July, 1912. 



American Hee Journal 



heavy, from 25 to oil percent, and the 

 filling up of empty hives is a vital ques- 

 tion. The diniculty now is to get the 

 hives full enough to use the Ale.xander 

 method with success. 



The morning session, Saturday, was 

 expected to be the last, but an hour 

 and a half was found in the afternoon 

 before train time, and Mr. Paul Hun- 

 ten, of Somerset, was allowed to tell 



of his tin section, carton, and Sanitary 

 Honey Package. The bee-men, as a 

 rule, agree that he has an innovation 

 that, when perfected, will revolutionize 

 the methods of production and sale of 

 comb honey. 



.■\ better bee-meeting it has not been 

 my pleasure to attend for many a moon. 

 Many such meetings for "Magnani- 

 mous Montrose." 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



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



Information on Bee-Culture 



Mr. Wii-OEK:— You ha\e been referred lo 

 me as one who could yive me information 

 on bee-cuilure. I am deeply interested, 

 and have a few colonies of bees to start 

 with, and I want to increase some, and keep 

 increasing as Ions as I can keep them in 

 good condition, and make them pay. 



Crawfordsville. Ga. W. F. Griffith. 



Information on bee-culture is ob- 

 tained in two different ways, by prac- 

 tice or direct experience with bees, 

 and by theory, purchasing and study- 

 ing literature on bee-culture. But a 

 combination of both practice and 

 theory, is by far the best. You will 

 learn faster, and better results will fol- 

 low, even from the very beginning. 

 You already have a start in bees, and 

 the next step should be a study of 

 good literature on the subject. The 

 more of this the better. 



If your bees are in modern hives, 

 and you have the necessary conven- 

 iences, you should first read up on the 

 manipulation of frames or the hand- 

 ling of bees, at once looking through 

 every colony in your apiary. See that 

 the proper conditions exist, supply 

 their needs, and thus keep them in 

 good shape. Bee-keeping will become 

 as familiar to you as your regular line 

 of business; that is, you will fully un- 

 derstand what to do and how to do it. 



But if your bees are in box /liz'cs and 

 log-ffiims, you had better post yourself 

 on the "transferring of bees," and get 

 the hives and necessary supplies. 

 When the next honey-flow is on in 

 your locality, transfer by some method 

 described in the books into modern 

 hives. By all means follow instruc- 

 tions as nearly as you can and learn at 

 the other man's expense. Yes, and you 

 might learn something by visiting 

 some progressive and experienced bee- 

 keepers, and seeing how they go about 

 certain work. Then do likewise. 



More Subscribers 



Dixie bee-keepers, the number of 

 subscribers for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal within our bounds is far from what 

 it should be for the greatest good. It is 

 the best bee-publication for us when it 

 comes to the practical side of our in- 

 dustry, that of the management of bees 

 for the greatest amount of profit. It 

 has been my greatest source of infor- 

 mation in my bee-keeping career. 



Urge your neighbors to take it. It 



will pay them tenfold its cost, and they 

 will never regret the dollar spent for it. 

 If the bee-papers were more univer- 

 sally read, brood diseases would be 

 soon stamped out and the industry 

 would thrive much more. 



Is Bee-Keeping a Desirable Pursuit? 



The judge of our Circuit Court turns 

 his son over to us as soon as school is 

 over, with this message : " Take my 

 boy and teach him as much of your 

 business as you can, and pay him some- 

 thing if he is worth anything to you. I 

 had rather he would learn bee-keeping 

 and follow it as an occupation than 

 any other business in the world." 



The outside world is awakened to 

 the great possibilities of our industry, 

 and this is not confined to those of the 

 humble callings in life. This means 

 something for the future of our in- 

 dustry. 



" My bees have done well, and I am 

 more than pleased with results," is the 

 most common expression from those 

 interested. 



