May 24, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



323 



drip whatever from burr-combs or attachments between 

 supers, or super and brood-combs. 



This does not close all I have to say about comb honey, 

 but as I want all to be seasonable, I will in the next arti- 

 cle take up the question of the produelion of extracted /tone v. 

 After the production has been discust, we will consider 

 grading-, packing, and marketing. I ask for these articles 

 a careful reading, and if there is anything amiss anywhere 

 I would be pleased to have any one point it out. 



Larimer Co., Colo. 



Causes of Larg-e Losses of Bees in the Winter 

 and Spring- of 1899, in Clark Co., Wis. 



WriUenfur tla Wisconsin i'onveiUloHy /tehlat Madison, Ftb. 7 and S, t9(Hf, 

 BY HERBERT CLUTE. 



IT is hard to say what was the real cause of the loss of 

 bees, as there are so many bee-keepers that differ ; but I 

 wish to give the causes as I see them, and as I have per- 

 suaded others to see them, altho they would have it that it 

 was bad honey, until they had examined the hives. 



To begin with, on July 25 and 26, 1898, we had rain with 

 some hail. This shut the bees off the latter part of the bass- 

 wood bloom, and ruined the nectar-bearing plants. From 

 that date until the bees went into winter quarters, thej' 

 never gained a pound, according to the scales under the 

 hives. They even lost three to four pounds per day for 

 some days, regardless of the great amount of brood in the 

 hives that consumed much feed. There was lots of pollen 

 coming in that deceived a portion of the real loss, so that I 

 say our great loss was by starvation, and nothing else. 



In my Greenwood apiary the bees were placed in the 

 root-house, as I knew that they were light, and it takes lit- 

 tle honey there to last until spring, and the chances were 

 that I would have to feed them. When spring came all 

 were placed on the summer stands, very strong in bees, but 

 light in honey. I noticed a large number had not over a 

 pound of honey, while 20 colonies perisht before being put 

 out without any honey. The covers on some of those put 

 out did not fit tight. At this time I received a telegram 

 notifying me of my father's sickness, and I had only an 

 hour and a half to catch the train. I saw a young man that 

 promist to fix the covers and feed the bees the one-half bar- 

 rel of extracted honey, and also a large amount of honey in 

 extra combs, which I had saved for that purpose. In a 

 couple of days he wrote stating that he had fed the bees, 

 and I did not worry so much about them after that. 



It was 12 days before I could return, and, when I did, I 

 found that over 180 colonies had perisht, and the rest were 

 lighter than the day they were put out. In looking at the 

 feed in stock I found that not over IS pounds had been used 

 for the whole apiary. Of course, the young man did the 

 best he knew how, altho it was very different from what I 

 had told him. I fed at once so as not to lose any more, and 

 they were very weak. 



Hearing of other heavy losses I visited George Drink- 

 wine, who had the same number of colonies as I had and 

 had lost as many. He claimed that the cause of the loss 

 was bad honey, and would have it so, until we examined 

 the hives where bees had died, and found that there was 

 honey excepting in a few of the outside combs. 



1 then called on Walter Miller, who lost all but two out 

 of 70 colonies. His bees had been in a very cold place, so 

 they had consumed lots of honey, and were starved long be- 

 fore spring. 



One lady had 12 colonies in a garret that was quite 

 warm, and the bees being disturbed, consumed lots of 

 honey, and the hives were empty of feed long before spring. 

 Another lady lost 70 colonies in a bee-cellar that was heated 

 by pipes ; she had wintered them before in this cellar and 

 had never lost any. 



Of the 30 different apiaries in this county the loss was 

 from 50 percent to an entire loss, except two apiaries that 

 were fed plenty of honey — more than their year's gather- 

 ing. These apiaries did not lose a colony, but were very 

 strong. One of these yards containing 25 colonies was in- 

 creast to 35, and produced an average per colony of 160 

 pounds of extracted honey. If it was bad honey that caused 

 the loss, why did not these bees perish, as they were fed the 

 same kind of honey as we fed ours ? 



