140 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[July. 



writer has loaded a number of cars 

 with honey at Golton himself; but 

 that was many years ago, and in those 

 days the bees had to fly to the foot- 

 hills and mountains and gather the 

 honey from the blossoms of the black 

 sage; it was not gathered from the 

 hives, as it appears Mr. Hert's bees 

 now do. 



In reading the foregoing extract, 

 the inexperienced might well decide 

 that the matter of a honey crop in 

 California was not one dependent 

 upon moisture or weather conditions, 

 but purely one of hives, and that the 

 "Simplex" was the solution of the 

 whole question. To those who know 

 anything of the business, however, the 

 effusion will do no "Hert." 



If a bee-keeper has devised some 

 practical hive, which he thinks an im- 

 provement on those now in use, it 

 would, obviously, be better to set 

 forth its merits in a business-like, pro- 

 fessional way, and not resort to such 

 rot as the foregoing "testimonial." It 

 is quite in line with the Lizzie E. 

 Cotton fake of bygone days. 



Bees do not make honey from hives, 

 and Mr. Hert's bees would have stored 

 just as much honey in almost any 

 other receptacle — whether box-hive, 

 other frame-hive, soap box, nail keg or 

 hollow log, without doubt, if founda- 

 tion were given to assist in the con- 

 struction of comb, as it doubtless was 

 in the Hert case. It was quite need- 

 less for Mr. Hert to assure his read- 

 ers that he was not a professional 

 apiarist — they could readily recognize 

 the fact. 



The greater achievements of Mr. 

 Hert's bees in the Simplex hive, as 

 compared to those in other hives, 

 could be accounted for in innumerable 

 ways, aside from the mere matter of 

 hive, which probably has little or 

 nothing to do with the matter. 



Let no inexperienced bee-keeper be 

 led to Relieve that his success or 

 failure in bee-keeping depends upon 

 the mater of the style of hive he uses. 

 Honey is made from the nectar of 

 flowers. Certain kinds of flowers se- 

 crete nectar abundantly under favor* 

 able conditions. Some of the note- 

 worthy nectar-yielders are, white 

 clover, basswood, buckwheat, alfalfa, 

 mountain sage and white sage, mes- 

 quite, heartsease, tupelo, fruit trees, 

 mangrove, saw palmetto, ti-ti and sev- 



eral others. But bear in mind that 

 bees never, never obtain nectar from 

 the walls of a bee hive. (H.) 



PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS. 



GRANT STANLEY. 



Work for improvement. 



Grade the honey well. 



What has the harvest been? 



Bee-keepers are a hopeful «et. 



How far can bees scent honey? 



Are you working up a home mar- 

 ket? 



Take good care of the bait combs. 



Have you made any plans for next 

 year? 



Do you put any thought in your 

 business? 



Put some of your sound theories to 

 practice. 



Have all hives bee-proof except the 

 entrance. 



Better to have quality without neat-' 

 ness than neatness without quality. 



Order your supplies when you can 

 secure the largest discount. 



The baits for use next year should 

 not contain any honey. 



If bee-keeping is to be a specialty, 

 it should be our sole business. 



More compound words found in the 

 bee-keepers' catalogue than any other 

 business. 



G. M. Doolittle says an east wind 

 is not good for the secretion of nectar, 

 and I believe he is right. 



Mr. McEvoy says ninety per cent 

 of all the queens on the continent of 

 Ameriga want killing. That's putting 

 it pretty strong, but I guess it's not 

 far from the mark. 



If you have a case of robbing, make 

 up your mind it is either the result 

 of carelessness or ignorance, and just 

 about one case will waken you up 

 pretty well on this question. 



Dr. Miller says, in his book, that 

 more superseding takes place in his 

 locality at the close of a prosperous 

 season than one in which little storing 

 is done. 



Swarming is a subject that has baf- 

 fled some , great bee-keepers. It is 

 said to be' caused in general by a 

 crowded brood chamber. But how 

 is it when bees swarm with plenty of 

 room above and below? It is nature's 

 way of increasing and we can't get 

 over it. 



