156 



May, 1915. 



[American Bcc Jonrnal 



Instead of taking out a few sections 

 at a time wait until the super is all 

 finished but the corner sections and 

 take off the whole super; a new super 

 may be made of these unfinished sec- 

 tions and returned to be finished. A 

 hot plate foundation fastener, such as 

 the Daisy, is good. This will cost about 

 a dollar. You can get a I^arker fast- 

 ener for 30 cents, but it is not nearly so 

 good. 



When you returned the empty super 

 after cutting out the comb, and the 

 bees did nothing more in it, it was 

 most likely because the honey flow had 

 stopped. 



That super with the nice straight 

 combs in five of the frames can be left 

 to the bees to finish out. Fill out the 

 rest of the super with combs or frames 

 filled with foundation. The pieces of 

 combs can be filled into frames, but if 

 small it will be perhaps better to melt 

 them up. 



■*-*-*^ 



Cleaning Supers and Separators With 

 Lye 



A Michigan correspondent writes : 

 " In Root's A B C of Bee Culture you 

 are quoted as cleaning your supers and 

 separators with lye. We use a fence 

 separator. Do you think it would be 

 wise to clean it with lye, and how much 

 lye would it take for my tank that holds 

 30 gallons of water ? 



"I like to work in our apiaries, and 

 find it both pleasant and healthful. I 

 am eager for the season to open." 



It is doubtful that you can clean your 

 fence separators with lye. They are 

 likely to be glued together, and would 

 fall to pieces if put in the lye. Of 

 course if yours are nailed instead of 

 glued that's different ; but even then it 

 would be difficult to keep them from 

 warping, as they would have to be put 

 under a weight to keep them straight. 

 Still you might be able to succeed with 

 that part of it. If your separators are 

 nailed, and you wish to try it, just keep 

 putting in lye until your solution is 

 strong enough to remove all propolis. 



Of course, they must be well rinsed 

 after taken from the lye. 



A Living from Beeiteeping? 



"I am a business woman, but expect 

 to have to get out of a business life 

 very soon. As I am dependent entirely 

 upon my own efforts, I must get into 

 something that will bring me in fairly 

 good income, and I would like very 

 much to know what is your opinion of 

 beekeeping for women, from points of 

 the nature of the work and the income 

 therefrom ? What is a fair season's 

 profit per hive, and how many hives 

 would you advise one to start with ? I 

 must do the work myself, and have no 

 idea of how many hives one person 

 can give proper care to. 



" Do you know anything about Min- 

 nesota, relative to its being a good 

 place for beekeeping ?" 



Minneapolis, Minn. 



There are many women beekeepers 

 that are making a big success. Almost 

 everything depen Is upon the woman, 

 just as in any other line of business. 

 Not every man will make a success of 

 beekeeping, neither will every woman. 

 Don't for a minute imagine that suc- 



cess in any line of business is achieved 

 without a knowledge of the business, 

 and beekeeping is no exception to the 

 rule. 



You cannot jump into a full fledged 

 beekeeper at one bound, but if you are 

 willing to go slow, study hard, and be 

 willing to work hard (for there is lots 

 of hard work connected with beekeep- 

 ing), there is no reason why you may 

 not make a success of it. 



But if you are thinking of giving up 

 all other means of earning a livelihood 

 and depending entirely upon beekeep- 

 ing from the start for a fairly good in- 

 come, don't do it, you will be disap- 

 pointed. Even experienced beekeepers 

 have years of failure owing to condi- 

 tions over which they have no control 

 when their bees are an expense instead 

 of a profit. At such times one must 

 have a reserve fund to draw on. To 

 overbalance this, there are years when 

 the profits are great. 



There are other things beside money 

 to be considered in beekeeping. Health 

 is wealth, and the chance to work in 

 the open air instead of being cooped 

 up in a stuflry office is a matter of no 

 small consideration. In many ways 

 beekeeping is especially adapted to 

 women. 



What is a fair season's profit per col- 

 ony is a pretty hard question to an- 

 swer, so much depends upon condi- 

 tions. A colony may yield a crop 

 amounting to $25 or more while an- 

 other colony standing beside it may 

 yield nothing. One beekeeper may 

 average in a series of years $10 per 

 colony, while with others it may taper 

 down to those who are failures. 



As a rule it is safer to start with only 

 two or three colonies and increase in 

 numbers as you increase in experience, 

 when you will be able to manage a 

 hundred or more. 



Minnesota is a good State for bees. 



Caufornia ^ Bee-Kjeeping 



Conducted by .1 E. Pleasants. Oranee. Calif. 



The Golden State Apiaries 



We introduce to the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal this month Mr. 

 George J. Brown, of the Golden State 

 Apiaries. Mr. Brown is one of our 

 rising young queen-breeders, and is a 

 success everywhere you find him. He 

 brings live business methods into the 

 management of his apiaries, especially 

 the selling end of the business. That 

 he made a decided success in this line 

 last year in spite of the dull honey 

 market speaks for itself. We believe 

 his hints about vigorous young queens 



and well-ripened honey should be well 

 taken by both old and young bee- 

 keepers. 



"The photograph showing the build- 

 ings is my mountain apiary as it ap- 

 peared on or about the first of May last 

 year. When I bought this place two 

 years ago, there were 130 colonies 

 scattered over about an acre. Through 

 close extracting the previous season, 

 being unfamiliar with the conditions of 

 mountain flora and facing a poor sea- 

 son, it was necessary to feed heavily. 

 But in spite of all this I lost but few 



MOUNTAIN Al'IARY Ol' MK. HKUWN, NKAR 1 HIi OLD "MISSION" TOWN OK 

 SAN lUAN CAPISTRANO. CALIF. 