Bitter-weed Honey 



Dear Mr. Wilder;— Mr. W. R. Cunnine" 

 ham. on page 150 of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, refers to bitter-weed. honey, and I have 

 that to contend with here. I use the Massie 

 hive with u frames i5^8X7/'i inches. Now. do 

 you think it would be wise, as soon as the bit- 

 ter-weed begins blooming, to remove tfie 

 comb-honey supers and put another hive- 

 body on eacli hive ? This would give them 

 ample room the rest of the season, and next 

 spring they would be stronger and do more 

 work in the supers and be less inclined to 

 swarm. M. P. Hughes, B.S.. M.D. 



Gadsden. Ala. 



The Massie hive containing frames 

 the dimensions you give is not large 

 enough for our average location, espe- 

 cially if the queens are very prolific, 

 and it would be a wise thing to add 

 another such brood-chamber and let 

 the bees establish themselves well in 

 the two. This, as you say, would most 

 surely give each a larger force of bees 

 next spring and reduce swarming. 

 There are many bee-keepers troubled 

 not a little with the honey from the 

 bitter-weed. I think if I had it to con- 

 tend with, that as soon as it began 

 blooming I would remove all comb- 

 honey supers if I ran for comb honey; 

 if not, I would extract the good honey, 

 even from the brood-chamber, and let 

 the bees fill up with the bitter-weed 



honey for winter and spring stores. Or 

 a lot of increase could be made arti- 

 ficially during its bloom by most any 

 of the methods, as the weather condi- 

 tions are ideal at that time. 



Quieting the Bees 



I have been troubled but little with 

 robbing, but sometimes my home api- 

 ary, where I pack the honey, has been 

 in great turmoil from some one leaving 

 a comb of honey exposed, or, perhaps, 

 by the smell of the water in which we 

 washed our hands smeared with honey, 

 etc. Then the bees storm the packing- 

 house and get in in various ways. 

 Those on the outside are a great an- 

 noyance, clustering on the wire-gauze 

 of the openings of the building, wher- 

 ever they think they can effect an en- 

 trance. 



When I become aware of this condi- 

 tion, I set out a lot of supers contain- 

 ing combs from which the honey has 

 just been extracted. Of course, they 

 take to this at once. What a roar they 

 make and what a tumult ! 



Every fielder is there, and sometimes 

 it seems that all the bees for miles 

 around are there for their share of the 

 spoil. What a time they have for an 

 hour or so, when they will all disperse 

 apparently disgusted, and resolved not 

 to return for another such fooling. 



The bees will not tear down the 

 combs, but clean them up nicely. 



Making Increase Economically 



Making increase and not interfering 

 with the honey crop, or having to feed, 

 is a diflScult problem. But it can be 

 done in the following manner in locali- 

 ties where we have two or more honey- 

 flows with several weeks between, as is 

 the case in most sections of Dixie: 



I remove all surplus honeyas quickly 

 as possible after each flow, for it grades 

 better than if removed later. And as I 

 make my last round I prepare to make 

 the increase at all apiaries where I de- 

 sire it. All colonies that are very 

 strong with considerable honey in the 

 brood-nest are marked, and 2 or 3 of 

 the very strongest are divided into two 

 equal parts as nearly as possible, one 

 part left on the old stand and the othei 

 placed on a new one. 



On the ninth day after each apiary 

 has been thus divided, I return and re- 

 move all the queen-cells the queenless 

 divisions have built except one or two 

 cells to each hive, which are left for 

 their requeening, and place them in 

 cell-protectors. Then with cover, bot- 

 tom, hive-body and frames containing 

 full sheets of foundation, or ready- 

 built combs, I go to one of the marked 

 hives, remove the supers and lift out 

 the frame on the outside, look it over 

 carefully for the queen and set it in the 

 new hive next to one side, and lift out 

 the next frame in like manner, and so 

 on until 4 frames have been lifted out 

 and set in the new hive. During this 

 operation the bees must not be smoked 

 any more than necessary so that the 

 old bees will be lifted out on the 

 frames. If I find the queen and put 

 her in the new hive, I set it on the new 

 stand ; if not, I set the new hive on 

 the old stand and give it a queen-cell 



