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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



September 



"No colony, especially a young swarm, should 

 ever be allowed to become honey-bound for want 

 of cases to store their honey in. The bee-keeper 

 should watch this carefully during the honey- 

 harvest. Bees, when once they stop working, are. 

 like balky horses, very hard to get started again. 

 If, however, they can be induced to swarui, they 

 will start to work at ouce with their old-time 

 energy. — A. fi. Hoshal. 



From Hie Bee-keepers' Revletc. 



The June number of tliis artistic and progressive 

 magazine presents a most beautiful photo-engraving 

 of the home of N.E. France, State Inspector of Api- 

 aries for Wisconsiu,whoiEit3rastiugly treats the sub- 

 ject, "A Perfect System for Managing Out-apiaries 

 in the Production of Extracted Honey." As tend- 

 ing to profitable building up in the spring, Mr. 

 France prefers a chaff hive and out-door wintering 

 to cellar wintering. His firm, E. li'rance & Son, 

 uses a large, permanent case into which are packed 

 four Langstroth hives, each having a side to itself 

 for an entrance. Their winter losses will not ex- 

 ceed an average of three to five per cent. He does 

 not advise bee-keepers who succeed with a single- 

 walled hive to change for his or other styles of 

 hive. The loss of bees in Wisconsin last winter 

 was 70 per cent. 



Mr. J. E. Crane thinks bee-keepers of the nine- 

 teenth century have been too busy inventing hives, 

 sections, supers, foundations, smokers, extractors 

 etc., to give merited attention to the subject of 

 improvement of the bees tliemselves; and says: "It 

 is not certain that the great mass of bees to-day are 

 any better for honey-gathering than in the days of 

 Virgil or Aristotle." He lays particular stress 

 upon the susceptibility of improvement in bees and 

 tlie neglected opportunities we have had in t)iis 

 direction. "If lialf the etTorts that have been spent 

 in producing a none-swarming hive, had been 

 spent in producing a non-swarming breed of bees," 

 says he, "I believe we should now have been far 

 in advance of our persent position." In response 

 to the editor's inquiry: "Which is the most hope- 

 ful field for the expenditure of our thought and 

 labor, as bee-keepers, Mr. Crane says, "Improve- 

 ment in Stock is the Most Hopeful Field in Com- 

 mercial Bee-keeping." Improvement of bees in 

 the direction of non-swarming is regarded by E. S. 

 Miles as the most hopeful field. He thinks the 

 disposition of bees to swarm a serious drawback to 

 the comb-honey specialist. He thinks immortal 

 fame awaits the man who will solve the swarming 

 problem in working tor comb-honey, without cag- 

 ing tlie queen or weakening the colony. C. A. 

 Hatch foresees greater possibilities in the field of 

 co-operative action and association among bee- 

 keepers. His remarks in this connection are so 

 well to the point that we printed them entirely in 

 the August number of The BuE-KEEPJiK. S. E. 

 Miller thinks that hives and fixtures have been 

 brought so nearly to perfection that it is but a 

 matter of taste in the selection of those best suited; 



and nothing, therefore remains to greatly improve. 

 Such problems as wintering, planting for honey, 

 location etc., are relegated, while he devotes his 

 energy to a very readable discussion of tees, and 

 the importance of improvement on that line. 



(ieorge A. Fenton tells something interesting of 

 decoy hives and his experience with them. Last 

 year fifty-three colonies were caught in this way. 

 He places an eight-frame hive, or a box similar in 

 size, high up in the prongs of a tree, nailing it 

 solidly, and so high from the ground that boys will 

 not be tempted to disturb it. It should be given 

 a shaded location and have fastened inside a piece 

 of old black comb; be clean and be set level. He 

 visits tlie decoys once a week or oftener. On one 

 occasion he placed six decoys seven miles from 

 home and did not go near them until fall, when he 

 found them all occuped with nice swarms. His 

 favorite location is at the edge of a woods. 



BUYING and TRANSFERRING BEES. 



A Few Pointers Calculated to Aid the 

 Novice. 



BY C. W. PABKEK. 



THE majority of our bee-keepers are 

 persons keeping not to exceed a 

 dozen or two colonies, and usually 

 have some other occupation. This class 

 cannot afford to spend much time or 

 money on their bees, and as a rule do 

 not know mtich about the intricacies of 

 professional bee-keeping. Ordinarily, 

 the beginner who sets out to buy his 

 lirst colony of bees, knows about as 

 much of bees as he does of the moon. 



The first requisite is that the hive be 

 heavy; that it should weigh from forty 

 to sixty pounds. The next is that it be 

 strong in bees and that they are work- 

 ing good. These two are the principal 

 signs as told from the outside. After 

 lifting the cover, if no ants, moths or 

 other insects (besides the bees) are seen 

 and the combs are in good condition, we 

 uiay conclude that it is a safe 

 investment. 



When the bees have been purchased 

 and are ready to remove, the openings 

 should be closed with screen, and when 

 the bees have ceased to fly. in the eve- 

 ning, they may be taken hotno. After 

 they are placed upon the stand wliicii 

 they are to occupy, drum the hive soundly 

 with a stick or board. A board may 



