260 



August, 1916. 



American Vae Journal 



1 



extensively for the purpose of im- 

 proving the stock of bees in the State. 

 Experimental work of various kinds, 

 a survey of honey sources and of other 

 conditions relative to beekeeping are 

 in progress. L,. V. Prance is in 

 charge of the experimental work and 

 the survey, and Prof. Francis Jager 

 personally supervises the queen-rear- 

 ing operations. 



On arrival at Minneapolis our re- 

 presentative was met at the station by 

 J. P. Doll, Dr. L. D. Leonard and P. W. 

 Ray, all former officers of the Min- 

 nesota association, who are now con- 

 tent to work just as loyally in the 

 ranks. In Mr. Ray's automobile the 

 journey was made to St. Bonifacius, 

 to see the home apiary of Prof. Jager, 



queens for distribution to the bee- 

 keepers of the State, he still super- 

 vises his outapiaries, which are cared 

 for by two assistants. Arriving at 

 his home we were met with a cordial 

 welcome and enjoyed every minute of 

 our stay. The apiary is situated in a 

 grove of seven acres with good shelter 

 from north, east and west. Enough 

 of the trees have been cut to permit 

 the grass to grow freely, and still re- 

 tain sufficient shade for practical pur- 

 poses. The ground rises from the 

 road, and a fine new work-house is 

 nearing completion at the crest of the 

 hill. There are two stories, beside a 

 concrete basement for extracting, etc. 

 The building is 24x66 feet and when 

 completed will be one of the finest 



LIVE MINNESOTA BEEKEEPERS— PROF. JAGER. F. W. RAY, P. J. DOLL. DR. 

 LEONARD, AND PROF. JAGER'S ASSISTANT AT THE JAGER HOME APIARY 



where the State queen-rearing opera- 

 tions are carried on. It is a most 

 delightful ride of about 25 miles along 

 the shores of lake Minnetonka and 

 through the native groves now largely 

 settled by city people who go back 

 and forth to their work in town. There 

 are many basswood trees, and the 

 clover was just beginning to yield 

 well. The bees were humming mer- 

 rily. On the way, we stopped at the 

 Butterfield home at Long Lake. Mr. 

 Butterfield is engaged in fruit grow- 

 ing and Mrs. Butterfield has taken up 

 beekeeping which she finds very in- 

 teresting. Surrounded by forest trees 

 they have a sheltered position where 

 fruit bloom starts the bees nicely in 

 spring. Clover is abundant, and they 

 also get some fall honey. Last year 

 they harvested 14,000 pounds from 78 

 colonies. The women beekeepers are 

 usually enthusiastic, and Mrs. Butter- 

 field is no exception. 



Father Jager is a very busy man. 

 He still has supervision of his parish, 

 although an assistant assumes the 

 work. While most of his own time is 

 occupied during the summer months 

 with the rearing of the hundreds of 



equipped honey-houses in the country. 

 Mr. Jager prefers to carry on the 

 queen-rearing at his own apiary, be- 

 cause the neighborhood is free from 

 disease, and disease is present in the 

 vicinity of the university. 



There are about 350 nuclei scatter- 

 ed under the trees. The hives are 

 placed far enough apart to prevent 

 danger of queens entering the wrong 

 hives. There are no other bees near- 

 er than two miles, and these have 

 been requeened with satisfactory stock 

 Care has been taken to secure the 

 best possible breeders. Every queen 

 is given a chance to fill the combs in 

 the nucleus which she occupies, with 

 eggs before she is sent out. In this 

 manner the bees in the little colonies 

 used for mating are renewed, and the 

 quality of the queen is tested to a 

 limited extent. All queens are des- 

 troyed which do not come up to the 

 high standard set by Prof. Jager. Un- 

 like a commercial enterprise which 

 must be made to pay, this establish- 

 ment, supported by the State of Min- 

 nesota, is to furnish the beekeepers 

 of that State with the best possible 

 breeding stock, to improve their 

 strain of honey producers. The queens 

 are sold for 50 cents each, and the 

 number is limited to three to any one 

 person, who must be a resident of 

 Minnesota. 



They expect to send out 1,000 queens 

 this season, thus providing more than 

 300 beekeepers with good stock with 

 which to rear their own queens. 

 While some are mated in baby nuclei 

 most of the nuclei are composed of 2 

 Langstroth frames. Partitions in 8 

 frame hives provided 3 nuclei to 

 each hive. An entrance at one end 

 and at each side makes it possible to 

 provide an opening to each of the 

 compartments with little danger of 

 mixing. 



A short visit was made to the Uni- 

 versity farm to meet L. V. Prance, who 

 as Prof. Jager's assistant is starting 



L. V. FRANCE AND STATE INSPECTOR BLAKER AT THE UNIVERSITY 

 APIARY-BEE BUILDING IN BACKGROUND 



