American Hee Journal 



239 



)^^^#*'1 



hy tlic bees is a double sugar or caiic 

 sugar. Rut wliile the busy bee is fly- 

 ing borne from tbe fields she is at worlc 

 completing in ber honey-sac the change 

 of this cane sugar into a single sugar — 

 or grape sugar. The honey then is de- 

 posited in the cells in the hive and evap- 

 orated by currents of air driven through 

 ihc hive by the buzzing of bees stationed 

 at the entrance to tbe hive for that 

 purpose, until it is well "ripened" to 

 jirevent souring.- It is then sealed up 

 and ready to be eaten as a very whole- 

 some food not without medicinal quali- 

 ties, for honey has a very soothing ef- 

 fect upon the throat. It will be seen 

 that the lirst stage of digestion is com- 

 pleted and when we eat honey we eat 

 in so far a pre-digcsted food. Honey 

 is thus a very economical food, sup- 

 plying a real need of the system in a 

 proper form, to say nothing of its de- 

 liciousness and real beauty on the table. 



An Apiary of a Nebraska 

 Amateur 



BY REV. ALOIS J. KLEIN. 



Coming into Brainard, Neb., via tbe 

 Union Pacific Railroad from the south- 

 east through the undulating country up 

 the Oak Creek stream, gives the trav- 

 eler a view of a town on a high pla- 

 teau — 1.670 feet above the sea-level — tbe 

 ground descending from here in all di- 

 rections. Here I have sojourned ever 

 since September 5. 1R93. 



I began my bee-keeping career in 1899 

 with one colony of pure Italians, in a 

 ij-frame, home^llade portico hive with 

 a gable cover, tbe whole hive being of a 

 massive, yet neat construction. The col- 

 ony and hive were a present from oiie 

 of iny parishioners, who conveyed it to 

 me by wagon early in September across 

 rugged roads over a distance of 13 miles. 

 This colony, teeming with bees and over- 

 flowing with honey, formed the basis 

 of my present apiary, and the progeny 

 from this original colony is still holding 

 its foremost place among my most ex- 

 cellent colonies of a foreign strain and 

 later introduction. 



Situale<l in a )oung orchard inside of 

 the city limits, from 3 to 4 rods east 

 of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 

 road track, in a naturally secluded spot, 

 the apiary numbering 52 colonies, now 

 is in its gtb year. Tbe accompanying 

 picture, which presents a view of only 

 a corner of the apiary proper, was taken 

 last spring as tbe trees were leafing out. 

 The old-fashioned straw skep in front is 

 an object of curiosity to visitors, calling 

 to mind crude practices in primitive bee- 

 keeping, and bringing back memories of 

 "ye olden times." Painted 3 coats in 

 white, red, yellow, light blue, and lead 

 color, the liives with their entrances 

 facing the west, are not set amphi- 

 iheatrically, but in parallel rows and ir- 

 regular groups of one, 2, and 3, each 

 group different from tbe one next to it, 

 and having a moderately shading fruit- 

 tree as a distinguishing object near it. 



During the years of my apprentice- 

 ship, I have, like many other tyros, been 

 addicted to much experimentation, and 

 tried several patterns of hives, until be- 

 coming convinced that for my system of 

 manipulation, the ordinary 8 - frame 

 dovetailed hive with the reversible bot- 

 tom-board and the improved Colorado 

 cover, is best adapted to my conditions. 

 However, I am more and more growing 

 partial to the lo-frame- hive, even for 

 comb-honey production. 



Three-fourths of my colonies are run 

 for comb honey, with which I am sup- 

 plying the local demand, finding, more- 

 over a ready market in the neighbor- 

 ing towns. The balance is devoted to 

 tbe production of the extracted article, 

 in chiefly hives of odd makes, unfit for 

 the section-super arrangement. I use 

 the Cowan extractor, the Root-German 

 wax-press, and intend procuring a comb 

 foundation machine. 



The supers are put on about June 

 I, regardless of the honey-flow, since 

 I do not aim to wait till the bees are 

 whitening the combs near the top-bars. 

 Exceptionally populous colonies, if 

 known as ready workers in the sec- 

 tions, are furnished 2 supers, and tbe 

 hives are thus relieved of crowding. 



The swarming impulse I am endeav- 

 oring to bold in check by timely provid- 



ing ample space for storage and proper 

 ventilation from tbe bottom (by re- 

 versing the bottom-board to the one- 

 inch flight-hole, or sliding back the 

 brood-chamber a little), and by provid- 

 ing shade for the entrance during the 

 glaring heat of the afternoon hours, by 

 means of shade-boards. 



Of the honey-producing flora, white 

 clover (Trifolium repens) furnishes our 

 principal bee-forage. Blossoming as it 

 does from early in June, its honey-yield, 

 during the past few years, has been 

 abundant in our locality until towards 

 the end of the month, arriving at its 

 climax in the first 10 days of July. 



Next in importance is the knotweed, 

 or heartsease, (Polygonum pcrsicaria) 

 for the fall flow. Sweet clover was un- 

 known liere until recently ; during the 

 midsummer and autumn of last year I 

 scattered some seed of the yellow blos- 

 soming variety ( Melilotus oflicinalis) 

 along roa<lsides and railroad tracks of 

 this environment, and sporadic patches 

 of the plant thus introduced have been 

 seen already in bloom in June of tbe 

 present year. 



Fifty-two colonies, among them 3 nu- 

 clei, were prepared last fall for outdoor 

 wintering. Not a single colony suc- 

 cumbed : all but one, which was some- 

 what decimated in bees, were found vig- 

 orous and doing well at the approach 

 of spring. The wintering problem 

 solved? Not quite, this perfect win- 

 tering being in the main attributable to 

 the exceedingly propitious climatic con- 

 ditions of the last winter season (1907- 

 1908). 



I carefully keep track of all my colo- 

 nies and queens by the use of a record- 

 book, each colony allotted a special page. 

 Three or 4 of my best colonies are act- 

 ing like a barometer in the apiary: if 

 there is anything at all to gather from, 

 notwithstanding bow scant, they will 

 always be the first and most assiduous 

 to hustle for it. 



After having passed the first two 

 stages of successful bee-keeping — the 

 initiation and expansion — I have secured 

 a firm foothold in the industrj'. And 

 now the last stage is on — the fruition. 

 Because of my other duties, professional 



A Corner of the Apiary of Rev. Au 



OF Brain.^rd, Neb. 



