March, 1914. 



lAm^rican Hee Journal 



be raised on the finished article. 



Many beekeepers will think that the 

 prices are too high, and on this account 

 will reduce their orders for the season. 

 I don't think this should be the case. 

 Beekeepers should go right on expand- 

 ing their business in the usual way, for 

 supplies will never beany cheaper, and 

 bees are increasing in value each year, 

 and the demand for them is growing. 

 But this rise in the price of supplies 

 hits the comb-honey producer the 

 heaviest blow, because so much of his 

 supplies consist of sections, shipping- 

 cases, etc., which go with the crop of 

 honey; while the chunk-honey and ex- 

 tracted-honey producer retains his 

 supplies and the cost of suitable re- 

 tainers for the marketing of such 

 honey is the only added expense. 



Wants to Start Right 



Mr. Wiliif.r: — I am a beginner in 

 beekeeping, and want to start right 

 and produce comb honey for home 

 use and for local market. Any sug- 

 gestions will be greatly appreciated. 



Baldwin, Ga. Gresham Duckett. 



Answer. — I would produce chunk 

 honey, using the regular shallow ex- 

 tracting supers for storing room, and 

 the regular 8-frame dovetailed one- 

 story hives for brood-chambers, and 

 would order not less than two supers 

 for each colony. Three is better than 

 one. Use full sheets of foundation in 

 the frames in the supers, and 1-inch 

 starters in the frames in the brood- 

 chambers as long as you practice nat- 

 ural swarming, but use full sheets when 

 you resort to artificial swarming. It 

 would be best to use queen-excluders 

 between super and brood-chamber in 

 order to keep the queens below so the 

 new combs above will not be soiled by 

 brood-rearing. You must have your 

 honey as attractive as possible in order 

 to sell it and obtain the best prices. 



You can sell the honey in frames and 

 let the weight of the frames go in as 

 honey. Or if your customers care 

 to return them, you can allow them the 

 same price per pound as you charged 

 for the honey. Having plenty of su- 

 pers, I would remove honey only as I 

 sold it during the winter months. 



In the busy season watch the supers, 

 and as soon as the bees get the super 

 next to the brood-chamber about one- 

 third full, raise it and place an empty 

 one beneath. In this way you will sup- 

 ply the bees with plenty of storing 

 room, and many times you will get two 

 supers filled as quickly as one. Start 

 selling new honey as soon as any 

 frames are well filled and capped over. 



The Brood-Nest 



Just at this time of the year the 

 brood-nest of the colony is a very im- 

 portant factor to the beekeeper, and 

 should be examined as soon as the 

 first warm day comes. See what the 

 conditions are, and give the attention 

 needed. 



When bees are allowed to dwindle in 

 the fall, during winter they cluster up 

 in the supers where there may be a 

 little honey. Sometimes they cluster 

 in empty combs left in supers, carry 

 honey up from below, and, as a nat- 



ural consequence, start rearing brood 

 in the super, totally ignoring the brood- 

 chamber. Medium sized colonies will 

 do this occasionally; the broodnest 

 may be divided with part of the brood 

 below and part above. In such cases 

 the super containing the brood should 

 be placed under the brood-chamber. 

 The queen will then go above as soon 

 as she gets very active; this super can 

 be removed later. 



In cases where bees are run for ex- 

 tracted honey solely, with full-depth 

 frames in the supers, and where they 

 have established their brood-nestabove, 

 all the combs of brood thus occupied 

 should be moved below or the bodies 

 interchanged. Keep the queen below 

 until she has the body of the hive filled 

 with brood. She can be allowed to go 

 above later if so desired. 



made. Lots of it was shipped over 500 

 miles, and it was packed in nice ship- 

 ping-cases and carriers. It was retail- 

 ing at less than I was offering mine at 

 to jobbers. I held to my price and sold 

 all I produced. Brother beekeeper, let 

 us line up on this point of market. 



