February, 191 1. 



American ISae Journal 



California Prospects — Value of Bee-Papers 



We had a splendid rain recently, and pros- 

 pects for more. I hope we will have late 

 spring rains to insure a honey crop. Good 

 honey is at a premium here, and not any to 

 be had. I can get from 8 to 10 cents per 

 pound for white extracted honey that form- 

 erly sold for 6 to 7k cents. 



If <r// honey-producers would subscribe for 

 all 3 of the United States bee-papers, all 

 would be sure of securing better and uni- 

 form pricess tor their honey. It is ignor- 

 ance, or lack of proper information, that 

 causes low prices. Buyers take advantage 

 of these conditions. It would surprise any 

 one to know the great number of bee-men 

 here that do not take a bee-paper. 



M. H. Mendleson. 



Ventura. Calif.. Jan. n. 



Oldest Bee-Keeper's Report 



The past season was too dry for bees. I 

 had 40 colonies, spring count, and they pro- 

 duced 1000 pounds of fine comb honey be- 

 sides about 200 pounds of dark honey. 1 sold 

 the clover honey for about 15 cents per 

 pound, and will feed the dark honey. 



I put the bees into the cellar Nov. 20, loio. 



I take 3 bee-papers, read them all. and do 

 not know which is best. Bat I can't do 

 without them. John Cline. 



Darlington. Wis.. Jan. 27. 



[Mr. Cline has the reputation of being the 

 oldest beekeeper in the country, having had 

 bees the longest-86 years. He surely made 

 a hne record for loio. for one of his age. We 

 hope he may continue to be the oldest bee- 

 keeper for many years to come.— Editor.] 



Poor Honey Crop 



The honey crop around here was rather 

 poor in iQio. I got 700 pounds from 65 colo- 

 nies, spring count. It was too dry. 



I put 80 colonies in the cellar, and they are 

 wintering well. Charles J. Miller. 



Long Prairie. Minn.. Jan. 18. 



^ A Discouraging Report 



The year igio was a failure for honey; and 

 iTOQ was nearly a failure. In the fall of iqoq 

 bees went into winter quarters with very 

 little stores. In the spring of loio they were 

 almostout of everything when fruit bloomed, 

 but it being nice weather thev gathered 

 enough to last them until some more bloom 

 came on. or nearly all would have died, 

 through the summer they got just enough 

 to rear lots of brood, and swarm. Last fall 

 It was so dry they did not store enough for 

 winter, so we had to feed. 



We had pretty cold weather from October 

 to January, igri. but no snow. It is Quite 

 warm now. and rainy. J. K. Hunter. 



Allons, Tenn., Jan. 28. 



Driest Year in 26 in California 



I have lived in California 26 years, and this 

 is the driest season I have ever seen here- 

 less than one inch of rain up to this time. 

 Dry. I should say so! We can have a good 

 season yet. thouijh. as the late rains are 

 what make the honey, and we have nearly 

 4 rainy months ahead. S. Q. Conki.e. 



Garden Grove, Cal., Jan, 8. 



A Report from Texas 



I see on page 286 (September. loioi. Mr. 

 Scholl's query in regard to reports from 

 Te.\as. also the answer on page 360. I be- 

 lieve the answer is correct. As Texas has 

 beekeepers from all parts of the Union, it 

 may be said that there are 3 classes of bee- 

 keepers here. Class No. i wants to tell 

 everybody what they have done and what 

 they are going to do; Class No. 2 loves to 

 tell of the big things that they have done, 

 and leave the little things untold. With this 

 class Mr. Densy is right-thev have no big 

 thing to report, and so prefer to remain 



silent. The word " enterprise " may be ap 

 plied to the 3d class. 



1 have been keeping bees for several years, 

 but I have never been able to get the' large 

 crops of honey like those I read of. Neither 

 can I get the fancy prices that some get. 

