American Vae vJournal 



1 90S. 



I hav 



but do not like tliem myself. Like the 

 dants, I prefer the large hives for honey and 

 successful wintering. I winter my bees on 

 the summer stands and never lose any colo- 

 nies that have plenty of stores and a good 

 supply of young bees, although there must be 

 good, young queens at the head of the colonies 

 or there will not be the required amount of 

 young bees. 



I like the American Bee Journal and will 

 never be without it as long as I keep bees. 

 I fl'.ink ft is the best bee-paper in print. 



Hampstcad, Md., Oct. 14. Subscriber. 



Some Money in Bee-Keeping. 



I see Mr. I,. K. Gateley thinks that the man 

 wlio turns his entire attention to bee-keeping 

 will make a financial failure. That is not the 

 fact on the Western Slope. There are half 

 a dozen bee-keepers in this Valley that do 

 nothnig else, and they are all getting rich. 

 1 here is no business m Colorado that pays so 

 well in proportion to the money invested 

 For instance, one bee-keeper with 600 colonies 

 received a check for his 1907 crop of $4050- 

 another with 400 colonies, $2500; and bees 

 sold here in the spring of 1907 for $3 per 

 colony. Our crop for 1908 is better than last 

 year. I have 125 colonies, and the crop of 

 1908 was $600. If that is not percent enough, 

 what would Mr. Gateley want? 

 •,, ^ „ . E. C. Wright. 



Montrose, Co., Colo., Oct. 13 



The Bee No Small Affair. 



Editor York:— I enclose an item taken 

 from the editorial page of the Minneapolis 

 .lournal of recent date, which may be of in- 

 terest to the leaders of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



I had fair success with my one colony of 

 bees for a start this year. I took off 39 pounds 

 of section hofify and had 3 nice swarms be- 

 ^.^L '''^° had 76 pounds in extracting 



ne"d for" wilite" *''' * <=°'°"i« 



I keep bees for recreation and pleasure 

 and gardffi"^ ' '^'"' ^"'^'^berries, chickens! 



. I always look forward with pleasure and 

 "iterest for the next issue of the American 



for all classes of bee-keepers. 



AT- ■■ ... Frank L. Hubbard. 



Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 10. 



[The item referred to by Mr. Hubbard in 

 the foregoing, reads as follows:— Editor.] 



THE NEGLECTED HONEY-BEE. 



The American hen has been shown by sta- 

 tistics to be a more lucrative bird than all 

 the more showy aviating animals put together. 

 She even produces more wealth than the mines 

 of the country. She tops the cotton crop with 

 the value of her cackle. 



But here comes the busv bee with its claim 

 Last year the mines of Colorado produced $35 

 000,000 in money on a stock capital of about 

 as many billions. But the honey-bee, which 

 is not incorporated at all, and for which no 

 hnf,n/r""i"''u', '•=■" ^^°'^' of ='°<^k that are 



l^te'L-f^r'loSo';-;;:^ tr"se.' -^^^en- 

 bee comes buzzing by, singinc its sone of 

 wealth and contentmenl. people^ jump out o 

 their boots. They avoid the bee instead of re 

 jccmg to see it with its cHnner-pa 1 over its 



^Ttedlv°ifT?*''-* *^.^^ '^ neglected.' Ad 

 mittedly, if u received the attent on bestowed 

 upon the hen ts output would triple in value 

 in 2 years. Why not give the bee a run for 

 Its money? •» » uu lor 



thcr stvles. who help ihemst^lvt-s. I began the middle of 

 June to pick, mash, and feed white mulber- 

 ries to them, placing a liberal allowance on 

 the alighting-board several times each day, as 

 long as they lasted — August 13th — a more pro- 

 longed fruitage than usual. 



And they show their apreciation of my ser- 

 vice in a substantial manner. 



I have learned several practical kinks re- 

 garding bees by just keeping my eyes and ears 

 wide open, and if the boys want to know I 

 will gladly tell them, but I am persuaded 

 that it is useless to attempt to explain to their 

 "daddies," as they already know too much and 

 don't wish to enlarge their sphere of knowledge. 

 Usually the old ''fellers" are too' indifferent 

 to acquire "tips" on new ventures. But I 

 like boys and girls because they are never 

 stationary — they zvant to Unoxv. 



