632 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL. 



Oct. 3, lyoi. 



will some time be known, and generally recognized by bee- 

 keepers, that a colony of bees of average strength (and, I 

 feel tempted to say, quite weak colonies if in normal condi- 

 tion) are never, as the saying is, "cleaned out by robbers," 

 or never molested by them enough to injure them materially 

 in any way, no matter what has been done to induce rob- 

 bing, or what the natural provocation to the same may be, 

 except when they are first set out in the spring. 



I have watched this matter very closely the last ten 

 years, and, besides, from two different incidents I have 

 witnessed. I know that a colony of average strength will, 

 before succumbing to robbers, make such a fight as few 

 would imagine them capable of doing. One of these inci- 

 dents may be of enough interest for me to take space to 

 describe briefly. 



It occurred in an out yard during a time of great scar- 

 city. A hive was in some manner tipped over, off its 

 stand, so that it lay on one side, with the whole top and 

 bottom fully exposed. Two heavy combs of honey were 

 broken. How long it had lain in this position I do not 

 know. 



When I arrived, the air near it was black with bees, 

 and thousands were dead on the ground around it. But the 

 robbers, so far as I could determine, had secured but very 

 little of these stores, so gallantly defended, and the colony 

 was far from being whipped or defeated, though no doubt 

 they would have been if the hive had laid in this position 

 long enough. I know that colonies, sometimes quite strong 

 ones, are often cleaned out by robbers, but they are colo- 

 nies that are not in a normal condition. Usually in such 

 cases they are hopelessly queenless, and make but little 

 effort to resist robbers. 



PAPER PACKAGES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



There has been a good deal of discussion the last two 

 years or so in regard to the best package for extracted 

 honey. I have read with much interest what has been said 

 in regard to the matter, and I envy those who are able to 

 make a success of using barrels, for I have never been 

 able to get any kind of a barrel that would hold honey 

 in a warm, dry room without leaking. Even when I coated 

 the inside a quarter of an inch thick with wax or paraffine 

 it would soon crack and allow the honey to ooze out between 

 the staves. But my failure in this line was not because the 

 barrels were not dry enough ; I have kept both those made 

 from hard and soft wood in a dry, warm room for two years, 

 and then after driving the hoops as tight as could possibly 

 be done, they would soon commence to leak after honey 

 was put in them. I have not only tried different kinds, but 

 a year ago last fall I had three large ones made to order, 

 which were warranted not to leak. 



I have, however, made what might be called a success 

 of sacking up extracted honey the same as one would 

 wheat or other grain. Last fall at one time I had about 

 1000 pounds sacked up. Possibly in the future extracted 

 honey may be shipped in sacks instead of cans or barrels. 



The way I came to put honey in sacks was this : The 

 three warranted barrels mentioned, which held about 500 

 pounds each, got to leaking soon after being filled^two of 

 them tjadly. I had nothing on hand to put much of the 

 honey into, but I had observed when using the no-drip ship- 

 ing cases that if a section become broken or marred so the 

 honey ran down on the manilla paper tray in the bottom of 

 the case, this paper seemed to hold it as well as a tin tray 

 would ; and I had noticed, at the place where I board, a num- 

 ber of very heavy paper sacks in which flour had been pur- 

 chased. I found they had a large number of these laid by, 

 the accumulation of years. The paper they were made of 

 was very much heavier and tougher than that used in ship- 

 ping-cases, but, instead of being glazed or smooth like the 

 latter, it was slightly rough or porous looking. So I took a 

 couple of these sacks and thoroughly coated the insides 

 with beeswax, and filled them with honey. They held it 

 all right, and soon afterwards enough sacks were waxed to 

 hold all the honey the two worst leaking barrels contained. 



The honey remained in some of the sacks nearly a 

 month, and no leakage whatever occured, except with one 

 sack, and this was owing to a defect in the sack. 



My method of waxing the inside was to pour a large 

 quantity of melted wax in a sack, then with one hand 

 gather up the mouth of the sack tight, and with the other 

 hand take hold of the bottom at one corner, so as to turn it 

 bottom side up and around in such a way that the wax 

 would reach and coat all parts of the inside. This had to 

 be done quickly, or a good deal of wax would adhere to a 

 sack. It took considerable to wax them, anyway, but after 



the honey was taken out, the sacks were cut up and boiled 

 in water, by this means getting all the wax back again. 



