August, 1fl13 



American Hee Jonrnal 



June number of the Canadian Horti- 

 culturist. This paper purchased re- 

 cently the Canadian Bee Journal, which 

 it has merged with the Horticulturist, 

 making one paper under title of the 

 Canadian Horticulturist and Bee- 

 Keeper. This paper is the official or- 

 gan of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, and contains summary reports 

 from the secretary, Mr. Morley Pettit. 

 Its June number has several pages of 

 articles and reports devoted to bee- 

 keeping. 



-^ 



The Token from the National Bee- 



Keepers to N. E. France Those who 



subscribed, in February, to the fund 

 for a present to Mr. France, will be 



glad to hear that a leather arm-chair, 

 with a sterling silver plate inscribed 

 with dedicatory words, was purchased 

 and sent to Platteville. As there was 

 a larger sum than needed, the balance 

 was sent to Mr. France, who now re- 

 ports that he added enough to buy a 

 similar chair for his faithful wife. He 

 writes, under date of June 18: 



" We feel proud of these presents, 

 and hope to enjoy many comfortable 

 evenings in them. 



" Just now we are having a fine honey- 

 flow from clover, with prospects of a 

 continuation for some time. Bass- 

 wood also is well budded. Wife and I 

 wish Mr. and Mrs. Dadant pleasure 

 and good health on their eastern 

 journey." 



Bee-I^eping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Em.via M. Wilson. Marengo. 111. 



Ventilation of Sections 



The matter of temperature is one of 

 importance for bees. In winter they 

 must be kept warm, yet sometimes 

 harm comes from their being too 

 warm In spring and early summer 

 there is little or no danger of having 

 them too warm, for brood-rearing will 

 be limited if the temperature surround- 

 ing the brood-combs be too low. On 

 the whole, not so very much judgment 

 is needed on the part of the bee-keeper 

 in winter and spring. If he tries to 

 keep his bees warm they will generally 

 come out all right. 



In summer, however, it is something 

 of a problem to know just what to do 

 in all cases about keeping bees warm. 

 Wa.x working requires a high tempera- 

 ture ; yet if one should keep a hive 

 well closed and protected, so that little 

 heat can escape during the honey har- 

 vest, one is -doing just so much toward 

 bringing on the swarming fever. Often, 

 at least in some places, there are hot 

 days and cool nights. In the night 

 everything should be kept as warm as 

 possible, but in daytime lots of ventila- 

 tion should be given. But it would be 

 too much of a chore to change the 

 ventilation each morning and evening, 

 and so a middle ground must be 

 chosen, and just what that middle 

 ground should be is a problem. The 

 problem is easier when running for 

 e.xtracted honey. A colony producing 

 extracted honey can have more ventila- 

 tion given than one with a stack of 

 sections upon it, since there is less 

 comb building to be done in the former. 



Producing section honey in T-supers, 

 we have never done anything to keep 

 supers or hives warm during the har- 

 vest, but we have done something to 

 help the bees to keep cool. For years 

 we have had a 2-inch space under bot- 

 tom-bars, with a bottom-rack to keep 

 the bees from building down. Some 



years ago we practiced allowing a ven- 

 tilation space at the top of the hive, at 

 the back end, by having the super 

 shoved forward a fourth of an inch or 

 so. Undoubtedly that had some effect 

 in helping to keep down swarming, 

 but the back row of sections was slower 

 about being finished up than the rest 

 of the super. To be sure we could, 

 and did, reverse the super when partly 

 filled, but that still left the central rows 

 finished before the ends. So we gave 

 up ventilating in that way, and allowed 

 no ventilation except at the entrance. 