Well, toward the end of September I con- 

 cluded I would .see what my 3 supers con- 

 tained. Each 9-frame super was packed with 

 good, luscious honey. The 27 frames I con- 

 servatively estimate at 100 pounds of as fine 

 sweets as ever bees produced. I cut around 

 the frames, cut the slab in 2 pieces, put them 

 into clean butter-crocks and transferred them 

 to a shelf in our basement for the delectation 

 of our family and friends. 



I winter my colony on its summer stand, 

 protecting it by inverting a larger box over 

 the hive and covering with tarpaulin against 

 the rains and melting snows. 



With some 40 pounds of provision in their 

 home 1 feel assured tliey will, as before, pull 

 through handsomely, and be ready to greet 

 me in the spring. Dr. Peibo. 



Chicago, 111., Oct. 10. 



1 k 



White Mulberries for Bees. 



All "b;'>!s'mis?"Lve'"fJ„v'ev'n'*,,"^ '^''*'"''- 

 ^1,1., „ I'luM iia\t lun, even llie ro-year- 



olds are no exception. They afford me pleas- 

 ure and study, profit and stings. I have an 



ITndf ^'n/'.^" "'•■" '^ ^'"^". P^'X^'c'l from cold 

 winds and the excessive vigilance of the street 

 urchins who would fondly shy rocks at the 

 hive to sec if the bees will bite. I am sur- 

 rounded by my neighbors' gardens, which offer 

 fine forage, besides the white and sweet clover 

 to he found on the edges of our town. Mine 

 are the active Italians and attend strictly to 

 busmess on all favorable occasions. On warm 

 summer days they, seem actually to fall over 

 each other in their efforts to fill the store- 

 house. And as we naturally like to help those 



Too Dry for Fall Honey. 



I have sold 20 colonies of bees, reducing 

 my number to 14, and that is more than I 

 can handle, as I am at home so little. I have 

 taken only 600 pounds, or sections of honey 

 off tliis season, but have not sold any for less 

 than 16 cents a section. The season .has been 

 too dry -here . for fall honey. Bees got no 

 buckwheat honey, though tliere was lots of 

 buckwheat around here. 



E. K. Kennicott. 



Glenview, III., Oct. 10. 



Some Interesting Bee-Experiences. 



I will give you some of my successes and 

 failures in a new country. Having handled 

 bees in Indiana since I was 12 years old, I 

 came to Northern Minnesota 6 years ago, and 

 had been without bees until last spring when 

 I sent for one colony, which I received about 

 the middle of May. So by spreading the 

 brood I increased the 8-frame colony to 16 

 frames, of which 14 contained brood. At this 

 time I divided it into 4 colonies. 



The next week, or first of July, I received 

 a queen by mail, so I was compelled to start 

 another nucleus to receive her, which made 5 

 colonies, 2 with laying queens and 3 with 

 queen-cells. The failures were in getting 

 queens mated. I lost 4 out of 5. I think the 

 dragon-flies would catch them when they would 

 fly out to mate, or at least they would disap- 

 pear. 



'At present I have 4 colonies '-unnina: over 

 with bees, and have taken 24 pounds of comb 

 honey and about 75 pounds of extracted. I 

 have not bothered the brood-chamber of 10 

 frames, and reserved 8 full frames to put back 

 for the bees. 



Since extracting there has been another fall 

 flow from which 1 expect 50 pounds. At this 

 flow the bees were so excited that they would 

 leave the hive when it was so dark that they 

 could not see to return. 



While I have handled bees for 25 years, 

 I have met with several strange things. I 

 started 3 nuclei with queen. cells in ample 

 time. They hatched and were nice queens, of 

 which one commenced to lay. The otiier two 

 disappeared, at which time I gave a frame 

 of eggs, from which they promptly started 

 queen-eclls; but before the queen hatched, when 

 I would go to examine them they would form 

 about a dozen balls the size of a hen's egg, 

 as if they were balling that many queens. On 

 taking the halls out and smoking them, I 

 found nothing but a hairless, black looking 

 bee in each one. If I would smoke the ball 

 apart, as soon as I would quit smoking they 

 would jump onto it again. Were there com- 

 mencing to be laying workers, and in the pres- 

 ence of queen-cells did they want to dispose 

 of them? When they would commence to ball 

 these, they would not quit until they had 

 thrown them out dead. This was only one col- 

 ony, and when the queen hatched they treated 



her well at first, hut she did nut lay, and after 

 about 21 days they commenced to treat her 

 cross, and at last to ball her. I guess they 

 came to the conclusion that she was "no 

 good" without laying, at which time I dis- 

 posed of her and united them with another 

 colony. 



