly.

and more or less foreign material is mixed with
the honey.

Cost or Srartinc.—The price of bees
varies in different localities. In general it is

safe to presume that a full colony of bees can

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 59

be bought for ten to fifteen dollars where there
are any for sale. Often if one can find a bee-
keeper who is offering bees for sale, he will ask
not more than half that price, unless he has pure
stock. Three hives are included, as but little
more time will be necessary to care for three

colonies than for less.

For Comp Honey

Two pounds surplus foundation.

Four pounds medium brood foundation.

Three hives with one super each, nailed and painted.
Three extra supers complete.

Smoker.

Hive tool.

Veil.

Two honey boards with escapes.

For Extractep Honry

Three two-story hives.

Three extra supers, full depth.

Eleven and a half pounds medium brood foundation.
Smoker.

Hive tool.

Veil.

Extractor.

Uncapping knife.

60 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

If but one colony of bees is purchased the
extra hives will probably be sufficient for the
natural increase the first year at least.

The man who expects to go into honey pro-
duction extensively must expect to invest about
ten to twenty dollars per colony in hives, bees,
equipment, ete. Thus five hundred colonies of
bees will represent a working capital of five to
ten thousand dollars. In addition to the hives
and equipment necessary for a few colonies, the
large producer will need honey houses, cellars
or wintering cases, and a team or automobile
for getting his product to market and going to

and from his various apiaries.

CHAPTER V

HIVES AND HIVE PARTS

In their wild state bees lived in hollow trees
or in cavities in the rocks. Instead of being
straight, their combs were often built with a
curve suited to the particular cavity in which
they were built. Since the convenience of the
bees in passing from one part of their hive to
another was the only thing to be considered, the
combs were built in a natural manner. When
man first undertook to profit from the labor
of the bees by supplying them with suitable
shelter, he was content to furnish them with a
hollow log, a straw skep, or a rude box and
permit them to build their combs in their own
way. Such honey as could be secured was
taken from them by cutting out a part of the
combs from the main cavity or by killing the

bees and taking all their store. After a time
61

62 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

they were supplied with boxes with holes in
the top and another box was set on top of the
other. If the colony became strong and the
lower box became crowded they would some-
times fill the upper one also, and that would
then be removed with little injury to the bees,
since they would usually have sufficient stores
below to keep them through the winter.

It is easy to see that beekeeping could never
develop into a profitable enterprise under such
conditions. There are men still living who re-
member the time when it was thought that there
was no better way in which to keep bees. When
Langstroth invented the movable frame hive,
it resulted in the revolution of honey produc-
tion and the development of an industry, which
while yet in its infancy, adds millions to the
wealth of the commonwealth, and from which
many people derive their livelihood.

Mr. Langstroth’s invention provided a sep-
arate frame for each comb (Fig. 5) and led

HIVES AND HIVE PARTS 63

the bees to build straight, instead of curved
combs. This enables the beekeeper to reach
any corner of the hive at any time desired and
to remove combs which are full of honey and
to replace them with empty ones, or if the col-

Fic. 5.—The Langstroth frame.

ony needs feed to give them full combs in place
of the empty ones. Instead of a matter of guess
it now becomes one of the most easily directed
agricultural pursuits, for with a suitable sea-
son, the beekeeper can so manipulate his col-
onies as to obtain the maximum amount of
honey. It is now possible to examine the brood
nest at any time and ascertain whether or not

64 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

disease be present, whether the queen is prolific,
or failing, or whether the bees are building
queen cells in preparation for swarming.
Kinps or Hives.—There are still several
kinds of hives in the market, although not
nearly as many as there were a few years ago.
The supply dealers are finding it greatly to
their advantage to standardize their goods and
are making a conscientious effort to offer their
customers only such as will give satisfactory
results. There are still a few small hives of-
fered for comb honey which should not be
manufactured, and which in the writer’s opin-
ion will not find a market much longer. In
order to give the best results the brood cham-
ber of any hive must be large enough to give a
prolific queen plenty of room to lay, for it is
only the strong colonies that pile up big crops
of honey. Unless there is plenty of room for
the queen to lay to the limit of her capacity,
the colony can never store as much honey as it
would under more favorable conditions.

HIVES AND HIVE PARTS 65

The author always recommends the ten-
frame Langstroth or dove-tailed hive for both
comb and extracted honey. This hive is pre-
ferred for the reason that it is in more general
use, and has found favor with more people than
any other hive. If the beekeeper proposes to
produce only extracted honey, the Dadant hive
with its deeper frame has some advantages
which it will pay to consider well before making
a final decision. The beginner who expects to
keep only a few colonies for pleasure will find
the ten-frame dove-tailed hive best for his pur-
pose, for surplus stock can be sold in these hives
more readily, and the same hivebody can be
adapted to the production of either comb or
extracted honey by simply a change of supers.

Parts or H1ves.—Whether one intends to
produce comb or extracted honey the brood
chamber of the hive will be the same, as will the
top and bottom. The super, which is the store
room for the surplus honey, is very different,

however.
5

66 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

The empty hivebody is like a box with
neither top nor bottom (Fig. 6). Inside this
hivebody the frames hang. The bees build a
comb in each frame. Fig. 5 shows the empty

{
YS

RERESENER

Fic. 6—The hivebody is like an Fic. 7.—Hivebody with frames in
empty box. place.

frame. The beginner is often confused’ by the
different kinds of frames offered in the cata-
logue. Hoffman frames are the same size as
the regular Langstroth frame, but they are so
constructed that they are more nearly self-
spacing. Fig. 7 shows a hivebody with frames

in place. In late fall when no more honey will

HIVES AND HIVE PARTS 67

come in, there is no need of supers, so with the

addition of the top and bottom the hive will

be complete as used at that season.
Coms-Honry Stuprer.—Many beginners

will prefer to produce comb honey, especially

Fic. 8.—Hive for production of honey in sections, or comb honey.

if they have only a few bees. At Fig. 8 will be
seen a hive with comb-honey super in place and
a second super showing parts beside it. Comb
honey is marketed in the small sections which
are designed to hold one pound. When filled
entirely and well finished they will weigh six-
teen ounces, but the greater part of the sec-

638 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

tions marketed fall somewhat short of the full
weight. A comb-honey super for a ten-frame
hive holds twenty-eight of these one-pound sec-
tions. In the figure there is a section holder

woot oe

Fic. 9.—Hive for producing extracted honey.

with four sections laying across the top. There
is also a separator lying beside it. The sep-
arator is a thin sheet of wood which is placed
between the rows of sections to prevent the bees
from building the combs too thick or uneven.
By placing thin sheets of starter, or foundation
in these sections as described elsewhere, the bees

HIVES AND HIVE PARTS 69

are induced to build nice straight combs such as
we see in the markets.

Extractep-Honry Super. — Extracted-
honey supers are of two kinds, the deep and
the shallow. The author prefers the deep super
because it is the same size as the hivebody, and
serves the same purpose in an emergency. If
the hives and supers are of the same size, it
saves much needless duplication which becomes
necessary if different sizes are used. Fig. 9
shows an extracted honey hive together with
empty super by its side. It is in fact a two-
story hive.

The shallow super is very similar excepting
that the frames are not so deep and the super
correspondingly smaller.

CHAPTER VI

PASTURE FOR BEES

SomME or THE PLants THat MAKE THE
Best Honey 1n Various SEctions.—Since
the invention of the movable-frame hive has
made commercial honey production possible, it
has been the dream of the beekeeping specialist
to grow special honey-producing plants in suf-
ficient quantity to insure a honey crop. At one
time the Michigan Agricultural College sowed
a field to Rocky Mountain bee plant to find out
its value for the honey producer, but as yet no
plant has been found that will produce nectar
in sufficient quantity to justify its cultivation
for honey alone.

There are, however, a number of forage
plants that are valuable both as sources of nec-
tar and for hay or pasture, and beekeepers have

sometimes found it profitable to pay part of the
70

PASTURE FOR BEES 71

cost of seed sown by neighboring farmers in
order that they might profit by the honey.
Alsike and white or Dutch clover are especially
valuable for this double purpose. When clover
is grown for seed an arrangement satisfactory
to both farmer and beekeeper may be made, as
the presence of large numbers of bees greatly
facilitates pollination of the blossoms, with the
result that a larger crop of clover seed will be
secured.

Sweet clover has long been a favorite with
beekeepers, because of its abundant nectar
secretion. For many years it was regarded as
a weed, and its introduction was regarded with
disfavor by farmers. In one locality of my
acquaintance a beekeeping farmer so stirred his
neighbors by sowing a small field of sweet
clover that they sought to have him prosecuted
for introducing noxious weeds. Sweet clover
has now come into its own in that locality;

many farmers are growing it, and the original

72 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

introducer has 170 acres of it on his 400-acre
farm. He also has 300 colonies of bees, and
more than a carload of the finest white honey
is shipped from his apiary some seasons.

Since it is not profitable to grow crops espe-
cially for bee pasturage, the beekeeper must
have land enough for a large acreage of some
crop valuable for honey production and for
forage for livestock, or he must select a loca-
tion where suitable plants are grown. Unless
he is surrounded with suitable flora he will find
it difficult to grow a sufficient acreage of any
plant to make his apiary profitable.

Bees fly over an area from one to three miles
in every direction from the hive. It is evident
that considerable territory is required to grow
a sufficient amount of bee pasturage to support
even a moderate-sized apiary. Five to ten
acres of any special crop will help, of course,
but no very appreciable increase of honey will

be noticed from such a small area, except under

- unusual circumstances.

PASTURE FOR BEES 73

PastuRAGE Earty IN THE SEASON NECES-
sary.—No single crop will make a satisfactory
dependence for the honey producer, although
sweet clover will come as near doing it as any-
thing. If the beekeeper wants to make honey
production an exclusive business he should seek
a location where there is a great variety of
honey-producing plants through a long sea-
son. Some of the sources that produce the
largest yields are uncertain, yielding profitably
only once in two to five years. Such a source
is basswood. When there is a large acreage of
basswood forest within reach the beekeeper
should get a splendid crop from it now and
then. But if this is his main dependence profit-
able crops are likely to be several years apart.

Some plant that yields nectar and pollen
early in the season, to stimulate brood rearing
in advance of the main flow, is of great import-
ance. For this purpose fruit bloom and dande-
lions are much sought for in the Northern

74 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

States. When nectar is coming to the hive the
queen will be active and will lay large numbers
of eggs. Young bees will shortly appear in
large numbers, making strong colonies that are
absolutely essential to storing profitable honey
crops. After the long winters the colonies will
be greatly reduced and some time will be re-
quired to enable them to reach normal strength.

When the main honey flow is from white
clover, as in most of the Northern States, the
beekeeper must lend every aid to get the bees
ready for the harvest. Colonies that are weak
at the beginning of harvest are seldom profit-
able, as the honey flow will be over before they
are ready for storing in earnest. Big colonies,
with the hives fairly running over with bees,
are the ones that pile up honey.

To begin the season, as soon as frost is out
of the ground and the days are warm enough
for the bees to fly. the willows and maples fur-

nish the first taste of nectar. The elms fur-

PASTURE FOR BEES 75

nish large quantities of pollen, which is an
essential food for the young bees. Following
these, the fruit trees bloom and then the dande-
lions. Thus there is no break. If nectar secre-
tion is suddenly checked, the queen will stop
laying until it begins again, unless the bees are
fed to stimulate a light honey flow. Thus a
locality that favors early brood rearing is one
where the bees are ready for business when the
flow from clover really begins. It often hap-
pens that the clover flow does not last more
than two to four weeks. Strong colonies will
store a surprising amount of honey in that short
period, which in many localities is the only
source of surplus.

Alfalfa is the principal source of nectar in
many irrigated sections of the West. For some
unaccountable reason it secretes little nectar in
the humid regions east of the Missouri River,
but many carloads of alfalfa honey reach the
Eastern markets from Colorado, Idaho, Utah
and other Western States.

76 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

A number of minor crops produce well in
limited localities. Wild asters, of many species
and of wide distribution, bloom late in the fall
and often furnish a crop of honey in seasons
when other sources have failed.

The pariridge pea of the roadside is visited
freely by the bees in the Northern States, but
little is thought of it as a honey plant. In parts
of Florida large crops are gathered from it. In
some localities wild sunflowers are so abundant
that the bees profit wonderfully, and a substan-
tial addition is made to the beekeeper’s output.
Goldenrod is an uncertain yielder in late au-
tumn. In some localities it is valued very
highly, and is sufficiently abundant to produce
a profitable quantity of nectar; in other sec-
tions the bees seldom visit it.

