July, 1915. 



229 



American l^ee Journal 



APIARY OK HARRY HEWITF AT L\KE APOPKA IN SEMI-TROPICAL FLORIDA 

 Saw-palmettos furnisti shade from the heat of the sun. 



away with my judgment, not as a bee- 

 keeper but as a writer. I know no way 

 to put on breaks and stop except to lay 

 my pen down. As for sweeping claims 

 I am not guilty of any beyond facts as 

 they have come up in my own business 

 and under my own observation. 



For instance, after the supers had 

 been prepared as well as all other nec- 

 essary supplies and distributed around 

 to 27 apiaries, consisting of 120.5 colo- 

 nies of Caucasian bees and their 

 crosses, one of our leading apiarists 

 took a cheap helper and performed all 

 the necessary apiary work to harvest a 

 great crop of comb honey, while an- 

 other one of our apiarists, about equally 

 as well qualified, in charge of five api- 

 aries consisting of 2.50 colonies of Ital- 

 ian bees, all run for extracted honey, 

 had to call in help to keep down 

 swarming, etc. Therefore, we have 

 great room to be very enthusiastic 

 over the Caucasian bee, and herein lies 

 the secret ot my success. But let it be 

 understood that I am not taking a 

 stand against the Italian bees, for they 

 are no doubt good bees for some loca- 

 tions and some beekeepers. 



volume of smoke which drove the furi- 

 ous bees from him. I placed the wagon 

 cover over him and left him in char.e 

 of my helper while I ran to a near-by 

 farm house and had a couple of cows 

 milked. With this warm milk I bathed 

 the horse for several hours and soon 

 discovered that he was slowly recov- 

 ing, and in seven or eight hours he 

 was able to be led back home. 



As far as I know he has completely 

 recovered from it with the exception 

 that he lost his ears. The circulation 

 of blood in the ears being completely 

 stopped by the bee stings, they fell 

 off a few days afterwards. 



In spite of great preparation and 

 precaution, we have had a lot of sad 

 experiences of this kind while estab- 

 lishing our bee-business, but this was 

 the nearest to fatal. Some accidents 

 are almost unavoidable, but a note of 



warning sounded will help the careless 

 and unthoughtful to use care about 

 this possibly dangerous operation. 



We have moved here and there 

 across the country many carloads of 

 bees, and more than once we have 

 hauled several hundred colonies across 

 the country by wagons into a remote 

 section where it was aim ist uninhab- 

 ited. Often the location would be cut 

 off by a large stream, and we would set 

 the hives out on its bank, open them 

 up for a flight, and go some distance 

 to purchase lumber to build a flat and 

 then carry the bees across on it, and 

 on until they were finally placed on the 

 stands of the sought out and prepared 

 apiary site. 



When I think back over so much of 

 this experience in the past, it brings a 

 chill of by-gone fear over me, for I 

 cannot see how we performed this 

 great task. It involved many sleepless 

 nigh's, much exposure and hardship. 

 We are glad the most of this is over, 

 as all we have to do now is to reach 

 out and occupy the near-by territory. 



[Friend Wilder gives a remedy for 

 bee stings which is new to me. This 

 is the first time I have read of warm 

 milk being applied in a bad case of 

 stinging. One of the popular remedies 

 is a blanket soaked in hot water. Many 

 recommend ice or cold water baths, 

 and this is probably the most popular 

 remedy, where the irritation and the 

 fever are great. 



I had the curiosity to look up reme- 

 dies recommended at different times in 

 the American Bee Journal. I found : 

 salt, sal soda, honey, soft soap, Labra- 

 dor tea, alcohol, whisky.ammonia, tur- 

 pentine, myrrh, bromide of potassium, 

 saltpetre solution, honeysuckle juice, 

 aconite, laudanum, chloroform, raw 

 onion, iodine, belladona, wet clay, to- 

 bacco. I stopped at the year 1883, with 

 32 years more to draw from. But this 

 is enough. Probably each of our read- 

 ers knows of ten or more still different 

 remedies. — Editor. ] 



Moving Bees 



Moving bees to out-yards or from 

 one place to another is a job that all 

 beekeepers dread more or less, and is 

 perhaps the most nerve-racking and 

 dangerous task the beekeeper has to 

 encounter, and every one who has 

 done much of it has had some bad ex- 

 perience. I have a horse who is almost 

 earless as a result of an accident while 

 moving bees. This heavy draft horse 

 was stung so severely that it fell to the 

 ground, making the most lamentable 

 noise I ever heard from an animal. The 

 upset wagon load of bees was backed 

 away from him as quickly as possible, 

 and as soon as we could get the smoker 

 ready we wrapped the horse up in a 



Conducted by Wesley Fosteb. Boulder. Colo. 



Beekeepers' Field Meeting and Picnic at 

 Cedaredge, Colo., June 10 



The Delta County Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation held the first field day and 

 picnic June 10, and it was a success in 

 every way. The attendance was large 

 and something like loO attended. The 

 picnic was a family affair, and the chil- 

 dren playing on the spacious lawn were 

 a pretty sight. 



Rev. G. R. McDowell spoke on the in- 

 terest taken in bee-culture and the fact 

 that beekeeping brought the beekeeper 

 close to nature and her workings. Mr. 



V. A. Phillip spoke on farm beekeep- 

 ing. The writer spoke on foulbrood 

 control, and Mr. J. T. Hartford spoke 

 on foulbrood legislation. Mr. Geo. M. 

 Eckert demonstrated the water treat- 

 ment for a foul colony. This method 

 appealed to a number, and it certainly 

 does get the bees off the combs in nice 

 shape. 



The picnic dinner was a feast, and 

 was greatly enjoyed. Eighteen gallons 

 of ice cream were consumed during 

 the day. Forty five gallons of lemon- 

 ade slacked the thirst of the crowd. A 

 happy gathering dispersed about tj p.m. 



