December, 1910, 



American Hac JonrnaJI 



Forbes as its head. Mr. Forbes lias 

 been State Entomologist of Illinois for 

 many years, and his Department is one 

 of the best organized and most success- 

 ful of any in the United States. Should 

 he control the very important work of 

 inspection in Illinois, bee-keepers can 

 rest assured the work would be done 

 well. Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, New 

 York, etc.. are working under such a 

 plan, and it is eminently successful and 

 satisfactory to all concerned. 



The officers elected for the ensuing 

 year are as follows, practically all of 

 them being re-elected to their several 

 positions : President, C. P. Dadant, of 

 Hamilton: W. B. Moore, 1st vice-presi- 

 dent ; J. W. Bowen, 2d vice-president; 

 I. E. Piles, Hd vice-president; A. Cop- 

 pin, 4th vice-president; Louis Werner, 

 5th vice-president; Secretary, Jas. A. 

 Stone. Rt. 1, Springfield. 111. ; and Treas- 

 urer, Chas. Becker, of Pleasant Plains. 



A complete stenographic report of 

 the convention will be published in 

 book form as usual and mailed to mem- 

 bers. There are over 300 members now 

 of the Illinois .State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. There ought to be many thou- 

 sands in its membership, as there are 

 3.5,000 bee-keepers in Illinois, accord- 

 ing to the census of 19O0. There are 

 many readers of the American Bee 

 Journal who are not members. Why 

 not send $1.(10 to Secretary Stone, and 

 thus become not only a member of the 

 Illinois -Association, but of the National 

 as well ? The $1.00 pays the dues for 

 one vear in both organizations. 



The Index for 1910 



In this number will be found the 

 complete index for the present or .50th 

 volume. It should prove of great value 

 to those who have been careful enough 

 to preserve the copies of the Bee Jour- 

 nal as they were received from month 

 to month. The number of topics treat- 

 ed in various ways during the present 

 year are surprisingly large. The vol- 

 ume contains just an even 400 pages 

 this year — and all for only $1.00 — 4 

 pages for a cent! When one considers 

 the technical character of the contents 

 of the American Bee Journal, the lim- 

 ited field in which it circulates, and 

 also the limited advertising patronage 

 which it is able to secure, surely $1.00 

 is a very low subscription price. 



We believe that our readers will find 

 the index referred to, a great conven- 

 ience in looking up subjects which 

 they would like to read over again. 



*' The Towuseud Bee-Book " 



This is a new publication of 87 pages, 

 6 by 'J inches in size. It is a practical 

 treatment of the subject, " How to Make 

 a Start in Bees," by Mr. E. D. Town- 

 send, of Michigan, one of the most ex- 

 tensive and successful bee-keepers in 

 the United States. In 11 chapters Mr. 

 Townsend tells just how to manage 

 bees for the largest success. A few of 

 the chapters are devoted to such topics 

 as " What Hive to Adopt;" "How to 

 Buy Bees;" "How to Take Care of 

 Swarms;" "Spring Management;" 

 "Making Up Winter Losses;" etc. The 

 book is published by the A. I. Root 

 Co., and the postpaid price is -50 cents. 

 If you wish a copy in connection with 



.At'iaky of Gregory Bros. & Son. of Ottumwa. Iowa. 



a year's subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal, send $1.35 to this office, 

 146 W. Superior St., Chicago, 111. 



The Frout-Page Piotures 



The illustrations shown on the front 

 page this month are described in the 

 following : 



Visitmg Some Kansas Apiaries 



It is a well known fact to experienced bee- 

 keepers, no matter how long tliey have been 

 engaged in apiculture, or how much they 

 have read and done with the bees, they are 

 always ready and willing to learn more and 

 get ideas from their fellow bee-keepers. In 

 fact, we never will learn all there is to be 

 learned about the busy bees. The more we 

 learn the less we seem to know 



Having been hard at work the past season 

 with the bees, and desiring to take a trip 

 and see some of the bee-keepers of this 

 State. I accordingly " took a day off." One 

 bright, sunny day in July, taking my kodak 

 along 'although being an amateur with the 

 kodak . I started for Garden City at 5:40 

 a.m.. arriving at my destination of 50 miles 

 at 6:51 a.m.. and found at the depot waiting 

 for me a very fine looking gentleman. Mr. E. 

 Davison, with his carriage ready to receive 

 me. After talking for a moment or two. we 

 started off to look over the city, going up 

 one street and down another. I found Gar- 

 den City to be one of the finest little cities 

 in Western Kansas, with a population of 

 about 2000 inhabitants. On entering the 

 edge of the city we came to a large building 

 or factory, and I was told by Mr. Davison 

 that this was the sugar-beet factory, and one 

 of the largest of its kind in that part of the 

 State. 



