42 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



of the shock. This is a great advant- 

 age with sweet clover in this climate. 



Pres. Baxter— The next number on 

 the program will be the address of Hon. 

 N. E. France of Platteville, Wis. 



Mr. France is not here. ' Mr. Moore 

 will read his paper. 



SHORT CUTS IN BEE-KEEPING. 



By short cuts we expect some short- 

 er or better ways in bee-keeping. I 

 will simply give you what to me are 

 "Short Cuts" that save work and ex- 

 pense. 



1. System. Have a plan well stud- 

 ied out— then work to the same. So 

 few seem to have system that I con- 

 sider it of great importance. 



2. Young Italian Queens, home 

 grown or from best breeders, means 

 less swarming, much stronger swarms, 

 more honey, more late hatched bees for 

 winter, more early spring brood, and 

 last, but not least, one of the' best 

 treatments for European Foul Brood. 



3. A bicycle wheelbarrow to use in 

 carrying supers of honey, or combs; 

 also the ideal way to carry hives of 

 bees into and out of the cellar. The 

 dash of barrow to be at right angles 

 with floor of same, so that no upper 

 hive or super will slip ahead while 

 wheeling. 



4. Hives in apiary in rows with the 

 alleys easily reached from beehouse. 

 Apiary on slightly sloping ground, 

 preferably towards southeast. Bee- 

 house below apiary for easy wheeling. 



5. Hives in sunshine with shade 

 board cover during hot weather will 

 produce for me more bees and surplus 

 honey and less cross bees. 



6. Bee cellars with abundance of inlet 

 and outlet for fresh air. I use 80 feet 

 of six inch tile coming in under cel- 

 lar wall for inlet and a foot square box 

 tube from bottom of cellar to roof of 

 house above for outlet. 



A hinged door in outlet near ceiling 

 of cellar to open if at any time the 

 cellar gets too warm. Cellar walls 

 should be all underground, thus avoid- 

 ing outside weather to affect inside 

 temperature. 



7. Do not pack absorbents between 

 cellar joists. It will soon "dry rot" the 

 joists. Better have dead air space and 

 packing over floor abpve. 



8. I use common tallow candle in 

 box 4x4x12 inches. Box open on one 

 side; handle at top. With this light 

 only where wanted I can remain in the 



cellar any length of time and not dis- 

 turb the bees. 



9. Bees go into cellar next day after 

 a fly the last of November and out in 

 spring just before maple bloom opens. 

 Removing them during evening. 



By using a little smoke in cellar, in 

 putting bees in for winter or removing 

 in spring, they will remain in hives 

 and not bother. 



10. Outside wintering on summer 

 stands. (I so wintered 500 colonies for 

 40 years). Just above the cluster of 

 bees should be' a super with good ab- 

 sorbent of moisture (not sawdust) but 

 forest leaves or chaff or cloth. 



Either chaff hives or hives well pro- 

 tected, but not with black paper. 



11. AH honey removed with escape 

 boards. Said boards on upper side 

 have wooden guides leading the bees 

 to the opening of escape. 



12. I have exchanged all my zinc 

 queen excluders for modern wood and 

 wire. They save the bees' wings and 

 let bees through much easier. I have 

 tested hives with and without exclud- 

 ers side by side and in every case the 

 one with excluder same season paid for 

 same over one without excluder. 



13 One steam heated uncapping 

 knife will easily do work of five others. 

 Many, however, do not use enough 

 steam for best results. Common oil 

 stove, gallon can over same, with three 

 feet hose tubing, constitutes .my outfit. 



14. Brood combs in fall likely to 

 contain overload of pollen. Lifting or 

 weighing of hive will not tell amount 

 of pollen or honey for winter. A care- 

 ful inspection of combs is necessary. 



15. Cappings should be well broken 

 up and placed over tinned wire cloth 

 onefourth inch mesh to drain out the 

 honey in them. 



16. Full sheets brood foundation in 

 wired frames. The foundation then 

 lightly painted with melted wax pre- 

 vents sagging. Insures quicker made 

 full comb. It also prevents so many 

 drones and less swarming. 



17. I use inch wooden strips on ends 

 of hive bodies for handles. Much 

 easier to handle such hives than with 

 sawkerf cut out like factor^ make. 



18. Wormy combs saved bj- placing 

 combs in tight room Or empty hive 

 bodies — then fumigating same with 

 sulphur or carbon bisulphide. 



19. Combs stored away for long 

 time can be saved by placing combs in 



