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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Aug. 9, 1900. 



Mr. Davenport said he melted wax on his wife's stove 

 in a wash-boiler, and upset it. 



G. F. Davidson arose to ask how Mr. Davenport man- 

 ages to keep his big' hives, which are eight feet square, 

 clean. He said he could not do so. 



Mr. Davenport explained that his hives are the regular 

 size, but that the)' are set eight feet square or apart each 

 way. 



Mr. Davidson's first balks and blunders were tr.ade 

 when he moved his first bees. After moving, the bees 

 would swarm out. They were hived back only to have them 

 come out again. To keep them from doing this he wanted 

 to fix them, so he nailed up their entrances. He found out 

 later that this was a serious mistake, for all melted down, 

 and he lost the bees. He said he was once like many who 

 think they know all about bees, and if they have success 

 one year thej- are not slow to report it in some bee-paper ; 

 but next j'ear it does not work at all. 



M. M. Faust said that he was not like the first two 

 gentlemen. Perhaps they were not real bee-keepers, or 

 what they said was only complimentary of themselves. 

 Lookt a little " fishy." He said he makes blunders all the 

 time, and it sometimes seems as if all was blunders. 



W. H. L,aws never heard of any bee-keepers who balk. 

 They never balk, but go ahead. They make blunders, tho, 

 and he has heard plenty of such, just as he once dipt virgin 

 queens. 



E.' R. Jones made two bad blunders. The first was to 

 try to keep bees in his locality (Milam County), and his sec- 

 ond was in not getting away from there. 



MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIBS. 



F. L. Aten gave his experience. He uses the 10-frame 

 hive, three or four stories high, and has strong colonies. 

 He does not work them the same hight every year, and by 

 four stories high he does not mean an empty box and 

 bees, but full of comb and bees to the top. He prevents 

 swarming by giving plenty of room, spreading the brood- 

 combs, and putting frames filled with comb foundation in 

 between. He puts the rest of the combs above in the super, 

 and fills up with frames of foundation. One must study 

 this well, and use good judgment, or he will not succeed. 



E. R. Jones has not had experience with out-apiaries, 

 but his first object would be to manage successfully colonies 

 to prevent swarming. This would be plenty of room in 

 such shape and way as it can be best occupied. But it all 

 depends upon circumstances. Sometimes comb foundation 

 is almost useless when much wax is secreted during a fast 

 flow. During a slower flow foundation is better. 



E. J. Atchley would use 10-frarae hives, 3-banded Ital- 

 ians, and prevent swarming on Mr. Aten's plan. He would 

 extract honey, and see to them once in awhile, and would 

 likely not lose many swarms. He would use frames all 

 filled with comb, which is better. Sometimes colonies 

 would have their brood-nest above, and plenty of room be- 

 low, and would swarm; sometimes just the reverse; but 

 when given room above and below, and also plenty of 

 drone-comb in the hive, there is very little swarming. 

 Swarming can not always be prevented. 



ESSENTIAI, QUAI.ITIKS OF A SUCCESSFUL BEE-KEEPER. 



UdoToepperwein advised first reading and taking all 

 of the bee-papers ; study the bee-books, and go to the bee- 

 conventions. Then don't rush into the business, but go 

 slow; and the farther he gets into it the less he sees and 

 knows about it. 



Mr. Stachelhausen— Work, read and think, and after 

 awhile you will be a good bee-keeper. 



D. C. Milam thinks that one who is successful at other 

 things ought to be successful at keeping bees. Ought to 

 stick to it thru thick and thin, and a bad year generally 



proves the successfulness of a bee-keeper, either when he 

 lets his bees starve during such a year, or when he feeds 

 them and helps them thru. 



Mr. McClure thinks only those with a genuine bee- 

 head are successful, and that those without such a head 

 ought not to fool with bees, but apply themselves to some- 

 thing else for which they have a head. 



But Mr. Davidson does not believe that it is the head 

 alone, but that one must study to be successful. There are 

 some who have kept bees in box-Kives and gums, and never 

 read a bee-paper. Such never succeed. This is the class 

 of bee-men who are always asking such questions, " How 

 do you keep web-worms out of the hives?" Others who 

 get lots of honey from a few colonies, imagine that they 

 will get rich by keeping more bees, and then not spend one 

 dollar for a bee-paper ; they are not successful. 



W. H. Laws — It is the natural fitness for the business 

 to make a successful bee-keeper, and such a man will make 

 money out of bees, and also find pleasure in bee-keeping. 

 Such he also thought would be successful at other pursuits. 



E. J. Atchley says that experience is one thing neces- 

 sary to be successful, as all those who rush into a thing big 

 are never so. 



R. B. Leahy told how he succeeded in bee-culture. He 

 started with books first, read them thru and thru again ; 

 took the bee-papers and read them, and studied everything 

 he could find on the subject. So he started with books and 

 journals first, and succeeded with his bees afterwards. 

 SECOND DAY— Forenoon Session. 



BEST METHOD OF COMB-HONEY PRODUCTION. 



L. Stachelhausen says the production of comb honey 

 in sections is more difficult than producing extracted honey. 

 He described difl'erent methods that he uses. The most 

 important is very strong, rousing colonies, with the brood- 

 chamber crowded full of brood. This leaves no room for 

 honey there, and the only place is in the sections in the 

 supers above. One way of having strong colonies and 

 plenty of room, by letting the queen breed in two stories, is 

 unfit for producing section honey, as there are some empty 

 combs in which the bees store the honey that ought to go 

 into the sections. Large colonies in a small brood-cham- 

 ber are better, and by splitting the brood all the time to 

 keep from swarming. He told about Doolittle's method. 

 Hiving swarms as per Hutchinson's method is a good way. 

 His own way is similar to it. He changes hives as in 

 swarming, by putting one of his shallow cases with starters 

 only in the frames, in place of the colony just removed. 

 Then he brushes all the bees from that colony into the new 

 hive, and sets the section supers on top. Sometimes a 

 queen-excluder is necessary, and to keep the bees quiet he 

 gives them a frame of young brood, which has to be re- 

 moved the next day or the bees will swarm out. First use 

 another empty case below the one with frames and starters 

 for a few davs. Use the comb and brood for various pur- 

 poses in the j'ard — combs on extracted-honey colonies, etc., 

 and the brood can be given to nuclei. Or the Heddon 

 method can be practiced. He never tried to put the brood- 

 cases above the sections when all the colonies are run for 

 comb honey exclusively. 



Mr. Laws spoke on the plan as recommended by Mr. 

 Demaree. Mr. Jones also told about several good experi- 

 ments he had made, something similar to the Golden 

 method. IConcluded next weok.l 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallennieyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if j'ou want a copy 

 of this song. 



