SS ea Y

me te ee te, On ee ee SH ee ee a ee ee OE

.) BY W, Z. HUTCHINSON,

=

ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

New York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS

BEEKEEPING LIBRARY

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924087275040

ADVANCED

BEE-CULTURE

ITS

Methods and Management,

W. Z. HUTCHINSON,

> REVIEW,

Flint, Genesee Co., Michigan.

SECOND EDITION

@ 2063]
INTRODUCTION.

S THE RESULT of numerous
experiments in the use and non-
use of comb foundation, I was
led, four years ago, to the

writing and publication of a little book
entitled ‘‘7he Production of Comb Hon-
ey.’? The main feature of this book was
the giving, in detail, of a method where-
by full sheets of foundation might be prof-
itably dispensed with in the brood cham-
ber when hiving swarms. Other impor-
tant points in the production of comb
honey were briefly touched upon. The
first edition (3,000) is now sold, and the
pleasant task of re-writing and revising
is now before me.

When the little book came out, one of
the criticisms brought against it was that
it was ¢oo small. ‘‘Give us more,’’ was
the cry then; and it comes to me yet.
Repeatedly have I been urged to write a
larger book, giving my experience and
views more in detail and upon other
points. Flattering as all this may be, I
doubt if I should have yielded to these
entreaties were it not that, as editor of
the BEE-KEEPERS’ REVIEW, I have, for
nearly four years, had the benefit of read-

ing, and studying over, special discus-
sions, by the most practical men, of the
most important questions connected with
our pursuit. {In other words, a large share
of the ideas to be found in the following
pages may also be found scattered
through the back volumes of the RE-
viEW. I have classified, arranged and,
condensed; giving what / consider the
‘‘cream’’ of the discussions that have
appeared in the REviEW. The supply of
back numbers of the REVIEW will soon
be exhausted, and even those who possess
them will find it convenient to be able to
turn, ina moment, toa fresh, clear and
concise, yet comprehensive, resume of
the most important apicultural topics of
the day. So many more topics are
now taken up that the old title would not
be appropriate, hence it has been decided
to change it to that of ADVANCED BEE-
CULTURE; ITS METHODS AND MANAGE-
MENT,

The above was written about ten years
ago, when I got out the first edition of
this book, but at present I see nothing to
add to it.

W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Fiint, Mich.

ADVANCED BEE~CULTURE.

Care of Bees in Winter.

F THEY were properly prepared for
winter the preceding autumn, giv-
en plenty of good stores, properly
protected out of doors, or placed in

acellar or other repository having the
proper temperature, and precautions tak-
en against depredations by mice, bees re-
quire almost no care in winter.

No bee-keeper worthy of the name will
allow his bees to go into winter quarters
short of stores. They ought, at least, to
have enough to last them until the first
warm days of spring, when they may be
handled upon their summer stands, and
fed if necessary. A very disagreeable
job, indeed, is that pf handling bees in
the cellar, to learn if they are in need of
stores. Instead of flying to any great
extent, they crawl, up the operator’s
sleeves, up his trouser’s legs, from where
they have dropped upon the floor, and
down his collar and under his coat. They
buzz around the light, and, if an ordinary
lamp is used, many go down the chimney
never to return. Quite a good many drop
off on the floor, and are lost. If the bees
are wintered upon their summer stands,
and there comes aday warm enough for
them to fly, it is but little trouble to ex-
amine them for the purpose of learning
the amount of storeson hand. As arule,
but little honey is used during the winter,

but when breeding commences towards
spring, stores disappear as by magic.

If by any hook or crook the bees have
gone into winter quarters short of stores,
and there are fears that some may be
starving, itis better that they be examin-
ed, and fedif needed, even though the
taskis unpleasant. There need be no
hesitancy in thus disturbing the bees for
fear that it may do them some injury,
for, asa rule, it will not. Probably the
best method of feeding bees in winter is
to give them a frame of honey. Perhaps
all the honey is inthe hives, what shall
be done then? Itis weJ{ known that all
colonies do not consume the same
amount of stores. The variation is very
great, and by examining all of the colo-
nies, or a large number of them, the bee-
keeper can usually find combs of honey
that may be spared to furnish needy col-
onies with stores.

If some colonies must be fed, and no
honey is available, the best substitute for
honey is candy made of granulated
sugar. Put in sufficient water to dissolve
the sugar, then boil the syrup until it will
harden in cooling. To learn when to re-
move the candy from the fire, take outa
spoonful every few minutes and allow it
to cool. As soon as it begins to show
signs of hardening, draw the vessel con-

6 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

taining it to the back of the stove where
it will boil slowly. Watch it carefully
and try it frequently. As soon as it is
sufficiently hard, remove it from the
stove and pour into shallow dishes to
cool. Be careful not to get it too hard.
Ifitis hard enough to retain its form
when placed over a colony of bees, that
is sufficient. A thin cake of such candy
laid directly upon the frames over the
cluster of bees, and then the whole top
of the hive covered with a piece of enam-
eled cloth, and two or three thicknesses
of old carpet over that, will enable the
bees to ‘hold the fort’? as long as the
candy lasts. If fcr any reason it is im-
possible or undesirable to place candy in
this manner upon the tops of the frames,
the candy may be ‘‘run’’ directly into
empty brood frames, and the frames
hung in the hives adjoining the cluster
of bees. To fillaframe with candy, lay
it upon a smooth board with a piece of
paper under the frame, and pour in the
candy after waiting until it is as cool as
it can be and yet be made to ‘‘run.’’ To
keep the frame down close to the paper,
so that the soft candy will not run out
while cooling, tack the frame down with
some wire nails driven through it into
the board. Have the nails just long
enough to hold the frame down nicely,
but not long enough to make it difficult
of removal. If afull frame of candy is
more than a colony needs, a less amount
may be given by tacking a cross-bar
in the frame, part way up from the bot-
tom, and filiing the upper space only with
candy.

Henry Alley recommends the use of
“Good candy” for feeding bees in winter.
This candy is made by mixing pulver-
ized sugar and extracted honey until it is
of the consistency of a stiff dough. It is
almost impossible to get it too stiff.
When first mixed it may be quite hard,
but will be found quite soft and plastic in
adayortwo. To place this candy in a
hive, tack thin boards upon one side of
an empty brood frame, covering one
whole side of the frame. The frame is

thus virtually transformed into a shallow
tray. Fillit with the soft candy, then
cover the other side of the frame with
thin boards, except asmall space at the
top. In the opening thus left, the bees
can enter and carry away the food. The
frame of food thus prepared is hung in
the hive adjoining the cluster, with the
Opening turned towards the bees.

The above methods of feeding are pref-
erable to feeding syrup, which is more
difficult to give and contains so much
water. If it must be used, let it be made
as thick as possible.

Mice sometimes do some little damage
both to colonies wintered indoors and
those in the open air. This damage is
confined principally to that of gnawing
the combs. If bee-keepers would only
remeinber that bees can pass through a
space that is less than &% of an inch, and
that a mouse needs a space nearly twice
this, 1t would seem that there need be no
trouble in keeping mice out of hives,
Simply contract the entrance until it is
only %{ of an inch the narrowest way,
and no mice can enter. This should be
done quite early in the fall, as cool, frosty
nights often drive the mice into the warm
retreat to be found inside a bee-hive.
When bees are wintered in the cellar,
many bee-keepers practice raising the
hives about two inches from the bottom
board; others remove the bottom board
entirely. This allows plenty of ventila-
tion, but scarcely any escape of heat.
All dead bees and rubbish drop down
away from the cluster of bees, where they
dry up instead of becoming moldy and
rotten from contact with the warmth and
moisture of the cluster. If a colony does
die, the combs are left dry and clean, in-
stead of being stuck together with a mass
of damp, moldy, rotting bees. All who
have tried raising the hives in this man-
ner, are enthusiastic in its praise; but it
will be seen that this plan gives the mice,
if there are any in the cellar, free access
to the hives.

Dr. C. C. Miller heads off the mice by
the use of whathe calls a reversible bot-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 7

tom board. It is simply a shallow box
(minus oneend) as wide as the hive and
a little longer. In summer the flat side
is used uppermost. In winter the box
side is turned up, thus furnishing the de-
sired space under the bees. The open
end of the box is covered with wire
cloth having 4 mesh coarse enough to
allow bees to pass through, but shut out
mice. Every bee-keeper does not use
such a bottom board, perhaps would not
care forit, and then the best plan is to
keep the mice out of the cellar. If it is
of such acharacter that they can not be
shut out, then they must be trapped or
poisoned. For the latter purpose, I have
found nothing better than equal parts of
flour, white sugar and arsenic, mixed,
and placed in shallow dishes in different
parts of the cellar.

Unless the cellar is well under ground,
where it is well beyond the influence of
the outside temperature, itis well to keep
watch and not allow the temperature to
run too low in protracted cold spells. A
lamp stove, burned all night in a cellar,
will raise the temperature several degrees.
During the fore part of winter a low tem-
perature is not so dangerous as it is to-
wards spring, when brood rearing has
commenced. From 35° to 45° will do
very well until towards spring, when it
should not be allowed to go below 40°,
and may with safety go as high as 48° or
50°. Inthis connection it must be re-
membered that moisture has an influence
upon the effects of temperature. So far
as effects are concerned, a moist atmos-
phere is the equal of a low temperature.
If the cellar is moist, either raise the
temperature, or remove the moisture.
Unslacked lime in the cellar will absorb
moisture. Even when the influence
of moisture has been considered it
will not answer to tie ourselves to a
certain temperature. It is the tempera-
ture inside the hives that affects the wel-
fare of the bees. If the colonies are
weak, their hives open, and the brood-
nest uncontracted, a higher degree of
heatis needed than with strong colonies

“able.

in close, well protected hives. Putting
colonies near the top of the cellar will
help matters some, as the air is warmer
there. The best guide in regard to this
matter of temperature is the behavior of
the bees themselves. If they are closely,
quietly and compactly clustered, there is
but little cause for alarm in regard to
the temperature. Quite a number have
reported excellent results by warming up
the bee repository to summer heat, say
once a week or ten days, if the bees be-
come uneasy towards spring. This en-
ables the bees throw off any surplus
moisture, and, as the temperature goes
down, they quiet down and remain so
tor several davs, when they may be warm-
edagain. So long as the bees remain
quiet, I should not disturb them by arti-
ficial heat. If the cellar becomes /oo
warm in thespring, before it is time to
remove the bees, it may be cooled down
by carrying in snow or ice, or the win-
dows and doors may be opened at night
and closed in the morning.

Years ago many bee-keepers practiced
taking their bees from the cellar, if there
came a warm day in the winter, and al-
lowing them to fly, returning them again
to the cellar, but this practice has been
pretty nearly abandoned. Ifthe bees are
in a quiet, normal condition, it often
rouses them and sets them to breeding
in mid-winter, which is far from desir-
If the food, temperature, and other
surroundings are what they ought to be,
such a flight is not needed. If they are
very faulty, sucha flight will not save
the bees from death.

If bees out of doors are properly pro-
tected and have abundaut stores, they
need no care in winter, unless it is to see
that the entrances are not clogged with
ice, snow, or dead bees, when there
comes a day warm enough for them to
fly. Ifa rim twoinches wide is put un-
der each hive when they are packed in
the fall, and an entrance made at the
upper edge of this rim, the entrance will
never be clogged with dead bees.

Securing Workers for the Harvest.

\ ACH BEE-KEEPER ought to
=< thoroughly understand the hon-

ey resources of his own local-
a] ity. Heshould know when to
expecta honey flow. When the time
comes, the expected harvest may not
come, but the bee-keeper should be in
readiness for it. It is possible to have a
good honey flowand yet secure no sur-
plus, because there is not a sufficient
number of bees to gather it. Bees are
valuable when there is honey to gather,
at other times they are consumers. Less
populous colonies can be more success-
fully wintered in the cellar than out of
doors; while by proper protection and
care in the spring, such colonies can be
brought up to the requisite strength in
time for the honey harvest. If by such
management we are enabled toso reduce
our colonies in strength during the non-
producing time of the year that stores

are saved to the amount of from three to :

five pounds per colony, we are well paid
for our trouble.

Rapid breeding late in winter or very
early in the spring isundesirable. Noth-
ing so quickly wears out bees as the rear-
ingof brood; and the more unfavorable
the conditions the greater the wear. It
is better that the bees should remain
quiet until warm weather furnishes the
most favorable conditions for brood rear-
ing, when the same expenditure of vital-
ity will produce two bees instead of one.
If the bees in the cellar are quiet and
show no signs of dysentery, don’t allow
a warm day or two totempt you to their
removal. Leave them in until either
honey or pollen may be gathered. Some

bee-keepers leave them until consider-
able later than this, and, if the bees are
to receive no extra protection when
placed upon their summer stands, this
course is advisable. But the bees are not
always quiet as spring approaches, The
character of their food may have been
such as to overload their intestines, and
unless they are soon allowed an opportu-
nity of voiding their faeces, death will re-
sult, or their vitality will become so im-
paired that death will soon claim them.
Whether the bees are quiet or not, 7
would carry them to their summer stands
as soon as there is pollen to be gathered,
and then I would protect them by some
temporary covering.

Aside from food in abundance, warmth
is the one thing needed to promote sa/z,
early breeding. An ordinary colony will
generate sufficient heat to enable the
bees torearas much brood as they can
tend, the trouble is that so much of this
heat is lost by radiation. Unless there
is considerable brood present when the
bees are taken from the cellar, protection
is not needed very much at first—not un-
tila quantity of brood has been develop-
ed. I have learned from repeated ex-
periments that protection allows or en-
ables the bees to develop greater quan-
tities of brood; but I donot consider this
the greatest advautage of protection:
The point is just here: We often have
nice warm weather for three weeks.
The alders, elms and maples bloom, pos-
sibly the cherries, and all this has en-
couraged the bees to extend their brood
until the combs are well filled. Then
comes a cold “snap.” The mercury

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 9

goes down to freezing, or nearly there,
and remains so several days; perhaps the
ground is covered by two or three inches
of snow—a veritable ‘‘squaw winter.”’
More than once have I and my bees pass-
ed through such experiences, and to our
sorrow. The cold drives the bees into a
compact cluster inthe center of the hive.
Half of the brood, perhaps more, is out-
side of the cluster, where it perishes.
The newly hatched bees, if any there are,
are tender, like a newly hatched chicken,
and easily succumb to the cold. The
old bees have lost their vitality in bring-
ing into existence the hive full of brood,
and the cold snap is the ‘‘last straw”
needed to send them to the bottom of the
hive. Weak colonies, in passing through
such severe weather unprotected, almost
invariably die. Ordinary colonies are
rendered practically worthless for the
season, and strong colonies are not im-
proved. Such low temperature does not
usually come so late in the season, but it
is /iable to come any year; while ‘‘cold
snaps,’’ even if not so severe, come al-
most every spring; while the loss that
may occur from an unusually severe
spell of weather late in the spring, will
be sufficient to pay for the expense of pro-
tecting the bees each spring for several
years. Several times, when protecting
the bees in the spring after taking them
from the cellar, I have left a few of the
most populous colonies unprotected. In
the early morning, or during cool days,
the bees in the unprotected hives would
be found closely clustered, while those in
the protected hives would be found
crawling actively about all over the combs,
and a puff of smoke would drive them
down an inch or two and expose large
quantities of sealed brood. When the
honey harvest came, a majority of those
protected were actually stronger than
those left unprotected. Some have com-
pared this packing of bees in spring toa
stimulant. Itis not astimulant, as we
understand the word, It simply confines
the heat of the bees, allowing them to
spread out and rear and protect larger

quantities of brood. Give them the
proper conditions for following their in-
stinct in the direction of brood rearing,
and no additional stimulus is needed.

If spring protection is so important
that it is advisable to pack the hives after
taking them from the cellar, it may be
asked, why not practice out door winter-
ing—then winter protection will answer
for spring, and the expense of a cellar and
of carrying the bees in and out will be
avoided? Inthe first place, the saving
of stores in cellar wintering will pay for
the expense twice over; and, in the next
place, and of far greater importance, it
is only by the cellar method that the
wintering of bees, in a cold climate, can
ever be reduced toa perfect system. By
a selection of natural stores, or, better
still, by using sugar, we can secure uni-
formity of food, but it is only in the cel-
lar, or special repository, that uniformity
of temperature at a desirable point can
be maintained. Possibly our knowledg:
of wintering bees will yet become so ex-
tended as to enable us to keep them
breeding in the cellar, during the spring,
until all danger of blizzards is past, or so
nearly past that no protection will be
needed; but as the majority of us zow
winter our bees, they become restless as
warm weather comes on, and, as a flight
in the open air, and a little freshly gath-
ered pollen, honey and water seem to act
like a charm, putting new life into their
veins, I believe itis better to put them
upon their summer stands as soon as pol-
len can be gathered in abundance, and,
as we almost always have ‘‘cold snaps’
after this, I would protect them.

Spring protection need not be an elab-
orate affair. Any old boards nailed to-
gether in the form of a box will hold the
packingin place. A box without top or
bottom, 2 x 3 feet in size, by 18 inches
deep, made of cheap, thin lumber, can be
set over the hives to keep the packing in
place. The lower edge of its front end
should rest upon the outer edge of a little
bridge placed in front of the entrance
and resting upon the bottom board of the

to ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

hive. The best of the lumber should
be picked out for making roofs; and, as
the front end of the packing box is rais-
ed several inches, the water will run off
atthe back end. Dry sawdust makes
excellent packing; probably the best that
is easily obtainable. It seems to be pe-
culiarly adapted to absorbing and retain-
ing the heat given off by the bees, and
that received by the sun, and gradually
giving it off in times of need. It be-
comes, in short, a sort of caloric balance
wheel. With this method of packing, all
the extras needed are the little bridges,
the packing material and the rims; and,
if the latter are only slightly nailed, they
can be knocked apart and piled up snug-
ly out of the way when not in use; or,
by laying the two boards that are used
for the sides of the rim side by side, and
uniting them by tacking a strip of wood
across, they may be used as a shade-
board. The roof may be used as a shade-
board. To pack bees with this arrange-
ment, the sawdust is brought into the
yard in barrels upon a wheelbarrow. A
rim is set over a hive, then a barrel raised
up and sawdust poured over the hive un-
til it is well covered. Perhaps a bushel
or more of sawdustis used for each hive.
The cover is then put in place, and a
stone laid on to keep the wind from
blowing it off. The work can be done
more rapidly than one would suppose.
When the time comes for removing the
packing (which is not very much before
it is time to put on the supers), the cover
is taken off, the rim raised right straight
up from over the hive and carried away,
then the sawdust is shoveled up into a
barrel with a scoop shovel.

Mr. Heddon now protects his bees in
spring, after taking them from the cel-
lar, by putting each colony into a box
made of thin lumber, and filling the
space between the hive and box with
sawdust. The box has a bottom, is two
inches larger each way than the outside
of the hive, is painted dark red that it
may absorb the heat of the sun, and the
cover has a rim that shuts down over the

outside of the box like a chest cover.
When the hives are taken from the boxes,
the sawdust is left in the boxes, and they
are stored in a rain-proof building until
wanted another spring. Mr. Heddon
prefers packing not more than two inches
thick, asserting that more benefit is thus
secured from the warmth of the sun than
when the packing is thicker.

Quite a number of bee-keepers have
used and recommended double-wall hives
with no packing between the walls.
Protecting bees in the spring, in a simi-
lar manner, by simply setting a box over
the hive has been recommended. Sim-
ply an enclosed space cannot be so effec-
tive as though the space were filled with
some material like chaff or sawdust. If
there is no packing, the air next the hive
is warmed and rises; that next the outside
wallis cooled andfalls. In this way a
circulation is brought about by means of
which the hive is robbed of its heat.
Packing puts an end to this circulation.
Mr. Root, of Ohio, is experimenting with
a thin outer shell for use in winter in the
South, or in the spring at the North. It
is made of material only % of an inch
thick and dove-tailed, lock-jointed, at
the corners. He leaves only 3 of an
inch between the hive and outer case.
He also recommends, when necessary,
wrapping a long, wide, flat, thin cushion,
filled with chaff, around the hive before
the outer caseis slipped down over the
hive. Iconsider the space for packing
too small.

Bees may be protected to some extent
by putting packing of some kind at the
sides of the brood-nest, zzside the hives,
and putting chaff cushions over the brood
nest, or filling supers with chaff or saw-
dust and placing them over the hives;
but none of these devices are so effectual
as completely surrounding the hive with
packing.

Years ago, what was called stimulative
feeding was frequently practiced in the
spring, butit has been largely abandon-
ed. It zs stimulation in the true sense of
the word, and often encourages brood

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. II

rearing too early in the season. If the
bees are protected as I have recommend-
ed, the danger is greatly lessened, but I
can think of only one condition when it
would be adyisable, and that is if the
honey flow should receive a check before
the main harvest begins. Brood rearing
should not begin until it can be carried
on uninterruptedly, and once begun, it
should receive no check. After brood
rearing is well under way, a stoppage in
the honey flow will put upon it a decided
check. Drones will be killed, and the
cells from which brood hatches will be
left empty. When the main honey flow
comes, there will be an insufficient num-
ber of workers, and an empty brood nest
to fill. The bees will fillit with honey,
and that is about all they will do. To
have bees go into the sections and do
work that amounts to something, the
brood nest should be nearly one solid
mass of brood when the harvest opens.
To more perfectly accomplish this, some
bee-keepers change about the frames in
the brood nest, bringing the outside
combs, containing but little brood, into
the center, where they will be filled.

With a horizontally divisible brood cham-
ber this same object can be secured with
less labor by simply interchanging the
two sections, putting the lower one at
the top and the upper one at the bottom.
This divides the ‘‘globe’’ of brood in the
center, and brings the convex spherical
parts together inthe center of the hive.
Nothing is gained by uniting weak colo-
nies, nor by taking brood from strong col-
nies to strengthen the weak. See that
all have good queens, abundant stores,
and are packed up snug and warm, then
if any uniting zs to be done, wait until
just before the main honey harvest, when
brood may be taken from weak colonies
and used to bring some colonies up to the
standard that are a little lacking in num-
bers. Asarule, I don’t approve of such
work; it is too much like robbing Peter
to pay Paul. Weak colonies can usually
be used to the best advantage in raising
extracted honey.

I have devoted considerable space to
this topic, because, unless our hives are
overflowing with bees and brood at the
opening of the harvest, there is little
chance of success.

POPTGO SE SEESE

Bee Hives and Their Characteristics.

N ‘Bees and Bee-Keeping, ’’ under
the head of ‘*‘ Hives for Bees,’’ Mr.
Frank Cheshire shows that external
protection is essential; that, lacking

this, a crust or envelope of closely cling-
ing bees must be formed on the outside
of the cluster, thus forming a living hive,
inside of which it is possible to maintain
a temperature of 95°. This envelope or
crust would vary in thickness according
to the temperature. Upon our hottest

days it would break up altogether. By
furnishing the bees with an outer cover-
ing, the workers composing the ‘‘ living
hive ’’ are released for other labors; but if
the hive is too large the bees cluster at
one side or corner, thus leaving one side
of the cluster exposed, over which must
be formed a protecting crust of bees. Mr.
Cheshire says: ‘‘It is true that hives
gather no honey, but in so far as they
effect the objects which have engaged

12 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

our attention, they are the cause of much
being gathered.”

These remarks of Mr. Cheshire natural-
ly introduce the question of the size of
hives. That the hive should be adapted
to the size of the colony, the season, etc.,
is admitted by all, but as to how a change
in size shall be effected there is difference
of opinion. If the combs are very deep
it is impractical to change the size of the
brood nest, except laterally, and by the
aid of division boards; but this method
allows a most complete contro! of the de-
gree of contraction. Changing the size
of the brood nest vertically is practical
only with shallow combs; and the shal-
lower the combs the more perfectly can
this method of contraction and expansion
be managed.

For awhile before swarming time a
large brood nest is needed; larger, at
least, than is needed after the main har-
vest has come. As top-storing and tier-
ing-up are now almost universally prac-
ticed, and as bees work much more read-
ily in sections that are over the brood, it
is evident that « hive allowing vertical
contraction isthe one for ‘‘ contraction-
ists’’ to use.

If contraction is not to be practiced,
then there arises the question of what
size shall be the brood nest? Some plead
for a generous space, that the queen may
not be ‘“‘cramped for room,’’ as though
this condition of affairs were very unde-
sirable and unprofitable. Were queens
expensive, this plea would be worth con-
sideration; but, as the capital is in the
combs, honey and hives, rather than in
the queens, the question as to which shall
be kept employed at the expense of the
other’s idleness, needs no argument. If
the size of the brood nest is toremain un-
changed, then let it be of such capacity
that an ordinarily prolific queen will fill it
at the height of the breeding season, Let
the size be less than this, rather than
more. Hight Langstroth combs, or their
equal, will furnish sufficient room.
Many in arguing for large hives, mention
how much larger yields per colony are se-

cured, True; but do they secure any
more per comb. Bee-keeping ought to be
viewed in a broad light. The question is
something like this: Here isan area of
honey producing flowers, how shall we
secure the nectar with the least expendi-
ture of capital and labor? Small hives
enable us to secure a more complete fill-
ing of the combs with brood, consequent-
ly more workers for the combs we have.
Small hives may cost a trifle more in
proportion to their size, than large hives,
but as an offset there is the greater ease
and quickness with which they are han-
dled.

Aside from a small brood nest, to secure
a more complete filling of the combs with
brood, or to lead to more rapid work in
the sections, there may be mentioned the
making of hives in such a manner that
they may be inverted. The masses have
not seemed to take kindly to inversion.
Like many new things, it was extrav-
agantly praised; but itis far from value-
less. Perhaps one reason why inversion
is not more generally practiced, is because
it has been discovered that, with a hive
having a horizontally divisible brood
chamber, the interchange of the parts ac-
complishes the same results as inversion.

In northern climates, bees need more
protection in winter than is afforded by
a single wall hive. In Michigan this is
best afforded by a cellar; farther south
some kind of packing is probably prefer-
able. Whether this packing shall be in
the shape of the so-called chaff hive, or
in something of atemporary nature that
can be removed in summer, is a point up-
on which bee-keepers differ. It is true
that temporary packing calls for extra la-
bor, and there was a time when it also
resulted in some untidiness and unsight-
liness in the apiary during the winter,
but the neat outer case and improved
methods of packing that are now being
adopted, have removed the latter objec-
tion, and greatly reduced the former.
These methods of temporary packing are
cheaper than chaff hives, while the ad-
vantage of having light, single-walled

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 13

hives during the working season, hives
can be picked up, handled, manipulated,
tiered-up, carried, if advisable, to a dis-
tant but more desirable location—hives,
in short, that can be handled in a way
that means dusiness—all these advantages
are so great that I should never think of
adopting the chaff hive. I know there
are methods of management in which the
unwieldly, stand-still character of the
chaff hive proves no obstacle; but such
methods are not the most expeditious.
Speaking of the greater ease with which
an apiary can be managed when the bees
are in single-wall hives, brings up the
point of handling hives instead of combs.
Preventing after-swarming by moving
about the hives is an illustration. With
small hives, or those that can be handled
by sections, and in which the frames
are securely fastened, the queen may be
found by shaking out the bees instead of
going over the hives comb by comb.
When raising extracted honey, the su-
pers, with such hives, may be freed from
bees in a similar manner, just as they are
driven from a case of sections. It might
be mentioned here, parenthetically, that
the ‘‘ bee escape’’ promises to destroy
this point of superiority hitherto claimed
for this style of super. When contract-
ing the brood nest, one section of the
hive is removed instead of taking out
combs and putting in ‘‘dummies.’’ As
the eye of the physician judges of the in-
ternal conditions by external symptoms,
so the practiced eye of the bee-keeper can
easily determine the condition of a col-
ony without removing a comb. As a
taking apart and thorough examination
of the human body was necessary before
it was possible to learn to accurately
‘‘ judge of internal conditions by observ-
ing external symptoms,’’ so movable
frames allowed us to learn of the myste-
ries of the bee hive, and to reach that
stage when the taking apart of the brood
combs is seldom necessary. Such being
the case, hives that allowus the most
completely to accomplish our ends by
haudling them instead of frames, are,

other things being equal, the most desir-
able.

THE NEW, HEDDON HIVE.

I have no hesitancy in saying that, in
my opinion, the new Heddon hive comes
the nearest to being the perfect hive, of
any with which I am acquainted. Just
think over the points 1 have mentioned,
and see how fully this hive meets the re-
quirements. It is at once the largest or
the smallest hive, by simply removing or
adding sections. There is no handling of
frames nor of ‘‘dummies’’ or. division
boards. When the brood nest is contract-
ed, the supering surface remains the
same. None of the sections are left ‘‘ out
in the cold’’ so to speak, with ‘‘dum-
mies ’’ instead of brood underneath them.
The brood can be ‘tspread’’ whenever it
itis desirable, by simply interchanging
the sections. No handling of comés in
the operation. The combs can be invert-
ed singly or a whole hive at one opera-
tion. It isa light, readily-movable, sin-
gle-wall hive, and its closed-end frames
make it particularly adapted to the estab-
lishing of out apiaries or the moving of
bees to secure better pasture. This hive
has often been recommended as an excel-
lent hive for raising comb honey. It is
equally as good when producing extracted
honey. The shallow frames are peculiar-
ly adapted to the tiering-up plan, which
is nearly as valuable in raising extracted

14 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

honey as in raising comb honey. Supers
filled with shallow combs may be tiered-
up and left on the hive for the honey to
ripen, when they can be cleared of bees
as readily as a case of sections, handled
as easily, and when in the honey house it
is only necessary to invert a super, loosen
the screws, slip off the case, and there
stand the combs all ready for extracting.
These shallow combs are uncapped more
readily than deep combs.

THE DOVETAILED HIVE.

After the new Heddon, my next choice
of a hive is the so-called ‘‘ Dovetailed ”
hive, which is simply the Iangstroth-
Heddon hive with a loose bottom and
the corners. ‘‘ Dovetailed, ’or lock-joint-
ed, hence the name ‘‘ Dovetailed.’’ It
is really an excellent hive, and for using
the hanging, open-end Langstroth frame
it probably has no superior.

Closed-end frames are having quite a
boom just now. Contrary to the belief
of those who have never tried them, they
can be handled even more rapidly than
the open-end frames. All kinds of
frames, unless it be those with metal
corners suspended upon metal rabbits,
raust be pried loose with a knife or screw-
driver before they can be moved. After
they are loosened, one kind can be han-
dled, singly, about as fast as the other;
while three or four closed-end frames can
be taken up at one grasp. This cannot
be done with the open-end frames. Most
of bee-keepers call to mind the manner
in which the bees propolize the ends of
the top bars with open-end frames, and
then these bee-keepers proceed tv im-
agine how much worse it would be if the
end-bars were in contact the whole ora
part of their length. They forget how

completely the closed-end bars, compress-
ed with a screw or wedge, shut the bees
away from those parts that would cause
trouble if propolized.

Much has also been said of late in re-
gard to wide, deep top bars, placed at
fixed distances, for preventing the build-
ing of brace combs. While there is good
evidence that such arrangements accom-
plish the object for which they are used,
the fact stillremains that queen exclud-
ers are needed, and the only satisfactory
manner in which they can be used is in a
honey board, hence I am inclined to the
belief that the honey board will hold its
own against the wide, deep top bars.

There are sonie minor points in hive
construction that may be noticed. For
shipping bees, or moving them from one
location to another, a fast bottom board
is an advantage; aside from this, all the
advantages, and there are quite a number,
are with a loose bottom board. As some-
thing must be fastened over a hive when
itis shipped, it is but little more work
tohave the same fastening come down
and hold on the bottom board, hence
thereis but littleto be said in favor of
fast bottom boards. Beveled joints,
either at the cornersof hives or between
stories, are being discarded so rapidly for
the plain square joint, thatit is almost a
waste of space to condemnthem. Cloths
for covering the frames are being quite
generally discarded, the cover to the
hive being made flat and brought down
to within ‘‘bee’space’’ of the tops of the
frames,

While there will probably always be
users and advocates of large hives, of
chaff hives, and of hanging, open-end
frames, it is evident that the present ten-
dency is towards shallow, fixed frames,
small brood nests, and a system of man-
agement that requires but little if any
frame manipulation. With such hives
the bees must be wintered in the cellar,
or the winter protection be such that it
can be removed in summer. Such hives
allow the principle of tiering-up to be
carried to its highest perfection; con-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 15

traction of the brood nest is equally per-
fect, the top of the brood apartment al-
ways being the same size; in short, such
hives allow of ‘‘short cuts,” of a sort of

wholesale management that an attempt
to follow with other hives brings in a
whole lot of loose pieces and an endless
amount of manipulation,

Honey Boards.

ITH the majority of frames
in use, bees build little bits
of combs between the top
bars of the frames, and ex-

tending the combs upwards, connect
them with the cover of the hive, or the
bottom of a case of sections, or whatever
is next above the tops of the frames.
These little bits of combs are called brace
combs, or burrcombs. It is very unpleas-
ant, unprofitable and untidy to lift off a
case of sections, and, in so doing, pull
apart a network of combs that connect
the bottoms of the sections with the tops
ofthe brood frames. The honey drips
and daubs about and attracts robbers, if
there are any to be attracted. The bits
of comb must be scraped from the bottems
of the sections, and the muss cleaned up
as best it may.

The bee-keeping fraternity is, I believe,
indebted to Mr. James Heddon, for the
modern honey board, which practically
does away with all trouble from brace-
combs. This honey board is simply a
series of slats fastened to a frame as large
as the top of the hive and placed over
the brood nest. These slats are about
5-16 of an inch thick, placed % of an inch
apart, and of such width and so arranged
thateach opening between them comes
exactly over the center of the top bar of
abrood frame below. In other words,
the slats break joints with the top bars of
theframes below. As the tops of the

frames are 3% of aninch below the level
of the top of the hive, there is a 34 space
between the tops of the frames and the
bottom of the honey board. The outside
rim or frame-work of the honey board is
¥% of an inch thicker than the slats, thus
the surplus case is raised three-eighths
of an inch above the slats of the honey
board. In short, the honey board is a
series of slats three-eighths of an inch
apart, placed between the brood nest and
the supers, with a ‘‘bee space’’ both above
and below the slats. In the space below,
between the slats and the brood nest, the
bees build brace combs just the same as
ever, but for some reason, the space above
is almost always left free from the dis-
agreeable brace combs. A case of sec-
tions can be lifted off as clean and free
from daub as when placed upon the hive.

WOODEN, QUEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY
BOARD.
I once tried to make these slatted hon-
ey boards queen-excluding by placing the
slats exactly 5-32 of an inch apart. So

16 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

far as excluding the queen from the su-
pers was concerned, they were a success;
the greatest drawback being the fact that,
when the slats were placed so close to-
gether bees filled the spaces between
them with hard wax. It is also some
trouble to place the slats exactly 5-32 of
an inch apart and fasten them in such a
manner that they will remain exactly
that distance apart. I next tried to make
a wood queen-excluder by substituting a
thin board (3-16 of an inch) for the slats
and then perforating it with a small cir-
cular saw exactly 5-32 of an inch in thick-
ness. Such excluders worked better,
owing, I think, to their being thinner;
still, the bees plugged the perforations to
such an extent that it became necessary
to clean out the hard wax each spring.
The G. B. Lewis Co., of Watertown,
Wis., is now making an all-wood queen-
excluder similar to this; the only differ-
ence being that the perforations are made
across the grain. If some enterprising
manufacturer will invent a machine to
countersink the openings, that is, cham-
fer off the wood around the openings un-
til the edges are only about 1-16 of an
inch in thickness, I believe that in this
manner an all-wood queen-excluder could
be made a success. It is my opinion that
across the grain is the proper direction in
which to make the perforations. The

edges would be less likely to be injured
or to be gnawed by the bees.

