June 14, 1900. 



AMERICAN i3EE JOUENAL, 



371 



not so safe a food as honey — and I think there is much rc.i- 

 son for this opinion — then it is because of this prcvi(jiis 

 dijjestion of the honey by our little industrious friends. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



Spring- and Early Summer Bee-Management. 



Wriltin fur till' Xurlhoisttrii Oliii> mid Wrsltni. I'miixylniiiin Cuiin ntiun. 

 BY MRS. E. J. CORNWELL. 



WHILE thinking of the subject assig-ned me, it seemed 

 that I must know how the bees had been prepared for 

 winter the previous fall. I will consider that they 

 have been wintered on the summer stands, in chaff hive.s, 

 with plenty of stores of their own gathering in old combs, 

 each hive weighing not less than 35 pounds. If we did our 

 duty last fall and saw that they went into winter quarters 

 with abundance, there is no need to trouble them in the 

 spring, aside from cleaning the dead bees away from the 

 entrance, and off the bottom-board, which may be done 

 without disturbing the live bees. 



Don't fool too much with your bees in the spring, espe- 

 cially if the weather is cold. Better not touch them at all, 

 except when it is pleasant and warm enough for bees to be 

 flying. If you lift out the combs you can easily chill the 

 brood. Don't be in too great a hurry to take away the win- 

 ter packing — better to leave it till settled warm weather. It 

 is just as important to have them warm early in the spring 

 as in winter, for t'ney have commenced brood-rearing, and 

 that requires warmth. 



If you are not certain that your bees have plenty of 

 stores to'last them thru, go to the hive the first warm day 

 that the bees are flying, and look for sealed honey along the 

 top of the combs. If you find it there, you need not look 

 further ; but if no sealed honey is in sight, you would bet- 

 ter lift out a comb, and if they have not plenty give them a 

 comb taken from a stronger colony last fall, or some of 

 those partly filled sections that were not good enough for 

 market. If you can't give them honey, feed a syrup made 

 from granulated sugar. Bees can not thrive upon scant 

 supplies. Be sure that they never lack stores, for when 

 stores run low the queen will stop laying, giving you a 

 weak colony later on when it should be strong. 



In spring, when but little honey is coming in, is the 

 time to build up the colonies and have them strong for the 

 honey-flow by and by. In the production of honey, either 

 comb or extracted, the most essential thing is to have good, 

 strong colonies at the right time. In this section the first 

 honey and pollen is from the soft maples and willows ; then 

 along thru the blooming of the different fruits; and we 

 often have swarms issue the last of May, owing to the large 

 flow of honey during the blooming of the apple orchards. 

 White clover is our main dependence for surplus honey. 



The boxes ior surplus honey should be put on at the 

 first appearance of white clover blossoms, which may be 

 seen about the middle of June, and we may look for sealed 

 honey about the last of the month. Remove it as fast as 

 finisht, and give new boxes to be filled; and from then on 

 watch closely, both the boxes and the combs to be extracted, 

 and remove them as fast as capt, and return new boxes and 

 empty combs. 



Do not be content to fill an upper story once, to be ex- 

 tracted in the fall, but remove the honey from the combs as 

 fast as capt. It is important to attend to this at the proper 

 time, for the honey-flow will not wait for other work to be 

 done first. To make the apiary a success, it is important 

 that the work should be done on time. 



There are only three things necessary to successful bee- 

 culture, viz.: " One should know what to do, how to do it, 

 and then do it on time." 



It' is a matter of wonderment that so few farmers keep 

 bees. Every farmer ought to keep bees on his farm for the 

 proper fertilization of his crops ; but aside from this he 

 should keep bees for the honey they gather. Honey is the 

 purest and most healthful sweet known ; while it is con- 

 sidered something of a luxury it should be on every table, 

 and certainly the farmer can gather it much cheaper than 

 he can buy it. Thousand of pounds of this delicious sweet 

 go to waste annually because there are not bees enough to 

 gather it. Any farm, no matter how small, has room for a 

 few colonies of bees. 



Bees are great public benefactors in the fertilization of 

 flowers, and day by day investigation reveals the impor- 

 tance of the honey-bee to plant life. In Germany it is esti- 

 mated that the value of each colony of bees in the matter of 

 fertilization alone is equal to ten dollars. 



