March, 191' 



American "Bee Journal 



titled, "Reminiscences,' which pleased 

 those present immensely. 



Dr. !•:. F. Phillips, of Washington, D. 

 C, being an honorary member, was 

 delegated to represent the association 



at the National meeting at Denver. 



The 1914 officers were e-electod in 

 a body. President, C. H. Root, Red 

 Bank; secretary treasurer. E. G Carr, 

 New Egypt, etc. 



Bee-K£eping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Mareneo. 111. 



Wonderful Tales 



The wonderful tales related in the 

 November number were the occasion 

 of the following note : 



"Dear Miss Wilson: — ^our article 

 on ' Wonderful Tales,' in the Novem- 

 ber Bee Journal, impels me to send the 

 enclosed : 



" You will enjoy ' I moved several 

 hives under the mock orange bushes. 

 and had what I hoped for, an orange- 

 flavored honey;' and 'queen bees 

 bringing from $5 to $30 (? ?) each.' 

 " Very sincerely yours, 



"Another bee woman, 



" Elgenia B. Bixby." 

 (Mrs. J. D. Bixby.) 



Be it known that Mrs. Bixby is the 

 wife of J. D. Bixby. editor of the West- 

 ern Honey Bee, official organ of Cali- 

 fornia State Beekeepers' .Association. 



"The enclosed " was the newspaper 

 story of a girl who begins by saying : 

 " I suppose I am the only girl in the 

 world who ever asked for a hive of 

 bees as a graduation present." 



She got her bees, and the story of 

 her career is so rich that it seems too 

 bad not to share it with our readeis. 

 She says in part : 



"I rapidly increased the number of 

 hives, each one netting me .50 pounds 

 of honey. The old raspberry bushes 

 in our garden gave a distinct raspberry 

 flavor to the honey of the bee-hives 

 nearest them. My customers went 

 wild about it. 



This gave me an idea. I moved sev- 

 eral hives under the mock orange 

 bushes and had what I hoped for — an 

 orange-flavored honey. These brands 

 were labeled 'raspberry honey' and 

 'orange honey.' and were so much in 

 demand that they were always sold far 

 ahead of production. All the honey 

 was attractively boxed. This I found 

 no trouble, and, indeed, it was a pleas- 

 ure, as was all my beekeeping, and the 

 cost was very little. 



"Before 'swarming' I always had 

 the new hives ready, and learned to 

 ' swarm ' the bees artificially. 



"I studied hive making also, finding 

 it economical and easy to make my 

 own hives, the parts coming ready to 

 set up. Artificial wax was used, thus 

 saving the time of the bees for the 

 more profitable honey gathering. Then 

 I learned how to produce 'queens,' and 

 here was my real profit, queen bees 

 bringing from $•') to $30 each. I have 

 quite a reputation as a queen raiser, 

 and make a large income in this way. 



"Finally one of my friends asked me 

 to lecture before the Friday Morning 



Club on 'The Bee and His Interesting 

 Habits,' and that opened another field 

 and one equally enjoyable. 



"I now give many lectures on bees 

 before clubs and at schools. Children 

 are taught about this interesting little 

 insect as part of their ' nature work,' 

 while older children are enjoying the 

 bee in history and literature. My great- 

 est success, however, was in being 

 asked to give lessons in beekeeping at 

 the State College of Agriculture. 



" I have plenty of time for studying, 

 lect ring and teaching, as the actual 

 work of keeping bees occupies very 

 little time. I have taken up photog- 

 raphy so that I can illustrate my lec- 

 tures and lessons from pictures of my 

 own hives. 



"I began rolling up quite a bank ac- 

 count — 30 cents a pound for fancy 

 honey, 50 pounds to the hive; queen 

 bees averaging $30 each ; lectures $2.5 

 to $50." 



A Letter from Denmark 



" I got the bee-fever last winter to a 

 very high degree, and I decided to buy 

 a pi 'ce of land and start an out bee- 

 yard on a larger scale. But for differ- 

 ent reasons I did not get it realized 

 1 'St spring, and just as I had got it 

 fully decided and was going to carry it 

 out, the fearful war broke out, and 

 everything was stunned for this year. 



"I am owner of 30 hives, of which 20 

 are in my home yard here in town. 



while 10 are in the cou itry. We have 

 never such immense yields as Dr. 

 Miller or as are common in America. 

 Once in a great while a colony may 

 yield KiO pounds, but the average is 20 

 to 30 pounds. My best cotony gave 

 this year 04 pounds. Our main flow 

 comes from white clover and field 

 mustard {Si>ia /'is aizH/ists), a weed that 

 grows in abundance in our oats and 

 barley fields. Later comes alfalfa, and 

 from Aug. 10 to away into September 

 the heather {Cal/iina i'lilgaris). 



" Mv bees are Italians mixed with 

 Carniolans. Several years ago I aban- 

 doned our native black bees ; they 

 gather more honey from the heather 

 than the foreigners, but less from the 

 earlier flowers, as they do not breed 

 up as strong or early as these. 



"The heather honey is dark, almost 

 brown, quite strong, and of a peculiar 

 flavor, consequently is not much in 

 demand on ihe market. Besides those 

 four main flowers mentioned before, 

 both alsike and red clover and a great 

 profusion of wild flowers grow here. 



" We do not use sections ; all our 

 honey is extracted and granulated. It 

 is usually of a fine light yellow color 

 and of excellent flavor. 



"I read in the October issue that the 

 honey market in America also has suf- 

 fered from the panic caused by the war, 

 but I am sure not like in Denmark or 

 on our own little Island. (Bornholm 

 is only 15 by 27 miles, and 40,000 in- 

 habitants.) We lie so isolated and yet 

 so near the very edge of a human vol- 

 cano. Some beekeepers sold their 

 honey at a low price, but now the de- 

 mand is about normal and also the 

 price. The price of fine ripe honey is 

 20 to 22 cents per pound. 



"Anna Sommkr. 



" Ronne, Bornholm, Denmark, Nov. 

 6, 1914" 



Some of our Scotch friends will 

 probably read with surprise that 

 heather hon -y is of such character 

 that there is little demand for it. It 

 does seem strange that there should de 

 such a great difference in honey grown 

 from the same plant in different locali- 

 ties. Throughout the continent it is 

 perhaps much the same as described 



ANNA SOMMER IN HER APIARY IN DENMARK 



