27G 



American IBee Journal 



speed will be acquired, after which no 

 further trouble will be experienced. 



Then there is another way of using 

 these partly-lilled sections, which I 

 often think is of still greater value, 

 which is allowing the bees to remove the 

 honey and use it for themselves. If the 

 bees are allowed to remove it from the 

 combs, such honey has a substantial 

 value to them, especially if done at a 

 proper time in the spring; this proper 

 time being a week or so before the 

 fruit-trees blossom. In this way, brood- 

 rearing is advanced that much, and the 

 queen has become so prolific that what 

 comes from the fruit-bloom incites to 

 a still greater activity, resulting in the 

 combs being filled with brood; the 

 field-bees will arrive on the stage of 

 action at just the right time to take ad- 

 vantage of the nectar-yield from white 

 and alsike clovers. 



Some have held that such combs 

 should be cleaned out by the bees in 

 the fall to prevent the candying of 

 honey afterward deposited in them, 

 but from years of trying, first one and 

 then the other, together with a part 

 one way and the rest the other, I can 

 only come to the conclusion that such 

 is a mistaken idea. These combs, no 

 matter how free from honey, are used 

 as "baits," generally 12 iii the first 

 super put on each hive. Baits are used 

 for coaxing the bees into the supers 

 sooner to receive the first honey of the 

 season, as it has been found that bees 

 will often deposit considerable honey 

 in drawn comb in the supers before 

 circumstances are conducive to their 

 drawing out foundation or building 

 comb there. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Bee-Keeping in Northern Idaho 



BY l,EUR(,E U . YORK. 



By "Northern Idaho," I mean the 

 panhandle of the State, or Bonner 

 county, which is about 50 miles wide, 

 lying between the States of Montana 

 and Washington, and about 7iJ miles 

 north and south, extending to the 

 Canadian boundary line. 



I have now lived in Northern Idaho 

 a little over two months, and have made 

 enquiry as to the probable number of 

 bee-keepers here, and also the total 

 number of colonies of bees. From my 

 investigations and enquiries I doubt if 

 there are 3i)(l colonies in the county, 

 and perhaps not over 2(» Ijee-keepers. 



I have visited what are probab'y two 

 of the largest apiaries in the county, 

 each containing between 10 and -50 col- 

 onies. One of them belongs to a Mr. 

 Carter, who came from Michigan a 

 few years ago. He is about 10 miles 

 north of Sandpoint. The other apiary, 

 shown herewith, is located about 10 

 miles south of Sandpoint. 



Mr. Carter informed me that he has 

 had as much as i!IO pounds of extracted 

 honey per colony, his probable average 

 being about half that amount. 

 . Some of the principal sources of nec- 

 tar and pollen during the season are 

 these: Pussy-willow, dandelion, white 

 and alsike clovers, fireweed or willow- 

 herb, arrow-wood, buckbrush and 

 golden-rod. 



The apiary south of Sandpoint, to 

 which I have referred, belongs to Mr. 



Charles Burke, who also came from 

 Michigan about .j years ago. His api- 

 ary is located at probably the highest 

 altitude of any apiary in the county. It 

 is away up on the mountain side, and 

 from its high elevation can be seen, 10 

 miles to the north, the city of Sand- 

 point and also Lake Pend d'Oreille 

 (pronounced as if spelled Pond-o-ray.) 



You may know that Mr. Burke's api- 

 ary is "up in the world," for in order 

 to see the distant city and lake from 

 where the bees are located, it is neces- 

 sary to look over many other moun- 

 tains of considerable height. 



Mr. Burke uses the 10-frame double- 

 wall hive. Heat first worked his bees 

 for comb honey, and harvested 310 

 pounds from one colony; but later he 



keep bees. The nectar seasons are 

 long, and the nectar-sources are seem- 

 ingly unlimited. White and alsike 

 clovers grow here like weeds in the 

 East. Then there is much burned- 

 over logged-off land where the willow- 

 herb flourishes from early July to late 

 frosts. Michigan bee-keepers know 

 how 'abundantly willow herb yields 

 nectar, and the large crops gathered 

 from it. 



I estimate that in this county alone 

 there are nearly 2,000,000 acres of land. 

 And if there are not ovar 5^0 colonies 

 within the county, it will readily be 

 seen that there is not much danger of 

 overstocking this field with bees right 

 away. 



As to shipping facilities, this county 



Mk, (iKOKI.K W. YlJKK. I'oKMKK Kl)rH)R OF TUK AMERK AN BeK JollRNAI III; IS NoW 



L(n ATKi) AT Sandpoint, Imaho. 



changed to extracted honey, and in 

 1!)11 averaged about 100 pounds per 

 colony. This is an exceptionally good 

 yield in view of the general report that 

 11)11 was perhaps the poorest honey- 

 year on record. 



My impression, gained after riding 

 by railroad train and by horse and 

 buggy over about half of this county, 

 is that it is an almost ideal place to 



is the best supplied of any county in] 

 Idaho. Two trans-continental rail- 

 roads (the Great Northern and the Ca-j 

 nadian Pacific- or Spokane Interna-I 

 ti(uial) traverse it from northeast toi 

 southwest, and the Northern Pacific] 

 railroad from cast to west. So there isl 

 ample outlet for all the honey or otherl 

 crops that can be produced here. 



I may say that this is the greatestl 