 Therefore I dislike to tell of the little crops, 

 But I will tell it just once, anyway, so here 

 It is: 



In 1007 1 commenced bee-keeping here with 

 43 colonies. 1 run for extracted honey and 

 got 52 pounds per colony, which I sold at 6 

 and 6}i cents a pound, in 60-pound cans. In 

 1008. I took 00 pounds per colony, and sold 

 for 6 and bU cents. The difference of 'A 

 cent was in the parties who bought the 

 honey. In loog I took 80 pounds per colony, 

 and for about one-tenth of this I got 8 and 10 

 cents a pound, in 12-pound pails, iqoq was my 

 poorest year, on account of the long drouth, 

 getting only 50 pounds per colony, and about 

 10 percent of this was bulk comb, and 

 brought 8;= to 15 cents, according to size of 

 can. I left my apiary in good condition Aug. 

 ist. w-ith 0! colonies. When 1 returned in 

 October. I found 8 colonies queenless and 3 

 with foul brood. 



It continues dry here at present, and pros- 

 pects for a honey crop are not flattering, 

 though bees are in good condition at present. 



Dilley. Tex..Jan. 7. A. J. K01.B. 



A Discouraging Experience 



In the fall of iqo8 I came from Iowa to 

 Southwest Texas for my health, and to en- 

 gage in bee-culture for a living. The 2 years 

 I have been here have brought little mce 

 than experience. With rainless winters and 

 very little rain in summer, the bee-keeper 

 has done well to keep up his numoer of col- 

 onies. There are lessons to be learned in 

 leaving plenty of honey for bees, seeing that 

 they have young queens, and giving them 

 good shade. Very little honey has been 

 gathered in this locality for 2 years. The 

 bees of the careful bee-keeper are in good 

 condition, and will be able to do good work 

 if the rains should come. While my bank 

 account has grown less, my health has be- 

 come better. C. H. Miller. 



Crystal City, Tex.. Jan 16. 



An Arkansas Amateur's Report 



I am surprised to see that .•Arkansas is sel- 

 dom represented in the columns of the 

 American Bee Journal. Are there no bee- 

 keepers there, or do they just forget to re- 

 port ? I am an amateur with only 24 colonies 

 of bees in Hoffman hives. I winter them on 

 the summer stands, and seldom lose more 

 than one or 2 colonies each winter. Two 

 years ago (tooQ). I ordered an Italian queen, 

 and now I have nearly all Italians. I pro- 

 duced 125 pounds of honey from a swarm of 

 bees that issued about April 15th. I put 

 them in a super, for I was short of hives; on 

 the i6th another swarm was put in a super 

 and a queen-excluder put on the first one. 

 Then on the 17th a swarm issued from a hive 

 that had an excluder under it and went into 

 the " super-hive." This crowded them until 

 they had to lay out, so on the i8th I added 

 another super. They went to work at once, 

 but on examination 1 found the queen that 

 was alone was dead. They soon filled the 

 two upper supers with nice honey. I used 

 only the two supers to this hive, and they 

 contained extracting frames with very 

 small comb foundation starters. When the 

 too super was just about capped. I took it 

 off and cut out the honey, placing the super 

 back under the other one. and so on until 

 the honey-flow was over, which lasted until 

 about Oct. ist. Geo. Gunther. 



Cushman. .'\rk., Jan. 4th. 



A 1910 Experience in Kentucky 



P'our years ago. being over 75 years of age. 

 and finding a convenient retirement for a 

 little rest. I began with one colony of bees to 

 gratify a cherished desire to know more of a 

 business which though always attractive 

 seemed very unattainable. I now have 32 

 colonies in 8 and 10 frame dovetailed hives, 

 with ample winter stores, sealed honey- 



board over the frames, a super on that filled 

 with protection from cold, slightly raised 

 over the center, hole for escape of damp- 

 ness, and all well so far. 



Now for the crop of loio. The season here 

 was bad. too much rain and cold, making 

 nectar-flows intermittent and short. My 

 spring count was 10 colonies. 2 of which I 

 devoted to trying to rear queens after the 

 Doolittle plan, but with poor success. Dur- 

 ing the whole season I failed to get a single 

 artificial queen-cell accepted by the 2 colo- 

 nies, nor did they build any from the brood 

 given them. Indeed it was hard to find 

 Queen-cellsanywhere. though I had a limited 

 amount of swarming. Five colonies became 

 queenless early, and owing to conditions 

 stated. I was unable to make them produc- 

 tive in time to get any surplus from them. 

