January, 1914. 



American ~B«e Jonrnal 



West protector. In one or two days 

 the young queen would hatch and pro- 

 ceed to tear down all cells that were 

 started, and do a cleaner job than I 

 could, besides saving the time going 

 through those hives and cutting out 

 the cells. 



I reared over 100 fine cells in one 

 hive during the season, and got 10 su- 

 pers of honey from the same hive, and 

 did not have a queen in the hive from 

 May 10 to Aug. l.'j. I kept from three 

 to five frames of hatching brood in the 

 hive all the time. 



I clip all my queens and mark tlie 

 year in which they were clipped on the 

 back of the hive. In this way I can 

 tell just how old each queen is by look- 

 ing on the hive. 



1 have never had much trouble with 

 swarming, but this year the bees all 

 over this section got the fever, and 

 how they did swarm! But it happened 

 in August, during our heaviest honey- 

 flow, so I did not try to hive any 

 swarms. Instead, when a colony 

 started to swarm, I would catch the 

 old queen, put her in a cage and place 

 it in front of the hive, and when the 

 swarm had returned I would kill the 

 old queen if I did not want to save 

 her. If I did I would use her to re- 

 queen some other colony. In six or 

 seven days I would go through the 

 hives that had swarmed, and cut out 

 all queen-cells but one. In this way I 

 did not lose much honey, and I have a 

 young queen for next year. I have 

 about 150 young queens out of 208, and 

 most of the rest are only one year old. 

 Of course I lost some in mating, but 

 had young laying queens in small hives 

 to replace those that were lost. 



This year I harvested 61.5 cases of 

 finished comb honey and 25 cases (250 

 gallons) of extracted, increased to 280 

 colonies, did all my work alone, and 

 only had 450 supers to do it with. Next 

 year I expect to increase to 300. 



Is it necessary to start with one or 

 two colonies to become successful ? I 

 think not. 



Delta, Colo. 



midrib which they fixed to the wood at 

 the center. That was all the fixing 

 they would do, although they were fed 

 and fed. Not a drop would they put 

 around the edges where they had re- 

 moved the honey to get at the midrib. 



The sections were finally taken oft'. 

 Whenever a section happened to be 

 turned over on its side, if not very 

 careful, it broke away from the wood 

 entirely. The sections could not be 

 shipped at all without breaking, which, 

 of course, would spoil them. Instead 

 of having a beautiful lot of section 

 honey, we had a lot of chunks of honey, 

 neither comb nor extracted. 



To those who are at all fascinated 

 with the short cut idea, I would say 

 " go slow " or you may be sorry you 

 cut your nice combs to pieces. 



Vernon, B. C. 



Short Cuts to Section Honey 



BY L. HARRI.S. 



IN the American Bee Journal for No- 

 vember, I notice an article on page 

 37() by Dr. Bonney, on short cuts 

 to section honey. Some years ago 

 we secured a splendid lot of sec- 

 tion honey. There was an excellent 

 demand for it, and before the real 

 honey selling began (in the fall) we 

 had sold our whole product. 



We happened to have a beautiful lot 

 of half-depth frames of sealed honey, 

 and the idea occurred to us that we 

 might be able to cut these up for sec- 

 tion honey. 



Accordingly we made a form and 

 placed a lot of these full sealed combs 

 in sections and placed them on the 

 colony which had been our best comb- 

 honey producer. The sections looked 

 nice when they were inserted ; all filled 

 to the wood, and we were flattering 

 ourselves on our good invention. 



But, alas ! we had forgotten to reckon 

 with the bees. The first thing they did 

 was to tear down the two rows of cells 

 next to the wood, so as to get at the 



Beekeepers I Have Known— 

 "Eugene Secor" 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT. 



AMONG the beekeepers of the mid- 

 dle West, none is more widely 

 known than Hon. Eugene Secor, 

 of Forest City, Iowa, and if a 

 man's true wealth is measured 

 by the number of his friends, he is one 

 of the richest men of my acqaintance. 



