June, 1908. 



American Hee Journal 



anxious for fear it might rain before 

 we got home. To each of the 2 colo- 

 nies that had brood only in 2 combs we 

 gave 3 frames of brood with adhering 

 bees. That set them in business nicely, 

 and the bees being queenless we had no 

 anxiety as to the queens. Besides there 

 was the advantage that there was no 

 danger that the bees would desert and 

 go back to their own hives, as some of 

 them always do when given from one 

 colony to another in the same apiary, 

 btill, queenless bees are not nearly so 

 bad about returning to their homes in 

 the same apiary as if taken directly from 

 a queen-right colony. 



Koiunis with Honey. 



One quart of new milk, one dessert- 

 spoonful of honey, one teaspoonful of 

 yeast. Make the milk just warm, add to 

 it the yeast and honey, pour into a large 

 jug, and pass from one jug to another 

 for three or four times. Put each pint 

 of Koumis info a quart bottle, cork tight- 

 ly and keep in a warm room for 24 

 hours — Chicago Record-Herald. 



A Tough Time with the Bees. 



Dear Miss Wilson : — I wonder if you 

 are wondering what has become of me. 

 I had a tough time with my bees last 

 summer. I had to feed them all sum- 

 mer until fall flowers. Then they gath- 

 ered 300 pounds of surplus honey and 

 enough to run them through winter. I 

 put 36 colonies and 7 nuclei into the cel- 

 lar last fall, and they all lived but one 

 colony, and the colonies all looked well 

 and strong. I wonder what has become 

 of Mr. Hasty and Yon Yonson. I also 

 wonder what has become of that bee- 

 keeper that offered $100 if any one 

 would tell him the difference between a 

 worker-bee and a laying worker-bee. I 

 hope he has found out by this time. 



I like reading the American Bee Jour- 

 nal very much. 



Catharine Wainwright. 

 Tilton, Iowa, April 20. 



You have set a good example of per- 

 severance. Some would have said, "If 

 the bees can not get enough for their 

 own living, let them starve." Not only 

 were you rewarded for your feeding by 

 the 300' pounds of surplus last year, but 

 present indications are that you may 

 have a rousing crop this year. We will 

 all be glad if, instead of 300, you get 

 3,000 pounds. 



Two-Legged Hive-Lifter — Honey Pin- 

 Money. 



It is very well for all the bee-sisters 

 to own a 2-legged hive-lifter, but I own 

 one that is no good, for he is more 

 afraid of a dear little honey-bee than 

 he would be of a bear. You ought to 

 see him sprint when a playful bee wish- 

 es to malsc liis acquaintance. From ex- 

 perience I find my hive-lifter of little 

 use, and will sell him very cheap! 



I will not say how long I have cared 

 for bees, but long enough so that I know 

 I can earn my pin-money very easily. 

 I like to take care of them. Very often 

 I get a sting, which does not poison me 

 any more than a mosquito-bite. 



I take the American Bee Journal, and 



mean to make a .success of bee-keeping 

 this year, as I live in a good honey- 

 country, and I am just a woman who is 

 not afraid of a honey-bee. I ma. 



Possibly the fact that you are not at all 

 afraid of a honey-bee has led you to 

 monopolize all the stings ; and so your 

 "hive-lifter" has had no chance to find 

 out how nice the little bees are. It is 

 to be feared that if a purchaser should 

 appear you would "lift" the price on 

 your "lifter." 



To say that a bee-sting does not 

 poison one more than a mosquito-bite 

 may sound to some like a figure of 

 speech not to be taken too literally. It 

 is true, however, not only that for some 

 a bee-sting is no worse than a mosquito- 

 bite, but not nearly so bad. Very likely 

 the first thrust of the sting gives more 

 pain than the first bite of the mosquito, 

 but there are old stagers in the bee-busi- 

 ness who feel no after-effects from the 

 sting, the pain being over in a minute, 

 whereas the pain from the mosquito-bite 

 gets worse and continues worse for 

 some time. 



