786 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee. 10. 



on the first crop, and then they worked on sweet clover to feed 

 them up good until the second crop of Alsike came on, which 

 was in bloom until frost. 



Dr. Miller — What is the difference in appearance between 

 Alsilje clover honey and white clover honey? 



Mr. Schrier — There is a little difference; you hold it to 

 the light and you see a little pink in the honey, and with the 

 sweet clover you look through it and you see a little yellow. I 

 watched it closely, and when the bees had no Alsike clover to 

 work on, but worked on sweet clover, then you could tell the 

 honey looked a little yellowish. The prospect for white clover 

 honey next year never was any better than it is now. It is 

 growing on the roadsides as well as in the pasture. My bees 

 are in good conditiou for winter, the hives full of honey and 

 bees. 



Mr. Schaper, of Indiana — I have at present 60 colonies, 

 having had 30 in the spring, and I lost that many swarms. I 

 got 500 pounds of extracted fall honey — no comb honey. The 

 clover for next year looks favorable — I think better than ever 

 before. There was none this year. The previous seasons have 

 been so dry that the clover did not do well. 



Miss Candler, of Wisconsin — I started in the spring with 

 52 colonies, and increased to about 86, and then I reduced 

 back and have united until I have now just 60 colonies. I 

 got an average of about 60 pounds of honey per colony, most 

 of it being white clover and basswood. There wasn't very 

 much white clover this year, though there was some. It looks 

 very good. It has come up thick, and the plants look fine. 



Dr. Miller — It seems to be the general result — the pros- 

 pects seem to be good for next year. 



Mr. York — You all know that I am a publisher of- a 

 weekly bee-paper, and have not very much time to 

 devote to bees, but I can give you the result of at least one 

 colony that I increased to four during the season, and took 

 150 pounds of comb honey from it and two of the increase. 

 The honey was gathered from sweet clover almost mainly. 

 Mr. Schrier speaks of sweet clover giviug the honey a yellow- 

 ish tinge. Mine is greenish iustead of yellow, and I think 

 that is the general report in this part of the country. You 

 hold it to the light and it has quite a greenish tinge to it. My 

 bees are very strong in numbers, and have plenty of honey for 

 winter. I expect them to go through to spring all right. 



Dr. Miller — I should like to ask Miss Candler why she 

 increased and then doubled up ? 



Miss Candler — I did it because I couldn't help it. I had 

 more than I could attend to, and so I doubled up uutil I had 

 as many as I can use. 



Dr. Miller — Some of the folks have questions written, will 

 you kindly gather them up, Mr. York ? 



SHADE TO PBEVKNT SWARMING. 



Ques. 1. — Will shade prevent bees from swarming ? 



Dr. Miller — How many of you know that you can prevent 

 swarming by means of shade ? Let me see the hands. 



Not one hand was raised. 



Dr. Miller — How many of you think that shade will help 

 to prevent swarming? 



Two — Mr. Baldridge and Mr. Kennedy. 



Dr. Miller — Some one tell me what shade will do in the 

 matter of swarming ? 



Mr. Schrier — My bees are under trees. They have sun 

 perhaps half the time during the day, more so during the 

 spring than summer, and I am never bothered with swarms. 

 I had only two swarms this year. I sold one colony to a 

 neighbor, and that colony swarmed three times. He set them 

 right out in the sun. I had only two swarms this year, and 

 one last year. 



Dr. Miller — What is the size of your hives ? 



Mr. Schrier — 10-frame. 



Dr. Miller— So you think the main difference was the 

 shade ? 



Mr. Schrier — I don't know if that was the case. 



Mr. Baldridge — I don't keep my bees in the shade at all. 

 I don't want any shade about the premises. When I want 

 shade I make it. When I handle my bees I have a tent that 1 

 put over a hive, which furnishes me with shade, and yet I 

 have had but four swarms out of the 14 colonies this season 

 in the hot sun — 100- in the shade, sometimes. 



Dr. Miller — No covering whatever? 



Mr. Baldridge — None whatever. I don't want it. I don't 

 want a tree within five rods of my bees, of any description, 

 except to cluster on. When I am handling my bees and have 

 the tent, I have all the shade I want. 



Dr. Miller — You want the shade for yourself, not the bees? 



Mr. Baldridge — Yes. 



Dr. Miller — How much is there between the top of the 

 sections and the sun ? That is, what is there over them ? 