My success with these large sacks led me later to try- 

 small sacks far the retail trade. A good many who come to 

 the house for a few pounds of honey never bring anything 

 to put it in ; few of them will buy a pail or jar. and if I 

 lend them a dish to carry it in all of them will readily agree 

 to return it and then never do so. I have many customers, 

 in town to whom I carry a few pounds of extracted honey, 

 and in this case I either have to wait for them to empty the 

 dish I carry it in, or else call for it again, when, if there ia 

 any one at home, we may perhaps find it has been filled 

 with something else. For instance, last season one lady 

 ordered three pounds ; I had nothing smaller than a gallon 

 jar on hand, so I delivered it in that. When I called for the 

 jar, some time afterward, it was full of butter. She said 

 she, of course, supposed the jar went with the honey. My 

 experiments last season lead me to believe that I can reach 

 this class of customers with a package that will go with 

 the honey, for it will cost only about half a cent aside from 

 some work in preparing it, which can be done during the 

 leisure time in winter ; a package that will give satisfac- 

 tion to the customer, and be practically as safe to carry or 

 deliver the honey in as one made of tin. 



Southern Minnesota. 



The Season of 1901, Sugi^estions, Etc. 



BY A. MOOMKR. 



AS the American Bee Journal is anxious to have reports, 

 from bee-keepers, as well as any suggestions they may 

 be able to make as a result of experience in the man- 

 agement of bees, I send my report of the season, as well as. 

 one or two suggestions that may be of use to beginners. 



NO HARM IN REPORTING LARGE HONEY CROPS. 



My honey crop has been a very good one, but if I tell 

 what it is, down may go the honey market. Pshaw, all rot t 



About the close of the season, which has been a fairly 

 good one in this Province, a local reporter of one the county- 

 papers, made some enquiries for use in the weekly report. 

 A statement was given which appeared in the next week's 

 issue, that Mr. So-and-So's honey crop would likely be 900O 

 pounds from some 90 colonies, spring count. Since the 

 report in the paper appeared, the demand for my honey has 

 been so great that I could sell ten times the quantity I have, 

 and at better prices than I have formerly realized. 



Since the said report was given, we have about finished 

 extracting, and find the quantity to be fully 10,000 pounds, 

 and I am pleased to find that most of the colonies have 

 a fair supply for winter, so that very little feeding will 

 have to be done. A considerable number of the colonies, I 

 find, have superseded their queens. 



Having all the bees I was able to take care of, or had 

 room for, I discouraged swarming, and have only an in- 

 crease of about 25 percent. I have not practiced queen- 

 clipping, but, having no help this year, I was unable to keep 

 so close a watch upon them as is necessary when the queen's 

 wings are not clipped, and as a result I lost several swarms. 

 Next season I will try what clipping will do to prevent this. 



BUII.DINO UP WEAK COLONIES. 



I notice that several correspondents are troubled to 

 know how to build up weak colonies in the spring, or, in 

 fact, at any time of the year. I have practiced changing 

 positions of the weakest and strongest colonies, with good 

 results. I suggest doing this on a fine day, when the bees 

 are either gathering pollen or honey — say about noon — and 

 if I have a colony becoming very strong, and I do not want 

 increase, then exchange this with the weakest colony in the 

 way suggested, and the chances are that swarming may be 

 averted, and your colonies all averaged up and ready for 

 the honey harvest. 



This season I had a very weak late swarm of nice bees, 

 that I wanted to retain, but they were entirely too weak to 

 build up. I changed positions with a strong colony a few 

 days before the honey-flow ceased, with the most satisfac- 

 tory results — no fighting, nor any disturbance that I could 

 notice. 



CROSS BEES — THE "JOUNCING" METHOD. 



My bees were unusually cross this year, there being- 

 only a day or two at the close of the basswood flow that I 

 could extract without a veil, and mostly had to use gloves 

 in addition to being well protected otherwise. 



I tried the " jouncing " method of getting the bees off 



