American ^ae Journal 



ing except heavy paper at ends and 

 sides of the hive — abundance of pack- 

 ing over the frames. Today I received 

 a short note from the friend who took 

 out the bees at the east yard C^lMl miles 

 away) for me. He says the bees were 

 in line shape, and not a spot on the i!7rj 

 liives. They were put in the cellar on 

 Nov. 7th, and taken out April 17th, 

 having been wintered in caves that 1 

 described in these columns nearly a 

 year ago. The bees in the yards here 

 at home were nearly all wintered on 

 the summer stands, and as the total 

 loss to date is about (J percent, count- 

 ing both the east yard and those at 

 home, it can be easily seen that out- 

 si<le of the home apiary referred to, 

 the loss is about "//. What little clover 

 we have has wintered well, so perhaps 

 we may get a little honey after all. By 

 the way, the clover scarcity is just 

 local, and in many sections of Ontario 

 the prospects are good for a crop, if 

 conditions as to weather, etc., prove 

 favorable. 



; JThe first pollen came in very small 

 quantities on April Itith — gathered from 

 cedars and black alder. While this is 

 late, yet it is not a record breaker, as 

 some odd years it has been a week 

 later than the date given. I have been 

 associated with bees all my life, more 

 or less, yet it was not known to me till 



a few years ago that cedar yields pollen 

 for the bees. The pollen is of a dull 

 color, and as the bees generally carry 

 small loads of it, unless a close watch 

 is made it is hard to notice. However, 

 if you happen to have a few cedar trees 

 near the apiary, and on some nice, 

 warm day in early spring you hear the 

 roar of the bees, a visit to the trees 

 will soon show you that there is pollen 

 being gathered. 



With the gradual clearing away of 

 all our forests, especially those around 

 the home apiary, early pollen yielders 

 are getting scarce. Formerly we had 

 lots of soft maple, lilack alder, etc., 

 but now hardly anything in that line. 

 .'\s a result, little pollen is gathered 

 now before soft elm comes into bloom 

 — there are still quite a few of these 

 trees as well as some hard maples, an- 

 other good source of pollen. After 

 dandelions come along there is no lack 

 of pollen, but the early yielders are 

 missed very much, as my other api- 

 aries, in more favored sections, in so 

 far as pollen is concerned, always build 

 up faster than the home bees. In es- 

 tablishing any future out-yards, this 

 question of early pollen and honey 

 yielders, is one of the first questions 

 that we shall take into consideration, 

 as natural forage of that nature is 

 away ahead of any artificial stimulation. 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder. Cordele. Ga. 



A Favor — To Facilitate Replies 



Like all other extensive bee-keepers, 

 I am greatly rushed at certain times of 

 the year, and during those times I can 

 not give my correspondence as much 

 attention as I should. I hate to show 

 any degree of neglect to any fellow 

 bee-keeper who may write to me for 

 information personally, and I ask all 

 those who may write me for personal 

 information to enclose a stamped self- 

 addressed envelope, and write only on 

 every other line, so I can give the re- 

 plies on the blank lines. If this is done, 

 I can make better time at my desk, and 

 reply more fully than I otherwise could. 

 I am sure the bee-keepers and inter- 

 ested friends will help me out in this 

 pleasant task, which, at times, is too 

 great a burden. 



It Paid Me Well 



Some years ago, I had the opportu- 

 nity to employ, for a few months, an 

 old veteran bee-keeper and queen- 

 breeder at a very reasonable salary, 

 and I did so with the result that I have 

 been receiving good returns from the 

 few dollars thus invested, each season 

 ever since. I furnished him a smoker, 

 veil, pony and saddle, good stock from 

 which to rear queens, and boarded him. 

 I made a trip with him around to the 

 apiaries in order to teach him the way, 

 then I turned the job over to him, and 

 told him to "roll up his sleeves and go 



that will last throughout your bee- 

 keeping career. 