Heartsease or smartweed, also called lady’s
thumb, is an important source of honey in many
places. In extremely wet years, when fields

are too wet to plant to the usual crops or when

PASTURE FOR BEES 77

large areas are overflowed, this plant often
comes up over large areas and yields heavily to
the bees in mid-summer. Plants like catnip,
which are not abundant, but yield large quan-
tities of nectar, add to the sum total of the sea-
son’s production.

Locality is the beekeeper’s big problem. If
the locality is poor little can be done to improve
it unless some profitable nectar-yielding plant
is generally introduced into the neighborhood.
The commercial growing of cucumbers and
cantaloupes furnishes splendid pasturage for
the bees during the season of bloom. Buck-
wheat is one of the main sources of dependence
in New York and other Eastern States, yet in
Iowa it seldom amounts to much as a honey
plant.

It often happens that a season is unfavor-
able in one place while a fair crop is gathered
not more than ten to twenty miles distant, be-

cause of rains or some other local condition.

78 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

The wide-awake beekeeper often avoids failure
by moving his bees to favorable pasturage.

The same general principles will apply to
the Pacific Coast and the South, although the
list of plants will be different. In mild climates
where the bees can fly every week in the year, it
is important to have as many plants that bloom
during the season between honey flows as
possible.

IN CITIES AND TOWNS it is seldom advisable
to keep a large number of colonies. Usually
there is sufficient pasture from sweet clover and
such weeds as motherwort along the canals and
railroads, white clover on the lawns and such
trees as basswood in the parks and along the
residence streets to support the bees. The
author often receives letters from city dwellers
asking what crops they can plant in order to
keep bees. There seems to be a common im-
pression that it might be possible to grow
enough of some nectar-producing plant in the

PASTURE FOR BEES 79

back yard to supply the needs of a colony or
two of bees without difficulty. Such persons are
always informed that there is nothing that they
can plant in such limited space which will make
any noticeable difference in the product of the
hive.

ImporTANCE OF PoLLEN.—An abundance
of pollen for spring brood rearing is very im-
portant, and plants that produce pollen in
quantity at this important season are second in
value, only, to plants that yield a liberal surplus
of honey. Without a plentiful supply of pol-
len, brood rearing will not progress in a satis-
factory manner, as it is absolutely essential for
larval food. In most localities there is seldom
a scarcity of pollen during the height of the sea-
son, but in some places the bees do not find it
plentiful at the time when they should be build-
ing up in preparation for the honey flow. Rye
flour, meal or other substitutes which will sup-

ply the bees with protein are sometimes resorted

80 BEGINNER'S BEE BOO

to im an emergency, but there is nothing equal
to natural pollen for brood rearing. The sue-
cessful beekeeper always studies the honey and
pollen sources of his locality.

There are many plants that furnish both
honey and pollen, while there are others that
furnish only one. Many of the plants which
furnish pollen in greatest abundance furnish no
nectar at any time.

The corn plant furnishes pollen in: preat
quantities, yet the blossoms do not secrete nee-
tar. The bees are said at times to sceure a
sweet substance from the base of the Teaves,
and since aphids are sometimes found on the
plant, honeydew, which is an inseet exeretion,
may be gathered from this source. Ragweed,
elm, cte., are also valuable sources of pollen.

Dirrerences tx SraAson. There may be
an abundance of blossoms of the best honey
plants and yet, in some seasons, the bees will

get but little honey. Just what conditions in-

PASTURE FOR BEES 81

fluence the flow of nectar are not fully under-
stood. One plant will yield most freely under
given conditions when another will not yield
at all. Some plants yield best under warm and
moist conditions, while others require hot and
dry weather. For this reason plants that fur-
nish honey in quantity in one locality, often fail
entirely in another. Alfalfa is one of the best
honey plants in the West, but of little value in
the humid climate of the East. Buckwheat is
a dependable source in New York, but seldom
produces any surplus in Iowa.

All these things must be taken into account
by the beginner who expects to realize a good
return from his bees. He must learn the kind
of blossoms on which to place the most depen-
dence in his locality, and plan his operations
so as to have his bees in the best possible con-
dition at the time of the bloom of these plants.
In Iowa it is of little importance to have col-

onies strong after the close of the white clover
6

82 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

flow, except in a few limited spots. In some
eastern localities it is not important that the
colonies reach their maximum strength so early
since there will be little for them to gather until
after midsummer.

In almost any locality there will be an occa-
sional season when the honey crop will be a
failure. There will also be several vears when
poor or moderate crops are gathered and an
occasional year when a bountiful harvest will
be brought in by every colony of reasonable
strength. It should always be borne in mind
that it is only the strong colonies that gather the
profitable crops.

Tue Principat Honey Piants
Northeastern States:
Basswood, or Linden. Willows.
Buckwheat. Maples.
Clover, alsike, white, Milkweed.
sweet, etc. All the Spanish needles.
clovers yield nectar, but Indian currant, or coral
some have corollas so berry.
deep that the bees are MHeartsease, or smart-
unable to reach it. weeds.

PASTURE FOR BEES 83

Fruit blossoms. Apples,
pears, peaches, straw-
berries, raspberries and
other fruits are valuable
honey plants.

both
and pollen in
abundance.

Dandelions furnish
nectar

California:

Yucca.

Willows.

Mustard.

Rocky Mountain bee plant.

Fruit, including orange,
apple, pear, etc.”

Clover, including sweet
clover.

Alfalfa.

Lima bean.

Alfilerilla and filaree.

Teaas:

Horsemint.

Alfalfa.

Basswood.

Cactus or prickly pear.

Catsclaw and _ huajilla,
species of acacia.

Wild sunflowers.

Mezquit, or screw bean.

Cotton,

Vervain, or verbena.
Wild sunflowers.
Sumac.

Asters.

Golden rod.

Prickly pear.

Gum, or ‘eucalyptus, of
which there are several
species.

Blue thistle.

Manzanita.

Carpet grass.

Sage, of several kinds.

Blue curls.

Tarweed.

Goldenrod.

Sumac.
White and sweet clover.
Fruit,
pears, etc., and such
wild fruits as

including apples,

haw-
thorne.

Melons and cucumbers.

Hoarhound,

84 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

Florida and Southeastern States:

Gallberry. Palmetto.
Tupelo. Partridge pea.
Cow pea. Pepper bush.
Hop tree. Pepper tree.
Holly. Pennyroyal.
Logwood. Rhododendron.
Manchineel. Sourwood.

Fruit, including orange, Snowvine.
which yields well in Titi, both white and black.
Florida. Tulip tree.

CHAPTER VII
SUGGESTIONS FOR GETTING STARTED WITH BEES

Iv is usually best to seek out some beekeeper
as near home as possible, and buy two or three
colonies to be moved to the new location. If the
bees are not in such hives as the buyer wishes
to use they must be transferred with the atten-
dant discomfort and danger of loss of brood
and queen, as well as the severe setback given
the colony in the operation.

The up-to-date beekeeper who cannot get
what he wants near home buys bees in pack-
ages, queens included, and places them on full
sheets of foundation in new hives. There is
a minimum of trouble and bother, while the
bees act much like a newly hived swarm and
proceed to comb building at once. By this
method it will be necessary to wait until there

is honey to be had in the fields, so that the bees
85

86 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

can build their combs under favorable condi-
tions. Since there are now numerous breeders
who specialize in bees in combless packages it
is an easy matter to buy whatever number are
wanted and to get them at about the time de-
sired. Correspondence with the breeder some
time in advance will insure delivery at the
proper time. Some care should be used to in-
sure dealing with a reliable person. Since the
bee journals go to a good deal of trouble to
investigate the standing of their advertisers,
it is easily possible to protect one’s self in ad-
vance by writing to the editor of one of the
journals and making enquiry about the stand-
ing of the particular breeder with which one
contemplates placing the order.

If it seems desirable to purchase bees al-
ready on combs, the novice should always have
some experienced beekeeper examine them for
him if possible, to insure that the bees are not

queenless, or that there is not too much drone

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 87

comb in the hive. It often happens that the
person wishing to buy bees will find it neces-
sary to take about what is offered. If bees in
poor condition are purchased, the buyer should
pay accordingly and know what is necessary to
put them in proper condition to harvest a prof-
itable crop. Personally the author would pre-
fer to pay a liberal price for Italian bees, on
straight combs, in good hives, than to buy black
or hybrid bees in undesirable hives at any
price. The bother of transferring, the cost of
new hives and queens and the time lost will
amount to considerable, to say nothing of the
irritation caused by such a disagreeable task.
TRANSFERRING.—When the bees are pur-
chased in such hives, it is usually the best plan
to leave them in the old hive until they swarm.
The new swarm should be hived in a new ten-
frame hive and set where the old one stood.
The old hive should be set close to one side of

the new swarm, on the old stand. After about

88 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

a week set the old hive on the other side of the
new one. The object of this is to get all the
young bees as fast as they emerge to go into the
new hive with the swarm. After three weeks
from the time that the swarm issued all young
bees will have emerged and they can then be
shaken in front of the new hive with the swarm
and the old hive broken up. The old combs ean
be melted into wax.

Another way is to set the new hive on top
of the old hive at once and not wait for the
bees to swarm. ‘The top of the old hive and
bottom of the new one should, of course, be
removed so that the new hive will serve as a
super. Usually the queen will soon go above
and begin to lay so that the old hive can be
removed from underneath as soon as all the
brood has emerged. Sufficient super room
should be placed above the new hive to permit
the bees to continue to work without crowding
the new hive, or they may be slow to begin

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 89

housekeeping above and simply use the new
hive to store their honey.

Formerly it was a common practice to
transfer bees by cutting out the combs from the
old hive and tying them into the frames. The
bees would fasten the combs to the frames and
remove the strings. Such combs, however, are
never very satisfactory and the plan is not to be
recommended generally. There are times
when bees are to be removed from the side of a
building or hollow tree or other position where
they are not readily accessible, when this
method is necessary. In most cases it will be
advisable to substitute new combs or full
sheets of foundation, and to melt up the trans-
ferred combs after the bees are established in
the new hive.

Time to Start.—In the Northern States
the best time to begin beekeeping is in spring.
When fruit trees are blooming is a good time.
The bees can then find plenty of stores from

90 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

the beginning, and if the season be favorable
they should store a crop of honey for their
owner the first summer.

The fruit trees bloom several weeks before
the main honey flow, so that there is time for
a small colony to build up and become popu-
lous before the blooming of the white clover,
which is the main source of nectar east of the
Missouri River.

Movine Brrs.—If bees are bought which
are already on combs there are several things
to be considered. If they are moved but a short
distance, many of the bees will go back to the
old location. If the distance is two or three
miles or more there will be little to fear on that
score. For shorter distances some means must
be taken to insure that they will make note of
their new location before going to the fields.
It is a common practice to put the colony in a
dark cellar for a few days before setting them

on their new stand, and then to jar the hive

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 91

somewhat when releasing them or take some
other means of causing them to notice their
new location.

If they are to be moved but a few rods or
across a small lot, the best way is to move them
two or three feet each day. Even this short
distance will cause them great confusion at
first, although they will quickly adjust them-
selves to it.

If there be brood and honey in the hive and
the weather be hot, there is great danger of
melting the combs and smothering the bees
when confined. Even if the hives are to be
hauled but a few miles and be on the way only
an hour or two plenty of ventilation should be
given. It is very difficult to move bees heavy
with brood and honey in hot weather, for the
amount of heat generated is surprising. An
empty super on top of the hive to give the bees
a place to cluster, and this covered with screen

to provide ventilation is as little as can be done

92 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

with safety. In addition, the entrance should
be closed, and if the hive can be raised a few
inches off the bottom to leave a space under
the frames it is very desirable. Nearly every
beekeeper of experience can point to some dis-
astrous result of moving bees without sufficient
ventilation. In cold weather or when there is
little brood in the hive, the difficulties are
much less.

STARTING BEEKEEPING COMMERCIALLY.—
To the man who expects to make beekeeping a
business some of the advice above given will
hardly apply. He will wish to start on a larger
scale and increase as rapidly as is consistent
with safety in order to get returns as soon as
possible. While many men have taken up bee-
keeping without previous training and have
succeeded, it is a better plan to spend a season
in the employ of a successful apiarist and to
become familiar with the general practice of

beekeeping. He can then buy a reasonable

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 93

number of colonies and undertake their care
with little risk. While the author is personally
acquainted with one man who began by buying
eight hundred colonies, even though he knew
almost nothing about bees, and has been suc-
cessful, there is a great deal of risk in such a
venture. An epidemic of disease, a poor sea-
son when robbing was bad or any one of sev-
eral adverse conditions would result very
disastrously. While the general advice to begin
with not more than two or three colonies may
not always apply, it is much safer to begin with
such a number as one can lose without seriously
crippling one’s resources. An apiary of fifty
colonies properly handled can be increased to
three or four times that number in a season,
and give the owner some valuable experience.
The person who has not had some previous ex-
perience may very well be cautioned against
plunging too heavily on the start. Even though

there were no other danger, one who has no

94 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

particular system in mind would easily be led
into buying a lot of equipment which will be
unsuited to the location in which he lives, or the
system of honey production which he may later
decide to follow.

