134 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



SUMMER HOME OF A CHICAGO NEWSPAPER MAN, BUILT NEAR HIS BEE- 

 YARD. 



uncapping. But if one is to do all his own woric, 

 we do not see how it would be possible for him 

 to do very much foot-power work unless he can 

 devise some scheme by which the combs would 

 come to him without having to arise from a sit- 

 ting position. It is true he could have a ratchet 

 and a single foot-lever, and stand up; but just 

 imagine one trying to uncap a comb while stand- 

 ing on one leg and pedaling with the other! 



We have many ingenious mechanics among 

 our force of readers, and we should be glad to re- 

 ceive photos of devices from any one who has 

 worlced out any scheme of this sort. — Ed.] 



A NEWSPAPER EDITORS 

 ENCE. 



EXPERI- 



Bees Cheaper than Doctors; Eight versus 

 Ten Frame Hives. 



BY FRED HAXTON. 



Bee-keeping is a tonic for tired nerves — better 

 than all the doctors in Christendom. This I 

 have proved by one summer's work in the apiary. 

 By the way, gentle reader, have you noticed what 

 a tremendous grip bee culture takes on its devo- 

 tees.^ It might almost be said, " Once a bee- 

 keeper, always a bee-keeper," as it is now pro- 

 claimed, " Once a telegrapher, always a tele- 

 grapher," and "once an editor, never any thing 

 else," by members of those crafts. A newspaper 

 man and an apiarist I am, and such 1 will re- 

 main. 



In boyhood days I took joy in fourteen colo- 

 nies of cross hybrids, and they appeared to take 

 equal pleasure in the encounter. College and 

 city life took me from my pets, and it was nine 

 years before I could return 1 1 them. Then work 

 as telegraph editor of an evening paper was shat- 

 tering nerves, and life in a flat had become unen- 

 durable to a country-h'ed man, so I set about 

 searching for a place to keep bees. One that met 

 the requirements was hard to find, as it must be 

 close enough to Chicago to have good transpor- 

 tation facilities, and still be in good pasturage. 

 At last an ideal location was secured sixteen miles 

 out, in the midst of an abundance of white clover 



and basswood, and with 

 a good fall flow from as- 

 ters and goldenrod. 



An acre of land was 

 secured, and ten-frame 

 Dovetailed hives obtain- 

 ed, as a test of these with 

 eight-frame hives side by 

 side had shown that the 

 colonies in the former 

 produced more honey, 

 wintered better, and nev- 

 er needed feeding. Ar- 

 rangements were made 

 with a man five miles 

 away to fill the hives at 

 swarming time with pure 

 Italians. 



As another side re- 

 mark, a common interest 

 in apiculture promoes 

 friendships more quickly 

 than brotherhood in lodges. 



The year 1907 was extremely bad in this vicin- 

 ity, both clover and linden failing, and the 

 swarms coming extremely late. They wintered 

 poorly too; but now I have 26 colonies in prime 

 condition, tucked away in packing-cases. All 

 were moved to my lot in the spring of 1908, and 

 then 1 built a cottage so as to be with them. 

 There, from May 1 to Oct. 1, I fairly lived with 

 the bees, and was happy every moment. Nearly 

 all the combs were built from full sheets of foun- 

 dation, in Hoffman metal-spaced frames, and it 

 was a pleasure to handle them. Half a dozen 

 hives had the ordinary Hoffman frames, and 

 nothing could induce me to give up the improve- 

 ment. 



I'he apiary was reached at 4 o'clock every aft- 

 ernoon, and then the " fussing with bees " (for an 

 extensive apiarist could call it nothing else) be- 

 gan. There were queens to raise, increase to be 

 made, sections and supers to be prepared, and 

 honey to be taken off, furnishing amusement and 

 work for the entire season. As an example of 

 what can be done with increase in a favorable 

 year, each frame of a ten-frame hive that had 

 swarmed was made a nucleus, with a (]ueen-cell 

 for each The mother was one of the best in the 

 yard, and the frames were chock full of brood. 

 All ten built up quickly, without assistance oth- 

 er than the frames of empty comb for each, and 

 two of them in September were tilling second 

 stories. Seven of the queens became purely 

 mated, although black bees abound in the neigh- 

 borhood. 



The honey crop.' — well, it was not as good as 

 Dr. Miller's, but the best colony brought in $22, 

 with honey at 20 cents a section. All the sur- 

 plus was sold, with little solicitation, among the 

 150 employees of the newspaper, many of whom 

 had been "joshing" the "bee-farmer." One 

 man bought 35 pounds; but as his family con- 

 sists of only his wife, I can't figure out what he 

 did with it. 



The work among the bees and in a garden had 

 added eighteen pounds to my weight, kept me as 

 happy as a lark, made the work at the office 

 much easier, and had increased the distaste for 

 life in a flat. The venture was something of an 

 experiment, but was so successful that next sum- 



