June IS, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



423 



taken from the cellar there are often hives fnll of bees. The 

 cold, backward weather durin? the last of April and In May, 

 and the first half of .June, often reduces the strong colonies 

 to mere handfuls of bees through spring dwindling. Often in 

 a couple of weeks after the bees are put out they will hav(! 

 three or four combs of brood, and with pleasant, warm 

 weather, with maples and fruit and dandelions yielding pollen 

 and honey, the bee-keeper will be led to think that they will 

 soon be swarming and the colonies increased and his business 

 fairly boom. 



But there comes a day with a bright, sunny morn. Clouds 

 by 11 or 12 o'clock. Rain, sleet, or possibly snow, by 4 o'clock 

 in the afternoon, and during the night perhaps the formation 

 of half an inch of ice by the next morning. Our balmy, 

 sunny May weather seems to catch a cold that it can not 

 throw off. All the spring flowers receive a set-back which 

 often "puts them out of business " for the remainder of the 

 season. The weather continues more or less cloudy or chilly, 

 and what becomes of the tender brood in the hives ? In a 

 week or 10 days we examine and find, in place of the broad 

 sheets of brood with eggs and all-sized larv;c strewn in strips 

 several inches wide clear to the outer margins, a few patches 

 of sealed brood the size of a hand or smaller. The eggs and 

 larva? have disappeared from the outside, and there may be 

 only now and then an egg placed in the oocasional empty cells 

 among the sealed brood. Indeed, the prospects look slim, or 

 "blue." 



If such colonies as were taken from the cellar were set 

 down here in California In any of the winter months, I believe 

 there would be 6 or 7 combs full of brood in 3 or 4 weeks, and 

 the weather would not prevent it from hatching. But our 

 colonies In .January are weak — notable to maintain more than 

 2 or 3 combs of brood. Thus through January, February and 

 March they go through the process of " building up " to attain 

 strength sufficient to swarm. The cause of their becoming 

 weak is that they continue to fly about during September, 

 October, November and December, and get to be old bees, or 

 get lost. Then the weather Is unpropitious enough to hold a 

 weak colony in check, when, if the colony was strong in b<'es. 

 It could make rapid advance from the start. Such colonies 

 would be too early for sage or any other harvest, but the num- 

 ber could be increased, young queens reared, etc , in short, 

 about double the gathering force of the apiary, or reduce oni'- 

 half the number of colonies to be carried through a dry sea- 

 son. IjOS Angeles Co., Calif., April 10. 



^ 



(£onix^ntton 

 Proccebtngs 



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Papers Read at the Minnesota Convention 



Held at Minneapolis Dee. 7 and 8, 1904 



INSURING BEES 



The principal upon which insurance of all forms is based 

 is not a subject for debate. It has beeu accepted after years 

 of trial to be one of the best and cheapest known means of 

 protection against accident, and nearly all possible kinds of 

 losses are susceptible of protection through the agency of 

 insurance. Prominent among the exceptions to this general 

 rule Is loss of capital invested in stock and fixtures of an 

 apiary. 



We know of no insurance company at the present tiinr 



!that will consider for a moment tlie proposition of Issuing a 

 policy on property of this kind. Why insurance companies 

 assume this attitude towards this species of profitable invest- 

 ment ofcapilal I shall not try to explain, but such is the pres- 

 I ent condition, and the proposition that confronts the owners 

 :! of large apiaries, who wish to protect themselves against loss 

 ; of their property by accident, is. How can we obtain insur- 

 ' ance? 



I From the standpoint from which I view the subject lean 



( see only one method that would be cheap, safe and desirable, 

 viz.: Form a bee-keepers' mutual insurance company and put 

 It In the hands of good, practical business men, who would be 

 interested In the success of the company and the business it 

 was created to protect. 



This subject should be brought before the bee-keepers at 

 their annual convention, and proper measures taken to organ- 

 ze a company and commence business. 



By request, I olTer the above suggestions, and hope action 

 along the lino indicated will bo taken. 



Kanabec Co. , Minn. C. H. Harlan. 



