April, igii. 



American Hee Journal 



bors' bees do not get too imuch of it. 



6. Doubtful. If abundance of stores be 

 in -the hive, and if the bees are gathering 

 at least a little every good day, you can 

 not hasten matters by feeding. 



7. Certainly it will be well to enlarge 



with out-apiaries aflcr you get so many 

 bees that they will be cramped in the home 

 apiary. Just how many that will be no one 

 can tell you with certainty, and it will be 

 hard to find out. Likely 100 or more will 

 be all right in the home apiary. 



Transferring Bees — (See 1st page.) 



Our first honey-plants are now, or soon 

 will be, dn full bloom, and transferring 

 bees will be in order. There are many 

 methods of transferring from box-hives 

 and log-gums Jnto modern hives, but this 

 one is the most commonly used. Usually 

 this method is considered messy, and for 

 many reasons much dreaded by bee-keep- 

 ers for increase, or those just beginning 

 bee-keeping with a few colonies an box- 

 hives to be transferred. But the job can 

 soon be accomplished, and, after commenc- 

 ing it, it is much more deJdghtful and in- 

 teresting. 



It is always best to use wired frames 

 containing full sheets of foundation, or 

 ready-built combs, one of which dn each 

 hive should contain some honey and tiny 

 bees, or the trans-ferred bees may become 

 discouraged and swarm out, and may be 

 lost. And, too, it helps them out so much 

 at this critical time. But if a little honey 

 is coming in, starters may be used in the 

 frames wdth one or more containing trans- 

 ferred comb from the old box-hive. 



I will explain and illustrate thds method 

 of transferring bees from box-hives with 

 a portion of their comb with them. 



lA new modern hive should be in readi- 

 ness for each colony to be transferred ; a 

 pail oi water, a towel, an axe, a long- 

 bladed knife, a ball of cotton wrapping- 

 cord, a brush, and a board i by 12 by 36 

 inches long. 



Now, w:ith the veil well placed on, and 

 the smoker dn good order, we approach 

 the fi.rst colony to be transferred. Turning 

 the hive down just a little, we send up 

 through the combs several good whiffs of 

 srnoke, and lay it down on the ground 

 with the side the most comb is attached 

 next to the ground, and so the bottom 

 of the old hive will be within 12 or 16 

 inches of its old stand. 



Now place the next hive on the ground, 

 directly under where the old one stood, 

 so it will be easy for the flying bees to 

 find, and level the earth up evenly with 

 the top of the alighting-board of the new 

 hive, so the crawling bees can easily go 

 in as they are brushed off the pieces of 

 old comb or jerk«d off the pieces of the 

 old hive. 



Now with the axe, split the old hive 

 open (see Eig. i), and pry it apart; then 

 with the hands spread the old hdve out 

 on the ground (see Fig. 2). Then pro- 

 ceed to remove the pieces of comb and 

 brush the bees down in front of the new 

 hive (see Fig. 3), lookdng carefully over 

 each piece for the queen, and df she is 

 found early, land her safely dn the hive. 

 AM the best pieces of worker-comb con- 

 taindng young bees dn all stages of devel- 

 opment, and some honey, should be laid 

 on the board for transferring. 



When all the comb has been removed, 

 the bees that may have clustered or are 

 erawldng about on the pieces of the old 

 hdve, should be jarred oflf in front of the 

 new hive (see Fig. 4). 



Now proceed to fit together the straight- 

 est pieces of comb containing brood and 

 honey (see Fig. 5). Place on top of this 

 comb an empty frame (one or more should' 



be left out of each new hive for this pur- 

 pose), cut around on the inside of the 

 frame (see Fig. 6), and remove the pieces 

 that are cut loose, press the frame down 

 around the comb, and slide it to one end 

 of the board and wrap the cord around 

 it from the bottom-bar to the top-bar every 

 2 or 4 inches, until about one^hird of the 

 frame has been wrapped, then slide the 

 hand under the comb easily and turn it 

 up on its edge and findsh wrapping it (see 

 Fig. 7). If possible get pieces of comb 

 containing brood and honey large enough 

 to fill a frame, as in Fig. 7, and it is well 

 that all other pieces of comb should be 

 fit in right edge up, so that when dt is 

 hung in he new hive dt will not be bot- 

 tom-edge up. If possible, have a small 

 rim of honey about the top-bar, and the 

 brood arranged as in Fig. 7. It is often 

 the case that a box-hive has no suitable 

 comb for transferring, while others will 

 have enough for 2 or more frames, and 

 one or more should be reserved. 



Now set the transferred comb dn the 

 new hive (see Fig. 8), with only one 

 frame between dt and the sdde of the hive, 

 place the cover on, and so on until all is 

 transferred. During the operation keep 

 the honey washed from your hands, and 

 dry them wdth the towel occasionally, and 

 you will find the job not so messy. 



