1902 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



179 



gether in harmony fill their hive with 

 honey and may furnish you and me 

 with a nice surplus. 



If each one of us add but one little 

 kernel to bee-knowledge, the wisdom 

 gained will fill an encyclopedia. So it 

 will be seen that it will handsomely pay 

 us to improve these opportunities, 

 looking for more light even at bee- 

 keepers conventions. 



FEEDIXG BACK. 



I did not go away unsatisfied from 

 our last meeting. I heard Mr. Hutch- 

 inson say some new things m regard to 

 feeding back to get unfinished sections 

 finished up, which impressed me favor- 

 ably, and may be new to many others. 

 Supposing you have 12 cases of unfin- 

 ished honey at the close of your honey 

 season. Place them on as many colo- 

 nies, selecting j'our best comb builders, 

 preferably of native blood. When the 

 bees have taken possession of the sec- 

 tions, take six of the twelve ofif and 

 place them with all the bees on top of 

 the others; then feed the six. each hav- 

 ing two cases, as much as they will car- 

 ry down. The object is to add more 

 bees to the colonies that are to do the 

 worjc. As soon as any case is done, re- 

 move it and replace by one taken from 

 another colony; take bees and all. Fol- 

 low up this method, thus all the time 

 reducing the number of the colonies 

 kept at work, till finally you are feeding 

 but one colony, and all your once unfin- 

 ished sections are finished. 



CLEANING UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



Mr. M. F. Marks was caught letting 

 out a secret in regard to having honey 

 removed from partly filled sections or 

 any honey combs, that, if true, will 

 prove a great help sometimes. Take a 

 hive-body and fill full of such sections or 

 combs as you wish to have cleaned out. 

 Carry one section to a colony that needs 

 feeding and place it inside of the hive 

 for a few moments. When well cov- 

 ered with bees take it back to the hive 

 prepared before, which should be a 

 short distance from the apiary. You 

 will thus start a case of robbing. Ad- 

 just cover bee-t'ight and contract the 

 entrance so that but one or two bees 

 can go in at a time. It is said that the 

 robbing bees will protect the robbed 

 hive against other bees as they would 

 their own. One colony might, in this 



manner, be utilized to clean out a good 

 many sections, or a number of colonies 

 might be set to work at one time, each 

 one having their own feeding ground. 

 The thing looks almost incredulous; 

 we will try it next year. 



KEEPING DOWN THE GRASS. 



For a bee-yard no place suits me as 

 well as a nicely kept lawn somewhat 

 shaded by fruit-trees. To keep down 

 the grass has bothered many a one. My 

 method used to be, to allow the first 

 growth in the spring to grow tall 

 enough to cut with the scythe; after 

 that to use the lawn mtower frequently. 

 The weak point is that the grass near 

 the hives cannot be reached and will 

 grow very tall unless it is removed by 

 hand. I have been pretty sure that a 

 few sheep or a lot of hares could be 

 used in place of the lawn mower, and I 

 am pretty well convinced now that it 

 will work nicely. Mr. Marks says, he 

 kept two or three lambs in his apiary of 

 about 80 colonies and they did the busi- 

 ness to his entire satisfaction. This is 

 surely worth knowing. I think I shall 

 fence in my yard and build a shelter for 

 the lambs in the spring. . Perhaps I 

 may thus save time when it is most val- 

 uable. 



I am impressed with the great impor- 

 tance of the fact that we must make a 

 stand against the many enemies we 

 have: adulterators, dishonest commis- 

 sionmen, ignorance, spitefulness, etc 

 Join the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. Apply for membership to 

 Eugene Secor. Forest City, Iowa. 



Naples, N. Y., Dec. 28 1900. 



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