AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 12, 1901. 



iievei' had any trouble of that kind in the 

 olden time. 



Some have expressed a desire for, or have 

 already used, a cover approaching the plain 

 board cover in lightness and convenience 

 without its objections. It is a cover made of 

 two surfaces with an air-space between. An 

 upper surface of ■'., inch stuff with the grain 

 running lengthwise, and a lower surface of 

 the same stuff with the grain running cross- 

 wise, have between them an air-space made 

 by strips of '-'n inch stuff between the mar- 

 gins. In other words, a shallow box closed 

 top and bottom, the inside of the box being fig 

 inch deep. Of course it must be covered by 

 tin or some cheaper material. The grain of 

 the two surfaces running in opposite direc- 

 tions makes all warping and twisting impos- 

 sible. The dead-air space is a good non-con- 

 ductor, making the cover warm in cool or 

 cold weather, and cool in hot weather. Such 

 a cover may possibly be the coming cover to 

 be what Editor Hutchinson believes the plain 

 cover already is, " the best cover in any 

 climate." 



*■ 



Deep -Tubed Honey - Plants. — Until 



lately it is probable that most bee-keepers — 

 probably nearly all — have thought of red 

 clover as the only honey-plant with tubes too 

 deep for the reach of ordinary bee-tongues. 

 Red clover is far from being the only one. 

 Editor Root says this in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture: 



In addition to the great honey-plants, red 

 clover, buffalo clover and horsemint, of Texas, 

 that have long corolla-tubes, I can now add 

 to the list the mountain sages of California, 

 especially the white sage. This last has quite 

 deep corolla-tubes; and I was told, while on 

 the coast, that unless these corolla-tubes are 

 very full the bees do not get much honey 

 from this source. This Is exactly the case 

 with red clover. So it appears that long- 

 tongued bees, if good in the North, will be 

 in great demand all through the South, 

 throughout Central and Southern California, 

 as well as throughout all those States that 

 grow red clover ; and I have been surprised 

 to find so much of it in the West. It appears, 

 then, that i;' long-tongued bees are an advan- 

 tage on red clover, they will be equally advan- 

 tageous in the case of all the other honey- 

 plants I have named. 



i Weekly Budget. | 



Mr. Charles Clarke is a bee-keeper. He 

 is a bee-keeper of not many years' experience, 

 but he is a good bee-keeper. He knows how 

 to produce honey. He knows how to handle 

 foul brood, too. 



We made our second visit to Mr. Clarke's 

 apiary Thursday afternoon, Aug. 22. He lives 

 about 12 miles south of Chicago, in a splendid 

 sweet clover district. He began last spring 

 with about 30 colonies, has increased to nearly 

 60 colonies, besides taking off something like 

 4000 pounds of as fine comb honey as we ever 

 saw, and will likely have 1000 pounds more. 



Mr. Clarke had just coTiipleted a new honey- 

 house, in which he had the honey all tiered 

 up on shelves made of plankson edge and 3x2 

 inch stuff on top of them. It was a splendid 

 arrangement for the very best curing possible 

 before being put into cases for market. 



Everything was in as neat condition as pos- 

 sible. The apiary is at the rear of the dwell- 

 ing house, in a veritable flower-garden, ex- 

 cept that around the hives there was not a 

 flower, weed, or blade of grass. All was 

 clear, and each hive easy of access. 



Mrs. York accompanied us on this little 

 trip. We spent a very pleasant time with 

 Mr. Clarke and his parents, with whom he 

 lives. They are about 70 years of age. Mr. 

 Chas. Clarke is the only "child" at home. 

 Of course he is quite an old "child '' himself. 

 He has never taken unto himself that which 

 would make him to be the " lesser half." We 

 suppose his good mother could hardly spare 

 him, as he is as handy about the house as 

 most daughters would be. 



Mr. John W. Clarke, his father, has a jus- 

 tice court in that part of the city where he 

 lives. He has been " handing out " justice 

 for nearly 30 years, and, we believe, has never 

 had one of his decisions reversed. When he 

 "decided" to "allow" "Charles" to go 

 into the bee-business, It was a wise piece of 

 " justice," as has been clearly proven by the 

 good crops of honey the bees have gathered 

 for him. 



Moke on the First 1000. — Still they come. 

 We mean members of the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association. During the past week we 

 have received the following names with iSl.oo 

 each ; 



H. K. Beecham, a. L. Jenks. 



Richard Chinn, W. A. Frank, 



Jos. Beaudry, O. p. Hendrix, 



Wm. A. Taylor, F. Z. Dexter. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, of McHenry Co., 111., 

 wrote us Aug. 27, as follows: 



" After the terrible drouth which nearly or 

 quite stopped the rearing of brood in July, it 

 seems a great blessing to have a steady and 

 fairly good fall flow which will leave the colo- 

 nies with plenty of young bees for winter. I 

 have also taken advantage of it to make some 

 new colonies." 



