262 



August, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



permit the grass to grow under his 

 feet during the honey flow. The sur- 

 prising feature is that he finds time 

 to care for his hundred acre farm and 

 to do a good business with a clover 

 huller in the fall. He did not say so. 

 but the writer has a notion that he 

 keeps the huller as much for the con- 

 venience of his neighbors who grow 

 alsike clover for seed, as he does for 

 the profit from the machine. Wi'h a 

 large acreage of alsike grown for seed 

 his chances of success are greatly in- 

 creased. 



We were much pleased to meet 

 Matt Miklovitch, of Krain, Austria at 

 the Hofman home. In his home 

 country Mr. Miklovitch is connected 

 with extensive apiaries operating 

 1.500 colonies on the migratory plan. 

 He is spending the summer with Mr. 

 Hofman in order to become familiar 

 with American methods, and to learn 

 '.vhether some of our ways can be 

 adopted with profit in his country. 



good stock is apparent. The cover 

 picture of our July number gave a 

 good idea of the appearance of one of 

 the outapiaries. A corner of the 

 home-apiary and the bee-cellar are 

 shown herewith. 



At the time of our vl.sit the honey flow 

 was just beginning, and many of his 

 colonies were three stories high, with 

 the brood on jumbo frames. More and 

 more of the extensive producers are 

 being converted to the deep frame be- 

 cause of the ease with which swarm- 

 ing is controlled. There was prospect 

 of an average of a hundred pounds to 

 the colony, but you never can tell. 

 We hope that Mr. Hofman will tell us 

 later all about it. 



With pressing work at home call- 

 ing, and other journeys to be taken 

 shortly, the time spent with our Min- 

 nesota friends was too short. When 

 men place the business of honey pro- 

 duction on so high a plane it makes 

 one feel proud to be a beekeeper. 



POLICE CAPTAIM AND BEES BESIDE 



When beekeeping is carried on ex- 

 tensively it becomes necessary to 

 eliminate the non-essentials. Hof- 

 man seems to be able to care for twice 

 as many colonies as most men, with- 

 out extra labor. Our picture shows 

 the feeder which he uses. It is a 

 large open pan which at one filling 

 will hold the syrup made with 200 

 pounds of sugar. It would be an end- 

 less task to place syrup inside a 

 thousand hives, but it is not a big 

 task to fill one of these outdoor feed- 

 ers in each of seven yards and let the 

 bees help themselves. Of course the 

 colonies that already have a sufficient 

 .supply will get as much as those 

 which are short of stores, but it won't 

 be lost. With one assistant, Mr. Hof- 

 man is caring for all these bees, and 

 it would be physically impossible to 

 care fo"- so many and give each the 

 detailed attention of ordinary meth- 

 ods. His combs are wired; full sheets 

 of foundation are used so that there 

 is little dronecomb in his hives, and 



THE STATION IN HEART r]F CITY 



Disposing of the Honey Crop 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



WE may not all pursue the same 

 method of disposing of ourhoney 

 crop, but we rau;t all agree that 

 the sale of our season's products at 

 paying prices is the most essential part 

 of our profession. If we have to sell 

 below cost, beekeeping will be uphill 

 business and lose its most inspiring 

 feature as far as gaining a livelihood is 

 concerned. 



In all my past beekeeping life I have 

 found 6nly one beekeeper who kept a 

 limited number of colonies exclusively 

 for his own amusement and enjoyment. 

 The family undoubtedly used all the 

 honey they wanted on their own table, 

 but to sell the overplus did not seem 

 to be any temptation to them. 



At my former home, miny of my 

 farming neighbors kept from one to 

 ten or more colonies of bees, of course, 

 all in the various forms of the old fash- 

 ioned box-hive patterns for the purpose 

 of supplying their own table with the 

 coveted sweet. Whatever they had to 

 spare they sold as best they could 

 regardless of cost; they considered the 

 income from this source a clear gain. 



It is very different with the profes- 

 sional beekeeper. He expects to make 

 his living by his bees, and if he fails to 

 dispose of his crop above the actual 

 cost, his season's work will prove a 

 financial failure. 



Among the different methods adopted 

 by their advocates may be mentioned 

 cooperation, selling on commission, 

 selling right out at wholesale, selling 

 from house to house direct to the con- 

 sumer, etc. All these have their advan- 

 tages and disadvantiges, and it depends 

 very much on the conditi ins and en- 

 vironment of the individual, which is 

 best. Years ago, before I moved to my 

 present location, circumstances com- 

 pelled me to depend wholly on city 

 commission houses for my honey sales. 

 Our experience at that time had not 

 yet taught us that it was safer and 

 cheaper to ship comb honey by freight 

 (in carriers) than by express. The 

 commission fee, 10 percent, in addition 

 to the exorbitant express charges, 



THE E. I„ HOFM.->lN home APIARY AT JANESVILLE. MINN. 



