GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



W. C. Waller, of Wiggins, Miss., with a prime 

 March 25. The bees conveniently clustered on a limb 

 liad been thrown over a fence. 



fact, I have been notified twice by persons 

 hearing the noise tliat my bees were swarm- 

 ing. 



So far as I liave been able to observe, I 

 do not find the honey from this plant ob- 

 jectionable to eat. One soon becomes ac- 

 customed to the odor, and there seems to be 

 no bad taste. I have never noted any in- 

 jurious effect from its use, either as food or 

 as winter stores for the bees, and have not 

 been able to determine whether the nectar 

 itself has the objectionable odor or whether 

 it is absorbed from the pollen. I have often 

 observed, however, that other honey stored 

 in the same place with the ampelopsis honey 

 will soon become scented. When capped 

 honey is left on the hive while this nectar 

 is' coming in, it seems almost as strongly 

 scented as the ampeloiDsis honey itself. 



The method I have practiced for several 

 years seems to work very well with me ; but 

 probably under other conditions this plan 

 would have to be modified. As soon as the 

 first ampelopsis blossoms appear I remove 

 all supers. If a colony is very full of bees 

 I put on a second story, and into this I put 

 any combs that are not ripe enough to ex- 

 tract, and fill out with empty combs. If 

 there is a considerable flow of nectar coming 

 in at this time, as soon as the brood-nest 

 begins to get crowded in those hives that 

 have no supers, I put on a second story, 

 and move the full combs above, and put 



empty combs below ; 

 but as a rule there is 

 not much more nectar 

 coming in than the 

 bees need for food ex- 

 cept in strong colonies. 

 When the ampelopsis 

 flow is over 1 remove 

 all of this honey I can 

 from the strong colo- 

 nies, and store it above 

 such colonies as are 

 not strong enough to 

 give any surplus from 

 aster and goldenrod, 

 and give to the strong 

 colonies the partly fill- 

 ed sections that I had 

 taken off earlier in the 

 season. When it comes 

 time to take off the 

 supers I distribute the 

 combs of ampelopsis 

 honey among the hives 

 as they ai'e needed, 

 feeding sugar syrup 

 to those colonies that 

 are still short of stores. 

 This method works 

 well in a small apiary. 



I do not know whether it will do as well in 



a large one. 



South Hadley, Mass. 



swarm that issued 

 from a fig tree that 



THE HOMES OF BEEKEEPERS 



BY WESLEY FOSTER 



The home is the center of our national 

 life. If we have not wholesome and happy 

 homes it matters not how successful our 

 business is — we are not getting the best out 

 of life. We hear continually of the hard- 

 ships of life on the farm and the barrenness 

 of most of country living. The majority of 

 specialist beekeepers live near or in towns, 

 so they come in what we may call a semi- 

 rural class. From my observation I believe 

 that most beekeepers' families have fewer 

 hardships and more pleasui-es than the ma- 

 jority of farmers' families. Rural condi- 

 tions are improving, and well they may. 

 The point is that beekeeping contributes to 

 a wholesome, full home life. The remunera- 

 tion for capital invested and time required 

 is better than most callings coming within 

 the agricultural class. I want to show you 

 a few of the beekeepers' homes that have 

 led me to retake these observations. These 

 are representative of western conditions. 



The upper left-hand view is the home of 

 Hon. O. C. Skinner, Montrose, Colorado. 

 Mr. Skinner owns about 200 colonies of 



