234 



THE fCMERICaff BE® JQ^MKSEr. 



mile from the fair, it took us but a few 

 hours to "get there," and the space 

 "was occupied so that visitors said it 

 loolced better than ever — and it paid 

 ■us better than ever. 



I believe that in nine cases out of 

 ten, a separate building is not needed, 

 and would be a positive damage. Even 

 where there is a large displaj-, it is by 

 a few exhibitors, and "lots" of other 

 bee-keepers will say, " I could beat 

 that," but they never try. 



The premiums should be so arranged 

 ■as to bring out those things that are 

 most attractive to the general piil)lic, 

 and give to each exhibitor, so far as 

 possible, enough premiums to pay all 

 expenses ; and I am sure that the 

 social part, and the pleasure had in 

 the endeavor to add to the general dis- 

 play and general good, will pay well 

 for the time spent. But whether the 

 •exhibit is made in a separate building 

 ■or otherwise, an efi'ort should be made 

 to aid the managers in making the 

 fair a success, and not have them feel 

 that our department is a burden. 



At the Michigan State Fair, the bee- 

 men are a positive help to the mana- 

 gers, and cause them no anxiety. Here 

 at our Tri-State Fair, they pay no at- 

 tention to our way of doing things, for 

 as they saj', " Everything will be all 

 right in your department, anyhow ;" 

 and at the Ohio Centennial, at its .close 

 the Society told me that our depart- 

 ment was the only one that run 

 smoothly, and from which no com- 

 plaints were made ; and when any of 

 us wanted anything, the officers were 

 glad of an opportunity to do us a favor. 



A good way to help make it pay is, 

 to take a goodly supply of " proven- 

 der" in the lunch-box ; bedding enough 

 to make a comfortable bed on straw, 

 and live on the grounds. A small oil- 

 stove, that can be had for a dollar, 

 will readily warm up cold "vittles," 

 and make the tea or coffee ; and so far 

 as my experience goes, there is plenty 

 of milk to be had, fresh from the 

 fountain, for "little or nothing," or 

 honey, and there is lots of comfort in 

 being at home. 



That is the way I lived at the Cen- 

 tennial for eight weeks, and nearly all 

 the time I had from one to three be- 

 :sides myself at my table, and others 

 were living in the same way in our 

 l)uilding. A small oil-stove, as above 

 referred to, boiled our " taters," and 

 cooked our meat, etc. 



Such a way of living is a regular 

 " picnic," and beats a hotel or board- 

 ing house " all to jiieces." No cooks, 

 or waiters, or boarders to growl. Good 

 square meals, and good square appe- 

 tites ; good honey always on the table, 

 good company, and a good time 

 generally. 



Auburndale, O. 



BEGINNING-. 



An Amateur's Experience in 

 Keeping Bees. 



WrttUn tor the Amerir.nn Bee Journal 

 BV A STUDENT. 



In the spring of 1886 I got one col- 

 ony of pure Italian bees, in an 8-frame 

 Langstroth hive, for which I paid $8. 

 I moved them eight miles in a lumber- 

 wagon, and put them in the shade of 

 a large crab-apple tree. Although the 

 frames were in no way fastened, there 

 were no dead bees or broken combs. 



The surplus arrangements for comb 

 honey were put on at once, and the 

 bees went to work in them imme- 

 diatelj", and in a short time they stored 

 about 12 pounds (which was all the 

 surplus honey I got that year), when 

 they swarmed. As the queen's wings 

 were clipped, she was easily caught 

 upon leaving the hive, when the old 

 hive was removed to a new location. 



The bees clustering in a tree as soon 

 as they missed their queen, gave 

 plenty of time to put an empty hive on 

 the old stand, and the bees shortly 

 after returning in search of their miss- 

 ing mother, entered the new hive, the 

 old queen being allowed to run in with 

 them. 



They immediately went to work, 

 and when I looked at them about eight 

 days afterwards, they had the hive full 

 of comb, and the four middle combs 

 were full of worker brood, while the 

 other four were nearly all drone-comb, 

 and had some eggs and larvje in them, 

 and some honey. Had I done as I 

 should, and taken the surplus arrange- 

 ments from the parent hive, and 

 placed them on the new swarm when 

 the)' were first hived, eight days be- 

 fore, I have found from later experi- 

 ence that there would have been but 

 very little drone-comb built b)' the new 

 colony, and the swarming impulse 

 would, as a general thing, have been 

 done away with for the season, and 

 the new colony would have stored 

 nearly 50 pounds of surplus honey. 



But ignorance is expensive, as I 

 learned to my sorrow before the next 

 spring. The old colony cast 4 after- 

 swarms, the first two of which were of 

 good size, but the last two were very 

 small, and as they were all hived on 

 eight empty frames, it may justly be 

 imagined that they did not " wax rich 

 in stores ;" and when fall came, with 

 the frosty nights, the busj' little work- 

 ers were obliged to suspend work, and 

 the)' were, as I have since learned, in 

 a poor condition to withstand the long 

 and cold winter. 



The first swarm cast by the old 

 colony, swarmed about the middle of 

 July. Both of these swarms were, 



however, in good condition for winter, 

 having plenty of honey ihid bees. 



About the first of November these 7 

 colonies, all from natural swarming, 

 were placed in the cellar under the 

 house, and directly under the living 

 room, the noise of which seemed in no 

 way to disturb them, as some seem to 

 think. I did not examine the bees 

 until the next spring, after the)' were 

 placed on the summer stands ; then I 

 found the last 2 after-swarms dead, 

 and the 2 others were so very weak 

 that I united them, thus leaving me 4 

 colonies to begin the season of 1887 

 with. 



The cause of the death and weak- 

 ness of the 3 colonies was starvation, 

 caused by too much room, consequently 

 scattered stores. Bees, to winter well, 

 should have just the amount of combs, 

 well filled with sealed honey, that they 

 can compactly cover, and these frames 

 of comb, if less than a hiveful, should 

 be placed in the middle of the hive, 

 with a dry basswood division-board on 

 each side (made the same size as the 

 brood-frames), and the spaces at the 

 sides filled in with dry fall leaves — soft 

 maple leaves are the best. 



The honey-board inverted with a 

 piece of gunny cloth tacked on the top 

 side should be placed over the frames, 

 leaving a J-inch space between the top 

 of the brood-frames and the slats of 

 the honey-board, thereby giving the 

 bees plenty of room to pass over the 

 tops of the brood-frames, from one to 

 the other, which is essential to success- 

 ful wintering. 



I have always, since the first winter, 

 placed an empty T-super on the top of 

 the honey-board (arranged as just de- 

 scribed), and filled that with leaves, 

 and then placed the cover on that, 

 giving the hive the same appearance it 

 has in the honey season with one 24- 

 pound super of sections on ; only in 

 this case the honey-board is inverted, 

 and has a piece of gunny-doth tacked 

 on the upper side of it, to prevent the 

 leaves from falling through on the 

 brood-frames, and the super is filled 

 with leaves, instead of one-pound sec- 

 tions. 



During the summer of 1887 I in- 

 creased the 4 colonics to 9, and took 

 300 pounds of comb honey in one- 

 pound sections. I use sections 2 inches 

 wide, preferring them to those more 

 narrow, for the reas(m that they always 

 hold one pound, and for that reason 

 they can be much more readily sold by 

 the single comb than the others. 



In the fall, liefore putting the bees 

 into the cellar, 1 united so that I had 

 but 6 colonies, and one of these, I am 

 now satisfied, was queenless, the queen 

 having been killed while transferring 

 them from a hollow limb, into which 

 they knew no more than to go and 



