September, ig 



American Hee Journal 



inoculated with the alfalfa bacteria, 

 which, it seems, is indispensable to its 

 successful growth. In an early day I 

 sowed seed two different times and al- 

 though it germinated and showed up a 

 good stand, it grew weakly, and in 2 

 years became so thin on the ground 

 that I plowed it up. I sowed a part of 

 the same ground again and was pleased 

 to get not only a good stand, but a 

 fairly vigorous growth, which now, af- 

 ter 20 years, is better than it was dur- 

 ing the first 3 years after it was sowed. 

 About 3 years' time is necessary for 

 alfalfa to establish itself fully and reach 



its full development. Up to this time 

 it should not be pastured, experience 

 having proved that it is detrimental, as 

 a rule, to pasture it during the early 

 years after it is sowed. And as a mat- 

 ter of fact, aside from its use for hog 

 pasturage, it is best to cure and feed 

 as hay to all kinds of stock. It never 

 bloats hogs, but cattle, sheep and horses 

 are bloated by it fully as badly as by 

 red clover. It can be cut and fed to 

 hogs in the green condition as cheaply 

 as, or more so than, to build hog-tight 

 fences so that they can be turned on it. 

 Lyons. Kan. 



^^ 



«4< f 'A ' 



./Convention 

 J»«K»«din§s 



Report of the Chieago-Nopthwest- 

 ern Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



(Continued from page 243.) 

 Overhauling Bees. 



"Is it necessary or advisable to over- 

 haul every colony in the apiary in the 

 spring? If so, when is the best time to 

 to do so, and how?" 



Mr. Wilcox — ^It has been my practise 

 for many years to do so immediately 

 after carrying them out of the cellar, to 

 clean them if they needed cleaning. It 

 is not absolutely necessary. It is about 

 as well to let them wait a few days and 

 give attention only to those which are 

 very weak or very strong, and those 

 which may be a little low in stores. Al- 

 so to see if they want more feed for 

 brood-rearing. 



Mr. Taylor — It is never necessary nor 

 desirable. 



Mr. Whitney — I clip queens, so I find 

 it necessary to do so. It is a good plan. 



Mr. Wheeler — If Mr. Whitney used 

 the right hive he wouldn't need to look 

 through the combs. 



Dr. Bolirer — I would scarcely know 

 whether my apiary were in proper con- 

 dition to see if each had a queen. Some 

 are found queenless. Then some dis- 

 position must be made of the bees. You 

 must look them over to know the actual 

 condition. 



Strengthening Weak Colonies. 



"If any colonies are weak in brood or 

 bees, or both, in the spring, what plan 

 would be best to pursue in strengthening 

 them, and why?" 



Dr. Miller — As helping to bring out 

 the answer it might be well to ask how 

 many approve the Alexander plan? 



Mr. Wilcox — The Alexander plan has 

 been misunderstood. 



Dr. Miller — Was an excluder used be- 

 tween the two? Was that part of the 

 Alexander plan? 



Mr. Whitney — The Alexander plan 

 is understood to include the excluder. 

 Then it isn't anything new. I supposed 

 it was not a very different thing to put 



one colony upon another if we had an 

 excluder on, and the queens would be 

 protected. 



Mr. Wheeler — It was my idea that 

 they use wirecloth between them. 



Dr. Miller — -Alexander never did. 

 Others do it, but not Alexander. 



Dr. Bohrer — If I find a weak colony 

 I give it a good queen, and such an 

 amount of brood as the bees can take 

 care of. I take the brood from some 

 very strong colony, and give the weak 

 colony only a small amount, just what 

 they can well care for. It won't weaken 

 the strong colony, and will strengthen 

 the weaker one. 



(Here the Secretary read Alexander's 

 plan from "A B C of Bee Culture.") 



Dr. Milkr — How many have worked 

 this plan successfully? 4. How many 

 unsuccessfully? i. 



Mr. Baldridge — Some have had a good 

 deal of experience. I don't like the plan, 

 because I think there is a better one. In- 

 stead of putting the weak colony on top 

 of the strong one, it should be reversed. 

