88 



T«® mm^mmi^mM mmim jou^Mifsiu. 



Per contra, the clouds of bee-keeping, 

 summarized are : First, a sting that pois- 

 ons and pains; second, a winter mortality 

 and spring dwindling that thins the yard ; 

 third, foul brood, mice in winter, and toads 

 in summer, ants, wasps, spiders, beetles, 

 the king-bee, the bee-hawk, the bee-louse, 

 robber-flies, etc. ; and finally poor crops of 

 honey and unremuuerative prices. These 

 are the clouds, though fortunately they 

 seldom bunch up together over the luck- 

 less head of any one luckless bee-keeper. 



In conclusion I may be permitted, in as 

 brief a manner as possible, to give some ad- 

 vice (only, however, to those who need it, 

 and most of you probably do not) as to how 

 to avert the biggest of the clouds and in- 

 vite the sunshine. 



First, as to stings : In handling bees, the 

 prime requisite is to be brave and quiet, to 

 keep cool and handle carefully. Almost 

 equally important is it to keep yourself 

 scrupulously clean in person and apparel, 

 for the bee is fastidious, and ever ready to 

 resent malodorous ofl'ences. Then when so 

 unfortunate as to get stung, rub the stinger 

 out at once by a single, smooth motion of 

 the finger over the part stung, and turn 

 the part aside from the bees for a moment 

 till the effluvia, which accompanies a sting, 

 and which invites further attack — is dissi- 

 pated. 



To attempt to avoid the losses of winter 

 mortality and spring dwindling is a big un- 

 dertaking involving an extensive knowl- 

 edge of apicultural science and art as well 

 as an extended experience. We all have 

 considerable yet to learn on this subject. 

 The best knowledge I have at present on 

 the subject may be stated in its main points 

 briefly as fallows : 



Give every colony plenty of stores for 

 winter (honey is Viest), early in the fall 

 (September), so that they may settle down 

 contentedly instead of w-earing themselves 

 out looking for winter food. Keep them 

 dry and warm. Put them in winter quar- 

 ters early, before clold weather. Leave 

 the lids oil. Replace the summer quilts by 

 clean cotton ones, and cover over with 

 woolen quilts or cotton filled in with wool. 

 Keep the repository at about 45 to 50 de- 

 grees. Be in no hurry in getting them out 

 in the spring unless they are diseased or 

 restless. When out, clean them, give them 

 plenty of food, crowd them up, pack them 

 up warm and dry, and leave them alone 

 through the spring only when necessary to 

 attend to them. The winter and spring 

 management, of which this is an outline, I 

 have found successful. 



To avoid the origination of foul brood, or 

 less formidable diseases in your own yard, 

 attend to sanitation. Keep the yard and 

 hives clean, and never uncap or behead 

 drones in a weak colony where they are 

 lialile to rot instead of being carried out. 



The king-bird eats queens and drones; 

 use powder and shot on him. Against the 

 miller-moth there are two remedies, viz ; 

 Italian bees, and strong colonies of any 

 kind. 



To avoid the worry of swarraiug-time, 

 and the break-neck chasing of absconding 

 swarms, keep your queens' wings clipped ; 

 and keep back all after-swarms, as they are 

 unprofitable as well as troublesome. 



How to get a good honey crop when it is 

 going, and avoid the cloud of a bad one, 

 would take hours to set forth. I can, 

 therefore, only say here, read the bee- 

 papers and the standard works on the sub- 

 ject; learn and profit by your own experi- 

 ence ; and then rely upon yourself by using 

 your own best skill and judgment. 



To get a good price for your product after 

 you have got it, certain conditions, besides 

 the market, are essential. First, see that 

 you get it out of,or ott',the hives ripe and in 

 good order, and then jjreserve it in good 

 order — the comb honey in a warm, dry 



place, and the extracted, when ripe, in a 

 dry, cool place. Keep it clean and neat, 

 and put it up with care and taste to suit 

 your customers. Label and guarantee 

 j'our product over j'our own name, giving 

 brief and clear directions how to preserve 

 projjerly, and bow to liquify. Then wait 

 till the market opens, and a demand arises, 

 instead of rushing your crop out prema- 

 turely, and taking catch prices. Of course, 

 in the case of regular customers, grocers or 

 others — they must be supplied whenever 

 they want it, provided the honey is ripe and 

 fit for market. 