Cuoosine a4 Location.—To the man who
expects to make honey production a business
the choice of a location is a most important mat-
ter. The honey plants within reach and the
markets available for his crop are both prime
essentials for success. If the locality is already
well stocked with bees he cannot hope for a
profitable venture unless he buy out some man
already on the ground, and thus take over the
bees that are already located.

If there are long periods of time when no
honey is gathered, it will draw too heavily on
the stores to make a profitable season probable.
A desirable location is one where there is some-
thing from which the bees can at least get a
living during most of the growing season, so

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 95

that the honey stored during the main honey
flow will be mostly surplus. If there are two
good honey flows so much the better. There
are many localities where the bees get sufficient
stores for early brood rearing from fruit bloom
and dandelion blossoms, followed by a good
flow from white and sweet clover and also an-
other later flow from heartsease, Spanish
needle or some other plant.

An abundance of pollen early in spring is
an important consideration, for without it the
bees are slow in breeding up populous colonies,
such as are essential for storing big crops (see
Chapter VI).

In some favorable markets honey brings
twice the price that it does in others. If one is
so situated that he can build up a profitable
retail trade and thus realize the maximum
price for his product, it will add materially
to his income.

In general it will not pay a man to leave

96 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

his home community and move to a distant
state to engage in beekeeping, unless there is
some reason for going other than to find bee
pasturage, for there are few bonanza bee loca-
tions. However, it often happens that a dis-
tance of but a few miles in one’s own county
will make a great difference in the possible
honey production. The character of the crops
grown, nearness to streams and similar things
make more difference than long distances in
miles. A neighborhood where alsike clover is
grown for seed, or where there are large areas
of white clover pasture, should be much better
than neighborhoods where most of the land is
cultivated in such crops as corn and wheat. The
vicinity of fruit growers, or truck gardeners
should be desired, other things being equal.
Puacine THE APIARY.—An apiary should
never be placed in an exposed position if it can
be avoided. A sheltered position is very de-
sirable, especially during the cold spring

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 97

months. A natural windbreak is much more
serviceable in breaking the winds than a tight
board fence or a building.

Partial shade is to be preferred to open
sunshine, at least for the comfort of the bee-
keeper. While many apiaries placed in the
blazing sun seem to give as good results as
those in shade, the shaded situation, if not too
dense, is to be preferred. Bees will not do as
well in a situation where there is too much
shade. Hives left in the open sun should be
shaded with boards.

Keerinc Down WEEDS AND Grass.—
Some provision should be made for keeping the
entrance of the hive free from grass and weeds.
One often sees the hives surrounded with such
a dense growth that the bees coming in with
their loads can reach the hive with difficulty.
Many heavily laden bees will be lost under such
circumstances.. Hives should be so placed that

when a bee drops to the ground in front she can
7

98 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

crawl in without having to take wing again.
A half hour’s watch beside the hive during the
height of the honey flow will soon demonstrate
the importance of easy access to the hive for
the home-coming workers. Hives set up on
stakes or blocks are very difficult of access to
bees that fall to the ground before reaching the
alighting board. In most well-regulated api-
aries the hives are placed on cement hive stands,
or on boards so that the bees can walk right into
the hive from the ground in front. If they are
two or three inches higher than the ground
around, a board is leaned against the front of
the alighting board to bridge the gap.
Provininc Warter.—It is important that
water be easy of access, as the bees use large
quantities of it, especially in spring when brood
rearing is at its height. A tub or half barrel of
water, covered with chipped cork or shavings
which will enable the bees to reach the water

without drowning will serve the purpose very

GETTING STARTED WITH BEES 99

well. Such a watering place should be placed
early in spring before the bees form the habit
of visiting water troughs or pumps, and thus
annoying the neighbors. It is a simple matter
to provide water in some open dish with suit-
able provision to save the bees from drowning,
but it is important, unless there be a pond or
stream within easy reach of the apiary.

CHAPTER VIII
WHEN BEES MUST BE FED

ALTHOUGH under normal conditions bees
not only gather their own food, but store a sur-
plus for their owner, there are times when it
becomes necessary to supply them with food.
Every year hundreds of colonies die for lack of
sufficient stores because their owner is careless
or ignorant of their needs. It is very poor
policy to permit the bees to starve, and it is
easy to supply their needs in this direction.

SWARMS WHICH ISSUE LATE will often be
unable to gather sufficient honey to carry them
through the winter. They can either be fed or
united with stronger swarms which have a plen-
tiful supply, as seems best. A large swarm will
winter on less honey than a small one, and be
worth much more in spring. The reason of this

is very apparent. The source of the heat of the
100

WHEN BEES MUST BE FED 101

colony is the honey consumed and it will require
a larger consumption of food to maintain the
temperature of a small cluster than a large one,
just as less fuel is required to warm a room full
of people, than one in which there are only two
or three persons.

If the colony be a large one, it will pay to
feed them a considerable amount of stores in
order to get them through the winter, but
a weak colony is usually worth more to
strengthen medium or stronger ones than alone.

IN REMOVING THE HONEY it often happens
that an insufficient quantity is left for the bees.
Before the bees are put away for winter,
they should be carefully examined to make sure
that a plentiful supply of stores is still in the
hive. An equivalent of five or six full combs
will usually be needed, and sometimes more. It
is much safer to leave more than they will need

than to take chances on an insufficient supply.

102 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

The author usually plans to leave at least
forty pounds of honey for wintering. If the
following spring is mild and favorable, it will
not all be used, but if the weather in March and
April is cold and backward they will often need
to be given an additional supply to keep up
brood rearing until the honey flow begins (see
Winter Preparation).

The usual advice to allow twenty-five
pounds does not make a sufficient allowance for
an unfavorable spring following the winter,
and it is easier and safer to give a plentiful
supply in the fall to insure safety until after
fruit bloom.

IN sEASONS OF scaRcITY the beekeeper
should always examine his colonies to make
sure that they have sufficient stores. If the
weather is cold and wet in early spring so that
the bees have little opportunity to fly, there is
danger that all stores will be consumed in brood
rearing and the colony will perish, as already

WHEN BEES MUST BE FED 103

stated. This is a common occurrence among
bees whose owners give them little attention.

Almost every season there will be times
during the summer when no honey is coming to
the hives, and if this condition prevails for any
length of time the owner should guard against
starvation. The author has known of many
colonies starving in June, just at what should
have been the time of a good honey flow. A
long continued spell of rainy weather during
which the bees could not fly was the cause. If
such weather follows the time when the honey
is taken from the hives at any time, some at-
tention is necessary to guard against disaster
from lack of food.

Occasionally there will be a year when little
honey is stored all season through. At such
times there is great loss, for too many bee-
keepers depend upon the bees looking out for
themselves, and never make any provision for

feeding them. It would be no more foolish to

104 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

permit cattle or hogs to die of starvation be-
cause the forage crops are not sufficient, than
to allow the bees to do so. They will harvest
enough honey in a few weeks of good honey
flow to tide them over a very long period of
adverse condition.

For QuEEN REARING AND BUILDING UP
Nucie1—At any time during the summer
when the honey flow stops and the bees stop
bringing honey to the hive, the queen will check
her egg laying. The queen breeder who wishes
to raise queens at such seasons, or the beekeeper
who has a lot of nuclei (small colonies made by
division), will often find it necessary to feed
the bees, even though there is plenty of honey
in the hive. Brood-rearing must continue in
these small colonies if they are to become suf-
ficiently populous to winter as strong colonies.
A little sugar syrup every day, in imitation of
the natural amount of honey coming to the
hive, will greatly assist in keeping the queen at
her regular duties.

WHEN BEES MUST BE FED 105

How to Frrp.—The best possible feed for
bees is the natural food, which is honey. The
beekeeper will do well to reserve one full comb
for every colony of bees that he has for feed-
ing in case of emergency. This does not in-
clude the feed to be given at the close of the
honey flow for the purpose of wintering, but
there should be a liberal reserve after the bees
are ready for winter, to insure an abundance of
honey for spring brood-rearing. Some seasons
it will not be needed, but it is very convenient
to have at such times as feeding is necessary.

One great advantage in using natural stores
is the ease with which it can be given. When a
colony is found that needs stores, all that is
necessary is to remove an empty comb and give
a filled one in its place.

Frepine Sucar Syrup.—lf sealed honey
is not available, sugar syrup is the next best
thing. The author would never advise feeding

extracted honey, since it is more convenient to
feed sugar.

106 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

The novice will very often feed his bees with
corn syrup, molasses, or other sweet, with the
mistaken idea that the bees can make use of any
sweet substance. Such experiments often re-
sult in the death of the bees. If honey is not at
hand, granulated sugar is the only thing that
should be used. It is not safe to buy honey for
feeding, because of the danger of getting honey
from diseased colonies and thus bringing dis-
ease into the apiary.

A thick syrup should always be used for
winter feed. Usually two parts sugar to one
of water are used. By dissolving the sugar in
boiling water and stirring freely the sugar will
dissolve fully. Many use equal parts of sugar
and water because it is easier to prepare the
syrup than when a thicker one is made. When
feeding for winter, it is well to save the bees as
much as possible, especially if it be late in the
season. In spring when feeding for brood-

rearing or to carry the bees over a temporary

WHEN BEES MUST BE FED 107

shortage of nectar, a thinner syrup will do.

Frrepers.—The purchase of unnecessary
equipment should always be discouraged.
While at times a lot of feeders are convenient,
the careful beekeeper will be able to plan his
operations in such a manner as seldom to find
use for them. As convenient a way of feeding
as the writer has ever seen is that practiced by
D. E. Lhommedieu, a well-known Iowa bee-
keeper. He makes his syrup in a wash-boiler
and when ready for use takes empty combs and
holding them at an angle of about forty-five
degrees, pours the warm syrup into them with
an ordinary dipper. The syrup must not be
hot for wax melts at a low temperature and if
too hot it would injure the combs. By turning
the comb first on one side and then over and
filling both sides, it will hold enough syrup to
make a very good supply for temporary pur-
poses, such as spring stimulative feeding. If

there be a long-continued dearth, several such

108 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

combs will be needed. These filled combs of
syrup are placed in the hive in the same way
that combs of honey or empty combs are given.

Another method which utilizes equipment
that every beekeeper has at hand, is to take an
empty super and place on top of the hive. In
this empty super is placed a tin pan of syrup
and over the syrup a thin cotton cloth is spread.
The bees can walk over the cloth and suck the
liquid through it with little danger of drown-
ing. The super is placed on the hive in the
same manner as supers are for the storing of
honey and the cover placed over all. Being
directly over the cluster there is a minimum
danger of starting robbing, as often happens
when feed is placed near the entrance.

There are numerous different kinds of feed-
ers on the market and the reader who wishes
something different can find them listed in the
catalogue of any dealer in supplies.

CHAPTER IX
USE OF FOUNDATION

One thing which has been impressed upon
the writer by his work as a bee inspector, is
the enormous losses among beekeepers gen-
erally from rearing useless drones. It is not
uncommon in neglected apiaries to find hives
with one-third to more than one-half drone
comb. In some apiaries where good equipment
is used and fairly good practice followed other-
wise, this fault is apparent. It is very evident
that the owners of such outfits cannot realize
the great cost of rearing such large numbers of
loafers instead of producing a profitable work-
ing force. If they did, such conditions would
not be tolerated.

It requires as much food and attention from
the nurse bees to rear drones as workers, and

the drones will continue to be a tax on the col-
109

110 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

ony after they reach maturity, since they are
consumers and not producers. It will be read-
ily seen that a colony which is producing twenty
per cent. or more of drones will seldom yield a
satisfactory profit to the owner. At the Iowa
Beekeepers’ Convention, C. EK. Dustman had
an, interesting paper on drones. He estimated
that a square foot of drone comb in the hive
would produce more than two thousand drones,
while the same space and food might have been
made to produce more than three thousand
workers to add to the hive’s productive force.

The writer has often found it hard to con-
vince the novice of the value of full sheets of
foundation. The first cost looks large and too
often the bees are permitted to build their own
combs with but a narrow strip of starter to pre-
vent building crosswise. The two illustrations
(Figs. 10 and 11) which we show in this con-
nection tell more than pages of description.

The impressions on the foundation being the

USE OF FOUNDATION 111

v4 ets ee
See iites
Bornes

Fic. 11.—A comb composed largely of drone cells as a result of a
narrow starter.

