AUGUST 1, 19 J 3 



525 



schoolteacher my bees did not secure the 

 attention thej^ required ; for while the hon- 

 ey was very acceptable on the table my folks 

 did not have the same enthusiasm that I 

 did in caring for the bees, and I finally dis- 

 posed of them for that reason. 



Soon after establishing a home of my 

 own I remembered my former pels and in- 

 vested anew. As my better half takes al- 

 most as much pleasure as I have in their 

 care, my bees noAv receive pretty good at- 

 tention. 



Geai'v, Okla. 



THE RESULT OF EIGHT SUMMERS' EXPERIENCE 



BY ROSCOE P. WIXSOX 



In the spring of 1905 I purchased a colo- 

 ny of bees of a neighbor, and thus com- 

 menced a business the managing and work- 

 ing of which I like better than any other ru- 

 ral occupation now open to young men. My 

 first summer's experience came when I was 

 not quite fourteen. Ever since I can re- 

 member honey has had a great attraction 

 for me, so it was but natural that my taste 

 should be satisfied. 



About the first of May my first colony 

 was moved home and placed on a stand in 

 the yard. When the bees became strong- 

 enough, sections were placed on the hive 

 and watch was kept for swarms. During 

 that summer the total crop of honey was 

 about 25 pounds. The bees were increased 

 through two swarms ; but the parent colony 

 died of queenlessness, leaving me two to 

 winter. 



During the season of 1906 the two colo- 

 nies that wintered increased to four or five. 

 During those years school duties occupied 

 most of my time, so beekeeping was simply 

 a side line. 



The purchase of a three-frame nucleus 

 of Italian bees and some new Danzenbaker 

 hives completed the great deals for the sum- 

 mer of 1908. The cost of these Italians, in- 

 cluding the express charges on them, was 

 about five dollars. At that time I expected 

 the " Goldens " to be wonderful; but they 

 were far from it, because it was well into the 

 next summer's clover flow before they paid 

 their expenses. The purchase of good Cjueens 

 (which I made later) would have been the 

 wisest course. 



There was not very much done to stir any 

 beginner with enthusiasm except chasing- 

 swarms to the woods in the period of the 

 honey-flows of 1909, '10, and '11. I bought 

 a few queens in these years for the weaker 

 colonies, but no wholesale requeening was 

 attempted. Several box hives Avere bought 



to experiment on, but in most eases they 

 proved rather poor material. 



In 1909 a man who wished to go out of 

 the business sold me his entire stock of 

 eight-frame hives with three colonies of 

 bees. Although the bees paid for themselves 

 the first season, the eight-frame hives have 

 been a bother ever since, and I still have 

 them in storage, waiting to be converted in- 

 to ten-frame. My books showed the fol- 

 loAving summer something like 17 colonies 

 and a total crop of about 636 sections. 



I wish especially to relate my experience 

 for the sunmier of 1912 and the result of 

 fighting European foul brood. I think that 

 when the honej^-flow commenced in the lat- 

 ter part of May I had about 38 colonies of 

 bees. Eleven were in box liives, 15 in 

 Danzenbaker, and the remainder in eiglit 

 and ten frame standard hives. Let me add 

 here the fact that the box hives in the yard 

 were purchased the fall before, entirely for 

 the purpose of speculation. Last Septem- 

 ber I purchased fifty empty hives for the 

 expected increase, and planned to receive 

 enough swarms from these colonies to fill all 

 hives. Early in the spring the bees appear- 

 ed quite healthy, and I had great hopes of 

 a good and prosperous year. As time went 

 along and fruit bloom came and neared its 

 close I noticed that some of the box hives 

 which had been strong in the spring had 

 not increased in strength, but were, on the 

 contrary, decreasing. I might mention here 

 an example of good stock, and of what it 

 means to have Italian blood in the yard. 

 One hive in the yard was headed by an Ital- 

 ian queen from a firm in Indiana, and had 

 always proved fairly good. This spring, 

 when natural pollen began to come in quite 

 freely, this particular colony Avas rather 

 Aveak, Avhile I had at least tAVo or three colo- 

 nies in box hives which were at least double 

 in strength. Now for the point : As the 

 season advanced, the Italians gained stead- 

 ily on the blacks in the box hives. The box 

 hives seemed to be losing bees every day. 

 There seemed to be something the matter, 

 for bees in their natural state never acted 

 like that before. The only way to find out 

 Avas to get at some of the comb in the boxes. 

 After the bees Avere drummed out and plac- 

 ed on a set of combs I examined the brood- 

 combs. ThcA' looked decidedly queer. The 

 next day I mailed a small piece of comb to 

 the Department of Agiiculture at Washing- 

 ton, and in a few days receiA'ed notice that 

 European foul brood was the disease pres- 

 ent. At once all of the hives were inspect- 

 ed, and every colony was found to be dis- 

 eased except the aboA-e-mentioiied colony of 

 Italians and a colony of Banat-Italians. 

 FiA-e out of seven Avere diseased in an out- 