Mr. Secor has had his share of hon- 

 ors, having been for a time a member 

 of the Iowa legislature, and for several 

 years postmaster at Forest City. At 

 present he is a director of the Iowa 

 State Horticultural Society, which so- 

 ciety is supported by the State, and he 

 has held many similar positions. Both 

 beekeeping and horticultural pursuits 

 attract high class men, and it is re- 

 markable what a large percentage of 



Hon, Eugene Secor form- 

 erly PRESIDENT OF THE NA- 

 TIONAL Beekeepers' Asso- 



CIATON. 



those engaged in these pursuits are of 

 the finer sort. Mr. Secor is both a 

 beekeeper and a horticulturist, and has 

 been for nearly half a century, all of 

 this time making his home at "The 

 Shelter," where he still resides. Of 

 things horticultural, his greatest inter- 

 est is in the peony, and he has written 

 much concerning it, both for the pub- 

 lications of the Iowa Horticultural 

 Society and the various journals to 

 which he is a contributor. Of late he 

 has given considerable attention to the 

 production of new varieties, and his 

 efforts in this direction have not been 

 without recompense, for among his 

 creations are some promising new 

 sorts. 



It is with Secor the beekeeper, how- 

 ever, that this sketch has principally 

 to deal. Those who have been regular 

 attendants at the conventions of the 

 National Association, all know Secor 

 and his songs. A number of them 

 have been set to music and sung at 

 these conventions. Among them may 

 be mentioned "The Hum of the Bees 

 in the .'Vpple Tree Bloom," "The Bee- 



keeper's Lullaby," and "Buckwheat 

 Cakes and Honey." The spirit of the 

 man is well shown in the following 

 extract from one of his poems, "When 

 the Bees are Coming Home:" 



" What fools we .-nortals be! ' We fume and 



fret 

 Because of life's unceasing round of toil, 

 Permittinif gold our happiness to spoil. 

 When love and service are the holy oil 

 That blesses all the wealth we need to get. 



The soft, low hum that falls upon our ears 

 As darkness creeps upon the glowing west, 

 Is labor's song proclaiming that the best 

 Of all that's good is found through daily 



quest — 

 And duty leaves no time for useless tears. 



He has written poetry for many 

 years, and not long since a little vol- 

 ume of his poems was published by 

 Successful Farming, of which his son 

 Alson is editor. This volume is en- 

 titled, " Verse for Little Folks and 

 Others." The title fits the book all 

 right, for the writer's 10-year old son, 

 "Kent," reads the poems with much in- 

 terest, while the writer himself has 

 read the "Bobtail Rooster" and the 

 "Pumpkin-Seed Calf" so many times 

 that they bid fair to be committed to 

 memory. 



Although a beekeeper for nearly 50 

 years, Mr. Secor is very modest, and 

 must be urged to take a place on the 

 program of a beekeepers' convention, 

 saying that he feels like one who is 

 merely playing with bees. How often 

 it is thus, that those best fitted to teach 

 are slowest to recognize the merit of 

 their own offerings. 



I cannot refrain from quoting a few 

 lines from another of his poems en- 

 titled, " About a Bee :" 



" Here's a bee, my children see, 

 Gathering sweets for you and me. 

 On Sir Dandy Lion's crown 

 She is yellow tiiat was brown; 

 Yellow with the golden dust 

 Lent to her in solemn trust; 

 Blossoms bartering gold for gold 

 Through this dusty trader bold. 

 Dandy Lion seeks a bride. 

 Sends his offering far and wide 

 By his trusty friend the bee. 

 And with honey pays the fee," 



No one not a naturalist as well as a 

 beekeeper could write such lines as 

 these, and also the following taken 

 from the next verse : 



" Hairy legs are good for bees. 

 Therefore she has six of these; 

 She has baskets on her knees 

 'i" carry bread for baby bees," 



It is manifestly impossible to write 

 about Secor the beekeeper as other 

 than the beekeeper's poet. His love 

 for bees, like his love for birds and 

 flowers, finds expression in verse, and 

 I am not sure but life to him is a glad 

 sweet song. Though shadows have 

 crossed his path, and some of them 

 very deep ones, he seems always able 

 to see the silver lining of every cloud. 

 Since the death of Mrs. Secor, his com- 

 panion for many years, he remains in 

 his old home with his daughter, "Miss 

 Nina," who is like her father in many 

 ways, and the two find much that is 

 good in life together. 



It is not the writer's disposition to 

 envy any man, for he is well content 

 with his own lot. Were it given, how- 

 ever, to choose the results of another's 

 life work, he would not take the for- 

 tune of Rockefeller, nor yet the glory 

 of Dewey's warfare, nor vet the honors 



