October, 1912. 



American "Bac Jonrnal j 



that many of us are not sorry that reci- 

 procity was not carried into effect a 

 year ago. Without that 3 cents per 

 pound duty on honey coming into Can- 

 ada, liow long would we get U cents? 

 Extracted honey of first-class quality 

 at i> cents is ulloi^'elhci- too iJifaf when 

 compared with the price of other food 

 products, and it is time bee-keepers 

 were organized so that such a condi- 

 tion of affairs can be remedied. 



of life. The expenses of traveling are 

 an item to be considered, but with bees 

 in ilifferent places, one is not so apt to 

 meet with a complete failure all around. 

 However, 20(* miles is a little too far, 

 and next spring we contemplate mov- 

 ing this lot nearer home, provided a 

 suitable location is found. 



fine climate and the great variety of 

 honey-plants, it has a great future. 



Out-Apiary 200 Miles Away 



On Monday. Sept. 9, 1 expect to leave 

 for the east yard, some 200 miles away, 

 to take care of the buckwheat honey 

 and get the bees ready for winter. My 

 son came home ."^ug. 1, and since that 

 date we have not been there. After 

 getting the bees ready for winter, we 

 will not see them again until next May. 

 A competent man will put them in the 

 caves in November. Long range bee- 

 keeping of this nature has some draw- 

 backs, but it affords pleasure, as the 

 trips give one an oportunity of seeing 

 the country, and it breaks the monotony 



A Swarm of Bees in September 



With little nectar coming in, and 

 that lillU- coming nearly every day, the 

 bees seem to think that June is here 

 instead of September, and Sept. 4 a 

 bouncing swarm came from a colony 

 headed by a queen of this year's rear- 

 ing. This is a new record in my ex- 

 perience, and instead of returning it to 

 the hive which would no doubt have 

 been the most proiilablc thing, I hived 

 them on drawn comb and gave them 

 two combs of brood as bonus. With 

 winter stores supplied, I see no reason 

 why they should not survive the win- 

 ter. If a " swarm of bees in July is not 

 worth a fly," what about a swarm in 

 September .■' 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



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



y [Carrying Honey Over Until Spring 



It will be almost impossible to dis-l 

 pose of all the summer crop of honey 

 to the best advantage before it granu- 

 lates on the market, and thereby gives' 

 trouble. This will especially be true^ 

 for the large producers. As the market' 

 is well supplied sales will be slow, as' 

 cold weather is near at hand, and most; 

 of the honey will granulate, it will be 

 best to only remove what we have salesj 

 for. .'Vs soon as cold weather is here," 

 shut off the sales and leave the rest on|^ 

 the hives until spring. It can then be' 



Smiles, was made this summer. It is 

 aneedless to state that what I saw of 

 Jour industry would make a large vol- 

 Sume, and much of it would be practical 

 sand instructive. I will use some of 

 gthe information thus collected as space 

 Jand time permit. 



I I saw a number of bee-keepers who 

 Iproduce honey by the carload, and api- 

 aries where all colonies were keeping 

 'pace storing; no colonies running 

 [ahead or behind, but were on equality 

 lin strength and storing. These bee- 

 ikeepers were e.xpert queen-breed- 

 |ers as well as honey-producers, and 



removed and put on the market before^^ ^ ^,^^^ ^^^^^^ ^j everything 



the spring flow begins and as theref^ig^'^^ bee-keepers were badly discour- 

 will be great demand for it, it should Jg^g^^ because other lines of business 

 sell at a good price, ilhad completely crowded out bee-keep- 



At the approach of cold weather them gut the greatest number were 



honey should be equalized among the U^^^^^ ^^o had taken up bee-keeping as 

 colonies, so the bees can take better 1 -^ ^^^^ j^^^,^ ^^ ^^^^^ , ^„. 



care of it; for if a large surplus is left, >^„,,raged over their venture, because 

 on some of the hives i wi 1 get cold \ ^^^ ,^[^,^^ had been good and losses 

 above the cluster and stay thus during-^-j ^^ expressed themselves as 



winter. It is not best to keep too y. . . »- 



much honey on the hives for this rea- 

 son. I have kept as much as one super 

 of surplus honey on many colonies 

 during winter, and I have had a tine 

 lot of honey for the early spring trade. 