WOOD-ZINC HONEY BOARD.
At present, the best queen-excluding
honey board is the wood-zinc. It is sim-
ply the Heddon slatted honey board_with

saw kerfsin the edges of the slats, and
strips of perforated zine slid into the
kerfs, between the slats. To Dr. G. L.
Tinker belongs the honor of having been
the first to introduce strips of perforated
metal, in this peculiar manner, between
the slats of the Heddon honey board.

Whole sheets of zinc have been used as
honey boards. The greatest objection
seems to be that such large sheets are
lacking in rigidity. They are likely to
sag, or bend, or kink, thus destroying
the perfection of the bee-spaces. If a
sheet sags, the space above becomes so
large that there isa likelihood of comb
being built therein; while the space be-
low becomes so small that propolis is
placed between the zinc and the top of
the brood frames. The wood-zinc honey
board is free from this defect.

During the last year or two there has
been an effort made to do away with
honey boards. It has been found that
wide, deep, top bars, accurately spaced,
have, at least, a great tendency to reduce
the building of brace combs. The spaces
between the top bars should be as near
5-16 of an inch as is practical. If greater
than this, the danger of comb building is
greatly increased; if less, there is a ten-
dency to plug the spaces with hard wax
—not comb, but hard, solid wax. With
the ordinary hanging or open end frame,
itis not practical to space the frames
sufficiently accurate to prevent the brace
comb nuisance; that is, not unless some
spacing device is used. Closed-end
frames are the best adapted to bring
about the necessary accuracy of spacing.

When there is any necessity for the
use of a queen-excluder, the only practi-
cal way in which it can be used is in the
shape of a honey board. In raising
comb honey there is little need of a
queen-excluder over an old established
colony, but when a swarm is hived in a
contracted brood chamber, and given the
supers from the old hive, a queen-exclud-
er is almost a necessity. In raising ex-
tracted honey, queen-excluders are a
great convenience. If they are not used,

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 17

the operator must always be on the look-
out for brood in the extracting supers.
Some combs will be found containing
only a ttle boood, yet they cannot be
extracted without throwing out some of
the brood into the honey. Some bee-
keepers, when they find brood in the
upper story, exchange thecombs for the
outside combs of the lower story, if they
can find any such without brood, but this
takes time. To successfully conduct an
apiary, the fixtures and methods should
be such that the work will move along
smoothly and in a systematic manner,
without any ‘‘hitches.’’ There is also
another point to be considered in con-
nection with the use of queen-excluders

when raising extracted honey, and that
is the freeing of the supers by the use of
‘“‘bee-escapes.’’ If the super contains
several combs of brood and the queen,
it is doubtful if the bees could be made
to desert it by the use of the ‘‘escape.’’
If they did desert it, then something
would have to be done with the brood
when it was discovered. In short, ad-
vanced bee-culture has divided the bee-
hive into two distinct apartments—brood
and surplus; and unless this division can
be maintained, many profitable plans
must be relinquished. The queen ex-
cluding honey board enables the bee-
keeper to thus set a boundary, beyond
which the brood cannot go.

APPT EEE

Sections and Their Adjustment on the Hives.

NLY those who have kept a

dollar and cent account with

their bees, fully realize that

labor is the most expensive
factor entering into the cost of honey.
Let us suppose that a man cares for 100
colonies of bees, and by a series of crooks
and turns and complicated methods he
secures a good yield; a yield somewhat
increased we will suppose by the labo-
rious manipulation. Letus suppose still
further, that by improved methods and
fixtures he can manage 150 colonies
equally as well with no greater expendi-
ture of labor, it is evident that his profits
would be greater; they would be greater
even though the new departure did not
bring the yield quite up to that of the old
system. Of course, there is a limit to
the increase of colonies that may be
made on account of lessened labors re-
sulting from the adoption of improved
methods and fixtures, as the further we

advance in this direction, the nearer and
clearer looms up the spectral head of
“Overstocking.’’

But itis a pleasure to note that the
fixtures and methods of to-day are supe-
rior to those of afew yearsago. In this
matter of sections and their management,
the plan of putting them on the hive and
taking them off one at a time has been
most completely discarded. A few bee-
keepers still manipulate them by the
wide frame-full, but the majority has
adopted some sort of a case or super by
means of which twenty-five or thirty sec-
tions can be handled at one time; and
with which ‘‘tiering up’? may be prac-
ticed. Theold, cumbersome, complica-
ted, laborious, side-storing system is laid
upon the shelf. It is perfectly safe to
say that ‘‘top storing’ and ‘“‘tiering up”
with some kind of a case, crate, or rack,
furnishes the best method now known
for securing comb honey; that is the only

a

18 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE,

one that enables the bee-keeper to handle
a “honey shower’? with perfect ease;
“rattling’’ the sections on and off the
hives in a rapid, business-like way. It is
true that ‘‘tiering up’’ has been condemn-
ed, but principally upon the ground that
the inability to easily and readily con-
tract the surplus apartment to less than a
whole case, results in a larger number of
unfinished sections at the end of the sea-
son. If this practice enables us to care
for more bees, and it certainly does, and
we thereby secure more finished honey in
the aggregate, why grumble at the un-
finished work thrown in?

For making sections, basswood is
probably used to a greater extent than
any other wood. It is the whitest readi-
ly obtainable in all parts of the country,
while it possesses the elasticity needed
in the one-piece sections. Its faults are
that it shrinks and swells badly, becomes
mildewed and discolored very easily,
and any honey dropped upon it soaks in
and leavesa stain. White poplar is the
best wood for sections. It is whiter than
basswood, very hard, does not shrink or
swell readily and is not stained by con-
tact with honey, or easily soiled by hand-
ling; but it lacks the elasticity necessary
in one-piece sections. There are no
handsomer nor better sections than the
four-piece white poplar; and the only
valid objection that can be brought
against them are that they cost more and
that more time is required in putting
them together. I am aware that I have

the crate. When separators are used the
latter objection is removed. The reason
why the so-called ‘“‘naughty’’ corner is
always found upon the one-piece sections,

OLD STYLE, HEDDON CASE. *
is because if the opening is cut clear
through to the side pieces, the small film
of wood left to hold top and side bar to-
yvether is more likely to break. When
the openings extend clear across, as with
the four-piece sections, the combs are
more completely built out and attached
to the top and bottom bars. ‘The top and
bottom bars of sections ought to be 3% of
an inch narrower than the side bars.
Usually they are made too wide, leaving
too narrow openings between them. To
sum up the whole matter of sections, the

been pleading for time-saving fixtures, 49

but there must be a distinction made _be-
tween the hurry and bustle of swarming
time and the leisure of a winter’s evening;
or between the time of an experienced
apiarist and that of some boy or girl who
can put together sections. The objec-
tions to the one-piece sections are that
they cannot be made of the most desir-
able wood, that, as usually made, they do
not remain ‘‘square’? when folded, and
that they are made with ‘‘naughty’’ cor-
ners that sometimes gouge into the hon-
ey when crating it or removing it from

A T SUPER.
although possessing some
faults, is cheaper and can be put together
quicker than the four-piece, which costs

one-piece,

more but is faultless. My preference is
decidedly the four-piece.

*This cut does not perfectly represent the
Heddon case. It shows the sections flush with
the top of the case, when they ought to be
shown ‘bee space’”’ below, as ‘n the cut of the T
super A handle ought also to be shown on the
side. Inthe cut of the Heddon hive on page 13,
two cases filled with wide frames are shown
above the hive.

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE 19

If separators are not needed, there is
no kind of case or super better than the
old style Heddon case. It is cheap, sub-
stantial and perfect. If separators are
desired, there are two styles of cases he-
tween which to choose: the T super and
wide frames one tier of sections deep and
placed in a case. The only advantage
possessed by the T super, as compared
with the Heddon case, is that it allows
the use of separators; while wide frames
protect the outside of the sections, and
for some reason, their use also lessens the
proportion of unfinished sections. The
bees follow the frames begun on out to

the ends, before spreading out laterally
when the flow is not abundant, so that
three or four frames are sometimes en-
tirely filled while those outside are scarce-
ly touched.

To sum up: if separators are not need-
ed, the old style Heddon case is excellent;
if they are desired, the T super will allow
their use (wooden ones are preferable in
the T super), andthe cost is much less
than for the wide frame case, which, with
tin separators, is the most perfect method
of adjusting sections on a hive, its only
drawback being its cost.

Varieties of Bees.

N ORDER to give an intelligent an-
swer to the query: ‘‘Which are the
best bees?’ it is necessary to con-
sider the locality in which they are

to be kept, also the purpose for which
they are to be used. For instance, the
Syrians are great breeders. So long as
there isa drop of honey in the combs,
they rear brood. In climates blessed
with Winter’s frosts and snows, this is an
undesirable trait; but in sunny Cuba,
where the honey flow comes in the sea-
son corresponding with our winter, this
very characteristic proves of value in se-
curing populous colonies at the beginning
of the harvest. These same Syrians also
fill the cells so full of honey, and cap it
so poorly, as to give it a peculiar, dark,
watery appearance. In raising extracted
honey this is not objectional. The Cy-
prians have proved so fiery in disposition
that they have been almost universally
discarded. The Syrians have something
of the same style, only in a less degree,
and, intheir purity, are not needed in

our Northern States. A few cling to
them when they are crossed with some
other variety, but I fail to see why, as
they have no good qualities, for this lati-
tude, not possessed by the Italians. For
this part of the country there are, in my
opinion, only three varieties of bees
worthy of consideration, viz., Italian,
black and Carniolan. As yet, the latter
ison trial. It must be admitted, however,
that the Carniolans are holding their own
very much better than any variety of
bees that has been introduced into this
country since the Italians were brought
here. They are very prolific.

Aword right here about prolificness.
Undue prolificness is of no value—it is an
objection. Did queens cost large sums
of money there would be a shade of sense
in desiring those that are prolific; but, to
the practical honey producer, they cost al-
most nothing; and by using hives that
are not too large, queens of ordinary pro-
lificness will keep the combs sufficiently
filled with brood. In this matter of

20 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE,

brood rearing the Italians are unexcelled.
During the spring months they push
breeding with wonderful rapidity; but as
soon as the honey harvest begins in ear-
nest, breeding is greatly reduced.

It might safely be said that the Italians
are the standard variety of this country.
There seems to be about them a peculiar-
ly quiet, steady, energetic determination,
possessed by no other variety. When
honey is coming in slowly, and must be
sought for far and wide, it is then that
the Italians carry off the palm. For the
production of extracted honey they are
probably unexcelled; but to the producer
of comb honey they have two disagree-
able traits. They are loth to store honey
outside of the brood apartment, and fill
the cells too full of honey. Advanced
bee-culture, with its reversible hives,
comb foundation and ‘‘bait’’? sections of
partly drawn comb, have well nigh over-
come the first objection. The latter ob-
jection is not so easily removed, but
much can be done in this direction by
selection in breeding. Itis well known
that, even of the same variety of bees,
there are greatly varying strains. When
acolony is found that stores and caps
its honey in such a manner as to give it a
watery appearance, replace the queen
with one reared from the egg of a queen
the colony of which shows the best work
in this respect. By continual care in
this direction, a bee-keeper who prefers
to have only pure Italians can secure a
strain that will do pretty fair work in
furnishing comb honey that is nicely
capped.

The blacks do not breed up so rapidly
in the spring; and unless the harvest is
very abundant they will not bring in so
much honey as will the Italians. But
once the nectar is in the hive they han-
dle itina manner that is truly artistic.
They are willing to store their surplus in
the supers at adistance from the brood,
and in capping the honey they leave a
small spaceunder the capping, between
it and the honey, which gives to the
comb an almost snowy whiteness, In

short, the Italians are the better field
workers; the blacks the better Louse keep-
ers. In this respect the Italians are like
man, while the Germans resemble wo-
man. Tocarry the simile still further,
they ought to marry. In plain English,
the producer of comb honey can secure
the best bees for his purpose, in the quick-
est and easiest way by uniting the Ital-
ian and German varieties; then by con-
tinued selection retain the good qualities
and weed out the bad. Itis practical to
do this without any mating of queens in
confinement. Simply rear the queens
from the best stocks; the drones ditto;
keeping the drone comb out of all unde-
sirable colonies; and giving some of the
choice stocks abundance. This will fill
the air with choice drones, and the
chances of a queen’s mating with an un-
desirable drone will be very slight indeed.

As I have already said, for the produc-
tion of extracted honey, the Italians are
without a rival. Were it not for the
difficulty of dislodging them from the
combs, they would, for this purpose, be
well nigh perfect; and I might add that
the use of the ‘‘bee escape’’ promises to
enable us to overcome even this objection.

The admirers of the Carniolans claim
for them the possession of all the good
qualities of both the blacks and the Ital-
jans, with one or two aduitional virtues
thrown in. It isasserted that they are
the most gentle bees known; that they re-
inain quietly on the combs when han-
dled, but are easily shaken off; that they
are industrious, good comb _ builders,
capping the honey very white, and using
but little propolis; that they are prolific;
hardy; and just perfection itself. But
we must not forget the disposition to
praise zew things. Never until last
spring did I have several good, strong
colonies of Carniolans in the spring.
They certainly bred up the most rapidly
inthe spring of any bees I have ever
tried, and I hoped to compare their hon-
ey-gathering qualities with those of the
Italians, but the season proved a failure—
not a pound of surplus was secured by

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE, 21

any of my bees. Several of the Carnio-
lan colonies swarmed, while not a swarm
came from the Italians, and they do run
about upon the combs ina restless man-
ner, very much like the blacks. They
seem to be a /z/t/e less saving of propolis
than is the case with other bees, and the
capping to their combs out-rivais in
whiteness even that made by the blacks.
I certainly think that the Carniolans are
worthy of an extended trial; but before
recommending their adoption on an ex-
tended scale, I should like to manage an
apiary of them for at least three or four
years.

In the production of extracted honey,
I know that the man who chooses a good
strain of Italians makes no mistake. <A
cross between the Italians and blacks is
equally as good, but a little less delight-

ful to handle, while there is nothing to
be gained by the cross, as is the case
in comb honey production. If a bee-
keeper will use the proper hives and fix-
tures, and employ the proper methods,
he can make a success of comb honey
production with pure Italians; otherwise,
his success will be much greater with a
cross between the Italians and blacks.

Let no bee-keeper be caught by that
phrase, ‘“‘general purpose’? bee. The
bee-keeper who thoroughly understands
his resources, knows exactly what he
wishes to accomplish, and chooses the
best hives, the best bees, and the best
methods, to secure the desired ends, will
far out-strip the ‘‘general purpose’’ bee-
keeper, with his ‘‘general purpose’”’ hives,
“general purpose’? bees, and ‘‘general
purpose’’ methods.

APPT A es

Introducing Queens.

O introduce a queen to a colony
of bees, two things must be well
considered—the condition of the
bees and the condition of the

queen. The condition and behavior of
the queen is very important. If the
queen will only walk about upon the
combs in a quiet and gueenly manner, and
go on with her egg laying, she is almost
certain to be accepted if the other condi-
tions are favorable. Let her run and
‘squeal ’’ (utter that sharp ‘‘zeep, zeep,
zeep,’’) and the bees immediately start
in pursuit. Soon the queen is in a ball
of tightly clinging bees, and the only
course is to smoke the bees severely until
they release the queen from their embrace,
when she must be re-caged for another
trial. Dropping the ball of bees in a cup
of water has been recommended to induce
them to release the queen. To the inex-

perienced this may be the better plan, as,
when driving away the bees with smoke,
it often happens that one of the bees will
grasp the queen and endeavor to sting
her, smoke or no smoke,and, in the at-
tempt to rescue the queen, a novice may
injure her.

To introduce a queen from one colony
to another in the same apiary does not
call for the skill needed when the queen
has been absent several days from a col-
ony, and is jaded by a long journey. I
have frequently taken a queen from a
colony, and caged it to send away, and
then immediately taken a laying queen
from a nucleus and placed her upon the
spot upon the comb from whence I had
removed the other queen, and had the
satisfaction of soon seeing her surround-
ed by a circle of admiring retainers. I
believe there are times, particularly when

22 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

honey is coming in freely, when a colony
with a laying queen would accept another
fresh laying queen, simply by having her
placed upon the combs; and all would go
well until the queens came in contact.
Then would be a conflict in which the
chances of the new comer would be equal-
ly as good as those of the old queen. I
have sometimes doubted if bees recogniz-
ed each other, or the queen, by the scent.
I have clipped a queen’s wing, and, upon
returning her (placing her directly upon
the combs), she was attacked by her own
bees. Perhaps she acquired a different
scent by being handled. Ifso, then the
hnndreds of other queens that I have
clipped must also have acquired a differ-
ent scent, yet they were not attacked.

So far asthe queen is concerned, it is
important that she be brought before the
bees in a natural manner, in such a place
and in such a way as they would expect
to meet her. When clipping queens I
have replaced them by dropping them
upon the top bars, or at the entrance of
the hive, when the bees would immediate-
ly pounce upon them as intruders. A
puff of smoke would cause the bees to
“let up,’ when the queen would walk
majestically down upon the combs, or in-
to the hive, as the case might be, and
here she would not be molested, because
the bees here found her where they ex-
pected to find their queen. When I wish
tointroduce a queen by allowing her to
run in at the entrance, I first shake off
the bees, from two combs, in front of the
hive; as they are running into the hive,
Tallow the queen torun in with them.
At such times as this there are no guards
at the entrance, the bees that are crawl-
ing in will not attack the queen, and by
the time the colony has recovered its
tranquility, the queen is quietly parading
the combs.

When a colony has been queenless long
enough to build a batch of queen cells, I
usually introduce a queen by simply tak-
ing acomb, with the adhering bees and
queen, from a nucleus and hanging it in
the queenless colony. By means of
smoke, or a feather, I drive all the bees

from the inside wall of one side of the hive,
and against this side of the hive I turn
the side of the comb upon which is the
queen. Thus she is not immediately
brought in contact with the excited,
strange bees; but the bees intermingle,
and, almost unconsciously, the whole
colony has accepted the queen. If any
of the queenless bees stray near the queen,
they find her surrounded by a cortege of
her own bees. She is also attending to
her duties, and is almost certain not to
be molested. When queens come from a
distance they are more difficult to intro-
duce, They have not layed any eggs in
several days, and are in a jaded condition.
It is for this reason that it has always
Seemed to me that the Peet cage ought
to be an unusually good cage with which
to introduce queens. This cage can be
attached to the surface of the comb, when
the withdrawal of a tin slide allows the
queen access to the surface of the comb
that is covered by thecage. Care should
be taken to select a spot where the young
bees are just gnawing out. Ifa few cells
of unsealed honey can be included, so
much the better. The queen can then
walk about upon the comd, and with the
Scotchman she can sing:
“My foot is on my native heath.”

She can drink nectar from the unsealed
cells. She will soon have a retinue from
the newly hatched bees that are ready to
accept her, as they have never known
any other queen. She will begin laying
in the few cells at her command, and
when she isreleased, will be ina nearly
normal condition, and surrounded by a
few followers. Usually the bees release
the queen by eating under the cage. If
they do not, she can be released by thrust-
ing the blade of a pocket knife through
the comb from the side opposite to the
cage, and giving the knife a twist or two.
The bees will clean out and enlarge the
opening, thus letting out the queen. One
objection to the Peet cage is that the bees
may release the queen sooner than is best.
Of course this may be remedied by leay-
ing in the tin slide, but this defeats the
advantages, or supposed advantages, aris-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 23

ing from caging the queen against the
comb. I say ‘supposed: advantages,’
because, as favorable as the Peet cage ap-
pears as an introducing cage, I have been
equally as successful with other cages. I
have had excellent success with a cylin-
drical cage, made from a piece of wire
cloth four inches square. Ravel about
two wires from one edge of the wire cloth,
roll it up, thrusting the projecting ends
of the wiresthrough the meshes of the
opposite edge, and clinch the ends by
bending them over. This forms a round
tube about an inch in diameter and four
inches long. The ends may be stopped
by plugs of wood, corncob, or cork, or the
ends may be ‘‘squeezed’”’ until they are
closed, When the queen is confined in
such acage, the cage should be placed
between two combs just over the brood
nest, and the combs pressed together un-
til their pressure holds the cage in place.
That the queen may not perish for want
of food, should the bees neglect, or re-
fuse, to feed her, see that one side of the
cage is pressed against some part of the
comb containing honey.

No definite length of time can be given
as to how long a queen should be caged
before she is released. The behavior of
the bees isthe best guide. If they are
‘balling’? the cage, clinging to it in
masses, like so many burdocks, their be-
havior indicates what the queen would
have to endure were she within their
reach. The operator must wait until the
bees are in a different mood; until they
are walking quietly about over the cage,
as unconcernedly as upon the combs of
honey—perhaps the bees may be offering
food to the queen and caressing her with
their antenne. This shows that the bees
are favorably inclined towards the queen,
and that it is safe to release her.

There is probably no method of releas-
ing a queen, let the cage be what it may,
that is equal to that of stopping the en-
trance to the cage with Good candy, and
allowing the bees to eat it out. The bees
that first meet the queen are in good hu-
mor from the candy they have eaten.

‘The queen is released quietly at a time
when the colony is undisturbed.

Until quite recently a few of the leaders
in apiculture advised bee-keepers to ex-
amine a colony within an hour after the
queen was released, to see how she was
being treated. If she was found in a ball
of bees she must be re-caged. No worse
advice could be given. The disturbance
frightens the queen; she begins to run
and ‘‘ squeal,’’ when the bees immediately
‘ball’? her. When a bee-keeper rescues
his lately-released queen from a ball of
bees, it may be natural for him to con-
clude that his interference saved her life;
but the truth in nine times out of ten
would be that it was this very meddling
that put her life in jeopardy. After a
queen has been released the colony should
be let entirely alone for three or four days,
or a week, until the queen had become
fully established as queen of the hive.

To be successful in introducing queens
that have come from a distance, the con-
dition of the colony must be well looked
after. It is better that it should be hofe-
lessly queenless. Let it build a batch of
queen cells, and remove them after all
the larvee are to old to be developed into
queens, then the bees are almost certain
to accept a queen if given to themina
proper manner. JI would sooner release
a queen after the bees had discovered the
loss of their old queen, and before they
had begun the construction of queen cells,
then to release her after the cells were
under way, zzdess I waited until the cells
were sealed over and had been removed.

When engaged in queen rearing, I did
not lose one queen in 100 that I attempt-
ed to introduce to a colony that had dzzd¢
a batch of cells.

Bees are in a much more amiable mood
when honey is coming in freely. Don’t
attempt to introduce queens when no
honey is being gathered, without feeding
the bees two or three days before the
queen is released.

There is one method of introducing
queens that ever fails; itis that of con-
fining the queen in a hive with several

24 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

combs of just hatching bees. Go over
several hives, and select enough combs,
from which the bees are just emerging,
to filla hive. Choose those combs hav-
ing the least unsealed brood, as the most
of this wili perish. Shake off every bee
and hang the combs in a hive, closing it
up dee-tight. Allow the queen to run in
at a small opening, closing it behind her.
This work should be done in the fore
part ofa warm day. In a few hours
enough bees will have been hatched to
make quite a little cluster, with which
the queen is absolutely safe. It might be
well to carry the hive into the house at
night, for two or three nights. In aweek
the hive may be given a stand in the api-
ary, and the entrance opened enough to
allow the passage of a single bee. So
much trouble is not advisable unless it is
with a very valuable queen.

If bees are shaken from their combs in-
to a box, and kept confined, without a
queen, several hours, Mr. Doolittle says
they will invariably accept a queen if giv-
enone in the box. In other words, they
are hopelessly queenless, and away from
their home, and will accept anything in
the shape of a queen.

Mr. D. A. Jones is successful in intro-
ducing queens by using chloroform. Use
a small Bingham smoker. Put a dry
sponge at the bottom of the fire barrel.
Wet asponge with chloroform and put
on top of the dry sponge. Over this put
another dry sponge. Put on the nozzle
and then drive the vapor into the mouth
of the hive, the same as smoke would be
driven, by working the bellows. when
the bees begin to drop down on the bottom
board, allow the queen to run in, and the
work is done. I have never tried either
the Doolittle or the chloroform method.

In recapitulation I will say, if you wish
to be sure of success in introducing queens,

received from a distance, observe the

following directions: If the bees are not

gathering honey, feed them. Have the

bees hopelessly queenless. Before releas-

ing the queen, see that the bees are favor- ,
ably inclined towards her. Allow the bees
to release her by eating candy out of the
entrance of the cage. Don’t disturb the
bees for several days after the queen is
released. I am aware that success is of-
ten achieved when some of the points are
neglected, but each has its weight.

Since the foregoing was written I have,
for three years, been guaranteeing the
safe introduction of all queens that I sold.
Of several plans that I have given my cus-
tomer to follow, none has been more suc-
cessful than that of the use of tobacco
smoke. The instructions that I send to
my customers read as follows:—

As soon as you receive this notice, re-
move the queer from the colony to which
you expect to introduce the new queen.
When she arrives, put her away ina safe
place until after sundown, just at dusk,
then light your smoker, and when it is
well to going put in a pipeful of smoking
tobacco, put on the cover, puff until you
get an odor of tobacco, then puff two or
three good puffs into the entrance of the
hive. Wait two or three minutes, then
send in another good puff or two, remove
the cover, drive the bees down with a puff
of smoke, open the cage and allow the
queen to run down between the combs,
following her with a puff or two of smoke,
and put on the cover. Half an hour la-
ter, light up the smoker again, putting in
the tobacco as before, and blow two more
good puffs in attheentrance. If no hon-
ey is coming in, feed the colony a pint of
syrup each night from the inside of the
hive, but don’t disturb the brood-nest for
four or five days.

ae

Planting for Honey.

HE BELIEF in the profitable-
ness of raising plants for honey
alone has been almost universal-
ly abandoned. When the yield

from clover or basswood reaches several
pounds per colony each day, it is not
surprising that bee-keepers should have
been led to consider whether it might
not be profitable to prolong the harvest
by planting something that would fill
the ‘‘gap’’—furnish honey when the nat-
ural sources failed. The difficulty seems
to have been that not sufficient thought
was given to the fact that immense quan-
tities of bloom are needed. Some flowers
yield honey so profusely that it may be
literally scraped out with a spoon. The
so-called Chapman honey plant is an ex-
ample. With a large apiary, however,
there must be acres and acres of bloom,
or no surplus will be gathered. I pre-
sume few bee-keepers have considered
the number of acres to which their bees
have access. Inthe March Review for
1888, Mr. R. L. Taylor gives the follow-
ing: ‘‘Letus suppose that one in a fair
field for the production of comb honey
has anapiary of 150 colonies, with no
other apiary to encroach. His bees, by
going 2% miles in every direction from
home, would scour a territory of about
12,000 acres. With everything in. good
order he may hope, in a good season, to
get asurplus crop of 10,000 pounds of
comb honey. At a lowestimate, I think,
we may say there would be enough of
fruit bloom, clover, basswood and fall

flowers within the territory indicated to
stock well 2,000 acres, but I will call it
I,000, and we have as the result, ten
pounds of surplus per acre, from land
well stocked with honey plants. Who
would let the value of that amount of
honey, say $1.25, weigh very heavily in
deciding on the kind of crops with which
to stock his farm?”

Mr. James Heddon once said, in a
Chicago bee convention, that he would
have nothing to do with any plant that
furnished honey alone, even if each
blossom yielded a barrelful of honey, if
the plant required cultivation. Of course,
this isan exaggerated statement, but it
illustrates a point, and that is this:
Those who plant for honey must com-
pete, in the sale of their product, with
those who are atno expense in planting
for honey—with those who are. supplied
by nature with an abundance of pastur-
age. Every one who has ever tried cul-
tivating plants for honey alone has even-
tually abandoned it. I do not mean that
no honey has ever been secured in these
experimental ventures, but that the
quantity has been too small to allow of
any profit. A light yield of honey, un-
less it comes early in the season when
extensive breeding is desirable, may even
be a detriment. It will stimulate breed-
ingand more honey may thus be con-
sumed than is gathered, and workers
are brought into existence at a time when
they will be consumers instead of pro-
ducers.

26 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

The only way in which the raising of
plants for honey alone can even approach
success, is where, for some reason, there
are large tracts of waste land, unfit for
cultivation, upon which may be scattered
the seeds of some honey-producing plant,
like sweet clover, that will grow, thrive
and spread without care or cultivation.

Although the raising of plants for hon-
ey alone has been painted in such som-
bre colors, the raising of field crops that
yield honey cannot be truthfully depicted
in much brighter hues. It is true there
are field crops that yield honey, but un-
less it would be profitable to raise them,
aside from their honey producing quali-
ties, there is but little encouragement
for the farmer-bee-keeper to engage in
their cultivation. In other words, the
honey that may be secured ought not to
be allowed to weigh very heavily in de-
ciding whether a certain crop should be
cultivated. The most promising field
crops to raise, that furnish honey in this
latitude, are alsike clover and buckwheat.
As already explained, however, a few
acres of these near alarge apiary are of
but little benefit. If the soil, climate,
and other conditions are such that it is
profitable for the farmers of a given lo-
cality to raise one or both of these crops,
then they will be raised and the acreage
will be such that the yield of honey from
them will be a benefit to an apiary in that
locality. Much has been said about bee-
keepers ericouraging the raising of these
crops among the surrounding farmers.
They have even been urged to furnish
the seed free to those farmers within a
certain distance who would sow it. If
the natural conditions are such that these
crops may be grown to advantage, and the
bee-keeper can, in some off-hand way,
call the attention of surrounding farmers
to the desirability of their cultivation,

and thus succeed in securing their gen-
eral introduction without at the same
time attracting attention to their honey-
producing qualities, well and good. To
some this may seem strange advice, but
the point is just here: If attention is
called to the fact that such and such
crops are fine honey producing plants,
and farmers are urged to plant them for
this reason, some persons in the neigh-
borhood may, upon hearing of this, de-
cidethat ‘hey will keep bees and thus
have a share in the harvest. I know of
one bee-keeper in this State who labored
for years to introduce alsike clover
among the neighboring farmers. The
soil was peculiarly adapted to this crop,
and as the farmers at last found it the
most profitable crop they could raise, he
finally had the pleasure of seeing hundreds
of acres devoted to its cultivation. But
this pleasure was not unalloyed. As
neighbors saw him securing thousands of
pounds of surplus honey, and kuew that
it came largely from the alsike clover,
their course illustrated one of Josh Bil-
lings maxims, viz.: ‘‘We can never see a
fellow pulling fish out ofa hole, but we
want to throw our hook in there too.’
In other words, about as fast as the fields
of alsike increased, so did bee-keepers
multiply; and the man who worked so
hard to improve his location by in-
ducing farmers to raise alsike, was, the
last time Isaw him, beginning to fear
that he might he obliged to ‘‘pull up
stakes’ and seek pastures new.

The man who is going to engage in
bee-keeping as a business cannot be too
careful in his selection of a location, to
get one in which zature has already done
the necessary planting. Let him emu-
late the wisdom of Mahomet in going to
the mountain when the mountain would
not come to him.

Specialty Versus Mixed Bee-Keeping.

IME was when many of the in-
dustries were represented in one
J family. Flax and wool were
grown, spun and worked up in-
to cloth and made into clothing. Cows
were kept, aud cheese as well as butter
-made for home use. Poultry and a few
stocks of bees added to the comforts of
the household. Butthere is no need of
going into detail; everyone knows how
people lived 100 years ago. Cheap and
rapid transportation has encouraged the
invention of machinery, the building of
factories and the classification of Jabor.
This has brought about sfecialty. No
one disputes that this condition of things
is better; by it, our comforts are more
than trebled. Some industries branched
out as specialties much sooner than others.
Bee-keeping was among the later ones.
At last, however, it is becoming recogniz-
ed as an industry of itself.

At present, however, there are farmers
who are keeping a few bees, perhaps a
good many bees, and apiarists who are
managing a small farm, perhaps a large
one; there are men engaged in some other
occupation who are thinking of taking
up bee-keeping, or may have already done
so; and there are bee-keepers asking
“what will best mix with bee-keeping ?’’

I have little faith in that old saw about
not having ‘‘all the eggs in one basket.’
7 say yes, have them all in one basket,
and then carry the basket so skillfully
that none are broken. I know there are
trying seasons for specialists in any

branch of business; times when it might
be better, 72 that particular year, if there
were more than one egg basket; but the
specialist does enough better, in the good
years, to bring specialty out at the head in
the longrun. The specialist can have
the best tools, appliances and labor sav-
ing implements, things that the dabbler
cannot afford; he can doand have many
things in a wholesale way that would be
unprofitable upon a small scale. Upon
this point, Mr. R. L. Taylor, in a com-
munication to the Review a few years
ago, said: ‘‘A multiplicity of occupations
multiplies the burdens of responsibility,
induces unrest and embarrassment, and
our powers becoming overtaxed, careless-
ness, slovenliness, unthrift and failure
result, A Jack at all trades is almost
a synonym of a ne’er-do-well. What
reason is there for dulling the edge of
skill and sacrificing thoroughness by
combining another business with that
of bee-keeping? Not certainly to fill up
time. Bee-keeping as a specialty is no
small business. It is capable of great ex-
pansion. It can well furnish work for
every day in the year, and the larger the
business the smaller the proportional ex-
pense of the plant and the management,
and, consequently, the larger the profits.
If bee-keeping is so unprofitable as a
specialty that the operator must pursue
another business to eke out a living, then
it is too unprofitable to be pursued at all,
and should be abandoned altogether. Ifit
cannot be made profitable as a specialty,

28 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

with all the advantages that specialty
brings, then it cannot be made profitable
as a subsidiary pursuit. We see this
demonstrated in practice. It is not the
specialist, but the om-specialist that
fails.”

Many professional men take up bee-
keeping asa pastime. With them I can-
not have any more argument than with
the bee-keeper who studies music for
pleasure. But upon a money basis it is a
far different thing. When a man is engag-
ed in some pursuit that is capable of ab-
sorbing all of his energy and capital, I
doubt if he can add to his pleasure or
pocketbook by adding some other busi-
ness tohis regular occupation. The bee-
keeping specialist, with his hundreds of
colonies, his improved hives, appliances
and methods, can and does raise honey
more cheaply than the man with a few
colonies. By specially is not meant that
aman does zothing else, but that it is his
main business.

Itis true that there are industries in
which there is a mutual advantage in
their combination. The fattening of
hogs and the running ofa grist mill, or
of a slaughter house, is an example.
The keeping of swine and the raising of
apples also brings about a mutual advan-
tage. The swine enrich and ‘“‘cultivate”’
the soil, and eat the wormy apples that
fall. This is good forthe trees, and the
apples are good for the hogs. There is
no business that can be united with bee-
keeping to any great mutual advantage.
There is a slight mutual advantage in the
keeping of bees and the raising of fruit
(not small fruitsthat must be picked in
swarming time), alsike or buckwheat;
but not sufficient to warrant a bee-keeper
in buying a farm, or a farmer or fruit
grower to run anapiary.

