22 



T'Mm M.'m.MMl^m'H @K1^ J@>^MKM]L. 



BEE-NOTES. 



Interesting Hinli^ and Sugges- 

 tions for Apiarists. 



Written lor the American Bee Journal 

 BY S. L. WATKINS. 



"There are no gains witTiout pains," 

 — so says the bee-keeper. 



Chapakall is an excellent honey- 

 and-pollen yielding plant in early 

 spring. 



Faik Exhibits. — It pays well to ex- 

 hibit honey and apiarian snpplies at 

 fairs ; it is a splendid way to educate 

 the people and help the sale of honej'. 



Swarming. — Colonies worked for 

 comb honey should not swarm to ex- 

 ceed 10 per cent. ; and if for extracted, 

 not more than 5 per cent. 



Settling Swarms. — A smoke-pole is 

 quite handy to keep two or more 

 swarms from settling together. You 

 can prevent the others from settling, 

 by the use of the smoke. 



Putting on Sections. — Do not put 

 too many sections at one time on a 

 colony ; too man}' has a tendency to 

 discourage, rather than encourage. 



Extracting Honey. — Beginners in 

 the extracted-honey business liad bet- 

 ter go slow, and learn the business ; or 

 they may produce bad results, and get 

 discouraged. 



Hiving Swarms. — To hive a swarm, 

 shake tlie bees oil' on a pole, to whicli 

 a caged queen is fastened. An old 

 sack tied around the end of the pole, 

 gives the bees a better surface to 

 cling to. 



Separating Swarms. — In swarming 

 time, if half a dozen or so of swarms 

 get together, dump them on a sheet, 

 catch the queens and divide the bees 

 into as many swarms as you have 

 queens. Fill up the hives witli frames 

 of foundation, and place a frame of 

 unsealed brood in each hive, and tliey 

 are ready for business. 



ClTLOROFORMiNG Bees. — Do not ex- 

 periment with chloroform on your val- 

 uable colonies when introducing the 

 queens. An experienced person can 

 introduce a queen in safety with chlo- 

 roform, but I would advise all bee- 

 keepers to let it severely alone. With 

 a Feet shipping and introducing cage, 

 it is no trouble to introduce queens. 



Virgin Queens. — The virgin-queen 

 business will imdoubtedly increase in 

 the near future. I believe it is the 

 most practical method of infusing new 

 blood into an apiary. With the new 

 methods of introducing queens, either 

 virgin or fertile queens, it will be no 

 trouble on that part. Bee-keepers who 

 purchase virgin queens will be sure 

 of getting no in-bred queens, and by 

 having choice drones in your apiary, 

 you will soon have a superior strain. 



Espercette, or Sanfoin, does well 

 in the mountain countries of Califor- 

 nia ; it grows well without water on 

 the rockiest kind of land. There was 

 not enough of it near my apiary this 

 season to determine its value as a 

 honey-plant, but the bees worked on it 

 first-rate. A bee-keeper in Marin 

 county, Calif., informed me that it is 

 destined to become one of the leading 

 forage and honey-producing plants of 

 the country. 



Large Honey- Yields. — Bee-keepers 

 situated in the "Great American Des- 

 ert," have realized the most money 

 from their apiai'ies this season. Mr. J. 

 L. Gregg, of Tempe, Maricopa county, 

 Arizona, reports 485 pounds to the 

 colony, and his apiary is composed of 

 something like 200 colonies. The 

 principal source of bloom that it was 

 gathered from, was alfalfa and mes- 

 quite. Mr. Ball, of Reno, Nevada, 

 secured 12,000 pounds of comb honey, 

 and 5,000 pounds of extracted honey, 

 all from 200 colonies. His crop was 

 gathered from alfalfa. 



Bees and Fruit. — Bees are an ad- 

 vantage to all fruit-growers, by assist- 

 ing Nature in the fertilization of 

 flowers. A great many people think 

 that bees puncture grapes, but this is a 

 mistake ; they work on them after 

 yellow-jackets and other insects, that 

 have strong mandibles, have punctured 

 them. Bees never injure sound fruit. 



After grapes and other fruits have 

 bursted, it will soon rot, anyway, and 

 bees might as well have the sweets 

 from it as to let it waste. They be- 

 lieve in "gathering up the fragments," 

 that nothing may be lost. 



Floods and Snow. — We are having 

 very stormy weather in California, and 

 if it continues much longer, there will 

 be considerable damage done by 

 floods. A great many bridges along 

 the Sacramento river have been washed 

 away. Several counties bordering 

 on the river are three-fourths under 

 water now ; and several feet deep, in 

 some places. 



There is about fifteen feet of snow 

 on the summits of the Sierra Nevadas, 

 and it is still snowing. 



Strong Colonies. — A good plan to 

 get a large body of bees to work in a 

 hive, is to hive the new swarm that 

 comes out, on frames of foundation, 

 and put it under the old colony, plac- 

 ing a wire-screen between the two. 

 Next, remove all the queen-cells and 

 the queen, in the old hive. Let the 

 wire-screen remain for a week ; by that 

 time, if it is an average honey season, 

 the new colony will have things pretty 

 well filled up. You can then venture 

 to put on an empty story, filled with 

 frames of foundation, between the old 

 and the new colony ; and, if there is 

 favorable weather, they will commence 

 operations at once. 



If any apiarist has a better method 

 of securing a large number of workers 

 in a hive for a honey harvest, than the 

 foregoing, I should be pleased to hear 

 of it. 



Placerville, Calif., Dec. 17, 1889. 



MICHIGAN. 



Tlie Bee-Keepers of tlie State 

 in Council. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY H. D. cutting. 



The Michigan State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association held its 24th annual meet- 

 ing on Dec. 26 and 27, 1889, at Lans- 

 ing, in the Capitol building. The at- 

 tendance was much larger than it has 

 been for several years. The weather 

 was fine, and that, with the cheap rates 

 of railroad fare, caused many more 

 than usual to come. The Hudson 

 House was in a crowded condition, but 

 everything was done for the members 

 to make it more pleasant. 



At the close of the meeting a vote of 

 thanks was extended to the Managers 

 of the Hudson House for courtesies 

 shown the members of this Association. 



The convention was called to order 

 by the President, Prof. A. J. Cook, in 

 a few genial remarks, that made every 

 one feel at ease. 



The minutes of the last meeting, and 

 the report of the Secretary, were read 

 and approved. 



Mr. K. Shoshima, of Torsys, Japan, 

 who is a graduate of one of the Agri- 

 cultural Colleges of Japan, and who is 

 now taking a course in Entomology 

 and Bee-Keeping at the Michigan State 

 Agricultural College, was present, and 

 Dr. Mason moved that he be made an 

 Honorary member of this Association. 



Mr. Shoshima says that bee-keeping 

 in Japan is carried on in a very crude 

 manner. The honey is dark, and 

 mostly used for medicine — buckwheat 

 being the principal honey resource. 

 Buckwheat is largely raised and used 

 in Japan, of which they have many 

 varieties. 



