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THE lUMERICJCPf WEM JOUHlNlMt. 



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those Avhich have just commenced to 

 lay. 



However, I do not make this a prac- 

 tice, for I find that the bees will super- 

 sede their own queen when she gets 

 to be too old to be of service to them ; 

 so I trust the matter to them, believing 

 that they know what is best for them 

 along this line better than I do. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



TEXAS. 



Coiioernins: Bees and Honey in 

 that Large State. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 Br A. C. ATEN. 



Bees have been doing well in this 

 part of Texas so far this spring. I left 

 too much honey in my hives in the fall, 

 and although I gave them plenty of 

 room, the}' swarmed some in April, 

 beginning about the first of the month. 

 I have never been troubled much with 

 my bees swarming, for the last five 

 years, and under such favorable cir- 

 cumstances, I had only 8 swarms that 

 I know of from 140 colonies. I at- 

 tributed my success in keeping down 

 swarming*, to giving plenty of room. 



Horse-mint Liooks Promising:. 



We had a tine rain three days ago, 

 and bees are now booming on horse- 

 mint and wild marigold. There is a 

 fine crop of horse-mint this season, and 

 everything is now favorable for a good 

 honey harvest. Wheat and early oats 

 are ripe, and being harvested ; and 

 corn is on an average waist high. 



House-^Iarlins and King-Birds. 



I expect that Mrs. Sherman (see 

 page 307) wishes to know if the com- 

 mon house-martin will destroy bees. 

 It is affirmed by some intelligent bee- 

 men that they will, and for this reason 

 I have never put up any martin-boxes. 

 There are but few king-birds here, but 

 I saw one in mj' home apiary a few 

 days ago, catching bees as usual. 



I^ayins: Workers and Urone-Lay- 

 ing; 4{ueens. 



I will say for the benefit of Mr. 

 Thos. M.Pierce (seepage 308), that the 

 most eflectual way of getting rid of 

 laying workers, or of a drone-laying 

 queen, if you cannot find them, is to 

 shake the bees all ofl" the frames, and 

 out of the liive, on the ground a couple 

 of rods away. The bees will mostly 

 get back, but the laying worker or 

 queen will not ; then give them a frame 

 of eggs or a queen-cell, and give them 

 a chance to rear a queen. 



They should be given a frame of 

 brood almost ready to hatch, for if 

 they are all old bees in the hive, they 



maj- kill the j-onng queen when she re- 

 turns from her wedding flight. 



Keeping Bees in Texas. 



I will say to the friend that inquires 

 in regard to bee-keeping in Texas, that 

 bees never perish from the efl'ects of 

 cold here, and if they have plentj- of 

 stores, and are in anything like a good 

 condition, they will get through the 

 winter. 



From some cause or other, I did not 

 have a queenless colony this spring in 

 my apiaries of 140 colonies. One 

 drone-laying queen was the nearest to 

 it. I have sometimes had over a half 

 dozen in a less number of colonies. 

 Was it because they had so much 

 honej- ? 



Another thing that I will call atten- 

 tion to, is this : There does not appear 

 to be a queen but what is prolific — all 

 the colonies have immense quantities 

 of bees. I have long thought that most 

 queens would lay enough eggs under 

 favorable circumstances, and this ap- 

 pears to confirm it. 



I have had to sell most of my honey 

 for 6 cents per pound for th^ extracted; 

 but when I consider that the whole 

 amount of work that my bees received 

 last year to produce and extract 11,000 

 pounds of honey, was only six weeks, 

 it was not so bad after all. My bees 

 are in Travis county. 



Round Rock, Tex., May 20, 1889. 



VERMONT. 



As a Honey-Producing Region 

 It is E.vcellent. 



Written for the American Agriculturist 



BY SAMUEL CUSHMAN. 



Addison county, Vermont, celebrated 

 for its pure-bred Merino sheep and 

 horses, also stands high as a honey- 

 producing region. The heavy clay 

 soil favors an abundant growth of 

 white clover, wliich usually yields 

 large quantities of the finest honey. 

 Basswood trees also abound. The 

 surplus honey yield being of short 

 duration and very heav}% allows quick 

 work by the bees, which insures deli- 

 cate white comb and, with good man- 

 agement, completely filled boxes. This, 

 with its fine quality, gives Addison 

 comb honey its justly-deserved repu- 

 tation. 



Numerous farmers and a few special- 

 ists scattered about the county keep 

 bees. In some cases 200 colonies are 

 kept in one yard with good results, 

 while from 40 to 100 is the usual num- 

 ber. Many, with no love for the pur- 

 suit, but who have engaged in it 

 simply for the dollars and cents to be 

 made by following the instructions of 

 leading bee-masters, have found it as 



profitable, or more so, than any other 

 branch of their farm work, and now 

 market their ton or two of comb 

 ^oney yearly. The specialists who 

 run a number of large 3'ards in difi"er- 

 ent locations, and make it their prin- 

 cipal business, have also been success- 

 ful in securing from 10 to 20 tons of 

 honej'in a single good season. 



The most extensive apiarist in tliis 

 section, and probably the one having 

 the largest number of colonies in New 

 England, is Mr. A. E. Manura. He 

 commenced in 1870 with 2 colonies, 

 and, although like other bee-keepers, 

 he soon found that a good season was 

 usuall}- followed by a poor one, his 

 success led him to extend the business, 

 and in the spring of 1885 he had five 

 difterent yards of 470 colonies. That 

 season was an unusual one, and he ob- 

 tained from them 19 tons of comb 

 honey, and 3 tons of extracted honey, 

 and an increase in bees, making 850 

 colonies in the fall. 



This large crop was nearly all gath- 

 ered in 12 days, and one of the best 

 colonies on scales at Yard No. 2, while 

 working on basswood, gathered in one 

 day 33 pounds, and in four daj'S 124 

 pounds. The largest yield from one 

 liive was 228 pounds of comb honey. 

 His greatest yield in 1883 was 312 

 pounds of comb honey from the bees 

 in one hive. 



As an oflfset to this and the pi-evious 

 good years, each season since 1885 

 has been a poor one, and his bees have 

 not paid expenses. With a few ex- 

 ceptions in favored localities, bee- 

 keepers everywhere have fared the 

 same, although three such poor seasons 

 in succession are unparalleled in the 

 history of the industry in this countrj'. 

 Mr. Manum's out-apiaries are from 2 

 to 16 miles from the home yard. 



Xlie Hive Used by Mr. mannm. 



At the start, Mr. Manum tried all 

 the diflferent hives, and studied and 

 experimented to get the best for prac- 

 tical work. By combining, modifying 

 and inventing new features, he turned 

 out that which met his ideas, and 

 which, with a sjstem of management 

 suited to it, is now used in all his api- 

 aries and manj- others. The hive is 

 double-walled, and consists of a stand, 

 inner hive or brood-chamber, and an 

 outer case. The entrance is through 

 the stand underneath the brood-cham- 

 ber, and cannot be clogged by snow ; 

 is protected from rain, and by means 

 of a slide it can be graduated from 2 

 inches long by | of an inch wide in 

 winter, to 14 inches long by 2 inches 

 wide — the full summer width when the 

 slide is removed. 



The outer case is movable, and is in 

 three separate sections. The roof is of 

 clapboards. In each gable is a 2-ineh 