Fdg. 9 shows a portion of a bo.x-hdve apd- 

 ary transferred this way. It is done right 

 in the open air around the hives, and the 

 honey anid pieces of co-mb laid about dn 

 the pieces of box-hives so the bees will 

 soon take up what may be oozing out of 

 the comb or wasting on the ground. Soon 

 the bees have removed all the honey from 

 the old combs, which are dn fine shape 

 to render dnto wax. 



The transferred bees should be ex- 

 amdned dn 2 or 3 days, and df they are 

 building comb briskly, separate two of the 

 best built co-mbs and insert a frame be- 

 tween them, and so on until they have 

 completed a set of combs. Then supers 

 can be added. 



I have transferred many colonies by 

 this method, and at one time in one yard 

 147 colonies. A few robber-bees were 

 killed, but no serious robbing was done, 

 even at times when there was no honey 

 in the field. If bees get to flying around 

 you, so thickly, and sticking on the honey 

 so as to bother, move to the other side 

 of the apiary. 



This seems like a long, tedious method 

 of transferring bees, but after the start 

 is made, the work can be done very rap- 

 idly. J. J. Wilder. 



Cordele, Ga., March 23. 



Bee-Keeping in Missouri 



The Northern States seem to be look- 

 ing to Missouri, as I have had several 

 communications as to what our State ds 

 for bee-keeping. I also recently had a 

 most delightful visdt from a man living 

 near Caddlac, Mich,, who has had a large 

 experience in bee-keeping, both in the 

 United States and dn Canada. He was 

 here looking for bees. 



I have just returned from the State 



capital where I had been before one of 

 our legislators to secure our regular ap- 

 propriation for our bee-inspection work dn 

 Missouri for the next two years. We 

 have a promise of a favorable report from 

 the Appropriation Committee, for what we 

 asked. 



I am trying to get all information pos- 

 sible as to the bee-keeping dnterests dn 

 thds State. While at the capital I secured 

 what infonnation our Bureau of Labor 

 Statistics could give, and while they have 

 done as good work gathering statistics on 

 bee-keeping as they could under the cir- 

 cumstances they have to work under, yet 

 they do not give anywhere near what our 

 industry merits, or what it really ds. For 

 instance, they give the amount of honey 

 from some counties I am well acquainted 

 with as 19,830 pounds, and a county right 

 next to that I am sure secures fully as 

 much as the first mentioned, they give 

 only 11,600 pounds. The last county re- 

 ferred to has a splendid local town to 

 market h.oney, while the first has not, and 

 so wdth a number of other counties. An- 

 other was named as producing 30,628 

 pounds, while another county right by, 

 only 6,548 is given. The first has scarcely 

 any local market but ships to the other 

 counties' market, while the other has one 

 bee-keeper that I am sure secures more 

 honey than his whole county has credit 

 for, so that the local anarkets of a county 

 have a great deal to dio in reports of the 

 honey obtained dn that couty. 



I learned that in gathering the statis- 

 tics on honey, the office sends reports to be 

 filled out, to the express offices and freight 

 offices in the State. I do not think this 

 gives one-half the amount of honey pro- 

 duced dn the State. 



In my talk wdth the man I mentioned 

 as visiting me, we discussed methods to 

 secure good crops of honey. He practices 

 stimulating his bees in spring before the 

 expected honey-flow is due, and that has 

 been my practice for years. While he 

 uses combs of honey, and uncaps as need- 

 ed (undoubtedly the best, if one has 

 them), I have usually had to feed syrup 

 to do the stmulating. It ds not my inten- 

 tion to try to advise any of the "big 

 guns" how to manage thedr bees, yet I 

 feel that I am competent to give some ad- 

 vice to imany, at iezst I have had better 

 success wdth spring stmulating than when 

 I did not do so, and as I usually have 

 much better results than most around me 

 that do not do that, I am led to think 

 the method has merit. 



Missouri did not secure a very large 

 crop of honey last season, as the early 

 part started off wdth unusual good pros- 

 pects, but a very cold spell prevailed 

 later, which was most disastrous with 

 many colonies of bees, and then dt turned 

 to rain for a good while, so that the early 

 crop O'f whdte clover was unsecured in 

 many places, and some of the bees did 

 not recover enough to secure much of a 

 fall crop. I know some will say early 

 stimulating was a failure that time, and 

 it was, but this is the first time in my ex- 

 perience that such a season has obtained, 

 and dt jnay not occur again for many 

 years. J. W. Rouse. 



Mexico, Mo., Feb. 23. 



Bee-Keeping in Mexico 



I have had large experience in handling 

 bees in the United States, principally in 

 Arizona ; have traveled over Mexico from 

 north to south and from east to west, and 

 investigated it as a "bee-country. 



After having made 15 trips down there, 

 examdning the bees each time and the 

 flowers of the country, I am thoroughly 

 convinced that there are many locations 

 far surpassing the United States as a 

 bee^country. I have exaimdned -the bees 

 each time that I was there, and found 



