36S 



December, 1912. 



American See Joarnal 



I attribute my success along that line, 

 to being very careful about leaving wax, 

 etc., around the apiarv. 



" By Feb. lU, I have gone over the api- 

 ary for the first time. This represents 

 my individual vt'ork in apiary No. 1, 

 which consists approximately of about 

 iiOil colonies, and this is the one to 

 which I give my undivided attention. 

 In our other two apiaries we have ex- 

 perienced men who work in about the 

 same manner. We now begin work in 

 earnest, as titi is about to bloom, and 

 bees are getting down to business. I 

 now make the second visit over the 

 apiary. This time, where bees are in a 

 normal condition, we find from two to 

 three frames of brood. 



" All colonies havingas many as four 

 frames of brood, and a corresponding 

 number of bees, I spread the brood; 

 that is, I open the brood in the center 

 and place an empty comb, or, better, a 

 comb partly fdled with honey in the 

 space thus made. Before going further, 

 for fear that I may get some ine,xperi- 

 enced brother in trouble, let me say 

 that in case the comb contains honey, 

 it should be brought to the brood-nest 

 from some other part of this hive ; or, 

 if from the honey-house, it should not 

 be placed there unless it is very late in 

 the afternoon, and after the bees have 

 about stopped flying for the day, 

 otherwise you might start robbing; 

 thus handicapping you very materially 

 with your work. I would not advise a 

 novice to begin this kind of wTk too 

 early in the season. I deem it very 

 necessary to be careful; if not, you are 

 likely to do a great deal more harm 

 than good by making the brood-nest 

 too large for the bees to properly cover, 

 as we are apt to have cold snaps at this 

 season of the year, and the brood that 

 the colony already has may be chilled 

 or killed outright, if tlie thing is over- 

 done. 



" I go over the apiary speading brood 

 only where I find the colonies of suffi- 

 cient strength to permit it; say where 

 they have as much as four frames of 

 brood and bees in proportion. At this 

 season, in an apiary of 200 colonies, 

 you will probably find two-thirds of 

 them in a condition to warrant this 

 spreading. Having made a record of 

 the strength of each colony in going 

 through them the first time, I can judge 

 Ijy that, and by the way the colony is 

 working, whether they will be able to 

 have their brood spread, and I am 

 saved opening every hive. I will have 

 finished the second visit by the first of 

 March, or near that date. By this time 

 the bees, if the weather and other con- 

 ditions have been propitious„are gain- 

 ing strength right along, and in a very 

 short time, say by the loth^ they will 

 begin swarming. 



" However, I do not wait for this, but 

 go right back over the same ground, 

 giving two instead of one empty comb 

 in the center of the brood-nest, and 

 opening some that were passed over on 

 the last trip, friany of which I find of 

 surticient strength to take one frame of 

 empty comb. In some instances I find 

 it necessary to raise one or more 

 frames of brood to the super. Black 

 tupelo, black gum, and several other 

 trees, among which 1 will mention the 

 range, are now opening, and I am 

 ept busy. Here is the time for wha t I 



consider my most profitable work of 

 the entire season. 



" I number the location of each hive, 

 nol the kin-, and as all of my queens' 

 have their wings clii)ped. when 'a swarm 

 issues I catch and cage the queen, then, 

 move the parent colony to one side 

 and place there a new brood-chamber 

 filled with combs or foundation, then 

 place an e.xcluder on, and set the super 

 from the parent colony over it. I now 

 place the caged queen at the entrance 

 of the new hive, and after putting a 

 cover over the parent colony I go on 

 with my work, AHer awhile, the 

 swarm having found that their queen 

 had [ailed to accompany them, begins 

 to come back. I go and liberate the 

 queen and let her go in. then I brush 

 all of the remaining bees from the par- 

 ent colony in front of their old loca- 

 tion, and as I have an alighting-board 

 in front of each colonv, they all go at 

 once into the hive, and l' take the 

 brood from which I have brushed the 

 bees, and give assistance to the colo- 

 nies that are too weak to spread their 

 brood, being careful not to give any to 

 those that are not numerically strong 

 enough to take care of it. 



"Sometimes I can give a colony only 

 a frame, and have to go back a number 

 of times, repeating it until by this 

 method I get it up to the standard. 

