12 



PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



Among the Apiarists 



Bee Talk 



We notice once in a while a story 

 circulated in different papers of a 

 meeting house in California where 

 bees have taken possession or are 

 found in a cave in some bluff where 

 the bees have stored tons of honey. 

 These stories, especially the tons 

 of honey part, are only imaginary 

 and hatched in the fertile brain of 

 some would-be enterprising re- 

 porter. Bees may be found in such 

 places, sometimes, but as to tons 

 of honey at a place, is all nonsense. 

 We noticed not long since, a writer 

 in a bee journal saying, "that as 

 a usual thing, that articles on bees 

 in a farm paper were not reliable, 

 and there is some truth in what he 

 said, for unless articles on bees are 

 furnished by a practical bee-keeper 

 they are more than likely to be 

 sensational and misleading and 

 sometimes do real mischief, writes 

 J. W. Rouse in Farm and Orchard. 

 Bees congregate in colonies or 

 swarms, as they are called. When 

 they settle down to business they 

 only have one queen or mother bee 

 to the colony. It may happen in 

 swarming time that two or more 

 swarms will unite, but wlien they 

 get down to business, all the queens 

 will be killed but one, and the col- 

 ony will then depend for popula- 

 tion in bees, what this one queen 

 can produce, so if there should be 

 a bushel or more of bees in a swarm 

 they would soon be reduced to 

 what the one queen could produce, 

 as the life of a bee in the working 

 season is short. About forty five 

 days from hatching the queen must 

 be a good layer of eggs in order to 

 keep up a good population of the 

 colony. Most queen bees will only 

 produce eggs to keep up the popu- 

 lation or the hive to from 40,000 to 

 60,000 bees. There are many 

 queens that will not do even so 

 well as mentioned, while in a few 

 cases there are some that will have 

 a population of 75,000 to 80,000 

 bees to the colony. These last fig- 

 ures would give a large colony of 



bees — about a half bushel. An 

 average swarm will weight from 

 six to eight pounds. The writer 

 once had a swarm that weighed 

 fifteen pounds, which wah the larg- 

 est we have ever seen except where 

 two 01 more swarms united. 



Bees at swarming time will 

 weigh one pound to the 4,000 l)ees. 

 They are then filled with honey; 

 after they empty the honey they 

 will weigh one pound to the 5,000 

 bees. There is no guess work about 

 this, for it has been tried and 

 tested. 



There is just as much difference 

 in queen bees as there are in milk 

 cows — some are good and some are 

 not, and will not pay for their keep- 

 ing. Some queen bees produce 

 only enough bees to keep the col 

 ony alive and no surplus honey, 

 while others produce surplus honey. 

 It is almost useless for anyone to 

 try to keep bees in common box 

 hives or log gums When there 

 was a very large flora of wild 

 flowers bees would often store 

 honey in such fixtures, but to meet 

 with much success under present 

 conditions, the bee-keeper must 

 use better methods. 



Prospects are very good every- 

 where where there has been plenty 

 of rain, for a splendid honey flow 

 for next season. There is a great 

 abundance of white clover and other 

 honey producing plants. 



We are often asked how to get 

 ants out of bee hives. As they do 

 but very little harm we do not 

 bother about them much. If one 

 can secure their nest where they 

 may be located in anything remov- 

 able from the hive, they can be 



taken off some distance from the 

 hive and shaken off. If this is 

 done close to the hive they will go 

 back again. Treat roaches same 

 way as the ants to get them out. 



iVlarketing Honey. 



Honey must be packed in shape 

 to please the eye. Established 

 quality has much to do with the 

 price, but the way it looks : has 

 much more. In order to get good 

 returns from your product you 

 mu.st watch the markets and know 

 if the honey crop is large or small. 

 Your crop may be large and you 

 m'ly not have the time to sell it to 

 private buyers, writes G. H. Town- 

 send in New Englnnd Homestead, 

 and you will have to depend on the 

 commission merchant. 



The best method is selling direct 

 to consumers, or if that is impos- 

 sible, to the grocery stores. If your 

 goods are of the better quality, 

 mark with your name and address. 

 Name your apiary or home and you 

 will find paying results. Home 

 market first, foreign next, should 

 be your axiom at all times. 



Just as soon as your honey has 

 been secured and the sections 

 cleaned, they should be put in the 

 selling case, which may be either 

 12, 24 or 28 pounds. Put in a dark 

 room free from mice, bees and in- 

 sects. The cases should be of neat 

 appearances and clean, with glass 

 on one side. When it is desirable 

 to keep honey a length of time, it 

 should be kept free from dampness 

 and changes of temperature. If 

 water condenses on the surface 01 

 combs the honey .soon sours. For 

 this rea.son honey should never be 

 stored in cellars that are damp. It 

 is better to keep it upstairs in a dry 

 room. 



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