I hope no one will imagine that I
would advise bee-keeping as a specialty
without previous experience. How this
experience shall be acquired, although

an interesting topic, is not the one under
discussion. I might say, however, that
nearly all of our specialists acquired this
knowledge by beginning in a small way
in connection with some other pursuit.
They were better fitted for bee-keeping,
and, at last, the old business was drop-
ped for the new. Some of our specialists
learned their business by an apprentice-
ship to some successful bee-keeper, which
is the quickest and most preferable
method.

Let us suppose that the highest success
is attainable only by specialty. Having
done this, we must not forget that there
are ‘‘many men of many minds,” and
that ‘‘circumstances alter cases;’’ that all
men and all circumstances are not fitted
for specialty. Some men prefer to lessen
the risk of a total failure, by having the
eggs in more than one basket, even if it
makes costly eggs. Aman with a small
farm may have time to care for a few
bees; or a farmer may have sons or
daughters who can do a large share of
the work. The reasons why aman may
sometimes desire, or be compelled, to mix
something else with bees are too varied
for mention here. It is evident that the
greatest success can be hoped for only
through specialty; yet no cut and dried,
cast-iron rulescan be laid down. A man
must study himself, his surroundings,
and the conditions of his particular case.
It will be evident that those occupations
will best mix with bee-keeping that can
be followed in the winter; or, at least,
those requiring little or no attention dur-
ing the busy season with bees. What
would be best for one man would be a
poor business for another. Among the
vocations that have been mentioned are
wood chopping, teaching district school
in winter, or teaching singing or writing
school, raising grapes or apples or other
fall fruits, keeping Jerseys and making
winter butter, canvassing, broom-making,
etc., etc.

The Arrangement of Hives and Buildings.

Nasmall apiary, the matter of ar-
rangement is not of great impor-
tance, but as the number of colonies
begins to approach Ioo, the ques-

tion of arrangement becomes one of con-
siderable importance. Two things need
consideration: the convenience of the
operator and the giving of such an in-
dividuality to each hive that each bee
can readily distinguish its home.

Before discussing these points, it might
be well to say a few words about the /o-
cation of the apiary. First, it ought to
be some distance from the highway. What
that distance should be, depends up-
on what there is between the bees and
the street. If there are buildings, or
trees, or even a high fence, the bees may
be quite near the road; as, in their flight,
they rise above these obstructions, and
thus pass over the heads of the passers-
by. If there is nothing between the
apiary and the highway, the apiary
ought not to be nearer the street
than ten rods, and fifteen or twenty rods
would be better. It is possible with a
small apiary to avoid trouble even if it is
located quite near the street. If it is nec-
essary to handle the bees when no honey
is coming in, and such handling is likely
to irritate them, such work can be done
just before dark, when the bees will not
fly far from the hives; but in a large
apiary there is too much work that must
be done when the bees may not be in an
amiable mood, to enable the operator to
perform it during the twilight of evening.

If necessary, the bee-keeper can protect
himself with a veil,,and, armed with
a smoker, he can go on with the
work, even if the bees are a lit-
tle ‘‘cross,’? but the apiary must be
isolated. Nearly level ground is prefer-
able for an apiary. If it slopes gently to
the south, or east, so muchthe better. It
should never be in such a location that
water will stand upon the ground.

I have tried placing the honey house in
the center of the apiary, and having the
hives in long double rows that radiated
from the honey house as the spokes in a
wheel radiate from the hub. In each
double rowa space large enough for a
wheelbarrow is left between the rows,
and the entrances of the hives are turned
away from the path left for the operator
and his wheelbarrow. So far as reduc-
ing the labor of going to and from the
hives is concerned, this arrangement is
excellent, but it has the very serious ob-
jection that only part of the apiary can
be seen at one glance from the honey
house. In watching for swarms it is
necessary to look in four different di-
rections in order to ascertain if a swarm
is out. When the honey house is at one
side of the apiary, the whole apiary can
be taken in at a glance. Other things
being equal, the south side of the apiary
is preferable for the honey house. In
looking for swarms the bee-keeper does
not look towards the sun, but has the
clear northern sky for a background,
while the shady side of the building,

30 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

which will be naturally sought by the
tired bee-keeper as the best spot in which
to take a breathing spell, is towards the
apiary.

It is universally admitted that it is best
that the honey house be upon the s7de of
the apiary, and most bee-keepers are in
favor of having the building two stories
high, using the upper story as a store
room for hives and fixtures, the lower
story for work shop and honey room, the
latter being partitioned off by itself, and
the cellar under the building for winter-
ing the bees. The usual mistake in mak-
ing such buildings is in not having them
large enough. The honey room ought
tobe located in the southeast corner of
the building, and the walls made of some
non-conductor of heat. Some even
paint the side of the building some
dark color where it comes over the hon-
ey room, in order that as much as _possi-
ble of the sun’s heat may be absorbed.
The idea is that the honey must be kept
as warm as possible. If there is any un-
ripe or unsealed honey, this high temper-
ature causes evaporation and improve-
ment. By keeping such a room warm
with astove in winter, honey has been
kept over until another year, and actual-
ly improved by the keeping.

But to return to the arrangement of
hives. When the honey house is at one
side of the apiary, the hives may still
be arranged upon the radiating plan, by
having them radiate from the honey
house door, thus forming one-half of a
large wheel instead of the whole of a
small one, asin the case of having the
honey house in the center. Where the
radiating rows are very long they become
very jarapart at the outer ends, or else
very close together at the inner ends.
To remedy this, shorter rows, or ‘‘spurs,’”’
are put in between the rows at the outer
ends.

Another arrangement is that of placing
the hives in a hexagonal manner, each
hive being the center of six others. I
see no particular advantage in this ar-
rangement.

Still another arrangement is that of
placing the hives in circles. The en-
trances of the hives in the inner row are
towards the center, while those of the
outer row face outwards. This leaves
the space between the two rows compar-
atively free from bees, and the operator
can work in this space without annoy-
ance to himself or the flying bees. If
the two circles do not furnish sufficient
room, more and larger circles may be
added, or there may be two sets of cir-
cles, or three sets, arranged in the form
of a triangle, or even four sets and ar-
ranged in a quadrangle.

In all of the large apiaries that I have
visited the hives were arranged in straight,
simple rows, like the squares of a check-
er board, the entrances, in some instan-
ces, facing the same way when the hives
were from six to eight feet apart. I
would prefer to have the entrances of
each alternate row turned towards the
east,and the entrances of the hives in
other rows turned towards the west.
This would leave each alternate passage-
way comparatively free from bees, and
the operator could work here without
the bees bumping their heads against
his. I would have the entrance to every
hive face either east or west, because I
wish to shade the hives with a light
board, 2x 3feet in size, laid over each
hive and projecting towards the south,
and this projecting board would be in
the way of the flying bees if the entrance
were upon the south side. When the
hives are arranged in rows radiating from
acommon center, I always turn the en-
trance of each hive so that it is either
east or west.

There is no necessity of placing hives
further apart than is necessary to afford
sufficient space on all sidesfor the oper-
ator. Beesdo not locate their: hive so
much by the distance that it my be from
other hives, as they do by its surround-
ings; and these surroundings are usually
other hives. To illustrate: Let the end
hive be removed from a long row of hives,
and the bees belonging to the removed

ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 31

hive will almost unhesitatingly enter the
hive that has decome the end hive in the
row. Two hives may stand side by side,
perhaps almost or quite touching each
other, and each bee has no difficulty in
distinguishing its own hive. In a row of
three, four, or even five hives, the same
might be said, but as the number goes
beyond this, there is a little uncertainty
about the matter. When their hives are
in long rows, some bee-keepers arrange
them in groups of three or five in the row,
leaving a wider space between the groups
than there is between the individual hives
composing a group. Arranging hives in
circles gives a greater individuality to
each hive than can be secured in almost
any other drrangement; that is, if the
entrances are faced directly into or out of
the circle; but my objection to this plan
is that itinterferes with the proper use of
shade boards.

The greatest objection to any unifor-
mity of arrangement that makes it diffi-
cult for the bees to ‘‘mark”’ their location,
is that queens may enter the wrong hive
upon their return from their ‘‘wedding
trip.’ With my method of management,

in which the young queen is given a new
stand to prevent after swarming, a /a
Heddon, this difficulty is easily remedied
by placing the hive in some location that
is easily marked, the end of a row for
instance. When this cannot be done,
the hives containing unfertile queens may
be marked in some conspicuous manner
that will easily enable them to distinguish
their own hives. I believe that where
foul brood is in the apiary, this regular-
ity of arrangement leads to a greater dan-
ger of spreading the disease by bees from
infected colonies entering some other
hive by mistake.

In queen rearing it is important that
the small hives, containing the nuclei,
be scattered about promiscuously; the
greater the irregularity and oddity of ar-
rangement, the less will be the loss of
queens from their entering wrong hives;
but in a largeapiary managed for honey
it is doubtful if there is a better arrange-
ment than that of placing the hives in
rows; andit seems to me that a little is
gained, and nothing lost, by having the
rows radiate from the honey house door.

PPG PRE LE

Separators.

Y filling the frames with sheets
of foundation we can secure
perfectly straight and even
combs in the brood nest. Why

will not the same treatment of the sec-
tions result in straight combs? Because
all combs in which brood is reared must
be of a certain thickness, while store
combs may vary in thickness from half an
inch to four inches. Bees place their
brood combs an inch and a half apart

from center to center, and the nearer our
sections approach this width the more
perfect will be the combs when no sepa-
rators areused. Itis well nigh impossible
to secure straight combs when the sec-
tions are two inches wide, unless sepa-
rators are used. When the sections are
only 13¢ inches wide, fair success may, be
attained with no separators if other con-
ditions are right. When the sections are
scant 134, or seven-to-the-foot, but little

32 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

would be gained, so far as securing
straight combs without separators is con-
cerned, by having them narrower.

Aside from the width of sections used,
the need of separators depends somewhat
upon the fixtures and methods employed,
but principally upon the locality. Per-
haps it will be asked what bearing local-
ity has. It has this: When the honey
flow commences suddenly, comes with a
tush while it lasts, and stops off short at
the end, the combs are all commenced at
about the same time, all grow together
and are alike, and are finished at the same
time, hence they are straight and perfect
—no thick, thin, or bulged combs. When
the honey resources, or the changes in the
weather, are such that the honey flow be-
gins slowly, or having commenced, is not
steady, it is difficult to secure perfect
combs unless separators are used. If the
honey flow is light at first, the bees will
begin work in the central sections over
the brood nest, and when the cells of the
most advanced sections have reached that
length where, in order to produce a
straight, perfect comb, they ought to be
sealed over, the bees do zo¢ seal them,
because the work in the adjoining sec-
tions is not sufficiently advanced to re-
duce the space between the combs to the
right distance. The bees continue to
draw out or lengthen the cells ot doth
sections, aud the result is that the comb
of the most advanced sections is bulged
out, and the adjoining side of the next
comb is made correspondingly concave.
Then the outer side of this second section
is made convex and bulges into the zeart
section; and this series of curves is con-
tinued, increasing with each section, un-
til the outside section is reached, which
cannot be bulged upon the outside be-
cause the side of the case is in the way,
consequently this outside section is a slim
affair.

If the first case of sections given a colo-
ny in the spring can be filled with partly
finished combs kept over from the previ-
ous season, I think it results in several
advantages. One advantage is that by a

little care in arranging the combs, those
with cells of about equal depth can be
placed together. The conibs nearest
completion can be placed in the corners
and on the outside, and those with the
shortest cells in the center. By this
method nearly all the combs are comple-
ted at almost the same time and with but
little bulging, and by the time that an-
other case of sections is needed, the colo-
ny will have increased in numbers and
the flow of honey become so great that
work will be commenced at once on all
of the sections.

So far as dispensing with separators is
concerned, it may be well to be a little
slow in giving sections, unless they can
be filled with comb as just mentioned.
To illustrate: I have waited, before giv-
ing sections toa colony, until it was over-
flowing with bees, and the flow of honey
from clover fully established. Within
five minutes after giving the case it was
full of bees and they were at work draw-
ing out the foundation in every section.
Iam not inclined to indorse this method,
particularly if the bees are Italians, as
this variety of bees is loth to store honey
atany great distance from the brood nest,
and every enticement should be offered to
induce them to begin work in the sec-
tions, and thus relieve the pressure upon
the brood nest Nothing will start bees
to swarming any quicker than to have no
place to store their honey except in their
brood nest.

Aside from their cost, I know of no ob-
jection to the use of separators. Upon
the amount of surplus honey secured, I
believe their use has no influence. When
they are used there is a trifle more labor
until we come to crating the honey for
market, when the boot is on the other
foot, particularly so if the combs are very
much bulged. When no separators are
used a simpler form of super may be used.

But, shall I use separators? That is
the question that each bee-keeper must
answer. If you cannot secure straight
combs without, yes. By straight combs
is not necessarially meant combs as

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 33

straight as a board, but so straight that
they may be crated, or pulled out of the
crate or case, without injury to combs. Ifa
raan can secure nearly all straight combs,
and has a home market for the few bulged
sections, then separators are a useless
expense.

If separators are to be used, then an-
other question arises; shall they be wood,
or tin? Fortunately, bee-keepers are
agreed upon this point. If they are to
be used loose, as in the T super, wood 1s
the material to use; if nailed fast to wide
frames, tin is preferable. If a wood sep-
arator is nailed fast, the shrinking and
swelling of the wood causes the separator
to curl sidewise, or it may split. If it be-
comes injured in any way, there is the an-
noyance of its removal and the nailing
onof another. Ifatin separator is not

nailed fast at its ends, it takes advantage
of this freedom to bend a little here and
there, instead of keeping stretched out
straight, while a wood separator will not
bend in the direction of its length.
Before closing, let me tell my readers
how they can nail tin separators on wide
frames and have the tin remain taut.
Nail two blocks upon the top of your
work bench at such a distance apart that
you can just ‘‘spring’’ in between them
the top and bottom bars of a wide frame
that is put together. This shortens the
distance between the end bars. While
held in this position, nail on the tin sep-
arator. Upon removing the frame from
between the blocks, the top and bottom
bars will straighten out, and, in so doing,
draw the tin as taut asa drum head.

Increase, its Management and Control.

HERE are two classes of bee-

keepers who desire to prevent

increase in the uumber of their

colonies. The first and by far
the larger class, own only large home-
apiaries, and prefer surplus to increase.
This class can allow swarming if, by
some simple manipulation, the number of
colonies can be kept the same; and the
bees induced to devote their energies to
the storing of honey. The second class
are possessors of out-apiaries; and they
desire not only to prevent increase, but
to suppress swarming. This accomplish-
ed, the out-apiaries can be left alone, ex-
cept at stated intervals.

In reply to the question, ‘‘Why do
bees swarm?’’ it has been replied that,
“It isnatural.”’ “Itis their method of
increase.’ This may be true in part,
but it is not a satisfactory answer. I

have never known a season to pass in
which allof the colonies of my apiary
either swarmed or didn’t swarm. One
vear I had seventy-five colonies. They
were worked for comb honey. Forty of
them swarmed; thirty-five didn’t. It
would have been just as ‘natural,’ just
as much ‘“‘according to nature’’ for one
colony to swarm as for another. In
Gleanings for 1889 there was quite a
lengthy discussion in regard to the causes
that led to swarming. The chit of the
decision seemed to be thatan undue pro-
portion of young or nurse bees to the
brood to be nursed was the prime cause
of swarming. Ifthe brood nest be well
filled with brood, then for lack of other
room the bees begin storing honey in the
cells from which the bees are hatching,
the result is that soon there is but little
brood to care for compared to the num-

34 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

ber of nurses, or young bees. This the-
ory is strengthened by the fact that when
bees are given an abundance of empty
comb in which to store their honey,
swarining very seldom occurs. In short,
extracting the honey, or, to be more ex-
act, giving plenty of empty comb, is the
most successful, practical method of con-
trolling increase. In large apiaires, es-
pecially out-apiaries that can be visited
only at intervals, it is well nigh impossi-
ble to keep every colony always supplied
with empty combs, hence there will be
occasional swarms. If there is to be
someone present to hive what few swarms
do issue, and prevention of increase is
desired simply that the amount of sur-
plus may be greater, and the surplus is
preferred in the extracted form, then the
man with these desires can have them
gratified.

« In the production of comb honey, I
doubt if there is a profitable method of
preventing swarming. It may be dis-
couraged by giving as much surplus
room as possible; but foundation does
not equal drawn comb as a discourage-
ment toswarming. The issuing of after-
swarms can be prevented, but the best
that can be done with first swarms is to
let them come, and then so manage as to
make the most of them. When the sea-
son for surplus honey closes with clover
or basswood, itis better not to try to se-
cure surplus from both the parent col-
ony and the swarm. Hive the swarm up-
on the old stand, transferring the supers
from the old to the new hive. If the
brood chamber of the new hive is not too
large, work will at once be resumed in
the sections. Place the old hive by the
side of the new one, but with its entrance
turned to one side. That is, have the
rear ends of the hives nearly in contact,
but their entrances perhaps two feet
apart. Each day turn the entrance of
the old hive a fewinches towards that of
the new hive. Atthe end of the sixth
day the twohives should stand side by
side. Practically, the hives are on one
stand, True, the bees of each hive recug-

nize and enter their own home, but re-
move either hive, and all of the flying
bees would enter the remaining hive.
Usually the second swarm comes out on
the eighth day after the issuing of the
first. Now,if the apiarist will, on the
seventh day, about noon, when most of
the bees are a-field, carry the old hive
toa new location, all of the bees that
have flown from the old hive since the
issuing of the swarm, that have marked
the old location as their home, will re-
turn and join the newly hived swarm.
This booms the colony where the sections
are, and so reduces the old colony, just
as the young queens are hatching, that
any farther swarmingis abandoned. The
old colony just about builds up into a first-
class colony for wintering. If there isa
fall honey flow, such a colony may store
some surplusthen. ‘This method of pre-
venting after-swarming, called the Hed-
don method, is not znfallible. If a col-
ony swarms before the first queen cell is
sealed, the first young queen may not
hatch until the old colony has been upon
the new stand long enough for a suffi-
cient number of bees to hatch to form a
swarm, when they may swarm; but asa
rule, this plan is a success.

If the bee-keeper desires no increase,
let him pursue the plan just given, for
the prevention of after-swarming, until
the point is reached where the old hive is
to be carried to a new location, when the
old hive is simply to bé shifted to the
opposite side of the new hive with its
entrance turned away as in the first

instance. Each day the hive is to
be turned slightly, as before, until
the hives are again parallel, when,

at the end of a week from the time the
‘shift’? was made, the hive can again be
changed to the other side of the new
hive. By this management the young
bees that are continually hatching in the
parent colony are being enticed into the
hive containing the swarm. At the end
of the third week, the combs of the old
hive will be free of brood. That left by
the old queen will have all hatched,

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 35

while the young queen will not have
been laying more than two or three days
atthe most. The few remaining bees
can now be shaken from the combs of the
old colony and allowed to run into the
new hive. If there is any choice of
queens, the apiarist can kill the one that
is the less desirable; otherwise he can
allow the queens to settle the matter for
themselves. I prefer the latter course.
What little honey is left in the combs
may be extracted, and the combs, unless
there is some immediate use for them,
stored away and close watch kept over
them, that they are not injured by the
bee-moth’s larvee. I don’tlike the plan
of putting the brood combs of a colony
from which a swarm has issued, upon
some other hive, the cells being filled
with honey as fast as the bees hatch.
There seems to be no good plan of allow-
ing bees to swarm and then preventing
increase by uniting, without having an
extra set of combs built for each swarm
that issues, but I believe such combs are
produced at a profit. There is still
another plan of preventing increase, be-
sides that of merging the old colony in-
to the new; itis that of contracting the
brood nest of the newly hived swarm to
such an extent that the end of the season
will find it too reduced in numbers for

successful wintering, when it may be
united with the parent colony.
Ido not wish to be understood as say-

ing or even intimating that there are no
other methods of preventing or control-
ling increase. There are several. But it
is not always a question of what can be
done, but of can it be done profitably ?
Some have practiced, aud reported favor-
ably, the plan of allowing a swarm to
return to the old hive, then removing
the queen, and afterwards cutting out all
the queen cells except one. It has this
in its favor: The colony is requeened;
but, as an offset, there is the labor of
cutting out the cells, with the possibility
that one or more may be overlooked, or
that the one left may not hatch. With
the prices at which honey sells, there
must be as little of this ‘“‘puttering’’ work

as possible. The cutting out of queen
cells, handling of combs singly, chang-
ing them about, etc., must be dropped
for more wholesale, short-cut methods.
There must be more handling of hives
and less manipulation of combs.

For some reason a colony with a queen
of the current year seldom swarms. er-
haps one reason is that her vigorous lay-
ing does not allow the bees to crowd her
out, and thus reduce the amount of brood
compared with the number of nurse bees.
In order to be effective, the young queens
must be introduced early in the spring,
before there are any preparations for
swarming. It is difficult to rear queens
so early in the season, and expensive to
get them from the South.

Quite a number of bee-keepers have
succeeded to their entire satisfaction in
preventing after-swarming, also in pre-
venting increase, while but very few have
succeeded in preventing swarming.
Probably the only certain method that
has been used to any extent, in this
country, is that of removing the queens
just at the opening of the swarming sea-
son, leaving the colonies queenless about
three weeks. Of course, queen cells
must be cut out at least twice during this
interval. Although a few, good men
practice this method, I never could bring
myself to adopt it—there is too much
labor. I havesaid nothing in regard to
making increase artificially, because, un-
less there is a desire for unusual increase,
or to leave the apiary unattended, I think
naturalincrease is preferable. One diffi-
culty in dividing bees to forestall swarm-
ing, is that all colonies are not ready for
division at the same time. There is dan-
ger of waiting too long or of dividing too
soon.

The man who is raising honey asa
business will find it to his advantage to
allow each colony to swarm once, if it
will, (and no more) then make the most
out of the swarm. Whether the swarm
and old colony shall be again merged in-
to one depends upon the desirability of
increase,

Shade for Bees.

HALL we shade our bees? If
so, why, when, how? Some
bee-keepers do not shade their

hives; others do. Why dothey
doit? Isit really necessary? Do they
thereby secure niore honey? These are

pertinent questions to which it ,is difficult
to give definite answers, but about which
it is advisable to know all that 7s known.

The temperature of a colony of bees in
the summer, when brood is being reared,
isnearly 100.” Until the temperature in
the sun, reaches this point, shade is no
benefit; rather is it an injury, as it de-
prives the bees of the warmth of the sun
at a time when it would be of some ben-
efit. When the temperature in the sun
goes above Ioo°, and begins to climb up
to 110°, 120°, 130°, 140°, then the effort
upon the part of the bees is to lower in-
stead of raise the temperature in the
hive. Crowds of bees stand at the en-
trance of the hive, and with their wings
create strong ventilating currents of air.
It has been asserted that the bees leave
the combs of honey well-nigh forsaken
when the temperature is very high; the
reason given being that the combs can
be kept cooler when not covered with
bees. I have also read and been told,
that bees would ‘‘hang out,’’ that is,
cluster upon the outside of the hive, in-
stead of working, if their hives were left
unshaded during a hot day; that they
were compelled to thus desert their hives
to save their combs from destruction. I
have always kept my hives shaded dur-

ing the hot weather, hence cannot speak
from experience upon this point; but, if
it is true, then it would seem that shade,
in very hot weather, is both desirable
and profitable. This much I have no-
ticed, that weak colonies, nuclei, for in-
stance, seldom make any demonstration
of discomfort from heat, even when left
unshaded, while strong colonies are puff-
ing and blowing like the runner of a foot-
race. Why isthis? Isn’t it because the
strong colony is suffering from the ac-
cumulation of itsown heat—that genera-
ted by itself—that cannot escape fast
enough? If this be true, why isn’t a
chaff hive the most insufferably hot place
imaginable fora colony of bees in bot
weather? Possibly the point is just here:
the bees in the chaff hive have to con-
tend with their own heat only, while
those in the single-wall hive have that
from the sun in addition to their own.
The thick walls act as a sort of absorbent
of heat; taking it up and retaining it dur-
ing the day and gradually giving it up
during the cool of night. Let this be as
it may, a colony can be kept the coolest
in a thin wall hive in the shade. How do
we keep cool in hot weather? We wear
thin clothing and lie in the hammock in
the shade. A colony of bees is a living
heat-producing body, and can be kept
cool in the same manner that we keep
our bodies cool, viz., let its clothing (hive)
be thin, with a free circulation of air up-
on all sides, above and below, and protect
it from the sun’s rays,

A WELL SHADED HIVE.

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 37

The color of the hives has a great
bearing upon the necessity for shade.
Black, ora dark color, absorbs heat, while
it is reflected or repelled by white. I
have seen the combs melt down in an old
weather-beaten hive that stood in the sun,
but I never saw them melt in hives paint-
ed white, even if standing in the sun.

There is still another point that has
a bearing upon the question under dis-
cussion, and that is the circulation of air
about the hives. I have read of combs
melting down in hives standing in shade
so dense that the sun never shown upon
them. The trouble was that growing
corn on one side, and dense brush upon
the other, made it so close that no air
circulated.

Shade is not needed in the spring, fall,
morning or evening. The only time that
itis needed, if it zs needed, is in the
middle of our hottest days; and some
temporary, quickly adjustable, easily re-
movable shade is preferable to an at-
tempt to furnish a permanent shade by
growing evergreens, grape vines and the
like. In fact, a permanent shade, like
that furnished by an evergreen, is an in-
jury inspring, robbing the bees of the
benefit to be derived from the heat of
the sun. In fact, I know of nothing bet-
ter than a light board, 2 x3 feet in size,
laid upon the top of the hives. One of
the longest edges of the bvard is placed
parallel and even with the North edge of
the top of the hive, the opposite edge of

the board projecting beyond the South
edge ofthe hive. This shades the hive
when shade is needed, and only when it
is needed—in the middle of the day. In
a windy situation it may be necessary to
lay a brick or a stone upon this board to
keep it in place. Don’t imagine that
hooks or something of the kiud will be
preferable for holding the shade boards
inplace. A weight is the simplest, cheap-
est and most convenient. I make these
shade boards by nailing the thick ends of
shingles to a piece ofinch board four in-
ches wide and two feet long. They cost
only five cents each, and in the fall I tack
them together and make packing boxes
for packing the bees.

For the comfort of the apiarist, it is
wellto havea few scattering trees in the
apiary, but let their branches be trimmed
to such a height that they will not be
knocking off his hat or gouging his eyes.

Perhaps this whole matter of shade
might be summed up something as fol-
lows: If the apiary is located where the
cool breezes can fan the heating sides of
the hives, wafting away the heat ere it
accumulates, and a broad generous en-
trance is furnished each tidy, white hive,
Iam persuaded that shade is not so very
essential. If the hives are dark in color,

or the apiary is located where there is not
a free circulation of air, I feel sure that
shade is an absolute necessity to prevent
the comhs from melting, if for nothing
else.

Contraction of the Brood Nest.

HE brood nest is contracted to
prevent the production of brood
at a time when the resulting
bees would come upon the stage

of action at a time when there would be
no honey to gather—when they would be
consumers instead of producers. It is al-

so contracted to compel the bees to store
the honey in the sections instead of in
the brood nest. There are several reasons
why this is desirable. The honey from
clover and basswood is white, fine flavor-
ed, and brings a higher price than that
gathered later; hence it is more profitable

38 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

to force this higher priced honey into the
sections, and allow the bees to fill the
brood combs, later on, with winter stores
from such sources as yield honey that
brings a lower price. When it is desir-
able, either from its cheapness, or from
its superiority as a winter food, to use su-
gar for winter stores, contraction of the
brood nest can be so managed as to leave
the bees almost destitute of honey in the
fall, which does away with the trouble of
extracting, and leaves nothing to be done
except to feed the bees. Such, in brief,
are the advantages of contracting the
brood nest. Where the honey flow lasts
nearly the whole season, with no long
periods of scarcity, and the quality of
honey is uniform throughout the season,
and no advantage is found in substituting
sugar for honey as winter stores, I see
little need of contracting the brood nest,
and would advise that it be of such size
that an ordinarily prolific queen can keep
the combs well filled with brood in the
early part of the season; but where any
of the first mentioned conditions exist,
the bee-keeper who neglects ‘‘ contrac-
tion’? is not employing all the advan-
tages that are available.

Asarule, I don’t advise the contrac-
tion of the brood nest of an established
colony. Ifit does not properly fill its
hive, is too weak, and the time for put-
ting on sections has arrived, then contrac-
tion is necessary if the colony is to be
worked for comb honey. But when a
colony completely fills its hive and has
its combs well filled with brood, I doubt
if much is gained by contracting the
brood nest. So long as the combs are
kept full of brood, the surplus will go in-
to the supers. If any of the combs of
brood are taken away, they must be cared
for by other bees somewhere else, so
nothing is gained.

It is in the hiving of a swarm that I
have found contraction of the brood nest
advisable. Years ago some of the “big
guns’’ in apiculture were given to la-
menting the swarming of bees, because,
they said, with the swarm went all hopes

of surplus. As the business was then
conducted, the ‘big guns’’ were correct
in many instances, The swarm would be
hived in a ten-frame hive, and no supers
put on until the hive was filled. If they
were put on they would not be occupied
until the lower hive was filled, and by
the time that this was accomplished it
often happened that the white honey har-
vest had passed. If the old colony did
not swarm (usually it did), some return
might be expected from that, unless the
season was nearly over. In most of our
Northern States the crop of white honey
is gathered within six weeks, often with-
inamonth. Ifacolony is in condition
to begin work in the supers at the open-
ing of the white honey harvest, and con-
tinues faithfully at work without swarin-
ing, as I havealready said, no contraction
is needed, but, suppose the harvest is half
over, the bees are working nicely in the
supers, there may be one case of sections
almost ready tocome off, another two-
thirds finished, and a third in which the
work has only nicely commenced, now
the colony swarms, what shall be done?
By hiving the swarm in a contracted
brood chamber upon the old stand, trans-
ferring the supers to the newly hived
swarm, and practicing the Heddon method
of preventing after-swarming, work will
be resumed and continued in the supers
without interruption, and the surplus will
be nearly as great as though no swarming
had taken place.

Where the brood-nest has only one tier
of frames, the only way by which it can
be contracted is by taking out some of
the outside combs, and filling the space
these left, by the use of ‘‘dummies.’’ A
“dummy”! is simply a brood frame with
thin boards tacked upon both sides. It
hangs in the hive and occupies space the
same asacomb, only it isa ‘‘dummy”’
just asitsnameindicates, A frame wider
than a brood frame may be used, and
this will make the ‘“dummy’’ thicker.
Don’t have a dummy touch the side of
the hive, then the bees cannot glue it
fast. How thick a dummy should be, de-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 39

pends upon how many combsare to be re-
moved. When using the Langstroth
frame I prefer to contract to five frames.

With the Heddon hive, in which the
brood chamber is horizontally divisible,
simply using only one section of the brood
nest contracts the brood nest to about the
proper capacity. This method of contrac-
tion is preferable to using dummies. Not
only is there less labor and complication,
but the flattening of the brood-nest, and
the absence of any dummies under the
outer sections, makes the bees more in-
clined to work in the supers.

When the brood nest is very much con-
tracted, it has a tendency to cause a new-
ly hived swarm to ‘‘swarm out’’ and leave
the hive. When there is trouble from
this source, the brood nest may be used
nearly or quite full size for two or three
days, until the swarming fever has abated,
and the bees have settled down to steady
work, If newly hived swarms begin
“swarming out,’? when I am using the
new Heddon hive, I use a full size brood
nest for three days, and then shake the

bees from the lower section of the hive,
aud use this section for the upper section
of the next hive in which I put a swarm.

It has been urged against contraction
that it results in small colonies at the end
of the season. If it is carried to too
great extent, and too long continued, it
certainly does. If aman wishes to turn
bees into honey, contraction will enable
him to accomplish his object. If colonies
are too weak in the fall as the result of
severe contraction, they must be united;
but the course pursued by nearly all who
practice contraction, is to enlarge the
brood nest again in time for the colony to
build up sufficiently fora fall flow of hon-
ey, if there is one, or to become strong
enough for winter. When bees are win-
tered in a repository of the proper tem-
perature, I have never found that un-
usually populous colonies were any more
desirable than smaller ones. This is one
advantage of cellar wintering, the popula-
tion may be reduced to the minimum dur-
ing the comsumptive, non-productive
part of the year.

POETS O EERE

Hiving Bees.

HE hiving of a swarm of bees is
avery simple operation when
only one swarm comes out at
the same time, and hangs itself

up on the limb of a tree within easy reach
of the bee-keeper; but in a large apiary,
where several swarms are often in the air
at the same time, and there are tall trees
near by, the getting of all the bees into
the hives in the right quantities, accompa-
nied by queens, is no light task.

To my mind, there is only one way in
which these hosts of circling, whirling,
excited little bodies can be satisfactorily
controlled; and that is through the

queens. Noswarm will ever leave the
apiary unless accompanied by a queen.
If the queens’ wings are clipped, or traps
in front of the hives catch them as they
attempt to leave, there will be no chasing
after and losing of swarms. The swarms
may unite, when more than one issues,
and all may attempt to return and enter
one hive, but there will be no loss of
bees nor climbing of trees. The bees will
stay in the yard, and can be brought with-
in veach of the bee master; while the
absence of queens and the desire of the
bees fora qneen, allows the apiarist to
control the bees to such an extent that

4o ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

he eventually becomes master of the sit-
uation. Iclungtothe plan of allowing
queens to accompany swarms, until I was
jorced to abandon it. The loss from
absconding swarms was too great. Bees
do not always s¢ay hived after they are
hived, and when they swarm out in this
manner, they frequently do not cluster
again, but make directly for parts un-
known. It is true that an absconding
swarm can usually be stopped by throw-
water with a fountain pump, if the
swarm is seen when first starting off, and
there is plenty of water handy, some one
to bring it, and the bee-keeper is not so
busied just then trying to straighten out
a‘‘snarl’’ of four or five colonies that
have mixed themselves together.

Ina large apiary, in which the queens
are allowed to accompany the swarms,
water isthe great agent by which the
bees can be controlled. Quite a number
of large pails should be keep filled with
water and scattered about in different
parts of the apiary. There should also
be three or four barrels of water, in dif-
ferent parts of the apiary. Waiting one-
quarter of a minute for water, sometimes
means the loss of a swarm. Sometimes
swarms go beyond the limits of the apiary;
then two persons are really needed; one
to carry water, and the other to work the
pump. Whitman fountain pump is the
best. With this a stream of water can be
thrown adistance of thirty or forty feet.
If two swarms issue at the same time they
can frequently be kept apart by the use
of the pump. It is not necessary to
throw a stream of water directly into the
center of the swarm, but along one side
of it, with a sort of sweeping movement
of the arm, that makes the stream fall
ina sort of shower. The bees dislike
the water and edge away from it. In
this way they can be driven in any di-
rection. Two or three pails of water
thrown in this manner upon a swarm
seems to disconcert them, and they then
begin to look for some alighting place.
If the operator once has a swarm well in
hand, and there is plenty of water at

hand and he knows how to useit, it is
well nigh impossible for the swarm to get
away.