I hope that your apicultural sky may be 

 always fairly free from clouds, and that 

 the season of 1890 may be successful with 

 you all. 



Selby, Ont. 



MARKETING. 



Italian and Carnlolan Bees — 

 The Past Season. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY N. STAININGER. 



Bee-keeping in Iowa last year was a 

 succes-s — at least it was in Cedar coun- 

 ty. All the small towns were Hooded 

 with honey from farmers, and they 

 sold it at any price, as low as 7 to 8 

 cents for comb honey. Now if any 

 bee-keeper can sell honey in any other 

 town where they have cut prices in 

 this way, at any better prices, and sell 

 any amount, then he can do better 

 than I can. 



I shipped the greater part of my 

 honey to New York — 8,000 pounds of 

 comb honey, and 8,300 pounds of ex- 

 tracted — which brought, in New York 

 City, $1,1)08.09. The total expense 

 was $267, which left me $1,341 net. If 

 it were not for the outrageous freight 

 charges on honey, the expenses would 

 have been vei'y reasonable ; but I 

 think that bee-keepers might get bet- 

 ter rates, if they would stick for their 

 rights — .$1.2U per 100 pounds for 

 freight is entirely too much. 



THE PROSPECTS FOR 1890. 



I think that the prospects for a good 

 honey season this year are favorable. 

 All kinds of clover and fruit look 

 good, and the bees seem to be com- 

 paratively in good condition ; almost 

 all of them have plenty of stores, and 

 I have several thousand pounds stored 

 away in combs for them in the spring. 



My whole crop hist year was about 

 25,000 pounds, all told, from 140 colo- 

 nies in the spring — making an aver- 

 age of about 178.} pounds each — half 

 comb and half extracted. I increased 

 my apiary to 235 colonies. 



ITALIAN RACE OF BEES. 



The Italians are the bees for me. 

 They store the most honey, are the 

 easiest to handle, and give the least 

 trouble in swarming. My best colony 

 for comb honey swarmed on June 7, 



and .stored 160 pounds of comb honey, 

 and had three frames of brood and 

 honey taken out, besides. 



My best colony run for extracted 

 honey, gave me 425 pounds, with 

 plenty to carry them through until 

 next spring. 



About the middle of June there came 

 a very large swarm of black bees to 

 me, and I hived them just the same as 

 the others, and they stored about 75 

 pounds, with about enough to last 

 them until spring. 



THE CAENIOLAN BEES. 



These bees have not been satisfactory 

 with me. Two yeai-s ago 1 bought a 

 tested queen for 14.00, and put her in 

 one of my best colonies, and in less 

 than three weeks they swarmed. 

 Well, I saved all the young queens, 

 and I got eight or nine nice ones, but, 

 lo and behold, when the young bees 

 were old enough to work, they wanted 

 to clean the ranch ; they were as cross 

 as any hybrids. 



1 wrote to the breeder, and returned 

 the old queen, and he sent me four 

 young ones ; but they were no better — 

 three of them [1 killed last summer ; 

 when they swarmed, I hived them five 

 or six times, and sometimes twice a 

 day, until I became disgusted and 

 killed them. I do not think that any 

 of them were pure, and they were no 

 comparison to the Italians in honey- 

 gathering ; their best quality, that I 

 have found, is wintering. They can- 

 not be excelled for quietness. 



Tipton, Iowa. 



HONEY-PLANTS. 



The Kectar.Producuig Plauts- 

 Thcir Peculiarities. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



In my study of nectar-bearing plants 

 and trees, I have met with peculiarities 

 both interesting and instructive. A 

 marked and most befitting peculiarity 

 in that class of nectar-producing plants 

 upon which domestic animals chiefly 

 feed, is found in the fact that they only 

 secrete nectar after the sun begins to 

 warm the earth, and the domestic ani- 

 mals instinctively begin to retire to the 

 shady places for protection against 

 heat and the annoyance from flies. 

 Chief among this class of bee-forage 

 are the clovers. Many plants that are 

 not browsed by cattle— catnip, milk- 

 weed, figwort, hyssop, iron-weed, etc. 

 — produce nectar at any time, gov- 

 erned by no fixed rule. 



Again, we have other plants — buck- 

 wheat, smart-weed, spider-plant, dan- 

 delion, etc. — that produce nectar only 

 in the early part of the day. Another 



