February, 1914. 



American Vee Jonrnal 



c-loselv. There are overstocked local- 

 ities, "but where they are overstocked 

 the bee men are not uniformly suc- 

 cessful. 



The young man who travels over 

 the country will find locations as 

 good as the best in districts of com- 

 mercial production where opportun- 

 ities are almost unlimited, for one 

 man at least. 



JUST AS AN E.XAMl'LE. 



Alexander Hilton wanted to keep 

 more bees. He had one hundred and 

 seventy-five colonies that he had in- 

 creased from one hundred and fifty 

 that season besides harvesting six- 

 teen thousand sections of honey that 

 brought him eighteen hundred and 

 fiftv dollars. Then he had wax, vine- 

 gar and extracted honey to bring his 

 sales well past the two thousand 

 mark. But he wanted to keep more 

 bees. He had read the bee journals, 

 all the government bulletins, and had 

 h-ttended every bee convention with- 

 in two hundred miles. He wondered 

 if his bank would help him any. An 

 inventory of his assets and liabilities 

 was made out and he went and had 

 a talk on bees with his banker. He 

 told what his bees had done and how 

 he had guided them in their work. 

 The banker at once realized that 

 Hilton knew his business, especially 

 when Hilton said he wanted to buy 

 two hundred two pound nuclei in the 

 south, ship them north and put them 

 in the new hives that he would pre- 

 pare. He convinced the banker that 

 he knew what he was about and that 

 he had ample security for a loan of a 

 thousand dollars to swing the deal. 

 Hilton has ordered his nuclei by 

 making a small payment down, the 

 loan from the bank not being needed 

 until May when the nuclei will be de- 

 livered. Alex. Hilton may not get his 

 hundred pound crop this year but the 

 chances are that he will well nigh pay 

 for those nuclei. 



CORRECT DISPLAY OF HONEY. 



Comb honey is in a class with fruit. 

 The fruit stands have demonstrated 

 the value of massing fruit together for 

 display. Five red apples do not look 

 so red and inviting as five hundred. 

 What the customer requires is that 

 his eye shall be filled with color. The 

 same holds true of a honey display. 

 The twenty-four pound section case 

 for comb honey is convenient and 

 sanitary, but it is not pre-eminent as 

 a seller of honey. The grocer who 

 buys five cases of honey, empties them 

 all into a show case and fills it full, 

 will sell much more honey than if he 

 bought five cases, put four under the 

 counter and one out on top of the 

 counter for display. This is being 

 forcibly demonstrated by a Boulder 

 grocer who is selling hundreds of 

 dollars worth by filling an upriglit 

 bakery show case with several hun- 

 dred pounds of honey and making a 

 display that catches the eye of every 

 person that comes into the store. He 

 says that his honey business is double 

 that of any year previous. Many 

 grocers are practicing this method as 



the writer saw recently in Kansas 

 City, St. Louis and Chicago. The need 

 and use of the glass front shipping 



case is gradually passing. The sooner 

 it does the more money will be saved 

 the beekeeper. , 



Conducted by J. L. Byer, Mt. J05'. Ontario. 



Moderate but Steady Cold 



A letter from a friend in Ohio, under 

 date of Jan. 7, says that they have 30 

 inches of snow on the level. In No- 

 vember they had a like amount, but it 

 went away before this latter fall. Here 

 we have 3 inches of snow, and that is 

 about all we have had this season. 

 Conditions seem to be reversed this 

 winter, but, of course, we may get lots 

 of snow and severe cold later. In the 

 meantime we have been enjoying mod- 

 erate weather for our latitude, and the 

 bees appear to be wintering nicely and 

 quietly. Although it is moderate, we 

 have not had any days since early in 

 December that were warm enough to 

 tempt bees to fiy. This kind of weather 

 is much better than the warm spells 

 we sometimes get in January, which 

 have a tendency to start the bees rear- 

 ing brood too early in the spring. 



ians' well known propensity for rob- 

 bing. There is no question but that 

 they are better to combat European 

 foul brood than blacks, but what is the 

 use of confusing the issue and making 

 claims that cannot be substantiated ? 



February Work 



Like the preceding month, February 

 in Ontario is a month of practically no 

 work in the apiary, as usually our bees 

 get no flights until March, and the 

 snow that may accumulate around the 

 hives is left alone until the days are 

 warm enough for the bees to fly. These 

 days of comparative leisure to the man 

 who is engaged in beekeeping for a 

 living, give time for reading, etc., while 

 the system is recuperated so as to be 

 able to stand the strenuous summer 

 months. 



Naturally there is wax rendering, 

 and its exchange for next year's supply 

 of foundation ; and frame nailing and 

 wiring. Some advise having founda- 

 tion in frames ready for use when 

 needed, but as our need of frames of 

 foundation is never apparent until the 

 season is on, I never put the founda- 

 tion in until assured that it will be 

 needed, as filled frames are a nuisance 

 to carry over winter, and foundation 

 thus held is apt to deteriorate more or 



less. 



*-•-♦ 



Italians and American Foul Brood 



Owing to the almost undisputed 

 claim that Italians are more or less im- 

 mune to " black " or "European foul 

 brood," claims are constantly being 

 made that they are to a certain extent 

 immune to American foul brood, also. 

 I believe any claims that Italians are 

 exempt from the ravages of American 

 foul brood is mere twaddle. In my ex- 

 perience as an inspector, as well as in 

 dealing with this disease in my own 

 apiaries a few years ago, Italians were 

 more often affected than other races. 

 I judged this to be caused by the Ital- 



Leaky Joints and Leaky Barrels 



As to closing leaky joints in feeders, 

 etc., page 7, what is the matter with 

 using paraffine for this purpose? It is 

 much cheaper than beeswax, and melts 

 at a lower temperature. I have used it 

 with entire satisfaction more than 

 once. Is the fact generally known that 

 for a ready " patch " for a leaky wooden 

 barrel nothing is quite as good as rub- 

 bing over the hole a quantity of com- 

 mon hard soap ? In shipping barrels of 

 honey, more than once this handy arti- 

 cle has helped me out of a difficulty. 

 Of course, it is better to have the bar- 

 rels so coopered that there will be no 

 leak, but sometimes "accidents happen 

 in the best o£ families," and in such 

 cases a remedy comes in handy. 



Profits in Beekeeping 



The figures on page 10, January issue, 

 relative to the profits in beekeeping in 

 Oklahoma are, in common with other 

 boom literature, misleading to say the 

 least. The honey is all valued at 15 

 cents per pound, and if that refers to 

 comb honey, the price is probably not 

 such an exaggeration. If it refers to 

 extracted, it is misleading, for while 15 

 cents can be obtained in a retail way 

 for some sections, such a figure is be- 

 yond reason at the present when whole- 

 sale prices are considered. But the 

 greatest exaggeration is in figuring all 

 the increase at $10 each, net. Are bees 

 commonly worth $10 per colony in 

 Oklahoma ? If such is the case there 

 should be a bonanza in rearing bees 

 for sale instead of honey, and needless 

 to say the price of bees would soon 

 come down. But assuming that they 

 are worth that figure, what about the 

 cost of hives, foundation, frames, etc. 

 are they supplied free to the beekeep- 

 ers by some person in that favored 

 locality ? 



I maintain that the figures are mis- 

 leading, and the association responsi- 

 ble for the report. 



Marketing of Honey Should be Studied 



We are told on page 15, tliat iMr. C. 

 D. House assured the beekeepers at the 

 meeting held in Rochester, N. Y., on 

 Dec. 2, that Canadian beekeepers had 

 solved the question of setting and 



