Novombor, 1912. 



r:37 



American ~Bae Jonrnal 



Especially are we looking to see many 

 from " over the line," as bee-keepers 

 know no particular country in so far 

 as good fellowship and fratirnalism is 

 concerned : 



PROGRAM 



Wednesday 2 p.m. — Minutes of the 

 previous meetin.i; — P. VV. Hodgetts, 

 secretary, of Toronto. 



President's Address — Dennis Nolan, 

 of Newton Robinson, Ont. 



Reply — Vice-President. 



Discussion will be opened by Miss 

 E. Robson. 



"Improved Methods of Selling Hon- 

 ey"— E. B. Tyrrell, Detroit, Mich. 



Question-Box — F. W. Crouse, Guelph, 

 Ont. 



Wednesday Evening — Open meeting. 



Thursday Morning — "Foul Brood 

 Situation in Ontario" — Morley Pettit. 



" Management of Out-Apiaries " — (a) 

 "With a complete outfit at each yard, 

 using auto or horse for transportation," 

 by H. G. Sibbald. (t>) " Management 

 at long range," by J. L. Byer. (c) "Mov- 



ing outfit on motor truck," by Enos 

 Farr. (rf) " From one center, with sta- 

 tionary machinery, and motor-truck to 

 haul supers home," by F. J. Miller. 



Thursday Afternoon — " Preparing 

 Bees for VVinter " — J. F. Dunn. 



" Winter and Spring Management " — 

 R. E. Harkness. 



Question-Box — Jno. Newton. 



Address by Hon. J. S. Duff, Minister 

 of Agriculture. 



Election of officers and reports. 



Thursday Evening — " Bees, Fruit and 

 Poultry".^;. W. Clark. 



Discussion liy R. G. Houghton. 



"The District Representative and 

 How He can Help the Bee-Keeper" — 

 A. D. Mclnt.ish, B. S. A. 



Friday Morning — "Experiences of 

 the Season" — Miss Margaret Scott. 



" Bee Breeding " — F. W. L. Sladen, 

 Assistant of Apiculture, Ottawa. 



Unfinished business. 



(Nothing preventing, the Editor of 

 the American Bee Journal expects to 

 attend this convention.) 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie-^ 



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



A Great Trip and Honey Crop of 125,000 

 Pounds 



On the morning of Oct. 7, I boarded 

 an early train for a trip to my apiaries 

 170 miles below here, on the famous 

 Suwanee river, in Florida. At sundown 

 of the same day I was at my packing- 

 house near the middle of Columbia 

 county, and found Johnny Calhoun, 

 who has charge of my bees there, and 

 his helper, very busy packing honey. 

 Next morning we started on our trip 

 visiting the 8 apiaries scattered around 

 over the country 3 to 6 miles out, con- 

 sisting of 450 colonies, of which Mr. 

 Calhoun has charge. 



I found that he had been a prudent 

 bee-keeper, and all of his work had 

 been satisfactory. He had harvested a 

 a great crop of honey. After staying 

 there two days I went to the other 

 packing-house some 20 miles away, on 

 the line of Columbia and Suwanee 

 counties. There I found Mr. Landrum, 

 who has charge of 8 apiaries scattered 

 through the country, consisting of 

 about 300 colonies, very busy with /tis 

 crop of honey, and greatly encouraged 

 and enthusiastic over bee-keeping, ask- 

 ing me to furnish him with more bees 

 the coming season, which I promised 

 to do. I met with everything in the 

 way of encouragement here, and after 

 staying two days I started for another 

 packing-house about the middle of 

 Suwanee county, and 10 miles from 

 the last packing-house. I found Mr. 

 Reeves, who has charge of 8 apiaries 

 scattered around in that vicinity, con- 

 sisting of 6O0 colonies, and his helper 

 very busy packing honey, but owing to 

 some " set backs " he had not made the 

 progress in the honey harvest that the 

 others had, but taking all things under 

 consideration he had done very well. 



After a day's stay here looking over 



the business, I departed for home, and 

 upon arriving I found they were wind- 

 ing up our packing here. Then I braced 

 up and took courage, and my enthu- 

 siasm mounted almost to the sky, be- 

 cause I had harvested, all told, over 

 125,000 pounds of surplus honey this 

 season, and without feeding the bees 

 any. In good locations this amount of 

 honey could have been harvested with 

 half the number of colonies, but in 

 such poor locations as I have, it is in- 

 deed gratifi ing for me to know that 

 my harvest was so great. Some of my 

 " air castles " are beginning to mate- 

 rialize, and I feel as if I had just started 

 in bee-keeping, for surely I am not at 

 a stopping point. 



