JANUARY 1, 1913 



of honey; for every thing presaged a good 

 honey year. That was in 1909. But I was 

 sorely disappointed ; for not only was there 

 no honey, but, on the contrary. I had to 

 feed the bees to keep them from starving. 

 That made two years of failure to start 

 with — somewhat discouraging for a brand- 

 new enthusiast. 



Xaturally I had to stand a good deal of 

 chaffing and ridicule about this time, and 

 many advised me to give it up, saying that 

 it requires an expert to make bees produce 

 honey; and. moreover, they never would 

 store any surplus in the city where the pas- 

 turage is so limited. '' Give me one more 

 year," I said; and if the third season would 

 prove a failure I would acknowledge my- 

 self beaten and throw up the sponge, so to 

 speak. Well, the spring of 1910 rolled 

 around, and I increased my two colonies to 

 four by dividing. Fruit bloom and locust 

 3'ielded nicely, and then came white and 

 sweet clover; and with the latter, lots of 

 honey. I had two swarms, and har\ested 

 almost 300 lbs. of honey, besides saving 

 almost 50 lbs. in sealed combs to use for 

 feeding if necessary. I sold mv entire crop 

 for 20"cts. per lb. 



Every thing looked rosy to me now, and 

 I made great preparations for 1911, inteixl- 

 ing to increase my six colonies to a dozen 

 or m.ore, and to increase my honey sales. 

 But a fine surprise awaited me. Ore morn- 

 ing in early June, wliile eya'iiining my 

 colonies I was shocked to discover Ameri- 

 can foul brood in one of them. I imme- 

 diatelj- sent a sample of diseased brood to 

 Dr. Phillips, at "Washing-ton, and he told 

 me the bees bad American foul brood, and 

 gave me instructions for treating it. Be- 

 fore I had his reply, however, the other 

 colonies became infected, two of them be- 

 ing virtually rotten with the disease. Here 

 was a fine state of affairs. No honey was 

 coming in, and foul brood to fight ! Well. 

 I ])repared six clean hives with full sheets 

 of foundation, and gave them the McEvoy 

 treatment, shaking some in the morning and 

 some in the evening; and in no case did the 

 disease reappear. It was cured completely : 

 but the cure cost me over a hundred fine 

 brood-combs and about 150 lbs. of sugar. 

 Thus ended the season of 1911. 



Af'er having sur\ ived the most severe 

 winter (1911) in forty years my bees came 

 through in fair shape for 1912 — no loss, 

 although the average mortality was over 75 

 per cent. By swarming and making a few 

 nuclei I increased to eleven colonies, and 

 secured 415 lbs. of honey. I produce only 

 extracted, and it sells readily for 20 cts. 

 per lb. My best colonv of Italians stored 



155 lbs. ; and my worst, a colony of Banats, 

 37 lbs. I have two colonies of goldens ; and 

 while they are good honey-gatherers, they 

 are also great robbers; and after the honey- 

 flow is over it is almost impossible to keep 

 them under control. I had one case of rob- 

 bing this fall, and carbolic acid had no ef- 

 fect on them. As for the Banats, no more 

 for me. They are extremely excitable, poor 

 comb-builders, great stingers, poor honey- 

 gatherers, and it is next to impossible to 

 find the queen in a populous colony. All 

 things considered, no strain can com^Dare 

 with good Italian stock. They are gentle, 

 and by far the best workers. 



Befoi'e I close I should like to give a few 

 pointers to beginners. Adopt the ten-frame 

 hive and stick to it. Don't practice stimu- 

 lative feeding in the spring. Keep the best 

 strain of Italian bees. Use absorbent cush- 

 ions in wintering (not sealed covers), and 

 don't tinker with the bees too much. By 

 reading Gleaxi^^gs and keeping a copy of 

 the A B C of Bee Cultui-e at hand,'^ the 

 theoretical part may be acquired to perfec- 

 tion. The practical part will naturally take 

 care of itself. 



Cincinnati, Dec. 12. 



A SCHOOLTEACHER'S EXPERIENCE WITH 

 BEES 



BY V. ROSS NICODEMUS 



The shades of night had already fallen 

 when I arrived at the old beei'.eeper's stand, 

 three miles from home. He expressed his 

 doubts as to whether I could get my colony 

 home; but I assured him that, if he would 

 get it ready, I would run the risk. I had 

 not gone far on my homeward way before 

 I saw the reason for his doubts. The little 

 box which seiwed as a super jolted loose, 

 and at every chuck in the road threatened 

 to release the prisoners. I soon fixed tliis, 

 however, by sitting on the hive; and, driv- 

 ing old Dobbin at a brisk trot, I arrived 

 safely home without becoming aware of a 

 single bee getting through the cover board. 



Later I bought two more colonies, one of 

 which died before spring. Every day when 

 I returned home from a strenuous day's 

 work in the schoolroom, I Avould slide the 

 lid of the hive to one side and peep in just 

 to see how the bees were getting along. 

 This first colony I transferred to a modern 

 hive. Later I clipped the queen's wings — 

 too closely, perhaps, for she died soon aft- 

 ei^ward. In June I purchased Iavo two- 

 frame nuclei of goldens, and put them into 

 new hives. I thought I was getting along 

 r;i(elv in the la"d of beedom. Little did I 