Unless the queens are clipped, or the
queen trap is used, there should be no
tall trees near the apiary, as the swarms
will go where it will be difficalt, even
dangerous, to get them. It should be
possible to reach the tops of the trees with
along, light ladder. Ifthe tops are no
higher than can be reached witha step
ladder, so much the better. Besides the
pails of water, fountain pump, and lad-
ders, the bee-keeper will need three or
four baskets. Clothes baskets are ex-
cellent. Upon one side should be sewed
a cover of burlap. When the swarm has
been shaken into the basket, the cover
can be thrown over the top of the basket
and will keepthe bees from flying out.
Blocks of wood nailed to the corners of
the cover hold it from being blown off or
from dropping down into the basket,
should the bees cluster upon the cover.
Ifset in a cool place, a swarm may be
left in such a_ basket several hours,
When the hive is in readiness to receive
the swarm. the cover to the basket may
be turned back and the bees shaken down
in front of the hive. A few of the bees
soon find the entrance and set up their
“call”? of a home is found, when the
others follow them into the hive. If
another swarm comes out and attempts
to join the one just entering its hive, a
large sheet may be thrown over the hive.
Where several swarms come out at the
same time and unite, the best that can
be done is to divide them up as nearly
equal as possible into several swarms.
When a queen is found she is to be caged.
Any swarm that has no queen will soon
show its queenlessness by its restlessness.
The bees will begin running out of the
hive and taking wing. One of the caged
queens should be given such a swarm,
when, as by magic, the bees will change
their behavior.

When the bee-keeper has all of the
swarms out that hecan possibly manage,
there is one infallible method of prevent-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE 41

ing any more from issuing. As he works,
let him frequently cast his eye quickly
over the entire yard. The moment he
sees aswarm beginning to come out, let
him run to the hive, quickly remove the
supers and dash a quantity of water into
the hive. The effect is a most radical
one; that swarm will not issue for at
least aday or two. Throwing water into
the brood nest is not injurious to the
brood or bees; as the water so used is
warm from having stood in the sun in the
pails heretofore mentioned.

I believe that the majority of advanced
bee-keepers now hive their swarms by
having the queens’ wings clipped, and
allowing the bees to return to the old
location, which they will do when they
find that the queen is not with them.
Of course the queen attempts to follow
the bees, and is found in front of the hive
by the bee-keeper, who cages her, and
sets the old hive to one side; replacing
it with a new hive prepared for the oc-
cupancy of the swarm. When the bees
return, they enter the new hive, suppos-
ing it to be their old home, thus hiving
themselves. While they are entering
the hive, the queen is allowed to run
in with them—and the work is done.
There is another method of carrying out
this principle; it is that of catching the
queen in a trap in front of the hive. The
lower part of the trap is covered with
perforated zinc, the perforations being
ot such size that the workers can pass,
but the queen finds and passes through a
cone shaped opening in the upper part of
trap. There she finds herself in another
apartment, and the chance that she will
find the narrow mouth of the cone and
return is as one ina thousand. The use
of the trap saves clipping the queen’s
wings, also the trouble of looking for her
when the swarm is out, together with the
possibility of her being lost. The ob-
jections to the trap are its cost, a slight
hindrance to the bees passing out and in,
and its, interference somewhat with the
ventilation of the hive. A trap placed
over the mouth of a hive containing a

newly hived swarm, will prevent loss
from ‘‘swarming out.’? Taking every-
thing into consideration, my preference
is clipped queens.

If only one swarm would issue at a
time, there would be no difficulty at all
in managing swarms with clipped queens,
When two or more swarms come out at
the same time, and no water is thrown
between them, they are almost certain to
unite. After circling about for awhile
the bees return. If each bee would re-
turn to its own hive, all would be well;
but when the bees of one swarm begin to
go back, a large share of the bees in the
air follow them. Afew bees from each
swarm usually return to their respective
homes, but the majority ‘‘follow my
leader.’’ It is impossible to give any set
rules that may be followed in such
emergencies. If only two swarms have
united, the bees may be allowed to enter
until it is estimated that one-half the
bees are in the hive, when it may be re-
moved and the other hive brought and
put in its place. It should not be for-
gotten that, as a rule, other things being
equal, a bee will do as good workin one
hive asin another. Some bee-keepers,
when several swarms come to one place,
take supers from other hives, where the
bees are working none the best, and place
them upon the hive into which the bees
are entering. As soon asthe supers are
full of bees they are returned to the hive
from whence they were taken. A colony
made unusually strong by uniting
swarms, will store a larger quantity of
honey, but will be no stronger at the end
of the season.

Another plan of managing, where sev-
eral swarms come out at the same time,
is not to allow the bees to return to hives,
but put the caged queens in baskets,
each queen in a separate basket, and hang
the baskets on the branches of a tree
where the bees show a disposition to
congregate. The bees soon find and
cluster about the queens in the baskets.
As soon asa queen is found with sufficient
bees to form a good swarm, remove that

42 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

basket to a shady place and cover with
acloth. Then remove the next basket
that secures the proper quota, and so on
to theend. Or the bees may be allowed
to cluster about a single queen in a sin-
gle basket, and then the cluster divided
up, and each division furnished a queen.

And now I am going to give something
that, in actual practice, by a large num-
ber of bee-keepers, ay not turn out so
well as represented.

Every bee-keeper knows of the dispo-
sition of bees to crawl upwards. To in-
duce a queen to leave a cage, turn the
opening wp. Those who have watched
the motions of a clipped queen in front
of the hive from which aswarm has just
issued, have probably noticed her dis-
position to crawl wp a spear of grass or
anything of this nature that she can find.
Ata recent meeting of the Huron, Tus-
cola and Sanilac Co. bee-keepers,a Mr.
West told how it was possible to take ad-
vantage of this climbing disposition on
the part of the queen, to induce a swarm
with a clipped queen to cluster and re-
mainupon a stake in front of the hive
from which it had issued.

This discovery was the result of an
accident, or rather of «a lucky ‘‘happen
so.’’ In front of one of his hives a mul-
lein had been allowed to form a stalk.
Coming home one day he found a swarm
from this hive clustered upon the mul-
lein stalk. He at once reasoned that the
queen, as she alighted in front of the
hive, found and climbed the mullein stalk,
and the swarm, upon its return, found and
clustered about her, Taking a hint from
this he cleared away all rubbish from in
front of all the hives, and a few inches in
front of each hive he thrust into the
ground a branch of an apple tree. He used
branches perhaps an inch in diameter
and two feet long with a few short twigs
atthe top. The twigs were cut off to a
length of four or sixinches. The branch
was not planted in an upright position,
but leaning away from the mouth of the
hive. Then it was not in the way of the
workers as they passed out and in the

hive, while aswarm clustered at the top
would be held so far from the entrance
of the hive that there would be no danger
of its being enticed back into the hive.
This plan proved a perfect success,
He had practiced it for three years, and
one year had as many as sixty swarms,
and it had xever failed. Itseemed to me
that the queen might not always find the
tree to clim), but would crawl off in some
other direction, but he said not; that the
stake was planted just about where she
would naturally strike the ground when
leaving the hive, and she invariably
found and climbed the pole, and that
the bees clustered about her and remain-
ed. Asthe queen could not take wing
and the bees would not desert her, it nat-
urally followed that they would remain
until removed by the bee-keeper.
Sometimes a good thing is brought out,
illustrated and described, yet it falls
dead—does not ‘take.’ The T super
had a hard struggle before its merit was
recognized. ‘‘Bee escapes,’’ are another
illustration of this truth. I well remem-
ber how my brother and I laughed, and
rolled over in the grass, when I read a
letter from some one who had planned a
bee escape. ‘‘If we can produce the hon-
ey, I guess we can get the bees off from
it,’? was the comment we made. It was
really two or three years before I could
bring myself to regard the bee-escape
seriously. Ithink that what is called a
“swarm catcher’ must be placed in the
same category. It was first brought out
by a Mr. W. J. Bailey of Wisconsin. I
well remember how some of us pooh,
poohed at it. ‘Who would think of
bringing such machinery as that into the
yard, and then stand arcund and wait
for a swatm to issue so that we can fit
this rigging over the hive?’ That is the
way we talked. Later, the late, lament-
ed B. Taylor of Minnesota took up the
idea and made a great success of it.
When I was up to Minnesota last winter,
attening their State convention, I found
several practical bee-keepers were using
the swarm catcher, yet, strange to say, it

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 43

has not come inte general use. Where
one nan is caring for a large apiary, all
alone, I know of no more perfect arrange-
ment for managing several swarms that
issue at nearly the same time. There is
no catching of queens, nor climbing of
trees, nor mixing of swarms. The con-
trol is perfect.

Thecatcher is simply a light frame-
work, about three aud one-half feet long,
sixteen inches square at the large, or out-
er end, then tapered down to about three
by sixteen inches at the other end. The
outer end is closed with a removable
door covered with wire cloth. The rest
ofthe frame-work is covered with can-
vas or ducking. The small end is so
made that it fits nicely to the entrance of
a hive, and a portion of the cloth cover-
ing is so made as to form a sort of flap
that can be drawn over the mouth of the

catcher to keep the bees in after they
have entered. In a large apiary there
should be as many as half a dozen catch-
ers scattered about the yard. When a
swarm is seen issuing, a catcher is quick-
ly adjusted to the entrance of the swarm-
ing-hive. In five minutes, the whole
swarm is in the catcher, when the catch-
er is closed and set in the shade, or car-
ried to some cool place, like a cellar.
The queen is usually among the last to
leave the hive, so there is seldom a fail-
ure in catching her. If the swarms come
thick and fast, there 1s no objection to
leaving the swarms several hours with-
out hiving, provided they are not left in
thesun, Although there is probably no
necessity for it, they can be kept two
daysin a cellar. When the bees have
been ‘‘cooled down’”’ in this manner, and
are shaken in front of the hive that is to
be their home, they march in without
fifty bees taking wing. When swarms
are caught in this manner there are no
mixed or united swarms to separate—no
tangles to straighten out. It reduces the
hiving business to an exact system.

PPP GH EEE

Foul Brood.

HERE is no apiary in which

there is not a possibility that

foul brood will sometime ap-

pear, hence every bee-keeper
ought to be able to distinguish it, and to
know what to do when he is so unfortu-
nate as to find it in his apiary. From
reading the published descriptions, many
bee-keepers form exaggerated ideas of the
appearence of foul brood, or rather of its
appearance in its first stages. They are
looking for combs black with slime and
rottenness, a stench strong enough to
knock a man down and colonies dwin-

dled to handfuls. Unless the bee-keeper
keeps a sharp lookout, foul brood may be
in his apiary some time before it is known.
At first but few cells of diseased brood
will befound. Itis not advisable that a
bee-keeper be continually opening brood
nests and critically examining the combs
for foul brood. If acolony shows signs
of listlessness, or many dead bees are
seen in front of one or more of the hives,
or a peculiar, unpleasant odor is noticed,
it would be wise to make an examination.
Whenever handling frames of brood it
would be well to glance at the brood,

44 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

Notice if the ‘‘pearly field’? of unsealed
larvee is unbroken. If there are desolate
patches, examine more critically. If
some of the larvee are discolored, shape-
less, ropy, ill-smelling, some of the cap-
pings sunken, perhaps perforated, foul
brood is present. Perhaps the one sure

symptom of foul brood is the ropiness of ©

the larvee. If asplinter or tooth-pick be
thrust into a dead larvee, and then slowly
withdrawn, the matter will adhere to the
splinter and ‘‘string out’’ an inch or more
in length, then break, and the two ends
fly back to the points of attachment.
Dr. A. B. Mason, who has had much ex-
perience with foul brood, says that he
has had many specimens of brood sent
him by men who feared their bees were
affected by foul brood, and when this
elastic, tenacious condition of the brood
was absent he had never hesitated to
place the suspected brood in a colony of
bees, and no harm had ever resulted.

All of the above indications will be
seen only during the breeding season.
In a strong colony, after the breeding
season is over, the cappings are all clear-
ed away, and the dead brood is entirely
dried up—mere scales almost of the color
of the comb itself, lying fast tothe lower
side of the cells, and drawn back more or
less from the openings. To tell whether
combs have been infected, Mr. R. L.
Tayler suggests that these minute scales
be looked for. Hesays: ‘t Hold the comb
with the bottom bar from you, in dif-
ferent directions, until the light strikes
well into the dower sides of the cells,
when, if infected, the scales are very
evident.”’

Honey is the means by which the dis-
ease is usually carried from one hive to
another. Mr. Cheshire says that the ma-
ture bees, the queen and even the eggs
areinfected in a diseased colony. Be
this as it may, where the bees of an in-
fected colony swarm, or are shaken from
their combs and put into a new or disin-
fected hive, and given no combsin which
they can store the infected honey that
they may have brought with them, the

brood hatched afterwardsin this newly
formed coiony remains free from disease.

When foul brood is discovered, what
shall be done? Inthe first place don’t
‘Jose your head”’ as the saying is. Don’t
be in such a haste to be rid of the pest,
that a crop of honey is lost, and the work
of eradication imperfectly performed.
What is to be specially guarded against is
allowing healthy colonies to have combs
or honey from those that are diseased.
Robbing is particularly to be guarded
against. Itis for this reason that cura-
tive operations can be carried on success-
fully only during a honey flow, when bees
will not rob. If foul brood is discovered
after the honey season is over, treatment
must be postponed until the following
season.

The spraying of the combs with acids,
and the feeding of the bees with medica-
ted honey, seems to be of little avail, so
far as eradicating the disease is concern-
ed. Such treatment checks the disease,
but cannot be depended upon to effect a
cure. The only plan of treatment that
can be depended upon to effect a radical
cure, isto shake off the bees, during a
honey flow, into a new or scalded tive
having no combs in which the bees can
store (and thus save up) any of the infec-
ted honey which they may have brought
with them. If there is much healthy
brood left in the old hive, a few bees
may be left to protect it, and the hive

. allowed to stand until the brood is all

hatched, when the bees from several hives
so treated may be united in a new hive
and given a queen. Where the hives
have loose bottom boards, several hives
from which the bees, or nearly all of
them, have been taken, may be placed
one above the other, when, in three
weeks, allof the healthy brood will have
hatched and will be already united in one
colony, when the bees can be given a new
hive and a queen, leaving the combs free
from healthy brood.

Mr. R.L. Taylor has had much ex-
perience with foul brood. He succeeded
in ridding a large apiary of the disease,

GOOUd 110d HLIM GaLaddV ATCVd GN) V

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 45

and that without any very great pecuni-
ary loss. In an essay read at a meeting
of the Michigan State Bee-Keepers’ Asso-
ciation, he stated at length his varions
experiments, all of which resulted in fail-
ure except that of the plan just mention-
ed. His method of treatment was some-
what different, in details, from that usual-
ly followed. Among other things he
managed to secure a good crop of honey.
Perhaps I cannot do better than to quote
two or three paragraphs from his essay.

“I found in my experiments, that by
feeding a few pounds of honey medicated
with salicylic acid, in the spring—the
food being placed in an upper story, in a
capacious feeder—the disease, though
never cured, was completly checked, and
the usefulness of the colony for the pro-
duction of honey preserved. One colony
so fed, yielded, notwithstanding the foul
brood, twice the average of the apiary.

Another benefit of this feeding is, that
it practically prevents, I think, the dis-
semination of disease from the colony.
Taking advantage of this discovery,
after much deliberation I decided upon
the following plan of operation, as the
best under all circumstances.

In the spring, about the middle of May,
feed, as indicated above, each colony to
be treated, then manage the same as
healthy colonies until such time as the
brood to be reared from eggs laid will be
of little use in the collection of the main
honey crop—say thirty days from the
probable close of the flow from basswood,
then cage the queen in the hive for three
weeks, and, at the end of that time, move
back the hive, place aclean hive furnish-
ed with foundation on the old stand, run
all the bees and the released queen into
it, remove the old combs and hive to a
place of safety, and the work is done.
Of course, colonies may be treated in the
same manner during any sufficient honey
flow. ””

When freed from bees and healthy
brood, the combs may be emptied of hon-
ey by extracting, then melted into wax.
Thorough boiling of the honey will kill

allthe germs of foul brood, but, to make
assurance doubly sure, some have added
to the honey a small proportion of sali-
cylic acid. Honey thus treated may be
fed to the bees. The hives ought to be
boiled in water fifteen or twenty minutes.
Simply pouring boiling water upon them
will not answer. Some have advocated
the burning of the combs with no attempt
at saving the honey and wax. If only a
few colonies are to be treated, this might
be advisable, but the owner of a large
apiary quite generally affected with foul
brood, can well affordto take the neces-
sary precautions whereby the combs may
besaved. Whoever undertakes such a
job must remember, however, that ‘‘eter-
nal vigilance’ is the price of success,
that ove drop of the infected honey se-
cured by a robber bee, means disease
once morein the hive to which it is car-

‘ried. Some one has suggested that the

extracting, etc., be done down cellar. It
isacool place in which to work,and the
bees can the more easily be kept out.
Others have melted up the combs at night
when no bees are flying. There is no
necessity for destroying the combs and
the honey they contain. Ifa man can
not or will not, exercise sufficient care, it
would certainly be better to burn them;
but, if he has ‘‘gumption’’? enough to suc-
ceed as a bee-keeper, he can save the
combs from destruction. It would be
well, however, for all to bear in mind
that one little “forget’? may compel a
repetition of the ‘‘whole business.”’

Of late, the bee-keepers of Colorado
have been following a plan whereby a
man may keep his apiary fairly free from
foul brood, even though located in afoul
broody district. It is well known that
shaking the bees of a foul broody colony
into a clean hive, and allowing them to
build a new set of combs, frees them the
infection; well, these Western men, just
at swarming-time, treat every colony in
the apiary in this manner—makea whole-
sale sweep of the matter. As this is dune
at a season when the honey-flow has com-
menced, and there will be no more rob-

46 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

bing until the season is over, the apiary
remains free of the disease for that season.
It issimply forced swarming on a whole-
sale scale. The old hives are given new
locations, perhaps the combs of two or
more colonies are put together on one
stand. Attheend of three weeks, the
brood has all hatched, when the combs
are again shaken free from bees, the lat-
ter, of course, going back into the hive
and building new combs, thus establish-
ing colonies that are free from the dis-
ease. The honey is then extracted from
the combs and the latter rendered into
wax. It isasserted that the wax will pay
for the labor, while the brood combs are

built a¢ a profit. After my experience,
as given in the chapter on the use of comb
foundation, I can well believe the asser-
tion. I believe that this plan can be suc-
cessfully followed in the East as well as
in the West; although, of course, the
Western harvest is much longer than
ours.

Perhaps it ought to be mentioned that,
in the first shaking, the combs are not
entirely freed from bees, some being left
to care for the unsealed brood; and cau-
tion should be exercised that the work be
not done too early in the season when
there would be danyer of chilled brood
or from robbers.

The Use and Abuse

of Comb Foundation.

HAT foundation has been a boon
to bee-keepers, no one doubts;
that money expended inits pur-
chase is often returned many

fold is equally true; but such is not al-
ways the case. All through the working
season wax is being secreted toa greater
or lessextent. If not utilized it is lost.
Of course, bees that fill themselves full
of honey and hang in clustering festoons
secrete wax to a very miuch greater extent
than those engaged in bringing in hon-
ey. The bees of a swarm will nearly al-
ways, if not always, be found with large
wax scales inthe wax pockets. Having
found that foundation is used at a profit
in some places and at some’ times, the
bee-keeping world seems to have decided,
with almost no experiments, that bees
cught never be allowed to build comb.
Years ago I practiced hiving swarms
onempty combs, upon foundation, and
upon empty fraines—empty except start-
ers of foundation. The first swarm was
hived upon comb, the second upon foun-

dation, and the third upon starters only.
This order was continued, the first year
it was tried, until fifteen swarms were
hived, when the use of empty combs was
discontinued, as it was only too evident
that they were used ata loss. I have ref-
erence here to what was used in the brood
nest in hiving swarms when raising comb
honey. The difficulty with drawn combs
is just this: Before the queen will lay in
old combs, the cells must be cleaned out
and ‘tvarnished’”? until they shine; and
long ere this, especially if there is a good
flow of honey, they will be badly needed,
and will be used, for storage. In other
words, combs are ready for honey before
they are ready for eggs, and the bees fill
the combs at once with honey, when, from
some perversity of bee nature, work, in
many instances, comes to a stand still.
Having filled the body of the hive, the
bees seem disinclined to make a start in
the sections. Where bees commence stor-
ing their surplus, there they seem in-
clined to continue to store it; and let the

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 47

bees once get the start of the queen, by
clogging the broou-nest with honey, and
that colony becomes practically worth-
less for the production of comb honey.

The advantages of full sheets of foun-
dation over starters, or vice versa, were
not so apparent, and until the close of
the season, an equal number of swarms
were hived upon foundation and upon
starters. Enough was proved the first
season to show that, so far as surplus was
concerned, nothing was gained by using
foundation in the brood nest, except for
starters, when hiving swarms. I have
since continued to experiment, year after
year, by hiving swarms alternately upon
foundation and upon empty combs,
weighing both surplus and _ brood-nests
atthe end of the season, and the evi-
dence has been in favor of empty frames
every time. Oceasionally I have hived a
swarm on empty combs, but the loss has
always been so great, that it seems like
folly to repeat it.

When full sheets of foundation are
used in the brood-nest, and the brood-
nest is so contracted that some of the
bees must enter the sections, and the
sections are filled with drawn comb, or
partly drawn comb, the honey must, from
necessity, be stored in the supers until
the foundation can be drawn out; and
even then, having commenced work in
the sections, the bees will not desert
them. But there is only one queen fur-
nishing eggs, while hundreds of busy,
eager workers are pulling away with
might and main drawing the foundation
out into comb, and the time eventually
comes when there are thousands of empty
cells in the brood-nest. Now nature has
no greater abhorrence of a vacuum than
has a bee of an empty cell during a flood
of honey; and, although the general or-
ders are ‘‘up stairs with the honey,” no
cells in the brood-nest are left empty
very long. Especially is thistrue with a
deep brood-nest and yellow Italians.

Ifa swarm is hived upon frames with
starters only, the first step is, necessarily,
the building of comb. Now, if a super

filled with drawn, or partly drawn, comb
(zot foundation ) is placed over the hive,
the bees will begin storing honey in the
conibs at the same time that comb build-
ingis begun below. A queen excluder
must be used to keep the queen out of
the supers, then she will be ready with
her eggs the moment a few cells are part-
ly finished in the brood nest, and, if the
latter has been properly contracted, she
will easily keep pace with the comb
building. The result is that nearly all
of the honey goes into the supers, where
it is stored in the most marketable shape,
and the combs in the brood-nest are fill-
ed almost entirely with brood. When
bees are hived upon empty frames, a
small brood nest is imperatively neces-
sary, otherwise large quatities of honey
will be stored therein, and when bees
build comb to store honey, particularly
if the yield is good, they usually build
drone comb. They probably do this be-
cause storage can thus be secured with
the least expenditure of time, labor and
material. So long as the queen keeps
pace with the comb builders, worker
comb is usually built, but if the brood-
nest is so largethat bees begin hatching
from its center before the bees have fill-
ed it with comb, and the queen returns to
re-fill the cells being vacated by the
hatching bees, the comb builders are
quite like to change from worker to drone
comb.

No fairer question could be asked than:
What are the advantages of this system?
In reply I will say that, in the first place,
the foundation is saved; but althongh
this isa great saving, it comes about in-
cidentally, asthe non-use of foundation
is only a means to an end, and that is the
profitable securing of the greatest possi-
ble amount of honey in the inost market-
able shape; leaving the brood-nest so free
from honey that no extracting is needed
when the time comes for feeding sugar
for winter stores. Those who for any
reason do not wish to use sugar, may
still take advantage of this system by
putting the unfinished sections back on

48 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

the hives in time for the honey to be
carried down and stored in the brood-
nest for winter. Or a case of brood
combs may be put on over the sections as
the harvest draws to a close, instead of
putting on another case of sections.
This will do away with nearly all unfinish-
ed sections, and the case of filled brood
combs can be given the colony at the
end of the season in place of zfs em-
pty combs. By either plan, the nuinber
of finished sections is increased.

The objection to this plan is that it
cannot be depended upon to produce per-
fect brood combs. I think Iam safe in
saying that I have had thousands of
combs built under this management, and
I think at least eighty per cent. of them
were as perfect as it would be possible
to secure by the use of foundation. A
much larger percentage were perfect when
I was using mostly the Langstroth frame,
and contracted the brood nest to only
five frames. This made the top of the
brood nest, where the bees commenced
their combs, sosmall that the bees com-
pletely covered it. All of the combs
were commenced at the same time. Asa
rule, they were as nearly perfect as pos-
sible, at least sofar as straightness was
concerned. WhenIcame to using the
new Heddon hive more extensively, I
discovered that the greater surface at
the top allowed room for the starting of
more combs, that the outside combs
would not always be started so soon as
the center ones, and this sometimes re-
sulted ina slight bulging of someof the
combs, Perhaps the outer comb would
be a trifle thinner and used largely for
storage. The comb next to it would
bend out slightly to match the lack of
thickness in the outside comb. As the
frames in the new Heddon hiveare placed
nearer together than one and one-half
inches (the natural distance at which
bees place their combs apart) I have
sometimes thought the bees, in their efforts
to get the combs wider apart (one and
one-half inches from center to center)
bulged or built the comb of one frame
slightly into the space that rightfully

belonged to the adjoining comb, and then
this adjoining comb must needs be built
into the space belonging to the next comb,
andsoon. When full sheets of founda-
tion are used, the bees are, of course,
compelled to build their combs where
the foundation is placed.

Sometimes drone comb would be built,
even in spite of contracted brood nests.
Usuaily this was the result of old queens.
But then, we can’t always have young
queens, hence I can only repeat that this
method gives most excellent results in
the way of surplus, but cannot be de-
pended upon to furnish perfect brood
combs. So well pleased was I with this
system that, four years .ago, I wrote and
published a little book in which this
method was described in detail. Three
thousand copies were sold, the methods
advised were largely tried, and were
freely discussed in the journals, all suc-
ceeded in getting good crops of honey,
but some failedin getting perfect brood
combs. Some keep watch of the brood
combs while they are being built, cutting
out crooked or drone comb, and using it
in the sections. I cannot think favorably
of such work. When I hive a swarm, I
wish that to be the end of the matter.
No opening of brood nests, and puttering
with imperfect combs during the hurly
burly of swarming tinie would be desir-
able forme. But I do think favorably of
a plan advised by Mr. H. R. Boardman,
that of contracting the brood nest when
hiving a swarm, and then uniting the
swarm with the parent colony at the end
of the season. This allows the newly
built combs to be sorted over and the
imperfect ones culled out and rendered
into wax.

If securing straight ail-worker comb is
not the greatest benefit arising from the
use of foundation, it is certainly next
to the greatest. The advantages of hav-
ing each comb a counterpart of all the
others, to be able to place any comb in
any hive, in short, to have each inter-
changable with all the others, and to be
able to control the production of drones,
to have them reared from such stock as

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 49

we d«sire, and in such quantities, no
more and no less, all these are advan-
tages that cannot be ignored, even at the
cost of filling our frames with foundation,
and securing a little less surplus. We
must have straight, worker combs. If
they can be secured without foundation
well and good; if not, it must be used.
By using weak colonies, or queen rearing
nuclei, or by feeding bees in the fall,
straight, all-worker combs may be secur-
ed ata profit.

Perhaps the greatest zmediate profit
arising from the use of foundation, is not
so much in the saving of honey that
would otherwise have been used in the
elaboration of wax, as in the quickness
with which it enables the bees to furnish
storagefor honey. When bees are stor-
ing honey slowly, the wax that they se-
crete without consuming honey express-
ly for that purpose, probably furnishes
sufficient material, and thereis probably
abundant time, for the building of
combin which to store the honey. As
the flow of honey increases, the hand-
ling of larger quantities of nectar increas-
es the natural or zavoluntary wax secre-
tion; but, as the yield of honey increases,
apoint is reached when honey must be
consumed expressly that wax may be
secreted. Itis quite likely that, at this
point, foundation may be used at a prof-
it to aid the bees in furnishing storage.

When the yield is so great that the bees
cannot secrete wax and build comb with
sufficient rapidity to store all the honey
that they might gather, then foundation
is certainly used at a profit. Further-
more, I have seen the yield of honey so
bountiful that even foundation did not
answer the purpose; the bees could not
draw it out fast enough to furnish storage
for all of the honey that could have been
brought in. At such times, drawn combs
are needed.

It will be seen that this question of
foundation is one to which there may be
profitably given much thought and ex-
perimentation. If the bee-keeper lives
where the honey flow is light, but, per-
haps prolonged, he will find it more prof-
itable to allow his bees to build their own
combs. If he can’t get perfect brood
combs, he certainly can allow the bees to
build their combs for the surplus comb
honey. If honey comes in ‘‘floods,’’ as
it sometimes does in some localities, the
man who allows his bees to build their
store combs unaided at suchatime, loses
dollars and dollars. If foundation is
needed only for the sake of securing
straight worker combs, it need not nec-
essarially be heavy. All foundation in
brood frames, upon which swarms are
hived, should be wired to prevent sag-
ging and breaking down.

PPG OI BES
Queen Rearing.

EARLY all who keep bees doso
for the honey the bees gather,
but there are quite a number of
apiarists, who keep bees to rear

queens forsale. For several years I made
a specialty of queen rearing, securing no
comb honey; what little honey could be
extracted from the nuclei in the basswood
flow, being all the honey secured. Queen

rearing, if rightly managed, is more
profitable, according to the number of
colonies employed, than is the raising of
honey, provided there is a ready sale for
queens. Taking one year with another,
however, aman can make more money,
in this locality, by having enough bees to
keep him fully employed when engaged
in the production of honey. One great

50 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

drawback to profitable queen rearing in
the North, is the shortness of the season.
If I were intending to make queen rear-
ing my business for life, I should think
seriously of moving to some one of the
Southern States. The income from queen
rearing is more of a certainty than that
from honey production. If the blossoms
yield sparingly, no surplus can be secured,
but nearly, or quite, as many queens can
be reared. The number of queens that
can be reared is more a question of Ze
than of honey flow. Although a steady
and moderate flow of honey is the most
desirable for queen rearing, yet queens
can be reared, and at a profit too, by
feeding the bees.

The great expense in queen rearing is
that of nucleifor keeping the queens un-
til they are fertilized and laying. Get-
ting of the cells is not expensive. IfI
were in the queen business I should be
willing to furnish cells just ready to hatch,
or just hatched virgin queens, at ten cents
each. Advertising, cages, postage, etc.,
all cost something, but I doubt if all these,
combined with the cost of cells, equal
the expense for nuclei. I think a great
many have their queen rearing nuclei
stronger than is really necessary. With
large combs this may be necessary, but
if queen rearing is to be a specialty, let
the hives, combs, and other appliances be
adapted to the business. I have always
admired the small combs used by Mr.
Alley. They are only about four or five
inches square, and three or four in a
hive. Half the bees that would cover
one Langstroth comb would stock sucha
nucleus. I have often thought I should
like to engage in queen rearing, using
sections an inch and a-half wide for frames,
and the old style Heddon surplus case
fora nucleus hive, having four nuclei in
each case. I have used sections for combs,
and put them in an old style Heddon
case for a hive, making ezgd little nuclei
in each super, and used them for keeping
laying queens when there was a dearth
of orders. I used three sections for each
nucleus. The queen would fill the

combs with eggs in about a day, and then

go over them again. About this time
there would be discontent and swarming-
out; and the only way to remedy this was
to cover each entrance with a piece of
queen-excluding zinc which would pre-
vent the queen from leaving the hive;
when, of course, the bees would return.
Quite a number of queen breeders have,
of late, been successful in getting queens
fertilized in these little nuclei, placed
over a fuli colony, the latter furnishing
the needed heat that these small clusters
of bees seem unable to generate.

Mr. Doolittle makes artificial
quzen cells, or rather the base
to cells, by dippiug a round-
pointed stick into melted wax,
allowing the wax to cool, then
dipping again, not quite so deep-
ly, and continuing the process
until the wax is of sufficient
thickness, when it is slipped off
the stick. These little wax
cups are stuck to a stick, and
intoeach cup is transferred a
just hatched larvee from the egg
of some choice queen. A little
“royal jelly’? is also placed
around each larve, when the
stick is fastened into a frame of
comb, an opening being made
in the comb, beneath the cells,
and the frame hung in a colony
prepared for cell building. The
bees proceed to nurse the larvee
and finish up the cells, and
when they are ‘‘ripe,’’ the cells
can be pulled off the stick as
easily as we pull cherries from
a branch.

Mr. Alley cuts comb contain-
ing eggs into strips, then de-
stroys each alternate egg by introducing
into the cell the brimstone end of a match
and giving ita twirl. Each strip of comb
is fastened into a small frame and given
to queenless bees,

The advantage of these methods are
that one choice queen may be made to
furnish eggs for all the cells that can pos-
sibly be needed, and each cell is built by
itself. Unless some such precautions are

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE, si

taken, the cells are often built in clusters,
and it is impossible to separate the cells
without destroying some of them.

I have not tried either of these methods.
They seem too ‘‘fussy.’?” My method of
getting cells is to remove the queen from
a populous colony and leave the bees un-
disturbed for six or seven days. By this
time cells will be started, and nearly all
of the larvee will be sealed. Young bees
will be hatching in abundance, but there
will be only a small quantity of brood to
be nursed, and in a day or two there will
be none. All of the queen cells that have
been started are cut out and a comb of
just hatching larvee, from a choice queen,
is given. To secure this comb of larve,
a dry, clean comb (one built the previous
year is preferable) is placed in the center
of the brood nest of a desirable colony
about four days before the comb will be
needed. All around the edge of the
patch of just hatching larvae, I cut holes
an inch in diameter. Around these holes
the bees build the queev cells, usually
three or four at each hole. Of course
this method mutilates the combs, but, in
a good honey flow, the bees will soon re-
fill the holes. About the ninth day after
the comb of eggs was given, it is removed,
leaned against the side of the hive, ‘and
the cells carefully cut out; smoke being
used, when necessary, to drive the bees
out of the way. The comb is then re-
turned, and another comb of just hatch-
ing eggs given. It will be noticed that
young bees are continually hatching in
this colony, and all the brood there is to
nurse is in the one comb that is given.
A colony so treated will build three
batches of good cells, and I then give it a
queen.

Nothing is gained by commencing
queen rearing operations before steady
warm weather hassetin. In this latitude,
about the roth of May is usually early
enough to have queen cells started. To
secure good cells, three things are nec-
essary; warmth, food in abundance, and
plenty of young bees. Early in the sea-
son, when the brood is zuzcreasing all the
time, simply removing the queen from

a colony does not always result in the
best of cells. Later in the season, just
at swarming time, for instance, quite
good cells can often be secured by this
plan. One great objection to this plan
seems to be that the bees, in their im-
patience to secure another queen, some-
times choose larvee that are too old.

Batches of cells should be started at
regular intervals, and there must be no
forgetfulness in regard to dates. It is
well to have a large calendar hung in
aconspicuous place, and the dates and
hive numbers marked thereon, It is a
difficult matter to so calculate that there
shall always be enough laying queens to
fill orders, and enough young queens or
mature cells to replace them, and none
left over. When a breeder has orders
ahead all of the time, he can very nearly
make things come out even, but not al-
ways. A spell of cool weather, or a stop-
page in the honey flow, may cause a de-
lay in the queens’ beginning to lay, and
then there will be no place to put the
newly hatched queens. Hot weather or
a honey flow may bring opposite results.
It is best, however, to always have on
hand an abundance of cells even if quite
a number of their occupants must eventu-
ally be destroyed. With one hundred
nuclei I have found it a safe plan to start
a batch of cells each day.

