Nov. 21, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



745 



SAMPLE OF DK. MILLER'S " PAT MUBPHYS." 



Half-bushel fl6) Carmen No. 3, weigh 28-!-; lbs.; 3 largest weighed ti lb. 



and '>}i oz. The stick lying on them is a foot rule. 



Photographed Oct. 11, 1.818. 



comb honey for 1(5. IT and 18 cents, when the best cash offer 

 I received was 11 and 12 cents. 



THOSE "HINTS ON HIRED HELP.'' 



Tell Mr. Hyde (page 564, "Hints on Hired Help in the 

 Apiary") to be thanlvful indeed that his ideal helper is not to 

 be found. If conditions would regulate hired help to do all 

 we want to exact of them. Mr. Hyde and a lot of the rest of 

 us would be hired help. It provokes rae as much as anyone to 

 see hired help do things awkwardly, carelessly, or without 

 thought or judgment, that a little reasoning would obviate. 

 And yet these very things are necessary, or there would be no 

 hired help — all would be owners — for it doesn't cost much to 

 start with bees. Its details, especially, are our capital. So 

 do not expect hired help to furnish the capital, and give you 

 the lion's share of the earnings. A banker once asked for a 

 cashier. Said his friend; " I can send you an honest young 

 man. who knows nothing- of bankinii;." "That is the man I 

 want," exclaimed the banker, "for I can teach him my meth- 

 ods and system, and he will not have to unlearn knowledge 

 that I do not want in my business." Much so with hired help, 

 especially in the apiary. Either make a partner of the 

 man at once, or hold yourself in reserve, and let him realize 

 he is only a part of the machine. 



LOSS OF BEES BY COMBS MELTING DOWN. 



In regard to Mr. Gerelds" loss of bees by melting down 

 (page 5k6), the lack of water I do not believe had anythinir 

 to do with the bees. All the colonies probably melted down 

 within the space of an hour: when the breeze lulled had they 

 been out in a 10-acre field the loss would not have been lO 

 percent, if that. We have long, hot summers in Florida, often 

 getting up to 95 and lUO degrees, and last year, in August, 

 it was 1U5 and 106 degrees on two different days, still I did 

 not lose a single colony from melting down, and in several 

 apiaries that I am acquainted with there was no loss whatever 

 in this line. If Mr. (Jerelds will raise his colonies on benches, 

 and will put the two rows of hives about eight feet apart, 

 then put a roof over them, extending it well over the sides, ho 

 will have a comfortable place for his bees, and also a comfort- 

 able one to work in. 



In Florida a large ant is very troublesome to bees, often 

 destroying a good colony in a single nijjht. If there are any 

 to contend with, liang the benches with wire from above, in- 

 stead of having leas, or attach to the posts of the shed: thou 

 daub coal-tar on the wires, and the ants will be rid of. 



The most serious charge against shed-apiaries — and I have 

 four in use, some of them several years — is the failure to get 

 queens mated in colonies so kept. But to offset this, there is 

 the satisfaction of havinfr cverythinif under cover, out of tho 

 rain, and the ease of manipulation when all colonies are closer 

 together. You can have all under lock and key by using 6- 

 inch fence-boards on the sides, leaving a space of eight incln-s 

 or a foot opposite the hive-entrances, and then stretch a strand 

 or two of barbed wire ali)ng this. For lO-frame hives allow 

 20 inches space each in length of building. At one end have 

 your work-room, made bee-tight by use of burlap or mosquito 

 netting— I use old corn and oats sacks ripped up — in which 

 have a table and your extracting outlit. I mention the use of 

 burlaji instead of wire-cloth on account of the latter rustintr 

 out (juickly in our moist climate. Florida, Sept. 7. 



The Afterthought. % 



The '*01d Reliable" seen through New and Unreliable Qlasses. 

 By E. e. HASTY, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, O. 



SPECIAL FACILITIES FOR MOVING BEES. 



It seems that the Atchloys are so inclined to tho poram- 

 liuhitory, pick-up-and-start kind of boo-keeping that they 

 li;i\c 200 special hive-shells or cases into which bees and 

 (■(jnilis are put for moving, and taken out on arrival. As 

 special wagons also are provided I infer tliat the cases are 

 made (if light materials — so light, and so much wire screen 

 that they might crush on the road if the wagon body did not 

 embrace each one and furnish the strength. How about this? 

 Is it a winning idea; or is it too much expense? It stops, once 

 for all, tlie smothering of bees — also the crushing of bees, so 

 far as tliat comes from combs getting loose and thrashing 

 around; but it can hardly stop new. weak combs from break- 

 ing out of the frames. Wonder if the imprisonment of each 

 colony is supplemented by an outside screen over the whole 

 concern. That would reduce to a ver}- decided minimum the 

 stinging of horses. I suppose one idea is that bees which do 

 not got killed enroute, many of them have their lives short- 

 ened by what they suffer. If that's the case it may pay to 

 spend some time and money to have the honey-gatherers ar- 

 rive at honey Canaan in perfect order. Still my fancy hears 

 some brother saying. "Too many traps and calamities:" and. 

 "If I had such an outfit I shouldn't actually get to use it, on 

 account of the time and fuss it calls for." Page 630. 



STACHELHAUSEN AND LARGE BBOOD-CHAMBERS. 



Stachelhausen seems to favor decidedlv the large brood- 

 chamber. He strikes an idea pertaining to the matter which 

 is not familiar to all of us. Let the queon lay all she can for 

 a spell early in the season and she wants a partial rest when 

 the main harvest is on. On the other hand, lot the queen be 

 obliged to ri'Strict her laying to a mere fraction of what she 

 is capable of. and her time to avenge herself will probably 

 come eventually; and very likely it will come just when mod- 

 erate laying should mean more surplus honey. It occurs to 

 me that the very worst cases of this could happen in a very 

 big hive with large frames, if the colony itself came through 

 very weak in the spring. Page 630. 



LEGISLATION FAVORING FRAME HIVES. 



Ahal Ye legally appointed inspector, inspect he never so 

 wisely, cannot inspect to any purpose tho apiary where all 

 the combs are built crisscross. That is, he can't when foul 

 brood is nicely beginning in 20 colonies, and none have yet 

 got putrid or weak. To meet this case, our legislative man, 

 Hambaugh, wants evoryliody comp<^lled by law to have bees 

 on actually movable frames. Sounds seductive. But if we 

 begin with tliat kind of legislation where will the end be? 

 Where, indeed, till every dog is law-bidden to wag tail, 

 "Down. left, right, up." as the singing-master would have 

 him? And what shall wr- answer if some one at the state- 



Dr. Miller and Miss Wilson in bee-wagon used lor going to and fron 



out-apiaries, hauling heme honey, etc.; drawn by 



" lieauty " and " Dandy." 



