July, 11112. 



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203 



American Bgc Journal | 



bees ought not to have swarmed so 

 Soon as il days later. It is to be feared 

 that you have rather a " swarmy " strain 

 of bees. We generally count that once 

 in 10 days is often enough to go 

 through to kill queen-cells. And not 

 often will a swarm issue inside of 10 

 days so early in the season. Later in 

 the season, and especially if they have 

 been previously thwarted, tliey may 

 swarm within 5 days, 2 days, or even 1 

 day after the cutting out of the cells. 

 So you see that cutting out (|ueen-cells 

 can by no means be relied upon to 

 prevent swarming. But it generally 

 delays it, and sometimes prevents it 

 entirely. You may be interested in 

 reading about it in Dr. Miller's " Fifty 

 Years Among the Bees." 



That red deposit in the bottom of 

 the cells was likely pollen, and not a 

 matter of significance. Sometimes it 

 happens that one colony will gather a 

 certain kind of honey or pollen while 

 another does not. 



You might have done a good deal 

 worse in the management of that 

 swarm. Surely, you did well not to 

 have it go off. You are disgusted that 

 you can not discipline those bees. No 

 doubt they are laughing in their 

 sleeves at the way they have gotten 

 ahead of you, but no doubt they'll have 

 their discipline in good time. Uniting 

 in the fall is all right, but you might 



have taken a little dilTerent course. 

 Next time, set the swarm close by the 

 old hive, and then a week later move 

 the old hive to a new location. That 

 will not be much difTerent from what 

 you have done, but it will prevent after- 

 swarms, and it will throw all the field 

 bees into the swarm on the old stand, 

 and then the swarm ought to do good 

 super work. 



You might do another way: Have 

 your queen clipped, and when the 

 swarm issues catch the queen and cage 

 her. Cut out all queen-cells and leave 

 the queen caged in the hive. Ten days 

 later destroy all queen-cells again, and 

 liberate the queen. Generally that will 

 be the end of all swarming, but not 

 always. 



Here's another way that will put an 

 end to further swarming: When the 

 swarm issues, kill or remove the old 

 queen and destroy all queen-cells but 

 one, of course leaving the largest and 

 best looking cell. Then you need pay 

 no more attention to that colony ex- 

 cept to attend to its supers, and to see 

 that the young queen is laying perhaps 

 2 weeks later, If not, she has prob- 

 ably been lost on her bridal trip, and a 

 laying queen must be furnished to the 

 colony. You will see that by either of 

 these two ways there will be no in- 

 crease in the number of colonies. 



Emi Western ^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo. 



Montezuma County Bee-Keeping 



.A.t the very southwest corner of Col- 

 orado, where it joins three other States, 

 .•\rizona. New Mexico and Utah, lies 

 Montezuma county, the ancient home 

 of the Aztecs. Here are to be found 

 the remains of the homes of the cliff 

 dwellers, the oldest human habitations 

 of the American continent. 



A richer soil there is not in Colo- 

 rado, and when I say it I have in mind 

 all of the best sections of Colorado. 

 Pears, apricots, prunes, peaches, plums, 

 cherries, grapes of every kind, apples 

 so highly colored that a Ben Davis 

 looks like a Jonathan, grow to the 

 highest perfection. Mr. Francis, liv- 

 ing in NicElmo Canon, had peaches 

 weighing 1-'^ pounds each last year. 

 The buyers objected that the peaches 

 were too large. He fattened his hogs 

 by letting them run loose in his or- 

 chard, picking up the windfalls. 



This county is quite a hog country, 

 as corn grows well, making from 35 to 

 50 bushels to the acre. .Alfalfa, of 

 course, is one of the principal crops, 

 and sugar beets will soon be largely 

 grown, as there is to be a sugar factory 

 in the district. Oats often go 100 bush- 

 els to the acre, and wheat has been and 

 is being successfully raised on dry 

 land to the tune of 3u bushels -to the 

 acre. The soil is a pinkish red, and is 

 easily worked after the sage-brush and 

 cedars are cleared off. The cedars are 



found principally in the upper end of 

 the valley, but sage-brush is every- 

 where. The usual way is to grub the 

 sage-brush out with a grubbing hoe, 

 and it costs from $o to $10 an acre to 

 do it. 



