572 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 10, 190S 



Mr. Hatty. What are your objections, if any, 

 to usiog it in winter in place of candy? 



3. If one uses inch starters at the top of 

 sections, do you thinli it advisable to place 

 starters at the bottom of sections also? 



Connecticut. 



Answers.— 1. No, I never tried it. If he 

 meant that when a colony is set in the shade, 

 the hive being: painted black it will not make 

 it swarm any more than being painted white, 

 he was right; for when a hive is kept in the 

 shade the black can not absorb the direct rays 

 of the sun. If he meant that if you paint a 

 hive black and set it in the shade, the colony 

 in such a hive will never swarm, he was as 

 wrong as wrong can be. A colony in the 

 shade will not be as sure to swarm as if in 

 the sun, but so far as black paint maUes any 

 difference, that difference will be in favor of 

 swarming. 



2. I never tried it, and don't know whether 

 it would be as good or not. If there is any 

 objection, it would be the danger that there 

 might not be enough moisture for the bees to 

 use the dry sugar. In most places that might 

 not be an objection at all. But the safe thing 

 would be to try it at first on a small scale. 



3. The size of the top starter has nothing to 

 do with the need of a bottom starter. The 

 object of the bottom starter is to get the 

 comb well fastened to the bottom-bar of the 

 section, and this is needed just as much with 

 a small as with a large top starter; if any 

 difference, it is more needed. 



Reports anb 

 (Experiences 



Bees Doing First-Rate 



I bought 2 colonies, giving S4 a colony for 

 them last spring. I brought them home May 

 20, and have had 2 swarms which are doing 

 well The first swarm is filling the second 

 super. If I can do as well for the bees when 

 they need my help as they are doing for me 

 now, I can talk to N. E. France. 



Wm. Matthews. 



Grant Co., Wis., July 3. 



Good Price for Honey- 

 Bees 



Wintering 



any account all summer, or this would have 

 been a hummer for honey. 



I can not be without the American Bee 

 Journal because I get all my information out 

 cf it, and it is a welcome visitor every week. 

 Geo. M. Seifert. 



Northampton Co., Pa., July 28. 



I am the first one who kept bees in this 

 county, and when I first began to talk about 

 them some people thought I had a screw loose 

 somewhere. I tent for 20 hives this spring 

 for different people. I spent over $100 before 

 I got a live bee, but since we have a railroad 

 here I am all right. I get as high as 50 cents 

 per pound for my honey. 



My first swarm issued May 21, and the bees 

 are slill swarming. 



[ winter the bees outdoors in winter-cases, 

 and I can keep my bees out when the ther- 

 mometer is 3U degrees below zero. I will 

 write about my experiment later on. 



Last week we had company who took my 

 bee-hives for tombstones. They said they did 

 not know that I had been living in a grave- 

 yard '■ Fred Hoffman. 



Fergus Co., Mont , June 38. 



Weather Hard on the Honey Crop 



I had (i colonies of bees, spring count, and 

 increafed to lU this summer. All are in good 

 condition, although the dry summer has 

 killed ail the white clover, and bees are doing 

 nothing. They did very well in the fore part 

 of the summer, but from all appearances I 

 will have to feed it we should not have a fall 

 honey-How. 



I have supers on all except 4 hives, and the 

 bees have started lo work in all of them. 

 Some were very nearly full when the How 

 ended like magic. I look off about 100 

 pounds of pure white honey the beginning of 

 Juue, and everybody 6u.\s it was the nicest 

 they ever saw. I retail my honey from the 

 houte at 18 and 20 cents a section, and have 2 

 grades by weight. We have had no rain of 



Bees Not Doing Well 



My bees are not doing very well this season. 

 There seems to be no nectar in the white clo- 

 ver. One colony I have had for 4 years, from 

 which a swarm has never yet issued, but it 

 does the work. W. H. Hobert. 



Dekalb Co., Mo.. July 28. 



Discouraging Time with Bees 



This year I have had the hardest fight I've 

 had since I went into the bee-business. When 

 the white clover came into bloom the rain 

 during May destroyed the entire crop. Then 

 came on the crimson clover, and met a simi- 

 lar fate, and dry weather in June got what 

 little buckwheat there was. My bees seem to 

 live " from hand to mouth" with nothing in 

 the brood-chamber. 



Time and again I've attempted feeding the 

 weak colonies, placing the Boardman feeder 

 inside and contracting the entrance to barely 

 a bee-space, but robbers come "to beat the 

 band." 



My only salvation now is our fall flow of 

 honey, though from my 50 colonies I do not 

 expect to get a pound of surplus honey, be- 

 cause they are so awfully short of supplies. I 

 hope no one else is having these things to 

 contend with. Geo. M. Phifer. 