I also noticed an apiary of SO light colonies at the time 

 I began feeding after returning home. I found on opening 

 the hives that some of them contained one or two pounds of 

 honey, and a few contained from six to eight pounds. Not 

 having the feed or the capital to buy sugar for feed, the 



bees took their course, to live or die. Thej- dwindled up to 

 the time new honey came in, and half of them were starved. 

 They began to make a gain in breeding, while those with 

 the most honey in the hives pickt up the poorest. If this 

 lot of bees dwindled from any other cause than starvation 

 from the time I began to feed at Greenwood, why did not 

 my bees then dwindle from the time of feeding, etc.? If 

 the great loss was caused by the severe winter, how was it 

 that many a colony wintered all right on the summer 

 stands all unpackt for winter, that had never a top box on 

 so as to store honey that had to crowd out the brood and 

 then store honey in the commencement of the honey har- 

 vest ? They had no protection in the least, but were on a 

 bench 2'2 feet from the ground to give the wind and the 

 cold full play. Each year before last there have been colo- 

 nies wintered safely in the same way. 



Clark Co., Wis. 



How Far Will Bees Go for Food, or Gather 

 Profitably ? 



BY C. P. D.\DANT. 



THERE has been considerable comment in the bee-papers 

 on the question of how far bees will go in search of 

 honey. I take it that the only thing of importance to 

 the bee-keeper at large on this subject is, " How far will 

 bees go and harvest honey to make a crop pay?" I have 

 written on this subject a number of times, but have per- 

 haps never given a summing up of our experience, which I 

 propose to do now, leaving the reader to draw his own con- 

 clusions. And here, let me say that I do not seek to make a 

 great display. I do not claim the best results, or to have 

 done more than others ; in a word, I am not trying to 

 " astonish the natives." The results we have obtained are 

 very ordinary, and I feel sure that no one after reading this 

 will feel unable to follow in the same path, for it is a very 

 prosaic one, and not a difficult one. The crops were not 

 astonishing, but they were fair and steady, and in the end 

 have paid for the labor with a good profit. 



The first out-apiary that we ever put out was placed in 

 1872, five miles north of our horae-apiary. This apiarj-, 

 two miles from the Mississippi River, was removed after 

 three years to a location on the edge of the river, and about 

 the same distance from our home-yard, as mentioned above. 

 Then another apiary was establisht in 1876, three miles 

 northeast from the latter, and about two miles from the 

 river. Another one was placed shortly after five miles 

 southwest from our location, also on the river shores, but in 

 a spot where a number of islands and lowlands furnisht 

 some fall pasturage. Later apiaries were successively 

 placed, one at Keokuk, back of the city half a mile, one on 

 the lowlands of the Mississippi River, south of Warsaw, 12 

 miles from home, another later on the edge of the bluffs in 

 the same vicinity, and still two more such apiaries about 

 three miles apart along those bluffs. Another was also 

 placed two miles south, about four miles from where we 

 live, in a good clover neighborhood. From time to time an 

 apiary was discontinued and another establisht, but we 

 have at no time had less than two apiaries since 1872, a 

 period of 28 years, and for 20 of those 28 years we have had 

 six apiaries at one time in different locations. 



As to the number of colonies, we have never permitted 

 it to exceed 120 in any place. The average number was 

 from 80 to 90 in each apiary, and the aim was not to allow 

 any more increase than would make up for winter losses. 

 This has been generally observed, as our methods do not 

 give much incitation to the swarming-impulse. 



Our experience has been, all along, that with the same 

 care, the same management, and hives of similar shape and 

 size, the results in one apiary invariably differed from those 

 of another, and nearly always in the same proportion, evi- 

 dently according to the location, even tho this location was 

 only a short distance — never less than three miles from any 

 other apiary — in all cases but one. 



In the locations near the Mississippi, we found inva- 

 riably a smaller crop than anywhere else. We must remark 

 that the Mississippi at this point is about a mile wide, and 

 in our estimation it acted almost as a barrier to the work of 

 the bees on that side, altho we have evidences that they, in 

 many cases, crost the river for honey. Yet none were 

 found very far on the other side, and' the flight of the bees 

 as they emerged from the hives evidenced the fact that they 

 were not prone to go in that direction. Approaching the 

 apiary from the east the roar of the bees could be plainly 

 heard at a quarter of a mile, caused by the foragers passing 



