January, 1910. 



American ^ae Journal 



frame on each side of the sections be a good 

 arrangement to use for best results. -• 



5. I have 10 colonies in chafT-hivcs, and 

 11 in single-walled hives. The 11 are packed 

 on three sides. The temperature stands at 

 30 degrees about all the time. I can not 

 make it any warmer this year. I give them 

 ^xo inch entrance, and 4 of them a 7-inch 

 entrance. They are very heavy colonies. 

 Would you advise a larger entrance or not? 

 The cellar is very dry and is ventilated well, 

 and the bees seem quitt- quiet. I have a 

 chaff tray on all. 



6. Would it pay to use all chaff-hives even 

 if one does winter his bees in a cellar, as 

 thcv afford better protection in the fall and 

 spring, and bees will breed up faster? I want 

 to start in with the best that can be had. 



Michigan. 

 Answers. — 1. It is a good plan to extract 

 some of the honey from the brood-combs if 

 in all hiz'es you find the queen has not room 

 enough to lay in spring or early summer. 

 But that's a thing that rarely happens, and 

 I very much doubt whether that was the 

 trouble with your bees last year. Veiy early 

 the queen requires not a great deal of room, 

 because there are not enough bees to cover 

 a large amount of brood. As the season ad- 

 vances the honey is used up very rapidly, 

 giving the queen constantly more room. At 

 any time you think there is danger that the 

 queen is crowded for room, look and sec 

 whether there are no empty cells in the hive. 

 If all the cells are filled either with brood 

 or stores, then there is a possibility that the 

 queen may be crowded for room; but not till 

 then. Even if you should find a colony with 

 its queen crowded for room, instead of ex- 

 tracting any honey, it may pay better to takt 

 out a frame filled with honey and exchange 

 it for an empty comb in some other needy 

 colony. 



2. Yes, giving ready-built combs will save 

 the bees just so much labor and material. 



3. Generally, leather-colored Italians are pre- 

 ferred for work. Hybrids, as the cross be- 

 tween blacks and Italians is called, are among 

 the worst to sting. 



4. If rightly used, I know of nothing more 

 convenient than the T-super. As to ainount 

 of honey stored, probably one kind of super 

 will give as much as another. Some have 

 reported good success by having extracting 

 combs and sections in the same super. But a 

 T-super would hardly answer for that pur- 

 pose. Wide frames would be better. 



5. It will probably be better if yoi; give 

 in the cellar the full-sized entrance, and keep 

 the cellar as nearly as you can at 4 5 de- 

 grees. Even at 30 degrees, better cnlirge 

 the hive-entrance. 



6. I do not know of any one whu has tried 

 it extensively who thinks it pays to have chaft*- 

 hives for wintering bees in the cellar. 



orte ana 

 experiences 



iiuitcy-ixciiicuy lui Kai-Ache. 



.•\ recipe for ear-ache remedy : One drop 

 of honey to a little warm water, well mixed; 

 one to two drops in the ear. Sure thing. 



Bees did very little here last year. 



Virginia. 111.. Dec. 20. F. M. Davis. 



Only One-Third of a Crop, 



Bees did not do well this year. I got only 

 about one- third of a crop, but am living in 

 hopes of a better one in the coming new year 



of 1910. IT. A. RUSHTON. 



Jackson. Mich., Dec. 27. 



Laws Against Spraying in Bloom. 



Allow me to ask if the American Bee Jour- 

 nal can furnish a brief account of the law 

 in the dilTerent States against spraying while 

 in bloom. Having suffered heavy loss myself, 

 r.nd finding many others have been greatly 

 damaged, in many cases not knowing tiic cause, 

 I want authentic information for use in a 

 practical way. 



I do a good deal of work within a radius 

 of 50 miles, among people wlio wish expert 

 advice and assistance, and thi.s brings me in 

 touch with people of inlluence who could, and 



would, help US to control this great damage. 

