374 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



humilitated they are quite willing to 

 accept of anything after they are qui- 

 etly clustered, and before the temper- 

 ature sinks they are shaken out of the 

 box in front of a hive where they are 

 desired to dwell together in unity dur- 

 ing the winter, then full frames of 

 corab are given them until the requir- 

 ed quantity of honey, i. e. 25 or 30 

 lbs., has been given thera. The writer 

 treated 20 colonies in this manner a 

 year ago. Jhey selected and retained 

 one queen for each united colony and 

 in early spring came out foremost in 

 ambition and strong breeding, and 

 not one was lost. 



Maiden Rock, Minn. 



Bees ! Bees ! Bees I 



BY CHAS II. THIES. 



Mr. Editor- — The above is about 

 all 1 have time to say, to work with 

 or to think of, yet I have lots more to 

 do and to think of. My bees are 

 booming, just rolling in the honey. 

 As you know, or at least I think you 

 do, the wool business has been and is 

 very discouraging, but the bees are 

 wonderful creatures to make one feel 

 happy. For some time my days have 

 been from 3 o'clock a. m. to 9 o'clock 

 p. m. I need long days in order to 

 get time enough to give proper care 

 to the bees, without which they would 

 be of little consequence. 



Well, I have just been out to my 

 out apiaries, each apiary containing a 

 different sort of bees The home 

 apiary consists of the much condemn- 

 ed FIVE-BANDED BEES. (Please put 

 this ill box cap letters, as they are 

 gopd enough for me). I have no 

 reason to be partial, and don't want 

 to say anything that I have heard, but 

 what I, have exj)erienced. All my out 



apiaries have by far the best chance, 

 as my home apiary is really overstock- 

 ed. My home apiary contains some 

 150 colonies, besides the bees of my 

 neighbors, which will add largely to 

 the number. My ufighbors, though, 

 claim that my bees kill theirs. I am 

 Sony, but I know they are wrong, but 

 I do know that their colonies are get- 

 ting less jn numbers, and the only 

 reason 1 can give for this is that they 

 expect their bees to work for nothing 

 and board themselves, while I try to 

 give my bees the proper care, keep 

 them supplied with youug queens and 

 keep the right stock. Now n)y hives 

 at home are full of honey, even small, 

 weak nuclei have filled their frames, 

 three and four in number, chock full, 

 and a good many of these nuclei were 

 not only queenless, but almost beeless. 

 The honey the bees are now storing is 

 from Spanish needle, heartsease, gold- 

 en rod, etc., and for me it is one of the 

 finest honeys in the world, and I don't 

 want better honey for winter stores 

 than this, when thoroughly ripe and 

 well sealed. Later in the mouth and 

 during a good part of October we get 

 honey from asters, which often 

 amounts to quite a little, very nice 

 and clear, but usually thin and watery 

 and when thoroughly evaporated sim- 

 mers down wonderfully, but i consid- 

 er it perfectly wholesome for winter 

 stores, 



Steeleville, 111. 



We will send the American Bee- 

 Keeper one year with the Cosmopol- 

 itan for $1.25. The Cosmopolitan is 

 a monthly magazine containing an 

 average of over 100 pages and 80 il- 

 lustrations each month. 