I am going to rear lOlM) queens from 

 my best stock, and set them at the head 

 of a lot of nuclei, which I expect to 

 make before the end of the season, or 

 requeen some inferior stock with them. 



at it," which he did, and gave me sev- 

 eral months of faithful service. 



He was to requeen some of the api- 

 aries with Italian stock, some with 

 Caucasian ; and one yard of blacks he 

 was to requeen with the same stock. 



At this apiary he made his nearest 

 failure, claiming that he could not get 

 good queen-cells built, and that a large 

 number of queens were lost during the 

 time of mating. At the Italian apiaries 

 he met with success in all but pure 

 mating. At the Caucasian apiaries he 

 met with all-around success, and the 

 stock is still good ; not much requeen- 

 ing has been necessary. 



The Italians kept failing in color, 

 and finally I put in some Caucasian 

 stock with them, and the combination 

 has made a powerful strain of bees. I 

 introduced C.iucasian blood among the 

 black stock, and it has long since 

 changed it, and if there is any trace of 

 the black stock among them I can not 

 detect it. But the Caucasian stock has 

 not absorbed the Italians anywhere. 

 Instead, the two races seem to be about 

 on an equality even after years of con- 

 tact, and have made a far better strain 

 of bees than either race could have 

 ever been alone. 



The question of all questions among 

 Dixie bee-keepers today is, " Will it 

 pay to requeen (or hire it done) all col- 

 onies of bees with better stock ?" A 

 thousand times vex. It will start a 

 constant swell in your bank account 



No Queens for Sale 



Since I have given the Caucasian 

 bees a thorough test, and have found 

 them superior to other races as best 

 all-around bees for wholesale honey- 

 production, and have had considerable 

 to say relative to their superior quali- 

 ties from time to time, bee-keepers 

 have written to me about buying 

 queens of this variety. Being some- 

 what under obligations to help dis- 

 tribute the stock, I booked and filled 

 orders for several hundred queens each 

 season. But now, making the increase 

 that I am planning, and needing the 

 queens for this as badly as I do, I have 

 no more to ofifer. I have had to return 

 a large number of orders with the 

 money to those who wanted to give 

 them a trial. So I take this occasion 

 to notify the bee-keepers that I am en- 

 tirely out of the business. 



The Movable-Frame Hive 



Mr. Wii.DEK-. — 1 wish you would give us 

 some particulars about Clie movable-frame 

 hive. I have a few colonies of bees and the 

 worms are very bad in them. 



Casseta, Tex. W. A. WiI.soN. 



The advantages or merits of the 

 modern movable-frame hive can not 

 be brought before our less advanced 

 bee-keepers too often nor too plainly. 

 The modern movable-frame hive is 

 constructed with frames for each bot- 

 tom story, which are accurately cut out 

 and put together, being down in the 

 hive-body, supported at each end by 

 strips of tin nailed in the rabbets made 

 in the ends of the hive-bodies. This 

 allows the frames to hang freely. To 

 remove them, or lift them out, after 

 bees have occupied them, is easy and 

 interesting, for the combs are straight 

 and snug in the frames, if the comb 

 foundation starters, which are usually 

 sent out with the hives, have been 

 fastened to the top-bars of the frames 

 properly. The bars have two grooves 

 in them, the strips of foundation is in- 

 serted in one and a wedge in the other. 



Comb foundation is made of thin 

 sheets of compressed beeswax, with 

 the imprint of hexagonal cells in 

 which the bees rear their young and 

 store their honey. 



The body of the modern movable- 

 frame hive is simply a 4-cornered box 

 accurately constructed, with bottom 

 and cover removable. Bees are far 

 more inclined to store honey in the 

 upper part of their quarters than in the 

 lower. So the hive is constructed with 

 another section or department called 

 the super or top story, which is placed 

 on top of the first section, or brood- 

 chamber as it is called, at the approach 

 of each honey flow. Supers are vari- 

 ously constructed. For comb honey, 

 one pound blocks (sections) are used; 

 for chunk honey, shallow frames; for 

 extracted honey, shallow or deep 

 frames. These various styles are for 



