158 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



will make a neat picture, or convey some 

 useful information. I received a picture 

 a day or two ago taken in the depths of a 

 maple forest, at a time when there were 

 no leaves on the trees, and away up in 

 the top of a tall maple could be seen a 

 decoy bee-hive. The writer told all how 

 he arranged the decoy hives, and put 

 them in place, and got them down when 

 occvipied, and what a lot of swarms he 

 had caught in this way. The picture and 

 description will be given in the June 

 Review. I mention this simply to show 

 what kind of jiictures would be desirable. 

 Some little nook, .some peculiar arrange- 

 ment of your hives, some new style of 

 hive, some swarm catcher — well, anything 

 that is interesting, picturesque, or imparts 

 useful information; all of course, relat- 

 ing to bee-culture. Get an 8 x lo picture 

 if yon can; if not, then as large as possi- 

 ble; as the larger the picture the belter 

 the cut that can be made from it. Have 

 your photographer use a small diaphragm 

 in order that there may be good defini- 

 tion; as nuich of this is lost in the 

 reproduction. 



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PRODUCING COMB AND EXTRACTED 

 HONEY WITHOUT .\NV .SWARMING. 



Mr. B. F. Blakely, Jr., of Neely, Kans., 

 writes me how he manages in producing 

 both comb ami extracted honey, and at 

 the same time avoids swarming. When 

 the hive is full of bees, honey and brood, 

 and the honey flow begins, he removes 

 all of the brood combs except about four 

 that contain the greate.st amount of brood. 

 These are alternated with frames contain- 

 ing strips of foundation for starters, and 

 the super put on the hive. No bees are 

 taken from the hive, they being sliaken 

 off the combs that are removed. A col- 

 ony treated in this way works and acts 

 very much like a swarm. The removed 

 combs are given to the colonies that are 

 worked for extracted hone}-, these col- 

 onies sometimes being piled up four 

 stories high. In short, this is a peculiar 

 svstem of division, if such it may be 



called, in which the comb honey colonies 

 are robbed of so much of their brood, at 

 exactl}^ the right time, that swarming is 

 prevented; while the brood is placed in 

 colonies .so worked for extracted honey 

 that tliev do not swarm. It is a peculiar 

 system, and one that requires the produc- 

 tion of l)oth comb and extracted honey. 



DIST.ANCK THAT BEES FEY FOR NECTAR. 



Mr. J. K. Crnne writes n-e that he was 

 much interested in the article by Mr. Ira 

 Barber thai appeared in the Review a few 

 months ago, and tnld how far he had 

 known bees to fly in gathering nectar. 



Mr. Crane says that it reminds him of j 

 a conversation that he had 25 vears ago ' 

 with Mr. Harbison of California; who 

 was at that lime the most extensive bee- 

 keeper in the world. Mr. Harbison had 

 moved a portion of his bees to the sfuith- 

 ern part of the State, and expecled to 

 soon move the rest of them. He was out 

 prospecting for another location and, 

 when .some fifteen miles from his vard of 

 bees, was surprised to find bees at work 

 upon the flowers. He finally decided 

 that they must be wild bees; but, as he 

 moved towards his apiary, the bees in- 

 creased in numbers. At ten miles from 

 the apiary he found the bees more abund- 

 ant. Not only this, but the line of flight 

 was in the direction of his apiary, and he 

 was forced to the conclusion lliat the 

 bees were from his own yard. Mr. Crane 

 thinks tliat fifteen miles is a long waj's 

 for a bee to fly — so is eight or ten miles. 

 He thinks it would be interesting to 

 know if Mr. Barber's bees did not wear 

 out rapidly when flying so far. M 

 Crane also suggests that possibly bees 

 might fly a long distance after nectar, . 

 and not wear out so ver}- rapidly .if they 

 found it abundant after reaching the 

 pasture. He thinks that wandering about 

 from flower to flower in a search for nec- 

 tar might be quite wearing. He is of the 

 opinion that they Hy more miles to a trip 

 when honey is scarce, although they may 

 not go so many miles from home. 



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