 So my working force amounted to 12 colo- 

 nies. From these I took 700 pounds of comb 

 honey in i and 2 pound sections, which is the 

 best yield reported in this locality. Most of 

 it sold at 20 cents a pound, and none less 

 than a shilling. 



My plan of management was early investi- 

 gation as to condition, supplied all wants, 

 and fed some. At fruit-bloom I gave a hive 

 on topwith queen-excluder between. Brood, 

 rearing was fairly good until clover bloom, 

 then I shook the top hive, and I gave su- 

 pers. 1 tiered up brood over weak colonies. 

 These and a few natural swarms made my 

 increase. I intended to increase by nuclei 

 to 50 colonies, but for adverse conditions 

 already mentioned. I had quite a lot of un- 

 finished sections; some of these I sold, put 

 some in glass, and some in a 50-pound order 

 from Texas for bulk honey. 



I use 2 shallow frames in supers with sec- 

 tions to start work, but not in all. The sea- 

 son closed with colonies strong in bees and 

 brood, but short in amount of honey gath- 

 ered. Conditions. I think, proved that nec- 

 tar was not to be had Prospects seem good 

 for the next crop. Clover is abundant, and 

 doing well. 



We are having bountiful snows. I am a 

 honey optimist for the future, and want to 

 make one big crop. I am looking to the 

 American Bee Journal to direct me (a novice) 

 in the way I shall do it. R. !. McQuiDDY. 



Lawrenceburg. Ky.. Jan. 3. 



Rearing Queens in Cool Weather 



Four or 5 years ago I bought 2 colonies of 

 black bees. I determined to Italianize them 

 early in the spring, so accordingly early in 

 April I killed one queen, allowing the other 

 to lay until I had reared a cell for it. I 

 grafted the only 2 cells that the black bees 

 started, and they were away out at the end 

 of the frames. 4 inches from the brood-nest, 

 and both were accepted. The grafting was 

 done April 1st. with 2-day old larvas. These 

 were due to hatch on the nth. so on the loth 



1 removed one cell to the other black col- 

 ony. On the 9th quite a cold spell began and 

 lasted 4 days; it was cold enough for ice for 



2 nights, which kept the bees clustered for 

 the days. On the loth I moved the cell in 

 very cold weather and placed it in the hive 

 about the same as it was in its own hive so 

 far as position goes. I watched for queens 

 to hatch on the nth. but they did not. Then 

 on the i2th I looked, but no queens yet. so 

 on the I3th and 14th. and still no queens, 

 when I concluded that both queens had 

 frozen- But I left the cells, and about 3 

 o'clock on the 15th I decided to see about 

 getting the bees to try the job over again, but. 

 to my astonishment, I saw both queens 

 hatching. 



I put on the covers and went off to medi- 

 tate. I figured that as the queens were 4 

 days late in hatching, or 20 days from egg to 

 queen, that the cold spell was of 4 days' du- 

 ration; and that the cells were 4 inches from 

 the brood-nest, the queens doubtless hiber- 

 nated for 4 days. This proves to an abso- 

 lute certainty that queens will not freeze to 

 kill, hovered or not hovered. The queens 

 were first-class. Since that day to this I 

 take no care of the queens as to their 

 warmth after they are within 2 days of the 

 hatching point. T. P. Robinson. 



Bartlett. Tex. 



Bee-Literature and Patent Hives 



I noticed in the January number of the 

 American Bee Journal a testimonial from a 

 lady in Washington, saying that she had 

 saved S25 ia one season through its instruc- 

 tion. If all small owners of bees could be 

 brought to appreciate this, what a difference 

 there would be in the amount of honey pro- 

 duced, and. of course, in the subscription 

 lists of the tsee-papers. 



There are a great many bee-men in South- 



