September, loio. 



American Hm Journal 



Southern Beedom 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl. New Braunfels, Tex. 



Carloads of Bee-Keepers for Albany 



That carload of bee-keepers sounds 

 so well that it is impossible to resist 

 the temptation, and everybody that can 

 crawl on that car should certainly get 

 on. If there's not room enough on the 

 inside then hang on the outside, just so 

 you keep together in the same crowd, 

 for, remember, that you will miss some 

 fun of your lifetime not to hear every- 

 thing that is going on in that crowd. 

 May we hope that this will not be the 

 only car that will be en route to Albany, 

 but that there may be several others 

 from other directions besides Chicago. 



The location of Albany, and the ad- 

 vantages one can have from the trip 

 by stopping off en route when return- 

 ing home from the convention, should 

 assure quite an attendance from the 

 West. How about it ? Is it not cheaper 

 to get two carloads than if only one 

 carload is gotten up ? Two colonies 

 of bees, if one buys them at one time, 

 are generally a little cheaper; there is 

 a reduction on two or more. Two 

 cars from the West — my, that would be 

 "heap much bee-keepers!" 



Bulk-Comb Honey Production— What Was 

 in Those Stacks of Sweetness ? 



Last month some of the profitable 

 colonies in our apiaries where bulk- 

 comb honey is produced extensively, 

 were shown the readers, and a promise 

 was made that this month would reveal 

 to them some views into the interior 

 of some of those stacks, or at least 

 show some of the things that were on 

 the inside. 



To get at this our assistant is seen, 

 in the first picture, jerking off super 

 after super of the most delicious fancy 

 comb honey at the rate of looo pounds 

 in less than half an hour. This is not 

 exaggerated. We have done this time 

 and again. The supers, as shown, 

 leaning against the front of the hive 

 are practically free from bees already. 



and when all that are completed are off 

 the hive the cover is replaced and the 

 supers are taken away and loaded on a 

 wagon. In this work the supers are 

 jerked up and about in such a way that 

 the bees which have formed themselves 

 in little clusters at different parts of 

 the supers, in the meantime, will be 

 shaken off in the hurried work, as we 

 always hustle them off in the greatest 

 kind of a hurry. Our idea is to get 

 them out of the way, and on the wagon 

 where they are tlien covered up with a 

 large, heavy wagon-sheet, so the bees 



ScHOLL's Method of "Jerking" 

 Bulk-Comb Honev Supers. 



Off 



.SCIIOI.L'S HoHKV— " BUI.K-COMI! HONEV. 



can not get to them, and thus prevent 

 robbing to a great extent. Just how it 

 looks on the wagon will be shown in 

 another issue, since we have a special 

 wagon for the purpose. 



If you will examine the picture 

 closely you will find that the supers are 

 as free of bees as it is possible to get 

 them. Our method of taking off honey 

 in the most rapid way, is unique, and, 

 as far as we know, entirely our own, 

 since we had never before we adopted 

 the method years ago, and even until 

 now, read a description of such a 

 method. It enables us to take off more 

 honey in a given time than any other 

 way we know of. Bee-escape methods 

 are not excepted. Our assistant, in the 

 picture, is jerking off four completed 30- 

 pound net comb honey supers in the 

 time one could place a bee-escape on. 

 And when one considers that all of our 

 yards are out-yards miles away, and that 

 it would be ridiculous to make an extra 

 trip to put on the escapes while we can 

 take off the honey with the same trip 

 and the same time it would take to put 

 on the escapes, can you blame us for 

 using this method, and claiming so 

 much for it ? 



While others are brushing off bees, 

 bruising and irritating them, and other- 



wise having a disagreeable task before 

 them when using the deep combs, as 

 the greatest majority of bee-keepers 

 still do, we, with our shallow supers 

 and frames are taking off super after 

 super without having a brush in our 

 possession at all. And it is all done 

 so nicely and quickly that we would 

 not change back to the old way. 



Here is the way we approach the 

 matter: With smoker well going in 

 the right hand, and hive-tool in the 

 other, the cover of the hive is pried up, 

 a puff or two of smoke blown under it, 

 when it is sent helter-skelter to the 

 ground in front of the hive, so that the 

 adhering bees can find their way back 

 to the entrance in short order. While 

 the left hand is thus engaged more 

 smoke is blown over the top of the 

 upper super, but, at the same time, the 

 left hand goes to work on the next 

 hive already, and its top comes off the 

 same way as the first. So the work 

 goes right on until we have ."> hives 

 open at once. That is the number we 

 can handle most satisfactorily. More 

 would allow the bees too much time to 

 come up again between the smoking 

 of each hive, while if we took less col- 

 onies at a time, we would be required 

 to wait for the bees to get out of way, 

 causing a loss of time in that direction. 



By this time the most of the bees in 

 the first super smoked are moving 

 down rapidly. We begin quickly and 

 give each top super another rapid 

 smoking, throw down the smoker and 

 pry off the upper supers of the entire .5 

 hives in a jiffy, setting them against 

 the hives, as shown, to allow the bees to 

 run off more or less. Those that do 

 not leave the supers are later jerked off 

 in taking the supers to the wagon, as 

 stated before. The first supers all off, 

 a second round of smoke is given to the 

 next supers, and these come off just 

 like the first did. So it goes with all 

 the next supers that are to come off. 



It does not take so long to get the 

 bees out of the supers succeeding the 

 first ones, since, first, there are gen- 

 erally more bees clustered in the top- 

 most supers, right under the covers; 

 and, secondly, after the bees are started 

 out of the first supers the bees in the 

 ones below these are already alarmed 

 and on their way down to the lower 

 part of the hive before they are all out 

 of the top supers. 



Of course, this work can only be 



'ILoveMv Sections and Extracted- 

 BuT OH. You Bulk-Comb Honky!" 



