American ^ae Journal i 



December, 190S. 



producers, as well as myself, who do not wish 

 to go to the expense of putting up special 

 buildings, etc., for 500 or even 1000 pounds 

 of extracted honey. For 1 think many of 

 these smaller producers retail their honey in 



'°\?M '■?."■ ^ J- R- BOGART. 



Millville, Pa. 



[Who will help out in these matters?— 



IvDITOR.] 



Glass-Side Supers. 



I put a glass in one side of all my su- 

 pers—strips of glass that I get at the hard- 

 ware store, iK to 2 inches wide and 12 to 

 14 inches long. I lay the glass on the out- 

 side of the super, mark around it, saw it 

 out on a bevel so the inside is smaller than 

 the outside, let the glass in even on the 

 mside and imbed it. Plane the piece of wood 

 that comes out of it till it fills the hole tight 

 and a small nail at each end makes it handy 

 \ou can have 3 or 4 supers on a hive and 

 look into the bottom one without disturbing 

 the bees. I would not have a super without 

 a glass. 



An old case-knife about 2 inches long 

 ground to a point, and a brick-layer's paint- 

 ing-trowel, are the finest tools I can find for 

 cleaning sections. I make all my supers and 

 put the glass in before I nail them up. 



Monticello, Iowa, Nov. g. O. D. French. 



A Brief Report. 



My report for 1908 is as follows: Spring 

 count, 5 colonies; increased to 11 colonies; 

 harvest, 425 pounds of comb honey. 



Racine, Wis., Nov. 8. Otto FehlbBrg. 



Best Season Ever. 



The honey season this year was the best 

 we ever had. I got about 500 pounds from 

 4 colonies. One Italian colonv stored 120 

 pounds. My bees never showe'd a sign of 

 swarming. I never could have had such good 

 success if it were not for the American Bee 

 Journal. D. H. Cathman. 



Forest City, 111., Nov. 5. 



Bees Did Well. 



Bees have done well this season. I start- 

 ed out with 8 colonies last spring, and to 

 date have 16, and have sold $65 worth of 

 honey. I am sure I wouldn't have done so 

 wen without the aid of the bee papers and 

 books. Walter M. Adema. 



Berlin, Mich., Nov. 18. 



Fair Year for Bees. 



We had a fair year for the bees. I took 

 about 900 pounds of honey from 8 colonies, 

 spring count, and increased to 20 colonies. 

 We are using lo-frame hives of standard make, 

 and run for extracted and comb honey. Our 

 best colony gave a little over 200 pounds of 

 honey, about two-thirds of it being extracted; 

 but they had to build their own combs. 



Roy U. AND Lester S. Gillette. 



Fostoria, Iowa, Nov. 20. 



Good rains, But Too Late. 



We have had good rains, but too late for 

 the bee-business. I have taken more honey 

 the last 2 weeks than during all the rest of the 

 year. The bees seem to be particularly rich in 

 stores. I am enthused over the bee-business. 

 There is a man near me making some log 

 hives for the bees. I regret this. 



R. B. Perry. 



Greenfield, Tenn., Nov. 10. 



Wintering Bees — Requeening. 



I see so much in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal about bee-moth and winter losses. I have 

 had from 10 to 30, and for a while as high 

 as 60 colonics of bees in the yard, and now 

 I want to tell you of some things I don't 

 look for — dead bees in spring. And I never 

 went to a hive and looked for bcc-moths. I 

 kept my bees in organ boxes for' a long time, 

 packed 6 colonics in a box. Then made 

 a^ set of boxes 6 inches larger than the 

 hive. I put _ that box over the hive 

 when it begins to get cool weather. 

 Then about November 15 I pack them with 

 straw and chaff. I think 2 or 3 inches is 

 better than 6 inches. The sun will dry it on 

 the outside and the bees on the inside. Now 

 those boxes stand until the weather settles 

 in the spring. If I think best I take out 

 the packing and let them stand until I want 



to put on the supers. The boxes cost about 

 40 cents each. They are covered with tar 

 paper, well tacked on, and then one heavy 

 coat of oil and ochre. 



As for my honey crop I got an average 

 °f ■■3>i pounds of comb honey to the col- 

 ony. I had 10 colonies and got 6 swarms. 



"This is my way to requeen: When I get 

 a first swarm, if the queen is 3 years old, 

 I kill her and save the next one. While 

 they are out I go through the hive and re- 

 move all queen-cells but one, and before she 

 is laying they are out of the notion of swarm- 

 ing I think that is the best plan for me. 

 1 don t hive all swarms that come off. I 

 would rather have 10 colonies running over 

 with bees than 20 that the moth would take. 



,, . „ , B. F. Spafford. 



Morning Sun, Iowa, Nov. 20. 



1 144 Lbs. Extracted from Colony and 

 Its Increase. 



