AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



he will never forgive me as long as he 

 lives, trying in vain to remove guilt 

 from his shoulders, by telling that he 

 heard his dog bark in the night, and, 

 looking out of the window, saw two men 

 carrying a bee-hive, and heard them 

 afterward, behind his granary, talking 

 in a whisper. 

 Maiden Eock, Wis., Dec. 3, 1891. 



Golilen Bees, Extracted Honey, Etc. 



W. p. FAYLOR. 



That the yellow race of bees has been 

 growing in favor with apiculture the 

 past season, more Ihan ever before, is a 

 matter that has passed logical dispute. 

 Even Oleanings, of late, seems to favor 

 the " golden bees." 



The best time to breed these beauties 

 is during July and August, when coming 

 drones are exterminated. By keeping 

 •' hand-picked "' drones in queenless col- 

 onies during drouth, and feeding them 

 well, we get a superior type of bees. 



PKEVENTION OF SWAKMINC4. 



In my experience, it is not the largest 

 hive, but the bee-hive that admits the 

 freest circulation of air, that is one of 

 the best preventions for swarming. As 

 soon as the brood-chamber becomes well 

 populated, but before the "bees hang 

 out," put on one or two tiers of sections, 

 and raise the brood-chamber % of an 

 inch all around'. I do this by putting a 

 little piece of lath under each corner of 

 the brood-chamber. 



" But hold on," says some one. " My 

 hives are all nailed fast to the bottom- 

 boards." Well, then, knock them loose, 

 and the sooner the better. You can do 

 this much more quickly, and more 

 easily, than to be climbing trees after 

 swarms. Let me here repeat what I 

 said last season, that no one thing will 

 do so much to prevent swarming as to 

 allow the air to whistle under the brood- 

 frames in warm weather, and drive the 

 bees up into the sections. Remember 

 that " An ounce of prevention is worth 

 a pound of cure." But after these pre- 

 cautions, should a colony cast a swai*m, 

 return the swarm to the parent hive, 

 and exchange the site of the hive with 

 that or another ; or if you wish to do a 

 little more work, hive the swarm in a 

 new hive, and place the section-case, or 

 cases from the old stand, on the new 

 hive, and all is well. This last, though 

 an old method, is practiced by a good 

 many bee-keepers. 



EXTKACTED-HONEY. 



Honey in the liquid form is slowly, but 

 surely, gaining favor with consumers. 

 Many prefer extracted-honey in its 

 granulated form. Indeed, I like it that 

 way' myself. 



In regard to vessels for shipping ex- 

 tracted-honey, I may frankly say that 

 the square tin cans come first with me. 

 I could only wish for one improvement 

 on these cans, and that is the opening. 

 It is not much trouble to put honey into 

 these cans ; but it is considerable trouble 

 to seal the screw caps, according to the 

 present modus operandi. Did I know 

 who manufactured these cans, I would 

 suggest that they make the screw-caps 

 the exact size of the cap to a Mason 

 fruit-jar ; then we could fill a can with 

 honey, and seal the same with a rubber 

 ring, the same as we do a can of fruit. 



Mt. Auburn, Iowa. 



[The idea is a good one. Rubber rings 

 can be obtained of any size. There are 

 two sizes of these screw-caps used on the 

 square cans ; the regular one being 1)4 

 inches in diameter, and the extra one is 

 4 inches. Rubber rings can be obtained 

 for either, or both. — Ed.] 



Careless, Slipslioil Bee-Keeplni. 



A. C. BABB. 



I have just returned home from a trip 

 across the country, and as I rode along 

 I could see a few bee-hives (box-hives, 

 mostly). Some had 5, some 6, and some 

 10 hives out in weeds against a rail 

 fence, with a couple of boards laid on 

 the top of the hives to turn the rain oflf. 

 George E. Britton, of Newmausville, 

 Green County, has 39 colonies in box- 

 hives. He said that he would not have 

 the frame hives, as they were of no 

 account to him. I asked him if he ob- 

 tained much honey, and he said he had 

 hardly any. If he had his bees in frame 

 hives, and worked them for extracted- 

 honey, he would get on an average 40 

 pounds to the colony, and that would be 

 1,560 pounds, which, at 10 cents per 

 pound, would be $156. But by his way 

 of management he does not get $25 

 from his bees in a year. Most of the 

 bee-keepers do not know how to care for 

 their bees. It seems to me if they did, 

 they would have more of them than they 

 do, and then get more honey ; in this 

 country, I mean. If a swarm issues, 



