April, 1916. 



American l^ee Journal 



Trading in Live Bees 



liY E. I. FARRINGTON. 



Evpry year thousands of bees arc 

 used in greenhnuses, i>articuliirly 

 in tlioso sections where cucumbrrs 

 arc raised under glass. It is impossible 

 to grow eueumbcrs in winter without 

 bees, unless, indeed, the tedious and 

 expensive plan of fertilizing tlie blos- 

 soms by hand is resorted to. In long 

 houses a. hive is located every 150 

 feet. In liOO-foot houses, which are 

 common, one colony is sufficient to 

 a house. Sometimes the hive is placed 

 near tlio middle aisle and sometimes 

 at the side of the house with another 

 opening leading to the outside. The 

 average greenhouse man knows very 

 little about bees and has no desire to 

 increase his knowledge. As a result, 

 a considerable proportion of the colo- 

 nies perish before the end of the sea- 

 son and when it is time to fill the 

 liouse with cucumbers again, it is 

 necessary to buy more bees. One big 

 greenhouse concern in Massachusetts 

 has spent nearly $175 for bees in one 

 season. In sections of the country 

 where greenhouse work is an import- 

 ant industry, the breeding of bees for 

 the cucumber growers has come to be 

 a specialized line. 



Benjamin A. Ford, of Abington, 

 Mass., makes a large part of his liv- 

 ing by selling bees to cucumber grow- 

 ers. It is not unusual for him to 

 start the winter with 200 colonies, 

 which number is reduced to 50 or 60 

 by Spring, all the others having been 

 sold to the greenhouse men. At one 

 time Mr. Ford had three outapiaries, 

 but he has given them up because of 

 the attention required by other lines 

 of work on his little farm, a farm, 

 by the way, which the bees have made 

 possible. It has been found that a 

 combination of bees, pigs and small 

 fruit give a good living on ten acres. 



Mr. Ford winters his bees in a man- 

 ner different from that of most bee- 

 keepers in New England. He uses 



CLASS IN APICULTURE AT THE SUMMER SCHOOL 



what are termed tenement hives 

 which are really covered boxes large 

 enough to accomodate five eight-frame 

 hives. There is a separate opening 

 for each hive so arranged that it 

 comes just opposite the hive entrance. 

 Three of the hives stand side by side 

 at the front of the box, their entrances 

 coming near the sides of the box at 

 the rear. By that arrangement the 

 tenement hive is filled and there Is 

 little waste room. The top, which 

 can be lifted off, has a sloping roof 

 to shed water, and some straw or 

 other similar material is wedged be- 

 tween the hives in the Fall to give 

 extra protection through the winter 

 months. There is but little loss and 

 not much more stores are consumed 

 than when bees are wintered in the 

 cellar. Mr. Ford has tried both plans 

 and likes the present method well 

 enough to continue it year after year. 

 The tenement hives are used in sum- 



MR. FORD'S TENEMENT HIVE 



mer as well as in winter, and they 

 aid in keeping the bees cool in hot 

 weather. 



The best granulated sugar is fed in 

 large quantities, especially in early 

 Spring. Full sheets of foundation are 

 used in the new frames placed in the 

 hives when the colonies are divided, 

 unless there are partly drawn combs 

 that can be used left over from the 

 previous season. Mr. Ford rears his 

 own queens and of course uses a good 

 many each season. 



The business is one which seems 

 likely to grow rather than otherwise, 

 for there is a constant increase in the 

 growing of cucumbers under glass 

 and, besides, a call for bees is coming 

 from orchard men and the owners of 

 cranberry bogs. The value of bees 

 to cranberry growers is just begin- 

 ning to be realized, and the demand 

 will doubtless grow from year 

 to year. There is a bright future 

 for beekeepers in the East, not only 

 from the Increased demand for honey 

 stimulated by honest advertising, 

 but because the value of bees 

 by fertilizing the flowers of fruit 

 and vegetables is coming to be under- 

 stood as never before. 



Weymouth Heights, Mass. 



(Probably very few of our readers 

 realized that the demand for bees in 

 greenhouses was as large as this in- 

 teresting statement shows. 



The only fault that we can find 

 with this method of keeping hives, 

 five in a box, is the possibility of ren- 

 dering the bees irritable when one of 

 the colonies in such a box is being 

 handled, as the jarring stirs up the 

 other four. The only way would be 

 to smoke all of them before handling 

 any. But such a box is ideal for 

 bringing colonies through winter out- 

 of-doors, wherever bees are confined 

 in a hive for several weeks in succes- 

 sion. Editor.) 