112 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

exact size and shape of the bases of worker
cells, the bees will build mostly worker cells
where foundation is used. Drone cells being
larger require less wax in their construction and
less labor as well. This being the case wherever
worker cells are not needed for immediate use
to meet the needs of the queen, drone cells will
be built, for they serve equally as well for stor-
ing honey. Fig. 10 shows an ideal comb, at-
tached on all four sides to the frame and
composed entirely of worker cells most of
which contain sealed brood. Fig. 11 shows a
comb which is composed mostly of drone cells
as a result of using a narrow starter instead of
a full sheet of foundation. The high arched
cappings show that many of these cells contain
sealed drone brood. The cost in honey to rear
a single brood of drones in such a comb would
pay for a full sheet of foundation. This comb
can be used as an extracting comb, but is a

nuisance, since if it chances to get into the

USE OF FOUNDATION 113

brood nest the queen will make use of it to rear
a brood of drones. Usually it will pay better
to melt up such a comb at once and replace it
with a full sheet (Fig. 12) rather than risk
getting it used in this manner.

IRREGULAR COMBS, also, are often built

Se a a)

Fic. 12—Full sheet of foundation in wired frame, ready for the bees.

where narrow strips are used. Not only are the
combs likely to be composed mostly of drone
cells, but they are likely to be uneven, which
makes them undesirable. Uneven combs can-
not readily be exchanged, and much time is
also lost in uncapping or manipulating them.

The bees will always build some drone cells
8

114 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

in the best regulated hives, and a small number
are not objectionable. The presence of some
drones is necessary to insure the mating of
young queens, but there is little danger that
there will be a shortage for this purpose under
normal conditions. Where full sheets of foun-
dation are used, small clusters of drone cells
are often built in the corners or at the ends.

If combs are damaged in any way, the ten-
dency is always to repair them with cells of the
larger size. Mice are fond of gnawing the
combs and where the hive entrances are left
wide open in winter, they are likely to enter and
cause much damage. If the mice do not disturb
the bees to the point where the colony will per-
ish before spring, there will still be much dam-
age to the combs. The portions that are rebuilt
the following season will usually be composed
of drone cells.

The writer is not only convinced that it pays

to use full sheets of foundation in the brood

USE OF FOUNDATION 115

chamber, but fully believes that without them
honey production is seldom profitable. That
he practices what he preaches is evidenced by
the fact that as this is written he is just finish-
ing the preparation of more than twelve hun-
dred frames of full sheets for use in one small
apiary to replace discarded combs, and to pro-
vide reserve extracting combs. Without a
large working force, big crops can never be
harvested. The rearing of several thousand
worthless drones to consume the honey, take
the attention of the workers and get in the way
generally, does not tend in this direction.
FounpDaTION IN SEcTIONS.—Some kind of
starter is absolutely essential to getting the
bees started to work in the comb-honey supers.
It is very common practice to use a three-cor-
nered piece of thin foundation no more than
two inches across and sometimes much smaller.
It is difficult for the bees to work to advantage
on such small starters. Full sheets which lack

116 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

not more than a quarter of an inch of reaching
the bottom or sides are much more economical,
for they furnish the bees with a sufficient

Fic. 13.—Different methods of using foundation in sections.
The section at the left with full sheet and bottom starter is the best
method.

amount of wax to start working nicely and
room enough to permit a nice little cluster to

Bs

Z S

Fic. 14.—The thin sheets of wax are impressed with the cell bases
of proper size to induce the bees to build worker combs.

work at one time. Thin or extra thin founda-
tion should always be used in the sections. It

costs more per pound, but is so much lighter

USE OF FOUNDATION 117

that a pound will go much further, and it
is much better adapted to this purpose than the
heavier foundation used in the brood frames.
Not only do the bees occupy the sections more
readily where full sheets are used, but they
build more even combs and store more honey
as a.result (Fig. 13).

Economizing in the use of foundation is
much like saving seed when one is planting a
crop. While it costs more to use full sheets to
begin with, so much more honey will be stored
as a result that the increased cost is a profitable
investment. Fig. 14 shows how the thin sheets
of wax are impressed with the cell base which
induces the bees to build worker combs.

CHAPTER X
BREEDING BETTER BEES

Goon stock is as important to the beekeeper
as to the stockman. It is, however, a much
simpler matter to improve the strain of bees in
an apiary than to make a similar change in a
herd of cattle or even a flock of chickens. The
life of the honeybee is short and the placing of
a pure queen at the head of the colony will have
the effect of replacing the whole working force
of a hive with pure stock within a few weeks,
or months, at most. If the colony is requeened
in spring or summer the former stock will be
replaced in a very short time. If the change is
made in late autumn many of the late maturing
bees from the former queen will remain in the
hive until the following spring. During the
honey flow the bees work at a furious pace and

the whole colony is in a fever of excitement. As
118

BREEDING BETTER BEES 119

a result the individual soon wears her life away
in adding to the store of the community.

THE QUEEN Is Propuctive.—Since all the
eggs from which this large working force is
produced are laid by one queen, she must be
enormously productive. All the beekeeper’s
plans are laid with the end in view of bringing
each colony to the beginning of the honey har-
vest with the greatest possible number of bees
in the hive. One extra strong colony will store
more honey during a heavy flow than two or
three medium colonies, and often more than
a dozen weak ones. It is estimated that queens
in populous colonies lay from two to three
thousand or more eggs daily during the height
of the season. In spite of this large produc-
tion the colony often does not apparently in-
crease in strength after the honey flow is really
on, so rapidly do the workers wear themselves
out in the harvest field.

It is then of the utmost importance for the

120 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

beekeeper to breed from the most prolific
queens. While this is of first importance, since
it largely determines the size of the crop, there
are other important characteristics which must
not be overlooked.

DestrasLé Tratrs.—No matter how good
a record a colony may have for production, if
the bees are cross and drive everybody out of
the yard, the queen will not do to use as a
breeder. Next to production, gentleness is the
most desirable trait. If it were not for the
fear of stings the number of beekeepers would
be multiplied many fold. There are strains of
bees which are very gentle under favorable con-
ditions, and can often be handled safely with-
out protection. Not long since the writer
visited queen-breeding apiaries which are
among the largest in the world. The propri-
etor stated that he never uses a queen as a
breeder when the colony cannot be handled

safely without smoke. Beekeepers generally

BREEDING BETTER BEES 121

use smoke to control the bees. While under
general apiary conditions it is seldom desirable
to undertake operations without a lighted
smoker at hand, there are often individual col-
onies which will not resent the manipulation of
the frames even though no smoke is used. The
selections of the queens at the head of such
colonies for use as breeders, generation after
generation, will hasten the time when stings
will seldom interfere with the work of the
beekeeper.

Following production and gentleness the
non-swarming tendency is greatly to be desired.
While there is much difference in the strains in
this respect, it is to a much greater extent under
the control of the beekeeper than the other
factors named. If the bees swarm and the
working force is divided at the beginning of the
harvest, the crop is likely to be reduced as a
result, unless the flow lasts for a long period.

In most localities where honey production is

122 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

followed extensively the honey flows are rapid
and of short duration. It is of great import-
ance under such conditions to keep the colony
together until the harvest is gathered. Hence
the non-swarming tendency is desirable.

Tue Marte ParentraGe.—One - serious
drawback in queen breeding is the difficulty of
controlling the male parentage. The queen
mates on the wing and often meets a drone
from a distant colony which may be of another
race or inferior stock. The man who cannot
send his queens to some isolated position where
there are no other bees within four or five
miles can do little to overcome this condition,
other than to raise such large numbers of
drones from his desirable colonies that the
chances of meeting undesirable males is very
greatly reduced.

Another difficulty lies in the fact that the
quality of the male offspring is determined

rather by the mating of the mother of the

BREEDING BETTER BEES. 123

queen than by her own. If it so happens that
a queen has no opportunity to mate, she may
still lay large numbers of eggs which will hatch,
but they will all produce drones. If her
mother was purely mated her offspring will be
pure, but if her mother was mismated, her
drones will be impure, regardless of the fact of
whether she is purely mated herself or whether
she be mated at all. It thus sometimes happens
that a mismated queen whose mother was
purely mated will produce drones which are
pure, and her female offspring influenced by
her own impure mating will all be crosses. It
should be mentioned in passing that one mating
is sufficient for life and a mismated queen is
unable to produce pure offspring from later
pure matings.

THe Practica, Resutt.—While the
above conditions add greatly to the perplexities
of the queen breeder who would breed scien-
tifically, they offer decided advantages to the

124 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

beekeeper who wishes to improve his stock in the
quickest time and with least expense. By buy-
ing a purely mated queen and breeding from
her he can soon change the conditions in his
apiary even though his young queens meet im-
pure drones. If he has, say, one hundred
colonies of bees and will rear one hundred
queens from the purely mated mother and re-
queen all his colonies his yard will soon be
full of pure drones. At the same time the
workers will all be crosses since the young
queens have had no opportunity to meet pure
drones on their mating flights. If the yard is
requeened early in spring a second lot of queens
can be reared in late summer from the same
purely mated mother. By this time most of
the original drones will have disappeared and
the apiary will be abundantly supplied with
pure males. The second lot of queens will meet
pure drones and they can be used to replace the

mismated stock already present. In this simple

BREEDING BETTER BEES 125

manner the entire apiary of one hundred col-
onies can be changed from undesirable impure
stock to pure stock of selected strain in one or,
at most, two seasons and with little expense
aside from the labor of the beekeeper.

The beekeper can readily secure good stock
at from one dollar to two dollars each for
queens and selected queens at a somewhat.
higher figure.

MetTHops oF ReEaARING QvueEens.—The
methods used for rearing queens will depend
upon the number needed and the conditions
under which the beekeeper is working. If only
a few are wanted it is an easy matter to remove
the queen from the colony from whose off-
spring it is desired to produce them. In a nor-
mal colony as soon as the queen is removed the
bees will proceed to build cells to rear queens
to make sure of replacing the mother of the
colony. As soon as the queen cells are sealed
they can be removed very carefully and one

126 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

placed in each of the hives which are to be re-
queened. The queen to be replaced must be
removed about twelve hours before the cell is
given, or it may not be accepted. The cell
should be fastened carefully in the center of the
brood nest to insure that it will not be chilled.
One cell must be left in the parent colony to
replace the queen taken away in the beginning,
unless she is to be returned.

By this method the queens are mated from
the hives in which they are to remain, and the
beekeeper only needs to make sure that the col-
onies where the young queen fails to return
safely from the mating trip are given another
cell or queen. While this plan is simple and
will serve all purposes where but a few queens
are wanted, it is too slow for extensive use.

When large numbers of queen cells are
wanted, artificial cells, made of beeswax and
shaped as nearly as possible like an embryo

queen cell are utilized. To begin with, a colony

BREEDING BETTER BEES 127

is made queenless and permitted to start queen
cells. From these a supply of royal jelly is
secured. Royal jelly is a milky, jelly-like, sub-
stance which the bees feed freely to queens in
the larval stage. This richer food and the
larger cell are sufficient to enable a young larva
from a worker cell to develop into a queen.
The brood is now taken from this cell-start-
ing colony and given to another colony. The
object of removing the brood is to relieve the
nurse bees from brood rearing and to center all
their attention on the rearing of queens. The
beekeeper then takes a supply of the artificial
cells which are attached in rows to an empty
frame (Fig. 15). In each cell a small drop
of royal jelly taken from the naturally built
cell is placed. With a small instrument made
for the purpose, a newly hatched larva is re-
moved from a worker cell and placed in each
of the artificial cell cups. The larva should
not be more than twenty-four hours old, and

128 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

some of the best breeders advise the use of
larve not to exceed twelve hours old. The
frame is then placed in the middle of the hive

oe, ohne ce A
Rebs Par es q ;
< f S:
-
: it ca
eae Se I : |

Fig. 15.—Queen cells produced by the cell cup method.
occupied by the queenless and broodless col-
ony. A large part of the cells should be
accepted and within twenty-four hours should
be well built up. The cell-starting colony will

BREEDING BETTER BEES 129

not be permitted to finish the cells, but they are
taken away and placed in the middle of another
hive which occupies two stories, with the queen
in the lower story and an excluder between to

Fic. 16.—The queen excluder prevents the queen from passing into
the super. The workers being smaller readily pass through the
openings.

keep her from going above and destroying the
cells which are placed in the upper story (Fig.
16). The first colony is then given another lot
of cells to start. Only strong colonies should
be used for cell starting or finishing, since the
best queens are not produced in small colonies.