After the cells are taken from the hive
they are placed in a lamp nursery, where
the queens hatch in three or four days.
During the day, the lamp nursery is ex-
amined about once in twc hours. Just
at twilight the room is darkened and each
cell passed before an aperature in the
window shade. Any queen that will
hatch before morning can usually be de-
tected—will make some movement with
a leg—and may be placed ina cage or
apartment by herself. I had sixteen little
boxes, twoinches square, putintoa single
wide frame that could be hung in the
nursery. Each box had a glass door,
fastened on by a piece of cloth pasted on,
and held shut by a pin driven into the
wood and then bent over the door. To
open the door, the pin was turned to one

52 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE,.

side. When a cell was found containing
a queen that ‘‘kicked’’ it was placed in
one of these little compartments with
glass doors. A little food in the shape
of ‘‘Good candy”’ was placed in the cor-
ner ofeach compartment. The nursery
was examined early in the morning, and
by this management, very few cells were
destroyed.

About three or four days before the
first queens are to hatch, enough colonies
should be made queenless to furnish bees
for the nuclei, as queenless bees will ad-
here much better to a new location. I
would have at least two combs in each
nucleus, one of honey and one of brood.
Very early in the season it may be well to
give three combs, dividing the nucleus
later on. When the nuclei are made up,
it may be well to shut the bees in until
dark. Many of the old bees will return,
but as most of the brood is sealed, enough
bees (if they are queenless) will remain.
When making up nuclei, if the bees have
been queenless, I would give each nucleus
a cell nearly ready to hatch, or a
young queen, at the time of making
the nuclei, as it seems to be something of
an inducement for the bees to remain in
the new location. As many bees return
to the old stand, I leave some brood and
honey in the hive, also put in some empty
combs and give the bees a laying queen.
This colony soon builds up and prospers.

When a queen begins laying, she is al-
lowed to fill the combs with eggs before
shipment, then if a young queen is intro-
duced soon after her removal, the nucleus
receives another ‘‘sitting’’ of eggs in ten
days more. By this management all nuclei
are kept supplied with brood. One ob-
jection to very small nuclei is that the
combs are very soon filled with eggs;
then the queen goes over them a second
time and re-fills them, putting two or
more eggsinacell. After this there is
discontent, and it often happens that
“swarming out’? is the result. When
very small nuclei are used, the queens
must be removed soon after beginning to

lay.

When honey is coming in freely I have
lost few queens by allowing the newly
hatched queen to run into a nucleus at
the same time the laying queen was re-
moved. After a queen -has been hatched
two days it is rather difficult to introduce
her, unless the nucleus has been queen-
less two or three days. Mr. Alley makes
a success of introducing these old (?) vir-
gin queens by first smoking the bees with
tobacco smoke until they begin to show
signs of stupefaction. If virgin queens
four days old could thus be introduced,
it would be a great saving of time, asa
laying queen could be secured just that
much oftener from each nucleus.

Asa rule, a queen begins laying when
ten days old, but hot weather and a good
flow of honey often shortens this period.
I have frequently had them lay at eight
days old, andina very few instances at
seven. Duringa drouth, when no honey
was to be gathered, I have known queens
to be three weeks old before laying, At
such times as this it certainly pays the.
queen breeder to feed nuclei in which
there are queens old enough tolay. When
engaged in queen rearing, I had some
shallow boxes, each of which was just
large enough to cover the top of a nucleus.
The boxes were filled half full of candy,
and when a nucleus was found during a
dearth of honey, containing a queen old
enough to lay, but mot laying, one of
these boxes of candy was inverted over
the nucleus. Two days later the queen
would invaribly be found laying.

A queen rearing nucleus ought to be
examined every three or four days.
First, it ought to be examined about
three days after a young queen is released
to see if she has been accepted; then again
in four or five days to see if she has been
lost in taking her ‘‘wedding flight;’’ again
in three daysto see if she is laying. In
all these examinations it is unnecessary
to find the queen, simply look at the un-
sealed brood. If no queen cells are start-
ed, it is safe to assume that the queen is
present. Ifa young queen is introduced
soon after the laying queen is removed,

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 53

she will be fertilized before the brood of
her predecessor is sealed. If one little
piece of advice is heeded by the queen
breeder, it will save him a world of
trouble and annoyance, and that is, zever
leave anucleus without unsealed brood.
If all goes well, it is seldom necessary to
give unsealed brood to a nucleus, but if a
young queen is killed or is lost when she
leaves the hive to mate, then it will be
necessary to introduce brood before the
next queen will be furnishing eggs.
When visiting nuclei, I always carry a
box containing eggs or young brood in
comb cut up in small pieces, about an
inch square. Whenever a nucleus is
found without brood, a hole is cut in one
of the combs and one of the pieces of
comb containing brood is given. In
making examinations, all.that it is nec-
essary to look at, is this piece of brood.
If queen cells are started, it means that
the bees are queenless; if there are no
cells, it means that a queen is present.
If this course is faithfully followed, there
will be no trouble from those pests of
eareless queen breeders, fertile workers.

Nearly all queens that are lost when
out to mate, meet their fate by entering
the wrong hive. I don’t remember hay-
ing lost a queen when a nucleus stood in
some out of the way place. Let queen
breeders scatter their nuclei in all out of
the way places imaginable; have no nuclei
in rows or in any regular order. If there
are no trees or other land marks in the
apiary, make some. Set out some trees
or bring in some large boxes or barrels
and scatter them about—anything to
give each nucleus a distinctive location.

In the shipping of queens, success turns
largely on the food used. I have used
no food that is superior to the ‘‘Good
candy,’’ which is made by mixing honey
and pulverized sugar until it is the con-
sistency of a stiff dough. The novice will
be likely to make it too thin. It is well
nigh impossible to mix in too much sugar.
The maker may think it quite hard and
dry, but he will be surprised the next
day to find it quite soft aud pliable.

As a shipping cage, I think the Benton
stands at the head. It has three com-
partments all in a row and connected by
openings. Inone of the end compart-
ments is placed the food; the other two
are occupied by the bees, but the one
next to the foodisnot ventilated, while
the one in the end opposite from the food

THE PRATTI-BENTON CAGE.

is freely ventilated. Very properly this
cage has been called the ‘‘climatic cage,”’
as it enables the bees to accomodate
themselves to changes of weather. If it
is cool they can occupy the central apart-
ment; if warm, they can remain in the
ventilated part of the cage. Some minor
improvements have been made in this
cage by Mr. Pratt, and as itis now made
by Mr. Costellow I think it is what is
claimed for it—‘'Perfection.”’

As to the number of bees to send ina
cage with a queen, that depends upon the
time of the year. In the spring and fall
more are needed; but I doubt if more than
thirty bees are ever needed; in warm wea-
ther one-third that number is sufficient.

With a large number of nuclei, it is im-
possible to remember the condition in
which each was left at the last visit. a
record of some kind must be kept, and I
know of nothing better than the ‘‘Queen
Registering Cards’’ sold by A. I. Root.
They are made of paper similar to postal
cards, and will stand the weather. A
card is tacked upon the side of each
nucleus. Upon each card are three dials.
One contains the months, one the days
of the month, and one the following
words: ‘‘Eggs,’’ ‘‘Brood,’’ ‘‘Cells,”
“Hatched,” ‘‘Laying’’ and ‘‘Missing.”’
Common pins are used as pointers.
About % of the point is bent at right an-
gles and then driven into the center of
the dial. When a cellis given, one point-

54 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

er is turned to the month, another to the
day of the month and the third to the
word “Cell.” If the queen is found
hatched at the next examination, the
date is changed, and the pin turned to
“‘Hatched.’?’ When found laying, and
again when taken out and shipped, the
pointers are turned correspondingly. A
glance at the register always shows the

condition of the nucleus at the last exam-
ination. These registering cards are sim-
ply indispensable.

Successful queen rearing does not call
for any great out lay of physical strength,
but consists rather of constant attention
to a thousand and one little details; and
the man who is not ‘‘cut oat’? for this
kind of work will not succeed.

PPPS WN Se

How to Produce Good Extracted Honey.

believe it is generally admitted that
more extracted than comb honey is
secured because the bees have no
combs to build. No honey is con-
sumed expressly to produce wax, the
comb builders are released for other
labors, and, above all, when the honey
flow is abundant, there is plenty of store
room. It has been said that the produc-
tion of comb honey requires greater skill
than does the raising of extracted honey.
Be this as it may, the securing of a good
article of extracted honey calls for
knowledge of no small degree.

What is it that gives to honey its val-
ue? It is not simply its sweetness,
which is of low power; but it is its fine
flavor and its rich aroma. These are the
qualities that make honey what it is—a
luxury—and, if we wish its use, as a sweet
sauce, continued, we must learn to raise
and care for it in sucha manner that its
ambrosial, palate tickling qualities will
be preserved. Freshly gathered nectar
is usually one of the most ‘‘silly’’ tasting
and sickening of sweets. To be sure it
has the flavor of the flowers from which
it was gathered; but that smooth, rich,
oily, honey taste, that lingers in the
mouth, must be furnished by the bees.
Honey extracted when ‘‘green,’’? and
evaporated in the open air, is not only

lacking in the element that comes from
the secretions of the bees, but its blossom-
flavor is half lost by evaporation. + To be
sure, evaporation must take place if left
in the hive, but evaporation in the open
air, and evaporation in the aroma-laden
atmosphere of the hive, produce differ-
ent results.

One reason why comb honey is, in so
many instances, found to be more deli-
cious than the extracted, is because the
former is more thoroughly ripened. Sel-
dom do we find extracted honey equal to
that dripping from and surrounding the
section of comb honey that is being
carved upon a plate. Many of those who
produce extracted honey in large quanti-
ties, extracting before it is thoroughly
ripened, admit that such honey is inferi-
or, as atable sauce, to that ripened by
the bees, but say they cannot afford to
produce the best article possible. It
costs niore, but will sell for no more in
the general market. The raising of ex-
tracted honey to be shipped away for
some commission man to sell, is much
like making butter to be sold ata coun-
try store. All brings the same price.
There is little incentive to produce a su-
perior article. White extracted honey
brings so much, dark so much, The
honey with the fine, delicate flavor, the

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 55

thoroughly bee-ripened, well preserved,
superior article will not bring one cent
more in the general market, than ordin-
ary, pretty good honey. Perhaps, for
manufacturing purposes, there is no ad-
vantage in having such a superior article,
but for table sauce there is; and the only
way in which the man who raises a really
superior article can hope to receive pay
for his trouble, is by selling direct to
consumers, or by establishing a reputa-
tion for his honey among dealers and
their customers. Fora man who is so

situated that he can make such a market’

for his extracted honey, I will now go
over the ground and tell, as concisely as
possible, how to raise, in the cheapest
manner, extracted honey that will be the
equal of that that dripsfrom the delicate
morsel of comb at the tea table.

Until the time of putting on the supers,
the management is the same as that in
the production of comb honey. In the
supers I would use shallow combs, and
practice tiering up, the same as in raising
comb honey. Right here comes in an
advantage not present in raising comb
honey; in tiering up, we need not wait
for the honey to be sealed. Most bee-
keepers know that honey isseldom sealed
until it is ripened, but all do not
knowthat it may be ripe, and yet not
sealed. In fact, the ripening process
may be hastened, or made more com-
plete, if the sealing can be prevented.
In other words, the ripening process
goeson more slowly after the cells are
capped, and would not go on at all were
it not that the cappings are more or less
porous. By raising up these shallow sets
of combs as fast as they are filled, and
putting another set under them, those
the farthest advanced are kept at the top,
and the inclination to capping thereby
discouraged. Ifthe honey can become
thoroughly ripened, with perhaps only
one-third or one-half of the cells sealed,
what a saving there is in uncapping! If
I had plenty of combs, I would leave the
honey inthe hive until the yield from
one source was over. It might be pos-

sible to have yields so abundant and pro-
longed as to render this plan undesired,
but, usually, plenty of combs would al-
low of, its adoption. Just notice with
how little labor this can be managed; we
have only to watch and give additional
room when it is needed, and hive the
very few swarms that issue. I would
use a queen excluder; then, when ready
to extract, there would be no brood in
the way.

One of the most tedious performances
attending the raising of extracted honey,
is the getting of the bees off the combs.
The smoking, and shaking, and brush-
ing, accompanied by robber pests if the
work is done after the harvest is over, a
a scalding sun overhead, make up a
combination that is very trying to the
“‘nerves.’’ There is now but little doubt.
that the bee escape will yet relieve the
bee-keeper of all this unpleasantness. It
will only be necessary to go around at
dusk and slipa thin board, containing a
bee escape, under each upper story. In
the morning each upper story with a bee
escape under it will be found free of bees,
and can be taken off and wheeled into
the extracting room.

When extracting with an ordinary ex-
tractor, quite a little time isspent in tak-
ing out the combs and turning them.
The automatic, reversible machine saves
this time. Some bee-keepers believe that
there will yet be substantial improve-
ments in extractors. Already experi-
ments are being made with a view to
making a machine in which the combs
may be reversed without stopping the
machine.

After the honey has been thoroughly
ripened, and is extracted, and found to
be in possession of all the fine qualities I
have mentioned, what shall be done with
it? Howshall it be treated that it may
retain its flavor? The key to success in
this direction is exclusion of the air.
Seal it up in glass jars or tin cans, or in
clean barrels. My preference is the 60-
1b., square, tin can, with screw cap, and,
when shipped, a jacket of wood. Some

56 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

dealers say that barrels or half barrels
are as good as anything in which to ship
honey.

Upon the approach of cool weather,
honey will candy; and if sealed up tight
and put away in a cool place, will remain
in this condition for years; and when
slowly and carefully brought back to its
liquid state, will be found to have retain-
ed its original ‘‘flavor aroma and boquet.”’

This is not the proper place in which
to discuss the marketing of honey, but I
wish to say that I believe that nearly
every one prefers extracted honey in its
liquid state, and that it should be put
upon the market and sent to consumers
in this condition. It should be liquefied
just before shipment to consumers. For
this reason it is an advantage if the ves-
sel in which it is stored, and in which it
is to be shipped, is also one in which it
can be melted.

Perhaps I ought not to leave this sub-
ject without placing more emphasis up-
on the liability of injuring candied honey
when reliquefying it, and to do this I
cannot do better than to quote from an
article recently contributed by E. E.
Hasty to the American Bee-Keeper. He
says: ‘‘Nearly every one seems to think
that solongas honey does not boil, of
course it cannot burn. That is an awful
mistake. ,

Let us consider the state of things when
a large canis set on a stove. What is

the temperature of the iron under the
can? Perhaps 250° or 300°. The under
side of the tin speedily rises to nearly the
same, andthe upper side to over 212°.
In contact with this high temperature
the honey remains as long as it can with-
out boiling. It then springs off, and
gives place to another film of the same,
which in turn is heated to about 210° and
sent off. If the whole contents of the
can were fluid and warm, regular currents
might set in which would modify things
and prevent over-heating. But the bulk
of the honey is solid and cold and can-
not flow back and forth. It is plain that
a considerable part of the honey in a can
(if not all of it) may be subjected piece-
meal to the temperature of 210°; while
the mass isnot at any time over blood
warm, It is very unsafe to heat honey to
210°. There seems to be a great differ-
ence in the amount of heat different
samples of honey will stand. Some hon-
ey can be boiled vigorously with but a
moderate degree of damage to its quality,
while other samples are ruined without
coming toa boil. I am iuclined to think
that every cau of honey ought to go out
to its destiny with a plainly printed
warning stuck uponit, and a very em-
phatically worded one, too, ending up
with, ‘Sample this honey before you heat
it, or I will not be responsible for its
quality. BiLLy FAIRPLAY.’”’

PPT IB
“Feeding Back.”

Y “feeding back’ is meant the
feeding back of extracted hon-
ey to secure the completion of
unfinished sections, or to have

combs built new from the beginning.
When engaged in the production of comb
honey I fed back for this purpose at least
13,000 pounds of extracted honey; but

my success was so varied that I never felt
like encouraging the practice. One year,
with certain colonies, I would meet with
such splendid success as to be greatly en-
couraged, while the results of the next
year, or the performances of certain col-
onies, would, perhaps, lead me to decide
that I was done with feeding back. But,

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 57

when the next season rolled around, and
the close of the linden honey harvest
found me with perhaps 2.000 unfinished
sections on hand, and I sat down and
figured up how much they would be
worth when completed, I felt, as Dr.
Miller once expressed it at a Chicago
convention, that it might pay to feed to
secure the completion of unfinished sec-
tions, even though the feeding of four
or five pounds of honey increased the
weight of the sections only one pound.

DidI not consider the use of drawn
combs of considerdble value in getting
the bees started in the supers in the
spring, I should unhesitatingly pro-
nounce in favor of feeding back to secure
the completion of unfinished sections.
That is, that would be my decision so far
asthe management of my own apiary is
concerned; but it does not follow that
this would be the proper one at which all
bee-keepers should arrive; although it
would seem that there is one class that
would be glad to so decide, and that is
the one that finds the use of drawn combs
in sections so very objectionable.

So much by way of introduction; and
now, for the benefit of those who, for any
reason, may wish to practice feeding back,
I will tell what I have learned in the feed-
ing back of those 13,000 pounds of honey.
Perhaps the best way will be to tell ex-
actly how I would conduct the operation;
but first allow me to say that the feeding
of honey, for the purpose of having it
stored in the sections; is a distinct branch
of bee-keeping—as much so as the rais-
ing of queens for market—and there are
many things that can be learned only by
experience.

In this locality the basswood harvest
closes about July 20, and for the next
month, or six weeks, until the flow from

,buckwheat begins, no honey is gathered,
and, usually, the weather is hot—just the
conditions needed for successful feeding
back. As soon as I see that the basswood
harvest is drawing to a close, I remove
all the sections from the hives, look
them over, take out the finished ones,
and sort the remainder into three grades,

viz., almost finished, half done, and just
commenced, The cases containing the
first two gradesare then placed upon the
hives, one case upon a hive, and allowed
to remain until the bees have taken pos-
session of them. Then comes the task
of selecting the colonies to do the work;
and, by the way, this is the most impor-
tant point, as success is largely depend-
ent upon a proper selection. First, the
colonies must be strong; next, they must
possess young queens, preferably those of
the current year, although this is not
imperative; and last, but not least, simon
pure blacks are given the first choice.
Hybrids are the next best, while, asa rule,
Italians do very poor work in this line.
Keeping in view these points, I select
one-half as many colonies as I have cases
of unfinished sections upon the hives,
and to these colonies I transfer the cases
—sections, bees and all—putting two cases
upon each hive. I have never experi-
enced the least trouble, in any respect,
from thus mixing up the bees, while
populous colonies are sccured thereby.

If the brood nestsare not already con-
tracted, I contract them. The greater
the contraction, the more satisfactory
will be the results, so far as work in the
sections is concerned, but, if carried too
far, it will materially weaken the colo-
nies by curtailing the production of brood.
I have sometimes contracted the brood
nest to only three Langstroth combs,
and these three combs, when I was
through feeding, were three solid sheets
of brood; but, all things considered, I
prefer to contract the brood nest to about
the capacity of five Langstroth combs.
There is also another point that must not
be neglected, and that is the brood combs
must not be old and black, otherwise the
combs in the sections will become travel-
stained unless removed very promptly
upon their completion. The newer the
combs in the brood nest the better.

When honey is brought in from the
fields itis carried up into the sections;
that is, the supply, as regards the sec-
tions, comes from below; when a feeder is
placed above the sections, then the sup-

58 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

ply comes from above. In both in-
stances, the sections in which the work
is the least advanced should be placed
nearest the source of supply. Thus it
will be seen that, in feeding back, the
sections that are nearly finished are placed
next to the brood nest, and above these
the yrade that is about one-half comple-
ted.

feeding produces little or no excitement;
still, at dark is the best time to feed, as
the annoyance of having robber bees fol-
low from hive tohive and dive into the
feeder reservoir when it is opened, is thus
avoided. The feed is given as fast as the
bees will take it.

Close watch is kept of the sections in
the lower cases, and whenever a case is

The feeder used is the Heddon, which
is exactly the size of the top of the hive,
and placed above the sections. His new
feeder is unexcelled for this purpose, as
the bees take down the feed from both
sides. This might not seem important,
but itis, and for this reason, when the
feed is carried down upon one side only,
the sections upon this side are completed
first. When the feed is carried down
from both sides, the sections are finished
up very evenly all over the case. In this
feeder the reservoir is in the center, and
just over it a part of the cover slides back
in grooves. There isno contact with the
bees, no smoke is needed, no propolis is
disturbed, and the cover fits so snugly
that no odor of honey escapes to attract
robbers.

The bees seem to be able to handle the
honey to better advantage when it is thin-
ned somewhat; say, one quart of water to
ten pounds of honey. I heat ten quarts
of water over an oil stove until it boils,
then mix with 100 pounds of honey, stir
itup well, and itis ready for use. The
first feeding should be done at dark, as it
puts the bees in an excited state, and
trouble from attempts at robbing might
result. After the bees have become ac-
customed to finding honey in the feeder,

found in which all or nearly all of the
sections are completed, off it comes; the
case above it is placed next the hive, and
above this caseis placed a case of sec-
tions brought fromthe honey house, one
containing sections of the third grade,
that is, those in which the bees have
made the least progress. I continue to
bring in the cases of finished sections as
they are completed, replacing them with
the unfinished ones from the honey
house. When the stock of the latter is
exhausted, I am ready to begin to reduce
the number of colonies upon which I am
feeding back, and this is done as fast as
the sections are completed.

During all this time, since the feeding
was commenced, I have been watching
each colony, and jotting down, upon the
cover of the feeder, its characteristics;
and in reducing the number of colonies,
those are rejected that have done the
least satisfactory work. I continue to
keep two cases upon each hive, and, as ,
the colonies work with greatly varying
rapidity, there is no difficulty, by chang-
ing about the cases, to keep next to the
brood nest those sections that are the
nearest completion. In gathering the
sections together upon fewer hives, I al-
ways take bees and all, thus I am con-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 59

tinually strengthening the colonies upon
which I am feeding back.

It is folly to expect the bees to finish up
all of the sections upon a hive. Even
though the feeding be continued, the
sections will not all be completed in a
satisfactory manner. So long as the
feeding is continued the bees seem to
reason something like this: ‘‘We must
make the cells as deep as possible, and
delay the capping to the last moment, in
order to make room for all of the honey
that we can; and, if there are not cells
enough, wemust build more, even if it
be in the little cramped up places between
the tiers of sections.’? After the combs
are drawn outtofull length, filled with
honey, and nearly sealed, I have secured
better results by giving the bees no feed
for three or four days; then giving them
alight feed, and omitting the feeding for
several days. The bees then behave as
though they considered the harvest was
overandended. They seal up most of the
cells, and from those that they do not
seal they remove the honey. But there
isa much better way of managing the
business. When the sections are all
nearly finished, I put them upon as few
hives as possible, placing two cases upon
a hive, and then upon each hive, above
the two cases of nearly completed sec-
tions, I place a case of sections filled with
foundation. The bees proceed at once to
draw out the foundation and fill it with
honey, and this additional storing room
appears to bring about a feeling that
there is no further necessity for holding
open the cells below, and they are sealed
forthwith. ,

When the two lower cases are comple-
ted, the upper case (that was furnished
with foundation) will, perhaps, be found
to contain sections one-half comple-
téd, and these upper cases may be
gathered together, bees and all, and
placed, two upon each hive, over those
colonies that have shown the great-
est apitude for this kind of work, and the
feeding continued until the sections are
almost completed, when it will again be

necessary to place a case of sections con-
taining foundation upon each hive. I
have continued this until, at last, all of
the sections were on one hive, and had
all the sections completed except those
in the case last added at the top.

After bees have been fed awhile, they
secrete large quantities of wax. The lit-'
tle flakesofit can be seen between the
scales of the abdomen, and, unless al-
lowed to build comb, the bees will plas-
ter with wax the woodwork of the sec-
tions, the inside of the feeders, cases, etc.
The moral is, allow them to build comb.
Have a row or two of sections in the
upper case filled with starters. only; thus
there is secured, in the shape of comb,
what would otherwise be wasted.

Although we cannot control the tem-
perature, it may be well to know that the
hotter the weather the more rapid and
satisfactory will be the work of the bees
when we are feeding back.

If there is any time when separators are
needed, it is in feeding back. If the
combs, both finished and unfinished,
could be left undisturbed upon the hives,
and the bees fed until all the combs were
finished, feeding back would be no reason
why separators should be employed, but
when the unfinished combs are put back
in the cases, a great deal of judgment and
patience are needed, unless separatots
are to be used. Bees usually have about
a 3% space between finished combs, and
in putting back the unfinished combs,
thisfact should be kept in mind. When
the space is less than this, no harm is
done unless it is so small thata bee can’t
pass through, when the bees will connect
the two surfaces by little bridges of wax,
and when the sections are taken apart,
these little connecting bridges will pull
pieces out from one comb or the other.
When the space is much greater than 3%,
and the comb upon each side is sealed,
the bees, especially if crowded, will con-
struct comb upon the sealed surface of
the other comb, which gives it a very
botched appearance. If the comb at one
side of the space is sealed, and the other

60 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

not, the sealed comb will be left undis-
turbed and the unsealed cells on the op-
posite side lengthened out until the space
between the twe combs is reduced to
about 3g. If, in this instance, the sealed
combis sniooth and even, and in the
right place as regards the section as a
whole, all will be well; but, if it be con-
cave or convex, the unfinished comb fac-
ingit will be drawn out in conformity
with the surface of the finished comb. If
two unfinished surfaces, in the same stage
of completion, are brought facing each
other near the center of the super, they
will be drawn out and sealed straight and
true and alike; if they are near the out-
side, the chances are that the comb near-
est the center of the super will grow
faster than the one farther out, and a
bulge will be the result. Combs near the
center of the super are drawn out quicker
and finished sooner than those at the out-
side and corners; hence I place at the out-
side those sections that are the nearest
completion; especially do I take pains to
have sealed surfaces come next to the
sides of the super, while combs the farth-
est from completion are placed in the
center. By this management all of the
sections are finished at about the same
time. Uniess some of the combs are be-
ginning to show signs of travel-stain, it is
better to leave on the super until all, or
nearly all, are completed, for, as the
combs near completion, this matter of
adjustment becomes more difficult.
When foundation is used, and comb
honey produced, ‘‘right from the stump,”’
by feeding extracted honey, we have
none of this bulging, patching difficulty
to contend with, as the combs all grow
alike; and some of the finest, straightest,
plumpest and most handsome comb hon-
ey can thus be produced that the eye ever
beheld; but I have never found it profit-
able, except by placing a few cases on
top, near the close of finishing up a lot of
unfinished sections, to give the bees
room, and thus induce them to seal up

nearly finished combs, as has been already
explained.

I know of only two objections to the
feeding back of honey. One is that ‘‘fed
honey”’ has a slightly different taste from
that stored directly in the combs from
the flowers. There seems to be a sort of
‘off’? taste, ora lack of flavor. This lack
of fine flavor is not very pronounced, but
it can be noticed by one who is experi-
enced in the matter. The other objec-
tion is that ‘‘fed honey”’ willcandy much
sooner than other honey. When the sec-
tions are nearly completed, and feeding
is done simply to have them completed
and sealed over, the proportion of ‘fed
honey’’ is so small that the candying is
not a very serious objection. There is a
great difference in honey as regards its
tendency to candying, and it has been
suggested that thinning the honey with
water increases its candying propensity.
I have fed but very little thick honey.
The bees workedit so slowly that I be-
came discouraged and went back to thin-
ningit. I know that they seal it over
sooner when it is fed full thickness, and it
may be possible that this is the better
way of feeding it. The best advice that
I can give upon this matter of “fed hon-
ey” candying, is that it be sold early and
ina market where it will surely reach
the consumer before it candies.

Taking one year with another, I have
secured about two pounds of comb honey
from the feeding of three pounds of ex-
tracted. With the right kind of weather
and colonies, I have done much better—
secured four pounds for five.

The advantages of feeding back can be
stated in a very few words. Comb honey
is more salable, at a higher price, than
extracted, and if the latter can be chang-
ed into the former, at no great expense,
there are quicker sales and greater profits.
The greatest advantage, however, is in
securing the completion of nearly finished
sections,

From the Hive to the Honey Market.

EFORE taking up the main
topic indicated by the heading,
I wish to say a few words about
‘tiering up.”

When the first case of sections is partly
finished, it is raised and another case
placed between that and the hive. At
what stage of completion the sections
should be when a second case is added,
depends upon how crowded the bees are,
and the rate at which the honey is com-
ingin. I usually add a case when the
sections in the one next the hive are from
one-half to two-thirds completed. JI have
not found it profitable to tier up sections
more than three cases high. As a rule,
the upper case of sections is ready for re-
moval before it is necessary to add a
fourth; if it is not, and honey is coming
in rapidly, I would transfer the upper
case, bees and all, tosome colony having
less than three cases, rather than tier up
four cases high. With any system in
which the sections are finished in close
proximity to the brood nest, their remov-
al is necessary soon after completion to
prevent soiling by the bees passing over
them directly from the brood nest; but
with the tiering up system the finished
combs are so far from the brood nest that
they remain unsullied until a whole case
of finished sections can be removed at
once. During aregular ‘‘honey shower,”’
such as we have sometimes here in Mich-
igan, I have seen acolony draw out the
foundation in twenty-eight sections and
fill them full of honey (and here is where

I believe foundation is very valuable) in
less than three days, avd scarcely a cell
would be sealed. ‘To give the bees another
case of sections next the hive is the work
of a inoment. What other system will
enable us to handle one of these ‘‘honey
showers’’ with so little labor? At such
times it may be advisable to remove the
upper case, after the cases have been
tiered up three high, even if there are one
or two unfinished sections in each cor-
ner;and when crating, have an empty
case at hand in which to put the unfinish-
ed sections, and when it is full place it on
a hive.

To remove a case of sections, I have
the smoker in good trim, take off the
cover and drive a perfect deluge of smoke
down among the bees. This starts them
out of the case at alively rate, and before
they have time to get back I have the case
off the hive. The case is then tremulous-
ly shaken in front of the hive until most
of the bees are dislodged, when it is tak-
en to the honey house and set on end.
In a short time the few straggling bees
leave the case and escape by way .of the
windows. Ifthe shaking process is found
too laborious, and robbers are not trouble-
some (and they will not be until the
close of the season) the case may be
leaned against the side of the hive, near
the entrance, when the bees will desert
the case for the hive. When robbers are
troublesome, the stragglers may be driy-
en out with smoke and brushed off in
front of the hive,

62 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

And right here I wish to say another
word in favor of the much abused blacks.
We all know of their propensity to run
off the combs when smoked or handled,
also with what ease they are shaken from
the combs; well, these characteristics are
of great value as soon as we begin to
manipulate hives instead of frames. A
case of sections, or one section of the
Heddon hive, can be cleared of black
bees with one-half the time and labor re-
quired with Italians. One or two puffs
of smoke, and down go the blacks, leav-
ing a case of sections almost free from
bees. But, asadvanced bee-culture, with
its reversible hives, comb foundation and
‘‘bait’’ sections of partly drawn combs,
has well nigh overcome the objection to
Italian bees on the score of their disin-
clination to store honey away from the
brood nest, so it promises, with the bee
escape, to remove any objections there
may be to them on account of their cling-
ing so persistently to the combs.

Mr. John S. Reese was the orginal in-
ventor of the bee escape. It works upon
the principle of the old fashioned cone
fly trap. To use the Reese escape, the
case, from which itis desired to have the
bees removed, is taken off and set to one
side. Anempty case is placed on the
hive. Over theempty case is placed a
thin board, and ina hole in this board is
fitted a cone of wire cloth. The base of
the cone is uppermost and level with the
upper surface of the board. The apex of
the cone isdown and nearly in contact
with the hive orcase below. The base of
the cone is perhaps three inches across
and there is a 3% hole at the apex. The
bees seem to find that they are cut off
from the hive—made prisoners—and are
anxious to return. They easily find the
cone and pass down through the hole in
its apex, but the opening is not very
readily found if they desire to return.
The result is that, in a few honrs, the
case is practically free from bees. Mr.
C. H. Dibbern flattened out the cone and
Jaid it upon its side, thus making a hori-
zontal escape that can be put into a 3%

space instead of needing an empty case to
give itroom, The principle remains the
same as in the Reese; that is, there is a
big, wide, easily accessible entrance, and
asmall exit which is not easily found
from the side opposite to the supers,
Escapes have been made having little
swinging doors of tin or brass that can
be swung ow¢, but not zz. The trouble
with these is that the bees soon cover
them with propolis so that they will not
swing. Mr. E.C. Porter has invented a
spring escape. Thereis a light spring,
under which the bees can pass out, their
backs raising the spring slightly. If a
bee attempts to return, the ed of the
spring is encountered, which is too low
to allow a bee to pass.

Having raised our honey, and gotten it
off the hives, the next step isits prepara-
tion for the market. What this prepara-
tion shall be, depends upon the market—
whether it is a homeor distant market, a
wholesale or a retail one. When honey
is to be retailed at home, it might be said
that it required almost zo preparation.
When one or two sections of honey are
sold toa neighbor, we have simply to
wrap them up apiece of paper, or, per-
haps, put them into paper cartons. In
retailing extracted honey at home, when
customers bring in pails, pitchers and
pans to be filled, we have only to keep
the honey in a large tin can, with a hon-
ey gate near the bottom, and have some
scales to weigh the honey.

If honey is not thoroughly ripened,
heavy and thick, it should stand a few
days in large vessels, that the thin honey
may rise to the top, when the thick hon-
ey may be drawn off at the bottom into
the package in which it is to be shipped.
Where honey is raised in very large quan-
tities, and shipped in bulk to jobbers, or
to be used, perhaps, for manufacturing
purposes, I doubtif there is a more de-
sirable package than a barrel. When
pains have been taken to raise an extra
fine article, for table use, and itis to be
shipped direct to consumers, or to retail
dealers, I believe that the 60-lb., jacketed

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 63

tin is ke package. It never leaks nor
taints the honey; it protects the honey
perfectly from the air; is easily opened,
and, if the honey is candied, it can be
easily liquefied in the can,

Almost everybody prefers their honey
in aliquidstate. They prefer to buy it in
that condition, and thus be saved the
trouble of melting it. Honey is more
attractive in appearance when in its liquid
state. When candied it has no more
beauty than somuch lard. In order that
the beauty of extracted honey may be
seen, it must be put upin glass, then its
beautiful amber tints sparkle in the light,
and the result is that the prospective pur-
chaser ends by saying, ‘“‘Well, I guess I’ll
take it.””. To compete with comb honey
asa fancy article of grogery merchan-
dise, extracted honey must be in a liquid
state, and put up in glass with tin foil
caps and small tasty labels. Of course
all this costs money, but any expense in-
curred in beautifying a commodity is
most cheerfully repaid by the consumer.
Some purchasers may not be willing to
admit even to themselves, of their sus-
ceptibility to the attractions of beauty,
but what do we care? Uponall packages
of extracted honey there should be ex-
planatory labels, stating that, in cool
weather, most honey will granulate or
candy, but may be liquefied by placing
the vessel in warm water. There should
also be a caution in regard to the great
liability of scorching honey when melt-
ing it.

If candied honey is to be put upon a re-
tail market, tin pails are the proper re-
ceptacle to use. They should vary in
capacity from one to ten pounds.

