June, 1913. 



197 



American "Bee 



ters still worse. What becomes neces- 

 sary at this very moment is to break 

 up that solid brood-nest, and if this is 

 done in such a way that the queen may 

 find new room for her egg laying, 

 there will be no swarming, but a con- 

 tented colony that will develop into a 

 a rousing honey-gathering colony. 

 Such colonies are the ones that are de- 

 sired by the bee-keeper. 



Suggestions are offered for decreas- 

 ing the swarming desire by giving, not 

 only super room above, but also helozv 

 the brood-chamber. While this may 

 aid, it does not in seasons that are at 



all favorable to swarming. The reason 

 for this is explained by comparison 

 with a colony in a large dry-goods box, 

 as mentioned above. As long as the 

 brood-nest itself is left undisturbed the 

 chances of swarming are just as great. 

 Breaking up this solid niriss of brood 

 is the real secret, but it must be done 

 before the swarming fever has devel- 

 oped. A colony already having the 

 fever cannot be handled so easily. If 

 it is too late, the best remedy is that 

 of swarming the colony artificially by 

 what has been known as "shook 

 swarming." 



Conducted by J. L. BvER, Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



North Carolina 



The picture of the apiary of Mr. 

 Joseph Robinson, of Paint Gap, N. C, 

 is of interest to me not because I ever 

 saw the original, but because my father 

 spent some time with Mr. Robinson 

 the past winter. At least haJf the bees 

 are in boxes and log " gums," but Mr. 

 Robinson is rapidly transferring all 

 into lOframe Langstroth hives. My 

 father helped him while there in April. 

 The great majority of bees in the 

 mountain sections of North Carolina 

 are still kept in " gums," but the most 

 practical men are gradually discarding 

 them for the modern movable-frame 

 hives. Mr. Robinson is in the moun- 

 tainous section of North Carolina, not 

 far from Mt. Mitchell, which is the 

 highest peak east of the Rockies, if I 

 am correct. He sent me a walking 

 stick cut from the top of a small spruce 

 that was growing on the summit of Mt. 

 Mitchell, and while I hope it will be a 

 long while before I need it, it is need- 

 less to say I value it very highly as a 

 souvenir. 



Mr. Robinson keeps pure Italians, 

 and every year imports some queens 

 from Italy. He is alive to the folly of 

 using " gums," as he says that with the 

 frame hives he averages three times as 

 much honey as from the others. It 



which will equal anything I have seen 

 in the North, and that is saying a great 

 deal. Mr. Horton says it was gathered 

 from the locust, a statement that sur- 

 prised me. Here, what little honey we 

 get from the locust, is very dark and 

 rank; which goes to show that 

 "locality " cuts a big figure in more 

 ways than one. 



seems strange, this being the case, that 

 thousands of colonies are still kept in 

 the old style. Judging by what my 

 father tells me, the mountainous sec- 

 tion of North Carolina is a bee-keep- 

 ers' paradise, with much nectar-bearing 

 flora. 



Among the plants that yield honey 

 are white clover, basswood, sourwood, 

 poplar, locust, chestnut, and many 

 other trees and shrubs. Bad roads are 

 a drawback, .'\bout the most serious 

 obstacle to the country, according to 

 father, and for the warning of timid 

 ones, is the rattlesnake. Other varie- 

 ties of the " breed " are fairly common, 

 although very little damage is done by 

 these. 



The bee-keepers of North Carolina 

 have a heritage well worth developing. 

 With the splendid climatic conditions, 

 bee-keeping should be a business of 

 pleasure and profit. Much work of the 

 North is needless there, bees wintering 

 well on the summer stands. In the 

 summer season it is not necessary to 

 provide shade, as in the mountains 

 they do not have such extreme heat. 



While speaking of apiaries in North 

 Carolina, I am reminded that my thanks 

 are due Mr. E. L. Horton, of Demo- 

 crat, N. C, for 5 pounds of splendid 

 comb honey sent me, the quality of 



Moving— 400 Colonies in One Place 



I expect to leave home on Alay U 

 and move the bees from the New Dub- 

 lin yard, which is 200 miles east of my 

 home, to a location 100 miles from my 

 home where I already have 120 colo- 

 nies. Nearly 400 colonies in one loca- 

 tion will be an experiment, and while I 

 suspect it may be too many, yet the 

 location is above the ordinary, and we 

 will try it for one year anyway. As to 

 the moving, I am not expecting a pic- 

 nic. With 2-50 colonies and about 500 

 supers and other supplies, all to be 

 moved 3 miles to a railway and 200 

 miles by railroad — well, it means some 

 work, sure, and I will not dwell on the 

 subject now for fear of getting dis- 

 couraged when I am primed ready to 

 leave in a few days. I will report later 

 how the trip pans out. 



An Early Fruit Bloom 



The early part of April was cold , 

 then about the 20th winter took an 

 abrupt jump into summer, rushing 

 everything along at an abnormal rate. 

 The' unusual spectacle of wild plur? 

 and apple trees in bloom at the same 

 time is seen here this year, and at this 

 date. May 9, we fear that frost may 

 come and kill all this abnormally early 

 bloom. Clover looks well and bees 

 are strong, but unless clover is as early 

 as was all other spring bloom, there 

 will be a long dearth between fruit- 

 bloom and clover. 



Location for Out-Apiaries 



In establishing out-apiaries, it is not 

 always possible to get just the location 

 desired, and often one has to put up 

 with some inconveniences that cannot 

 be avoided. The picture shows a cor- 

 ner of one of my apiaries, so nicely 

 situated that there is always a tempta- 







Note the Box-hives on One Side-Modern Hives On the Other-Apiary of Joe Robinson, of North Carolina. 



