1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



29 



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49Ai:it Mention the A wfrimv Bet, JuurnaU 



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Qcj;)eral Iterrjs* 



Apiary Near a Bailroad. 



On page 794 the question is asked whether 

 it would be good policy to locate an apiary 

 near a railroad. I located my apiary here 

 in Chippewa Falls, in ISSS, and have had 

 from 50 to 100 colonies ever since (7 years) 

 within 125 feet of the Wisconsin Central, 

 Northern Pacific, and Milwaukee and St. 

 Paul railroads, whose heaviest freights, 

 limited passenger coaches, and fast cattle 

 trains are passing all the time, night and 

 day ; and although I have watched very 

 clo.sely, in winter especially, when the 

 ground trembles, still I have never been 

 able to see any disturbance or notice taken 

 of it. I am satisfied that no harm has ever 

 been done my bees by passing trains. 



E. A. Morgan. 



Chippewa Falls, Wis., Dec. 15, 1895. 



When answering this Advertisement, Mention this journal. 



PATENT WIRED COMB FOUNDATION 



Has No Sag In Brood-Frames 



Thin Flat-Bottom Foundation 



Has So Fishbone in the Ssrplas Honey, 



Betnff the cleanest 1b usually worked 

 the quickest of any Foundation made 



J. VAN OEUSEN & SONS, 



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 Sprout Brook Montgomery Co., N. Y. 



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 Write for Samples aud Prices, to 



GUS DITTITIER, AUGUSTA, WIS. 

 Reference— Augusta Bank, 16Att 



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 Mention the Amtrican Ute Javmai. 



Non-Swarming' Bees — Fair Season. 



There has been a good deal said lately 

 both for and against the breeding of a 

 strain of non-swarming bees. Well, I won't 

 say whether it would be better to have such 

 or not; but this I do know, that I have not 

 bad a swarm for the last six years ; but the 

 reason for that (at least I think so) is, I 

 use a fairly large hive, lSxl2xl8 inches, in- 

 side measure, and by putting on the super 

 at the proper time I have been successful 

 in keeping down swarming. It I want in- 

 crease, I divide. 



My bees did fairly well the first part of 

 the past season, but dry weather cut the 

 crop shorf. My average was 50 pounds per 

 colony. But on account of later rains they 

 gathered enough for winter. 



Jno. McKimmie. 



Niagara, Ont., Dec. 16, 1895. 



Poor Season — Xiikes Hybrid Bees. 



My bees are in the cellar in apparently 

 good condition. The past was a very poor 

 season for bees here. In the fall of 1894 I 

 placed .57 colonies in the cellar, and took 56 

 out alive last April. They dwindled down 

 to .53 at the commencement of the honey 

 harvest. I had one prime swaragi issue, but 

 still they decreased to 51 colonies for win- 

 ter. My report for 1895 is as follows; From 

 53 colonies at the commencement of the 

 harvest, I took about 600 pounds of honey, 

 mostly extracted, and had 51 colonies for 

 winter. Friday, Nov. 29, the bees had a 

 good flight, and Saturday, Nov. 30, they 

 were put into the cellar, and appeared to 

 be in good condition. I like the hybrid 

 bees. My best hybrid colony stored 105 

 pounds of surplus extracted honey this 

 year. Cn.4S. B. Allen. 



Central Square, N. T., Dec. 3, 1895, 



49A13t 



Breeding Out the Swarming Habit. 



I have read a good deal about " breeding 

 out the swarming habit." I hardly think 

 it would be any more desirable than swarm- 

 ing out the breeding habit in the human or 

 animal races. Doubtless it would be an ad- 

 vantage to the world could we do this in 

 degenerates of the races, but there is 

 always "the survival of the fittest" to 

 counterbalance a too great increase of 

 scrubs. 