A Sister's E.vperience With Bees. 



Bees are in fine shape at this time. I 

 had one swarm yesterday. The warm 

 weather and abundant fruit-bloom in 

 March set them to fixing for swarming. 

 I cut out queen-cells then, and there 

 were lots of drones. Then the weather 

 turned cold and there was no more 

 bloom until just now the white clover 

 is blooming. The last few days they 

 have been working on that. I have su- 



pers on all the hives, and some are work- 

 ing in them. Hives are crowded full of 

 bees. We had a thunder-storm early this 

 morning, and the wind has turned to the 

 North, and it is only 60 degrees, and 

 still cloudy. 



We have had poor seasons for 3 vears. 

 I had over a thousand pounds from 30 

 colonies, and increased to 46. The hives 

 were out in the sun with no shade over 

 them, and the first thing I knew the 

 combs had melted down In a good many 

 extracting supers, as I use full-depth 

 hives for supers. They fill them much 

 better than the section-boxes. In 2 hives 

 the bees were drowned out. I think 

 I lost 400 or 500 pounds. The thermom- 

 eter stood at 104 and 106 in the shade 

 for several days. I took dry-goods box- 

 es and made shades over them. I tore 

 the bo.xes to pieces and then made a cov- 

 er just large enough to shade the top 

 and sides. I had no more trouble then. 



Bees that had young queens went 

 through the winter in fine shape, but I 

 have lost 20 colonies which had old 

 queens. The hives would be full of 

 honey and in a short time no bees would 

 be there. Some would be full of brood. 

 I hope this year to have all new queens 

 to start in the fall. 



When I began bee-keeping in igoi I 

 did not know one bee from another, and 

 how to handle bees was a mystery. I 

 had no idea at all of the management 

 of bees. But I got the American Bee 

 Journal, and have learned about all I 

 know from that. 



Mrs. B. L. Hackworth. 



Quincy, Kans., May 21. 



Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mount Joy, Ont. 



Conditions Not Bright. 



I am sorry to say that conditions in 

 this part of Ontario are not as bright 

 as pictured in last month's American 

 Bee Journal. We have had a very late, 

 cold spring here, and many bee-keepers 

 report much spring dwindling. How- 

 ever, clover looks good, and if the 

 weather gets warmer there may yet be a 

 fair crop. 



Apple-bloom is not open yet (May 21). 

 The season is very much like last spring. 

 ..illows are just in bloom, but it rains 

 nearly all the time. However, the bee- 

 man's old standby, "Hope," has not de- 

 serted us, and we are looking for a 

 change soon. If the season is at all 

 favorable, indications point to a large 

 number of Canuck bee-keepers being in 

 attendance at the National in October. 



Brood-Rcai'ing in AVinter. 



On page 109 of tlie .Aipril number, Mr. 

 J. L. Byer, in Canadian Beedom, very 

 courteously criticises a statement of 



mine regarding the amount of brood- 

 rearing in winter in the North. I want 

 just as courteously to criticise the critic, 

 and point out two or three ideas of his 

 which my observations tell me he has 

 got reversed. 



In my experience bees in the cellar 

 are more likely to have brood in win- 

 ter than are those out-of-doors. It is 

 possible I am mistaken in this, as my ob- 

 servation of indoor wintered bees is very 

 much less than it has been of those kept 

 out-of-doors. 



Again, it is the weak, poorly wintered 

 colonies that rear winter brood instead 

 of strong ones. I am quite decided on 

 this point. 



As reasons why he thinks colonies 

 usually have brood in small quantities 

 during the winter, he cites his experi- 

 ence with 3 colonies, and hear-say about 

 an indefinite number of others. My own 

 personal observation of brood-nests at 

 the close of winter covers at least 50©, 

 probably 1,000, colonies, and I am within 

 bounds when I say that less than one- 