Mr. Baldridge — A flat cover. 



Dr. Miller — What are the sections in — is there anything 

 between the sections and the cover ? 



Mr. Baldridge — I produce extracted honey, you know. I 

 have not had my bees under shade for 10 years, I think. 



Mr. West — Have you had any combs melt down in the 

 sun ? It occurred with me several times, and that is the reason 

 1 want the shade. 



Mr. Baldridge — When it is extremely hot weather I cut 

 grass and put it on top the cover to keep the sun off, but I 

 want my bees in the sun. 



Dr. Miller — I suspect that that is one of the things that 

 we don't know about yet — the matter of shade. The general 

 statement is made, that shade will help to prevent swarming. 

 Now, I believe that is true just this far, that shade makes it 

 cooler, and I believe that heat is one of the elements that helps 

 to promote swarming. I have had combs melt down in a 

 shade so dense that from morn until dewy eve the sun never 

 touched the hive. Corn grew back of the apiary, the air 

 could not get through, and the hives were in the dense shade, 

 and it was hot in there. I think there are times when the 

 shade would be very beneficial. Mr. Baldridge puts on grass 

 sometimes, and I want to endorse that as a cover for bees. On 

 a hot day when you think there is danger, go and cut some 

 coarse grass and put it on top of the hives, and put a piece of 

 fire wood on it, and you can have that stay there then duriug 

 the season. It will dry there, and I don't know of any better 

 covering than grass, or hay, as it would be at the last, and 

 that protects it, and I think that is beneficial. I believe in the 

 shade of a tree, and yet Mr. Baldridge may be right. I sup- 

 pose where you have the shade of a tree, where the air can 

 pass through, that would be a benefit to the bees. It is cer- 

 tainly a benefit to me when I am working at them. That is 

 one of the things I would like to know about. 



Mr. Schrier — My bees are standing right near two rows of 

 maple trees, and I trim them up as high as possible. I have 

 got circulation of air going there, no wind-break, and it Is nice 

 and cool where my bees stand. No melting down there. 



Dr. Miller — There certainly would be less melting in the 

 shade than in the sun. The only point is, it is heat that 

 make them melt, no matter how you get it. 



Mr. West — I would say that I have combs melt down in 

 the sun in the old Simplicity hive, and afterwards I got the 

 Dovetail hive. There seems to be more space above the sec- 

 tions and the top in the Simplicity, but with a Dovetail hive 

 the cover comes almost on the sections, and it was these I had 

 melt down. 



Dr. Miller — The entrance is about the same in each, and 

 ,the same chance for air. 



Mr. West — There is more in the Simplicity. 



Dr. Miller — Don't you see, it may be not only the top, but 

 there is a chance for more at the entrance. 



Mr. West — I looked at it more in the top than at the en- 

 trance, and lately I put two covers on, so as to have one pro- 

 tect from the sun and the other between that. In that case I 

 have had no melting. 



Dr. Miller — I suspect we have gone in the wrong direc- 

 tion a little bit. We used, in the old times — some of you kept 

 bees long enough ago — to set the hives on blocks, and the 

 opening all around, and nowadays the tendency is to have a 

 very small entrance, so that they can get very little air. That 

 tends to keep them hot. You shut them up tight and the 

 combs will melt down, but if there is entrance enough, they 

 can keep cool by ventilating. I suppose we are making a mis- 

 take in keeping our hives as close as they are. Do any of 

 you make a practice of raising the hives in the old-fashioned 

 way, on blocks, in the summer time? 



Two hands were raised. 



Dr. Miller — I have done it somewhat, and I am not sure 

 but what I will do it more. I don't see any harm, and I can 

 see good. It gives the bees a good chance. 



Mr. West — It makes it a little more dif33cult for the bees 

 to climb up on the combs. 



Miss Candler — I just raise the hive in front and the sides. 



Dr. Miller — Well, then, in general, the answer to the 

 question — " Will shade prevent bees from swarming ?" — I 

 think, will likely be, that so far as it helps to keep cooler, it 

 does help some, but shade, if it is close, won't do it. 

 (To be continued.) 



The Utah Bee-Keepers' Cotiventiou. 



BY JOHN B. FAGG. 



The Utah State Bee-Keepers' Association, at their semi- 

 annual convention recently, discussed principally methods of 



