236 



August, 1912. 



touch a real live issue when you talk 

 honey grading. 



*-»-♦ 



Climates of the West 



The West has as many different cli- 

 mates as could be iiragined ; in Wyom- 

 ing and Montana the thermometer 

 sinks down and down until the mer- 

 cury can scarcely be found at times. 

 Then down in New Mexico and Ari- 

 zona, while it is not strictly tropical 



American l^ee Jonrnal 



throughout the winter months, the 

 climate is of a mild nature. In the 

 valleys of the Inter-mountain region 

 the winters, as a rule, are mild. Col- 

 orado is about on the line north and 

 south where the siugle-walled hive can 

 be considered sulTicient protection dur- 

 ing the winter. I do not know of a 

 double-walled hive apiary in the State. 

 Very few give their bees any protection 

 whatever. This is a condition that will 

 change in a few years, I am confident 



Bee-K£eping 



In Dixie^ 



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



The Ravages of Thieves 



The [ravages of thieves are a very 

 serious problem with me. They do 

 considerable damage, such as throwing 

 off covers, lifting out frames from the 

 supers, and sometimes from the brood- 

 chambers, and scattering them around 

 the apiary. And if there is honey in 

 the apiary, they never fail to find it. 

 Many times they open the brood-nest 

 and cut out the honey and almost com- 

 pletely destroy the bees. Very often a 

 colony is carried a short distance and 

 burned, hive and all. Many times 

 thieves make fires in the apiary and 

 much damage is done. 



Two of my best out-apiaries have 

 been completely destroyed by fire. One 

 just before the honey-flow this spring, 

 and one several years ago. The first 

 one was robbed and burned by a plan- 

 tation overseer and his negroes, who 

 fired it by placing burning fat pine un- 

 der the hives. 



The last apiary was burned by the 

 only son of a widow. He was in the 

 habit of stealing honey for her, but this 

 time the bees stung him badly, and to 

 get revenge he placed a bunch of leaves 

 and straw on each hive and fired them, 

 and then took to his heels. Only the 

 wire of the frames and the nails were 

 left. 



The ravages of thieves cause a loss 

 to me each season of several hundred 

 dollars, and are increasing. But all 

 this damage does not discourage me 

 in the least. I only work the harder to 

 overcome it, with not a spark of hope 

 for it to ever cease, as it has been 

 going on for I.") years. 



Apiary Work 



This is the mid-point in the bee- 

 keeping year, when we should both re- 

 flect and look forward. It may be that 

 we have not been as successful with 

 our bees as we should. May be we 

 have made too many blunders which 

 have stayed our progress ; these we 

 should overcome next season. But 

 what a mistake we will make now if 

 we don't look forward to our business 

 for next season ! 



There is a greater or lesser flow of 

 honey in every locality in Dixie, and 

 our bees are still making progress. 

 This will not continue a great while. 



If we wish to harvest a great crop of 

 honey next season, now is the time to 

 make the start. 



The Value of Good Combs. 



The value of good worker-combs, 

 built straight and even, in good frames, 

 is far greater than the average bee- 

 keeper thinks. Good combs, easy to 

 manipulate, should be the pride of 

 every bee-keeper, and nothing else 

 should be tolerated. It is not enough 

 to shake a swarm of bees into a hive- 

 body, the frames of which contain 

 only starters, for the bees may build 

 some crooked combs, or combs con- 

 taining more or less drone-comb. This 

 is a step backwards, and such combs 

 should be replaced with good ones. 



Now is the best time to sort out such 

 combs, remove the honey and render 

 them into wax ; wire tlie frames and 

 put in full sheets of foundation, if there 

 are no e.xtra combs to put in their 

 places. Insert these in the middle of 

 the brood-nest of good, strong colo- 

 nies, and they will .build good service- 

 able combs at once. Weaker colonies 

 should be supplied with good, ready- 

 built combs from stronger ones. If 

 any inferior combs contain brood they 

 should be set in weak colonies next to 

 the wall of the hives, until all the 

 brood is hatched out, and if such 

 combs contain unripe honey, it could 

 be fed back to the bees at once, or left 

 with the bees for a few days to ripen. 