The Prevailing Prices of Honey 



Honey has not risen in price as it 

 should along with other articles of 

 ford. If such had been the case, bee- 

 keeping would be on a much better 

 financial basis today. No one is re- 

 sponsible for this but the beekeeper. 

 Now that the prices of bee-supplies 

 have advanced so much, we should 

 raise prices this coming season. I am 

 in hopes the price will advance not 

 less than 2 or 2}4 cents per pound. If 

 there is some general understanding 

 about prices among us, and especially 

 those who are great producers, there 

 will surely be a change in our favor. 

 For with the lack of this understand- 

 ing, we will not have uniform price. 

 Let the slogan of better prices for our 

 honey this season spread as far as pos- 

 sible from beekeeper to beekeeper. 



As I traveled from city to city last 

 season selling honey, I found nice 

 comb honey that was sold and deliv- 

 ered by the producer for less than 8 

 cents per section, and small shipments 



Losses to Beekeepers Through Floods 



It is with regret that we learned of so 

 much loss to beekeepers in Texas from 

 floods. Among those mentioned is 

 Mr. Polk, of Belton, who not only lost 

 his bees but his family as well. Mr. 

 Scholl, of New Braunfels, lost heavily. 

 Several of his apiaries, together with 

 supplies, etc., were swept away by the 

 water. 



I am sure all beekeepers join me in 

 extending sympathv to all who have 

 sustained losses. Editor Root,in com- 

 menting, says : " When we read the 

 telegraphic reports of the floods in 

 Texas, we wondered how our bees on 

 the Apalachicola river would fare, be- 

 cause they are on platforms, but slightly 

 above high water level. Fortunately, 

 however, the floods did not visit that 

 section." Fortunate it is for many of 

 us that they did not, for there are many 

 bees in this section similarly situated. 



The Texas flood should be an exam- 

 ple for us. I have seen hundreds of 

 colonies in the swamps of the Apala- 

 chicola, supported by frail scaffolds, 

 and barely above high water mark. 



Mr. R. W. Herlong, of Ft. White, 

 Fla., some years ago located an apiary 

 in a low district which was supposed 

 to have been a pond at one time, al- 

 though water had never been known 

 to collect there to any extent. Some 

 time after the bees were located a flood 

 came, the pond was filled, and the bees 

 were destroyed before they could be 

 moved, although the hives, etc.. were 

 intact when the water subsided. We can- 

 not have our apiaries placed /oo safely 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo. 



Altitude and the Alfalfa Honey Crop 



Is it possible that alfalfa in high alti- 

 tudes does not yield nectar ? What is 

 the cause of the poor yields of alfalfa ? 

 — A Subscriber. 



There is no doubt that alfalfa yields 

 less nectar at an altitude of 8000 feet 

 than it does at 4000 to (5000 feet. The 

 San Luis valley is an example of this. 

 This valley lies at an altityde of 7000 to 

 8000 feet, I believe, and while alfalfa and 

 sweet clover grow very well, the bee- 

 keeping industry has never cut much 

 of a figure there, although there are 

 some bees kept. Another district 

 comes to mind, and that is the upper 

 Arkansas valley around Salida, Colo. 

 Large fields of alfalfa are grown, but 

 bees are not kept there by any one in a 

 commercial way, as is true in the lower 



end of the valley, from Pueblo to the 

 Kansas line. 



There is no evidence that I know of 

 that would give ground for the belief 

 that altitude has anything to do with it 

 except as altitude affects the tempera- 

 ture. The nights are often cold and 

 frosty, and the days do not get so 

 warm in the higher valleys and moun- 

 tain parks as is the rule in the lower 

 valleys. 



It may be set down almost as a rule 

 that the West that depends upon alfalfa 

 and sweet clover for surplus honey has 

 its largest crops when the season is 

 hottest with abundant water for irri- 

 gation, and two to three good rains in 

 July and August to put new life into 

 the sweet clover growing beside the 

 roads and in waste places inaccessible 

 to irrigation water. 



I have had considerable experience 