I think controlling swarming the only 

 remedy, and tlmt with every precaution 

 sometimes fails. By having queens clipped, 

 tends to discourage swarming. Worker 

 foundation (full sheets) in brood-frames 

 reduces drone-production to a minimum, 

 and careful examination of frames, remov- 

 ing queen-cells and dividing the colonies at 

 the commencement of active breeding, will 

 to a great extent prevent swarming. I be- 

 lieve if the queen is given to a nucleus, and 

 a new tested, clipped queen purchased from 

 a reliable queen-rearer given to the old 



colony, not once in a hundred times will 

 either of them cast a swarm. 



I omitted to say, put the nucleus on the 

 old stand, with the original number of the 

 hive. I would advise numbering with mov- 

 able tags, by keeping the old number with 

 the queen; and by keeping a regular hive 

 diary you always know the age of the 

 queen, and you can easily tell when it will 

 be best to supersede her. 



Those who keep bees for honey will find 

 it profitable to buy from regular queen- 

 rearers instead of losing about four weeks 

 in securing a fertile queen, and then possi- 

 bly, however good the original stock, the 

 chances are she may have mated with a 

 mongrel, and the honey season will be past, 

 and no surplus, and a necessity of feeding 

 the colony for winter stores. 



As to clipping queens— how can it destroy 

 their, or their offspring's, physical power ? I 

 know of a number of families at least on» 

 parent of each having lost an arm or leg by 

 amputation ; the children are as vigorous 

 as those of other parents completely 

 limbed. In one family of my acquaintance, 

 both parents are deaf and dumb; they 

 have two bright little girls who can laugh 

 and talk as well as other children of their 

 age. The parents lost their faculties in 

 their youth — not after becoming mature, 

 as in the case of queens. 



B. F. Onderdonk, 



Mountain View, N. J., Nov. 30. 



An Experience in Selling Honey. 



The editor's remarks on " Selling Honey 

 on Commission." on page 764, sounds like a 

 "fish story." Several years ago I sent a 

 Chicago firm some honey from Waverly, 

 N. Y. In a few days they wrote me that 

 the honey was in bad condition— f)n<A™, anct 

 riuiniiig nil wer the room. I sent a dollar or 

 two to the then editor of the American Bee 

 Journal, and asked him to look the matter 

 up. He kindly sent a man there, and his 

 report was much the same as theirs. I 

 wrote them to close it out at once. 



After two or three months they tnade returns 

 for it. and, very strange to say, I was ivelt 

 sati.\fled : the weight was about what it was when 

 it kfl Waverly. How could that be, if the 

 honey run so badly ? If they had only re- 

 ported about Ji of the weight. I should have 

 believed all. As it was, I think they keep 

 broken honey on hand all the time to work 

 a game on shippers. Well, they returned 

 me about half-price. I lost about S30. I 

 started to collect of the express company, 

 but it sold out just about that time, and 

 after I got the "returns," I was satisfied, 

 my honey was not broken. 



Lockwood, N. Y. J. H. Andre. 



Preparing for Apiary Thieves. 



On page 739, this question is asked: 

 " What method would you take to catch a 

 thief that felt free to visit your apiary and 

 slip out a comb here and there when you 

 were absent from home ? — Parsonage Api- 

 ary." 



Thieves are, as a rule, a very hard set of 

 critters to catch, but if they are like the 

 ones we have in this section, perhaps I can 

 assist the "Rev." gentleman. I have lost 

 very heavily this season by thieves, but I 

 have found a remedy. In the first place, I 

 set my bees in a square of about '4 acre, 

 one side facing my home; and on the four 

 corners I set up posts about four feet from 

 the line, and eight feet high ; then run 

 a heavy wire on the top of the posts around 

 three sides of the enclosure. On the three 

 sides I put rings on the wire, and fastened 

 a vicious dog, so the dog was tied and still 

 could guard one side of the apiary. On the 

 other two sides ditto. Then I keep a good 

 dog at the house, so I am practically sate. 



Some people may object to so many dogs 

 of that character, and a thief, btit between 

 two evils always choose the lesser. 



Now, for the benefit of the thief, I wlU 

 give my experience with weak colonies. 

 Last fall I had a late swarm ; I had no 

 honey to spare, and was taken sick, so I did 

 not see them until Nov. 1, and at that time 



