PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANFG CO 



VOL. VI. 



fVLRIL, 1896. 



NO. 4. 



A few Remarks on Bee-keeping. 



BY JNO F. (iATKS. 



What is there in connection with 

 bee-keeping that looks so nice, home- 

 like and safe as those long rows of 

 open sheds full of large, tall hives of 

 bees, with their fronts worn and stain- 

 ed with the constant traveling in and 

 out of the vast throng of busy work- 

 ers? They look as though they could 

 take care of themselves so far as all 

 natural enemies are concerned, and 

 you can depend upon them to do so. 



If you had been down south about 

 the time of our late unpleasantness 

 you could have learned, as I did, some 

 pertinent facts about bees. You would 

 have seen many such sights as 1 have 

 described. It was no uncommon 

 thing to see a hundred hives of bees 

 in one yard. The soldier boys liked 

 the looks of them too, and the boys 

 learned some of their first lessons in 

 apiculture down there when they got 

 a choice old pioneer gum, as they 

 called them there, and done it up in a 

 blanket and reached a safe place 

 where they could remove the blanket. 

 At first their mouths watered, then 

 their eyes watered, and about that 

 time they usually concluded it was 



time to go back to camp. Some would 

 be doctered up for neuralgia, others 

 for erysipelas. Of coui'se 1 never did 

 any of these things. The boys have 

 learned since that it was the wrong 

 time of year to do up bees in blankets. 

 Well, it goes to show that such strong 

 swarms can and will protect them- 

 selves from their natural enemies. 



While little care needs to be taken 

 in the south in regard to what is call- 

 ed freezing out, here in the north we 

 have to be more careful. Bees can 

 be raised and kept by the hundred 

 swarms in one place as well as anoth- 

 er. 1 have studied the problem of 

 wintering bees on summer stands, 

 and believe I have mastered it. I 

 saw that the greatest success could 

 only be obtained by outdoor winter- 

 ing; first, because it afforded a way 

 of keeping those large hives, and it 

 also saves an immense amount of 

 labor carrying them in and out of the 

 cellar, and if once understood would 

 prove much safer than cellar winter- 

 ing; then again, the vast number of 

 bee-keepers that will winter their bees 

 outdoors an^'way would profit much 

 by a thorough and safe method of 

 doing; so. 