After seeing the city, we started out to the 

 country. Driving about 3 miles, w-e halted 

 and found an apiary in the midst of an 

 alfalfa field, with thousands of acres of 

 alfalfa in and about it. While Mr. Davison 

 was looking over some of the colonies I 

 pointed my kodak, and the result will be 

 seen in Fig. i. .-Vt the time of our visit, 

 there were 143 colonies of bees in this api- 

 ary in 8 and 10 frame hives, and managed for 

 comb honey. After spending some time in 

 and about this apiary, we started back to 

 the city to the home of Mr. Davison, where 

 I found the family as happy as a lot of little 

 kittens. We spent an hour or two talking 

 about the bees. 



After resting we finally started for an- 

 other of Mr. Davison's apiaries. It was 

 located about 2*2 miles east of the city, and 

 in the edge of an alfalfa field. There were 

 222 colonies of bees in this apiary see Fig. 

 4). We spent some time among the bees, 

 which were at w-ork carrying home the nec- 

 tar from the alfalfa. This apiary is managed 

 mostly for extracted honey, the hives being 

 the 8 and 10 frame size. 



We went into the honey-house after look- 

 ing over the apiary. Here Mr. D. does the 

 extracting 'see Fig. 3I. The small building 

 in the foreground is a store-room where he 

 keeps extra supplies and tools. 



Figure 6 is the summer home where Mr. 

 Davison "keeps batch" when working with 

 the bees. 



On our return to the city we passed 

 tlirough a real " Lovers' Lane." in going to 

 Mr. Davison's home, where we had dinner 

 and talked bees during the afternoon. 



I found Mr. Davison one of the best-in- 

 formed bee-keepers in the State of Kansas, 

 and I think he is the most extensive. He is 

 also foul-brood inspector for this county. 



I returned home thinking my time spent in 

 visiting was well invested. 



Dodge City. Kan. J. C. FRANK, 



Ornamental Hives 



Seeing pictures of so many different kinds 

 of ornamental hives. I decided to make some 

 that would be both ornamental and useful. 

 After giving the subject some thought. I 

 made the hive illustrated in Fig. 5. It is a 

 standard 8-frame hive, the sides being 

 framed together from 2X,''8 inch yellow pine. 

 After framing, the openings 6x15 inches are 

 closed with glass on the inside, and a tight 

 fitting door on the outside. 



This bottom-board is nailed to the hive, 

 and the entrance is provided with a little 

 door, which, when closed, will contract the 

 entrance to 4xH inch: if open, the entrance 

 is 6/2X1 inch. .At both ends of the hive are 

 removable plugs which act as ventilators. 

 These holes are H inch in diameter, and 

 are covered with wire-cloth on the inside. 



In the illustration, the hive has one super, 

 but there is a second super to it. which is 

 fitted with 24 4x5 plain sections. The roof 

 part from the super is U inch below the 

 eaves. At this point a flat cover is made 

 across the gabled roof, which is handy for 

 storing records of colonies. A door opens 

 into this from the rear gable. 



Fig. 2 shows a standard 8-frame hive with 

 two supers containing 24 sections each. The 

 outside is covered with willow sticks, giving 

 a log-cabin effect. The hive is painted 

 green, and the ends of tlie small logs are red 



Myerstown. Pa. Wayne Steixer. 



Apiary ot Gregory Bros. & Son 



We are sending a picture of our apiary, 

 taken the middle of ,Iune. It contains 53 

 colonies, part of them being pure Italians 

 and the others hybrids. The season here is 

 very bad. May was so cold that there was 

 little fruit-bloom; then it became so dry 

 that white clover did not last. The colonies 

 were strong in bees, though there w-as but 

 little honey to gather. We divided our colo- 

 nies, and were successful. That is one way 

 in which to start bees into new life. 



One great mistake with many bee-keepers, 

 we believe, is leaving the old combs in the 

 hive that are black and tough. It decreases 

 the size of the bees. Just try taking out a 

 frame of old comb and put in one of new 

 foundation, and see how they will draw it 

 out and fill it with brood! And then, just 

 notice the difference in the size of the bees, 

 and their activity. We have replaced all 

 old combs with new. and we could scarcely 

 imagine the difference in building up. and 

 the size of the bees. Just try it. 



Gregory Bros. & Son. 



Ottumwa. Iowa. July ic. 



Bee.s Raising the Temperature 



Some discussion has occurred in 

 Gleanings as to whether it were better 

 to put in a fertilizing hive a queen-cell 

 or a caged virgin. M. T. Pritchard, 

 an experienced queen-breeder, main- 

 tains that not only is it better to give 



