April, 1908. 



American l^ee Journal 



questioner asked him how manj' cells 

 he usually placed on a stick early in the 

 spring. lie replied, "None; I put them 

 on a comb." I went home and tried it, 

 and find that I get a larger percentage 

 accepted, especially if the comb contains 

 sealed brood. J. Donaldson. 



Moorestown, N. J., Dec. 24. 



Views of D. J. Blocher's Bee- Yards 



View No. I, on the first page, shows 

 part of a Caucasian yard 3 miles from 

 home, an<i located at the cross-roads. 

 The nearest hives to the road are only 

 about 2 rods from the track. I tried 

 the Caucasian bee 2 summers and will 

 now quit breeding that race of bees, 

 and Italianize them. They are nice bees, 

 but are objectionable here for various 

 reasons. First, in spring and fall they 

 are inclined to rob. Second, tliey arc 

 inclined to swarm. Third, they fasten 

 many of the frames to the front of the 

 hive at the bottom. One colony filled 

 up the front with a gray ash sort of 

 propolis, and just left holes to crawl 

 through. Fourth, they do not gather 

 as much honey as the Italians. 1 have 

 given them lots of room and they 

 swarmed in spite of the room. I con- 

 fined them to small room below and 

 could hardly get them info the supers. 

 I have decided to quit breeding this 

 bee. 



View Xo. 2 is one of my Italian 

 yards. I run 3 Italian yards and one 

 Caucasian. But now I will have 4 Ital- 

 ian yards. I have the darkest bees here. 

 I pay $10 a year for the ground, but 

 haul all home to winter in the cellar. 

 All the yards are so located that I can 

 call at ail of them and get home in half 

 a day. The farmers are beginning to 

 sow alsike clover, so I do not think it 

 ttecessary to locate them far apart. We 

 try to have our yards graded as to color, 

 and so watch results. The yellow bees 

 so far are doing as well as the darker 

 ones, and are more gentle. The home- 

 yard is in the sun, and so I enjoy go- 

 ing to 2 out-yards where there is shade 

 to work in. I never set a hive in thick 

 shade for honey-gathering. In the sun 

 has always proved best for me in every 

 way except for operating, and I select 

 the cooler part of the day for that, 

 except in a few cases. 



Stephenson Co., III. D. J. Blocker. 



How to Get Bees in a Hive 



J. W. Jack.sQn, of the new and enter- 

 prising State of Oklahoma, writes: 



"Enclosed find a clipping from the 

 bee-department of the California Cul- 

 tivator, which seems to show they don't 

 take bee-papers out West. Send him a 

 sample copy." 



The clipping, replying to a question, 

 reads as follows: 



"A practiced bee-keeper to whom the 

 above question was referred, says he 

 saves swarms of bees n-hich go info trees 

 by setting hives a little distance from 

 the tree in which he puts comb cases, 

 with molasses at the mouth of the hive, 

 and also in the hive. When the bees 

 discover the hive they will go to work, 

 and as soon as this is done he smokes 

 the tree until the bees leave it, which 

 thev will do in a short time and take 



to the new hives. He then removes 

 the honey, being careful to leave enough 

 near the nioutli of the hive to keep the 

 bees from starving until the new hive is 

 established. While the smoking process 

 is under way, a noise at the new hive, 

 made by heating a tin pan, will attract 

 the attention of the bees and direct them 

 to their new quarters. Care must be 

 taken to protect the body from the an- 

 gry bees meanwhile." 



There's richness for you ! The phrase 

 "heating a tin pan" is probably a mis- 

 print for "beating a tin pan," but one 

 is just as good as the other. 



"Grandpa Hutchinson" Telling Stories 



The picture shown herewith appears 

 in the American Bee-Keeper for March. 



the present time, and drawn all that I 

 dared upon my imagination, and still 

 the call is 'more,' 'more.' And then the 

 questions! I never before realized that 

 there were so many things that I did 

 not know. 



"By the way, the little boy has taken 

 me for a pattern. The strongest argu- 

 ment that he can bring to bear is that 

 'Grandpa does that way.' For instance, 

 his mother would like to part his hair 

 in the middle, but he resents it — 'Grand- 

 pa does not do that way.' When asked 

 what he will do when he grows up, he 

 says, 'Keep bees, just the same as 

 Grandpa does.' He has been with me 

 to the apiary, time and again, and has 

 alrepdy received his baptism of stings, 

 takmg it bravely. He can nail up 

 frames, and he and I have alreadv made 



"Grandpa Hutchinson" Telling a Story. 



Referring to it, Mr. Hutchinson savs 

 this: 



"Perhaps I may be allowed to indulge 

 slightly in a grandparent's prerogative, 

 and say just a few words about those 

 6-year-olds leaning upon my knee. They 

 are the eldest children of my twin 

 daughters, and they pretend to live 

 across the street from us, but it is an 

 open question whether they do mucn 

 more than go across there to sleep. The 

 picture is no unusual scene gotten up 

 for the occasion. It is enacted daily in 

 the office of the Review. What .1 love 

 we mortals do have for stories! I 

 have gone back to my very earliest rec- 

 ollections and raked and scraped every 

 little item that I could recall down to 



a bargain that when he is old enough 

 and I am too old, he shall have the 

 Review. Seriously, stranger things than 

 that have happened. 



"There is a saying that. 'Youth hopes; 

 old age remembers,' and I have often 

 noticed that an old man has no greater 

 pleasure than that of recalling the scenes 

 of his youth. It must be that I am still 

 in the golden mean, for while I do 

 sometimes recall with pleasure the 

 'good old times when I was a boy,' 

 there still run in my veins the hope and 

 fire of youth," 



Surely the picture is a delightful one, 

 and we are glad to present it to our 

 readers. The expression on the faces of 