Larer TreatMent.—While the worker

bees require twenty-one days for development
9

130 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

from the time the egg is laid, as described in
Chapter III, the queen completes her growth
in only sixteen days. On the eleventh day after
the young larve are placed in the cells the
queens will be nearly ready to emerge and it
will be necessary to remove the ripe cells from
the finishing colony. If they are to be used to
requeen an apiary at once, the simplest way is
to place one in each colony to be requeened,
twelve hours after the old queens are removed.
If they are to be kept for a time, it will be neces-
sary to provide nuclei for the purpose of get-
ting them mated. Fig. 17 shows a very
satisfactory one for this purpose. An ordinary
hive has been divided into three separate com-
partments with the entrance to the middle one
at one end, and an opening at each side for the
outside ones. By this plan one hive serves for
three and the bees are not able to pass from
one apartment to another. In each, two frames

of brood and bees are placed, without queens,

BREEDING BETTER BEES 131

of course, and each is given one of the ripe cells.
Usually the young queen will be mated and
laying within two or three weeks from the time

Fic. 17.—Hive divided into three compartments for mating queens.

the cell is given. If the beekeeper wishes to
mate a large number of queens and has a lim-
ited supply of bees, he can get along very well
by placing one frame of brood and bees in each

132 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

nucleus and also giving an additional frame
with some honey. The newly mated queen will
soon begin to lay and the little colonies will
gradually grow stronger if conditions are fav-
orable. In this way one strong colony broken
up into nuclei will furnish sufficient bees to
care for six or eight queens.

Extensive queen breeders break up large
numbers of colonies in spring to enable them
to rear enough queens to supply their trade
during the summer months, and they are again
united in fall and wintered as full colonies.
One firm was using fifteen hundred such nuclei
at the time of the writer’s visit and were send-
ing out nearly ten thousand queens that season.

“ Practical Queen Rearing,” by the author
of this book, gives an exhaustive account of the
various methods of rearing queen bees both for

home use and for commercial purposes.

CHAPTER XI
GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET

In most cases the beginner will find his local
market the best place to sell his crop. It is
usually possible to develop a local market for
a small crop at much better prices than could
be realized by selling through commission
merchants in a large city. The man who sells
at home is able to get retail prices for much of
his product and to save the amount that would
otherwise be consumed in freights and com-
missions. The man or woman who expects to
follow beekeeping as a business will make a
great mistake if he fails to ask a good price
for his product in the beginning. Too many
are willing to sell their honey at retail, at the
wholesale prices. This is a serious injury to
the market and always tends to depress the

prices. If one never expects to have much
138

134 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

honey to sell he should still have some regard
for the rights of others and sell at a reasonable
price. If one has anything to give away he
may well do so, but should not injure his neigh-
bor who depends upon honey production for
a livelihood by cutting prices. Production of a
commodity is one thing and selling it is quite
another. If the producer chooses to market
his product at retail he should get paid for the
selling as well as the production of his crop.

ReacHinec THE Distant Marxet.—On
one occasion the writer made a journey to
Chicago to see what could be learned about the
marketing of honey through the large whole-
sale centers and also something of the best re-
tail trade in a large city.

In order to learn as much as possible about
conditions an effort was made to follow the
honey from the producer to the consumer.
This involved a study of the conditions of trans-

portation by freight or express, a visit to the

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 135

wholesale district and to the retail stores which
serve the best trade.

One point that soon became very apparent
was that of the hundreds of commission firms
on South Water Street only a few handle
honey at all. There were hundreds of crates
of cabbages, celery, sweet potatoes, oranges,
apples, and other staple products to one case
of honey. It did not take the writer fifteen
minutes to decide that the trouble was not due
to over-production.

After talking to a number of commission
merchants who do not handle it at all as well as
those who do, it began to look like the trouble
was of quite a different kind. It looks very
much to the writer like it is improper distribu-
tion and lack of incentive for the merchants to
push our product. A merchant dislikes to
establish a trade for a product which he is un-
able to supply. If even twenty per cent. of the
commission merchants should undertake to

136 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

establish a trade in honey and should succeed
to the extent that a few have done the supply
would not last one-third the year. If a man
orders honey from his grocer and is unable to
get it, maple syrup or corn syrup will take its
place and the next order will be for the
substitute.

Some beekeepers are forever talking about
overproduction and lack of demand. When
corn flakes first appeared on the market there
was no demand but the manufacturers pro-
ceeded to create a demand by extensive adver-
tising and to fix the price at a point which
would pay for their product and pay for the
advertising in addition.

Competition is very keen, especially in the
large market centers. One firm visited, han-
dled three million dollars’ worth of produce
that year. This amount would make a pretty
big hole in the honey crop for one season.

«As it now stands there is no effort to supply

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 137

honey at all seasons of the year. The crop is
moved as quickly as possible after it is har-
vested with the result that the market is either
crowded with honey or bare. A dealer who
would build up a trade must depend upon
buying large quantities long in advance and
anticipate the demand of his trade for several
months. The honey producers seem to be in
about the same condition that the orange
growers were in 1895 before they perfected
their marketing organizations.

Way Freicut Rates are Hicu.—To get
back to the beginning, the first thing that con-
fronts the honey producer who would send his
honey to market is the matter of high freight
rates. Too much care cannot be taken in pack-
ing honey for shipment, not only to guard
against damage in shipment but also to keep
the number of broken packages down to the
point which will enable the railroad to carry
honey at a low rate and still make a profit. Too

138 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

many beekeepers take the attitude that it mat-
ters very little, for in case the shipment is
damaged in transit the railroad company will
pay for it anyway. This is a mistaken view-
point. Claims for damages are a part of the
regular expense account of the railroad com-
pany and when the damages absorb too large a
part of the profits the rate is raised accordingly.
It is not only the damage to the honey which
results in a loss to the railroad but the damage
to other goods which may happen to be in the
same car with the broken package. As an ex-
ample may be cited a case where a broken pack-
age of honey damaged a shipment of silk. The
railroad had to pay for both the honey and the
silk, the latter, of course, worth many times the
value of the honey. In many cases the damage
from broken packages could be avoided if the
producer would use sufficient care in preparing
his shipment. It is easy to see that in the end

the entire loss must be borne by the honey pro-

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 139

ducer. The careful shipper must divide the
expense with the careless one, since the freight
rate is made high enough to cover all such losses
in addition to the operating expenses of the
railroad.

The writer was for a time engaged in the

practice of law and never during the years
when his time was so occupied did he find any

difficulty in getting a fair settlement for a client
for loss or damage in shipment by freight.
Some railroads are much more prompt in pay-
ment than others, but all with whom we had
any dealings seemed entirely willing to make
good any loss for which they were responsible.
There was never any necessity to start suit on
cases of this kind, for once proper proof of loss
was presented settlement was secured without
difficulty. The attitude of the railroads seemed
fair enough and if it were possible for them to
get into touch with the shippers and make clear
the difficulties under which they work there

140 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

would be much less friction because of high
freight rates.

If the beekeepers desire to reduce freight
rates, the first move to make is to educate the
shipper to use more care in packing for ship-
ment and thus reduce the amount of damage.
If the careless man can be kept from shipping
improperly crated honey there will be no diffi-
culty in getting a reduction of freight rates on
this commodity. Until then all honey shippers
must contribute something to pay the losses.

VaLue or ATTRACTIVE Packaces.— When
aman goes into the large markets and sees the
large variety of products that are offered, he
at once learns that in order to appeal to the
consumer any commodity to be used for food
must be offered in the most attractive form
possible. The writer saw a very good example
of that in one of the well-known commission
houses when a retailer came in to make a pur-

chase with which to supply his trade. There

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 141

was a liberal supply of extracted honey in
sixty-pound cans on the floor of the warehouse.
He examined the various lots with a good deal
of care, sampling each lot two or three times to
make sure that the quality was good. The
thing that impressed the writer, however, was
not the care this man used in looking for the
best flavor, but that he refused to sample honey
in rusty cans. There was one shipment in cans
that were rusty on top and which had a rather
unattractive appearance generally. He sam-
pled honey only in bright new cans that did
not show a particle of rust. When the writer
asked the commission man about the difference
in price he was informed that they were com-
pelled to sell the honey in rusty cans at from
one to three cents per pound less. In spite of
the difference in price this buyer would not
even look at it. Probably the shipper of that
lot of honey will blame the commission mer-
chant and charge him with stealing a dollar or

142 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

two. per case on the shipment. It surely is a
poor policy to save fifteen cents by using a sec-
ond-hand can in which to ship the honey to
market and lose from sixty cents to one dollar
and eighty cents per can in making the sale.
If the writer had not already been convinced of
the value of new packages for honey this ob-
servation would have convinced him.
However, another example was in store,
with comb honey this time. The honey was well
graded and in new shipping cases, but seconds
had been used which showed dark streaks of
wood instead of the clean white of the first qual-
ity shipping cases. This was on the floor of
another store so that the two examples did not
occur in the same establishment. Although
the honey was of about the same quality, the
more attractive package sold for fifty cents
more per case than the other. Someone had
bought inferior cases and had probably saved

a few cents in the price, but it cost two cents

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 143

per pound in the selling price of the honey. The
producer who must sell in a distant market
should insist on the best possible quality in
shipping cases, and before placing an order for
supplies should know that the quality is O. K.
In this establishment the writer was shown
a model shipment of comb honey. The grading
was remarkably uniform, the sections were per-
fectly cleaned and the cases as clean and white
as one could wish. This honey was selling at
the highest price the market would afford.
ATTRACTING THE ConsuMER.—After not-
ing the great advantage that attractive pack-
ages had in wholesale sales the writer was more
interested than ever in the retail package. Re-
tail stores were visited in the best part of Chi-
cago where the rents paid for space would make
most of us gasp. These stores sell to high-class
trade and they are as neat and clean as a parlor.
The first one visited offered “ Airline” honey.
When asked if they handled no other kind they

144 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

replied that they did not. ‘The writer then
enquired whether it was because the public in-
sisted on “ Airline,” owing to its advertising,
that they handled no other. The reply was that
it was because of the clean packages in which
it was offered. The salesman then showed the
comb honey in clean tight cartons, and the ex-
tracted jars wrapped in oil paper. There was
no drip and every separate section or jar was
as nice and clean as any other line which they
had on their shelves. The public asked for
“ Airline” honey because of its advertising,
but most buyers would as readily accept any
other if equally attractive. This dealer handled
‘“* Airline” honey because it was clean and
saved him the annoyance of dirty packages.
The reason was clear enough and we went out
to find a store that handled something else. We
found it but a few doors away and the honey
was the only sticky package that we found in
that store. The extracted honey packages

were sealed in the ordinary way and nearly

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 145

every one showed a slight drip down one side.
This little streak of honey would catch all the
dust and thus it soon became anything but
attractive. The label was printed in only one
color so that altogether there was no compari-
son in the appearance of the brands. Had the
writer been in search of honey for his own table
it is easy to guess which he would buy if he
knew nothing of either producer. Further-
more, he left the store with the feeling that he
had learned some lessons which he could utilize
to good advantage in marketing his own honey
crop. One does not have to look far to see that
money spent in putting up our product in the
most attractive package will come back several
times over when we sell the crop.

PacxacE Must Fir tHe Trapve.—This
brings us to another consideration; the kind of
package in which to ship. This depends alto-
gether on the trade to which the honey is to be
sold. If to a buyer who will sell it again under

his own trade name it should have no mark of
10

146 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

any kind excepting the net weight which the
law requires. If, on the other hand, it is to be
sold through some regular channel which rec-
ognizes the producer’s trade-mark as an asset
it should be labelled with the producer’s own
mark. In one warehouse there was a big pile of
shipping cases marked “J. E. Crane & Son,
Middlebury, Vt.” One of the cases was opened
and some of the sections removed. They were
very nice and each was wrapped in a clean
carton with the Crane name and the tsual
printed matter. The dealer remarked that he
had been handling Crane honey for nearly
thirty years. In this case the honey was known
to the buyer and the name was a guarantee of
quality. But a few weeks before the writer
had asked for honey in the Boston market and
had been shown a jar of extracted honey with
the Crane label. There is no question but that
it is greatly to the advantage of the seller to
market his best product under his own trade
name when he can do so. However, it often

GETTING THE HONEY TO MARKET 147

happens that when he goes into a strange mar-
ket the only buyers who will present themselves
will be those who buy to sell again under their
own name and such would not buy honey with
the individual trade-mark. It is well to corre-
spond with the commission merchant with
whom one expects to deal and learn something
of the market requirements. Some of the
largest sellers of honey in the Middle West
have a trade which they supply with comb
honey in their own cartons and with each case
they send a placard for advertising purposes.
This trade has come to look for the brand.
Honey sold to this trade is placed in the cartons
and repacked after it reaches their warehouse.
Of course, not all of the honey that passes
through their hands is handled in this manner.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—The writer

interviewed a number of dealers both whole-
sale and retail. When asked for some general

advice to the honey seller they agreed on the
following:

148 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

Sell through a firm that specializes in
honey, for such a firm can get a better price.
Be very careful about grading and packing and
use corrugated paper lining for the shipping
cases to catch drip. All agreed that in general
comb honey sells better in bright wood ship-
ping case with glass, than in corrugated paper
cases, and usually arrives in better condition.

