AUGUST 15, 1912 



515 



BEES THAT CAN SPELL 



BY J. WAKREN ARTHUR 



Under separate cover I am sending a 

 photo of the honey that I exhibited at our 

 fair last fall. Some two or more years ago 

 you spoke of bees robbing from carloads 

 of honey shij^ped to you, and you said it 

 seemed as if the bees could read the words 

 "Big Four" on the car. Ours can spell. 

 We call our home "Cozy Nook," and the 

 bees spelled it out without trouble when I 

 gave them the copy. The C and Z were 

 slightly crushed, and were bleeding, which 

 shows somewhat in tlie photo. The Z was 

 not capped as white and pretty as some of 

 the others. 



Springfield, 0., March 6. 



[There are beekeepers who can make 

 their bees "spell" if they only know hosv. 

 Perhaps our correspondent will be willing 

 to explain how he did it. In the meantime 

 we should be iDleased to receive short arti- 

 cles from others on how the trick is per- 

 formed. — ^Ed.] 



A FAMILY OF EIGHT THAT EATS FIVE POUNDS 

 OF HONEY A DAY 



BY DAVID E. DOBBS 



I believe I am the pioneer beekeeper of 

 Koochiching Co., Minn., which is about as 

 far north as one can live in the United 

 States. T was born in Brown Co., Ind., in 

 1871, and became interested in bees in 1881. 



My father had kept bees for years, but in 

 box hives. At this age I induced him to 

 buy some Italian bees and movable-frame 

 hives. He told me he exj^ected me to take 

 care of the bees from that time on, so you 

 may be sure that pleased me. I was the 

 youngest of five boys of my father's fam- 

 ily. I was married when 25 years old, and 

 now have five boys and one girl. 



I kept bees continuously until 1902, when 

 my family and I started for Northern 

 Minnesota, where we took up a homestead 

 in the wilderness, where there were lots of 

 moose, deer, wolves, and mosquitoes to 

 shoot of wliich I had my share. We had 

 lots of hardsliips in this country; but in 

 1908 I bought a colony of bees of F. A. 

 Gray, of Redwood Falls, Minn. I received 

 them May 12, after a confinement of about 

 15 days. That year I increased them to 

 four colonies and took 200 lbs. of honey, 

 and wintered them Avithout loss. In 1909 I 

 increased to 17 full colonies, but took only 

 125 lbs. of honey, and had to feed 300 of 

 sugar. I again wintered them without loss, 

 so that in 1910 I commenced with the 17 

 and took 3000 lbs. of extracted honey, or 

 over 176 lbs. per colony, and increased to 

 34 colonies. In 1911 I commenced Avith 34 

 colonies and took 7000 lbs. of honey, of 

 which 6000 was extracted and 1000 comb 

 honey — an average of over 200 lbs. per col- 

 ony, and increased to 69 colonies. 



My honey that 1 have sold has averaged 

 nie 14 cts. per lb. We believe in practicing 

 what we preach, as we use about 5 lbs. of 



A steam melting and rendering outfit for old combs. See next page. 



