264 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOaRiNfAL. 



pend alone on bees (I refer only to my 

 own section). After tlie honey sea- 

 son is ended, one can, witli a portable 

 drier, go into many orchards or vine- 

 yards and go into the drying business 

 on any terms he can make ; the bees 

 will not interfere. In case one goes 

 into the poultry business, he can be 

 busy while the bees are breeding up, 

 and manage to have the poultry so 

 that they will not need the care just 

 as the bees want the most ; and when 

 the bees are able to take care of them- 

 selves, or do not need much care, 

 then the chickens can be attended to. 

 One thing that this county needs is a 

 law or laws in regard to keeping dis- 

 eased bees. 

 Napa City,+o Calif. 



For the Americuii Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees, etc. 



REV. G. T. WILLIS. 



To say that sad disaster has come 

 to the '• blessed bees " will express it 

 all. Last fall I packed 38 colonies in 

 straw, as I have for the last seven 

 years. I always have liad good suc- 

 cess in wintering until this winter, but 

 on Feb. 27 I examined them and found 

 15 colonies dead. The rest I fixed up 

 in good shape for spring, hoping that 

 they would weather the storm. On 

 Feb. 2s, I left home and returned on 

 March 30, to lind only 9 colonies alive, 

 and 4 of tliose with only a queen and 

 a handful of bees. 



I have Ijeen working hard for the 

 last 7 years to build up an apiary so 

 that I might make something to add 

 to my small salary, in order that we 

 would not have to practice the most 

 rigid economy in ourdomestic affairs ; 

 but now my hopes are blighted, at 

 least for the present. But as I have 

 plenty of hives and combs, I shall try 

 what I can do towards building up 

 again, though it is rather slow work 

 with me, as I am away from home a 

 great deal, ily bees evidently died 

 from diarrhea. 



I have been following very closely 

 the discussion on the " pollen tlieory," 

 and I am inclined to believe there is 

 something in it ; at least when we 

 have such winters as tliat of 1H84-85, 

 when the bees cannot (iy to void their 

 feces for two or three montlis. In 

 nearly all the colonies that died I 

 found brood capped over, i followed 

 the advice of W. F. Clarke and otheis. 

 and kept the snow shoveled away 

 from the entrances, but wlien we have 

 another such a winter as the past, I 

 think I shall leave them buried under 

 the snow. 



My way of introducing queens is to 

 take out "a frame witli tlie l)ees ad- 

 hering to it, and sliake them down in 

 front of the hive, and then jiut the 

 queen with them, and let her run into 

 tlie hive with the bees. 



I notice that some are complaining 

 that the sections stick fast to tlie 

 rests. Now. if they will liave tlie 

 strip of tin cut ij of an inch wider 

 than usual, and then have the tinner 

 turn the edges i-g of an inch at a riglit 

 angle, they will never be troubled 



with the sections sticking, and then 

 it strengthens the rests very much. 



As far as I can learn, the most of 

 the bees are dead in this region of the 

 country. 



IIoopeston,o+ Ills. 



Read at the Bee-Keepers'Congres9,atxew Orleans. 



Bee-Keeping as a Pursuit. 



AKTUUK TODD. 



Tills subject may be regarded from two 

 staiiil-|iiiiiits— that of the man who with 

 iiii'iHiiu assMird t'ritm other sources, piu'- 

 sues boe-ket'iiiiig tor its pleasure ; ami that 

 of the mail who, wishing to increase his 

 slender income, or actually make an in- 

 come, turns to bee-keeping with a view to 

 profit on the capital and labor to he iu- 

 \csted. But, as to the latter is denied none 

 ut tlic iilcasiucs ciijoycil by the former, it 

 is troiii till' latter stand-point alone that 1 

 will review the subject. 



Bee-keeping is, strictly speaking, a 

 branch of agriculture, and many a farmer 

 is to-day getting a greater return from his 

 investiiieiit in bees than that received from 

 any of his other stock ; but right here I say 

 that bee-keeping as a pui'suit has to-day 

 become a '• s]>ecialty." The man who en- 

 ters upon this pursuit (leaving the cpies- 

 tioii of capital aside) must be one endowed 

 with physical and mental ability— a man 

 with open eyes and ears, and a man for 

 emergencies, I irompt to do what is neces- 

 sary at once, and one who is not easily 

 discouraged. 



The physical ability is required because 

 bee-keeping (lemands real hard work — yes, 

 back-aching work— not suitable to the sick 

 ladies and gentleineu so often ill-advised 

 to go into bee-keeping. The mental ability 

 is retpiired to keep the bee-keeper abreast 

 of the times and its rajiidly changing con- 

 ditions. Bee-keeiping is now a science, a 

 study, and the conditions which govern 

 one season, or colony of bees, will be com- 

 pletely changed for the next. Every stage 

 in the life of a colony of bees requires to 

 be understood. There must be no "guess- 

 ing," and this will bring us to the cultiva- 

 tion of the habit of observation, and a dis- 

 position to hear all that one can upon the 

 sjiecial subject. 



