1917 



AMERICAN BI'I-: JOURNAL 



29 



III frame is safer for you. However, if you 

 use the same frame in eacii, it will be easy 

 for you to try both kinds before you fully 

 settle the question. 



2. A strong swarm that issues when bees 

 first becin to swarm should give you a fair 

 yield of honey; yet if there is not too much 

 difference in price you will be better off 

 with a colony that has wintered over. It 

 would give you increase and honey, while 

 the swarm would give you only honey. 



Queen Excluder- 



Section Folder- 

 Brood 



-American Foul- 



1. Which is the best queen excluder ? 



2. Is there a better and quicker section 

 folder than the Friedman Greiner ? 



3. I saw a statement that about loo percent 

 more comb honey is stored, when combs are 

 already built, as when bees have to build 

 them. 



4. How is the Hassinger way. in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for 1016, pages 164 and 166. 

 and are the beeswax scales better for comb 

 honey, or is it likely to be all drone-comb ? 



5. Can American foulbrood be cured by a 

 healthy queen and a healthy 2o-days old 

 brood, taking away the sick colonies at noon 

 and putting the queen above a wire-screen 

 for a day with the healthy brood, then let- 

 ting them unite the second day. This would 

 save the shaking plan. Put the diseased 



colony over another diseased colony by the 

 N. E. France plan. There is less work, no 

 loss in bees, honey, comber beeswax, I have 

 not fully tried the hospital plan, but think 

 It will work. California. 



Answers.— I. I have had no experience 

 with the wire excluders; but being smooth 

 they may be better than excluders of per- 

 forated zinc, provided they are perfect in 

 construction. 



2. So many different section folders have 

 been offered that I cannot say. 



3. While some claim that bees will store 

 100 percent more in drawn combs than in 

 foundation, not more than 50 percent is gen- 

 erally claimed. Much depends uton cir- 

 cumstances; in some cases, in a very poor 

 flow, and with a weak colony, the gain might 

 be more than 100 percent, for the bees might 

 store a little in drawn combs and nothing at 

 all with only foundation. 



4 I know nothing about the matter except 

 from reading the article to which you refer. 

 In that Mr. Hassinger seems to have a good 

 knowledge of his subject. 



5. Your plan contemplates saving combs in 

 which American foulbrood has been. I don't 

 believe such combs would be safe, although 

 with European foulbrood they might be. 



Reports And ^ Experiences 



Fair Average in Spite of Drouth 



In spite of the dry weather continuing 

 through July. August and September, the 

 season of 1016 was very favorable for bee- 

 keepers in Shawnee and surrounding coun- 

 ties. 



My 17 colonies increased to 27. and surplus 

 averaged 65 pounds, all comb honey. We 

 have no trouble in disposing of our crop at 

 fair prices. I'eoplewill always buy clover 

 honey for its color and mild flavor. 



Topeka. Kan.. Nov. 20. A. R. Smith. 



also long legs. 



There is plenty of alsike and white clover 

 around here, which yielded fine until dry 

 weather came. 



We had no rain here from about Tune 20 

 until the corn was in roasting ears, then we 

 had so much rain that the corn is not very 

 good and lots of it is soft. 



Lewis Cleaveland. 



Wilmont. Minn., Oct, 20. 



Many Bees in One Yard 



I have just finished the season which nets 

 me 754 24 section cases of comb honey be- 

 sides over 4000 pounds of extracted. 280 col- 

 onies produced this in one yard, or about 75 

 pounds average per colony. 



Delmar. Iowa. Frank Coverdale 



Honey Sold Out 



My honey is all sold at the present time at 

 10 cents per pound for extracted and 15 cents 

 for comb. The summer crop was three- 

 fourths and the fall flow one-fourth. 



Bunceton. Minn. J. R. Marve. 



