.liilv, 1912. 



American ^eeJonrnall 



in the year, as do the other farm stock. 



In the latitude of the Illinois State 

 University very little if anything can 

 be done with the bees until the first 

 warm days of April, and from then on 

 until the last of November the work 

 required will vary with the season and 

 the condition of the weather. Some 

 weeks they may require several inspec- 

 tions, again there may be many weeks 

 when they will require little or no at- 

 tention at all. 



As to the profit: That will depend 

 entirely upon the location, the weather, 

 and the competency and practicability 

 of the owner. In a reasonably good 

 location in the State of Illinois, where 

 there is plenty of white or alsike clover 

 in the summer, and plenty of hearts- 

 ease and Spanish-needle in fall, one 

 can reasonably expect to gather from 

 nothing up to I'lO pounds of extracted 

 honey per colony; the quantity depend- 

 ing upon the weather conditions being 

 normal. I have gathered as high as 

 2.j0 pounds per colony, but this is the 

 great exception, and must never be 

 counted upon in Illinois. One hundred 

 and fifty pounds of extracted honey at 

 7 cents per pound wholesale would 

 equal $Iil..JO. Thus you see it is possi- 

 ble to make from nothing up to $10.50 

 per colony in one season. My average 

 net returns per colony, per year, for 

 the past 10 years has been $3.83, and 

 yet I do not live in a very good loca- 

 tion for the production of honey. I 

 have seen other records of production 

 that were considerably ahead of mine, 

 so bee-keeping, intelligently followed, 

 for the production of honey is a very 

 profitable pursuit. This is especially 

 true when you consider that one man 

 can take care of 400 or SOU colonies of 

 bees, doing nearly all of the work him- 

 self with the exception of extraction. 

 Furthermore, after he has become well 

 established there will be about one- 

 half the year that he has nothing to do. 



This, however, is not all of the profit 

 there is in bee-keeping. Many of our 

 fruits and farm crops must have cross 

 fertilization in order to produce fruit 

 and seed. For instance, take the Kieffer 

 pear, all of our pistillate strawberries 

 (and even some of our staminate ones), 

 the wild goose and other plums, many 

 of our cherries, many of our apples, 

 and probably other fruits of which we 

 know nothing as yet. When it comes to 

 farm crops, the number that must be 

 cross fertilized in order to bear or pro- 

 duce seed seems marvelous. It is suffi- 

 cient to mentiem all of the clovers, 

 buckwheat, melons, cucumbers, pump- 

 kins and squashes. All of these must 

 have cross pollenation in order to pro- 

 duce a crop — and the honey-bee is the 

 one means upon which we must rely to 

 do the work. True, there are other in- 

 sects that visit the flowers more or less 

 regularly, and in more or less numbers 

 season after season, and thereby help 

 to accomplish this cross pollenation. 



I saw a statement, recently, by an 

 eminent naturalist, who is making a 

 study of this subject, in which he says 

 that there are about tJO species of in- 

 sects in this country, more or less 

 widely distributed, that help to cross 

 pollenate our flowers by their visits to 

 them, but that the honey-bee does 

 vastly more in this respect than the oi) 

 species of other insects combined. 



It would be the province of the Api- 

 arian Department to study this subject 

 as thoroughly and carefully as possible, 

 and to make experiments. This cross 

 pollenation theory (if still only a the- 

 ory) is one of the most vital ones bear- 

 ing upon agriculture and horticulture 

 today, and its thorough solution may 

 mean the added profits of millions of 

 dollars to our farmers and fruit- 

 growers. 



Another thing that we would expect 

 the Apiarian Department to do would 

 be to carefully and thoroughly study 

 the various bee-diseases that now pre- 

 vail or that may hereafter appear, espe- 

 cially the foul brood diseases that 

 threaten to annihilate the bee-industry 

 in so large a portion of our State, to 

 find a preventative and a cure, if possi- 

 ble, for these most dreaded diseases, 

 and finally to so thoroughly post and 

 equip itself as to be able and com- 

 petent to assume the administration of 

 the State bee-inspection laws. 



Nauvoo, 111. 



entirely, a piece of tin can be slipped 

 behind the inside entrance, and a little 

 block made to fit in the other entrance, 

 as shown at A in the diagram. Blocks 

 can be used for both openings, but it is 

 more trouble to put the inside one in 

 place, as the entrance has to be lifted. 



To close for moving, place both 

 blocks of wood in the entrances and 

 fasten the whole firmly to the bottom- 

 board with screws through the holes, 

 shown in the diagram. Be sure the 

 little blocks in the ends are thick 

 enough so they w-ill be held firmly 

 when the entrance is screw-ed down 

 tight. This method is sj much more 

 convenient than fastening wire over 

 the entrance that this feature alone is 

 worth all the trouble of making them. 



Valley Falls,-Kans. 



A Convenient Hive-Entrance 



RV L. H. COBB. 



The hive-entrance shown in the 

 diagrams below is 12 inches long, 2 

 inches wide, and one inch thick. The 

 dimensions can be varied to suit the 

 conditions. A strip of ordinary screen- 

 wire is tacked on each side. The open- 

 ings for the bees' entrance are in op- 

 posite ends. 



Something About European 



Foul Brood and Its 



Treatment 



BY DR. i:. C. MILLER. 



As has been said already in these 

 columns, there is no need to be utterly 

 discouraged if foul brood makes its 

 appearance. But there is need to be 

 wide awake and to be constantly on 

 the watch for its first appearance, and 

 then it is important to take action 

 promptly. I can from personal expe- 

 rience speak only of European foul 

 brood. With that variety I have an un- 

 pleasantly familiar acquaintance. And 



L. H. Cobb's Ro.->.berProof Hive-Entrance. 



This entrance has many uses, but it 

 is pre-eminently a robber discourager. 

 When robbers have to pass from one 

 end of a hive-entrance to the other in 

 a 2-inch passage, among enemies, they 

 are slow to take the risks. The en- 

 trance also confuses them. If it be- 

 comes necessary to close up the hive 

 entirely because the bees will not de- 

 fend themselves, it can be done safely, 

 as they will have ventilation, and the 

 two screens prevent robbers from 

 passing out the honey. You can keep 

 them in as long as you choose. 



A sheet of tin long enough to cover 

 the screen on the inside, and a strip of 

 wood for the outside should be pro- 

 vided to darken the screen when de- 

 sired. It is well to do this when the 

 entrance is first put on a nucleus or 

 weak colony, so the field-bees can learn 

 the route, and they will not be confused 

 much when it is removed in case of 

 robbers. 



If it is desired to close the entrance 



I know that it would have made a big 

 difference with me if I had taken it at 

 the start. But I had foul brood two 

 years before I knew it. The first case 

 that occurred made me a little uneasy, 

 but there was no way by which I could 

 tell what the trouble was, for there was 

 not at that time the great convenience 

 of being able to send a sample of the 

 suspected brood to Washington for 

 diagnosis, and I shall always hold a 

 grudge against Dr. Phillips that he did 

 not take his position there sooner than 

 he did. 



It is said that European foul brood 

 spreads witli great rapidity in an api- 

 ary, with much greater rapidity than 

 the American variety. It may be so, 

 as a general rule ; but in my case it 

 took it two years to become a very 

 serious matter. That was in 1909, and 

 I think the principal cause of the rapid 

 spreail through the apiary at that time 

 was the general exchanging of combs, 

 so that it looked just a little as if I was 



