434 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 9, 



(elles font la barbe), literal translation, " they make a beard " 

 — a very explicit way of putting it, if it Is French. An exami- 

 nation of the inside reveals less honey than the other colony, 

 but that honey is scattered all-through the super from one end 

 to the other, and not a single cell sealed. Why, then, do they 

 hang out, since they have room to spare, their super having 

 really less honey than that of the other colony ? My dear, 

 sir, it is very plain — they are crowded. Their hive, although 

 very large, and their large super, are both inadequate, or per- 

 haps they suffer more from the heat, owing to being more ex- 

 posed to the sun. At any rate they cannot all stay inside. We 

 will try one remedy first. We take one of the entrance-blocks, 

 and raise the hive from its bottom, in front, placing the block 

 under the edge of the hive. This gives them a good chance to 

 ventilate the entire hive from several sides. No tight bottoms 

 with us, you understand. 



Two days after we examine again. That hive still has a 

 number of bees on the outside, while the other has not an idle 

 worker. It won't do to let it " make the beard " so long, and 

 we will add another super. Raising the first one, we find that 

 there are only about 15 pounds of honey in it, and that they 

 have made but little headway. We now have two supers, or 

 room for 120 pounds on this hive. This morning we examined 

 it. They have honey in both supers, and, I am glad to say, 

 not a bee is idle — no more barber needed. I have not the 

 shadow of a doubt that you will agree with me when I say 

 that this colony would have been very likely to swarm had we 

 not done as we did. You will also agree that, if it does swarm, 

 there will be nothing astonishing about it, because, as we all 

 know, when they once have the swarming-fever there is no 

 cure except by swarming. 



Dr. Miller tells us that he put a number of colonies on 16 

 frames, that is, two 8-frame brood-nests, and that a number 

 of them made ready for swarming. We would have to ^know 

 just when those additional hives were put on to have an op- 

 portunity of ascertaining what is the probable trouble. From 

 what the Doctor says, they must have laid eggs and reared 

 brood quite plentifully in those two stories, and the colonies 

 must have been about one-half more populous than those on 

 eight frames. They must have needed, then, nearly twice as 

 much surplus room as the others, and yet with the floor space 

 of an 8-frarae hive there is only room for 24 sections in one 

 tier. It is true that you can pile several stories on top of each 

 other, but this is not usually done. How many did you put 

 on ? Then the ventilation is much more difficult. 



I remember some 25 years ago when we were still using 

 the little square 6-pound honey-box, with glass on four sides, 

 and an inch hole at the bottom, I often wondered why the 

 bees remained idle on the outside and not a bee would go into 

 those boxes. It was the heat and the lack of ventilation that 

 hindered them. We had a very good chance of making sure 

 of this when we began using the section honey-box, thanks to 

 D. L. Adair, of Kentucky. His section-box was too large, but 

 it was a great improvement on the glass box, for the bees had 

 much better access to it. 



Doctor, put the supers on, but put on enough to give them 

 a good chance. The great trouble in producing comb honey 

 is, that you do not wish to put on so many that they may leave 

 a lot of them unsealed, and it is a much finer task to judge of 

 the proper space to give than when you expect to extract it, 

 for in the latter case it does not matter a particle whether the 

 honey is sealed or not, so it has been well ripened. 



But I wish to say much more on this subject, and will ask 

 leave to put off the balance till another day. 



Hamilton, III , June 24. C. P. Dadant. 



Every Present Subscriber of the Bee Journal 

 should be an agent for it, and get all others possible to sub- 

 scribe for it. 



Value of Bees to Apricot Growers. 



BY DR. E. GALLUP. 



This season has been a very peculiar one for California. 

 Our apricots usually bear full crops every other year, and this 

 should have been the bearing year, but owing to the unusual 

 cool, dry weather while they were in bloom, the crop is ex- 

 tremely light in many places, and in some localities almost a 

 failure. Now this could have been remedied. How ? Why, 

 by having bees to fertilize the bloom. 



This article is suggested by the complaint of a friend. He 

 had a large colony of bees take possession of the roof of his 

 tank-house some time in April, and now he is in a sweat as to 

 how to get rid of them, as he says they are a terrible nuisance 

 on the apricots while drying, etc. That they do work on apri- 

 cots while drying, especially over-ripe ones, is a fact which I 

 am not going to deny. Now, this friend has a very light crop 

 of apricots, and is very anxious to make the most of them, 

 and I want to whisper in his ear a trifle : 



Friend S., providing you had four or six colonies of bees 

 to fertilize your apricots while in bloom, you would have had 

 a heavy crop, and knowing that the bees were the cause of 

 the heavy crop, could you have begrudged them the small 

 quantity of juice they would have taken while they were dry- 

 ing? You discover the bees on the drying-trays, and do you 

 not imagine that they are doing a great sight more harm than 

 they really are ? You are a pretty close observer in most 

 cases, please look into this matter thoroughly. 



Now for facts ; At the time the trees were in bloom, it 

 was so cool that bees could fly but a short distance from their 

 hives, and only a few hours in the day. I notice some 20 

 trees on First street literally loaded with nice fruit, while a 

 short distance from them the trees are almost bare of fruit. 

 There is a cause for this, and what is that cause ? Why, there 

 are two large colonies of bees in the cornice of a house adjoin- 

 ing the lots where those trees are. 



I met a friend three days ago ; he was making prepara- 

 tions for apricot drying. " Well, how is your crop ?" I asked. 



" I never had a heavier crop, or a finer one, and as my 

 neighbors have only very light crops, and some of them almost 

 none at all, I expect to get a good price for mine." 



So you see this friend was in extra-good spirits. Why 

 does he have such a fine crop ? There must be a cause, and 

 whatisit.' Why, a widow has some eight colonies of bees in 

 box-hives just across the street, only a few rods from friend 

 H.'s apricot trees. Now, in all probability this same man will 

 find fault with the widow's bees for taking a trifle of the juice 

 while his fruit is drying ! 



Let the bees have a trifle for their labor. The laborer is 

 worth of his hire ; muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the 

 corn. Santa Ana, Calif., June 20. 



Fifteen Years' Experience in Bee-Keeping. 



nv MRS. SALLIE K. SHKRMAN. 

 (Continued from page 418.) 

 I was the first person in this part of Texas, so far as I 

 know, who had sent for and Italianized their bees, and had 

 them in movable-frame hives, with section-honey for sale. It 

 attracted a great deal of attention, and many thought if I 

 could make such (to them) wonderful success, that they, too, 

 could do likewise. Many came to see me and to talk bees, 

 for miles around. Some of them bought bees of me, paying 

 me .S12.50 per colony, and had me order hives, smokers, 

 veils, etc., for them. There were, however, only a few of 

 them that made a paying business of bee-keeping. It, as you 

 know, is a business requiring close attention to minor details. 



