American liee JomuiAl^ 



June, 1908. 



cheap (!), and with them he also got 

 a lot of disease thrown in— all of vvhich 

 proved to be a very expensive invest- 

 ment, for he was soon entirely out of 

 the bee-business. 



Not only in buying bees, but when get- 

 ting anything else, it pays to deal only 

 with those who are honest and are 

 known to give "value received" for the 

 money they accept. There are so rnany 

 people who will dispose of almost "any 

 old thing," in order to get money, that 

 it pays to be e.xceedingly careful when 

 purchasing. It does not take long for 

 foul brood or some other disease to 

 "clean out" an apiary when once the 

 trouble is started. Whenever any old 

 lot of hives with bees are offered at a 

 bargain, it is well to exercise great care 

 lest in the end they prove very expen- 

 sive. No prospective bee-keeper can af- 

 ford to run the risk of getting any bee- 

 disease started in his apiary, and cer- 

 tainly it would be exceedingly discour- 

 aging to begin with hives that already 

 contained disease. 



Age of Combs 



"Our American cousins tell us a comb 

 is good for 20 years, but if their combs 

 last so long it is no reason why Aus- 

 tralian combs will last as long and be 

 serviceable. Australian bee-keepers are 

 working under different conditions, i. c, 

 here the breeding season is almost dou- 

 ble that in most parts of the United 

 States, i. c, the combs are used for rear- 

 ing nearly double the number of broods 

 per season. Therefore, is not the useful 

 life of a brood-comb reduced to about 

 one-half ?" — Australasian Bee-Keeper. 



That suggests the question, "Has it 

 been found that combs in the extreme 

 south of the United States become im- 

 paired by age sooner than those in the 

 extreme north?" Some, however, main- 

 tain that age does not impair the useful- 

 ness of a comb. If that betrue, then 

 the number of broods reared in a season 

 can make no difference. 



it not be well to say something about a 

 queen-excluder to prevent the queen 

 from entering the super? 



"Arrange a windbreak to prevent 

 loaded bees from being dashed against 

 the hive fronts by the prevailing strong 

 winds." 



Are bees likely to be injured by being 

 "dashed against the hive fronts?" 



"Provide supports for the hives which 

 will lift them a foot or more from the 

 ground. Ants and insect-eating animals 

 may give trouble if the hives are on the 

 ground." 



What kind of ants are they that do 

 not understand the trick of climbing 

 such supports? 



"No orchard, alfalfa or cotton field 

 should be more than 2 miles from an 

 apiary, and a shorter distance would 

 be of advantage." 



If any of these things are found to 

 be more than 2 miles from an apiary, 

 what harm will they do, and how are 

 they to be brought nearer? 



"The best time to buy and transport 

 bees is about fruit-bloom. At that time 

 they are breeding plentifully, there are 

 young bees hatching daily, and the loss 

 of bees which may go astray will soon 

 be made up by the constantly hatching 

 brood." 



Do bees always go astray when they 

 are moved? and is their loss of no con- 

 - sequence when there . is "constantly 

 hatching brood?" 



Large Versus Small Supers 



On page 115 of the American Bee 



Bee-Keeping in Agricultural Papers 



An inquisitive correspondent sends 

 some "suggestions to bee-keepers" taken 

 from an excellent farm journal, and 

 asks some questions which are referred 

 to Dr. ^Miller. Some of the suggestions 

 and Dr. ^Idler's responses follow : 



"Get a super of honey from the hive 

 wintered over by putting a super con- 

 taining sections with full sheets of 

 foundation, or a super containing ex- 

 tracting frames on the hive as soon 

 as there is a good working force" 



Is it not well to consider the matter 

 of tlie harvest in deciding when to put 

 on supers? 



"When the swarm issues remove the 

 super from the old and place it upon 

 the new stand. Your new swarm will 

 not leave their hive, and will be quite 

 likely to continue working in the su- 

 per." 



When tlie super is put on the new 

 stand, is it understood that anything 

 besides tlie super is put there? If the 

 writer means tlmt the super is to be put 

 over the hive on the new stand, would 

 he not be better to leave the swarm on 

 the old stand? And if the super is put 

 there "when the swarm issues" would 



Journal occurs a paragraph that will 

 bear some study. It refers to the pro- 

 duction of comb-honey, and reads as fol- 

 lows : 



"In a good season, a strong colony 

 would fill a 40-pound super as quickly 

 as one of 20 or 25 pounds' capacity, 

 making a difference of 25 to 40 per cent 

 in yield on this item alone." 



The percent of difference is really 

 greater than stated, for 40 pounds is 60 

 percent greater than 25 pounds, and 100 

 percent greater than 20 pounds. 



Some will understand from this that 

 the crop of honey from a strong colony 

 may be doubled merely by doubling the 

 size of the super, an understanding that 

 would be very disappointing. To be 

 sure, a colony sufficiently strong will fill 

 a 40-pound super in about the same time 

 as a 20-pound super, or for that mat- 

 ter in the same time as a lo-pound su- 

 per ; but the man with the 20-pound su- 

 per will tell you that there is no law 

 to prevent his putting on 2 supers at a 

 time, and that the 2 will be filled just as 

 quickly as the larger super would. He 

 will also be very likely to tell you that 

 sometimes, after the colony has stored 

 the first 40 pounds, it will still store 20 

 pounds more, in which case good work 

 will be done in the 20-pound super and 

 perhaps not a section finished in the 40- 

 pound one. 



However, the beginner should not fail 

 to get the point that when a colony in a 

 strong flow has a force sufficient to oc- 

 cupy fully a 40-pound super, he will be 

 losing honey to confine it to a single 

 super of smaller size. 



\<^'i\i 



0)i5celtaneouS 

 n6DU5 -[tems 



The Detroit National Convention 



We want every reader of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal to bear in mind the 

 meeting of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association at Detroit, Mich., on Octo- 

 ber 13, 14 and 15. While it is rather 



■ early to make any definite plans about 

 going, still it is not too early to think 

 of it, and to begin to look forward to 

 being present, health and circumstances 

 permitting. In the meantime the work 

 with the bees will go right on, and the 

 honey crop taken care of, if it arrives. 



. It is to be hoped that 1908 may be a 

 banner honey year. 



Swarm on Ai-m and Hand 



The picture herewith is of my brother 

 George with queen-bee in queen-cage, 



Death of David E. Merrill 



On May 16, 1908, after a brief ill- 

 ness, Mr. David E. Merrill passed away. 

 He had been connected with the W. T. 

 Falconer Mfg. Co. for the past 20 years. 

 We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. 

 Merrill several years ago when calling 

 on his firm, which is so well known to 

 bee-keepers everywhere. He was very 

 active in the business, and will be greatly 

 missed. 



and the swarm settled on his bare arm 

 and hand. 



I was accidentally shot in the spine 

 last summer and have been paralyzed 



