August, 1915. 



267 



American ^ee Journal 



Ontario to grow it extensively. With 

 the growth of the City of Toronto, 

 and tlip bullc of the farmers producing 

 milk and other food products for the 

 city ijeople, alsilie growing is falling 

 off each year, and we have not nearly 

 as good a honey location as in the 

 past. Certainly if just starting again 

 I would not choose our present local- 

 ity to keep bees for a living, but with 

 a home established and home ties 

 formed, it is quite a problem for a 

 man in middle years with a family, 

 to pull up and form new connections. 

 If money was everything, such moves 

 might be in order, but I doubt the 

 wisdom of people in conditions I have 

 described, making such a radical 

 move. 



no doubt applies to many places in 

 Ontario. The safest thing to do is to 

 try and get rid of a lot of these queens 

 before winter or wo will have a lot of 

 superseding or queenless colonies next 

 spring. I have done a little of this 

 work already, but as wo look for a 

 long period of buckwheat bloom, we 

 hope to do more of it later on. Grant- 

 ed that just as good queens can be 

 reared or bought in August as in ear- 

 lier months, buckwheat bloom is the 

 very best time to requeen colonies. 

 Not the risk that there is in dequeen- 

 ing a colony in clover bloom, and the 

 August queens will give the very best 

 service next spring. 



Requeening This Summer or Fall 



Owing to very poor ir.eason last 

 year, very little requeening was done 

 by myself or the bees, and as a re- 

 sult the majority of the colonies have 

 queens two years oid. This condition 



Protest .Vnswered. — "Hang It, Jones, 

 I've just been stung by one of your 

 confounded bees! I demand repara- 

 tion!" 



"Certainly, Bllson. You just show me 

 which bee it was and I'll punish the 

 horrid thing severely!" — Phialdelphia 

 filvening Ledger. 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J Wilder. Cordele. Ga 



Weak Colonies 



We have never heard so much com- 

 plaint from beekeepers about weak 

 colonies and never have had quite so 

 many in our own apiaries as we have 

 had this spring. In many cases it has 

 been puzzling to know just how to 

 advise to build them up for the bees 

 seemed to go backwards rather than 

 forward at a time when they should 

 have been in good shape. 



It is noticeable, though, that this 

 general condition prevailed where the 

 Italian stock was in use and such was 

 the case with us. Usually we could 



hasten brood rearing but this season 

 we failed and do not know why. The 

 bees had plenty of stores and most 

 of the time there was some nectar 

 and pollen coming in and the queens 

 were laying but would not spread 

 brood in the usual manner. Then all 

 at once they were swarming out leav- 

 ing their brood and stores and hang- 

 ing about on limbs of trees near the 

 apiaries. Sometimes there would be 

 from 1.5 to 20 of these small swarms 

 or clusters in a single apiary. 



We would return them but they 

 would come right out again and noth- 



ing we could do would make them con- 

 tented . 



Changing the combs around, unit- 

 ing, and feeding did not give results. 

 Clipping queens' wings or confining 

 them to their hives by entrance guards 

 was of no avail as they would ball 

 their queens or unite with some other 

 swarm already out. We called them 

 "Suicides" and wondered what would 

 be the result. Of course the result 

 was a good reduction in the number of 

 colonies and a very light harvest. 



As soon as we could get to it, we 

 went to requeening with Caucasian 

 stock with good results. 



There are thousands of colonies all 

 over Dixie that have not altered this 

 poor condition yet and requeening is 

 the very best thing to resort to in or- 

 der to assure good wintering and best 

 results next season. At this season 

 of the year if a queen is not making 

 a good showing it is a sure sign that 

 she is failing and to try to carry her 

 over until next season would result 

 in a loss. 



So it is the very best time to look af- 

 ter this work. There is no question but 

 that it will pay in the long run and if 

 you are not pleased with your stock 

 by all means try some new blood or 

 another kind of bees. 



Eight or Ten Frame Hive 



Our leading bee supply manufac- 

 turers have brought about no little 

 discontent among beekeepers of the 

 South of late by boosting the ten- 

 frame hive and not making the South 

 an exception in favor of the eight- 

 frame hive. This is due to the fact 

 that they are not so familiar with the 

 conditions here as they are with the 

 North where the larger hive is better. 

 So often those who have the eight- 

 frame hive are not contented with it, 

 since a larger size is so strongly ad- 

 vocated and they are led to believe 

 the eight-frame hive is too small for 

 best results. 



The beginner believes he will be a 

 back number in a few years and will 

 have many regrets or make a failure 

 if he doesn't start in with the ten- 

 frame size. There can be no doubt 

 that for general purposes the eight- 

 frame size is the best for Dixie and 

 that the ten-frame size is entirely 

 too large .except in very few loca- 

 tions where extracted honey is pro- 

 duced exclusively. The ten-frame 

 size allows too much storing and 

 hanging out room below the supers 

 in order to obtain best results in 

 honey production and this reason 

 alone condemns it for our use. 



ASOUFHERN MOU.VTAINEER APIARY NEAR CHATTANOOGA. TENN. 

 Photoeraph by R. O. Dickson 



The Honey Market 



There seems to be regret among the 

 lieekeepers over the dullness of the 

 honey market this season. There is 

 a very light crop in Dixie, and it 

 would seem that the beekeepers could 

 find a market promptly and without 

 much trouble for their very small out- 

 put, but this does not seem to be the 