We had only a scant half crop of honey 

 this season in this part of the country. Bees 

 are going into winter quarters in fine con- 

 dition. Honey is in good demand here at 6 

 to 8 cents for extracted and 15 cents for 

 comb honey in 4'4x4',i sections. I have 

 shipped from Salt Lake City to Washington, 

 D. C, this season, and can't supply the de- 

 mand. I think Uinta County, Utah, can 

 beat the world in fine honey. For instance, 

 I have shipped honey to Salt Lake City, Utah; 

 Denver, Colo.; Kansas City, Mo.; Pennsyl- 

 vania; Washington, D. C. ; and to a great 

 many other places, just for family use, in 

 quantities from one to 300 pounds. 

 _ In 1907 I took from one colony and the 

 increase, 1144 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 if there has ever been any one who has 

 done any better than that I wish to learn his 

 name and address. G. W. Vangundy. 



Jensen; Utah, Oct. 31. 



A Beginner's Experience with Bees. 



m a beginner in bee-culture, and first 

 merest in bees last spr' 



took 



the fa 

 and about a blo< 

 keeper, but I took 

 From Loraii 

 03-acre far 

 farmer that 



Before 

 uvea in l^orain, Ohio, 

 ay from us lived a bee- 

 o interest in bees then, 

 ny father and family moved to a 

 near Seville, Ohio, and the 

 ved on our farm kept bees, and 

 d he left the bees. He said he 

 could not move them because the combs would 

 break. He left a few empty hives and told 

 me how to hive a swarm. I hived 5 swarms 

 that season, and then I began to ask more 

 questions about them and learned that about 

 7 miles from us was a bee-keepers' supply 

 company. I got $15 worth of honey this year 

 from the 5 colonies. Five dollars' worth I sold 

 and bought a frame hive and other supplies. 



I bought more bees and set them all near a 

 car-line. One morning I found all my bees 

 and hives stolen. I looked far and wide but 

 could not find them. Then I bought 5 more 

 colonies, which I have now. I am now taking 

 a course in bee-keeping, for which I paid $5, 

 and have learned lots more than I ever thought 

 was in bee-keeping. Next week I believe I 

 will take my examination. My father said if 

 I made a good examination he would buy more 

 bees for me next spring. 



I take 2 bee-papers and I like them both. 

 Seville, Ohio, Nov. 9. John Sugajski. 



Uniting Two Colonies of Bees. 



Although very dull on the subject of bee- 

 keeping, I was amused at some of the ques- 

 tions in the American Bee Journal. It is not 

 to play the part of a critic that prompts me 

 to write, but I feel that my own experience 

 in uniting two different colonies of bees is 

 about_ as gopd as some others. So I hereby 

 give it, hoping to help the brotherhood in so 

 doing: 



When I decide upon the 2 colonies that I 

 wish to unite, I kill the less desirable queen 

 and move _ that hive nearer to the one on 

 which I will put it, or the one with a queen. 

 After I get it quite near, some cool evening 

 I quietly put the queenless colony on top 

 of the one with a queen. I do this with as 

 little stirring up of the bees as possible, and 

 the work is done. No smoking nor inter- 

 changing of frames. I stop all hive-entrances 

 but the one to the lower hive. By the fol- 

 lowing day the 2 colonies that have kept quietly 

 to themselves during the night will meet a 

 few at a time and the odor of the lower hive 

 and its queen will have so permeated the 

 upper story that the bees don't disagree at 

 all. I have no trouble in handling my bees. 



which are golden Italians, in this way. I 

 can not say it will work in all cases, and with 

 other kinds of bees. 



In the spring I take all the brood from the 

 top story, if there be any, and put all with 

 sufficient honey into the lower story, removing 

 the top story, putting on sections with queen- ■ 

 excluder. In this way I have a large force 

 of mature workers to start with, which means 

 a whole lot. I use this upper hive with its 

 dry combs or partially filled combs for early 

 swarms, which can do more work in sections 

 with the start thus given them. 



L. L. Brockwell. 



Fdlow, Va., Nov. 17. 



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TBE GARDNER NIRSERY CO., Boi 45. Osaje, low 



Mention Bee Jonrnal irhen irrltlns. 



Post Cards Free 



Here are 12 as handsome Post Cards as 

 yiiu have ever seen. The flower cards are 

 all embossed — raised flowers. There are 

 six of these. The other six are scenes 

 like the one above — all beautiful and 

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 to anyone FREE. Just send a dime — 

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 subscription to Farm and Stock or The 

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FRriT-GPOWEK, IFARM .*Vn STOCK, 



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St- Josepli. >lo. I .St. Josepli, Mo. 



Mention Bee Jonmnl when writlma;. 



E. Illinois and W. Indiana 



A meeting of the bee-keepers of East- 

 ern Illinois and Western Indiana, is 

 called at the Court Honse in Watseka, 

 111., December 15 and 16, 1908, at 10 

 o'clock a. m. A good program, and 

 question-box will be provided. Other 

 business of importance will be acted up- 

 on. All who are interested please at- 

 tend. 



J. H. Roberts, Pics. 



Ray Ensincer, Sec. 



