November, 191 1. 



American l^ee Journal 



purpose Quite as well as hives purchased 

 from the factory. However, this article is 

 not in the least intended to hurt, or throw 

 any slurs against, the factory-made hives, 

 but on the other hand, it is for the beneht 

 of beginners, and people who know how' to 

 handle the hammer and saw. I have f.or the 

 past ■• years made 2-story hives without 

 frames, sections, and labor, at a cost of 15 



'^'one ^day last' winter I went to the city for 

 the purpose of getting store-box lumber. On 

 making a few inquiries one man told me to 

 go back of his store and I could have any 

 boxes to suit mv taste for nothing, he being 

 anxious to get rid of them. At another place 

 I got so cents worth. Thinking I had secured 

 enough I set to work taking them apart, as 1 

 had previously found it no easy matter to 

 haul a high load of dry goods boxes, etc. I 

 also purchased 10 cents worth of nails to 

 work in with those I would secure from the 



"From'that 50 cents worth of lumber arid 10 

 cents worth of nails I have since made 15 

 hives, each one consisting of the follow'ing: 

 One hive-body. cap. bottom-board, and half_ 

 story super, at the cost, without labor of 

 exactly 4 cents each. Now. remember, that 

 this lumber consists mostly of fi and i inch 

 stuff If I would have purchased those 15 

 iji-story hives direct from the factory. 1 

 would have paid nearly $30 for them; as I did 

 the carpenter work during odd hours w-hen 

 outside work could not be done, such as 

 rainy days. etc.. I do not count the labor as 

 much. , , . , . . , , 



My favorite way of making hives is as fol- 

 lows- Cut the boards to the dimensions of 

 an 8 or 10 frame hive, or whatever hive you 

 prefer. I would advise you to have the end- 

 pieces one whole board. 



To make a hanging place for the frames. I 

 take the end-boards and measure down 

 from the top on the inside about ?. inch, 

 then I draw a line clear across the board, 

 and by sawing half way through the thick- 

 ness of the end-piece and chiseling it out 

 from the top I have a fine place for the 

 frames to hang on. iRemember this is done 

 before nailing.; ... ..■ .u 



Caution should be exercised in getting the 

 exact measurements of a factory-made hive, 

 or go by the kind of frames you intend 



Now. as to the supers. I believe the out- 

 side, or storm super, and the inside one to 

 hold the sections are the best, as it leaves 

 an air-space on topof the brood chamber if 

 properly fixed. Of course, it takes a little 

 more lumber, but in the end 1 think I gain 



The season of iQio was not a very good one 

 in this part of Iowa, as it was too dry. but 

 from about 20 colonies, spring count. I se- 

 cured iioo sections of fine white clover 

 honey, and realized about Jioj for it. or about 



Ss.oo per colony. . " . .u . 



Bee-keeping in Iowa is not up to the stan- 

 dard that it ought to be. or at least in this 

 (Iowa) county in which I live, and Benton 

 county to the north. There are hardly a 

 half-dozen bee-keepers that are ut) wuh 

 modern methods of keeping bees, although 

 there are tons of honey going to waste 

 every year. So honey in this part of Iowa is 

 a scarce article, but all the better for nrie. as 

 I have ready sales for my honey in the home 

 market. , , ■ .u ^ 



The way I dispose of my honey is this: As 

 soon as I have a couple hundred pounds of 

 honey on hand, and as I live on the main 

 road, and my apiary is close to the road, I 

 put up a sign which reads. HoNEV FOR 

 Sai E " The result is. that people from 

 nearby towns make special trips for my 

 honey, for. as a rule. I do not do any deliver- 

 ing. , 



After the honey season for loio was over, 

 it being about July 15. I closed out the entire 

 1100 sections in 15 days. I had the money in 

 my hands, and the fortunate customers were 

 happy with their " winter supply of honey, 

 as some called it. Harvey Habtz. 



Blairstown. Iowa. 



[Unless the ordinary beekeeper is an ex- 

 traordinarily good carpenter, the hives he 

 will make from second-hand store-boxes 

 will not compare with the factory-made 

 hives. The successful commercial bee- 

 keeper, who uses hives by the hundred, 

 would never think of wasting his valuable 

 time in such work. However, where a bee- 

 keeper doesn't care, and hasn't anything 

 else to do. and also has good store-boxes 

 eivcn io him— why. of course, he can save a 

 little money by working over such boxes into 



hives that will answer the purpose. But we 

 dare say that very few will have either the 

 time or the patience to do it. We would, 

 personally.take the accurately-made factory 

 hives every time, as they will last a life-time, 

 and are ever so much better than would be 

 the hives that 7oe could make from store- 

 boxes.— Editor.] 



Season in Tennessee — Requeening 



The years of igoo and loio were both bad 

 here, almost a famine for bees; but iqii was 

 very good, but the trouble was there were 

 no bees to gather the honey. They got rich 

 by Aug. ist, but a very small percent was 

 able to gather surplus honey, owing largely 

 to the discouragement of bee-keepers in the 

 two bad seasons of 1000 and ipio. Bee-keep- 

 ers should see that they have plenty of bees 

 and no honey, to having no bees and plenty 

 of honey. 



.'Vnother thing that is very important to 

 the bee-man. is to introduce new blood in 

 the apiary every 6 or 8 years, by buying one 

 or more queens some 100 or more miles 

 away. This gives the bees more vigor, and 

 more energy for some time. But rear queens 

 from the queen producing the best of work- 

 ers, as we don't care so much for beauty of 

 late years. 



