April, 1913. 



American Hec Journal 



iron is made for building purposes, 

 this could be avoided, as it would nail 

 down tight to the plates and sills. The 

 hives right against the building are 

 some empty ones — only a few of the 

 occupied ones appearing in the corner 

 of the yard, with shade-boards leaning 

 against the entrances. 



'*-•-*' 



Value of Willows 



The different varieties of willows are 



Producing extracted honey we have no 

 sections to fill with foundation, and as 

 for scraping all the extracting combs, 

 we do that in April and May on days 

 not fit to -vork with the bees. 



The Odor of European Foul Brood 



Regarding smc//s associated with Eu- 

 ropean foul brood (page 42), to some 

 people especially on the other side of 



Willows are Good for the Bees. 



the line, the disease is not repellant 

 to the olfactory nerves, while here in 

 Ontario it is obnoxious to an extreme 

 degree. It was my lot to find the first 

 bad cases in Ontario, and I agree thor- 

 oughly with Air. Pettit and Mr. Harris. 

 After learning the disease with its 

 characteristic odor, my nose was all 

 I needed to tell if European foul 

 brood was present. A badly diseased 

 apiary could be smelled 100 feet if the 

 wind was right, and a mildly diseased 

 colony could be detected by placing 

 the nose at the entrance. The latter 

 test is a good one for American foul 

 brood, too, provided the top of the 

 hive is sealed closely to avoid upward 

 circulation. 



I have read again what friend Sladen, 

 of Ottawa, Ont., said about the ques- 

 tion, and now the whole solution of 

 the problem is plain to me. Mr. Sladen 

 admits the smell is " extremely strong," 

 and that a " penetrating odor is given 

 off" from a foul colony, iw/ he further 

 states that, to /lim, the odor was 

 " gamey " and "appetizing." 



There, you have the situation in a 

 nut-shell. To friend Pettit, as well as 

 myself and a number of other Canucks, 

 the smell of European foul brood is 

 highly obnoxious. To Dr. Phillips and 

 a number of other friends, it is a 

 " gamey " odor, and " appetizing " in its 

 effect. " Tastes differ, as the old lady 

 said when she kissed the cow." 



all valuable to bee-keepers, as nearly all 

 yield pollen, and some are very heavy 

 yielders of nectar. They are very 

 easily propagated, and will stand very 

 hard usage in early growth ; in fact, 

 will flourish under circumstances that 

 would kill other trees outright. The 

 view shown in the picture was taken 

 from our door-step. For years this 

 flat was pastured closely, and every- 

 thing in tree life was destroyed. Five 

 or si,x years ago his flat was left for 

 hay, and now willows are springing up 

 all along the banks of the stream, even 

 if floods of ice do wash against the 

 young trees every spring. 



In the center of the picture the wil- 

 lows can be seen along the frozen 

 stream, and down near the brush where 

 the stream winds along the bank these 

 willows are 25 feet high. 



A camera helps one to appreciate 

 Nature. The landscape above is the 

 view shown from our door. While I 

 have often seen travelers, in the sum- 

 mer time, stop and take a picture of 

 these flats, I never appreciated the 

 beauty of the place until I had taken 

 a picture myself. 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie-^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder, Cordele. Ga. 



Bee-Work in Winter 



Replying to Miss Wilson, page 8.3, I 

 would remind her that I spoke of 

 " real work in the apiary." Yes, I make 

 plans, "build castles in the air," etc., 

 during the winter months. I often 

 spend the hours from b until 7 o'clock 

 in bed at this planning, when, in the 

 summer time, I would be out-of-doors. 

 I read a lot, and write quite a bit, but 

 then all this planning, reading and 

 writing is not real zc'ork to the chap 

 that is outdoors all summer hustling. 



Do Bees Consume More Stores in Mild 

 Winters ? 



My experience is that they consume 

 less, and at the same time rear more 

 bees. This had been an unsettled 

 question with me, but the past winter 

 has settled it. It was one of the mild- 

 est winters we have experienced, and 

 much of the time the bees were as ac- 

 tive as in spring. They have con- 

 sumed far less stores than ever before. 

 The brood-nestcontains lots of honey; 

 in fact, too much for brood-rearing, 

 and we have removed it. 



From reports, many other Dixie bee- 

 keepers are experiencing the same 

 thing (too much honey in the brood- 

 nest). Remove the heaviest broodless 

 combs and put empty ones instead. 

 Owing to the late heavy honey-flow 

 last fall the bees were a little heavier 

 with stores than usual, but an unusually 

 small amount of stores was consumed. 



oyster gathering. The beautiful shell 

 beach for miles along the coast was 

 our "stamping ground." We visited 

 orange groves, etc. They were happy 

 and well spent hours, but the bee in- 

 dustry was our hobby, and much val- 

 uable information was exchanged. 



There were bee-keepers with me 

 from all parts of the country, and even 

 far off Canada was well represented. 

 The country and climate proved an 

 attraction to many. They invested in 

 real estate, and expect to spend the 

 winters there. 



Wintering in Florida 



After taking a look at the photo- 

 graph on page 10 of the January num- 

 ber of the American Bee Journal, many 

 bee-keepers wrote me they wished they 

 could be with me in the land of flow- 

 ers. A number visited me, and we had 

 a good time fishing, launch riding and 



Apiary Work 



The honey-flow is now on in almost 

 all parts of Dixie. Bees are swarming, 

 and must have constant attention for 

 the next few weeks, looking out for 

 swarms, keeping hives supplied with 

 plenty of super room. This can best 

 be done by raising the supers they have 

 and inserting the new below, next to 

 the brood-chamber. This should be 

 kept up for 3 or 4 weeks ; then let them 

 fill all the supers they have started. 



Almost all bee-keepers in Dixie use 

 but one super for each colony, when 

 they should have three, so the bees do 

 not store much surplus and swarm too 

 much. Plenty of storing room will 

 check swarming and keep the bees at 



