Seplcmbcr. 1910. 



American Tiee Jonrnal 



which speaks well for the way in wliich the 

 wurk was received by the average 1>ee-kecp 

 crs. 



It s:reine that the foul-brootl law of Indiana 

 is appreciated by bee-keepers. Fruit grow- 

 ers, as well as bee-keepers, ought to apprec- 

 iate this, on account of the indirect benefit 

 derived from the honey-bee. Bulletin No. 7'> 

 V. S. lUireau of luiloniology, Department 

 "f Agriculture, says: 



"I'Vuit-growers, as a rule, recognize the 

 value of the honey-bee for their industry. 

 Taking into consideration the insurance of 

 pollenation by transporting colonies of bees 

 to places where their services are needed, it 

 is safe to say that the indirect benefit of the 

 bee-keeping industry annually adds to the re- 

 sources of the county considerably more than 

 the amount received from the sale of honey 

 and wax." 



Considering the value of the honey-bee for 

 fruit-growers, and, at the same time, the dan- 

 ger of that dreaded foe, foul brood, which 

 thrcattns to destroy the bee-keeping industry, 

 it would Ijc wise that all fruit-growers and 

 horticulturists stand together with the bee- 

 keepers in one body and demand and urge 

 the legislature to establish a foul-brood law. 

 This ought to be established in all States 

 where there is none, and where bee-keeping 

 ' is practiced. The Government has made to 

 protect our home industry against foreign 

 competition; why should we harbor the enemy 

 in our own bosom, which threatens to destroy 

 the resources of our country through which 

 we lose more, and far more, than we prob- 

 ably would if tariff laws were taken away ? 

 [ am apt to believe that if all those interested 

 would show and prove to the legislature (of 

 their State) that the foul-brood law is neces- 

 sary, the elgislature could not close the eyes 

 and lull into sleep, since it is the first duty 

 of every legislature to give protection. 



Indiana. 



Bee-keeping for Japanese Soldiers. 



Although apiculture in Japan is in its in- 

 fancy, the people all over the Island Empire 

 have awakened to find for the new industry 

 a future prospect. Not only farmers, pro- 

 fessional instructors, and school-teachers are 

 mad with bee-fever, but even soldiers are 

 given an opportunity to study bee-management. 

 Colonel Fuse, of Osaka Kegiment, is the en- 

 thusiastic leader of apiculture among the army 

 men. He found that a colony of bees rep- 

 resents his ideal army. He wants his sol- 

 diers to learn the noble lesson of the indus- 

 trious, obedient and co-operative spirit of the 

 "bee-people." It is his intention to estab- 

 lish an apiary in the regiment. Mr. U. 

 Yahata, the President of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Association of Tenkachaya, Osaka, is ap- 

 pointed as instructor. By this enterprise, 

 the colonel expects the soldiers not only to 

 enjoy their spare time more profitably during 

 their army life, but when they return to their 

 respective farm homes, tliey would not re- 

 gret the bee-stings which they received in the 

 regimental garden — Japanese Bee- World. 



San Francisco, Cal. S. Aniva. 



Preparing Bees for Outdoor Wintering 



ist. After the fall honey-flow is over re- 

 move all the supers containing honey and 

 sections. Remove the sections at once, one 

 super to each hive. or. if empty supers are 

 on hand, placeone on each hive. This will 

 give the bees time to seal it to the brood- 

 chamber before the cold weather sets in. 



2d. See that each colony has 30 pounds of 

 stores. If any are short now is the time to 

 feed, for the empty super makes a splendid 

 feed-box. The feeders I use are empty fruit- 

 cans, quart size, which can be gotten at 

 hotels for the asking. It is the cheapest 

 feeder, and is as good as any. Remove all 

 tin at the open end. fill with syrup, take a 

 piece of muslin large enough to cover the 

 top of the can. allowing the sides to come 

 down for a rubber band to hold it to its 

 place. Invert on the frames, and give each 

 colony the required amount at one feeding. 

 You will be surprised to see the bees empty 

 these cans. I have had colonies short of 

 stores that have emptied b cans in a single 

 night. I have no trouble with robber-bees 

 when feeding this way. Small yards can be 

 fed on the first round, which is the better 

 plan, for the same excitement is going on in 

 all hives at the same time. 