As there will be no danger of breakage,
tin pails can be shipped in a box, but bot-
tles of honey should be shipped packed
in sawdust. I have shipped thousands
of bottles so packed, and never had one
broken.

By the way, some recent experiments
indicate that extracted honey may yet be
retailed in paper sacks. The sacks are
heavy Manila paper, -paraffined, and the

honey putin while in the liquid state, and
then allowed to granulate. The sacks
can be set into small boxes, a /a egg crate
fashion, the boxes holding them square
until the honey candies, when the sacks
of honey can be packed for shipment like
so many bricks. The purchaser can peel
off the paper and melt up the honey if he
prefers it in that state.. The cost is only
about one fenth that of tin.

If I have plenty of surplus cases (su-
pers) when taking off comb honey, I
leave the honey in them, simply stacking
the cases up criss-cross in the honey
house, where they remain until I have
leisure to scrape the propolis from the
sections. The single-tier, 12-lb., ship-
ping case, with ylass in the ends, seems
to have driven nearly every other case

12-LB, SHIPPING CASE,

from the market. Itis light and easily
handled, and if a comb leaks the honey
does not drip upon a lower tier of sec-
tions, as there zs no lower tier. Much
has been said about these cases being so
small that freight handlers do not
‘‘dump’’ them and thus break the honey.
Freight men do not handle them singly,
but usually take about four at once, and
load them on a truck if the distance is
great. I doubtif itis ‘dumping’ by
freight handlers that does most of the
damage. It comes about by the railroad
men putting the cases in the car the
wrong way, or, perhaps, piling them up
too high, which allows the bumping to-
gether of the cars to break out combs, or
tumble down the pile of cases. When
the shipment is so large that a whole car,
or half a car, is needed, and the cases can
be snugly stacked up with the combs par-
allel with the track, straw underneath and
at the sides, and boards across the end of
the pile, nailed fast to the sides of the
car, honey can cross the continent un-

64 ADVANCED BEHE-CULTURE.

injured. It is the small lot that must be
“transferred,’’ en route, that means topsy
turvy treatment.

When our well-filled sections of white
honey have been put into their cases of
clean, white basswood, and are stacked
up in the honey house awaiting shipment,
what a beautiful sight! So dainty, so
neat, so white. Ihave sometimes stop-
ped work long enoughto step back and
gaze in silent admiration. These self-
same, beautiful cases have again met my
gaze after they had made the journey to
Detroit, to Cleveland, or to Chicago.
But my gaze was no longer one of ad-
miration. It wasone of wonder, of cha-
grin, of sorrow, of indignation. Had it
not been for the stencil marks that I had
put on with so much care, I should have
felt inclined to disown the cases. Dirty?
Well, yes. Coal dust and zastiness from
the floors of cars and warehouses had be-
smirched the beautiful, white wood until
—well, do you wonder that I have some-
times wrapped paper around the cases be-
fore shipping them?

I am happy to say, however, that there
is a remedy for all these troubles; it is
simply putting several of the cases into
one crate, not a box, as that would hide
the honey, but a cra/e, with slats on the
sides so arranged that the openings on
the sides will come exactly over the glass
in the ends of the cases. The bottom,
ends and top of the case are made of
boards. A crate may be made to hold
nine, twelve or sixteen cases. A little
straw may be put in the bottom. The
ends ofa slat on each side, near the top
of the case, are allowed to project and
thus form handles, The position of the

handles shows which side up the crate
should be kept. In fact, these handles
are so inviting that there is no disposi-
tion to put the crate in a wrong position.
The handles are so short that the crate
cannot be ‘‘dumped” without dumping
it on the toes of the carriers. Cases of
honey crated in this manner never tum-
ble over, and they reach their destination
free from even the jimger marks of a
dirty hand. Last year I had four crates

CRATE OF CASES READY FOR SHIPMENT.

filled with cases of honey shipped to the
Detroit Exposition, from there to the
Lansing Fair, from there home, and then
to Columbus, Ohio, and not a comb was
broken, while the cases were as clean as
when they left home. I greatly favor
the plan of placing a large label upon the
top of the crate having a large ses"
pointing lengthwise of the crate, and
accompanied by the following in bold
type: ‘‘Load with the hand pointing to-
ward the end of the car or the
side of the wagon.”’

Marketing of Honey.

O RAISE a good crop of honey
cheaply, and to sell it to the
best advantage, are two quite
distinct processes, requiring

greatly varying qualifications. Seldom
do we find all these qualifications in the
highest degree combined in one person.
I believe the majority of bee-keepers are
better bee-keepers than they are business
men; or, perhaps, salesmen is more nearly
the proper word to use. Many of them
can’t get far enough away from a bee
hive to sell the honey that has been stored
in it—or think they can’t. Every energy
is bent to the securing of a great crop;
having secured it, many a bee-keeper is
actually puzzled as to how to put it up-
on the market in the best shape, or how,
or where, to sell. Mr. McKnight, of
Canada, says, ‘‘The product of no other
industry is put upon the market in such
acumbrous, uncouth and slovenly form.”’
This may seem a little over-drawn, but it
is worth thinking of. Theimprovements
in the last few years, however, have been
very great, and I think the remark of Mr.
McKnight could nut be applied to the
honey put up at present by many of our
bee-keepers.

Let’s suppose that the honey is all ready
for the market—put up in the most ap-
proved style, considering the market to
which it is to go—how shall it be sold and
who shall sell it? Some men are born
salesmen. To these there is no question
as to who shallsell their honey; that is,
if they are so situated that they can visit,

personally, the market in which they wish
to sell. If aman is a poor salesman, the
best thing he can do, unless he can /earn
tosell honey, is to employ some expert to
sell his honey for him. This means that
some commission man will handle it. or
else that it will be sold so cheaply that
the buyer can afford to spend his time in
finding customers.

Dr. A. B. Mason, of Ohio, once told, at
a Mich. State Bee-Keepers’ Convention,
how two men and a woman sold thousands
of pounds of honey in large cities. One
man, provided with a map of the city,
systematically canvassed, with samples
of honey, taking orders and marking up-
on the map the location of each sale.
The other man, guided by the marked
map, delivered the honey. When not de-
livering honey, he assisted the women
in liquefying and putting up honey for
delivery.. Here wasa work entirely dis-
tinct from honey production. Here was
specialty. Wot only the specialty of sel-
ling honey, buteach had a special part
to perform, learning it to perfection.

Much, both wi e and unwise, has been
said about developing home markets,
Much depends upon the kind of home
market there is to develop, and the kind
of honey there is to be sold; yes, and up-
onthe man, When the market is sup-
plied with ‘‘farmer honey’’—that raised
with a lick and a brush—that is selling
at retail for two-thirds what a first class
article will net when sold by a commis-
sion man in a distant city, how much en-

66 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

couragement is there to ‘‘develop the
home market?” Very little of my own
comb honey has been sold in the home
market. Many a time haveI taken a case
of nice comb honey to some grocer and
“showed it up,’”’ with the hopes of mak-
ing asale: ‘‘Yes, that’s very nice,’’ would
be the comment, ‘‘How much do you ask
for it?” ‘Seventeen cents,”’ ‘‘Whew!
Why we are retailing honey at a shilling.
We buy it for ten cents and pay in trade
at that.”’ Iasktosee the honey. Then
some rough pine sections, daubed with
propolis and stuck fast in the receptacle
in which they were filled, are brought
forward. I call attention to the neater
and more tasty manner in which my hon-
eyisput up. ‘'Ob, yes, your honey is
putup very nicely, but it isn’t any sweet-
er than this.’’ And the man was correct,
too; the honey zése/f was probably as good
as mine, but it lacked the dainty sur-
roundings. If I ventured to say that
such honey as mine was selling in Chi-
cago for eighteen cents, he would louk
as though he doubted my word. If hon-
ey were selling at such figures in Chicayo,
it would seem unreasonable that any one
would be fooling around home with it,
The most of my honey that has been
sold in the home market has been of a
low grade—either dark, or the combs un-
finished. These lower grades of honey
bring almost as much in many home
markets as the choicest honey put
up in ‘‘gilt edge’’ style; while the
commission market of a large city is a
poor one for ‘‘off’’? grades of honey. To
many grocers in country towns, honey is
honey, much the same as butter is butter.
Tome, it seems that there is a class of
consumers in large cities that concerns
itself very little about the price of an
article, provided the fancy is struck.
The point is just here: the best honey
producing fields are far distant from the
best markets; the best place to produce
honey is not the best in which to sell it,
Such being thecase, I have never seen
any great eucouragement in trying to de-
velop a home market, particularly for the
finer grades of comb honey. When a

man can send off his honey all in one
shipment, and done with it, and get an
advanced price, with the money all in a
“lump,” again I ask what encouragement
is there for him to develop his home
market?

Iam not writing in this way for the
purpose of discouraging the marketing of
honey near home. I am simply stating
facts as I have found them, and asI be-
lieve many of my readers have found
them. It must be admitted, however,
that no set rules can be given upon the
choice of a market. All must be greatly
governed by circumstunces. No doubt
there are many excellent home markets,
and many more that might be ‘‘develop-
ed” until they were good, ifa man with
plenty of time and patience should take
hold of the matter in the right way. Ifa
man is determined to build up «a home
market, he will often be compelled to
leave his honey with grocers to be paid
for when sold. Comb honey must be
graded, and crated in crates with a glass
to show the honey, and dealers must be
visited regularly and kept supplied with
honey. In short, the customers must
be followed up and looked after faithful-
ly, the same as commercial travellers
look after their customers. Grocers must
be educated until they know that honey
must be kept in sight to be sold. If a
handsome display can be made in a front
window it will bea drawing card. There
should also be some convenient arrange-
ment for giving each interested visitor a
‘taste’ of honey, accompanying it by a
‘honey almanac,’’ or some other attrac-
tive, printed matter setting forth the de-
sirability of honey as a food.

After all, an out and out sale of the en-
tire crop, for cash, at the end of the sea-
son, is the most satisfactory method of
marketing; but, only ov#ce, in my four-
teen yearsof bee keeping, have I been
thus fortunate. Although honey is a
luxury, it is not perishable like small
fruits, yet there are few wholesale dealers
who buy it out and out. The great bulk
of honey passes through the hands of
commission merchants. Are there any

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 67

objections to this? Yes. One objection
is the opportunity for dissatisfaction.
Some bee-keepers think their honey first-
class, when it isn’t. They see the quo-
tations of some commission man, and
send their honey to him, expecting to get
the highest price. If they don’t get it,
they are disappointed and say unpleasant
things. The bee-keeper never vows
how much his honey is going to bring
him. The price may decline in the mar-
ket to which he has sent his honey.
When he sen? it, the market may have
been the best. /Vow some other market
may be the best, but it may not pay him
to have the honey re-shipped; besides,
by the time the honey is being sold in
the new market, the price may have de-
clined there. In other words, by the com-
mission way of doing business, the bee-
keeper cannot select his market at the
time of sale. Hecan limit his commis-
sion man, that is, tell him not tosell un-
less he gets a certain price. But this is
not always wise; for, asa rule, the com-
mission man knows, better than the far
away owner, at what price honey can be
sold. When there is an out and out sale,
at a certain price, there can be no doubt
as to whether honest returns are made.
When sold on commission, there is only
the seller’s word that the honey sold for
so much, Of course it is possible to prove
the truth or falsity of returns, but the
trouble would be too great, unless in ex-
treme cases. I don’t wish to insinuate
that commission men are more dishonest
than the rest of humanity, but the oppor-
tunities for fraud are greater than in some
lines of business. I believe that some
commission men, perhaps the majority of
them, are honest; the difficulties arise

from the circumstances that furnish con-
ditions forthe growth of a doubt. It is
for such reasons as these that it would be
desirable if the commission business
could be avoided; but, whether desirable
or not, the honey. trade has fallen into
the hands of commission men, and the
prospects are that it will remain there for
some time to come, and perhaps the best
that most of us can do is to send our hon-
ey to those in whom we have the most
confidence that they will get good prices
and make honest returns.

Quite a little was said at one time
about co-operation in some form,as an
aidto marketing Ihave little faith in
this sort of thing when applied to honey
producers. They are too numerous and
tooscattered. The peach growers of New
Jersey improved their market by forming
an ‘‘Exchange.’’ The fruit is all sent to
acentral point, to which buyers resort,
where it is sold at auction. If peach
growing extended all over the United
States, this could not be done.

I have already mentioned the peddling
of honey in large cities. Bee-keepers
who have facilities, and a taste for such
work, may do something in this direction,
during the fall and winter, by going from
village to village, having a regular
route and going over it at regular inter-
vals.

As to the time of selling, it is usually
well to have the honey on the market as
soon as berries are out of the way, and the
cool of fall begins to be felt. Some mar-
kets are good even earlier. Don’t hold
honey until winter is half over, waiting
for better prices. The prospects of loss
overbalance those for gain.

Migratory Bee-Keeping.

Y FATHER lives in an adjoin-
ing county where there is an
abundance of boneset and
goldenrod. One year, a

younger brother, who had not left home,
came to my place early in August and
carried home with him twenty culonies of
my bees. An empty story filled with
empty combs was placed over each col-
ony, and the top covered with wire cloth.
A hay rack was covered with hay to the
depth of two feet, the hives set upon the
hay, andheld together ina ‘‘bunch’’ by
passing a rope around them. The jour-
ney of twenty-five miles was made with-
out mishap. Those twenty colonies
furnished 400 pounds of surplus; besides,
they needed no feeding for winter, while
the bees kept at home stored no surplus,
and each colony required feeding, on an
average, about 15 pounds. I gave one-
half of the surplus to my brother as his
share of the ‘‘spoils.’”’ Had buckwheat
yielded well, which, in this locality,
happeus about once in half a dozen years,
nothing would have been gained by mov-
ing the bees. The inability to foretell
the honey flow in any given locality is
the greatest obstacle in the way of suc-
cessful migratory bee-keeping. In the
Review for August, 1889, Mr. R. L. Tay-
lor said: “‘I might have made $1,000 by
moving 100 colonies there (to a certain
locality) last year, but I might expend
200 each year for the next five years,
in moving back and forth, and find at the
end of that time that I could have ob-

tained more honey if I had not moved
them at all. This, I admit, is not likely,
as the advantages of that locality for a
fullcrop are so much greater than this,
but it is possible.”

Only forty miles from here, on a direct
line of railroad, is a locality where the
main honey flow comes in the fall, yet
nothing is secured here at that time. All
bee-keepers know that the distance of
only a few miles often makes all the dif-
ference between no crop and a bountiful
harvest, and the question is, can’t bee-
keepers take advantage of this fact? If
they can, why don’t they do so more
than they do? Either the moving of
bees to take advantage of transient,
neighboring flows is unprofitable, on the
whole, or else this part of bee-keeping
has been neglected. Bee-yards, honey
houses, etc., are all gotten up with per-
manency of location in view. The bee-
keeper gathers about him these conven-
iences and appliances, arranges his apiary,
and, if the honey comes to him, all right;
if itdoesn’t, he does not think of going
to the honey.

The expense of moving to and from a
locality a few miles distant need not be
so very great. From thirty to forty col-
onies can be moved on a large hay rack;
or a special rack might be constructed by
means of which one team could haul fifty
colonies. Small, light, readily movable
hives are a great advantage. One of the
great advantages of fixed frames, about
which there has been so much said of

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 69

late, is that they need no fastening when
anapiary ismoved. An apiarist who is
going to practice moving his bees to se-
cure better pastures, must have hives,
fixtures and other arrangements suitable
for that purpose. It ought not to take
more than two or three minutes to pre-
pare a hive of bees for moving.

Some localities are blessed with white
clover, basswood and fall flowers; and,
by the way, the man who is to make a
specialty of bee-keeping, ought to seek
such a locality; but many who are already
engaged in bee-keeping are permanently
located, have friends and relations living
near, and prefer not to move away even
if the profits would be increased thereby.
Then, again, it is difficult to find a first-
class locality for clover or basswood that
is equally good for fall flowers. And the
better the locality the greater the danger
of its being overstocked by its very at-
tractiveness bringing together so many
bee-keepers.

Years ago, movable frames, or combs,
were invented. In the last few vears
many of us have been learning to accom-
plish many things by handling Azves in-
stead of combs, and the expression,
“veadily movable hive,’’ has been coined.
Now we are beginning to talk about
readily movable apiaries/—those that,
with a day’s warning, can be picked up
and set down twenty miles away where
a ‘‘honey shower’? is passing.

I scarcely feel like advising a bee-keep-
erto move his apiary to some other lo-
cality with the opes of securing a greater
yield than it is possible to secure at home,
when the yield at home may be a fair
one, but when a bee-keeper has only
white clover, or basswood, or fall flowers,
from which to secure surplus, yet lives
only a few miles from one, or both, of the
other sources, it does seem to me as
though he ought to consider the advisa-
bility of moving his bees to these other
fields when the harvest is ready for the
laborers. Tome this seems like a more
promising field for experiment than that
of planting for honey. Instead of spend-
ing time and money for seeds, land and

cultivation, let us move our bees to where
Nature has already scattered the flowers
with a lavish hand.

There is another form of migratory
bee-keeping that has long been the
dream of apiarists, that of starting with
an apiary in the South at the opening of
the honey season, and moving northward
with the season, keeping pace with the
advancing bloom, thus keeping the bees
“in clover’? during the whole summer.
The difficulties to be overcome are those
of transportation. There is no single
line of railroad running north and south
for a sufficiently long distance to make a
success of migratory bee-keeping. When
shipping bees by freight, on the migra-
tory plan, the delays at junction points
are sometimes not only vexatious but
disastrous. It is for this reason that
longing eyes have been cast at the Miss-
issippi river and her steamboats and,
once, C. O. Perrine tried moving several
hundred colonies up the Mississippi on a
barge towed by atug. The plan was to
run up the river nights, and ‘‘tie up”
during the day to allow the bees to work.
There were several reasons why the plan
was a failure. The start was made too
lateinthe season, and accidents to the
machinery of the tug caused delays. In
order to overtake the bloom it became
necessary to confine the bees and run
day and night. The confinement for so
long was very disastrous to the bees.
Those who aided in the enterprise believe
that, rightly managed, moving bees up
the Mississippi to keep pace with the
bloom, might be madea success. Mr.
Byron Walker, who has had much ex-
perience in bringing bees from the South,
greatly favors the Mississippi plan of
practicing migratory bee-keeping. He
would not put the bees on a barge and
tow the barge witha tug, but would load
the bees upon a regular steamer running
up the river, setting them off at some de-
sirable point, and then shipping them by
boat to another point farther up the river
as the flow began to wane. In the fall
he would take bees back to the South for
the winter.

70 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

Of course, bees moved in hot weather
must have abundant ventilation; but this
alone will not save the dvood. To save
the brood the bees must have plenty of
water. As obstacle after obstacle has
been removed in home bee-keeping, so
the migratory plan may yet be robbed of
its drawback.

Right here a hypothetical question
comestomind. Supposing that an apiary
moving up the Mississippi secures six
crops of honey—six times as much as a
stationary apiary—would this be more
profitable than six stationary apiaries?
In other words, which is the more pro-
mising field for enterprise, following up

the season, or establishing out-apiaries?
Upon this point there are many things to
be considered, and varying circumstances
would lead to different decisions. To es-
tablish six apiaries would require consid-
erable capital, and the labor of caring for
the honey crop wouldall come at one time,
while there would be only one ‘‘chance”’
of securing a crop. With the migratory
plan, only one apiary would be needed,
and the work of caring for the surplus
would not come all at the same time.
With the stationary apiaries there would
be no expense for transportation, which
is a big item.

Out-Apiaries.

HEN a man starts an apiary,
it is because he thinks
his home-yard overstocked;
that he will get enough

more honey by the division to pay for the
extra labor incurred. Overstocking is one
of the most puzzling questions connected
with bee culture. We all know that a
locality can be overstocked; but localities,
seasons and bee-pasture are so variable
that it is impossible to lay down any set
rules in regard tothe number of colonies
needed to overstock a locality. It must
not be forgotten that the yield per col-
ony, yes, and in the aggregate, may be
diminished to considerable extent by
overstocking ere the establishment of an
out-apiary would be a profitable move. I
have had no experience with out-apiaries,
but I believe that the majority of the in-
experienced have erroneous ideas as to
the difficulties and expense attending
the establishing and management of an
ovt-apiary. Land must be bought or
hired, some sort ofa building or shelter

secured and a conveyance of some kind
will be needed for carrying bees, tools,
supplies, etc. Then there is the prepara-
tion of a cellar for wintering the bees, or
they must be carted home in the fall and
back in the spring, or else protected up-
on their summer stands. But when a
man begins to number his colonies by
the hundreds, he knows that something
must be done. Even if out-apiaries are
not so profitable as home-apiaries, they
are not usually run at a loss, while the
removal of the surplus bees at the home-
yard, allows that to make better returns.

When keeping bees upon the out-
apiary plan there must of necessity be
much moving about of hives from one
apiary to another. An out-apiary is sel-
dom supposed to be permanently located.
If some locality furnishes but little hon-
ey it iswise to abandon it and put the
bees in some better locality. It certainly
would be wise to take considerable pains
to ascertain the character of a locality
before going to much expense in fitting

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 71

upan apiary there. As J, A. Green said,
in the October Review, for 1890, ‘To
make money with out-apiaries it is not
enough to measure off the proper dis-
tance from the home-apiary in any di-
rection and plant an apiary there, think-
ing the bees will do just as well as any-
where else. Modern apiculture must do
more than that. I cannot escape from
the conviction that, to make the most of
an apiary, it must be capable of being
easily and quickly moved at any time
during the working season.”’

When it is finally decided to start an
apiary, how far away shall it be located ?
We have been repeatedly told that, or-
dinarily, three miles mark the limits of a
bee’s foraging grounds, hence, if apiaries
were placed six miles apart, there would
be no encroachment. But it must be re-
membered that the pasture ground of
each apiary issomewhat circular in form,
and that they might be moved towards
each other to considerable extent with-
out one encroaching upon the other very
much. Dr. Miller has given a very
happy illustration. Lay two silver dol-
lars side by side. Lift the edge of one
and slide it over the other. Notice how
far it may be pushed over without cover-
ing a very large portion of the other dol-
lar. Notwithstanding allthis, those who
have had experienee in the matter are
not inclined to put out-apiaries nearer
together than four miles, and prefer to
have them five or even six miles apart.
When the team is ‘‘hitched up” and on
the road, a mile or two more travel does
not takeso very much time, and the in-
creased yield may more than make it up.
We cannot always secure the exact spot
desired for the establishing of an out-
apiary, and it would probably be well to

goa little farther than really necessary
rather than to crowd some other apiary.

Having decided upon a site for an out-
apiary, the next consideration is its man-
agement. Shall comb honey be raised,
or shall the honey*be taken in the ex-
tracted form? Shall the apiary be man-
aged upon the visiting plan, or shall a
man be kept there all the time during the
swarming season? I believe that, in the
majority of cases, extracted honey is
raised in out-apiaries, as, by this plan,
swarming can be so nearly controlled,
and the apiary visited only at intervals.

In raising comb honey, the difficulty
is that most of the colonies will swarm,
unless the queens are removed. Mr.
Manum, Mr. Elwood, Mr. France and a
few others practice removing the queens
just at the beginning of the swarming
season, and pronounce it a success.

I have, as yet, said nothing about the
number of colonies to put in an out-
apiary. It ought to have as many as the
location will bear; certainly enough to
make a day’s work at each visit during
the busy season. It would be unprofit-
able to drive off five or six miles to do
only a part of aday’s work. Where all
necessary tools, etc., are kept at the out-
apiary, and all the bee-keeper has to
carry is himself, a bicycle is a very ex-
cellent kind of conveyance. It is fast,
always ready, requires little care, and
stings don’t make it run away. If
the apiaries are in or near towns con-
nected by railroad, it is a great couven-
ience.

Instead of having any buildings at the
out-apiaries, some bee-keepers use a small
tent that is easily ‘‘struck’’ and carried
from one apiary to another.

Apiarian Exhibits at Fairs.

HERE has been, in times past,
some opposition to the exhibi-
tion of bees, honey, wax, im-
plements, etc., at our State and
County fairs, exhibitions etc., on the
ground that such exhibitions were usually
made by supply dealers who, in their
eagerness to do business, did not hesitate
to urge a man to become a bee-keeper, in
order to effect a sale. If the fruit of the
seed sown at these gatherings weve a crop
of producers, I might admit that, possi-
bly, there would be some injury to ex-
isting bee-keepers, but, after an .exper-
ience of many years in making such ex-
hibitions, I am thoroughly convinced that
nothing of the kind occurs; in fact, the
exhibitions of hives, implements, and
large quantities of honey tastily put up,
impresses the crowd with the true impor-
tance, magnitude and complexity of
modern bee culture; imparting the idea
that the bee-business is quite a business—
one that cannot be picked up and _learn-
ed in a day by Tom, Dick and Harry.
Anything that increases the cousump-
tion of honey is a benefit to the pursuit,
and, as usually managed, these bee and
honey shows call the attention of crowds
of people to the excellence and delicious-
ness of honey asa food, and the producer
and consumer are brought face to face.
At a fair, people are abroad with a dispo-
sition for sight-seeing, investigation and
the purchase of novelties and nick-nacks;
«nd a fine display of honey, together with
its sale in fancy packages, cannot help

benefiting the exhibitor as well as the
pursuit. Honey ought to be put up in
small packages. It may be difficult to
put it up in packages so small that one
can be sold for five cents, but I believe it
has been done, while there is no difficulty
in putting up honey in packages that may
besold for ten or twenty-five cents each.
People at fairs don’t want to be burdened
with heavy or bulky packages, and the
honey must be put up insuch shape that
it can be eaten upon the grounds, or else
carried in the pocket or hand bag with-
out danger of leakage. I remember that,
one year, at the Michigan State Fair, Mr.
H. D. Cutting sold nearly $40 worth of
honey put up in pound and half-pound,
square, glass bottles and in small glass
pails. Last fall, at the Detroit Exposi-
tion, at least 1,500 pounds of ‘‘Honey
Jumbles’’ were sold by three exhibitors
in the beeand honey department. These
“jumbles’’ or cakes, are made with honey
instead of sugar, and the honey used is of
alow grade. Their sale is rapidly in-
creasing, and is, of course, a benefit to
honey producers. Such management
certainly does the pursuit of hee-keeping
no harm, while it is a benefit, to the one
making the exhibit.

Neither ought the social feature to be
overlooked. Every bee-keeper attending
the fair hunts up the ‘“‘Bee and Hohey
Department,”’ and only one who has been
at an exhibition knowsof the many new
acquaintances thus formed and the old
ones that are renewed. It is well to have

Rat earn ee mE
tag ea _

AN ATTRACTIVE APIARIAN EXHIBIT.

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 73

one day set apart as ‘‘Bee-Keepers’ Day,”
giving the date in advance in the bee
journals, then all bee-keepers will be
present on the same day. When possi-
ble to do so, itis an exceilent plan for
two or three, or more, exhibitors to club
together andtake a tent, or a portable
house, each bringing his share of bedding,
provisions and utensils, and livea da
picnic during the fair. Some of the
happiest hours of miy life have been spent
in going through just such experiences
with boon companions.

I doubt very much whether the exhibi-
tion of bees at fairs is of any great advan-
tage tothe pursuit. The most that can
be said in their favor is that they attract
attention. But there is certainly no ne-
cessity for exhibiting full colonies. A
single-comb nucleus witha queen and a
few drones and workers, together with
brood in different stages of development,
can be made to show more that is really
interesting than can be shown with a full
colony.

Of course, it is impossible to go on and
cover, in detail, all the points in regard
to making an apiarian exhibition at a
fair, as circumstances vary greatly, but
I will give a few hints. Extracted honey
must be shown in glass. Not in common
green glass, but in white, flint glass.
Have tin foil caps over the corks, and
small, tasty labels. Aim to get a white
or light colored background for extracted
honey. A dark color gives ita muddy or
dull appearance. A pyramid of extracted
honey, in bottles, in front of a window, is
a beautiful sight; the light ‘‘shimmering
and glimmering” as it passes through
the bottles and their contents. Comb
honey must be in cases with glass next
the comb. Thereis seldom a fair ground
with no bees near it, hence, no honey
should be exposed. All honey should be
shut up close and no stickiness left on
the outside of packages. Wax should be
molded into fanciful shapes. Honey and
wax shouid be piled up in pyramids, or
insome striking shape. Let the beginner
not try to show a great multitude of
things, but let what he does show be as

good as it is possible for him to show.
Competition is so very keen, at least
where the premiums are liberal, that
it is folly to expect premiums upon
second-class products.

Now that I have reached the subject of
premiums, itmay be well to give what I
call a ‘“‘model”’ premium list. It is near-
ly the same as used by the Detroit Expo-
sition, and by the Michigan State Fair.
I may have placed the premiums at a
higher figure than most societies would
care to use, but the amounts can be easily
reduced, keeping the proportions as they
are,

ist 2d 3d
Most attractive display of comb

honey... .. 2... cece eee $35 20 10
Specimen of comb honey, not

less than twenty pounds,

quality and manner of put-

ting up for market to be

considered... ents Io 5
Most attractive ‘display of ex-
tracted honey.. .35 20 Io

Specimen of extracted “honey,
not less than twenty pounds,
quality and manner of put-
ting up for market to be

considered. . ie Io 5
Most attractive display ‘of bees-
WEE iegucs steniiiwe ra css one acoee ee IE

Specimen of beeswax, not less
than ten pounds, soft, bright
yellow wax to be given the

preference.......... 6 3
Single-comb nucleus ‘Ttalian

DOES os net ox Relish wie: g Sesaaion te To 5
Single-comb nucleus black

bees... tes 10 5
Single- -comb nucleus “Syrian

bees ... 0... . 10 §
Single-comb nucleus Carniolan

DeeSe: i canescens mins ais Ie 5

SWEEPSTAKES ON BEES.
Display, in single-comb nuclei,
of the greatest variety of the
different races of bees........
Collection of queen bees of
different varieties. . wna OS
Honey vinegar, not ‘less than
one gallon, shownin glass, 6 3

74 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

Assortment of honey candies, 4 2
Pastry made with honey,......4 2
The best specimens of the best
honey producing plants,
pressed and mounted, not to
exceed twenty-five varieties, 15 8
SWEEPSTAKES.
The largest, best, most inter-
esting, attractive and instruc-
tive exhibition in this depart-

ment, all things considered, 35 20 10

I think bee-keepers would prefer to
have ‘“‘supplies’’ included in the premium
list, but the managers of fairs have de-
cided against offering premiums, on ac-
count of the difficulty of securing satis-
factory decisions. The best we can do is
to have a ‘‘sweepstakes’’ premium offered
upon the largest and best exhibition;
then supplies will count.

A judge should never be compelled to
take an exhibitor’s word for anything.
Let the article exhibited show for itself.
Don’t offer premiums on samples of dif-
ferent kinds of honey, when they can be
so easily gotten up for the occasion by
mixing. Don’t put at the head of the
list such requirements as: ‘‘Honey must
be of this season’s crop;’’ or, ‘‘Must be
the product of the exhibitor;’’ when
there is no way of knowing whether they
are lived up to.

Inmy experience, one man to award
the premiums, and he an expert, has giv-
en better satisfaction than three judges,
It is difficult, and often expensive, to get
three men that are experts, and, even
then, the work is not always done so
conscientiously, because itis not so easy
to place the responsibility, each being
able to shield himself behind the ‘‘other
two.”

Upon this subject of judging, there is
one other point often neglected that
ought to be printed in connection with
the premiums, and that is a “‘scale of

points’ for deciding in regard to the
merits of exhibits. Particularly is this
true inregard to honey. Miss West of
this city suggested, in Gleanings, the
following, and TI think well enough of it
to copy and recommend it:

HonEy—Color, 5; Body, 5; Flavor, 5;
ComB—Straightness, 5; Color of Capping,
5; Completeness of Capping, 5; Uniform-
ity, 10; Style, 10. POSSIBLE, 50. By
‘Uniformity’? is meant the closeness of
resemblance in the sections composing
the specimen. ‘‘Style’’ includes the at-
tractiveness of the section and case, also
absence of propolis.

And now a parting word to the begin-
ner. If youmake an exhibit at a fair,
don’t get excited. Don’t worry. Keep
cool and have patience. Many unpleas-
ant mishaps may occur, but don’t worry
over them; and, above all, don’t let the
losing of premiums so ‘‘sour’’ you as to
spoil your own enjoyment and that of
yourcomrades. When you leave home,
have everything in readiness, as nearly
as possibie, to put right up. Pack every-
thing carefully, but in such a manner
that it can be easily and quickly unpack-
edand repacked. If possible, go with
your exhibition, even if you are thereby
obliged toride in a freight car (I have
done it many a time and enjoyed it too),
and see your goods handled, or better
still, handle them yourself. And when
the fair is over, don’t ‘‘go crazy’’ to get
off the grounds the very next minute. I
have known of men sitting up all night
swearing and sweating, and fuming and
fretting because ‘‘their car didn’t come,”’
or something of that sort. At the close
of alarge fair, an immense amount of
goods are on the grounds; they have been
several days in accumulating, and it is
impossible to move them a// in an hour’s
time. Expect to cut at least one “eye
tooth’’ at each fair you attend.

The Relation of Food to the Wintering of Bees.

N THE Southern States, and other
places not blessed with a stern win-
ter, where bees can enjoy frequent
flights, 1t matters little what the

food is, so long as it is not actually poi-
sonous. By this I mean, any kind of
sweet like sugar, honey, or even honey
dew, will answer as food. In these mild
climates little or no protection is needed,
but, as higher latitudes are reached,
chaff hives are needed and there must be
some care exercised in regard to food.
As we journey still further from the
equator, it is only cellars and the best of
food that bring forth uniform results.

It has been asserted that honey is the
“natural”? food of bees, and that nothing
is to be gained by substituting cane sugar.
It must be remembered that the ‘‘natural’’
homie of the bee is that of a warm climate
where there are no long spells of confine-
ment caused by continued cold. Honey
is, of course, the ‘‘natural’’ food of bees,
but this fact does not prevent their dy-
ing sometimes as the result of its con-
sumption, when a diet of cane sugar
would have saved their lives.

In my opinion, food is the pivotal
point upon which turns the wintering of
bees in our Northern States. Food is the
fulcrum, and temperature the long end
of the lever.

The whole question in a nut shell is
just this: The loss of bees in winter,
aside from that caused by diarrhcea, is
not worth counting. It is diarrhea that
killsour bees. What causesit? An over-

loading of the intestines with no opportu-
nity tor unloading them. Cold confines
the bees to their hives. The greater the
cold the larger are the quantities of food
consumed to keep up the animal heat.
The more food there is consumed, the
sooner are the intestines overloaded.
Doesn’t itseem clear that the character
of the food consumed would have an
effect upon the amount of accumulation
in the intestines? In the digestion of
cane sugar there is scarcely any residue.
Honey is generally quite free from nitrog-
enous matter, being well supplied with
oxygen, and when free from floating
grains of pollen isa very good and safe
winter food, although not as good as
properly prepared sugar syrfip, which
never contains nitrogen but does possess
more oxygen. The excreta from diarrhe-
tic bees is almost wholly pollen grains,
in a digested or partly digested state,
with a slight mixture of organic matter.
What overloads the intestines of the bees
is this nitrogenous matter that they con-
sume either as grains of pollen floating
in the honey, or by eating the bee bread
itself.