T do not find anything in my text-book like 

 this. 



Another curiosity: I went to a hive the 

 other day and opened it, when to my surprise 

 I saw a huge bumble-bee queen, the size oj 

 the end of my thumb, walking naion^ the 

 bees without being molested. Had she gone 

 in there for the winter? Would she do any 

 harm to the bees, do you suppose? At that 

 date (September 28), from one colony in an 

 8-frame hive, spring count, I had increased 

 to 4 colonies, and have 70 drawn combs, with 

 about 125 pounds of extracted _ hone-y and 

 pounds comb honey, water w" ' 

 flavor. Da 



Indus, Minn. 



Found It Worth Something. 



I know the worth of the American Bee 

 Journal. One copy of the 1Q06 issue I bor- 

 rowed from a neighbor that gave me instruc- 

 tions on how to treat foul brood, and saved 

 me two colonies, which later in the season this 

 vear, filled 4 supers of alfalfa honey. The 2 

 colonies— all I had— were combined in April. 

 I burned the brood-combs, boiled the frames, 

 burned the inside of the hives, and then put 

 the bees back after 48 hours. They did fine, 

 and were passed as all right by the bee-in- 

 spector last week. L. W. BiiNSON. 



Grand Junction, Colo.. Oct. 24. 



Feeding Bees. 



Having read so much about feeding and 

 feeders in the bee-papers for the last few 

 months, I thought I would explain a method 

 which I have practised with success for 

 several years. This method has the following 

 arguments for its use, especially to the ex- 

 tracted-honey producer: i. There is no need 

 of feeders and their expense; 2. You can 

 feed at any hour of day; 3. It is natural 

 and quick. 



Here is the explanation, i. There must be 

 an extracting super on each hive, or if you 

 run for comb honey, replace the outside row 

 of sections by a shallow extracting frame. 



2. Prepare your syrup. If you have a good 

 method follow it. But here is the way ours 

 is made: Into boiling or cold water placed 

 in an extractor (or if you haven't an extractor 

 a tub will answer), stir gradf.all/ an equal 

 amount of granulated sugar and water by 

 whirling the baskets. Stir until the syni,. 

 reaches the desired consistency. You will no- 

 tice on page 269 that Mr. G. M. Doolitlle 

 gives a very good method. When the syrup 

 is finished place it in a pot with a spout 

 or an old water sprinkler with the spreader 

 removed. 



3. Approach the hive and gently push the 

 cover back until the end of the frame is un- 

 covered. Remove the frame, laying it flat 

 on the lid. Then pour a little syrup on the 

 comb, rubbing it info the cells by a circular 

 motion, continually pouring more svrup on 

 until you have that side filled. Then turn 

 the frame once and fill the other side in the 

 same manner. Replace the frame, cover the 

 hive, and proceed in like manner through the 

 apiary. The bees will come up into the super 

 and remove the syrup to the brood-chamber 

 when they will ripen it. In a few days re- 

 turn to the apiary and repeat the process un- 

 til you have fed enough svrup for your pur- 

 pose. 



It will be noticed in the above that I say 

 frame instead of frames. Here in California 

 where the weather is warm nearly the year 

 around, I have prepared as high as 4 frames 

 to the colony, but in the East I couldn't ad- 

 vise you to do this. You understand, of 

 course, that a strong colony could take care 

 of more syrup when fed after this plan. This 

 method is especially valuable for stimulative 

 feeding in the early spring. 



Redlands, Calif. Chas. Trout. 



Chicago-Northwestern Convention 



This will be held in the Club Room 

 of the Briggs rioiisc, corner Fifth Ave. 

 and Randolph Sts., Chicago, on Wed- 

 nesday and Tluusday, December 2 and 

 3, 1908, beginning at 10 130 a. m. on 

 Wednesday. It occurs at the time of the 