3d. Now every colony has plenty of stores. 

 and all crevices sealed. Now we are look- 

 ing for a irood packing, which should be used 

 not later than the first of November. Take 

 a plastering lath, rip it in halves, take these 



halves and nail logrther a frame to tit the 

 inside of the cnu>t> super, also put a piece 

 across tin- center <if the frame to keep it 

 from sagging on the brood-frames. Now cut 

 a piece of fly-wire netting the size of the 

 frame just made, tack this on the frame and 

 it is ready to put into the empty super, wire 

 side up. This gives a bee-space of % inch 

 between the packing and the brood-frames. 

 The bees can move from one frame to an- 

 other without going down, which is a great 

 help in case the honey becomes all on the 

 occupied combs. Another advantage of the 

 wireframe is that the bees can not gnaw 

 through like they will when burlap is put 

 riyht on top of the frames, which will cause 

 a mess of chaff to work down between the 

 combs. It will also exclude mice from get- 

 ting into the packing. 



Now put a piece of burlap over the wire 

 frame, and fill the super full of wheat chaff 

 ll prefer chaff from smooth wheat ; press it 

 in tight, put on the cover, raise one end of 

 the cover by putting a nail or chip the thick- 

 ness of 's inch between the cover and super: 

 this will allow the dampness to escape, and 

 there will be no moldy packing or smell in 

 the super when removed in the spring, as is 

 often the case if the cover is tight. 



Now the colonies are ready to meet any 

 changes of the weather—cold to warm and 

 warm to cold— as the bees are always dry, 

 which assures thci'- coming out all right in 

 the spring. If convenient, shelter the north- 

 west sides of the hives by putting up some 

 kind of a wind-break. I also reduce the en- 

 trance to one inch, which must be watched 

 so it will not become clogged with dead bees. 



By packing bees this wav. we can leave 

 them right on the summer stands with the 

 least fear of losing a single colonv. Of 

 course. I am speaking for the Middle Atlan- 

 tic States. I have not lost a colony since I 

 packed them in the above way. I hope 

 others may be just as successful. 



Westminster. Md. J. M. Myers. 



i." 



About Half a Honey Crop 



This is a very poor season for bees in this 

 locality. April and May not only kept them 

 at a standstill, but reduced them in num- 

 bers, and I really believe they were weaker 

 the middle of June than the beginning of 

 April. The queens stopped laying alto- 

 gether in May, and most of the colonies be- 

 came practically broodless. After noticing 

 this. I began feeding them, and continued 

 for a whole week, every evening, to stimu- 

 late brood-rearing. In this way I succeeded, 

 for after the week ended I found quite a lot 

 of brood in every hive. But the drouth kept 

 right on. and we didn't have any rain up to 

 this date since last year— not to speak of. 

 at least not around here— and consequently 

 no bee-forage. In ao colonies only 6 have 

 swarmed, which, of course. I considered 

 lucky. In this way they came out in fair 

 shape to take hold of the sweet clover, 

 which is getting a good stand here. This is 

 a plant we did not know anything about a 

 few years ago. Were it not for it there would 

 not be anything of a honey crop for me. 

 White clover has failed the last 3 years, and 

 on the little there was the bees did not seem 

 to work. 



As things look now I expect a little over 

 half a crop of honey, or about an average of 

 45 to ';o pounds per colony. I run for section 

 honey only. My bees are partly Italian and 

 partly hybrids. I find it rather hard to 

 keep Italian blood, as there are only blacks 

 around here. We are hoping for a better 

 season next year. 



I consider the American Bee Journal a 

 great help to any one who wants to make a 

 success of keeping bees. John S.\mes. 



Shakopee, Minn.. July 27. 



The Jones Method of Non-Swarming 



Last winter I sent to Dr. Henry Jones for 

 a copy of his " Radical Cure for the Swarm- 

 ing Habit of Bees." and tried it last month 

 on g colonies of Italian bees. I found the 

 plan a failure, and its effects were to make 5 

 out of the colonies so treated swarm more 

 than 15 colonies not so treated. I am allow- 

 ing these to swarm naturally, half of which 

 have cast first swarms. I had 23 colonies, 

 spring count. 



I becamediscouraged with the Jones plan, 

 and have discontinued it. I am in a pretty 

 fix, as I relied on his plan to keep down 

 swarming, so I did not buy any new hives 

 for the new swarms. I have taken care of 7 

 new swarms so far by doubling them with 

 weak colonies, and hiving 4 in old hives that 

 were left over. If the rest of my colonies 

 swarm, I will have to put them in candy- 



pails, nail-kegs, small boxes, or any old 

 thing, and take them up in the fall; but I 

 think the late drouth will hinder some of 

 these from swarming. 