Repeated experiments have proved be-
yond the shadow of a doubt that, as a
winter food for bees, pure cane sugar has
no superior. With this as an exclusive
diet, bees never die with the dysentery;
and, if kept in a temperature ranging
from 35° to 45°, they are all but certain
to winter successfully. This being the
case, I do not wonder that some are ready

76 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

to ask why not take away the honey in
the fall and feed the bees sugar? ‘The
objections to the use of sugar as a winter
food for bees are that every pound of
sugar used puts one more pound of honey
on the market; the work of extracting
the honey and feeding the sugar is some-
thing; the bee-keeper often has a crop of
honey that is meeting with poor sale,
and he has not the money to invest in
” sugar; while some object to its use on the
ground that itlends color to the cry of
“adulteration.”

The use of sugar as a winter food for
bees unquestionably puts a little more
honey on the market, but this ought not
to weigh so very heavily against the cer-
tainty of wintering the bees. Neither
need there be any labor of extracting
the honey in the fall, as by proper man-
agement, such as contraction of the brood
nest, the honey can nearly all be forced
into the supers, leaving the brood combs
nearly empty at the end of the season.
What little honey remains in the corners
will not be consumed until the next
spring, when frequent flights will pre-
vent all troubles that might arise from
its consumption. With proper feeders
(the Heddon, for instance), tin cans and
oil stoves for making the syrup, feeding
isnot along nor laborious job. In re-
gard to causing people to believe that by
some hocus pocus the sugar that is fed
gets into the surplus, noone need know
of the feeding, except it might be, in
some cases, an immediate neighbor, and
the bee-keeper ought to enjoy his neigh-
bor’s confidence to that degree that the
exact truth can be told him and be be-
lieved. As in regard to the increased
amount of honey that the use of sugar
as winter stores puts upon the market, so
the talk about adulteration is overbal-
anced by the certainty of carrying the
bees safely through the winter. The
greatest objection to the use of sugar for
winter stores is the advancing of money
to buy the sugar while the honey may be
unsold and of slow sale. The price of
sugar is now so low that, unless the price

of honey drops in proportion, there will
be some more inducement to use sugar
for winter stores.

If sugar is to be fed, it ought to be giv-
en early, asthe bees then have a chance
to handle it over, and, in this handling,
its character is somewhat changed by
the addition of the secretions from their
glands, There is also an opportunity of
sealing over the syrup, when it is less
likely to be injured by changes in tem-
perature, by moisture, etc. Ifthe syrup
ts fed late, it must be made thick, as the
bees have no time to evaporate it; and
there must be something added to pre-
vent the syrup from crystalizing. After
repeated trials, I give my preference to
honey. From ten to twenty per cent. of
honey is sufficient. September is early
enough to feed. When feeding “as been
neglected until it is so late and the
weather so cool that the bees will not
leave the cluster and go up into a feeder,
it may be managed by filling the feeder,
with hot syrup and placing it wxder the
hive. The heat from the syrup will warm
up and arouse the bees, when they
will come down and carry up the feed.

But all cannot, or may not wish to,
use sugar for winter stores, and many do
not zeed to use sugar to insure success-
ful wintering of their bees. There is a
great difference in localities. Where one
has successfully pursued the same course
year after year, it is doubtful if a change
would be desirable; but what shall the
man do who loses heavily nearly every
winter, yet cannot, or will not, use sugar?
Possibly he can so manage that his win-
ter stores will come from a different
source. O. O. Poppleton takes the
ground that the best honey for winter
stores is that secured from the most
bountiful yields) There may something
in this, but I know of one locality where
the fall flow is always the most abundant,
andI might almost say a/ways abundant,
yet so surely will it kill bees that the
most extensive bee-keeper in that local-
ity, after an experience of many years,
kills his bees in the fall rather than at-

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE, 77

tempt to winter them upon this honey by
any method. But bee-keepers can do
this: Notice if any particular kind of
honey is more likely to give trouble, and
then avoidits use as winter stores. Part
of the bees may be protected on their

>>> P

summer stands, and part put into the
cellar. Ina warm open winter, the bees
out-of-doors will stand the better chance;
ina severe winter the odds will be in
favor of the cellar—and their owner must
take his chances.

Out-Door Wintering.

F BEES can enjoy frequent flights,
out of doorsis the place to winter
them. If deprived of these flights,
a temperature of about 45° enables
them to beara much longer confinement
than does atemperature below freezing.
In the South, frequent flights are assured;
in the North, no dependence can be plac-
ed upon the matter. Some winters are
“‘open,’’ or there are January thaws, al-
lowing the bees to enjoy cleansing flights,
while other winters hold them close
prisoners for four or five months. It is
this element of uncertainty attending the
wintering of bees in the open air that has
driven so many bee-keepers to the adop-
tion of cellar wintering. Still, there are
some bee-keepers who, from some pecul-
iarity of location, winter their bees in the
open air with quite uniform success;
others are compelled, for the present, at
least, to winter the bees out of doors; in
short, a large portion of the bees, even
in the North, are wintered in the open
air, and probably will be for along time
to come, and while my preference is the
cellar, I have no desire to ignore the out-
door method.

It does not seem as though the ques-
tion of whether bees should be protected,
in the North, need receive any consider-
ation whatever, yet it has been objected
to on the grounds that the packing be-
comes damp, that it deprives the bees of
the warmth of the sun and that they

sometimes fail to fly in the winter (be-
cause the outside warmth is so slow in
reaching them) when bees in single-wall
hives may be in full flight. There is oc-
casionally a still, mild day in winter up-
on which the sun shines out bright and
strong for an hour or two, and bees in
single-wall hives enjoy a real cleansing
flight, while the momentary rise in the
temperature passes away ere it has pene-
trated the thick walls of a chaff hive.
On the other hand, there are days and
weeks and sometimes months unbroken
by these rises in temperature; and the
bees must depend for their existence up-
on the heat generated by themselves,
and the more perfect the non-conductor
by which they are surrounded, the less
will be the loss of heat. When bees are
well protected, there is less necessity for
flight than when the protection is slight.
If the bee-keeper thinks, however, that
bees in chaff hives ought to fly on a warm
day, but they don’t fly, he has only to re-
move the covering over the bees and al-
low them to fly from the tops of the hives.
For several winters I left quite a number
of colonies unprotected. I discontinued
the practice only when thoroughly con-
vinced that, in this locality, the losses
were lessened by protection, In mild
winters the bees came through in pretty
fine condition. In severe winters the
bees in the outside spaces, or ranges of
combs, died first; the cluster became

78 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

smaller; the bees in more ranges died;
and, by spring, all were dead, or the col-
ony so reduced in numbers, and the sur-
vivors so lacking in vitality, as to be
practically worthless.

I have never seen any ill effects from
dampness, but I have always given
abundant ventilation above the packing.
When the warm air from the cluster pass-
es up through the packing and is met by
the cold, outer air, some condens-
ation of moisture takes place. This
moistens the surface of the packing
slightly, but it is comparatively dry
underneath. With a good strong
colony of bees, and ventilation above
the packing, I have never known of
trouble from moisture.

In the giving of protection, chaff hives
have the advantage of being always ready
for winter, and of doing away with the
labor and untidiness of packing and un-
packing, but they are expensive and
cumbersome. Jt is some work to pack
bees in the fall and unpack them in the
spring, but light, single-wall, readily-
movable hives during the working sea-
son are managed with enough less labor
to more than compensate for that of
packing and unpacking. Then there is
another point. The work of packing
and unpacking comes when there is com -
parative leisure, while the extra work,
caused by great unwieldy hives, comes
at atime when the bee-keeper is work-
ing onthe ‘‘keen jump.”

For packing material, I have used
wheat chaff, forest leaves, planer shav-
ings and dry sawdust. I have never used
cork-dust, but it is probably the best
packing material. Its non-conductivity
is nearly twice that of chaff, while it never
becomes damp. The only objection is
that itis not readily obtainable and usu-
ally costs something, while the other
substances mentioned cost nothing.
What they lack in non-conductivity is
made up in quantity. And this brings up
the point of the proper thickness for the
packing. Ihaveoften thrust my hand
into the packing surrounding a populous
colony of bees, and found the warmth

perceptible at a distance of four inches
from the side and six inches from the top.
This would seem to indicate the thickness
when chaff or sawdust is used. I pre-
sume packing has often been condemned
when it was not more than half done—
that is, when not enough material was
used. I don’t appreciate the arguments
of those who advocate /Azm packing. I
don’t believe that the benefitof the heat
from the sun can compensate for the
lack of protection during the months of
extreme cold.

Hollow walls with no packing have
their advocates; and it has been asked if
these dead (?) air spaces were not equally
as good non-conductors of heat as those
filled with chaff. They are not. In the
first place the air is not ‘‘dead,”’ it is con-
stantly moving. Theair next the inside
wall becomes warm and rises; that next
the outer wall cools and settles; thus
there isa constant circulation that robs
the inner wall of its heat.

If chaff hives are not used, how shall
the packing be kept in place? I know
of nothing better than boxes made of
cheap, thin lumber. If there is lack of
room for storing them in summer, they
can be so made as to be easily ‘‘knocked
down” and stacked up when not in use.
Of course, bees can be packed more
cheaply by setting the hives in long rows,
building a long box about them, and fill-
ing it with material used for packing.
With this method, the packing must be
postponed until there is little danger of
the bees flying again until they have for-
gotten their old locations; else some bees
will be lost, or some colonies get more
than their share of bees. When the bees
have a ‘“‘cleansing flight” in winter,
there is also a likelihood of bees returning
to the wrong hives. Then when the
bees are unpacked in the spring and
moved to their proper places, there is
more confusion and mixing; but I don’t
look upon this as so very serious a mat-
ter. At this time of the year, other
things being equal, a bee is worth just
about as inuch in one hive asin another.
If there is any difference in the strength

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 79

of the colonies, the weaker ones might
be left nearest to where the bees were
unpacked.

Speaking of being compelled to wait
about packing the bees until they were
not likely to fly again until some time
in the winter, reminds me that advantages
have been claimed for early packing;
that the bees in single-wall hives only
wear themselves out with frequent flights
that are to no purpose, while those
that are packed are not called out by
every passing ray of sunshine; that the
early packed bees sooner get themselves
settled down for their winter’s nap, and
are in better shape when winter comes.
It is possible there is something in this,
but there were two or three years in
which I tried packing a colony or two as
early as the first of September; and I
continued to pack a colony every two or
three days until the fore part of Novem-
ber, and I was unable to discern any ad-
vantage in very early packing. If the
bees are protected before freezing weather
cones, I believe that is early enough.

There is one other point that ought not
to be neglected in preparing the bees for

winter, whether in doors or out, and that
is the leaving of a space below the combs.
When wintered out of doors there ought
tobe a rim two inches high placed under
each hive. This not only allows the
dead bees to drop away from the-combs
toa place where they will dry up instead
of moulding between the combs, Then
if there is an entrance above the rim
there will be no possibility of the entrance
becoming clogged. This space under
the combs seems to be a wonderful aid
in bringing the bees through in fine con-
dition, andI am not certain why.

Weak colonies can seldom be success-
fully wintered out of doors. They can-
not generate sufficient heat. In the cel-
lar, where the temperature seldom goes
below 40°, quite weak colonies can be
successfully wintered.

AsI understand it, this whole matter
of out door wintering of bees might be
summed up in a few words. Populous
colonies; plenty of good food, and
thorough protection. Simple, isn’t it?
Yet there is a world of meaning wrapped
up in those few words.

Ventilation of Bee-Cellars.

FEW years ago ‘‘sub-earth”
ventilation of bee cellars was
almost universally recommend-
ed. Nearly every one who
built a bee-cellar, also buried 200 or 300
feet of drain tile; the outer eud connect-
ing withthe openair andthe inner end
entering the cellar, To remove the air
from the cellar,a pipe, connecting with
a stove pipe in the room above, extend-
ed down through the floor to within a
few inches of the cellar bottom. The
draft in the stove pipe ‘‘pulled up’ the

air frum the cellar, and more flowed in
through the sub-earth pipe to take its
place. In passing through the sub-earth
pipe, the air was warmed. If there were
no stove pipe with which to counect the
outlet pipe, it was extended upwards un-
tilit reached the openair. The air inthe
cellar, being warmer than the outside air,
flowed out of the upper ventilator and
more air flowed in through the sub-earth
tube.

In order to keep the temperature even
there was much opening and closing of

80 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

the ventilating tubes. In cold weather it
was often necessary to leave the openings
closed several days or even weeks. At
such times it was noticed that the bees
suffered no inconvenience. Not only
this, but it was often noticed that when
the ventilators were opened, the in-rush
of fresh, cool air aroused the bees and
made them uneasy. Finally, the ventila-
tors were opened less and less, and, at
last, they were left closed all the time.
The amount of air needed by bees va-
ties greatly according to circumstances,
When they are excited and full of honey,
as is the case with a swarm, the amount
of air needed is very great. If they can
be kept quiet, a very little air will suffice.
In winter, bees are in a semi-dormant
state, one closely bordering on hiberna-
tion, as that word is properly understood,
and the amount of airnecessary for their
maintainance is very sligkt. I believe it
was Mr. D. L. Adair who, a number of
years ago, removed a box of surplus hon-
ey from a hive and, leaving the bees in
possession, pasted several layers of paper
over the entrance to the box. As all the
cracks and crevices were stopped with
propolis, the box was practically air tight.
The bees were ‘kept confined several
days, yet did not, apparently, snffer for
want of air. Mr. Heddon tells of some
man who, wishing to ‘‘take up’’ some of
his colonies in the fall, plastered up the
entrance with blue clay, expecting to
kill the bees by suffocation. Upon open-

ing the hivesa few days later, imagine
the discomfiture of their owner at seeing
the bees fly right merrily. I have sever-
al times wintered bees successfully in
“clamps’’ where the bees were’ buried
two feet deep under frozen earth. Prof.
Cook even went so far as to hermetically
seal up two colonies by throwing water
over the hives and allowing it to freeze,
thus forming a coating of ice over the
hives. The bees survived this treatment.

Special ventilation, simply for the sake
of secuing fresher or purer air, seems to
be almost unnecessary; the few bee-keep-
ers who plead for special ventilation do
so almost wholly upon the ground that
they can thereby more readily control the
temperature. If the bee repositories are
built sufficiently under ground it does
not seem as though ventilation would be
very much needed for controlling tem-
perature.

When bees settle down into that quies-
cent state that accompanies successful
wintering, their need of air is very slight
indeed. When their winter nap is ended,
and spring arouses them to activity and
to brood rearing, more air is needed. It
is then, if ever, that special ventilation is
a benefit, but as all that is needed can be
so easily secured by the occasional open-
ing of doors or windows at night, if it
ever becomes really necessary, it scarce-
ly seems worth while to go to the ex-
pense of laying sub-earth pipes. I should
not do it, nor advise it.

POPTGE RYERSS
The Relation of Moisture to. the Wintering of Bees.

S$ IT an advantage to have the air of
our bee-cellars dry? Or, do the
bees winter more perfectly in a
moist atmosphere? Or, is this an
unimportant factor? If it is important,
how shall we determine what degree of
moisture is most conducive to the health

of the bees, and, baving decided this point,
what shall we do aboutit? Howcan we
control the amount of moisture in the
air of our bee repositories? All these
queries and many more, come to the
man who is thinking of wintering his
bees in a cellar.

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

Whether bees can be successfully win-
tered ina damp cellar, depends largely,
almost wholly, upon the ¢emperature of
the atmosphere. ‘If the repository be
damp, a degree of temperature higher in
proportion to the dampness should be
maintained.”"—NV. IV. McLain. Refer-
ring to this statement, Mr. Frank Che-
shire says: ‘The reason being that wa-
ter has an enormous capacity for heat
(specific heat) whetherin the liquid or
vaporous form; the latter abstracts heat
from the bees and intensives their strug-
gle.” Dr. Youmans says: “Air which
is already saturated with moisture re-
fuses to receive the perspiration offered it
from the skin and lungs and the sewage
of the system is dammed up.”

A moist air very readily absorbs heat,
and more quickly robs the bees of that
element so essential to life; hence it will
be seen why a moist atmosphere must
also be a warm one if disastrous results
‘are to be avoided.

There is also another point, in the win-
tering of bees, upon which moisture has
abearing, and that is in regard to its
effe:ts upon the exhalations of the bees.
If the exhalations are not taken up read-
ily, the ‘‘sewage of the system is dammed
up.”? But little moisture is required to
saturate cold air; that is, it will absorb but
little moisture, the point when it will
receive no more being soon reached. As
the temperature rises, the absorbing ca-
pacity of the airincreases. When air of
a high temperature, at that of our bodies,
or nearly that, is saturated, or nearly so,
with moisture, the exhalations from the
lungs and skin are taken up but slowly;
we are oppressed and say the weather is
“muggy.’? This explains why we feel
better on bright, clear days. Heating air
increases its power of absorption, hence
we enjoy a fireon a damp day. If the
air of acellaris dry, it will be readily
seen that the temperature may be allowed
to go much lower. In other words, a
cold, dry atmosphere, or a damp, warm
one, may be about equal so far as effects
are concerned. This isa point that bee-
,eepers have not sufficiently considered.

We have had many reports of the suc-
cessful wintering of bees at such and
such adegree of temperature, but noth-
ing is said as tothe degree of saturation.
Bee-keepers ought to use a_ wet-bulb
thermometer in their cellars; then let the
degree of saturation be given with that
of the temperature, and we would have
something approaching accuracy. I say
“approaching accuracy,’’ because the
strength of the colonies, and the manner
in which they are protected, have a bear-
ing. A populous, well-protected colony
can warm up the inside of the hive, ex-
pelling the moisture and increasing the
absorbing capacity of the air. Building
a fire in a room on a damp day is the same
in principle.

As mentioned in the preceding para-
graph, the way to decide in regard to the
amount of moisture in the air is by the
use of a wet-bulb thermometer. ‘The

arrangement is very simple, and any of

my readers could make one. Attach two
ordinary thermometers side by side to a
piece of board. Just below them fasten
a tin cup for holding water. Make a
light covering of candle wicking for one
of the bulbs at the bottom of the ther-
mometer, allowing the wicking to extend
down into the water in the cup. The

€1

82 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

water willascend the wicking and keep
the bulb constantly wet. There will, of
course, be evaporation from the wick sur-
rounding the bulb. Evaporation causes
a loss of heat; hence, the drier the air
the greater the evaporation, the greater
loss of heat, and the lower will go the
mercury in the wet-bulb thermometer.
The greater the difference in temperature
as shown between the wet and dry bulb
thermometers, the drier the air. In the
open air there is sometimes a difference
of 26°.

Ventilation of cellars has been objected
to on the ground that it brought moisture
into the cellar, This may be true, but
not in freezing weather. Frozen air, if
the expression is allowable, has a very
low point of saturation. That is, it will
hold but very little moisture, and when
it is brought into the higher temperature
of the cellar, and becomes warmed, its
capacity for absorption is g~eatly increas-
ed—it is ready to receive water instead of
giving it out. When the outside air
comes into a cellar, and and deposits
moisture upon the objects therein, it is
evident that the incoming air is warm
and moisture-laden—warmer than the
cellar and its contents.

Mould in bee repositories is usually
looked upon as something undesirable,
and I will admit that its appearance is
farfrom pleasant, but we must not for-
get that, ina certain sense, it is a plant—
the child of warmth and moisture—and
that the conditions necessary for its de-

velopment.may not be injurious to the
bees—mzay be niore beneficial than a con-
dition under which mould does not de-
velop, viz., one of moisture and cold. A
very damp cellar ought to be warm
enough for the development of mould.
But the cellar need not be damp. It can
be made both warm and dry. These
matters of temperature and moisture are
under our control. Hither by fires or going
intothe earth, preferably the latter, we
can secure the proper temperature; and
by the use of lime to absorb the moisture,
a dry atmosphere can be secured. Cer-
tainly itis not much trouble to keep un-
slacked lime in the cellar. A bushel of
lime absorbs twenty-eight pounds of
water inthe process of slacking.

While it is evident that moisture in
ordinary cellars is not injurious, provided
the temperature is high enough, it is a
great comfort to know that there is noth-
ing to fear from a dry atmosphere; that
we canindulge our fancy, if you choose
te call it that, for dry, sweet-smelling,
mouldless cellars, and know that the re-
sults will be harmless.

Some bee-keepers have asserted that
cellars dug in clay or hardpan are more
difficult tokeep dry than when dug in
sandy or gravelly soil. Mr. J. H. Mar-
tin, of New York, says that a cellar in
hardpan, or even in clay, can be much
improved by digging down two or three
feet and filling it with stones at first, then
with gravel, and finishing up with a cov-
ering of cement.

PITS IIR SEES
Influence of Temperature in Wintering Bees.

\ROF. ATWATER says, in the
Century, that the amount of
heat produced in the body is so
large that, ifthere were no way

for it to escape, there would be enough
in an average well-fed man to heat his

body to the temperature of boiling water
in thirty-six hours. This heat is gradual-
ly passing off by radiation. To prevent
too rapid a radiation we cover our bodies
with clothing; and, for the same reason,
we surround our bees in winter with

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 83

chaff or some other non-conductor of
heat; but there is no way in which the
radiation of heat can be so complete-
ly controlled as by surrounding the
heat-producing body with an atmos-
phere of the proper temperature. There
isno method by which the most desirable
temperature for wintering bees can be so
completely secured as by placing the
hives in a cellar or special repository.

R. L. Taylor, inan article in the Feb.
Review for 1888, so completely covered
the subject of temperature as it effects
the wintering of bees in cellars, that I
cannotdo better than to make copious
extracts from said article. He says: “I
think it is a truth that should not be
forgotten that no one can determine, ex-
cept approximately, the best temperature
for bees in another’s winter repository.
The condition of bees as to numbers, the
warmth and ventilation of the hive, the
character of their hives, and the state of
the repository as to moisture, have each
to be considered in deciding upon tem-
perature.

Of course the bee-keeper cares nothing
about the temperature in itself; what he
is interested in is in knowing what the
condition isin which the bees pass the
winter with the least loss of vitality. In
what manner temperature affects this
condition is really a subsidiary question.
If we could agree upon the primary
question, I think there would be little
difficulty in solving the subsidiary one.

What are the distinguishing marks of
the condition most desirable for the well
being of the bees?

We know that at the beginning of their
season of rest, bees cluster closely and
assume a state of extreme repose, and we
know that so strong is this instinct that
this state, late in the fall, continues in a
temperature that at another season of the
year would cause extreme activity.
There is no doubt that this is the state
best suited to the preservation of the
physical powers of the bee. Labor,
activity, anxiety, are wearing to mortal
flesh. To live long, oné must live slowly.

We wish our bees to have the same de-
gree of physical vigor in April which
they possess in November. I would em-
phasize the adverb in the phrase ‘cluster
closely in using it as an earmark of the
condition desired. The quietness sought
should be a quietness to the eye and not
to the ear only. The right cluster is
knit together, and the individual bees
thereof only aroused to full conscious-
ness by positive disturbance. Bees in a
loose cluster, or spread through the hive,
often make little sound while they are
wearing themselves out by premature
brood-rearing or by over feeding. How
does temperature affect the desired con-
dition ?

Most bee-keepers know that tempera-
ture below a certain point causes activity
among the bees on account of the neces-
sity they feel of keeping up the warmth
of the cluster by exercise, in order to
prevent themselves sinking into such a
degree of chilliness that they shall no
longer have the power to resuscitate
themselves; and all know that as the peri-
od of rest lengthens, the bees become
more and more susceptible to a high
temperature, and are very likely to be
pushed by it into unseasonable activity.
Again, the temperature may be so low
and so lony continued that, notwithstand-
ing their efforts, they perish of either
cold or starvation.

Of course the temperature that deter-
mines the welfare of a colony is that
within its own hive, so it becomes very
important in fixing the temperature to
consider the strength of the colonies,
andthe size, warmth and ventilation of
the hives. A temperature that would
enable a weak colony to winter safely
would almost surely greatly injure a
strong colony in a hive of like size and
condition, unless its stores were of good
quality, and vice versa. Weak colonies
should be protected by contraction and
a closer hive, the stronger should be giy-
en more ventilation. A moist atmosphere
conveys away animal heat much more
rapidly than a dry one, so that the best

84 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

temperature in one cellar might vary
many degrees from that which would be
best in another.

I have no doubt in my own mind that
with stores which are exceptional, every
normal colony would winter wellin any
ordinary bee cellar, where the tempera-
ture ranges between 32° and 50°, Fah-
renheit, and that we err when we at-
tempt to make successful wintering
indoors turn on anything but food;
still, no doubt the temperature may
be made to assist the bees in contend-
ing with the distresses arising from
unfit food. Warmth makes the discom-
fort of their diarrhcetic disease less un-
bearable. In a low temperature bees
afflicted with diarrhcea soon peri$h mis-
erably. So, for bees thus diseased, I
would provide a high temperature; say
about 50°, thereby enabling the dying to
leave the hive, the diseased to, void their
excreta outside the cluster, and the well
to make a more courageous fight for life.

I need hardly add anything upon this
part of the subject, and shall only say
farther that, in my own cellars, where
the air is neither very moist nor very dry,
and where there is no draughts, I consid-
era temperature of 40° to 44° the best
for good colonies in hives from which
the bottom boards are entirely removed.
If the bottom boards be not removed, I
think 5° lower would be about equiva-
lent.

In order to have the temperature as
desired, it becomes important to have
one’s bees in a repository of which the
temperature is nearly independent of the

outside changes. This is, I think, se-
cured far the most satisfactorily by hav-
ing the repository entirely, or at least
very largely, below the surface of the
earth.”’

As the temperature is higher at the
upper part of a cellar, the weak colonies
should be placed in the topmost tier of
hives.

It hasbeen urged that as spring ap-
proaches and breeding begins, the tem-
perature of the cellar should be raised.
Witk a large number of colonies the in-
creased activity of the bees would, of
itself, havea tendency in this direction.
If there are only a few colonies, artificial
means of raising. the temperature are
sometimes resorted to. Some have used
oil stoves in the hatchway to the cellar,
others have warmed the air with wood or
coal stoves. Mr. H. R. Boardman, who
has had much successful experience in
wintering bees in cellars, prefers to have
a bee cellar with two apartments, in one
of which isa stove. When it is necessary
to resort to artificial heat he warms the
air in the ante room, and then admits it
to the bee room. In the use of artificial
heat he does not find it necessary to em-
ploy it,constantly, or every day, in fact,
he says that the best results are secured
by giving the bees the benefit of a sum-
mer temperature for a short time once a
week, and then letting them alone.
They will, after being warmed up, be-
come quiet ina short time, and remain so
for several days, and no serious results
need be apprehended from cold, if in a
frost-proof cellar,

Comforts and Conveniences in the Apiary.

Y THESE are meant those
things not absolutely essential
to success, but that serve to
render more smooth and pleas-

ant the somewhat ‘‘thorny’’ path trod-
den by the bee-keeper. To illustrate:
H. R. Boardman has a cart, for carrying
bees to and from his bee cellar, with
which there is no necessity for even lift-
ing the hivesto place them on the cart.
It is made like a,wheel barrow with two
wheels, and having two long prongs pro-
jecting in front. When the cart is wheel-
ed up to a hive, one prong goes one side
of the hive and the other goes the other
side, when, by depressing the handles,
the hive is lifted from the ground; cleats
upon the sides of the hive prevent it from
slipping down between the projecting
prongs. Mr. J. A. Green has an arrange-
ment for opening the honey house door
by simply stepping upon apedal. When
both hands are occupied with tools, a
case of honey, or something of that sort,
such an arrangement is quite a comfort.
Mr, Green is also the man who keeps
kerosene oil in a spring bottom oil can to
squirt on the fuel in a smoker when
“firing up.’’

Most of these comforts are compara-
tively inexpensive. To think of and
secure them is often more work than to
earn the money with which to buy them,
but their possession often makes ali the
difference between a season of pleasure
and one bordering on drudgery, to say
nothing of the bearing they may have
upon the profit. These little helps and

conveniences are, in one sense, the oil
that makes the great apicultural machine
move smoothly, and I believe it worth
while to enumerate a few of them.

I willbegin with the bee-keeper him-
self, or rather with his clothing, as his
comfort is largely depended upon that.
When there is very much shaking and
brushing of bees to be done I prefer to
wear light calf skin boots with the trous-
ers tucked inside. When shoes are worn,
the trousers must be tucked inside the
stockings, or tied up with a string, (which
looks so outlandish) or else ‘‘dose inno-
cent pees vas grawling mine trousers
amoung,’’ which begets a feeling far from
comfortable. I don’t believe in sacrific-
ing very much comfort for the sake of
appearances, but I couldn’t be comiforta-
ble working day after day tricked out
like a clown or scare-crow. Mr. Arthur
C. Miller suggests the wearing of canvas
shoes that lace well up around the ankle,
such as are worn by tennis and base
ball players and cyclists. Then he would
have the trousers come just below the
knee, with canvas leggings to cover up
the lower part of the legs. His ideal
coat isa close fitting jacket of light weight
that buttons upto the throat. The hat
that approaches the nearest to perfection
in his opinion is the helmet. It has vis-
ors front and back and a ventilator all
around between the rim and the inner
band. It is light and cool and protects
both the eyes and the back of the head
and neck from the sun. Such suits as
those described by Mr. Miller can be had

86 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

in white or colored ‘‘duck,’”’ and are
light, cheap, washable and serviceable,
and, complete, or in part, are worn by
many cyclists and others.

When the grass is wet, 7 wear rubbers
over the light calf boots. Inthe heat of
the working season I wear linen trousers,
a white cotton shirt and a straw hat. I
have seen the wearing of light woolen
clothing recommended, but have never
given ita trial. Ernest Root mentions
the comfort Ze has derived from the wear-
ing of light underclothing, part woolen.
But he does not perspire freely, and this
under clothing retains the perspiration,
keeping the skin moist. With me it is
the reverse. I perspire so freely that the
clothing is soon ‘‘soaked through and
through,’’ and frequent changes are nec-
essary. Perhaps each will be obliged to
decide this matter by personal experience.

The straw hat that I wear is a good
one, made by sewing together narrow
braids of fine straw. Such a hat costs
about $1.00. I buy a new one each year
for ‘‘best,’’ and then take the last year’s
one for every day wear in the apiary.

I never wished a veil attached to the
edge ofthe hatrim. Itis only part of the
time that a veil is needed, and when it
isn’tneeded I wish it out of the way. I
prefer a veil with a string run into a hem
around the top then the upper edge can
be puckered up until it will just slip
down nicely over the hat crown.

Gloves I have never worn, and doubt
if I could be led to believe them a com-
fort.

I know of no comfort in the apiary
greater than a smooth surface (of earth)
thickly covered with grass. A lawn
mower can scarcely be called a comfort,
itis a necessity. Sprinkle salt around
the hives to kill the grass a distance of
six inches from each hive, then the lawn
mower can cut all the grass that grows.
About the first thing needed upon begin-
ning work in the apiary is a smoker; and
oh how much comfort or discomfort can
come through this little implement. If
any of my readers have suffered from

smokers that spill fire, that become stop-
ped up with soot, that go out, or from
fuel that will not burn, let them get a
Bingham, the size called ‘‘Doctor,”’ get a
barrel of planer shavings from dry pine
for fuel, and take comfort. If there is
any trouble in lighting the shavings, use
a little kerosene from a spring-bottom
oiler, as already mentioned. Keep
matches in a safe place near where the
smoker is to be lighted. Never be pes-
tered by having to run off some where
after a match. Above all don’t keep the
smoker fuel and matches in the honey
house; the danger from fire is too great.
Rig up a box, or barrel, or old bee hive,
with a rain proof cover, for the keeping
of fuel and matches, and have it located
some distance fromthe honey house. I
kept the planer shavings in an old wash
boiler, and had it ‘‘burn out’’ once. As
it was out of doors, no harm was done.
Keep the cap of the ‘‘Doctor”’ filled with
green weeds or grass and there is no dan-
ger of blowing sparks into the hives.

Have a wheel barrow or cart for carry-
ing cases, hives of honey and other heavy .
articles. With such hives as I use, the
cover can be turned up on edge and
made to answer the purpose of a seat;
where such is not the case, a seat of some
kind ought to be provided. Dr. C. C.
Miller uses a light box 17 x 12x g inches
in size. This gives a chance for having
a seat with any one of these heights. It
should be made strong enough not to
rack and have hand holes in the sides for
carrying it by. A hammock in the
shade of a tree, or in the work shop, is a
great comfort. Ten minutes rest in a
reclining position isof as much value as
fifteen ina sitting or standing posture.

In the Review for June, 1890, ‘‘Ram-
bler’’ said: ‘‘For brushing bees from
combs, instead of using the little, inef-
ficient brushes sold by dealers we use a
large, Mexican fiber duster. Ascrew eye
is inserted in the end of the handle, a
long, strong cord inserted and tied and
the loop thrown over the shoulders, when
the brush is always at the side ready for use.

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 87

Another very convenient tool for many
uses in the apiary is a light, thin-bladed
screw-driver. This should havea large
bright ribbon tied to it, for, brother bee-
Keepers, you know how such small tools
willdisappear in the yard. The bright
colored ribbon hangs out a signal, ‘‘Here
Iam, grasp me.’’

An oil stove is another convenience not
to be overlooked. A single wick burner
will answer, perhaps, but a double wick
is better. Water can be heated, wax
melted, starch made and kept warm,

sugar syrup made if necessary and sever-
al other things done.

If swarming is allowed, and queens
are unclipped, there should be queen-
traps, self-hivers, or a Whitman fountain
pump with a barrel of water and plenty
of pails.

Let each bee-keeper look about his
apiary and see if he is not doing some of
his work in an awkward manner, that
might be avoided by the providing of a
few comforts and conveniences.

APPT Acs

Mistakes in Bee-Keeping.

TIS pleasant to tell of success. Mis-
takes are mentioned with reluc-
tance. Yet, these may be of equal
value for imparting information.

Mr. J. M. Smith of Wisconsin is noted as
a horticulturist. The crops of berries
and cabbages that he raises are something
wonderful. His contributions to the
press are valuable; butI never read one
containing more iuformation than the
one in which he recounted the mzstakes
ofhis horticultural life. I believe that
space can be profitably occupied in men-
tioning a few things that experienced
bee-keepers look upon as mistakes in bee-
keeping.

The man who has decided that he will
choose bee-keeping as his profession,
makes a mistake when he gets a few col-
onies and attempts to learn the business
all by himself. Both time and money
would besaved by passing at least one
season in the employ of a successful bee-
keeper.

Ifa man must start with a few colo-
nies and Jearn the business by himself,
let him avoid the mistake of attempting

to follow several leaders or systems.
Much confusion and annoyance will be
saved if he adopts the teachings, methods
and appliances of some one successful
bee-keeper. He may make the mistake
of not choosing the best system, but bet-
ter this than a mixture of several systems.

A beginner is quite likely to fall into
the error of increasing his colonies too
rapidly. There is probably no mistake
so disastrous as this on account of its
frequency and results. To the beginner
this is very tempting ground. If bee-
keeping must be learned by experience
and reading (without the serving of an
apprenticeship) the beginning should be
small, and practical knowledge and skill
should keep pace with the increase of
colonies.

A mistake that has been made by many
is in looking upon bee-keeping as a sort
of royal road to wealth, or at least a good
living, with but little labor, and, some
believe, little brains, after they have once
“caught on’”’ to a few secrets. (?) To
choose any business simply because it is
profitable isthe height of folly, A busi-

88 ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE.

ness that is unusually profitable does not
long remain such. It soon becomes over-
crowded and loses its bonanza character.
A man should choose a business because
he and his surroundings are best adapted
to the pursuit.

