May 23, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



327 



are not all " midged." Thousands upou thousands of bee- 

 keepers are located where red clover is all right except the 

 depth of the flower-tubes. 



Without knowing- anything definitely about it, I am of 

 the opinion that $100 would be a low estimate of the gain 

 it would be to me annually if I could have all the red clover 

 honey within easy reach of my bees. At any rate, I would 

 be willing to give f2S or even SlOO, for a queen accompanied 

 by a guarantee that I should have all of said red clover 

 honey ; and I do not believe that E. R. Root is such a 

 scoundrel that he would stretch the tongues in measuring 

 so as to palm off on me a SIO queen for a S2S one. 



Although Mr. Doolittle may have no red clover, he 

 might be willing I should have some benefit, and thousands 

 of others. McHenrv Co., 111. 



Small Neglects Affecting Apiarian Profits. 



Read at the hist Convetitiou of tin' Ontario Bee-Keepers^ Associatio7i, 



BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



" For want of a nail the shoe was lost; 

 For want of a shoe the horse was lost; 

 For want of a horse the rider was lost; 

 Being overtaken by the enemy and slain ; 

 And all for want of a horseshoe nail." 



HOW well this old ditty illustrates the losses that occur 

 in the apiary from little neglects. For want of a 

 pound of feed in the spring the colony may be lost ; 

 and for want of the colony the harvest is lost, as there are 

 no bees to gather it. For want of care in disposing of the 

 cage and accompanying bees when a queen is bought, foul 

 brood may be introduced into the apiary, and the end 

 thereof no one knows. 



Most emphatically is bee-keeping a business of details. 

 Of course, there are certain broad principles that must be 

 observed before success can even be hoped for. The apiary 

 must be located where there are honey-producing plants, 

 and there must be bees in sufficient quantity to gather the 

 nectar. The bee-keeper must understand his locality, know 

 when to expect the harvest, and have everything in readi- 

 ness for it. If in a Northern climate, the bees must be pro- 

 tected in the winter, either by some kind of packing or by 

 putting them into the cellar. If comb honey is to be pro- 

 duced, some system must be adopted that will keep the 

 working force together instead of having it divided up into 

 two or three colonies. But after a man has mastered all of 

 the basic principles of bee-keeping — yes, after he has 

 become conversant with the details — he may lose a large 

 share of his profits simply from out-and-out neglect. 



The bees are in the cellar. He does not go near them. 

 He does not know what the temperature is. It may be too 

 low ; and, if so, it might be possible to add to the protec- 

 tion afforded by the walls. Boards might be set up around 

 the walls, held in place by strips of wood tacked to the sides 

 of the house, and the space filled in with sawdust. This 

 little care alone might, in some instances, secure the safe 

 wintering of bees that would otherwise perish or come 

 through the winter in poor condition. If the bees are in 

 the cellar under the home of the bee-keeper he might 

 employ artificial heat at those times when it is needed. A 

 large oil-stove having a hood over it, connected by means of 

 a pipe with the stovepipe in the room above, will answer 

 every purpose. A cellar may become infested with rats or 

 mice that will gnaw combs, and do much damage if not 

 gotten rid of. Equal parts of flour, sugar and arsenic 

 placed in dishes in the cellar, will make quick work with 

 the rodents. Mice will play sad havoc with colonies left 

 out of doors if the entrances are neglected. The bee- 

 keeper should know how his bees are wintering. He should 

 not neglect them. A perfect wintering of the apiary lays 

 the foundation for a successful season. 



After the bees are placed upon the summer-stands don't 

 neglect them. As soon as the conditions are favorable, 

 look them over. Here and there will be a queenless colony. 

 Here and there will be a weak one. United, such colonies 

 may prove as good as there are in the apiary. Neglected, 

 they will be of little value- the queenless ones will cer- 

 tainly perish, perhaps become a prey to robbers, thus stir- 

 ring up bad blood in the apiary at the time of the year 

 when all should be peace and happiness. Some colonic- 

 will be found with a great abundance of stores, others on 

 the verge of starvation. Neglect here means the loss of 

 all colonies that are short of stores. 