BEE-KEEPING AS AN OCCUPATION 



The occupation of the bee-keeper is a most interesting 

 and unique one. There is no other business like it. The 

 skillful manipulation of bees, whether for the production of 

 honey or for the rearing of queens is an art of which the gen- 

 eral public know but little. Surprisingly strange questions 

 are asked us by people refined and educated, as well as by the 

 unlettered. 



The progress of the industry in this country has placed 

 the occupation among the trades or professions, and like them 

 must be learned by careful study and practice in order to pur- 

 sue the business intelligently and successfully. 



It is certainly more of an art than a trade, and must be 

 classed among the skilled avocations of men and women. In 

 many of the trades the hands may become so skillfully trained 

 as to work automatically, and by the use of patterns some- 

 times the mind is used very little. 



Not so with the pursuit of the bee-keeper. To be success- 

 ful he must not only acquire a knowledge of bees, he must 

 also acquire skill by practice, and with something of an inven- 

 tive mind be on the alert for the different emergencies that 

 are sure to confront him, and especially during the swarming 

 season. 



Here I am reminded that one season when I had been too 

 busy to clip the wings of many of my queens, and the swarm- 

 ing season in all Its commotion came on, I found some com- 

 fort In reading in Gleanings that at the " Hovie of the Honey 

 Bees" they had also been too busy to clip the queens' wings. 

 And while they had to climb tall trees in order to capture 

 some of their swarms, I had only to pull up an evergreen tree 

 on which most of my swarms clustered and carry it to the 

 hive prepared for them and shake them down Into it, then 

 return the tree to the socket In the ground in time for the 

 next swarm that would come out. 



During a recent visit to New England I found but few 

 bee-keepers even among the farmers. The old-style hive was 

 generally still in use and the black bees, infested with millers, 

 still predominated. I wondered that Langstroth's movable 

 frames and the "ABC of Bee Culture " were not well enough 

 known to be appreciated. I noticed the absence of white 

 clover from the fields and pastures and roadsides. These 

 conditions doubtless accounted for the fact that No. 2 and No. 

 3 comb honey was sold in the city at i!S cents per pound. 



They are fortunate indeed who can learn the theory and 

 practice of bee-keeping in some State Agricultural College, 

 under such Instruction as Prof. A. .). Cook gave in the State 

 of Michigan, and perhaps is now giving in California. It 

 seems to me that the Agricultural Colleges in the different 

 States should consider bee-keeping important enough to be 

 Included in their course of study. When such instruction 

 cannot be had It would be undoubtedly much to the advantage 

 of the student or beginner to spend one or more seasons with 

 some veteran in the business. 



Yet most of us bee-keepers are probably self-made, and 

 are still learning our lessons by experience, striving to know 

 and dd the important things essential to the highest success, 

 eliminating the non-essential and trying to create or adopt the 

 best system for use In our apiary. 



But what a debt the student of today owes to those of the 

 past who, like Huber, Langstroth, and others, have patiently 

 observed the honey-bees at work iu the field and in the hive, 

 at various times and seasons, and experimented with them 

 until they had found ways and means of managing these 

 industrious and wise little servants. 



If the Hebrew writer of the proverb " Go to the ant, thou 

 sluggard" had been as well acijuainted with the honey-bee as 

 the ant, ho would doubtless have said, "Go to the honey-bee, 

 consider her ways, and be wise." 



The most excellent periodicals |)ublished in the interests 

 of bee-keeping are not only exceedingly helpful but are indis- 

 pensable to all " up-to-date " bee-koepers. Those of us who are 

 beginners in this industry owe our success thus far chiefiy to 

 the benefits we have received from the veterans of experience 

 who have aciiuired their knowledge through the slow and 

 sometimes costly course of years of experience, and who have 

 freely furnished it to be printoil for the benefit of others. 

 The debt we owe them should lie acknowledged, and our 

 praise and honor bestowed upon them. 



I have been interested to notices that the art of bee-keep- 

 ing to most persons, as they learn it. becomes fascinating, and 

 they grow enthusiastic in it. A common bond of sympathy is 