 I get better results. I have been prac- 

 tising this method for 2 years — placing 

 the weak colony under. The bees from 

 the strong colony can go out without 

 mixing. When they return with their 

 load of honey they will return to the 

 lower hive. The young bees will remain 

 in the lower hive to a great extent. You 

 can build up better by placing the weak 

 colony under. I never had a queen dis- 

 turbed, because I put the strong colony 

 on very quietly. I don't lose any bees 

 nor any queens. That is a better plan 

 than any other. If you put it in prac- 

 tise it will be worth every penny that it 

 has cost you to come to this convention. 



Dr. Miller — I have failed with it, and 

 have succeeded with it. In one case I 

 put on the strongest colony a very weak 

 colony. In 10 minutes I saw dead bees 

 being carried out, I left them alone. 

 Soon all were killed. I had not taken 

 pains to do it quietly. I expect that was 

 the cause. In some cases I put a wire- 

 cloth l>etween the two. Then you don't 

 need to be careful. Then take off the 



wirecloth and leave the excluder on. I 

 remember another case where a strong 

 colony had placed over it a weak one, 

 and after perhaps 3 days I raised up 3 

 frames of brood from below, brushed 

 all the bees from them, and put 3 fraines 

 of brood in the upper story. I left them 

 that way. The next time I went there 

 I found all those frames of brood were 

 occupied by bees. They probably came 

 from below. I left them, and next time 

 there was a good colony there. Rightly 

 used, the plan is an advantage. 



Mr. Wheeler — Did you consider.Doc- 

 tor, that it was safer to use a wirecloth 

 for a few days? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, it is safer. If you 

 are very careful it is not necessary, but 

 it is safer. 



Mr. Taylor — I haven't had very much 

 experience — only 2 or 3 colonies. I never 

 lost any bees that way. The first one 

 I ever tried was before I heard of Alex- 

 ander's plan. I found a colony that I 

 judged was queenless. It had quite a 

 large number of bees. I put a queen- 

 excluder on another hive and set it on 

 top. I found that they had a queen, and 

 very soon I found I had a strong colony 

 above as well as below. I used a queen- 

 excluder. 



Dr. Miller — I don't believe that the ex- 

 cluder is necessary if the poor colony is 

 weak enough so that there will be no 

 direct connection between the 2 clusters, 

 if the work is properly done. The ex- 

 cluder merely prevents the queen passing 

 through. It wi.i not prevent bees passing 

 from one part to another. An excluder 

 is not necessary. 



Mr. Taylor — If the weather is warm 

 and the bees are active, I think it would 

 be quite dangerous. If the weather is 

 cool so that they remain in their separate 

 clusters for some time, it is safe. 



Wintering Two Weak Colonies in 

 One Hive. 



"Has any one had experience in put- 

 ting 2 weak colonies into one hive with 

 a partition between, and have them win- 

 ter in good condition?" 



Dr. Miller — I have had lots of them, 

 and they wintered in good condition. 

 Use a ^i inch wooden partition. 



Mr. Taylor — I have wintered quite a 

 number. I had several colonies light in 

 stores. I selected some heavy colonies 

 and put on a queen-excluder and set the 

 light colony on top of the heavy one, 

 and they wintered all right that way. 

 That is, generally. But I put them out 

 and allowed them to remain, and in that 

 case the Alexander plan did not work 

 very well. A great many of them united 

 in one hive or the other. 



Dr. Miller — With a partition between 

 the frames 2 colonies can be wintered 

 in the same hive. I wintered perhaps 

 20 double-hive colonies. When I looked 

 in the winter at the cluster in each 

 hive they would be down apparently in 

 one cluster, merely with that one par- 

 tition between them. Each cluster got 

 the warmth from there. The cluster 

 was just as nicely formed as if the 2 

 had been in one colony and some one 

 had slid in between them that board. I 

 believe the 2 (supposing each covered 

 3 frames of brood) would winter as 

 well as one 6-frame colony. There is 

 certainly a real advantage in having 2 

 weak colonies together. 