Mr. C. H. Lake, residing near Baltimore, 

 Md., wrote us Aug. 27: 



" Bees did poorly here this season, except 

 in one instance. Honey-dew has ruined my 

 crop of honey for three seasons past." 



Mr. Geo. A. Ohmert and Apiary, of 

 Dubuque Co., Iowa, are shown in our front- 

 jiage illustration this week. When sending 

 the photograph, Mr. Ohmert enclosed the 

 following; 



Friend York:— I started in the spring of 

 I'Ml with 18 fairly strong colonies, and 10 

 very weak ones. They built up through April 

 and May to be quite strong; then white clover 

 came, which was very abundant, and the bees 

 began to swarm. There would be from three 

 to five swarms out at the same time, and 

 mixed together. We would have a great time 

 dividing them, but we Anally got them set- 

 tled down to work. 



We harvested about 900 pounds of white 

 clover honey. The basswood flow lasted only 

 about four days, and then our great drouth 

 was on, and the honey-flow stopped. 



We had 4!50 well-filled sections, leaving all 

 the partly filled ones on, and the most of it 

 was carried down during the drouth. 



We have now 45 strong colonies, with 

 plenty of honey, providing we get any kind of 

 a fall flow, which I think we will, as the 

 drouth was broken to-day (July 28) with a 

 very heavy rain. 



I was expecting to go to Buffalo this fall at 

 the bees' expense, but we lost our raspberrries 



and blackberries, so the bee honey-money will 

 have to go towards making up that loss. 



I send a picture of a part of our apiary. We 

 could not get it all in. The little boy up 

 towards the house is my main assistant. Mrs. 

 Ohmert is sitting on a chair under a tree. Our 

 youngest is standing by .me. We have one 

 more little girl in the picture, and the 

 rest are neighbors' children. 



In front you will see my home-made ex- 

 tractor. It works all right, and is away 

 ahead of the small extractors I have seen 

 around here. The cost, outside of the work, 

 was -*3.25. I can extract partly filled seciion.s 

 very rapidly. Geo. A. Ohmert. 



Mr. F. Danzesbaker wrote us Aug. 29. 

 that the severe illness of his wife makes it 

 impossible for him to attend the Buffalo con- 

 vention. We trust she may soon recover. It 

 will doubtless be quite a trial to Mr. D. to be 

 deprived of being at the convention, for he 

 enjoys such gatherings. 



Mr. Thos. Dougherty, of Bureau Co., 111., 

 called at our office last week. He has been 

 keeping bees, off and on, for 40 years. He 

 now has 2.5 colonies, and reports a good sea- 

 son. Mr. D. says he can get one or two cents 

 per pound more for honey in the tall 4x5 sec- 

 tions than for honey in the square sections. 

 in his local market. 



Hon. Eugene Secor is on the program of 

 the 21st annual session of the Farmers' 

 National Congress, to be held at Sioux Falls, 

 S. Dak., Oct. 1 to 10, IflOl. His subject is: 

 " Some Problems Confronting the American 

 Farmer." Surely, he has an extensive text, 

 and one that permits of considerable latitude 

 in its discussion. 



The Apiary of Louis C. Koehler (see 

 page 585) is situated in Manitowoc Co., Wis., 

 and contains 185 colonies of bees, all in 10- 

 frame Langstroth hives, except a few which 

 he uses for experimental purposes. This api- 

 ary was started 20 years ago with five colonies 

 of bees, and it has proved to be a success, 

 although there have been set-backs and poor 

 seasons. His father calls it the " big circus," 

 and their farm he calls the " side-show." 



The apiary is run entirely for extracted 

 honey, which is all disposed of in the home 

 market, being sold direct to the consumer. 

 The white clover and the basswood honey are 

 sold at 10 cents per pound, and the goldenrod 

 at 9 cents. In the neighboring cities he has 

 disposed of about three-fourths of a pound 

 per capita on an average ; he thinks this a 

 pretty high average, and would like to hear 

 of any one who has done any better. 



Mr. Koehler has a honey-house 16.\28 feet 

 floor-space, and 12 feet high. The lower floor 

 is divided into two rooms; one is the ex- 

 tracting-room, 16x10 feet, and the other is 

 the honey storage-room, 12x16 feet. The sec- 

 ond floor is used as a store-room for empty 

 boxes, frames, etc., and as a paint-shop. He 

 uses extractors of his father's own invention. 



Mr. F. Wilcox, of Juneau Co., Wis., 

 dropped in to see us, Sept. 2, when on his 

 way East to attend the Buffalo convention, 

 and visitthat part of the country. He reports 

 the fall honey crop a failure in his region, but 

 the yield from clover was good, especially 

 alsike clover. There being several days of 

 cool weather just at basswood bloom, the 

 yield from that source was not very good. 