Ohio alone has 50,000 colonies, which produce annually 

 1,300,000 pounds of honey. You can readily see that the 

 honey-bees contribute not a little to the value of the agri- 

 cultural products of the State. 



There is no doubt but that love for any pursuit is desira- 

 ble if the best results are to be obtained, yet success is pos- 

 sible if the work be well done, even if doing it be not so 

 agreeable to one's ^aste. But of all occupations bee-keep- 

 ing leads to enthusiasm, even if not so pleasing at the 

 start, and the more the little details are attcndod to the 

 more is the interest aroused in the mystery within the hives ; 

 and if the little details are well attended to, and on time, 

 there is no branch of farming that will pay better for the 

 labor and money expended. Ashtabula Co., Ohio. 



Bees on the Farm— Their Advantages. 



Written for the iSturk Co., III., Fanners^ JiistUute, 

 BY DR. C. C. MIUER. 



YEARS ago it was a common thing to see a group of bee- 

 hives standing near the farm-house, and the annual 

 " taking up " of the heaviest and lightest was an event 

 of interest, not only to the immediate family, but to the 

 friends and neighbors less fortunate in the possession of 

 the frugal honey-gatherers. At the present day one may 

 travel manj' miles without even the sight of a hive. Keep- 

 ing bees has become to a greater or less extent a business 

 by itself, there being a comparatively small number of bee- 

 keepers, each of them, however, keeping a considerable 

 number of colonies of bees, ranging from 50 up into the 

 hundreds, and in a few cases into the thousands. 



This falling into the hands of specialists might be a 

 good thing if they were evenly distributed over the country, 

 but it results in a double loss when the apiaries are so dis- 

 tributed that any considerable portion of the country is out 

 of the reach of the bees. The double loss comes from the 

 double duty the bees perform. Very likely, if the average 

 farmer were askt what double performance is expected of 

 the bee, he would reply, " Making honey and stinging." 



A magnified conception of the amount of stinging done 

 is generally entertained. I get ray full share of stings when 

 working with the bees, perhaps an average of five a day 

 thruout the season. A million bees may be flying in the 

 course of the day, and I would rather that the five that sting 

 me would turn their attention in some other direction ; but 

 think of the nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine 

 hundred and ninety-five that doit't sting me I 



No, stinging is not an important occupation of the 

 honey-bee, not one bee in five thousand ever stinging a 

 human being. A much more important occupation than 

 stinging — aye, more important even than honey-gathering 

 — is the fertilization of the flowers. If no apiary is kept 

 within two or three miles of your farm, you will be wise to 

 have at least one colony of bees, even if you are so afraid 

 of them that you must enclose them with an eight-foot 

 fence. If an important apiary is located near you, then it 

 is unwise to attempt keeping bees. The ground is already 

 occupied, and the ground may be overstockt with bees as 

 well as with cattle. 



Time does not allow to go fully into a statement of the 

 work performed by bees in the way of fertilization, but 

 mention may be made ol one of the commonest fruits — the 

 apple. The stamens are on the same apple-blossom with 

 the pistil, and at first thought one would conclude that there 

 would be no trouble about fertilization, for the pollen could 

 hardly help falling from the stamens upon the pistil. But 

 Nature seems to guard carefully against in-breeding, and 

 in this case the pistil is no longer in a receptive condition 

 when the pollen is ripe. In other words, the stamens and 

 pistil of a blossom are not ripe at the same time, so no blos- 

 som is ever fertilized by its own pollen, but the pollen must 

 be carried in some way from some other blossom, and the 

 honey-bee is the chief performer in this service. 



You are familiar with the two kinds of blossoms on 

 cucumbers, squashes, and other vines ; false and true blos- 

 soms they are called. Before it is in full bloom, enclose 

 one of the true blossoms in netting close enough to prevent 

 a bee getting thru. It may be so coarse that the wind 

 might easily blow into it pollen from one of the staminate 

 or false blossoms, but if no bee can enter it will blast. 



If theri, no bees are within two miles of you, it will pay 

 you well to keep bees, even if you never get an ounce of 

 honey from them. 



A few words about honey : Physicians say that much 

 of the trouble in kidney diseases, and diseases of the stom- 