 Later on, say a week or more after- 

 wards, I help out these swarms; other- 

 wise by the time tupelo begins to open 

 they will have become depopulated, 

 and will not do anything toward har- 

 vesting a crop. You now see why it is 

 best for me to number locations in- 

 stead of hives, as I would have every- 

 thing confused, and no uniformity in 

 the apiary. But I have not stopped 

 the spreading of brood, and I continue 

 to do this until tupelo is well open, and 

 I never use any of my swarms to make 

 increase until this time, for I consider 

 brood judiciously divided among the 

 weak colonies in the apiary to be the 

 most profitable work that I do. 



" As I have from 3 to 16 swarms in a 

 day, when swarming is at its best, I am 

 able to get every colony in the apiary 

 in prime condition by the time tupelo 

 is well open. You must remember that 

 this bloom only stays with us for some- 

 thing like three weeks, and often not 

 so long. 



"I use a 9-framehive; its dimensions 

 are standard except in width, and this 

 is K! inches, inside measurement. I use 

 9 frames in the lower story or brood- 

 chamber, and 8 in the super. I believe 

 this size is most convenient. It is 

 large enough for the best flows, and 

 not too large in a light flow to dis- 

 courage the bees ; it is a compromise 

 between the 8 and 10 frame hives, but 

 with an extra prolific queen the brood- 

 chamber isn't large enough to accom- 

 modate her, and it may be necessary 

 to raise some of the brood from below 

 to the super. Unless the time for ex- 

 tracting is at least 10 days off, I am 

 careful to raise only capped brood, 

 otherwise I would fail in carrying out 

 my idea of sanitation in honey. 



" Let me here digress long enough to 

 say that I don't believe a pure article 

 of honey can be harvested unless (|ueen- 

 excluders are used in working for ex- 

 tracted honey, for two-thirds or more 

 of the fermentation in honey is caused 



by uncapped brood which is thrown 

 into the honey in the process of ex- 

 tracting thereby becoming a part of it 

 and truly an unsanitary part I use 

 queen-excluders on all colonies oper- 

 ated, or caused to be operated by me 



1; nend Wilder, were you ever present 

 during the time of extracting honev in 

 an apiary, where there were no queen- 

 excluders used? If so, it is unneces- 

 sary for me to tell you of the filth as 

 you know much of the uncapped brood 

 IS thrown out; but if you have never 

 witnessed such a' sight, I would advise 

 you to do so in order that you may 

 truly appreciate honey that is taken 

 from above queen-excluders. I believe 

 that any one who is familiar with oper- 

 ating with or without queen-excluders 

 would be willing to give from one to 

 two cents a pound more for honey 

 taken from above queen-excluders " 

 Wewahitchka, Fla. J. K. Isbell. 



Bee-Keeping— Sala ry 



My season's honey crop was 12.5,000 

 pounds of chunk, extracted and comb 

 honey from 2000 colonies, or an aver- 

 age of a httle better than GO pounds 

 Your present salary is much larger 

 than any extensive bee-keeper could 

 attord to give you to look after his 

 bee interests. To establish yourself in 

 a bee-business, the returns of which 

 would be as large as your present sal- 

 ary, would require some time, and not 

 less than a $3000 investment, even if 

 you vj^ere to buy out an already estab- 

 lished business. It would take, in a 

 similar location to mine, 600 colonies 



«?n,l'i'''"''i" °^ '^''''^'' "^'ght amount to' 

 *lo00, and you could do all the work ■ 

 and perhaps you would have more 

 leisure than you have now. But you 

 would have to make the investment 



Wants a "Shove Off" 



DearMr. Wilder:-A friend bee-keener 

 gave me your address and told me to wr^fl 

 you. that you would five me a good )°,^Jo,f 

 I am a young man and a farmirand have ■= 

 strong coloniesof bees, and I love them next 

 o my family. I want to learn more about 

 bee-culture and make increase until we 

 have enough bees to support us. Help ml 

 al Is'ou can now and I will make you glTd 



^Vekou. Ga. '■ ^^ G^^^^'^' 



This young man is not far from 

 where I was once in bee-culture I 

 had a great love for it, and a determi- 

 nation to succeed, and this is the 



secret of my success. I was not a very 

 strong man in intellect, however I had 

 a natural love for the culture of bees 

 and enough determination to succeed' 

 A man with "willing hands " and deep 

 interest in his business doesn't need 

 much of a s/iotc oir. He needs only to 

 know whether there is any monev "at 

 the other end of the rope." 



Any man can be sidetracked in 

 almost any line of business, and espe- 

 cially in bee-keeping. All of my friends 

 came to me when it was generally 

 known that I had "thrown up " my 

 good job as head mechanic for a large 

 concern for the purpose of embarking 



