242 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



block that just fills this entrance, and, 

 across one side of the block, is cut a 

 long- notch, }i x6 inches, for use as a 

 winter entrance. 



On top of the hive, under the cover, 

 I use a five-inch rim covered on the 

 bottom with cotton and filled with fine 

 sawdust. 



Now, if m3' bees have plent\' of 

 honey, all I have to do to prepare the 

 hive for the winter, is to slip in my en- 

 trance block, and put on my fray of 

 sawdust, and I can prepare 100 col- 

 onies for winter in from 3 to 4 hours, 

 with the greatest of ease. 



KEEP A MAN AT EACH YARD IN SWARM- 

 ING TIME. 



Now, as to that thorn in the path of 

 the bee-keeper — The Swarming Problem 

 — from personal experience, from con- 

 versation with expert bee-keepers, and 

 from reading-, I have concluded that 

 the best solution of the difficulty, 

 though not the only one, is to first select 

 a real g-ood location, one that will 

 carry from 115 to 150 colonies, and then 

 carefully select a young man, or a boy 

 of 17 or 18 years, upon whoin you can 

 rely to carry out your instructious to 

 the letter, and put him in charge of 

 your yard. If you have to pay him 

 $1.00 or even $1.25, per day, don't 

 growl; he is well-worth it, for he will 

 look after all your swarms, and ex- 

 tract nearly all 3'our honey at that 

 yard, and you will have very little of 

 either work or worry. You will re- 



quire this man for two months, and his 

 wages will amount to about $50 or $60, 

 and if he saves eight or ten good 

 swarms from going off to the woods, 

 the bees and the honey will be worth 

 the amount of his wages; and the tak- 

 ing ofif of the crop you get free of 

 charge, as well as being relieved from 

 several days of the most arduous work 

 destroying queen cells, looking over 

 colonies, etc. 



Further, with a man in charge, you 

 are not obliged to have more than one 

 super, as he can extract the honey as 

 soon as it is ripe; thus giving the bees 

 room and keeping them hustling. 



As to the securing of increase in this 

 locality, our honey flow is over about 

 vhe 20th of July, and if all good colo- 

 nies were divided at that time, and a few 

 barrels of sugar used, an increase of 

 100 per cent, can be secured very 

 cheaply. 



PRODUCE EXTRACTED HONEY. 



As to whether you shall produce 

 comb or extracted honey, I would say 

 produce the one that will give you the 

 most money; and 90 times out of 100, 

 with bee-keepers as they run, that 

 means extracted honey. 



To produce a fancy article of comb 

 honey requires exceedingly skillful 

 management, and if it is to be oro- 

 duced in out-apiaries I would say it 

 would require the wisdom of a Sol- 

 omon, and that, I am afraid, the novice, 

 at least, has not got. 



Hamilton, Onl., Can., Jan. 3, 1905. 





5 



Itorl 



The Western Bee Journal has been 

 sold to Orchard and Farm, a monthl3' 

 published at San Francisco, and will 

 henceforth be published as an apiarian 

 department of that publication, with 

 Mr. Adelsbach as editor. 



Nominations of Candidates for officers 

 to be elected next November by the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association are 

 now in order. I have received from 

 the General Manager a notice that 

 nominations are to be made for candi- 