This Montezuma country is well sup- 

 plied w^ith water, since a tunnel a mile 

 long, with a fall of (50 feet, was made 

 through the hills to let the water from 

 the Dolores river into the valley. The 

 tunnel is 7x9 feet, and carries water 

 sufficient to irrigate 40,000 acres of 

 land. As yet, less than 20,000 acres are 

 under this irrigation system. There 

 will be needed additional reservoirs 

 before abundant crops can be assured 

 through the dry seasons. 



This is still a pioneer country, but 

 good roads are the rule, and telephones 

 and free rural deliveries reach every 

 part of the county. The county seat 

 (Cortez) is 14 miles from the railroad — 

 a narrow-guage road at that — and the 

 fare is about (i cents a mile. The fare 

 to Denver is the same, or nearly the 

 same, as from Denver to Chicago, and 

 it takes as long to go from Cortez to 

 Denver as from Denver to New- York. 

 The freight rates are scheduled at 

 about the same ratio. It is doubtful 

 whether the railroad pays at all, as a 

 more expensive line to build and op- 

 erate would be hard to find. 



Montezuma county is destined to be 

 a great fruit district, and as a bee- 



country it has been good for years. 

 Sweet clover abounds, and alfalfa 

 conies along to help. Sweet clover is 

 considered the honey source here, 

 however. Mrs. Holly, who has the 

 largest apiary in the county, and lives 

 inNlcElmo Canon, 4o miles from the 

 railroad and 30 miles from Cortez, says 

 that her bees swarm three times each 

 year, most of the swarms going to the 

 hills. Most of her bees are in box- 

 hives, and the supers are put on top. 

 The honey is cut out of the sections 

 and sold in bulk to the Indians and 

 others at from j to 10 cents a pound. 

 The sections are used over and over 

 again year after year. There are prob- 

 ably l'>0 bee-keepers in the county, and 

 not more than a dozen of them have 

 bees in movable-comb hives. There is 

 not another county in the State where 

 bee-keeping, as a whole, is at a lower 

 ebb, and where the chances for suc- 

 cess are better.. But the lack of cheap 

 transportation is holding this country 

 back. Many can not afford good hives, 

 and there is no dealer in the county 

 who carries a supply of goods in stock. 



Bees have been yielding 100 pounds 

 of comb honey to the hive where 

 taken care of, but foul brood has wiped 

 out from 80 to 90 percent of the bees 

 during the last 3 years. When Mrs. A. 

 J. Barber was inspector she kept the 

 disease down. When she died no other 

 inspector was appointed, and condi- 

 tions have become so bad that strenu- 

 ous efforts must be made to clean 

 things up. Mr. G. D. Taylor is now 

 inspector, and as he is very much in- 

 terested in bee-keeping, and is anxious 

 to keep his own bees clean, things will 

 doubtless improve. 



At the present time there are about 

 loOO colonies in the county. (This is a 

 guess, but probably not far from the 

 the figure.) Bees abound in the rocks 

 and cedars, and this will without doubt 

 affect the foul brood situation consid- 

 erably. 



Land is about one-half what it is 

 worth in more accessible parts of Col- 

 orado, but with improved transporta- 

 tion the price will rise. The people tell 

 me that it is an easy country to live in, 

 as poultry is easy to raise, garden stuff 

 grows well, and sheep and cattle thrive 

 throughout the winter. There are no 

 severe winter storms such as we had 

 in eastern Colorado the past winter. 



Pork is found on every table. Every- 

 body has fruit, but they think nobody 

 wants to eat much of it. You know 

 folks get into a rut. They drink coffee 

 and let the grapes spoil. Now, nothing 

 is more delicious than sweet grape 

 juice. When my appetite does not 

 crave grape juice, give me milk, but a 

 large porportion of the farm folks feed 

 the milk to the chickens, calves, cats, 

 etc., and drink coffee that costs them 30 

 or 40 cents a pound, and they drink it 

 black. When I drink coffee it is for 

 the milk and sugar I can get into it. 



Honey is very generally eaten in 

 Montezuma county, you will find it 

 oftener than corn syrup. It is on the 

 tables at the hotels and restaurants, 

 and the farmers make a point of buy- 

 ing a winter supply from some neigh- 

 bor, if they have no bees of their own. 

 Here is a county that produces a lot of 

 honey, and the home demand takes it 

 all, or nearly so. A good deal goes to 