Mecklenburg Co., N. C, July 10, 



White Honey Harvest a Failure 



The white honey harvest is a failure here. 

 There was much white clover bloom which 

 yielded quite freely early, but failed to yield 

 later. The weather was too cold, especially 

 at night. To-day it is rainy and cool. I have 

 taken only 20 or 25 supers of finished honey 

 from about 70 colonies run for comb honey. 

 Most of the hives now have on 2 supers each, 

 and there are but very few finished sections 

 to be found. Edward Bevins. 



Decatur Co., Iowa, July 25. 



Doing WeU With the Bees 



I bought a 2-frame nucleus last year, which 

 built up into a strong colony. In the spring 

 of this year I put another hive on top of the 

 one they are in, and now both hives are full 

 of comb, with some honey at the top of each 

 frame and the rest filled with brood. I expect 

 to take 3 or 4 frames of brood from them to 

 put into other hives. This is my first expe- 

 rience in such work, but I have "ABC of 

 Bee Culture," and I think I will get along. 



The bees have not swarmed this year. The 

 king-birds are here every day. I often see 

 them catch drones, and I think they have 

 caught queens. Joel F. Lee. 



McLean Co., 111., July 5. 



Finding Queens 



I seem to have made a little discovery in the 

 matter of finding queens, that is worth re- 

 porting, as it enables us to find the queen in 

 any old hive, whether combs can be lifted out 

 or not, and in properly constructed hives it is 

 much abbreviated. 



If a box-hive is used make a hole, or two. 



if preferred, say an inch auger-hole, (if there 

 isn't one already) in the top and near the 

 back part of the hive; then pour a good vol- 

 ume of smoke in at the entrance, keeping it 

 up until the hive is pretty well filled. Very 

 soon the bees begin pouring out at the hole, 

 and in every instance that I have witnessed 

 the queen was among the first. 



In using the simplicity hive I slipped the 

 enamel cloth forward so that about an inch at 

 the back was uncovered. They poured out 

 here and she was soon picked up with very 

 little trouble and no harm whatever was done 

 to the bees. 



It might be a good plan to set the hive on 

 an oilcloth, sheet, or the floor, if one is afraid 

 the plan may not work successfully at first, 

 then they would spread out over the back of 

 the hive and on the cloth where she could be 

 looked for. But with a little experience such 

 precaution will be unnecessary. Remember, 

 a good volume of smoke must be used, enough 

 to start the bees at once on a stampede to get 

 out. Davis R. Emmons. 



Champaign Co., Ohio, Aug. 1. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



National. — The International Fair is to be 

 held in San Antonio, Tex., Oct. 21 to Nov. 

 I. When this Fair is in progress there are 

 very low rates in force on the railroads out 

 for 600 or 700 miles. Then there are harvest 

 excursions from the North on the 2d and 4th 

 Tuesdays of the month. The 4th Tuesday in 

 October comes on the 24th. Considering these 

 facts, it has been decided to select Saturday, 

 Oct. 28, as bee-keepers' day at the Fair. This 

 will give ample time for members from the 

 North to reach the city by starling the 24th. 

 The regular sessions of the convention will 

 begin Monday, Oct. 30, and cu?timne three 

 days. 



The headquarters of the National Associa- 

 tion will be ajt the Bexar Hotel (pronounced 

 Baer, long sound of a), corner of Houston 

 and Jefferson Sts. , and rates are only $1.00 a 

 day, and up. The convention will be held at 

 Elks' Hall, 125 W. Commerce St., only two 

 blocks from the Bexar Hotel. 



Flint, Mich. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Missouri.— The Missouri Stale Bee-Keepers" 

 Association will meet ia Sedalia, Aug. 22 and 

 23, openidg session to be at 2:30 p.m., Aug. 22. 

 The room to meet iu will be named later on. 

 The State Fair meeting there at the same time 

 will obtain low railroad rates from all parts of 

 the State. The Livestock Association also meet- 

 ing there on the 24th will give us some inspira- 

 tion. Hon. Geo. B. Ellis. Secretary of the Agri- 

 cultural department, will be there and give a 

 talk and lend a helping hand. Louis A. Osborn, 

 of that place, has kindly offered to act as host, 

 and will direct to the place of meeting and to 

 accommoda' ion. Hotel accommodations can be 

 had at $1 to $2 a day. Private boarding cheaper. 

 Let us turn out en masse and have a glorious 

 time as well as to effect some extraordinary 

 progress. W. T. Cary, Sec. 



My apiary, con- 

 sisting of 98 col- 

 onies, 250 extra 



and small supplies. 



Good location. 



FOR SALE 



hives, 200 extra supers 



Worth $1,100; price, $800. 



E. F. READ, Arvada, Colo. 



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