Queen-Rearinc. 



Every bee-keeper should learn to 

 rear his own queens from his best 

 stock, or if he is not satisfied with his 

 stock, buy a nucleus with a (|ueen, or 

 get a queen of good stock from a re- 

 liable breeder and introduce her into 

 one of his colonies. From this colony 

 combs containing eggs or brood less 

 than 3 days old can be taken and given 

 to colonies made queenless and brood- 

 less. They will build many cells 

 which can be removed in !> days from 

 the time the brood is given and placed 

 in cell-protectors to rei|ueen a number 

 of colonies which have inferior (lueens. 

 These queens can be found and killed 

 at the time the cells are given. 



At this time of the year conditions 

 are ideal for queen-rearing in most 

 localities, and it is bv far the best time 



to do the work. It is important. Your 

 success depends upon this step. 



Increase. 



No bee-keeper can obtain success 

 without resorting to artificial increase. 

 Even in the spring of the year, when 

 bees have a great inclination to swarm 

 and do according to Nature's plan, it is 

 better, if intelligently done by man, but 

 at this season of the year there is little 

 inclination among bees to swarm, and 

 if increase is made it must be done 

 artificially. This is not advisable un- 

 less colonies are strong and heavy 

 with stores, and even then each colony 

 should be divided but once, so each 

 division will go into winter quarters 

 with plenty of stores and a medium- 

 sized cluster of bees. 



If there is only a light honey-flow 

 the increase should be made soon. If 

 there is a heavy honey-flow wait until 

 near the close, then follow my 'method 

 as outlined in the July number of the 

 American Bee Journal, page 20.j. If 

 the plan is carried out carefully a good 

 increase can be made at each apiary, 

 that will result in a large amount of 

 surplus honey next spring. 



Looking to the Final End. 



As we make our last round in remov- 

 ing honey, we should keep in mind the 

 wintering of our bees. Frames of 

 sealed brood from the strongest colo- 

 nies should be given the weak ones 

 from time to time, and some frames 

 of honey should be given the colonies 

 light with stores. Plenty of honey 

 should be left in the apiary to winter on. 



Sketch of Life of Pioneer Bee-Keepers— 

 Help to Beginners 



Dear Dixie Bee-Keepers; — To con- 

 duct our department in such manner 

 that it will be most helpful to most of 

 us, is by no means a small task for me. 



I have often been asked some such 

 questions as the following: "How 

 many colonies should I have before I 

 can expect sufficient returns from them 

 to support myself and family ?" and, 

 " How much shall I have invested in 

 the business up to this point ?" This 

 can best be answered by those who 

 have followed the bee-business for 

 years, and solely depended upon it 

 for a support. 



To this end we wish to produce short 

 sketches of the lives of such veteran 

 bee-keepers, and at the same time pro- 

 duce their photographs so we can take 

 a look in their faces as we read what 

 they have done, and get a lesson from 

 their experience. The jihotograph of 

 Mr. T. W. Livingston, of Leslie, Ga., 

 appears herewith. He writes: 



"Of course, 1 had to be born, and 

 they say this occurred in Washingtcm 

 Co., N. Y., Feb. 2'.», 18.Vi Hut I began 

 my bee-keeping career in Washington 

 Co., Iowa, near where the city of Ains- 

 worth now stands. At the age of I.S, a 

 friend gave me H colonies of bees in 

 Underbill hives, and as there was no 

 bee-literature obtainable (so far as I 

 knew), I remained in helpless ignor- 

 ance until I was "JO, when I heard that 

 colonies could be divided and each 

 part made into a normal colony. 



"This started me to building 'air- 