 Also. I speak more or less to granges and 

 farmers' clubs, and a little good-tempered ad- 

 vice and information on the spraying evil 

 would count for much. The farmer is an 

 intelligent, practical man, as a rule, and if 

 I can show him just what other States find 

 it wise to do, he will be more impressed than 

 by anything I can say. It is a fact that locali- 

 ties in this section were so thoroughlv poisoned 

 that squashes failed to set, and tliere is no 

 doubt that the apple crop itself was greatly 

 injured. But preparation is being made for 

 much more extensive spraying in bloom next 

 year, the effort being to destroy the codling- 

 moth larvs (carpocapsa pomonella). 



George W. Adams. 

 Rt. 1, Rowley, Mass., Dec. 24. 



[We are going to ask any of our readers 

 who can do so, to mail Mr. Adams copies 

 of any laws that may be on their statute 

 books, on this subject. We hope they will 

 be prompt in doing this, so that Mr. A. can 

 have the desired information in time to make 

 good use of it. — Editor.] 



Complete Failure of Honey. 



I liave S culonies of bees in the cellar, ap- 

 parently doing well. Last year was a complete 

 failure for honey here; bees got little more 

 than enough to winter on. But we hope for 

 better results next year. 



Arthur Fitzpatrick. 



Flandreau, S. Dak., Dec. 27. 



Very Poor Season for Bees. 



The last season was a very poor one for the 

 bees; about one-third of a honey crop from 

 clover. Bees went into winter fairly well 

 supplied with stores from smartweed, and we 

 hope next season will be better. 



J. F. Vigor. M.D. 



Pomona, Xans., Dec. 20. 



Good Prospect for White Clover. 



My bees are prepared for winter on the 

 summer stands. 



The past one was another poor honey sea- 

 son in this locality, and that was the third 

 poor season in succession. We produce mostly 

 extracted honey, but we try to produce some 

 section honey, and did not get a single sec- 

 tion in the last 3 years. We got only about 

 300 pounds of extracted honey last season from 

 70 colonies. Some of the colonies needed feed- 

 ing to bring them through the winter. As I 

 have been in the business nearly 40 years, 

 1 will not give it up yet. There is a good 

 prospect for white clover for the coming year, 

 so I still live in hopes that we may have a 

 bountiful crop next season. Max Zahner. 



Lenexa. Kans., Dec. 1. 



Bee-Stings and Rheumatism. 



I often see articles in the American Bee 

 Tournal and in "Der Gcflegelzuechter," on bee- 

 stings as a cure for rheumatism, and I con- 

 sider it my duty to tell my experience. 



Early last spring I began to feel pain in 

 my left arm between tlic elbow and the shoul- 

 iler, and started to rub it with different salves 

 ;ind liniments. When I did not get relief I 

 went to a doctor, who said it was muscular 

 rheumatism, and that I should take some medi- 

 cine. Things went on for more than a month, 

 and til' n-'iM 'it.-w worse. In the nioining i 

 could hardly dress myself, and a friend told 

 me that Turkisli baths would fix me up. 1 

 took two, and in the meantime rubbed my arm 

 till the skin was sore, but the pain remained. 

 Then 1 gave my Ix-cs a cliancc. although I 

 did not think much of it at first. But 1 

 thought it would do no barm. 



I collected about a dozen bees in a glass, 

 and set them on the spot vlure I had the 

 pain. By shaking the glass and knocking at 

 it I got the bees angry so they wofdd sting, 

 and I repeated it three or four times, at in- 

 tervals of about a week. J felt relief the 

 next day after the first trial, and the pain 

 disappeared inside of a few weeks, and I have 

 had no pain since. I want to say that my 

 arm did not swell at all at the spot where 

 tlie bees stung, but it swelled very much near 

 the wrist. 



As to any "f;bock" received wlu-n the bees 

 stung, I cannot agree with Dr. Bonncy (see 

 November. 1009. issue). When a bee sat on 

 my arm I expected a sting, and took it as a 

 matter of course that it would hurt a bit. 



Someone may say it was not ■ rheumatism 

 that was bothering me, and I can't swear it 



was, but I know since the bee stung me 1 

 am rid of the pain in my left arm. 



Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 25. A. Wenz. 



Poor Clover Prospects for igio. 



W'e have had no honey crop to speak of, 

 and honty dtw to winter on njeans disaster be- 

 fore spring. 