The railroad claim agents gave the follow-
ing advice in regard to shipping: Use only
factory-made shipping cases and load the
honey so that the combs will be parallel with
the rails. This will place the shock of shipment
on the edges instead of face of combs. Use
cement-coated nails since they hold better, and
use cushioned carriers. Stencil name and ad-
dress on the package instead of using a ship-
ping tag put on with tacks. Tags often get
rubbed off and the shipment goes astray while
the stenciled address cannot be lost. Also avoid

as far as possible the shipment of comb honey
in cold weather.

CHAPTER XII
ENEMIES AND DISEASES OF BEES

THERE seems to be no agricultural pursuit
free from the disorders common to life in gen-
eral. While many localities are free from dis-
ease, the beekeeper may have reason to expect
its appearance sooner or later. While in trop-
ical regions of many countries there are many
enemies of the bees which may destroy whole
apiaries, the temperate regions of the United
States are free from serious danger on this
score. The waxmoth is widely distributed and
among amateurs generally feared. While it
may destroy the combs of weak colonies, the
waxmoth will not injure strong colonies,
nor is there any animal known to the writer
whose presence may endanger the success
of his business.

Mice frequently cause injury in winter
149

150 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

where the entrances of the hives are left wide
open. All entrances should be contracted to
not exceed three-eighths of an inch in height
during the winter months to prevent the en-
trance of mice. These little animals also often
damage combs that are stored in outbuildings
or other situations within their reach. AI un-
used combs should be protected from both mice
and moths.

SKUNKS occasionally become troublesome
by scratching at the entrance of a hive and de-
vouring the bees as they rush out. Since they
return to the same hive night after night, it is
not usually difficult to catch the offender with
a steel trap.

Waxmorus are the source of great anxiety
to most beginners. As soon as a colony is lost
from any cause, the moths will enter the hive
and deposit their eggs. The larve burrow
through the combs and soon destroy them. If

a colony becomes weakened the moths are quite

ENEMIES AND DISEASES OF BEES 151

likely to destroy the combs, and thus hasten the
end. However, the presence of moths may be
regarded as a sign that all is not right, at least
with the colony affected. If disease is present
in the apiary, the colonies that become weak-
ened by its ravages will fall easy victims to the
moths. Queenless colonies or those whose con-
dition is not normal from any reason, are the
ones to be affected. Strong colonies easily de-
fend themselves against the pest, so that the
beekeeper who keeps close watch and knows
that his bees are in good condition, seldom has
any anxiety on account of waxmoths.
Disrases or BEers.—There are several dif-
ferent diseases known to affect the honeybee.
The diseases of the adult bees are not well
understood as yet. It is not definitely known
how many there are, or what the cause may be,
but it is quite probable that there are several
distinct diseases of the adult bees.
Paratysis is the name by which we most
often hear of disease of the mature bees. It

152 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

usually appears in spring. The affected bees
appear black and shiny and they may be seen
in front of the hive apparently unable to fly.
At times the abdomen is distended. Bees also
sometimes suffer from dysentery, which is
probably caused by poor stores or too long con-
finement to the hive.

Fouxsroop, of which there are two kinds,
is the most serious disease with which the bee-
keeper has to contend in America. However,
both forms are now so well understood that the
well-informed beekeeper no longer fears them
as he once did.

Both American and European foulbrood
are diseases of the larve, and although they
have well-defined differences, the novice would
seldom be able to distinguish between them. If
the brood is found to be dead without some ap-
parent cause, it will be well for the beekeeper
to cut out a piece of the comb containing some
of the dead larve and send it to the Bureau of
Entomology of the United States Department

ENEMIES AND DISEASES OF BEES 153

of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C. Such
samples will be examined by an expert and the
beekeeper informed as to the nature of his
trouble without expense, to him. It is impor-
tant that the particular disease which may be
present be early determined, as the kind of
treatment necessary will depend upon which
disease is present. In the case of American
fculbrood it will be necessary to remove the
bees to a clean hive and deprive them of all
their brood and honey. The contamination
seems to be spread in the honey with this dis-
ease. If the disease is Kuropean foulbrood it
will be necessary to check brood rearing for a
time, and to requeen with a resistant strain,
preferably Italian.

_ SacBroop is a disease somewhat resembling
those just described. It is milder in form and
frequently disappears of itself during a honey
flow. The author usually requeens colonies
found to be affected with this disease and this
is usually sufficient.

CHAPTER XIII
WINTER PREPARATION

THE novice who plans to keep but a few
bees will do well to buy some of the double-
walled hives now on the market, and thus re-
duce his winter preparation to the minimum.
The ordinary single-walled hive provides in-
sufficient protection in any of the Northern
States and it is quite probable that the bees
would be better for some extra protection in
most of the Southern States. With the double-
walled hive it is but a matter of a few minutes
at the time of the last summer examination, to
put the chaff tray in place over the frames,
contract the entrance with the entrance blocks,
replace the cover, and the job is done. No fur-
ther attention needs to be paid to them, except
to see that the entrances do not get clogged with
ice during winter storms, until time to make the
spring examination. In cold climates addi-

tional protection should be given.
154

WINTER PREPARATION 155

PRELIMINARY PREPARATION FOR WINTER.
—After the close of the honey flow the bees
should be prepared for winter as early as pos-
sible, to avoid disturbing the colony after the
normal activities of summer have ceased. Care
must be taken to insure plenty of honey to last
the bees through the long months when no
honey comes to the hive. In, the Northern
States it is seldom safe to depend upon less than
thirty pounds, and the author prefers forty to
fifty pounds of sealed stores. This large
amount will insure a sufficient supply for early
brood rearing and will carry the colony safely
through an unfavorable spring. The quality
of the stores is important, especially in the
North, where long periods of time elapse when
the bees are unable to leave the hive to get a
cleansing flight. The bees relieve themselves of
the accumulated excrement only while on the
wing, under normal conditions. If the stores

be of poor quality, such as honeydew or im-

156 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

properly ripened honey, the long confinement
is very hard on them and they often become
affected with dysentery, soiling their combs and
putting the hive in a filthy condition.

Large clusters of young bees are also essen-
tial to successful wintering by any method. If
the hive is full of old bees that have gathered
the fall harvest, they will die before spring and
the colony will perish. If the honey flow con-
tinues late, plenty of young bees will emerge
late in the season to put the colony in prime
condition for wintering. Old and _ failing
queens will often fail to continue laying during
the late summer and the colony will become
greatly weakened, if it does not die before
spring. Colonies known to have young queens
will usually be in good condition unless there
is a dearth of nectar during the fall months.
At such times it is often necessary to feed

lightly for a few days to stimulate brood rear-

WINTER PREPARATION 157

ing, preparing the colony to go into winter
quarters in proper condition.

Given the above described conditions,
young queens, plenty of good stores, and a large
cluster of young bees, a colony will stand a
surprising amount of cold weather and come
through in fine shape.

PROTECTION FoR WinTER.—As to whether
outdoor or cellar wintering is best is not a mat-
ter of agreement among beekeepers. Both
methods are generally practiced and there are
those who feel very sure that one is best while
others are equally sure the other will bring bet-
ter results. Bees can be safely wintered by
either method if proper attention is given to
see that conditions are right. As stated at the
beginning of the chapter, the writer would rec-
ommend double-walled hives, under ordinary
conditions, to the person who has but a few col-
onies to care for. They would hardly be suf-
ficient protection for the extreme north, but

158 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

for most of the United States they will bring
very good results if other conditions are right.
Additional packing can be given where needed.

CELLAR WINTERING has its advantages.
The cellar should be dry and of a uniform tem-
perature. A cellar that is warm during mild
weather and cold when the thermometer drops,
should never be used for the bees. The cellar
should also be dark, as the bees will get restless
in a cellar which is sufficiently warm, if the
light enters during the day. For best results
the temperature should not drop below forty
degrees, and most of the time should stand
about fifty degrees Fahrenheit.

The bees should be placed in the cellar as
soon as settled cold weather begins, and left
there until danger of severe weather is past in
spring. It is better to take them in a little
early and to remove them a little late than to
err in the other direction.

Packine OursipE.—Various plans of pro-

WINTER PREPARATION 159

viding extra protection to the hives on their
summer stands have been used. The best plan
is to use some kind of packing box outside the
hive and fill the space between the hive and the
box with leaves, planer shavings or some sim-
liar material. When bees are packed in this
manner provision must be made to leave the
hive entrance open so that the bees can fly out
on warm days and return again to the hive.

If but a few hives are to be packed it is an
easy matter to make such cases of goods boxes.
If the beekeeper plans to operate extensively,
special packing cases should be made that are
of uniform size. The most widely used pack-
ing case holds four colonies with two facing
east and two to the west. F. W. Krouse of
Ontario is an extensive beekeeper who has a
separate packing case for each colony, and
leaves them in place the year round. This gives
ample protection against the changing weather
of spring and fall, as well as winter.

CHAPTER XIV
REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S WORK

Ir is difficult in a book of this kind which
must be adapted to all parts of America to give
a detailed chart for the operations necessary at
different seasons of the year. The time of the
principal honey flow varies so much in different
localities that no time can be set for any opera-
tion. The whole year’s work is planned with
the one object in view of bringing the colony
to the beginning of the main flow with as many
bees as possible. The big colonies gather the
big crops, and the beekeeper carries his work
through the year so as to bring the colony to
maximum strength at this time.

Whether the beekeeper lives in Maine or
California, there are certain essentials which
must be considered. One of these is to supply

the bees with sufficient stores at the close of
160

REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S WORK 161

the season to carry them through the winter
months and to furnish a reserve for building up
the following spring. If the bees must depend
upon stores gathered from the field at this un-
certain season much of the productive possi-
bility of the colony is likely to be lost. It is only
in the presence of a liberal reserve of food
within the hive that the queen is likely to lay to
her capacity in the cool and catchy weather of
early spring. Especially is this true when little
nectar is coming from the tields

Accordingly, when the bees are removed
from winter quarters, the first thing necessary
is to make sure that an abundance of stores are
still present to enable the bees to build up rap-
idly. It takes a liberal supply of honey to rear
the amount of brood necessary to make a strong
colony, and one of the first essentials of good
beekeeping lies in never allowing the colony to
become short of stores.

At the first examination, the general condi-
rf

162 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

tion of the colony should be noted. Not only
should the beekeeper make sure that the supply
of stores is sufficient, but he should ascertain
whether or not a queen is present and in good
condition. It sometimes happens that some
colonies will be very weak at this season of the
year, and, unless given some help, will be lost.
Such weaklings may be helped by giving them
a frame of sealed brood from a strong colony.
It is unwise to give very weak colonies unsealed
brood, since they are unable to care for it prop-
erly. If the cluster is too small, it is often bet-
ter to unite them with some other colony than
to try to build them up. Very weak colonies
can sometimes be saved by removing the cover
from the hive containing a strong colony and
in its place covering the hive with ordinary wire
screen. ‘The bottom of the hive containing the
weak colony is then removed and the hive
placed directly on top of the strong one. A
hole to enable the bees to fly from the upper

REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S WORK _ 163

body should be made on the end opposite the
entrance to the strong colony. The bees above
will get the advantage of the heat ascending
from the strong cluster below, while there is
no chance for the bees to pass through the wire
cloth and thus unite the two clusters. After
the bees in the upper hive have recovered their
strength sufficiently to enable them to care for
their brood properly, they may be set off again
on their regular stand.

Rossine.—In early spring when there is
little to be had from the fields and some colonies
are still weak, there is always danger of rob-
bing. The bees from the strong colonies will
fly around the openings of other hives until they
find a suitable opportunity, and then come in
such numbers as to overpower the rightful
owners and carry off their honey. The best
prevention is to contract the entrance to a very
small space so that but few bees can pass at
one time. All other cracks should be tightly

164 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

closed. This will make it possible for the
guards to protect from prying bees from other
hives. If robbing once gets started it is hkely
to continue until the honey is all removed from
the hive of the victims. Such a condition often
leads to a general furore in the apiary, when
one hive after another is robbed until many
colonies are ruined. The beekeeper should al-
ways be on guard against robbing, as preven-
tion is far better than cure.

If robbing has started it is easy to determine
the colony which is doing the mischief by drop-
ping flour on the bees as they leave the hives
with their stolen plunder. At the beginning
there is likely to be only one or two hives mak-
ing mischief. When the trouble makers are
located, to change places of the robbed colony
with the one which is doing the robbing will
often stop the trouble. Both entrances should
be made smaller until only one bee is able to

pass at a time.

REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S WORK 165

The beekeeper should never leave bits of
honey in the open where the bees can find ac-
cess to it, as this often starts robbing. When
the bees find honey exposed at a time when no
nectar is coming from the fields, it starts them
seeking out every crevice in the vicinity in.
search of a larger supply, and much trouble is
likely to result.

PREPARING FOR THE Crop.—Aside from
making sure that the bees are in good condition,
have a suitable supply of honey and proper
protection; there is not much to be done in early
spring. Supplies should always be ready in
advance so that when the crop season arrives
there will be no delay.

Care should be used to see that room is
added as fast as needed. When the brood
chamber becomes crowded it is time to give
super room. If, when the cover is removed, the
hive seems to be overflowing with bees and the
combs are being whitened at the tops of the

166 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK

frames, it is safe to assume that more room is
necessary. When the bees are found to be
working in the supers, close watch should be
kept to make sure that additional room is added
as fast as the bees are ready to occupy it.
Many beekeepers fail to get a satisfactory crop
simply because they fail to provide the bees a
place to put it in time. During a good honey
flow they will often fill a super in a very few
days and, under favorable conditions, will often
fill two to five supers before the first one is
ready to be removed from the hive. The honey
should be left with the bees until it is well
capped over. If removed from the hives before
it is properly ripened, the quality is likely to be
poor. Where the beekeeper waits till one super
is filled and removed before giving another, he
is likely to lose the larger part of his crop in a
good season. A strong colony will have more
bees than can work in such a small space, and
it requires some skill to determine how much

room is necessary to secure the maximum yield,

REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S WORK 167

without scattering the honey too much. This
is especially true of comb-honey production.

REMOVING THE Honry.—When the supers
are filled it is an easy matter to place those
which are to be removed on top and place a
bee’s escape board underneath, between the
filled super and the ones below. Ina few hours
the bees will have gone below and not being
able to return the super can be removed, free
from annoyance.

CLosInc THE SEAson.—When the honey
flow is over, the surplus honey should be re-
moved from the bees as soon as possible. The
preparations for winter should be made early
in the fall, so as not to disturb the bees any
later than necessary after active operations
are over. At this season it is important to re-
place any old and failing queens with vigorous
young ones, to replace the queen in colonies
where the stock is undesirable for any reason,
and to make sure that an abundant supply of
honey is present to carry the bees through till

168 BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK

the following season opens. Many beekeepers
make a practice of leaving a super of extract-
ing combs on the hive for a reserve supply, in
addition to the honey in the brood nest.

Where the bees are wintered outside, the
necessary packing should be done early. It is
better to pack late than not to pack at all, but
there is a decided advantage in favor of finish-
ing the winter preparations as soon as con-
venient after the nights begin to be frosty.

All of the beekeeper’s activities center in
the queens which head his colonies. Without
good queens no matter how careful the man-
agement there can be no satisfactory degree of
success. Given vigorous young queens, the
other essentials are not many. Mr. George
Demuth of the U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture sums up as follows: stores, room and pro-
tection. Given plenty of stores, an abundance
of room for colony activities at the proper time,

and suitable protection, success is assured.

GLOSSARY

Absconding. A term com-
monly used where swarms
are lost through their de-
parture for parts unknown.

Adair Hive. A hive formerly
popular in some localities but
now alnrost gone out of use.
The frames were 13% inches
long and 11% inches deep.

Afterswarm. A small swarm
issuing after the first or
prime swarm. Where bees
are not given proper atten-
tion it is not uncommon for
them to send out several
afterswarms, one after an-
other until the parent col-
ony becomes almost worth-
less. F

American Hive. A hive once
common but now seldom
seen. The frames were 12
inches square.

Apiary. <A place where bees
are kept. As generally used
the term includes bees,
hives and other equipment
together with the situation.

Apiculture. The pursuit of
beekeeping.

Baby Nucleus. A small col-
ony of bees for the purpose
of mating queens. Queen
breeders often break up
colonies into small parts,
placing a pint or so of bees
into each small hive. To
each is given aripe queen cell.

Balling Queens. When a
strange queen is introduced
to a colony or when some
abnormal condition incites
the bees to mistrust their
own queen, they often clus-
ter about her in a dense ball,
thus smothering her.

Beebread. A term commonly
used for pollen stored in the
cells within the hive.

Bait Sections. Comb honey
sections in which comb left
over from a former season
has been built. These are
placed in the supers along
with those filled with foun-
dation to induce the bees to

begin work in the super
more readily.
Banat Bees. A dark race of

bees coming from Hungary.

Bar Hive. A hive with bars
instead of frames. These
hives are commonly used in
Europe but seldom found in
America.

Bee-escape. A_ contrivance
which enables the bees to
leave a compartment of the
hive but prevents their
return.

Bee Gum. A name commonly
given to a hive made from a
portion of a hollow tree. In
the South, gum trees are
commonly hollow and these
are so often used for hiving
swarms, that the term has

169

170

come to apply to any kind of
box or hive in which bees

are kept.
Bee Martin. The common
Kingbird, (Tyrannus tyran-

nus).

Beemoth. The waxworm. The
adult is a small grey moth
which lays its eggs in or
about the hive. The young
larve burrow in the combs,
feeding on the wax and
pollen, and in time destroy
the combs unless checked.

Beepasture. Sources of nec-
tar. The flowering plants on
which bees feed.

Beespace. A space _ large
enough to permit the free
passage of the bees, but not
large “enough to permit the
building of the comb. About
VY inch.

Black Bees. The common bees
of Europe. The German Bee.

Bottom-board. The floor of
the hive.
Box-hive. <A_ hive without

frames. A box in which bees
are hived.
Brood. The young bees in the
larval stage.
Brood-chamber. The lower
portion of main body of the
hive. The part containing
the brood nest.
Brood-comb. A comb used
for brood rearing.
Brood-frame. A frame con-
taining a brood-comb.
Brood-nest. The part of the
hive where the colony makes
its principal cluster. The
place where the eggs and
larve are to be found.

GLOSSARY

Brood-rearing.
of young bees.

Bulk Honey. Honey cut from
the frames and marketed in
bulk as distinguished from
extracted honey or honey in

The rearing

sections. Also spoken of as
chunk honey.
Burr-comb. Burr-combs_ or

brace combs are small bits
of comb built into small
spaces, between two combs,
or between the frames and
other hive parts.

Capping Melter. A container
made of metal which is
heated to melt the cappings
as they are cut from the
combs in extracting honey.

Carniolan Bees. A race of
dark bees, native to the
province of Carniola, Aus-
tria. F,

Caucasian Bees. A race of
dark bees native to the
Caucasus.

Cellar Wintering. The winter-
ing of bees in a cellar as dis-
tinguished from wintering
on their summer stands, out
of doors.

Cells. The hollows in the
combs in which honey is
stored. These are of two
sizes; worker cells, which
measure about twenty-
seven to the square inch
and drone cells, which meas-
ure about eighteen to the
square inch. They are hex-
agonal in shape and the
bottom of each cell is oppo-
site one third of each of
three others on the opposite

GLOSSARY

side of the comb. Queen
cells are special cells resem-
bling peanuts which are
built for the rearing of the
queens.

Cell-cup. An artificial cell
base made of beeswax used
by queen breeders to serve
as queen cell.

Cell-Protector. A spiral cov-
ering made of wire placed
over ripe queen-cells to pre-
vent the bees from destroy-
ing them when placed in a
strange hive.

Chunk-honey See Bulk
Honey.
Cleansing Flight. Since bees

do not void their excrement
in the hive, but only on the
wing, except when diseased,
it is necessary for frequent
flights to relieve them of the
accumulated feces. A cleans-
ing flight is the first flight
after a period of confine-
ment.

Cluster. The normal gather-
ing together in a compact
mass. In clustering, the
bees hang together by means
of the hooks on their feet.
The winter cluster is formed
when the temperature drops
to 57 degrees Farh. When
the swarm emerges, a cluster
is formed on a twig or other
convenient object. A cluster
is formed within the hive for
the purpose of maintaining
sufficient heat for brood
rearing. According to Phil-
lips, brood rearing tempera-
ture rarely exceeds 97
degrees.

171
Chaff Cushion. A_ cushion
filled with chaff or other

absorbent, which is some-
times placed over the frames
for the purpose of absorbing
condensed moisture in cold
weather.

Colony. A hive of bees, includ-
ing bees, eggs, brood, etc.,
together with combs and
equipment.

Comb. The assembled hexag-
onal cells built of beeswax
in one frame by the bees. A
honey-comb.

Comb-Foundation. A sheet of
beeswax impressed with the
exact size and shape of the
bases of the cells used by
the bees.

Comb-honey. Honey in the
comb. Usually applied to
honey in sections,

Cyprian Bees. A yellow race
of bees native to the Island
of Cyprus.

Dadant Hive. A large hive
with eleven frames 1814x
1144. The frames are spaced
114 inches from center to
center and a dummy is used
to reduce the size of the hive
for weak colonies. A straw
mat is used over the frames
when supers are not in place.

Dadant System. A system of
extracted honey production
by means of the large Da-
dant hive. The deep frames
and wide spacing reduces
the amount of manipula-
tion necessary for ordinary
operations and largely con-
trols swarming.

172

Danzenbaker Hive. A small
hive with frames 714 x 17
inches. It was very popu-
lar for a time but is going
out of use.

Decoy Hive. A hive placed in
a favorable situation for the
purpose of attracting stray
swarms.

Dividing. Separating a colony
into two or more parts for the
purpose of making increase.

Divisible Hive. A shallow
hive. See Heddon Hive.

Division-board. A board made
of light material, the same
size as a frame, which hangs
in some hives the same as a
frame. The idea was that
by first removing the divi-
sion board extra room would
be available for manipu-
lating the frames. The device
is unpractical and has been
discarded by most _bee-
keepers. See Dummy.

Drifting. When bees are taken
from the cellar in spring they
often become confused when
taking their first flight, and
large numbers drift to the
strong colonies, thus leav-
ing others greatly weakened.
The tendency to desert their
own hives for those of
stronger colonies in early
spring.

Drone. The male bee.

Drone-brood. Young male
bees in the larval stage.

Drone-comb. Honeycomb
with cells averaging about
eighteen to the square inch.
Comb in which young drones
are reared. See Comb.

GLOSSARY

Drone-layer. An imperfectly
fertilized or unfertilized
queen. One whose offspring
are all males.

Drone-trap. A trap made of
perforated zinc or wire
placed at the entrance of
the hive. The worker bees
pass through the _perfora-
tions but the drones, being
larger, are caught.

Drumming. In transferring
bees from boxes or unsatis-
factory hives, the exit of the
bees is often hastened by
drumming or pounding on
the sides of the old hive.

Dummy. A division board
made like a frame, excepting
that it fits tight at both ends.
It is used in the Dadant hive
in place of a comb for the pur-
pose of contracting the size of
the hive for wintering or for
encouraging weak colonies.

Dzierzon Theory. The theory
of parthenogenesis; that an
unfertilized or unmated
queen can still lay eggs which
will produce male offspring.

Eight-frame Hives. The Lang-
stroth hive of small size
holding only eight instead
of ten frames.

Entrance Block. Small blocks
of wood used for reducing
the size of the entrance to
prevent robbing or reduce
the exposure to the weather.

Entrance Guards. Sheets of
perforated zinc placed across
the entrance to prevent the
escape of the queen when a
swarm issues.

GLOSSARY

Egyptian Bees. Yellow bees -
native to the Nile Valley.
Equalizing Brood. Taking
brood from strong colonies
to give to those which are
weaker for the purpose of
making all colonies equally

strong.

Excluder. A contrivance made
of perforated zinc or wire
which prevents the queen
from passing into the supers.
The workers, being smaller,
readily go through the per-
forations.

Extracted Honey. Honey re-
moved from the combs by
means of an extractor.

Extracting Combs. Combs
from which the honey is
removed by means of an
extractor.

Extractor. A machine for re-
moving the honey from the
comb. It consists of wire
baskets which revolve within
alargecan. After the combs
are uncapped they are placed
in the baskets and the cen-
trifugal motion throws the
honey against the side of
the can. It is drawn off by
a faucet at the bottom.

Fanning Bees. In warm
weather « number of bees
may be seen at the entrance
of the hive, fanning with
their wings for the purpose
of creating air currents to
ventilate the hive.

Fertile Workers. In queenless
colonies it often happens
that some of the worker
bees begin to lay. Their

173

eggs are scattered about in a
very irregular manner. Be-
ing incapable of mating only
maleofispringresults, andthe
colony is therefore doomed.

Forage. The flowering plants
from which the bees gather
nectar.

