416 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



box or occasionally a modern hive 

 without frames or foundation. Hives 

 of hollow logs are locally known as 

 bee gums, because of the general use 

 of a section of a sour gum tree. Such 

 apiaries are very common. A combi- 

 nation of all is frequent. Bees kept 

 under such conditions are allowed to 

 swarm without attempt to control 

 them, and in most cases swarming is 

 encouraged. The number of swarms 

 cast by one colony is looked upon as 

 an indication of strength. Every year 

 large numbers of bees are allowed to 

 seek refuge in the timber. Years of 

 such practice have made bee trees 

 quite common in the virgin forests of 

 the State. 



Many people depend entirely upon 

 honey taken from bee trees and they 

 are usually amply repaid for the 

 time and energy expended in search 

 for these trees. Reports of two or 

 three hundred pounds of honey ob- 

 tained from a tree are very common. 

 Argument is often advanced that it 

 is easier to obtain honey from the 

 forest than by keeping a number of 

 stands. It is likely true in such in- 

 stances because the bees are kept un- 

 der conditions which are adverse to 

 honey production. 



Wild bees are the nucleus of more 

 than one apiary. Among those who 

 have begun extensive beekeeping 

 from this source is Gran* Luzader, of 

 Pennsboro, West Virginia. Mr. Lu- 

 zader, a jeweler by trade and nat- 

 uralist by choice, spends his hours of 

 recreation in hunting bee trees. Un- 

 like most bee hunters, who take only 

 the honey and leave the bees to their 

 fate, he has practiced conservation 

 and places all bees in modern hives. 

 He now has 115 colonies scattered in 

 several outj'ards. Being a firm be- 

 liever in the necessity of protection 

 for summer as well as for winter, he 

 uses a type of double-walled hive of 

 his own construction which is mod- 

 ern in every respect. Through con- 

 tinued use of full sheets of founda- 

 tion and selection of brood-combs. 



PART 



11-- .-Mi.'VM I VAH.X'S AITAKV. 



drones have been reduced to a mini- 

 mum. Having a source of nectar from 

 a varied flora, as fruit bloom, locust, 

 willow, white clover, poplar, sumac, 

 asters and autumn flowers, the bees 

 never fail to produce a paying crop of 

 comb and e.xtracted honey. Occa- 

 sionally a box-hive beekeeper adopts 

 modern methods and enters the class 

 of progressives. Levi Gregory, of 

 Webster Springs, West Virginia, af- 

 ter reading considerable literature on 

 the possibilities of apiculture de- 

 decided that the day of the hollow 

 log beekeeping had passed. Several 

 modern ten-frame hives with com- 

 plete equipment were purchased and 

 immediately filled with bees. Some 

 of his mountain neighbors declared 

 he was a fair specimen for the asy- 

 lum, while others watched his experi- 

 ment with great interest. It re- 

 quired only one year to convince his 

 critics. A complete change of bee- 

 keeping has taken place in his lo- 

 cality. This past year he tried an- 

 other experiment in the way of buy- 

 ing pound packages in m'aking in- 



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LEVI GREGORY AND PART OF HIS MODERN APIARY, NOTE 

 HOLLOW LOG Iff THE FOREGROUND. 



THE 



crease in his apiary. The returns 

 from these bees were the best of any 

 in his apiary. 



His apiary is located five miles east 

 of Webster Springs, on the side of a 

 mountain. Here the bees have ac- 

 cess to the willows and soft maples 

 in the valley, and locust, poplar and 

 basswood on the mountain. Besides, 

 there are wild flowers and shrubs. 

 Because of th,e trees growing on the 

 slopes of the mountains at different 

 elevations their blooming period usu- 

 ally covers a period of two to six 

 weeks. 



That section of West Virginia 

 which lies between the States of Ohio 

 and Pennsylvania, known as the 

 Northern Panhandle, is a hotbed of 

 enthusiastic beekeepers. Among 

 those who stand out with prominence 

 is Will C. Griffith, of Elm Grove. Mr. 

 Griffith is connected with one of the 

 large newspapers of Wheeling, but 

 finds time during his spare moments 

 to aid in the betterment of the indus- 

 try. He has established a demand for 

 honey among his neighbors that far 

 exceeds the output of his apiary. In 

 order to keep his customers supplied 

 he has found it necessary to import 

 large quantities every year. He is a 

 strong advocate of Italian bees, the 

 ten-frame hive, full sheets of founda- 

 tion, ample super room for surplus 

 and sufficient packing for wintering. 

 Through his untiring efforts he has or- 

 ganized his beekeeping friends into 

 a local association, besides being a 

 prominent figure in organizing the 

 State Association, of which he is Vice 

 President. 



A neighbor and close friend of Mr. 

 Griffith is Adam J. Yahn, of Triadel- 

 phia. Mr. Yahn is a producer of 

 comb and e.xtracted honey. The 

 snow-white double-walled hives neat- 

 ly arranged above the green carpet 

 of close cropped blue grass har- 

 monize so well with the deep green 

 of the poplar and basswood on the 

 surrounding hillsides, that it cer- 

 tainly could not be otherwise than 

 alluring to people of like natures to 

 assemble and discuss their problems. 



If by good fortune in your travels 

 you should drive through Mercer 

 county in late summer your attention 

 would be drawn to a well-kept farm 