I don't think it will pay to buy queens to 

 supply an apiary, but buy a queen and rear 

 the rest from her. as that will give a com- 

 plete cross of blood. My way is, to rear my 

 queens just before the close of the honey- 

 flow from sourwood. as I dont care for the 

 bees to be queenless at a time when they 

 will have no w-ork to do. 



Queens that are brought from a distance 

 are very often injured in the mails, and soon 

 die. I have had them to lay only 4 or 5 days 

 and then die, while the longest I have had 

 lived 2 years. I have bought several queens 

 in the spring, and they would disappear by 

 fall. So the best plan is to rear queens at 

 once from a shipped queen, which should 

 be a tested one. R. A. Shultz. 



Cosby. Tenn.. Oct. 20. 



The Ontario Convention. — The annual 

 convention of the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will be held in the 

 York Comity Council Chambers, 

 Wednesday to Friday, Nov. 15, Itj and 

 17, 1911, in Toronto, Ont. A very in- 

 teresting program has been prepared 

 for those who attend, a copy of which 

 may be had by addressing the secre- 

 tary, P. W. Hodgetts, Toronto, Ont. 

 Special railroad rates have been se- 

 cured. Any one desiring to attend this 

 leading convention of Canada should 

 send for the program, which gives all 

 necessary information. 



The Eastern Illinois Convention. — The 



4th annual meeting of the Eastern Illi- 

 nois Bee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held in the Christian Church at Wat- 

 seka, 111., Nov. 14 and 1.5, 1911, begin- 

 ning at 10:30 a.m. The program con- 

 tains an interesting list of questions 

 for discussion. All who are interested 

 should send for a copy of the program 

 to the secretary, H. S. Duby, St. Anne, 

 111. This is one of the most helpful 

 and interesting bee-keepers' conven- 

 tions held in Illinois, and should 

 be well attended. We had the pleasure 

 of being there last year when it met at 

 St. Anne, and enjoyed it very much. 

 The president of the association, Mr. 

 J. H. Roberts, lives at Watseka, and we 

 are very certain that the coming meet- 

 ing will be one of the best ever held in 

 eastern Illinois. 



Illinois State Convention. — The Illi- 

 nois State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will hold its 21st annual meeting in the 

 State House at Springfield, on Thurs- 

 day and Friday, Nov. 23 and 24, 1911. 



■The railroad fare, being but 2 cents 

 a mile, is the same as one fare and a 

 third for the round trip, when we used 

 to pay 3 cents per mile. And there 

 should be no one to stay away if we do 

 not succeed in getting a better rate on 

 account of I. O. O. F. meeting the same 

 week. 



The Executive Committee are en- 

 deavoring to get Dr. C. C. Miller, of 

 Marengo, 111., George W. York, of the 

 American Bee Journal and President 

 of the National Association, and W. B. 

 Moore, of Altona, 111., as well as others, 

 on the program. 



In consideration of all the long-con- 

 tinued work of the Illinois State Asso- 

 ciation in obtaining the foul brood law, 

 we all, as members of the same, ought 

 surely to get together and have a great 

 love feast. J AS. A. Stone, Sec. 



Springfield, 111., Rt. 4. 



The Colorado Convention The Colo- 

 rado State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will hold its convention Dec. 12 and 

 13, 1911, at the Auditorium Hotel. 14th 

 and Stout Sts., Denver, Colo. There 

 will be a rate of one fare for the round 

 trip, good from Dec. 8 to 1.5. (The 

 American National Live Stock .'\sso- 

 ciation meets at the same dates, so 

 those interested may attend both con- 

 ventions.) There will be sessions de- 

 'voted to freight-rates, foul brood, grad- 

 ing honey, selling, etc. This conven- 

 tion will be one of discussion rather 

 than set speeches or papers prepared 

 in advance. The Auditorium Hotel 

 has placed its Convention Hall, seating 

 175, at our disposal. 



Wesley Foster, Sec. 



Boulder, Colo. 



Pennsylvania Convention. — The an- 

 nual meeting of the Pennsylvania State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 in the Court House at Lancaster, Pa., 

 Dec. 1 and 2. This promises to be the 

 most important meeting yet held. 

 Every bee-keeper is invited to be pres- 

 ent. Matters of interest will come up 

 for discussion. An e.xamination for 

 volunteer apiary inspectors will be held 

 at the same time. H. C. Klinger, Sec. 



Liverpool, Pa. 



"Meadow.s and Pa.stures," by 



Joseph \i. Wing, a staff correspondent 

 of the Breeders' Gazette, is the title of 

 a cloth-bound book of 418 pages, de- 

 voted to a study of the production, de- 

 velopment and care of grasses, as re- 

 lated to meadows and pastures. Mr. 

 Wing made investigations in every 

 State and several foreign countries, be- 

 sides thoroughly studying the scant 

 literature of the subject. The sev- 

 eral pages devoted to sweet clover is 

 the first complete defense of this clover 

 that we have seen in book form. Its 

 growing is encouraged and its value 

 described. This book gives definite 

 instructions concerning every view of 

 the subject. It is fully illustrated, and 

 certainly should be in the hands of 

 every farmer of this country. The post- 

 paid price is 1f\.W, or we club it with 

 the American Bee Journal for a year — 

 both for $2.30. Send all orders to the 

 American Bee Journal, 117 North Jef- 

 ferson St., Chicago, 111. 



