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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



163 



robber-bee should enter the entrance 

 after so fixed, it must travel over all the 

 vacant space to the dummy, ready to be 

 met by a guard at any time, then go 

 under the dummy where the guards are 

 doing duty the same as at the entrance, 

 and if it succeeds in passing there and 

 reaching a comb, it is a comb having 

 brood in it, not honey, the honey only 

 being reached after passing through all 

 of the hive and all of the bees, clear to 

 the furtho;:- side, and no robber-bee will 

 make such a venture. But here I am 

 again to the limit of my space, and I 

 have not touched on more than one out 

 of five of the things I would like to in 

 the August Kee-kp:eper. 

 Borodino, N.Y., Aug. 11, 1900. 



THIS AND THAT. 



Experiences and Suggestions from 

 an Amateur. 



BY FRED. Z. JUNES. 



SEEING that you invite short art- 

 icles for publication, I thought 

 perhaps I might have something 

 to say that would he interesting on that 

 line to those who keep a few bees as a 

 side-issue and have not time or inclina- 

 tion to follow out the advanced rules of 

 bee-keeping. I have ten to fifteen colo- 

 nies in Dadant hives, sheltered in a 

 bee-house, which serves to protect them 

 from the severe winter winds. My way 

 of preparing for cold weather is to re- 

 move any supers that may be on hives, 

 and spread over them several thick- 

 nesses of old carpet or bed-quilts; or, in 

 fact, any old thick cloth. Last winter 

 was the most severe known here for a 

 long time, the mercury staying around 

 twenty to thirty degrees below zero for 

 two or three weeks, and I never lost a col- 

 ony, while all my neighbors lost heavily; 

 some being completely cleaned out. This 

 treatment also brings them out strong 

 in the spring. Have produced nothing 

 so far but comb-honey, and still am not 

 troubhid with excessive swarming, get- 

 ting not above '20 per cent, of an in- 



crease. At first I took to cutting out 

 queen-cells, but later discovered that it 

 was not necessary with these big hives, 

 especially if I am careful to put on 

 supers in time. It is very rarely indeed 

 that they send out a second swarm 

 when left to their own option in the 

 matter. It is self-apparent that I am 

 an advocate of large hives, especially 

 for those bee-keepers who do not follow 

 it as an exclusive business. For those 

 who have time to devote to them, it 

 would undoubtedly pay better, finan- 

 cially, to follow out the modern plans as 

 outlined in ihe bee-literature of the day. 

 Last season I tried a few tall sections 

 with fence separators and am rather in- 

 clined to be pleased with them, although 

 my experience was too limited to form a 

 very correct opinion. Am convinced, 

 though, that it will pay no one to go to 

 the expense of changing their present 

 outfit for plain sections and fence sepa- 

 rators who depend on local markets in 

 small towns for their surplus sales, for 

 the reason that the trade will not pay a 

 fancy price for a fancy article, but pre- 

 fer a grade that they can sell cheap; at 

 least that has been my experience. Most 

 honey producers, I judge, have the most 

 trouble in disposing of their off grades, 

 but it is different here, as the cheap 

 honey goes the more readily. I natural- 

 ly, therefore, try to sell the better 

 grades first. The best price here for 

 fancy clover in 3^x.5 plain sections was 

 14c., same in store trade af that; off 

 grades bring 9c. to 10c. 



I want to say a few words in regard to 

 the advisability of keeping bees in a 

 building. You need no hive-covers, 

 which is a considerable saving, and then 

 you can work with the bees any time, 

 regardless of the weather. They also 

 take up less room than where they are 

 outdoors, which is a point of some mo- 

 ment if you are located' in town. Hives 

 will last almost indefinitely when pro- 

 tected this way; and the protection af- 

 forded to the bees from the elements is 

 considerable. Have kept bees both ways 