As the harvest comes on, don't neglect to have the 

 hives, sections, frames, etc., all in readiness. Some of 



you maybe ready to shout, "Chestnuts!" Well, if only 

 those shout who have never been caught, I think none of 

 us will need to cover up our ears. Nothing will more 

 quickly change the mood, and disposition, and intention of 

 a colony, cause it to turn its energies into a different chan- 

 nel, than the neglect to furnish it surplus room when it is 

 needed. The disposition to store honey is laid aside for 

 that of swarming. A colony with the swarming fever will 

 do little work until that fever is abated. If a colony first 

 turns its energies in the direction of storing up surplus, it 

 will often continue on in this way the entire season with no 

 thoughts of swarming. And, speaking of swarming, 

 reminds me that the neglect to clip off just one little eighth 

 of an inch from her majesty's wing sometimes results in 

 the bee-keeper striking a dejected attitude, as he gazes sor- 

 rowfully overthe tree tops where he sees disappearing, as lit- 

 tle specks in the sky, the last, few straggling members of the 

 rear guard of a prime swarm that would have stored SO, 

 perhaps 75, pounds of honey for its owner had he not 

 neglected to clip off that little one-eighth of an inch. 



When it comes to the extracting of honey there is on ^ 

 point that I wish to mention, although it may be more ^ 

 mistake than a case of neglect ; it is that of extracting th^ 

 honey before it is ripe. Of course, it is possible to evapo- 

 rate artificially thin honey, but with this evaporation goes 

 a portion of the fine aroma.' Not only this, but the evapo- 

 ration of honey does not ripen it. The bees in their hand- 

 ling of the nectar invert or change the cane-sugar to grape- 

 sugar. They change the raw nectar into ripened honey. 

 If we take it away from them before this change is com- 

 pleted, it lacks that much of perfect ripeness. It lacks the 

 "tang" that tickles our palates. Thin, unripe, watery 

 honey ferments, and sours, and bursts tin cans and barrels, 

 and disgusts and disappoints every one who has anything 

 to do with it. Nothing has done more to destroy the mar- 

 ket for honey than the placing upon it of unripe honey. 



Little neglects in preparing the honey for market are 

 very expensive. The neglect to scrape the propolis from 

 the sections, the neglect to use non -drip cases, the neglect to 

 put the cases into a larger case or crate when small ship- 

 ments are made, may mean the loss of two or three cents 

 a pound. Sections daubed with propolis, honey dripping 

 from one case and daubing the one below it, coal dust and 

 cinders rubbed upon the daubed cases, greatly lower the 

 price and retard sales. Before the days of no drip cases 

 and outside crates I went so for as to wrap a paper around 

 each case before shipment, that the cases might be clean 

 when they reached their destination. 



Men who make exhibits at fairs often lose premiums 

 that they might have captured had they not neglected to 

 label their packages tastefully. It is a little thing, but it 

 adds the finishing touch. 



Then there are little things, like, " Where do you keep 

 your smoker and fuel ?" The neglect to provide a proper 

 place for them may mean a costly fire. I once kept my 

 smoker and fuel in an old wash-boiler. Once upon a time 

 when I removed the cover, the flames burst out. Suppose 

 the boiler had been a wooden box kept in a building, and 

 the fire had not been discovered while still confined to the 

 box ? I now keep my smoker and fuel in a large box, with 

 a hinged cover, out in the yard. 



The matter of saving wax ought not to be neglected. 

 It is a good deal like saving paper rags — just about as easy 

 to save the odds and ends as to throw them away. A solar 

 wax-extractor is a nice thing for this purpose. Keep it 

 standing in the yard, and when there is a bit of waste 

 comb toss it into the extractor. ( )ne year when I did a 

 large job of transferring I threw all of the odds and ends 

 into a barrel, and pounded them down hard witn the end of 

 a large stick. Then the matter of rendering was neglected 

 until that barrel two-thirds full of pounded-down comb 

 was one mass of webs and wriggling worms. 



But whj' multiply examples ? We all know that the 

 profits of an apiary can be entirely wasted or destroyed by 

 little neglects. What is the cause of this neglect ? In 

 some cases it is simply a combination of indolence, pro- 

 crastination, and a sort of belief that things will come 

 out all right of themselves. Then there is the neglect that 

 comes from having too many irons in the fire. If you have 

 so much business that you can only half attend to it, that 

 something must be neglected, two courses are open : hire 

 some one to help you, or else dispose of part of your busi- 

 ness. There is more pleasure and more profit in a small 

 business well managed than in a large business that must 

 be neglected. Some men are so constituted that they can 

 not employ helpto advantage. They havedone all of their 