My bees are seemingly doing no better at 

 honey-gathering than last year, when they 

 gathered only .about half a crop. Basswood 

 is not blooming here on account of the in- 

 ury by frost late last spring, and clover lias 

 :)een dried up suddenly by the late drouth, 

 which was broken yesterday. 



I would like to hear from others who have 

 tried the Jones plan of preventing swarming 

 this season, and learn if their experiences 

 have been like mine. I followed his direc- 

 tions to the letter. The following is an ac- 

 count of the doings of each colony treated 

 by myself last month, as before stated: 



[All Queen-cells except one were cut out on 

 the ()th day in all colonies that cast a swarm. 

 R stands for "swarm returned;" H for 

 "swarm hived.") 



No. I. treated June 21— run for comb honey. 



No. 2. treated June 22— run for comb honey. 



No. 3. treated June22— run for comb honey. 



No. 4. treated June 20; swarmed June 21— 

 R: swarmed June 23—; swarmed July 3— H. 



No. 5. treated June 20— run for comb honey. 



No. 6, treated June 20; swarmed June 20: 

 swarmed July 2. 



No. 7. treated June 8; treated June 8 again. 



No. 8, treated June 20— run for extracted 

 honey. 



No. 0. treated June 12: swarmed June 20. 



Highland. Mich.. July 17. Wm. Martin. 



An Ex-Miner Bee-Keeper on Hive-Ven- 

 tilation 



Do you know what ventilation is ? The 

 question appals me. It is so big. so varied, 

 and withal so strange. If bee-keepers could 

 but understand what good ventilation is. 

 they would understand why the bees get 

 sick, and why they swarm. Any practical 

 coal-miner will tell you that of all the stub- 

 born places to reach with ventilation is 

 upon the hilltops. Air will travel down hill 

 and return against considerable resistance, 

 but to get it up on the hill you must apply 

 force. All the works must have air. or 

 work ceases then. All the work in our 

 hives lies most upon the hill, above the 

 main air-course, and but one place to re- 

 ceive and discharge it. It is a scandalous 

 fact that he who devised our hives did not 

 take into consideration sanitary conditions. 



Kor 20 years coal-mines furnished th^ 

 writer with opportunities tostudy and learn 

 the creation of foul air. the effects of it. and 

 how to overcome it. Let me tell the bee- 

 keepers that the powers which create foul 

 air are as plentiful in the hives as we find in 

 the mines. When I first began keeping 

 bees. It was my opinion they did not breathe, 

 and for that reason I saw no provision for 

 ventilation in the construction of the hive. 

 13ut I was not long in discovering my error, 

 and immediately there was something doing 

 in that little apiary to provide the bees with 

 a more liberal amount of air. With all my 

 mine experience, I was slow in establishing 

 a proper system of circulation. When the 

 bees hung out I blocked-'up the front end of 

 the hive, which gave relief, but carried a 

 dread of chilled brood and robber-bees. 



An unusually cross colony led me further 

 on. I sneaked up in the rear and applied 

 the block at the rear end. Before they ap- 

 prehended me, I had the wind whistling 

 across the bottom-board and escaping at 

 the other end, which afforded more r.-lief 

 than anything I had tried. I then removed 

 all cleats at the rear end of the bottom, and 

 built up strips on the side-rails as fast as 

 the colony required more air. I had the 

 problem solved, and have been busily en- 

 gaged for a number of years investigating 

 what could, and what could not. be done 

 with plenty of air in my hives. Those who 

 expect to stop all swarming by blocking up 

 on the corners will meet with disappoint- 

 ment after a while. So will those who apply 

 the double entrance. But they both will 

 stop many a swarm that would issue had 

 they been given less air. I find a cause— a 

 stubborn one. too not room —which my big 

 2j2-inch holes at each end of the bottom- 

 board will not overcome. 



There are a variety of foul airs. We had 

 them in the mines, and " Uncle Joe" finds 

 them in his hive. I find that honey, old pol- 

 len, glue, along with old combs, throw off an 

 odor, or gas. which, when heated up by the 

 bees, is intensified to such a pitch that after 

 the bees breathe it over a few times it 

 makes them sick. Just the same as white 

 and black damps do to the miner. They go 

 outside and cling to the front end of the 

 hive. Some call these lazy bees, but you 

 would think differently if you and your fam- 