A 3000-Mile Trip Visiting Bee-Keepers 



It is my greatest desire to know the 

 end of ail things relative to bee-keep- 

 ing within the bounds of Dixie, that I 

 may impart the information thus ob- 

 tained to others. 



To do this, and do justice to my busi- 

 ness, I must make tours visiting pro- 

 gressive bee-keepers all over the ter- 

 ritory as often as time admits. My 

 longest trip, which was about 3000 



few. They expressed themselves 

 not even thinking of laying aside bee- 

 keeping, for they could not afford to. 



Lots of beginners were at the front 

 with their few colonies of bees, and 

 asked a good many questions on bee- 

 culture. Nearly all of this class of 

 bee-keepers wanted me to give them 

 the " royal road to bee-keeping,'' so 

 they could soon and easily become ex- 

 tensive bee-keepers. This, I told them, 

 can only be done by constant study 

 and work. 



Summing up the whole trip, I must 

 say that I am delighted with the prog- 

 ress of our industry, for I saw and 

 heard things about it that I had never 

 dreamed of. After all, our industry is 

 not so small here as it is supposed to 

 be, and taking under consideration our 



The Proper Way to Start Bee-Keeping 



We became interested in bee-culture 

 in 18117, and began working with some 

 of our pioneer bee-keepers, namely Mr. 

 A. B. Marchant, Mr. S. S. Alderman 

 and Mr. C. F. Glenn, all of whom are 

 widely known as apiarists of knowl- 

 edge and experience. 



In I'JOO, we bought 100 colonies from 

 Mr. Marchant, costing us about $G.O0 

 per colony when we placed them on 

 stands in our yard. The first season 

 we actually got 30 barrels of honey 

 from that 100 colonies of bees. This 

 was an exceptional flow, and is still 

 talked of. We have never had such a 

 flow since. The following two years, 

 1901 and 1902, we did not get any honey. 

 But we have had small flows each sea- 

 son since, averaging about one-third 

 of a crop each year, counting it on a 

 10-year basis. We have never had anv 

 trouble in marketing honey. It has 

 proved to be a profitable investment, 

 even with failures and short crops. It 

 is pleasant work, and both of us take 

 great interest in it. 



Our apiary is located at Kentucky 

 Landing, on the Apalachicola river, in 

 the heart of the tupelo belt. At one 

 time we had a good many Italian bees, 

 but owing to wild bees and other api- 

 aries they have bred back into almost 

 black bees. Still, at the time we had 

 the Italian bee we also had the black 

 bee, and there wasn't any dift'erence as 

 to the amount of honey gathered. It 

 was rather in favor of the black bee. 



We are, at this time, requeening 

 every colony in our yard, of which 

 there are more than 200. We use reg- 

 ularly the ]0-frame hive with Hoff- 

 man frames, and produce only ex- 

 tracted honey. We have our wax 

 made into foundation, and sell surplus, 

 if any, after we have sufficient founda- 

 tion. RisH & Brother. 



lola, Fla. 



A Large Apiary in the South 



Mr. J. R. Hunter, of Wewahitchka, 

 Fla., handed the writer, while on a 

 visit to him this summer, a snap-shot 

 of one of his apiaries located on the 

 Chipola river in west Florida, in the 

 great tupelo gum region. This was a 

 picture of 2.!)0 colonies, all run for ex- 

 tracted honey. The picture which is 

 here produced would very well illus- 

 trate an article in the Dixie Depart- 

 rnent for August, answering the ques- 

 tion, may bee-keeping be resorted to 

 as a sole occupation which will bring 

 sufficient returns for a livelihood. The 

 thrift of this apiary denotes that it does 

 in this instance at least. The amount 

 of capital invested is very small, but 

 coupled with energy and a great love 

 for the work. 



In our department for September the 

 picture and article show that we can 

 invest capital in bees and turn them 

 over to trustworthy and energetic peo- 

 ple and receive good returns from the 

 irivestment. Now this article, with 

 picture, shows how tidy any apiary can 

 be kept even if it is very large. 



There are many apiaries that show 