Emergencies will occur needing heroic 

 treatment, but the bee-keeper with mind 

 and hand trained by experience and 

 thoughtful consiilcrationot bis "sjiccialty," 

 will rise siqirriiir to any (jcctisuju, and 

 when iliscounigcmeiit conies, as it inevit- 

 ably will, in the words of the immortal 

 Longfellow, " He will look not mournfully 

 intothe past, it comes not back again, but 

 wisely improve the future for it is his." 



Pleasure and jiidfit go hand in hand, as 

 a rule, in this sjiecialty, altliougli the 

 former is not uualloyi'il by a liberal apiili- 

 cation of the "bnsiui-ss cud " of the little 

 busy bee, and the latter by a reciu'rence of 

 poor honey seasons. In nature is found 

 both the beautiful and the sublime ; in the 

 hive both are constantly miiler the bee- 

 keeper's eye, teaching liim to look with 

 amazement /rum " nature up to nature's 

 God." As lie views bis liive, and sees the 

 city grow, and iiopulatiou increase, the 

 waxen walls, and stores well filled, the 

 free-born citizen hurrying to and fro, each 

 with his special task,ontsi(le of the thoughts 

 of profit will come to the most miimpres- 

 sioiialile, tlionglits of wondi'r and admira- 

 tion for ilie works (if that great Architect 

 of the universe who said, "Let there be 

 life and there was life." 



The profits of bee-keeping are what? 

 To many a one they hold out tbelioiiesof 

 "the glorious piiviii'gi' of being independ- 

 ent ;"^aiid to obtain thesi' |irofils the sjie- 

 cialist gifted with the rei|Uisite mental and 

 ]iliysical (jualities, must tie "the right man 

 in the right place." He must have hives 



of the movable-frame order. Moses Quiiiby 

 wrote thus, in is.is : "There is not the 

 least doubt, in my mind, that whoever re- 

 alizes the gi'eatest profit from his bees will 

 have to retain the movable combs in some 

 form;" and who of us will gainsay this 

 to-day ? Out of the many styles of mov- 

 able-comb hives now in existence, the 

 bee-keeper will select one best fitted for the 

 business in which he means to engage, be 

 it the production of comb or extracted 

 honey, queen-rearing, bee-selling, or a 

 combination of all. 



The specialist who intends to rear bees 

 for sale, will do well to employ that hive 

 which will take the size and style of frame 

 most iu use in tlie district in which he re- 

 sides, hiterchangeability of parts is a 

 gi'and secret of success, and the bee- 

 keeper who can sell a colony of bees, or 

 buy a colony, well knowiim that each and 

 every frame is usable in his own or his 

 neighbors' hives, has made a step in the 

 right direction. The main points in a 

 good hive are, " Simplicity of construc- 

 tion, combining plenty of bee-space with 

 perfect ease of manipulation." 



The race of bees will next engage the 

 specialist's attention. Study and experi- 

 ence, and also the actual line of business 

 engaged in, will best decide this point. 

 The black, the Italian, the Syrian, the 

 Cyprian, and the Carniolan, alike have 

 their votaries. At present, for all pur- 

 poses of sale and houey-gatliering, the 

 Ligurian or Italiau-Alp bee is the princi- 

 pal one in demand ; but the very best race 

 of bees will afford but little profit unless 

 the queens are carefully looked after. As 

 fast as signs of senility appear, these 

 should be removed and their places sup- 

 plied by younger and more vigorous 

 queens. The apiarist for profit should 

 not only rear queens, but know how, 

 when and where to replace them. He 

 should also know the requisites of a good 

 queen, and how to judge of her progeny. 



Tasture to the bee-keeper is everything; 

 it that be poor, his returns will be poor; 

 hence he should carefully examine his 

 location. Districts vary greatly in their 

 flora, and by a careful study of this ques- 

 tion before locating, disappointment will 

 be avoided. The bee-keeper should be a 

 walking calendar ef the flora of his neigh- 

 borhood for miles around, then, as the 

 honey comes pouring iu, he can tell its 

 source aud label it accordingly. This 

 knowledge will enable him to build up 

 colonies, and follow the old advice, "Keep 

 your colonies strong," so that when the 

 honey does come, there are bees to gather 

 it in. 



The management of bees kept for profit 

 will vary according to the object of the 

 bee-keeper, whether it be the production 

 of honey or the rearing of bees or queens. 

 In running for honey alone, we have the 

 swarming and tiie nou-swarming methods. 

 The experiences of good bee-men are so 

 diversified that one is reminded of the old 

 saying, " when doctors ditTer, the patient 

 dies." The bee-man must strike out his 

 own line of action suitable to his own 

 special circum.stances. In running for 

 extracted honey, swarming is, to a great 

 extent, controlled, for "Poverty maketh 

 I humble;" but 1 insist that the good bee- 

 man will know the condition of each hive, 

 and act accordingly. 



The specialist is a man who reads, and 

 altliougli he may not get or use a single 

 one ot the many traps, or patent articles 

 'now offered, he should know all about 

 them"; tor, at any moment, what be has 

 read about these things may give him an 

 idea the successful carrying out of which 

 may help him over a difliculty. The 

 capacity of the bee-keeper to attend to a 

 certain number of colonies, be it greater or 

 less, will have a great influence on the 

 profits of the pursuit. As a pursuit, bee- 

 keeping should not be entered into with- 

 out careful thought and consideration as 