Many fall into the error of judging en-
tirely by results, regardless of causes.
As that excellent bee-keeper, R. L. Tay-
lor, has said, ‘‘The greatest actual results
do not prove the method of management
by which they were produced to be the
best. Time, and labor, and thought, and
care, and material, and capital, are all
money, so the greatest results numerical-
ly may be obtained at a loss, while the
least apparent results may yield a profit.’’

In much this same manner do many
bee-keepers make the mistake of comput-
ing their income at so many pounds per
colony, and at so much per pound. The
greatest yield per colony might not be so
profitable as a less yield per colony from
more colonies, or even a lessened yield
from the same number of colonies. Ifa
great yield per colony is the result of a
great deal of work, it may be that the
work was done at a loss. Bee-keeping
should be viewed in a broader light. It
may sometimes be profitable to put a
great deal of work on each colony, but
each bee-keeper should ask himself, how,
all things considered, can I make the
most profit? That is the question, and
all other propositions not relating direct-
ly thereto are mistakes.

And this leads to the mention of
another mistake, the keeping of too few
bees. Instead of keeping only a few
swarms and striving to secure the largest
yields per colony, it is often more profit-
able to keep more bees—enough to gather
all the honey produced in a given area,
and then when said area is overstocked,
it is probably a mistake not to start out-
apiaries. Thereis much to be gained in
having as few things to do as possible,
and as much of them as can be managed.
The proportional cost of doing business
is greatly lessened by increasing the vol-
ume of business.

Another mistake is that of choosing
hives, implements and methods that are
complicated and require much time for
their manipulation. A most common
error in this line is in trying to adapt
hives to bees, to such an extent as to al-
most entirely ignore the adaptability of
the hive to the bee-keeper. I remember
once hearing a bee-keeper arguing for a
hive that it was ‘‘so handy for the bees.’’
“Why,” said he, ‘if you were building a
house, would you have it so arranged
that your wife would be obliged to go up
and down stairs between the kitchen and
the pantry?’ It must be remembered
that we build hives for our bees and
houses for our wives with altogether dif-
ferent ends in view. We don’t keep
bees nor arrange their hives with a view
tosaving them labor, but that we may
get the most honey with the least labor
to ourselves. » Drone-traps, queen-traps,
self-hivers, queen-excluders, smokers
aud many other contrivances are probably
not considered ‘thandy’’ by the bees, but
their use is an advantage to us.

It is in a line with this method of rea-
soning that causes some bee-keepers to
make the mistake of condemning any
practice that is not ‘“‘according to na-
ture.’? The whole system of modern bee
culture is a transgression of nature’s laws,
so-called. In some things it is advisable
to allow nature to have her own way, in
others it is not, and we have the best suc-
cess when we have learned just where we
can advantageously, toa certain extent,
cross nature’s methods with those of
man’s intelligence.

Mistakes have been made, and erron-
eous conclusions arrived at, by experi-
menting upon too small a scale. There
are some kinds of experiments which will
demonstrate truths just as well upon a
small as upona large scale, while there
are others requiring experiments upon a
large scale and a repetition of experiments
before definite conclusions can be arrived
at.

Many beginners make the mistake of
thinking they can improve some of the

ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 89

standard hives or implements, and that
before they have fairly learned the busi-
ness,

Others make the mistake of adopting
new hives, implements, methods or vari-
eties of bees upon too large a scale be-
fore they are certain that the change will
be desirable. When a new thing with
one advantage is held up before our eyes,
we are too much given to forgetting the
many advantages possessed by the article
that we are asked to lay aside for the new
comer. Asarule, the rank and file can,
afford to wait until at least good reports
are given in regard to a novelty. Then
it will be in order to experiment upon no
larger scale than that upon which failure
can be met and borne.

Speaking of the ‘‘rank and file,’’ wait-
ing for the leaders or others to try novel-
ities, reminds me that it is a mistake to
have undue confidence in the leaders iu

bee-culture, It is possiblethat they may
be in error, or some unknown circum-
stances may cause different results at
different times in other localities. It is
amistake to pin one’s faith blindly to
another. Do your own thinking, be
original, try things for yourself until you
are sure you are right, then go ahead.

One expensive mistake, yet one that is
easily avoided, is made year after year by
many bee-keepers, and that is in not
securiny hives, sections, foundation and
other supplies in season. They inxzend to
buy them soon enough, but wait until the
last moment. So many others do the
same thing that dealers and manufactur-
ers are over-run with orders, and expen-
sive and vexatious delays occur. A de-
lay of only a few days at just the right
time sometimes means the loss of a crop
of honey.

Index to Chapters.

Introduction,. easeenietrie
Care of Bees in » Witter. ia Bcc
Securing Workers for the Garvest, : be secbesa scoop cvs aetna AC cE
Bee Hives and their Characteristics...............csssecssvseses eee shes tan een eames MLE
Honey Boardsso.. ceissciecieasnmaudieiss inde ose sete cake receemiaareesensanemanwectiecsecmees 15
Sections and Their Adjustinent-o on thie TTS el), Zan er tarsi ea arermeena bral Oohigalen Sonemese> eye
Varieties of Bees. ii. caieckanencectuniimndnreearmacanncinatnetser

Introducing Queens.................

Planting for Honey.....
Specialty Versus Mixed Bee-Keeping............ ... Aig > satel
a race che chi ean a Ae, 29

Separators.. ai miredegta ls sess ecetsiy Sota Rta nee bamnernee ee Maw cob
Increase, its ‘Management, avd ‘Conwol, Kea cay ra erer abate tek hes eben as acct castces eibeaneas obatssonnet patente 33
SHAME 1Or BEC aie. nese teenager Teeca bins Geatanan en inn lean Soles cate ore ae iat aruda aralneinadig 34
Contraction of the Brood Nest.... 37
FTWAN SAB OES ig, bts ca ic asainieag decinsarchadgbrneamais aagiciahe tes ASME Namie nmestreeeneeay <8)
Bowl Brood) oo. cccuiseiss dewass qi n'¥elndasewialeaonatna baind-ds edewjaer tthe utaozeuneoacnees 4S)
The Use and Abnect Comb Poundatione o-oo5 oc caseccscstincwoteaiiccsseuie sesnadsy 240
Queene Rea niN Bu auasedonsiooe, st mueiaaaath Gana abana enodel tiaer Gast daedwedaaanedee w. 49
How to Produce Good Heirncied Honey nisyceal SL paeativtcle ela a eANG Sosa le cehaehes dete Cakem hea 54
“Feeding Back”’, ‘ SS sosnbiduswumtinncaeceahumiede gawaliwadonvinlD®
From the Hive to the Honey “Market. saibinijan ain deaicneliRee atone cement seonseeiete AOL
Marketing Of HOne ys .jscdadvnasetistyldeteaantinenmetulseedsiae nea. ee eelnomsaeienhes arent sanicammaws 65
Migratory Bee-Keeping....0.0000 0... ccccccecccceceee noes 68
CBE ASP UAT LES sy saels water e avr ora at al ea eal eon 70
Apiarian Exhibits at Pate, 72
Relation of Food to the Wintéring of Hees... i dugancsluuastialinkaibe dep Caseumena cane amelenete: LO
Out- bier Nyilemes soda usin ke cals deed abies 77
Ventilation of Bee Cellars... 79
Relation of Moisture to the Wintering of Bees .....0.........0.. 00005. 80
Influence of Temperature in Wintering Bees....000000 0000 cooc cece cee ce cece ceeeeeeae tees 82
Comforts and Conveniences in the Apiary....0000 000 000. cccc cece ce ceceeneececeeeesteee 85

Mistelces! ti) Bee see pi inet 41. at inn si aats naesaarerdain un hse neuen wainasoededaens aaaeans BT

VICTOR'S

Strain of Italians Awarded the siploma as Being
the Best Bees at the Pan American

See what Mr. Orel L. Hershiser, Supt. of the Apiarian Dept. says of them.
BuFFALO, N. Y. August 30th, 1901.

My dear Victor:—Queen and nucleus arrived safely yesterday; made entrance to
nucleus and allowed them to fly yesterday P. M. Transferred them to Dovetailed hive
this morning without smoke, and handled them, patting them on the back, and I
never saw such quiet and docile bees. If their working qualities are as superior as
their handling, Iam prepared to say.you have the best bees I ever met; which would
inclu le some 25 or 30 different breeders and all the well known races.

Yours truly, OREL L. HERSHISER.

Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, President of the National Bee-Keepers’ Association, and
judge of the bee-exhibit at the Pan American, says.

Friend Victor:—Yours of the 30th ult came duly tohand. Yes; your bees were
awarded a diploma, which was the Aighest award made to an individual exhibitor.
I don’t know as I can make any particular statement in regard to your bees, except
that they pleased me the best of any that were there.

As ever yours, W. Z. HUTCHINSON.

I am still booking orders for queens of this superior strain, at catalogue prices,

for spring delivery. First come, first served. Send for price lists.

W. 0. Victor, (out) Wharton, Texas

THE HEDDON HIVE

Is pre-emineutly the hive :
forthe specialist. The rea-
sons why are given most
clearly in the chapter on

hives in this book. Turn
back and read it. This hive
is patented, but we have
such arrangements with Mr.
Heddon that we can supply
these hives, and the right to
use them goes with the hives.

Send for our illustrated
catalog, anda sample copy of
the Progressive Bee-Keeper.

Leahy Mfg. Go.

Higginsville, Mo.

AAARARAARRARAAARARA ARRAS AAA

LV ] Oo
The BEE- KEEPERS’ REVIEW is a 36-page monthly, at $1.00 a year, edited and
published by the author of this book. Asindicated by its name, one of its dis-

tinctive features is that of reviewing current, apicultural literature. Errors and
fallacious ideas are faithfully but courteously and kindly pointed out, while nothing
valuable is allowed to pass unnoticed. But few articles are copied entire, but the

ideas are extracted, given in the fewest words possible, and commented upon when
thought advisable.

Instead of devoting space to ‘‘hints to beginners,’ the REVIEW turns its atten-
tion to the unsolved problems of advanced bee culture.

While valuable truths are eagerly welcomed from any and every source, the
utmost pains are taken to secure, as correspondents, successful apiarists who are able
to write, from experience, such articles as help the practical bee-keeper. Send
ten cents for three late but different issues, and the ten cents may apply on any sub-
sciiption sent in during the year. A coupon will be sent entitling the holder to the
REVIEW one year for only go cents.

W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Flint, Mich.

The Danzenbaker |HONEY
HIVE QUEENS

Law’s Imported Golden Queens, Law’s
Long-Tongued Leather Colored Queens,
and Law’s Holy Land Queens.

Is the best comb honey hive

on the market, and may be or i eee
: aw’s Queens are the standard bre
obtained of the A. I. Root Co., queens of America. The largest honey

Medina. Ohio. at anv of their producers use them and praise them.
’ ’ J Law’s Queens go everywhere. He can
branch houses, and of many | furnish you a queen any month in the

7 ‘i : year. Five apiaries. Queens bred in
local and jobbing agencies. | their purity. Single queen, $1.00; one

For particulars about the hive, dozen $10.00. Fine breeders, the very
: best, $3.00 each. Send for price list.
and its management for comb | adaress

honey, send to the A. I. Root

Co. for a 75-page pamphlet W. H. LAWS,

entitled “Facts About Bees”
It is sent free. Beeville, Tex:

Superior Stock.

Every bee-keeper who has had experience
with several slrains of bees knows that some are
far superior to others—that there is scrub stock
among bees, just as there are scrub horses, cat-
tle, sheep and poultry.

Let me give my own experience: Years ago,
while living at Rogersville, I made a specialty of
rearing queens for sale. Before engaging in
this work, I bought queens, and Italianized, not
only my own bees, but all within three miles of
my apiary. In buying those queens I think I
patronized nearly every breeder in the United
States; and, even in those years of inexperience,
I was not long in noting the great difference in
the different strains of bees. The queens from
one particular breeder produced bees that de-
lighted me greatly. They were just plain, dark,
three-banded Italians, but, as workers, I have
never seen them equaled. They seemed posses-
sed of a steady, quiet determination that enabled
them to lay up surplus ahead of the others.
Easier bees to handle I have never seen. Their
honey was capped with a snowy whiteness
rivaling that of the blacks. In addition, they
were hardy. If any bees came through the win-
ter, it was colonies of this strain. They came as
near being ideal bees as any I have ever posses-
sed. All this was more than twenty years ago;
but, several times since, I have bought queens
of this breeder, and I always found this strain
of bees possessed of those same good qualities—
industry, gentleness, hardiness anda disposition
tocap theirhoney white: I frequently corres-
ponded with this breeder, and with those who
had bought queens of him, and, finally, I became
thoroughly convineed that he had a strain of
bees far superior to the general run of stock.
Whether this superiority results from length of
tongue, about which there has been so much
talk the past year, I do not know, but I do know
that no bees have been found with greater
tongue-length.

This breeder had always advertised in a quiet,
unassuming sort of way, nothing in proportion
to what the quality of his stock would have war-
ranted, when, two years ago, I decided that I
could help him, and benefit my readers, at a
profit to myself, by advertising these bees ina
manner befittingly energetic. I putthe price at

$1.50, but the conditions were such that it was
impossible for any loss to fallupon a purchaser.
The queens sent out were young queens just be-
ginning to lay, but I guaranteed safe arrival,
safe introduction, purity of mating, and satis-
faction to the extent that, any time within two
years, a purchaser could return the queen for
any cause whatever, if he was not satisfied with
her, and his money would be refunded, and 50
cents additional sent to pay him for his trouble.
Ihave sold several hundred queens, sending
them to all parts of the United States, and I have
been asked to return the money in just ONE
INSTANCE. I don’t mean by this that no other
complaint has been made, for there have been
others, but in the other cases purchasers have
very kindly allowed me to send other queens
in place of those that did not prove satisfactory.
Even with the best of stock and management
there will occasionally be a poor queen. Possi-
bly loug journeys by mail have some hearing
upon this part of the question. Josses in ship-
ment are not serious; losses in introduction are
not serious, unless it is during the dearth be-
tween the summer and fall honey-flows; mis
mated queens are not worth considering, they
don’t exceed one percent ; but all of these losses
have cheerfully been made good, and will con-
tinue to be made good in the future.

As to testimonials, regarding their superior-
ity, Icould fill page after page with them. I
have occasionally published a few, but what is
the use? Any one can try this strain without
taking a particle of risk.

From the very first, the demand has been
greater than the supply. The opening of the
season usually finds me with at least 200 orders
on hand. Any one wishing totry one of these
queens, ought to order it some little time in
advance, asorders are booked and filled in rota-
tion. Iam still offering them at the same price
and under the same conditions as before viz.,
$1.50 for aqueen alone, fully guaran eed as
above stated, or a queen and the Review for one
year for only $2.00, This offeris open to either
old or new subscribers. If you wish to try
one of these queens, better send in your order,
together with a subscription to the Review—
remember, $2.00 pays for both.

W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Michigan.

ascade Bee Hive Co.

Does experience count in manufacturing? We think it does.
We offer as evidence of our ability to serve you, the fac simile of
the medal awarded to our manager by the State of Minnesota. He

has been act-
in the manu-
‘sale of Bee-
Supplies for
visited many
factories in
crossedthe
twice, exam-
and equip-

ively engaged
facture and
hives and
15 years; has
of the largest
the world; has
continent
ining fac tories
ments, inter-

ers and consu-
goods;has
sections and
the carload to
such dealers as Leahy Mfg.
Co., Kretch- mer Mfg. Co.,
Arkansas Valley Bee-Keepers in Co.orado, to Culifurnia and Nevada
dealers, and many others; also many small dealers and consumers.
Methods of manufacture are improving; we are getting to the front.
We want your order, no matier how small.

CAR LOAD BUYERS

Of Bee Hives, and all kinds of Bee Supplies, as well as consumers,

viewing deal-
mers of hee
sold hives,
supplies by

will find it to their interest to let us know their needs. We sel] to the
jobbing trade all over the world. We have financjal interests and
business contracts with two of the largest factories in the United
States, as well as being sole proprietors of a smal] plant of our own.
One of our factories is cutting 12,000,000 of lumber this year, We

waut your business, Address, for a catalogue,

CASCADE BEE HIVE C0.

River Falls, Wis.

|
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ms

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PRS

3

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PRAGA,

Tennessee
Queens

Daughters of selected, imported Ital-
iaus, selected long-tongued (Movore’s)
and selected straight, five-banded
Queens. Bred three miles apart, and
mated to select drones. No bees own-
ed within two and one-half miles; none
impure within three miles, and very
few within five miles. No bee disease in this part
of the country.

All queen cells are built in strong, full colonies,
by the most approved modern methods. Safe ar-
rival guaranteed on all queens.

Untested queens, before July, 75 cts each; six for
$4.00; twelve for $7.50. After July Ist, single
queen, 60 cts; six for $3.25; twelve for $6.00.

Tested queens, before July, $1.50 each; six for
$8.00; twelve for $15.00. After July rst, single
queen for $1.25; six for $6.00.

Discounts on large orders. Contracts with deal-
ers a specialty.

S. U0. Davis

Spring Hill, Cen.

The Rauchfuss Combined Section-Press
And Foundation-Fastener

Has the following advantages:

1. Sections are handled but once in going
from the crate to the super.

2. Its work is more accurate and rapid than
that of any other machine on the market.

3. Because of its great capacity, sections need
not be put up until wanted.

4 Aninexpe ienced person ora child can do
satisfactory work. .

5 The wotk is done in a sitting position.

6. Any temperature at which foundation can
be handled is suitable for operating, and a mod-
erate temperature is «ven betterthan a high one,
for it is easier to handle foundation with some
backbone to it.

7. Ittakes any width of the 4%x4% inch sec-
tions. An adjustable guide-block brings the
f undation exactly tot e center.

8. It can be fastened to any bench or table.

teing of metal it resists moisture and with
fair usage will lasta liletime.

10. Ittakes starters, ful sheets, or both: or
any intermediate size of sheets

11 Itsaves foundation by melting only the
lea t possible amount from the edge.

12, The wax melted froin the edge of the foun-
dation is highly heated and thoroughly grips the
fibers of the wood. so that rather than separate
from the sections the foundation itself will tear.

13. $o Small au. m<eunt of wax is melted that
it cools instantly and causes no delay.

14. For the same season the touudation when
$5 00 fastened appears to be only resting én the wood,

s * giving the finished honey a superior appearance
when cut from the secticn.

These advantages enables it to pay for itself in
one season, even in a small apiary.

See what some of the men say who have used
the machine :—

LONGMONT, Colo , Jan. 29, 1902.

In putting together sections Iusea Rauchfuss,
combined machine. If there is any better I have
not seenit The sectio: s go right from the crate
to the super with one operation. My wife i- the

Patented Feb, 4, 1896. champion a his; artofthe business; her aver-
age day’s work, of eight hours, heing too supers.
M. A. GILL.

[Mr. Gill is one of Colorado's foremost bee-keepers, managing about 700 colonies ]

Rauchfus Bros. L'ttleton, Colo.

I have used your Combined Section Press and Foundation Fastener for six years and would
not sell the same fur $25 if I could not get another onc, as it isin my estimation the only per-
fect machine of this kind on the market, and will gladly recommend it toany bee-keeper,

LEWIS BROCK.

(Mr. Brock keeps 260 colonies in three apiaries and has two of our machine;.]

Rauchfuss Bros., 3522 Alcott St., Denver, Colo.

i have used your c mbined machine for making sections and putting in foundation. After us-
ing many other devices for doing the same work, Iwishtosa that your machine gives us the
best satisfaction for rapid and reliable work.

Yours very truly
W.I,. PORTER.
(Mr, Porter is one of the most extensive bee-keepers in the State—he runs 6v0 colonies.]

This machine is manufactured and for sale by

FRANK RAUCHFUSS, ‘Wéeret se Denver, Col.

It can also be obtained of the following dealers:—

G. B. Lewis Co., Watertown, Wis.
W. I. Falconer Mfg. (0, Jamestown, N. Y.
Chas. Dadant & Son, Hamilton, II.
Rob’t Halley, Montrose, Colo.
Delta Fruit & Produce Co., Delta, Colo.
Barteldes & Co., 1521 15th St., Deuver, Colo,
L. A. Watkins Mdse, Co,, Denver, Colo.
The Colorado Honey Producers Ass'n Denver, Colo.

MICHIGAN

Headquarters for G. B. Lewis Co’s. Bee-Keepers’
Supplies. Dadant’s Foundation.

We have the largest stock of supplies in the State, and can ship on one day’s notice. Send for
our 48 - page, illustrated catalogue, and give us a trial order. 5-02-tf

L. C. WOODMAN, Grand Rapids, Mich.

\ \ to sell you bee-keepers’ supplies.
e \\ dil to give you entire satisfaction.
For these reasons we dealin Root’s Goods, both wholesale and retail.

Our specialties—Hives, Sections and Comb Foundation. Cash paid for beeswax.
Lortf M. H. HUNT & SON, Bell Branch, Mich.

) \ .
Root's bee Supplies
In Central Michigan. Cheapest place to buy, and the best

shipping point in the State. Bees for sale. Send for list.
W. D. SOPER, Jackson, Mich. F. R. D. No. 3.

we have them at Roots
If You Want escs“ss2cc% | Red Clover

books printed on bees.

Catalogue free. Address

Root’s Goods D. Cooley & Son, Long Tongued Queens
Kendall, Mich.
We are breeding the long-tongued, red

clover, honey queens. This strain of

QUEENS bees is ahead of all others as honey
‘ gatherers and comb builders. They just

roll in the honey while other bees are try-
ing to rob. Give our queens a trial.
Untested, in May, June and July, 75c;
six for $4.25; twelve for $3.00. Tested,
$1.25; select tested, $1.50. Three-frame

nucleus and untested queen, for $2.75.
Order from this advertisment.

Iama practical breeder
of Italian Queens. I
make a specialty of rear-
ing three and five-banded
queens from the best
strain in this country.
Untested queens, 75C¢
each; tested, $1.00 each. Dealers sup-
plied at wholesale prices. This is a Preston
Money Order office so remit by post office
Money Order. Store & Bee Co.
Respectfully yours, for queens
DANIEL WURTH, Caryville, Tex. Dority, W. Va.

KSB ALIEES ELIE FUE OUI

RSL SSL COTES ELSA

Best Honey

Queens on Record

Are those superior Atchley queens reared by
Will Atchley. They are the best that money
anda life time experience can produce. A trial
order will convince you. Untested queens $1.00
each in Jan, Feb., March, Nov and Dec; all
other months 75 cents each; $4.25 for six; $8.00
for one dozen. Tested queens from $1.50 to $3.00
according to quality. Breeders from $3.00 to
$5.00 each. I breed the Holylands, Albinos, three-
bande { imported Italians, five-banded or Gold-
ens, Cyprians and Carniolans. All bred from
imported stock in separate yards from 5 to 30
miles apart. The prices given are for queens
from any of these stocks. I guarantee perfecr
satisfaction and safe arrival to y. uroffice Ican
supply the celebrated Southwest Texas honey
at 10 cents per pound for nice, choice, bulk, comb
honey in 6ofb tins, two in a case.

Will Atehley
Box 79 Beeville Tex.

KIBET SES EI LES ECA EES

BCTIONS

We make millions of them yearly; workman-
ship, smoothness and finish can’t be better.
basswood grows right here.
good Shipping Cases, you can get them of us,
A full line of Bee Supplies on hand.

Write for illustrated catalog and price list, free.

Marshtie

Mig. Co. Marshfield,

The

If you want some

é
:

:
$F
Pacific Coast

Queen Bees.

Since Icommenced producing honey,
I have frequently sent East, South and to
Italy for queens. Some were received in
good condition, but many died in the
mail, or amounted to little after introduc-
tion. This led me to rearing queens for
the Pacific Coast trade last year; so that
the long, risky trip would not be neces-
sary. That my efforts have been appreci-
ated is indicated by the fact that all the
orders “‘in sight,’ could not be filled un-
tilin May. With large increase of nuclei,
I hope to take care of my share of the
trade promptly in the future, and shall
send circular and price list on application.

W. A. H. Gillstrap

Grayson, Cal.

TD,

Wisconsin.

vote my whole time to the supply business.

$1,800 Worth | |

Of new machinery, designed expressly for use in making bee-keepers’
supplies, has just been placed in our factory. My son has taken
charge of the planing mill department, and this leaves me free to de-

Not only will this work

be pushed, and orders filled promptly, but the workmanship will be

as perfect as it is possible to make it.

We are located in the pine and basswood region, and own a saw

mill and planing mill of our own.

We make our own foundation.

All things considered, we are in position to furnish the very best of

goods at the lowest possible prices.

Send for price list.

Wm. Bamber, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

|

The American Bee Journal,

In order to become a pre gressive apiarist, and
at the same time realize the most money from
your bzes, you cannot afford to be without a good
bee-paper, The AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, es-
tablished in 1861, isa 16-page WEEKLY, well il-
lustrated, and fully up-to-date in every thing per-
taining to bee-culture.

ITS DEPARTMENTS.

Contributed Articles.—Discussions of im-
portant topics and bee-keeping experiences—by
experts. ; y
, Convention Proceedings,—Just what this
implies.

Questions and Anuswers.—In charge of
Dr. C.C. Miller, a bee-keeper of 40 years experi-
ence, who answers all questions. Invaluable
to beginners in bee-keeping.

Ze itorial Comments.—Just what this indi-
cates.

The Weekly Budget.—Being mainly per-
sonal items and miscellaneous notes.

pueedom Boiled Dowu.—Cream of bee-liter-
ature.

The Afterthought.—This is in charge of
Mr. E. E, Hasty ,who reviews what has appeared
in recent numbers of the AMERICAN BEE-JouR-
NAL, pointing out any errors and commending
the good things,

General Items.—Being short experiences
and reports of the honey-crop, condition of bees,
etc. Price of the BEE JOURNAL, one year, $1.00.
A sample cop, free on application.

G. W. YORK & CO. Chicago, IIl., 144 Erie St.

AG@rWe are headquarters for Root’s Bee-Keep-
ers’ Supplies. Catalog free.

Bee-Keepers’
Supplies

And all the latest hives and
appliances for the progressive

bee-keeper. Improved Italian

Bees and Queens.

Having had large experi-
ence am able to give advice to
Send for II-

lustrated Catalogue.

J. H. M. Cook,

62 Cortland St.,
New York.

beginners free.

We are the Largest Mannfacturers of Bee-Keepers’ Supplies in the Northwest,

Send for catalog. >.

Minneapolis, Minn.

We have the c Bal cs, Lowest Prices, ald Best Shipping Facilities,

Our Shallow Dove. Hives with deep super for sections 4 x 5
or 3% x 5 is the best for raising comb honey. We manufac-
ture the best swarm catcher, up to the present time, that is
put on the market. Our Improved Daisy Foundation Fastener
is in the lead of all others. If you want your bees to winter
well, get our Winter Cases, they will winter your bees for a
century. You must remember that we manufacture the best
Bee-Keepers’ supplies, and we guarantee everything to be just
as represented.

NO FISH BONE

Is apparent in comb honey when the Van Deusen,
flat-bottom foundation is used. This style of foun-
dation allows the making of a more uniform article,
having a very thin base, with the surplus wax in
the side-walls, where it can be utilized by the bees,
and the result is a comb that can scarcely be dis-

tinguished from that built wholly by the bees.
Being sothin, one pound will fill a large number
of sections. All the Trouble of wiring brood
frames can be avoided by using the Van Deusen
wired. Send for circular, price list, and samples
of foundation.

J. Van Deusen, Sprout Brook, N. Y-

VEL LGGS

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ESTABLISHED 1876

_S.T.FISH & CO. }

189 SOUTH WATER ST.

(CHICAGO. ]

COMMISSION MERCHANTS AND WHOLE-
SALE DEALERS IN

COMB AND EXTRACTED
HONEY AND WAX

WE ARE BUYERS AND MAKE LIBERAL ADVANCES
ON CONSIGNMENTS. CORRESPOND WITH us,
SUBMITTING SAMPLES OF EXTRACTED HONEY.

REFERENCE S—First NATIONAL BANK,
CHICAGO; ALL COMMERCIAL AGENCIES oR ANY
WHOLESALE GROCER.

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BEE SUPPLIES.

We have one of the best equipped factories in the West. We carry
a large stock and the greatest variety of everything needed in the

apiary, assuring Best goods and Lowest prices and prompt ship-

ment. We want every bee-keeper to have our

Free Ulustrated Catalog

and read the description of the Alternating hives, Ferguson Supers, etc,
Write at once for catalog. Address

Kretchmer Mfg. Co., Red Oak, lowa

AGENCIES—Trester Supply Company, Lincoln, Neb. Shugart
& Ouren, Council Bluffs, Ia. Chas. Spangler, Kentland, Ind.

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: Dittmer’s
FOUNDATION

RETAIL—WHOLESALE—J OBBING.

This foundation is made by an original process,
that absolutely removes every particle of dirt and
foreign substance from the wax and produces a
foundation that has the rich, clean, light yellow
color, and sweet odor natural to the finest, pure
wax. It has athin, clear and transparent base,
and is the finest looking foundation produced.
Having a very thin base, it has more sheets to the
pound than any other make. It is used exclusive-
ly by the largest honey producers in the United
States. It is tough and will not sag, and has es-
tablished, on its own merits, the repntation of be-
ing the best and most desirable in all respects.

My process and Automatic Machines are my own
inventions; which enable me to sell foundation and
Work Wax into Foundation for Cash at
prices that are the lowest. Catalogue giving

Full Line of Supplies,

with prices and samples, free on application. Bees-
wax wanted.

Gus. Dittmer, Agusta, Wis.

Spe LIIR a gl MR SEC ORL. RRO
Vg SIN SS
: a

NY,
ye

oy

Western Apiarists

Will Save Money in Buying

Bee Supplies

From the

Pioneer Supply House of Colorado

BARTELDES & Co.,

Denver, Colo.

Illustrated Catalogue with

“HINTS TO BEGINNERS,” FREE.

Bee ~ Keepers

Send for our complete

illustrated catalog. It

is free.

We will furnish you
with the finest supplies
in the world, and make

prompt shipment.

G. B. Lewis Co.
Watertown, Wis.

C. H. W. WEBER,

Successor to Chas. F. Muth and

A. Muth, Dealer in

Honey and Wax

Of Any Kind and Description.

Bee Supplies

Prompt Service Guaranteed.
CATALOGUE FREE.

Send for Same.

Cincinnati, Ohio.

2146 Central Ave.

A.LRoot

Company

1o Vine St.

Philadelphia.

This is a Branch of the
Main Office.
Same Terms and Arrangement
Here as Medina,
Direct Steamship Rates
To all
North and South Atlantic States.

PASSESESSS SSS SESE SS SLL

Walter S. Pouder, Indianapolis, Indiana,
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Bee-Keepers’

Supplies

Pure Honey and Beeswax. Headquarters in In-
diana and the West for Root’s Goods at Root’s
prices. Pouder Square Flint Glass Honey Jars,
the Red Cross Brand. Shipments without break-
age. I have recently added to my list of Bottlers’
supplies, tin foil caps for the three sizes of Pouder
Jars. Acircular giving directions how to put up
honey in the jars so that it will not granulate, is
sent free. If youintend making an exhibit at your
Fair I can aid you in every detail. May I have
the pleasure of sending you my latest catalog?

Water S .Rowder.

(CZFFSFEESSEEZE SESE SSS FFF SSF

RED’'CLOVER QUEENS

(IMPERIAL STRAIN)

SOME TESTIMONIALS

BLACK RIVER, N. Y.

ZZS

Indianapolis, Ind.
512 Mass. Ave.

SRE SRSA ESR ESR ESRESRE
FALSE SEZCB CPSP FPF FPF FF

(US SS SS SLL

I praise them above all bees I ever handled. I

Nov. 8, 1902.
Mr. A. D. D. WOOD,
Dear Sir:—! think you understand send-
ing queens by mail,for they come as queens

should; looking small, lively and NoT FULL OF’

EGGS. They bred clear up into October—all I
could ask of queens. I will tell you how they
turn out, in 1902. Everything looks promising
with them now.

Yours very truly, GEO. B. HOWE.

My RED CLOVER yields from 25 to 50 per cent.
more seed since your RED CLOVER bees were
put into my neighborhood.

Yours verytruly,
SAMUEL TUCKER, Dewitt, Mich.

FREEWATER, Ore. Jan. 9, 1902.
Mr. A.D, D. WOOD

Dear Sir:—I wish to say that the 12
queens you sent me by mail came in the most
excellent condition from their long journey.
For the past two weeks their offspring have been
flying quite freely. They did excellent work the
last part of the season, while for color and gen-
tleness they are not excelled in this country. I
have been in the bee business for 20 years, and

1ealize I cannot recommend them too highly.
Yours Respectfully, C. G. ROGERS.

WHITTEMORE, Mich., Oct. 21st, 1gor.
Mr. A. D. D. WOOD,

Dear sir:—I thought I would write and
tell you how I got along with the queens I bought
of you. I got them introduced to old colonies
that had swarmed seven days before, cutting out
all queen cells. They g awed the queens and
bees out in due time, and never even killed any
of the workers. The hives are full of Italian
bees, and I believe they are going to be dandies.
I gave them supers of unfinished sections, the
last week of the honey flow, and they filled them
out, and capped the honey as white as any blacks
ever could. I am more than pleased with them.

EDWARD WILSON.

Now friends you can have just such queens.
Hundreds of good bee-keepers got them ast
season. You ought not to be without your share.

The price wilt be, in June, $1.00 for onw untest-
ed; 12 for $10.00, ‘Tested, $2.00 each; or, 12 for
ele After July 1, 75¢ for one untected, or $1.50
‘or one tested,

A. D. D. WOOD, LANSING, MICH.

1
.

Hildreth & Segelken

Jobbers and Commission Merchants

Sn Honey
(Car Lots a Specialty )

Crude and Refined Beeswax

Maple Sugar and Syrup

265-207 Greenwich St. and 82-84 Murray St., Mew York

Twenty years’ experience in handling ~
and selling Honey.

Our shippers are distributed all over the
country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

If you have any honey or beeswax, and
you want to sell or find a market for it, -
write to us.

If your crop is short and you want to buy
honey, write to us. No harm in correspond-

ing and it may lead to business.

co -

——__ + 2 - ____—_..

EE keeping
is busy
workin

“the summer-time;
but the winter
brings a leisure
that many more

== bee-keepers might
5, Profitably employ
*- in making needed
=), hives, stlpers or
“" shipping cases for
AOD He ey eat
Power and expen-
sive machinery are
*, not needed; simply a cozy little shop and a foot-pow-
“* er saw are all that are needed, When a bee-keep-
=e er realizes all this, there is no question as to what —
d. saw he shall buy; it is made at the factory of a a “
>: W.F. & JNO. BARNESCO., Rockford, Ths. a
The editor of the Review has used one of these jp ©
machines, and has no hesitation in saying thatitis [0™ 7
all that is claimed for it. Any one whebuys a ma- mee
‘chine, and is not entirely satisfied with it, has the
r/ Hates of returning it and having his money re- as
.), turned. One thing more; there are attachments,
“such as a scroll-saw, a boring attachment, ete. that "=
can be added at a small cost. Send for catalogue. jf