Wants an Apiary in the South 



Dear Mr. Wilder:— I have a trade for 

 bees and honey, and I would like to have 

 an apiary in the South. I want it near the 

 coast on account of the low freight rates. I 

 am familiar with the bee-business, and can 

 therefore understand easily what you write. 



1. Wliat are your sou,'ces of honey ? 



2. Where is the best place to locate ? 

 i. What is the price of bees there ? 



4. What is your average crop per colony ? 



5. How many colonies can be kept in one 

 locality ? 



6. Could I divide and make two good colo- 

 nies from one by the time the main honey- 

 flow comes ? 



7. Do you think I could find 200 colonies, in 

 some section there, that I could buy ? 



West Newton. Mass. H. P. Dvar. 



1. Our sources of honey, are too 

 numerous to give a complete list at 

 this time However, titi, poplar, gall- 

 berry, tupelo gum, cotton and par- 

 tridge-pea are good honey-plants in 

 the territory that I shall refer you to. 



2. The territory along the line of 

 Georgia and Florida, say 70 miles 

 above and below, will be found to be 

 our best honey-producing section, and 

 most any bee-keeper can find just such 



a location as he wants in that section 

 but it would be advisable to look it 

 over well before settling. 



3. From 50 cents to $8.00 per colony, 

 depending upon their condition, hives 

 they are in, etc. 



4. From 30 to 60 pounds of comb 

 honey, and from 40 to 8it pounds of 

 extracted, depending upon seasons, 

 which makes the average about 40 and 

 Co pounds for successive seasons. 



5. From 50 to 300 colonies, depend- 

 ing of course upon the quantity and 

 quality of the honey-plants in that 

 locality. In most localities GO or 70 

 colonies would be enough. 



G. Yes, in locations where there is 

 spring titi, which begins yielding the 

 latter part of February. In other locali- 

 ties this could not be done. 



7. Yes, 1 y gathering them up through 

 the countrv. 



Looking Towards Dixie 



Dear Mr. Wilder:— Would you kindly 

 tell me how many colonies you have; 

 whether you run for comb or extracted 

 honey; what is your success in wintering, 

 and how long is the season there? 



A number of years ago I was in tlie bee- 

 business in Ohio, but dropped out of the 

 game; now I am taking it up again, and am 

 looking towards the southland. 



Boyne Falls, Mich. W. A. Davoll. 



I cannot tell how many colonies of 

 bees I have, for it has been a number 

 of years since I knew exactly, and I 

 don't even know how many apiaries 

 I have, but I have more than 35, and 

 more than 2000 colonies of bees. 



We have no winter problems. At 

 the close of the season, or just at the 

 approach of cold weather, we see that 

 ail queenless colonies are united. In 

 some cases we equalize stores. Our 

 season begins the first of March and 

 lasts until November. 



We would be glad to have you visit 

 Dixie and look around, and if you can 

 get suited remain with us. 



Apiary Work for November 



The honey-flow has been very good 

 in nearly all sections of the South, even 

 up to the close of the season, and it is 

 hardly necessary to say anything about 

 feeding, but it might be necessary to 

 equalize stores some in order that all 

 colonies may be supplied. This is such 

 an easy and simple job that most bee- 

 keepers know how to do it. 



Very weak and queenless colonies 

 should be united at the last round of 

 apiary work, and a good and simple 

 way to do this is by Dr. C. C. Miller's 

 plan ; that of placing a single sheet of 

 newspaper over the stronger colony, 

 and setting the weaker colony on it. 

 The bees will do the rest by tearing 

 away the paper between the two. I 

 tried this plan last season. It gave 

 good results. It is a poor plan to 

 leave weak colonies scattered through 

 the apiary, for they will dwindle down 

 by next spring, and the robbers will 

 clean them out and cause much excite- 

 ment among the bees. 



Nothing but water-proof covers 

 should be left on the hives, and they 

 must fit down well. The top-bars of 

 the brood-frames should be cleared of 

 bur and brace combs, and as much of 