I commenced the past season with 145 colo- 

 nies, increased to 170, and got 3,300 pounds 

 of comb honey, or about 22 pounds per col- 

 ony, spring count. Does this sound like pros- 

 perity? If this is bad, last year was at least 

 a little bfttt-r. I commenced the st-asou of 

 190S with OS colonies, closed with 145, and 

 secured 7181 pounds, or over 105 2-3 pounds 

 per colony, spring count. I wintered every 

 colony. 



But with 170 colonies now, I do not expect 

 to have 100 alive next spring. I extracted the 

 black stuff out of the brood-nest of one out- 

 yard, which may winter better. But as we 

 had a terrible drouth and no show for a fall 

 crop, I did not extract from the other yard. 



The clover outlook is poor, as the drouth 

 killed nmst of the young cluver that staited in 

 spring during the wet time we had. So the 

 bee-prospects for the coming season are any- 

 thing but bright. This is the condition over 

 a big portion of the Central States, notwith- 

 standint; a certain usual report of tine show 

 for a clover crop in 1910. I think we ought 

 to have the truth, whether good or bad. An 

 intelligent reader who has carefully followed 

 the reports in bee-papers, of crops and con- 

 ditions, need not be told that we will not 

 have any big crop of clover honey, generally, 

 next season. Of course, some sections or 

 localities will have good crops (always do), 

 but no matter what reports come in, a cer- 

 tain publication usually publishes that clover 

 prospects were never brighter. Having said 

 this, I want to say, also, that the American 

 Bee Journal has tried to give us conditions 

 just as they are. We all thank you. and ap- 

 preciate your honesty in this and also other 

 interests of bee-keepers generally. 



I run out-yards on somewhat of Dr. Mil- 

 ler's plan. 



Cantril, Iowa. A. B. Tackaberry. 



Keeping Bees in a Bee-Shed. 



The picture is one of my bee-shed apiary 

 of 20 colonies situated in the suburbs one- 

 half mile from the city, near the most beau- 

 tiful park in the State. The lot on which 

 the apiary is located is 80x130 feet, set with 

 small fruit; 50 red raspberries, 25 blackber- 

 ries, nicely trained to tree-shapes and tied 

 to stakes. GOO strawberries, 40 dwarf pears, a 

 few plums and currants, also two large beds 

 for vegetables. These added to the^ profits 

 from the bees make a very profitable invest- 

 ment. The small cottage in the picture is 

 furnished with easy chairs. On the table will 

 be found tlie late number of the .\merican 

 Bee Journal and other bee-publications and 

 literature. The bee-people often drop in and 

 discuss the good and bad of the bee-business, 

 as well as the best methods of securing a large 

 honey-flow. 



These 20 colonies of bees take very little 

 of my time, other than putting on the supers 

 and taking off the honey, and a little extra 

 time during the swarming season, cutting out 

 queen-cells. As to the pleasures of bee-keep- 

 ing, tliere are many. Among other pleas- 

 ures, who does not enjoy sitting by a hive 

 and watching the litllc busy workers coming 

 and going hither and thither, each one doing 

 its part, gathering the honey from the mead- 

 ows far and near. 



The Bee-Shed. 



Tor keeping bees on a small scale where 

 you do not have the room of the farm or 

 the shade of the apple orchard, I am in favor 

 of the bee-shed. I suppose the majority of 

 the bee-keepers throughout the country are 

 those having from 2 to 25 colonies, and they 

 are kept in the rear of the garden lot. or on 

 small places. The shed gives a permanent 

 and liandy place for them. They are less 

 liable to annoy any one, and I feel certain 

 they keep to their place and work better. 



I have anifile room in the shed to work 

 w itii the btcs from the rear of the hive. I 

 tind tlie bees will not come into the shed and 

 bother while working with them as they do 

 out in the open. I can work with the bees 

 on sunshiny or rainy days, whenever you may 

 have time. This is very important to those 

 who are engaged in other vocations than bee- 

 keeping. Many persons wlio keep bees are 

 employed at inside work, and for tliem to 

 go out in tlie mi<ldle of the day in the hot 