Foulbrood. Foulbrood is of
two forms, American and
European, named from the
countries where first recog-
nized. Both diseases attack
the young bees in the larval
stage and are very disas-
trous in neglected apiaries.

Foundation. See Comb Foun-
dation.

Frames. The containers in
which combs are built. The
invention of the frame made
beekeeping a commercial
possibility. Rev. L. L.
Langstroth of Ohio was the
first to devise a successful
frame for the beehive.

Gallup Hive. A hive with
square frames 1114 inches
each way. It is no longer
generally used.

German Bees. The common
bees of Europe, also called
Black Bees. They were the
first race introduced into
America and for many years
were the only race known
here.

Grading Rules. Rules by
which honey is graded for
market.

Goldens. Bright yellow Ital-
ian bees of a strain which
have been selected for their
bright color.

174

Granulation of Honey. The
candying or sugaring of
honey. Most honeys will
candy when subjected to
frequent changes of temper-
ature. It can readily be
restored to the liquid state
by placing the container in
a tank of warm water or in
any warm place. Care must
be used not to overheat and
thus spoil the flavor.

Green Honey. Honey which
has not been sufficiently
ripened, and which» still
contains a large percentage
of moisture.

Gum. See Bee Gum.

Heddon Hive. A very shallow
hive with frames 5% x 18%
inches which created a great
deal of discussion at the time
of its introduction. It was also
known as a divisible brood-
chamber hive.

Hoffman Frame. The stand-
ard Langstroth frame with
the addition of a self spacing
feature. The end bars of
the frame are cut wide
enough to insure proper
spacing at 1%inches from
center to center. A metal
spacer is sometimes used
in similar manner.

Hivestand. The base on which
the beehive is placed.

Holy Land Bees. The
native bees of Palestine,
also known as Syrians. They
are similar to Italians in
appearance but have whiter
fuzz rings on the abdomen.

GLOSSARY

Honey. The evaporated nec-
tar of ‘flowers, as stored in
wax cells by the honeybees.

Honey-board. A board placed
between the hive-body and
the super. Sometimes an ex-
cluderis calleda honey-board,
and sometimes the board con-
taining the bee-escape is
designated by this term.

Honeycomb. The assembled
waxen cells built by the bees
for the storage of honey.
See Comb.

Honeydew. A sweet substance
produced by aphides. The
term is also applied to sweet
exudations of plants not the
product of true nectaries.

Honeyflow. When nectar is
coming to the hives freely
from the fields, it is spoken of
as the honeyflow. The time
when honey is abundant.

Honey-gate. The faucet by
which the honey is drawn
from the extractor.

Honey-house. The building
at the apiary where honey
and beekeeping equipment
are stored, and which serves
as a workshop for the bee-
keeper.

Honey-sac. The honcybag
or sac in which the bees
carry the nectar from the
field. It is also known as
honey-stomach.

House-apiary. An apiary kept
entirely within a_ building
erected for the purpose. The
bees find their way to the
outside through entrances
through the wall from each
hive.

GLOSSARY

Hybrids. The term hybrid is
used to indicate a cross be-
tween two races of bees. The
worker bees which are the
offspring of a mismated
queen are called hybrids.

Italian Bees. Yellow bees
native to Italy.

Italianizing. Replacing ordi-
nary queens with queens of
the Italian race.

Inspector. A _ public official
whose duty it is to examine

bees for foulbrood and to

make sure that proper
treatment is given.
Langstroth Hive. The stand-

ard hive in America. The
frames are 17% x 9% inches
in size.

Larva. The young bees after
hatching from the egg and
before entering the pupal
stage.

Laying Workers. Worker bees
which lay eggs. See Fertile
Workers.

Locality. The environment of
the apiary. The term is
used with particular refer-
ence to the available pas-
turage and the conditions
that may be peculiar to a
particular neighborhood.

Long Idea Hive. A hive used
by the late O. O. Poppleton,
which used no supers but
contained a sufficient num-
ber of frames to permit of

removing surplus honey
from the hivebody.
Mating Hive. A small hive in

which a small colony is kept

175

for the purpose of getting
queens mated. It is used
by queen breeders who wish
to secure as many queens as
possible for the market. One
large colony can be broken up
into several parts, and thus
serve to enable the breeder
to increase the number of
queens. See Baby Nucleus.

Mandibles. The jaws of an
insect which work sidewise.

May Disease. A disease
attacking adult bees in the
spring of the year.

Midrib. The septum of the
honeycomb.

Miller Cage. A queen cage
invented by Dr.
Miller.

Mismated Queen. An im-
purely mated queen. A
queen of one race that has
mated with a drone of an-
other race.

Moth-Miller. The waxmoth.
See Beemoth. *

Mother-Bee. The queen.

Movable Frame. A_ loose
frame which enables the bee-
keeper to examine any part
of the interior of the hive at
his pleasure. This term is
used to distinguish such a
hive from the box or skep

Nectar. The sweet liquid se-
creted by flowers which the
bees elaborate into honey.

Nectaries. The glands which
secrete nectar.

Neuter. A term sometimes
applied to worker bees and
also to ants which are not
developed sexually.

176

Nucleus. (Plural nuclei.) In
breaking up a strong colony
into several parts, one, two
or three frames of brood
with adhering bees are taken
away and placed in a sepa-
rate hive. Each division is
given a queen or ripe cell.
These are spoken of as one-
frame nuclei, two-frame
nuclei or three-frame nuclei,
as the case may be.

Nurse Bees. The worker bees
which feed the larve. The
newly emerged bees usually
render this service, while
older ones go to the fields.

Observation Hive. A_ hive
with glass walls which per-
mit the beekeeper to observe
the actions of the bees.

Ocelli. The simple eyes of the
bee, three in number and
situated between the promi-
nent compound eyes.

Outapiary. An apiary situated
at a distance from the bee-
keeper's home. Commer-
cial beekeeping is usually
carried o0n by means of a
series of outapiaries two or
more miles apart.

Outyard. The same as out-
apiary.

Overstocking. The stocking of
a locality with more bees
than the forage present will
support profitably.

Package Bees. Bees shipped
in packages without combs.
Parent Colony. A colony from
which a swarm has issued.

GLOSSARY

Parthenogenesis. The pro-
duction of offspring by an un-
fertilized or unmated female.
In the caseof the bee, unmat-
ed queens and sometimes

workers, lay eggs which
produce drones. See Dzier-
zon Theory.

Pickled Bron. A mild disease

attacking the larve. Sac-
brood.
Piping Queen. The notes

made by a young queen
usually very soon after
emerging from the cell and
often in response to similar
notes made by one not yet
out of the cell. The sound
made within the cell is
called quahking.

Pollen. The fertilizing dust
grains of plants. This is used
by the bees as food for the
larve. A reserve supply is
stored in the cells within the
hive.

Pollen Basket. The cavity on
the hind leg of the worker
bee where she deposits pol-
len to be carried from the
field to the hive.

Pound Packages. Packages
in which bees are shipped
without combs. These are
of various sizes from one
pound capacity upward.

Prime Swarm. The first
swarmto issue from acolony.
See Afterswarm.

Propolis. A gummy substance
or glue which the bees
gather to close up crevices
within the hive.

Punic Bees. See Tunisian
Bees.

GLOSSARY

Pupa. The third stage in the
transformation of an insect.
The period during which
the young bee is sealed up
within the cell and receives
no food.

Quahking. The sound made
by a young queen before she
emerges from the cell. See
Piping.

Queen. The mother-bee. A
sexually developed female
honeybee.

Queen-cage. A small cage for
the purpose of confining
queen bees.

Queen-cell. The cell in which
the young queen is reared.
It is larger than other cells
and of a different shape,
resembling a peanut.

Queen Clipping. The wings of
the queen are often clipped
to prevent her escaping
with a swarm.

Queen-excluder. See Excluder.

Queen Failing. A queen which
is no longer capable of lay-
ing the usual number of eggs.
An old queen.

Queen Introduction. The in-
troduction of a queen bee to
a strange colony. A strange
queen will seldom be accept-
ed. See Balling Queens.

Queenless. A condition where
no queen is present in a hive.

Queen-trap. A trap for the
purpose of preventing the
escape of a queen with a
swarm. See Drone-trap.

Queenright. The normal con-
dition of a colony with a
laying queen present.

12

177

Quinby Hive. The original
large hive with deep frame,
1814x114. inches in size.

Requeening. The replacing of
one queen with another.
Beekeepers make a practice
of requeening at intervals
to insure good stock.

Ripe Cell. A queen-cell con-
taining a young queen ready
to emerge.

Ripe Honey. Honey that has
been left in the care of the
bees until the moisture is
evaporated and it is of a
sufficient density to keep
indefinitely without spoiling.

Robbing. The taking of the
honey from one colony of
bees by bees from other
hives.

Royal Jelly. A thick, white
paste fed by the bees to the
young. It is given in special
abundance to young queens.

Sacbrood. A _ mild disease
attacking the larve. It
somewhat resembles foul-

brood, but is not as malig-
nant. It often disappears of
itself without special treat-
ment. Pickled brood.

Sections. Small containers
made of wood of the right
size to hold one pound of
comb honey when com-
pletely filled.

Sealed Brood. Brood which
has been sealed over. Young
bees in the pupal stage of
transformation.

Separator. A thin sheet of
wood or other material used

178

in the super to separate the
rows of sections. It is de-
signed to insure even filling
of the section boxes.

Septum. The layer of wax
between the two rows of
cells composing a honey-
comb. The middle of the
comb.

Shake Swarming. The arti-
ficial making of a swarm by
shaking the bees into a new
hive and leaving them to
begin anew, as a natural
swarm must do.

Self Spacing Frames. The
Hoffman frame which has
the end bars wider, thus
insuring that they will not
be crowded too close to-
gether in the hive.

Skep. A hive without frames,
made of straw.

Skeppist. A beekeeper who
keeps bees in skeps.

Slumgum. The refuse that
remains after the wax has
been rendered from combs.

Smoker. An implement for
controlling bees by means of
burning some combustible
material in a metal holder.
The smoke is driven out by
means of a bellows.

Spring Dwindling. The grad-
ual weakening of a colony
of bees until it is useless or
dies in early spring. The
cause is usually improper
food or neglect during the
winter months.

Starter. A narrow strip of
foundation used in frames
to insure that the bees will
start the combs lengthwise

GLOSSARY

of the frame, instead of
building them naturally,
in uneven or wavy lines.

Stimulative Feeding. The
feeding of small amounts of
thin syrup in imitation of a
light honeyflow. Liberal
feeding and done with it is
considered better beekeeping
except when it is necessary
to create abnormal condi-
tions in queen rearing.

Sting. The barbed appendage
of the honeybee.

Straw Mat. A mat made of
straw used over the frames
in the Dadant hive.

Super. The part of the hive
where surplus honey is
stored.

Supersedure. When the bees
replace their queen with a
young one without atten-
tion on the part of the

beekeeper, it is called
supersedure.
Surplus Honey. Honey re-

maining to be removed over
and above an amount suffi-
cient for the bees.

Swarm. The natural] division
of the colony, whereby the
old queen and most of the
field bees leave the hive to
found a new colony, leaving
the young bees and a young
queen or a queen-cell. The
normal method of increase
of the bee colony.

Swarm-box. <A box covered
with screen in which to
confine shaken bees when
making artificial divisions
or stocking nuclei.

GLOSSARY

Syrian Bees. The Holy Land
Bees. A yellow race native
to Palestine.

Ten-Frame Hive. The stand-
ard Langstroth hive with
ten frames.

Tested Queen. A queen that
has been tested by observing
her offspring to make sure
that she has been purely
mated.

Tunisian Bees. Black bees
native to the North Coast
of Africa. The Punic bees.

Uncapping Knife. A_ knife
used for removing the cap-
pings from the honeycomb
in preparation for extracting.

Unripe Honey. Green honey.
Honey containing an excess
of moisture.

Unsealed Brood. Brood which
has not yet completed the
larval stage of development.
At the end of six days after
hatching the young larve
complete their growth and
their cells are sealed over.

179

Virgin. An unmated queen.

Wax. The material used by the
bees in building their combs.

Wax Extractor. An imple-
ment for separating the
wax from the slumgum in
rendering combs.

Wax Worm. See Beemoth.

Wiring Frames. The placing
of wires across the frames
when putting in foundation,
to support the combs later
to be built by the bees.

Wax Pockets. The receptacles
between the segments on
the under side of the abdo-
men of the worker bee
where the wax scales are
produced.

Worker. An imperfectly de-
veloped female bee. The
neuter. In every hive there
are thousands of workers
which perform all the labor
of the colony.

Worker-comb. Honeycomb
containing cells of the size
for rearing worker bees.

Wedding Flight. The queen’s
mating flight.

pans
ie
ids P Rin