MARCH 1, 1913 



163 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



KEEP SWEET 



BY IKMA TRUK SOPER 



Feelin' sort o' cross and blue ? 



Troubles can't be beat ? 

 Luck the worst you ever knew ? 



Time to — jest " keep sweet." 

 Toothache? headache? work ain't done? 



Can't keep things as neat 

 As you'd like to? 'Tain't much fun; 



But — like bees — " keep sweet." 

 Winter time may be too cold 



Jest to suit ; but meet 

 Old weatherman with smiles so bold — 



Like the bees, " keep sweet." 

 May be 'tother way around — 



Don't like summer's heat; 

 But you'll see much joy you've found 



If you'll jest " keep sweet." 

 If you'll try it, then you'll find 



Troubles can be beat; 

 Keep on bein' lovin', kind; 



Like the bees- — " keep sweet." 

 Gladwin, Mich. 



Comb Honey Sells Easier than Extracted Honey 



We have always found that it pays much better 

 to run our apiary for comb honey than for extracted. 

 Comb honey almost sells itself. We never yet have 

 had so much but that we could have easily sold more. 

 One year we had 39,000 lbs. After it was sold, a 

 man wanting a carload wrote us regarding the mat- 

 ter. 



If our bees are strong in time for the clover har- 

 vest any honey harvest they will work in the sec- 

 tions without any trouble. Thus it is easier for us 

 to make a specialty of comb honey than extracted. 

 Very few persons want extracted honey if they can 

 get comb honey, and they are always willing to pay 

 more for comb honey. 



At one time we feel that we have a good market 

 for extracted honey worked up, and then there comes 

 a failure of a honey crop. Our old customers forget 

 how they had liked extracted, and so we have to 

 teach them over and over again ; but comb honey sells 

 on sight. I think one reason for this is that it looks 

 80 well on the table. 



Bulk comb or cut-out honey pays well. If some 

 colonies are too weak to work in supers they can be 

 induced to store cut-out honey by placing old sections 

 at the side of the brood-nest with a slotted division- 

 board at the side of the brood-combs. 



CLEANINO SUPERS AXD HOXE Y-BOARDS. 



For cleaning supers I put on the stove an old 

 w«sh-boiler filled ■with water. As soon as it boils I 

 add about a tenth of a can of lye, then put in a 

 super. The propolis soon softens, and washes off 

 easily. Turning it over and over, I rub it by means 

 of a swab having a long handle until it is clean. I 

 then put the super into a tub of water, and let it 

 soak until I have cleaned another. If the propolis 

 does not rub off easily, but just smears over, it is be- 

 cause there is not enough lye in the water. Keep the 

 water near the boiling-point. 



HOT-WEATHER SHELTER FOR BEES. 



I prefer trees as shelter from the sun because they 

 not only afford shade but allow the air to circulate 

 around the hive, and in the winter, when the leaves 

 have fallen, the warm sunshine on the hive gives the 

 bees a chance to warm up somewhat, and to change 

 their brood-nest if need be. 



Roseville, 111. Mrs. L. C. Axtbll. 



How Rapidly Should Increase be Made ? 



Last September I purchased a beginner's outfit. 

 Buckeye hive, etc. I should like to know how many 

 colonies can be made from this colony, and how to 

 go about it. I fed them sugar syrup, and they seem 

 to be in first-class condition. What supers will fit the 

 Buckeye hive? Miss Edith F. Miller. 



Lake Geneva, Wis., Jan. 14. 



[Before we could answer your letter fully we 

 should have to know whether you wish to run these 

 bees you have for increase alone or for some honey 

 together with the increase. Ordinarily we think the 

 latter plan is much the better one. An expert can 

 run for increase alone, and increase one colony to 

 fifteen or twenty under favorable circumstances ; but 

 we do not advise a beginner to attempt this. We 

 think it is far better to allow the colony to swarm 

 once, if natural swarming is allowed at all, and then 

 prevent further increase, allowing both the swaxm 

 and the parent colony to produce honey. The next 

 year the number of colonies can be doubled again, 

 and so on. The trouble with making a rapid increase 

 in one year is that there is likely to be trouble dur- 

 ing the following winter, owing to the fact that 

 many of the colonies will not be strong enough to 

 winter profitably. 



If you intend to increase by artificial methods we 

 would recommend the Alexander plan of making in- 

 crease, as this plan possesses advantages that most 

 other plans do not. 



Any ten-frame super will fit your Buckeye hive, 

 so that it really depends upon what style of supers 

 you prefer. — Ed. ] 



Daughters of Old Queens as Breeders 



In May or .Tune, 1910, I purchased a two-frame 

 nucleus, and I now have three colonies of bees. 

 Last year I lost the queen which I bought, but nev- 

 ertheless my three colonies all have queens which are 

 her daughters. I now want to know whether it will 

 be all right to raise queens from them this year in 

 making increase or would it be better to buy another 

 queen to raise young queens from 1 



Slingerlands, N. Y. Miss Alida M. Piee. 



[If these daughters of the queen that you bought 

 are purely mated, so that their bees are gentle 

 and good workers, there is no reason why you should 

 not breed from them the coming season. If the 

 queens have mated with black drones, their workers 

 will be irritable, of course. We should think one of 

 them, at least, might be suitable to breed from. At 

 any rate, breed from the best of the three. You 

 would not necessarily breed from all the three, any 

 wav. — ^Ed. ] 



Wintering Bees in Box Hives 



I want to take up beekeeping. I have two old box 

 hives. One is in a very sadly neglected condition. 

 Some of the comb in it was broken when I received 

 the bees. A good many bees were chilled and axe 

 dead, and I know that what are left will have to be 

 fed. \\Tiat can I do to get them through the winter? 

 I am at a loss to know what to do ^th them as 

 the weather in this climate is so changeable, and I 

 don't want to lose them. The colony is not large. 



I don't know when the queen is with them. How 

 can I tell? Would it be of any use to know how? 



Glencoe, Ky., Dec. 31. aiiss A. L. Sceoqin. 



[We have our doubts as to whether you will be 

 able to winter the colony you mention. After being 

 moved as they were, and the combs broken down, the 

 chances are that the bees will be dead before spring. 

 As they are in box hives it will be practically im- 

 possible for you to tell whether the queen is with 



