50 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



ment. A one pound swarm of bees 

 complete with a good queen very often 

 makes a surplus of 50 to 100 pounds of 

 comb honey during the first sea- 

 son. However, in order to have the 

 best results it is necessary to get bees 

 early in the season, say the first to the 

 last of April, depending of course on 

 locations. Also it is advisable, if pos- 

 sible, to have drawn combs partly filled 

 with honey on which to hive the bees 

 when they arrive. If no honey is com- 

 ing in, it is also best to feed a small 

 amount of sugar syrup (about half and 

 half). Continue feeding until you are 

 sure some honey is coming in, as this 

 stimulates brood rearing. 



Buying bees by the pound without 

 queens is being practiced by many 

 northern and western beekeepers. 

 Many times by adding from one-half 

 to one pound of bees to the cluster of 

 a weak colony, especially when taking 

 it out of winter quarters in the early 

 spring, one is able to save a valuable 

 queen and build up a colony which be- 

 comes strong in time to procure a nice 

 crop of honey. Otherwise this same 

 colony, perhaps, if it lived at all, 

 would only get in shape after the main 

 surplus honey flow; too late to accom- 

 plish anything this season. 



When receiving a shipment of bees 

 from the South, we always advise the 

 beekeeper to gorge the bees before re- 

 leasing them. Sugar syrup made as 

 above is about right for this purpose. 

 Sprinkle this syrup on them from all 

 sides, shake them about in the cage, 

 and when all of the bees seem to be 

 full as well as wet, they are ready to be 

 shaken into the hive or else dumped in 

 front of their new home and allowed 

 to run in much the same as natural 

 swarms. If one is strengthening weak 

 colonies by adding bees, it is a good 

 idea not only to wet and gorge the 

 bees you are running in but also sprin- 

 kle syrup on and smoke those already 

 in the hive. By practicing these meth- 

 ods one should have little if any loss 

 from bees flying and none from fight- 

 ing. 



Now if one is buying bees for in- 

 crease and has no. combs on which to 



hive the swarms, we advise full sheets 

 of foundation and also daily feeding 

 for the stimulation of comb building as 

 well as brood-rearing. Give each col- 

 ony say from one pint to one quart of 

 syrup daily until honey is coming in. 

 A small pan with excelsior in it makes 

 an excellent feeder. Put a shallow 

 empty super on the hive, setting pan 

 containing the syrup just over the 

 cluster of bees. Unless the weather is 

 very cool the bees will soon remove 

 the syrup from the pan to the combs 

 below. 



The one pound swarms, if purchased 

 quite early in the season will, if treated 

 as above, build up into nice strong col- 

 onies the first year, and very often not 

 only gather enough honey to winter 

 but also some surplus. However, as a 

 rule you should not expect much sur- 

 plus honey when a colony has to build 

 out combs from foundation unless 

 there is a late fall flow. If you demand 

 honey the first year, regardless, I would 

 advise you to buy the larger swarms, 

 the two and three pound sizes. Our 

 Canadian friends advocate the larger 

 swarms for all purposes, as the seasons 

 there are short. Some of them even 

 prefer the five-pound swarms, and say 

 they are the best investments for their 

 locality. The five-pound swarms are 

 fine, but we have always thought them 

 expensive. 



It has been said that in time a great 

 many northern and some western bee- 

 keepers would find it advisable to kill 

 their bees in the fall and replace by 

 procuring bees in packages from the 

 South the following spring. This I do 

 not believe advisable, nor will it be 

 practiced to any great extent. To be 

 sure the saving of honey perhaps 

 would offset the cost of the bees from 

 the South, but there would not be 

 enough profit to make it practical. 

 Also, would it be quite fair to the little 

 fellows after they had toiled so hard 

 for you ? In case of winter losses, or 

 desire for early increase and for 

 strengthening weak colonies, bees in 

 packages are without a doubt a success. 



Hayneville, Ala. 



Model 



Swiss Association— A 

 to Follow 



BY C. W. AEPPLER. 



ABOUT one-half of the November 

 issue of the " Schweizerische 

 Bienenzeitung" (Swiss Bee Jour- 

 nal) deals with the horrors of the pres- 

 ent war and describes the difficulties 

 that have been encountered by the 

 Swiss beekeepers in obtaining sugar 

 for winter stores. As the Swiss bee- 

 keepers depend almost entirely upon 

 sugar syrup for winter stores, it is diffi- 

 cult for us to realize how great a bur- 

 den they are forced to bear, even 

 though Switzerland is "a peaceful 

 island lying amidst the howling bil- 

 lows." 



When the war broke out in July, 

 1914, most of the beekeepers had no 

 sugar on hand to provide their bees 

 with winter stores. As usual, a high 



A PACKAGE OF BEES AT THE END OF A THOUSAND MILE JOURNEY 



Over a Hundred Pounds of Bees Ready 

 FOR Shipment 



price was obtained for honey, and 

 sugar could be fed very economically. 

 The Swiss beekeepers must depend 

 largely upon sugar shipped in from 

 Germany and France. With a little 

 successful diplomacy enough sugar was 

 secured in October,1914, to provide for 

 winter stores, and so the bees were 

 saved from starvation. 



The Swiss Beekeepers' Association 

 is scientifically managed, and this year 

 sufficient sugar was secured for winter 

 stores for the 224,000 colonies operated 

 by its members throughout that peace- 

 ful nation. When we consider the size 

 of that little country, with its many 

 square miles of rugged mountains, our 

 fears of overstocking should be les- 

 sened. The 1910 census credits Wis- 

 consin with 95,600 colonies, and 

 Minnesota with 56,()00. We have many 

 a lesson to learn from the Swiss bee- 

 keepers. If the beekeepers of the 

 United States were as united as they 

 are in one common motive, the ques- 

 tion of overstocking, better markets 

 and better prices would be a thing of 

 the past. What we need most is a 