Commercial Beekeeping 



Not alone from personal experience, but 

 also from observation, do I believe in com- 

 mercial beekeeping. It pays not only finan- 

 cially, but in many other ways as well, for I 

 do not know of a happier or more contented 

 people than the beekeepers. That whicti is 

 said of men in other walks of life maybe 

 said of the beekeeper. "They are born, not 

 made. " 



If one is to make a success of beekeeping 

 his greatest essential need is to take a nat- 

 ural interest in the bee. and its ability to 

 look after the details of the business. When 

 but a boy I wondered how men could keep 

 so many bees and look after them. I after- 

 wards found that one must have a system 



wm ZZ^t ""f sysfeni' Oftentimes people 

 will ask how I can keep and manage 75 or 80 

 colonies with all my other work? The only 

 X?Hn "^fi" ''"?":er is to say I plan my work 

 ^^11^" ""^ winter so that when the busy 

 season is on it is easy to do the necessary 

 7rJ.,nZ'^'' the colonies. I (ind one of the 

 f.!^f ,hf'/'.^*^!^"^'^ '^. being on the lookout 

 th». wh^.l'^-' ""'■'^ '" ""^ apiary. Doing 

 n,t.i^„^ff' 's, necessary on each visit; not 

 putting 9ff until a more convenient time. 



itone intends making a business of bee- 

 ^r^^^" one needs a good location. Bees 

 are more profitable where there is plenty of 

 ..,-= .ii^^.° "f^"". ^P^e stream, where there 

 are plenty of linden trees, buckbrush. au- 

 '"■"" flowers, and white clover. 



Mr. Pellett. of Atlantic. Iowa, in his third 

 annual inspection report on page is says: 



1 he few millions the bees add to Iowa's 

 wp°=.lHf' ^l'"''^' '^ ^ ""> addition to her 

 wealth The presence of large numbers of 

 bees a so greatly increases the production 

 of fruits and seeds of many kinds by better 

 cross pollination of the blossoms, so that 

 but a small a part of the revenue derived 

 Irom the bees is represented in the direct 

 product of honey and wax." 



The m9st important factor in commercial 

 beekeeping is the equipment for the apiary. 

 Ihe beekeeper should have a scientific 

 knowledge of the diseases of bees so that he 

 IS able to detect trouble at once. 



Knowledge IS power," and it is the bee- 

 keeper who is informed that is capable of 

 detecting and caring for diseased colonies 

 Who can make a successof the bee-industry. 

 Unly the pure races of bees are best. There 

 has been quite a little discussion on this 

 subject in the bee journals. From my own 

 experience I find that breeding queens from 

 my own yard pays. I prefer either the golden 

 or the leather-colored Italians because they 

 are more gentle, more prolific and better 

 disease resisters than other races which I 

 have had in my yards. He should use the 

 hive with movable frames. I use the 10- 

 trame Langstroth in my yards and find that 

 style best adapted for my use for both ex- 

 tracted and comb honey. 



It is reported that in the United States 

 ttie number of beekeepers is becoming less, 

 but the number of bees is not decreasing 

 accordingly, which proves that there are 

 more people who are specializing in bee- 

 keeping than ever before. J. W. Stine. 

 Stockport. Iowa 



Flood in August 



I am sending you a photograph of the flood 

 we had in August. The water was in my 

 bee-yard, and it would have caught my bees 

 again but the water did not come as badly 

 as last year, and that made it safe this time. 



The bees did fairly well this season. The 

 fall flow was not as good I started with 12 

 colonies, soring count, and increased to 34. 

 I produced 7Cu pounds of comb honey. Bees 

 are all strong and healthy and have enough 

 stores for winter. Louis Werner. 



Adwardsville, III., Oct. 17 



Hunting Bee Trees 



I have done more or less hunting of bees 

 in the woods for the past 15 years. 



First, we must understand that when bees 

 leave for a new home and go to the woods 



Honey All Sold 



I won first premiumon basswood extracted 

 honey and second on granulated basswood 

 honey at the Minnesota State Fair this fall. 

 Four inches of snow came today. Bees are 

 in fair shape for winter. I have sold all of 

 my honey already, fifty oopound cans at 

 \t, 25 per can. Fayette Lee, 



Cokato, Minn,, Oct. 20. 



A Good Average 



Here is our report for igifi- Twenty colo- 

 nies, soring count, increased to ib. Took off 

 1000 pounds of comb honey and 2000 pounds 

 of extracted honey, ijuality was never bet- 

 ter, Edward Blackstone. 



Drouth Interfered 



Last year I started with one colony of 

 bees and increased to two. I wintered the 

 two colonies in the cellar and both lived. 

 Now I have six colonies. They have a good 

 supply of stores at present in the hives. A 

 new kind of bee which the bees killed in the 

 hive is black with a long body and wings. 



Distant view of an apiary during flood times in iqi6. Apiary of Louis Werner 



