1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



53 



A Visit Among Some Utah Bee- Keepers. 



BY E. S. LOVESY. 



At this writing I am located up near the clouds, near the 

 top of the Wasatch Mountains. I came out here thinking to 

 take a rest and to visit an uncle that I had not seen for over 

 26 years, but as soon as I stepped off the cars at Echo, in 

 Summit county, I walked into Mr. Hopkins' store, to inquire 

 about Uncle Blackwell, when I was greeted whitb a hearty 

 hand-grasp, and an " Oh, yes, you are one of our prominent 

 bee-keepers, I believe !" I admitted that I owned some bees. 

 So I was taken in tow by the bee-keepers of Summit and Mor- 

 gan counties, and while I came out here without even think- 

 ing about bees or bee-keepers, and although I was taken by 

 surprise, I have had a pleasant time visiting the bee-keepers 

 in the different townships, and a more kind, generous lot of 

 people I never met. 



We held two bee-meetings — one in Croydon county and 

 one in Morgan — and the result was the organization of the 

 Morgan County Bee-Keepers' Association, Dec. 5, 1S95. The 

 officers of the association are: President, T. R. G. Welch ; 

 Vice-President-at-large, Robert Hogg ; Secretary, David Cool- 

 heds; and P. A. Jackman Vice-President of north Morgan 

 county. Very interesting sessions were held, and many sub- 

 jects discussed. I was called on, and talked about how to 

 make our bees profitable. I tried to show that with proper 

 management bee-keeping is one of the best paying industries 

 in Utah. 



Dear old Uncle Blackwell, now nearly 81 years of age, is 

 about the only one left that links us with our bee-keeping 

 days in old Gloucestershire, nearly half a century ago. He re- 

 minded me of the days when I was a little bee-keeper. I used 

 to watch the bees, and when they swarmed I often fancy even 

 now that I hear the racket I used to make with a cobble-stone 

 and a tin pan in trying to settle them. Uncle B. asked my 

 opinion about trying to settle bees by this method. Like my- 

 self, he cannot see how it can affect the bees, unless it is pos- 

 sible to make enough noise to drive them off ! There are many 

 people who believe in it now. Last year a bee-keeper followed 

 a swarm of bees into our garden with a tin pan, but I believe 

 it was the hives more than the pan that attracted them. I 

 have generally been successful in settling swarms by throw- 

 ing water or sand among them ; it confuses, and thus causes 

 them to settle. 



We have had a very interesting time talking about those 

 bee-keeping days of the long ago. My father made his money 

 off of pork and bees, and that brought us to this land of the 

 free. The bees were destroyed with sulphur before the honey 

 was taken out of the hive. The hives were made of straw 

 twisted like a rope, and sewed together with fine willows. In 

 shape they were round, and oval on top. In winter each hive 

 was thatched with straw from four to six inches thick, gath- 

 ered tightly together at the top and trimmed even around the 

 bottom. Bees never died in winter put up in this way, as long 

 as there was any honey in the hive, because it gave the re- 

 quirements necessary for the successful wintering of bees, 

 viz.: It kept them warm and dry, and absorbed all moisture. 



The past three weeks I have visited a number of bee- 

 keepers in this and other counties, and I have found many 

 hives with those everlasting tight covers. The frames are 

 moldy, and the bees are like a man would be if he were dip- 

 ped into a mill-pond in the month of January ; then when the 

 temperature gets down towards zero the bees cannot leave the 

 cluster to seek food, and thus they smother with foul air and 

 die of starvation. I have put up my bees something after 

 this method, using lucern instead of straw, and they appear 

 to be all right. 



I have had a grand time visiting my uncle, and also 

 among the bee-keepers here. There is just enough snow to 

 make sleighing agreeable. The people do most of their travel- 

 ing up here about three months of the year, with the merry 

 sleigh-bells jingling, while in Salt Lake City we seldom get 

 more than a week of sleighing weather, and sometimes not 

 that much. 



All the settlements in Morgan county are nestled in three 

 not very large valleys, and surrounded entirely by the grand 

 old Wasatch Mountains. As we enter from the east by way ol^ 

 Echo, we pass through what is called "The Narrows," where 

 the mountains on each side come down into the river bed and 

 the Union Pacific railway track — it is the same as we come in 

 from the lower end of the valley, from Ogden or the west. But 

 between those points the valleys widen out,and here we find one 

 fine city and nine other settlements — a prettier spot in sum- 

 mer, or a more healthy place it would be hard to find on the 

 globe. 



There is said to be over 500 colonies of bees in and 

 around Morgan city, and if there is finer honey in the world 



than is gathered in those mountains I have not seen it. The 

 people live mostly by farming, wool and stock raising. 



I now return to the great and only city called "Salt Lake." 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER, AUmBNGO, ILL, 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Quality of Catnip Honey. 



What quality of honey is produced from catnip ? The bees 

 work on it more than anything else in this locality, but it is 

 scarce. It remains a long time in bloom. W. J. M. 



Cedarville, Mo. 



Answer. — Catnip has always had the reputation of a fine 

 honey-plant, but I don't know whether any one has ever had 

 a sample of pure catnip honey. I have an impression it is of 

 good quality, but I have no positive knowledge. [I have seen 

 honey that had quite a catnippy taste, and I rather liked it. 

 It ought to be good for a colicky stomach I — 6. W. Y.] 



When to Move tiie Bees. 



I have a chance to buy 25 colonies of bees. When would 



you move them— when it is good sleighing, or wait until 



spring ? F. A. S. 



Shavertown, Pa. 



Answer. — It would be very nice if you could move them 

 on a very cold day with good sleighing, and then have the next 

 day a fine warm day with plenty of flowers for the bees to 

 work upon. But as that can't be had, and as it's a bad thing 

 to disturb bees without allowing them a chance for a flight 

 soon after, I think you will do better to wait till spring. 



Starlins in Bee-Keeping and Maiiing it Pay. 



1. Suppose I wish to have an income from the bees of 

 $500, about how many colonies would you think I should 

 have? I mean this to apply to a man of reasonable intelli- 

 gence, close application, and the second or third year of the 

 work, 



2. Would the care of this number be more than I could 

 stand ? This is like asking the size of a piece of chalk. Per- 

 haps the question would be more intelligible if I said I could do 

 as much physical work as an average woman. 



My present intention is to get two or three colonies in the 

 spring, and try them the coming summer. If we suit each 

 other, the apiary can be started after that. I cannot afford 

 to venture much. Inquirer. 



Answer. — I've done more than the usual amount of 

 thinking as to how best to answer your questions so as not to 

 mislead, for such questions are very hard to answer. But I'll 

 do the best I can. Answering your second question first, I 

 think you would have no trouble on the score of strength, 

 providing you were sure of good crops every year. And I 

 may as well say in the first place that the greatest trouble 

 comes from the element of uncertainty as to crops. Worse 

 than all, crops are more uncertain of late years than they 

 were formerly. If you had asked me the same questions 20 

 years ago, I could have answered with less hesitation, and 

 could, or at least would, have given you a more definite an- 

 swer than I dare to do now. But I'm afraid some disappoint- 

 ment might have followed on depending upon my answers. 

 Twenty years ago I said no one ought to embark in bee-keep- 

 ing as his sole business unless he had enough ahead to stand 

 an entire failure of the crop for one year. At present I 

 should change the one year to two or three, and I should 

 hardly advise any one to drop everything else for bee-keeping 

 unless he had enough ahead to need but a small income from 