After a while, however. Dr. Miller 

 decided that the advantage gained by 

 the ventilation in the way of prevent- 

 ing swarming overbalanced the disad- 

 vantage to the supers, and we returned 

 to the ventilating. Within the past 

 two or three years we were surprised 

 to find that the back row of sections, 

 in some cases, instead of being behind 

 the others in being finished up. were 

 finished before the front row. This 

 year the same thing happened again, 

 and then one day in June a sight met 

 our eyes that we had not supposed pos- 

 sible. All the outer sections in a super 

 were nicely finished up, back, front, 

 and sides, while several sections in the 

 center of the super were only partly 

 sealed. We could not account for the 

 freak. Were the bees of that colony 

 loony ? Then we found the same thing 

 on another hive, and another, and an- 

 other, until it seemed to be about as 

 much the rule as the e.xception. 



Can any one tell us why this sort of 

 thing should take place .■" Was it be- 

 cause of the exceptionally hotweather ? 

 Anyway, it raises the question whether 

 we ought not to give a good deal of 

 ventilation to supers of sections, at 

 least in very hot weather .' 



Opportunities for Women." After dis- 

 cussing the raising of poultry, pheas- 

 ants, frogs, and squabs, the writer goes 

 on to say: 



" Bee raising is another profitable 

 agricultural held that is open to the 

 country woman. Honey sells for 2o 

 cents per pound in most places, and a 

 single swarm of bees will produce 70 

 pounds of honey in a season without 

 feed and without attention. I have had 

 considerable experience in this line 

 myself, and know that big profits can 

 be derived from it if it is given reason- 

 able attention." 



That certainly looks like a somewhat 

 hopeful opportunity to the city woman 

 penned up in a stuffy office, with a long- 

 ing for the fresh air of the country. 

 From the data given she could easily 

 figure out something about the " big 

 profits " mentioned if she only knew 

 something about the number of colo- 

 nies to be considered. 



To the question, "How many 

 'swarms' of bees can be kept on half 

 an acre?" she is likely to get the an- 

 swer, "Oh, about a hundred.'' Then 

 she figures. Seventy pojnds of honey 

 at 25 cents a pound amounts to $17.-50. 

 With 100 colonies one would have 

 $1750. That, too, "without feed and 

 without attention." ."Ml that is to be 

 done is to get the lOO colonies of bees. 

 Of course, no knowledge of bee-keep- 

 ing is needed, for no attention is 

 needed. Xo doubt with "reasonable 

 attention" an annual income of $2000 

 or $2,500 can be easily reached. There 

 is no room for any doubt, for the 

 writer of the article has '' had consid- 

 erable e.xperience in this line," and so 

 she knows. 



Yet any woman with a little experi- 

 encewith bees knows that the pros- 

 pect is painted in altogether too bright 

 colors. Yet there was probably not 

 the slightest intention to mislead. 

 There is nothing remarkable about 

 getting 70 pounds of honey from a col- 

 ony ; there are plenty of places where 

 the consumer pays 25 cents a pound for 

 honey, and plenty of locations which 

 will support 100 colonies of bees. The 

 trouble, as with many other half truths, 

 is that the remaining half of the truth 

 is not told. She should be told that 

 the poor years and years of entire fail- 

 ure are all too many, that " without at- 

 tention " her investment will take to 

 itself wings in the shape of swarms, 

 that winter losses will deplete her num- 

 bers, and that if she averages half the 

 amount named, even nif/i attention, 

 she may consider herself quite a suc- 

 cess. 



Yet, even so. she may be greatly the 

 gainer to join the ranks of beekeepers. 



An Optimistic View 



An article by a woman writer in 

 ' Opportunity," is entitled "Half-Acre 



Honey vs. Poisonous Molasses 



T. B. Terry, whose book, "How to 

 Ki.-ep Well and Live Long," has had a 

 wide circulation, and whose writings 

 are eagerly read by thousands of read- 

 ers of the Practical Farmer, in a late 

 number of that periodical has the fol- 

 lowing with its striking heading: 



BEEN DRIXKlNi; rOlSOX. 



" When I read in ' Starving America ' 

 that all Louisiana molasses contains 

 sulphurous acid, I thought it must be a 

 mistake. We had a gallon can of the 



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