238 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 15, 1906 



talk with any who may have bees there, to learn if our 

 coming would be congenial to him, for we should observe 

 the Golden Rule in this as well as in other matters. 



3. Are the people being supplied with honey? And 

 if so, at what price — wholesale or retail? If they are sell- 

 ing to their neighbors for the same price that they could 

 get were they to sell to the commission merchant or any 

 large buyer, then it \\ ould be of little use to locate there, 

 unless the bee-keepers could be gotten together, and a 

 price and plan of work agreed upon the same as dairy- 

 men do. 



4. Are they selling bees to their neighbors? I would 

 not want them to produce their honey — I should want 

 to sell hone}' to them; besides, there is more danger of 

 disease when there are a lot of small bee-keepers who are, 

 as a rule, not as careful as the specialist. 



5. Is there any foul brood in the neighborhood? 

 Though this one is not of as much importance as the other 

 questions, to the one who knows how to handle it should 

 it appear. 



6. Can I find a desirable spot upon which to locate 

 my apiary? Very much more depends upon this»than many 

 are aware, which often explains the secret of one man 

 getting better crops than his near neighbor. 



The apiary should be located on a level with, or below, 

 a good portion of the surrounding country, that the heav- 

 ily laden bee may have an easy flight homeward, and, if 

 possible, in a direction from your home (if it is an out- 

 yard) having a good road leading to it. • Avoid a windy 

 place. 



The advice usually given is to locate near water, but 

 experience has taught me that judgment should be exer- 

 cised in this matter. I have at the present time two api- 

 aries located on the banks of the Wisconsin River — one at 

 Portage, which is about 20 rods, and the other 8 miles 

 south and 10 rods distant from the river, which is quite 



wide at both places, and I am sure that many times, when 

 the bees have been crossing the river on windy days large 

 numbers of them have been blown into the water and lost. 

 Fishermen have told me that a mile below one of these 

 yards they have seen hundreds of dead bees floating on the 

 water, and if such numbers are observed at such a distance 

 from the yard, there is no telling what the loss may be. 

 So it is best not to locate too near such a body of water. 

 My other yard is located near the Baraboo River, in a 

 timbered, hilly place, well protected from wind, and I am 

 sure no bees are lost there. I have had apiaries protected 

 from all quarters, and those not protected at all, and my 

 choice is a spot on a north slope, well protected from all 

 other sides. A yard so placed is out of the reach of the 

 prevailing south winds of summer. 



Many times I have driven 7 miles to an out-yard, 

 starting on a beautiful, still morning, and when I had 

 worked but a short time the wind was blowing at such a 

 rate from the south that I could not work without a wind- 

 break, and sometimes not then. Although this yard was 

 on a south slope, and in a good clover country, I had to 

 move it, for the wind not only caused me much loss of 

 time, but the bees did not do well there. 



My yards are now on north slopes, and the wind can 

 blow a gale from any quarter and still I can work opening 

 hives, and no shade is needed for hives that are painted 

 white. 



I believe that in most townships a place can be found 

 where bees may be kept at a profit, if rightly managed, 

 and having found a place with all conditions as satisfac- 

 tory as desired, buy an acre or two, if possible, and if you 

 can't, rent it; place a telephone in a box attached to a 

 post in the center of the yard, especially if you employ 

 help — go to work, be hopeful, make money, do good with 

 your money, and be happy. A. C. Allen. 



(Continued next week.) 



Heports cmb 

 I (Experiences 



Bees Wintering Well 



Bees are wintering well— 10 colonies all 

 right. Prospects are good tor another year. 

 James H. Fisher. 

 Cementon, Pa., March 5. 



Wintering Quietly 



Bees are wintering quietly in the cellar, but 

 the condition of the floor seems to indicate 

 that there were a larger number of old bees 

 than usual with which to commence the 

 winter. R. B. Ross, Jr. 



Montreal, Que., March 5. 



A Long Honey-Comb— Wintering 

 Well 



I noticed on page 138, an account of the 

 night-working bees in the jungles of India, 

 and how long and wide they make their 

 combs. That is nothing to brag of, for we 

 can beat that right out here in Colorado. I 

 do not mean the night-working bees, but the 

 long combs. 



I took a swarm of bees out of a house for a 

 friend of mine 2 years ago, and I found one 

 continuous comb 9>^ feet long by i2 to 14 

 inches wide, and it was perfectly straight and 

 smooth on the front 6ide, not a spur or brace- 

 comb attached to it, and it was all sealed or 

 capped over from the top down to within 

 about 2 feet of the floor ; that had some brood 

 in it! I was very sorry afterward that 1 did 

 not have a photograph taken of it, for it was 

 a very beautiful sight to behold. Who can 

 beat it? I got 2 wash-tubs of honey out of it 

 and what was n behind, and 2 large swarms 

 of bees — at least I made 2 out of it, for I think 

 there was a wa6h-tubful of bees altogether. 

 Behind the front comb f found one comb 5 

 feet long full of brood. 



Bees have wintered well in this section as 

 far as I know. My bees did not make expenses 



last year, which was the poorest season 

 that was ever known in this part of the State. 

 Two years ago I had colonies that stored $25 

 worth of honey each. The honey-flow was so 

 great that they just kept me busy piling on 

 supers in order to keep them at work. It was 

 a grand sight to see the busy little workers 

 tumbling in and out of the hive. 



I used to keep bees and supplies at Jersey- 

 ville, ill., but I am now located out here 

 amongst the alfalfa fields of Western Colo- 

 rado, and I think this is one of the finest cli- 

 mates in the world. E. S. Armstrong. 



Olathe, Colo., Feb. 22. 



Bees Carry Eggs 



Mr. Diefendorf, on page 165, asks for proof 

 that bees carry eggs. I have no proof to 

 offer, for I have never seen a bee running 

 around with a bone in her mouth, but I have 

 evidence that is very convincing that bees do 

 carry eggs. 



One day I took a frame and the queen out 

 of a strong colony and put it in a new hive. 

 Then i took a frame out of a nucleus, where 

 the queen was too young to lay. On the 

 empty frame was a queen-cell about the cen- 

 ter which was nicely polished, but had never 

 been used. I put this frame in where the 

 queen and bees were taken out, and in 6 days 

 there was a queen-cell nearly ready to 'seal 

 over. 



I have often seen two eggs in a cell, but the 

 extra bees are always removed before they 

 hatch. I think the workers carry these eggs 

 to other cells, though I have never seen it 

 done. L. A. Smith. 



Columbia Falls, Mont. 



Late Fall Feeding— Bees Working 

 on Maple Sap 



Last fall I bought 3 colonies of bees in box- 

 hives. As near as I could tell, they seemed 

 fairly strong in bees and very light in stores. 

 I thought it too late to feed 6yrup, so with a 

 brace and bit I cut out a hole 6 inches square 

 in the covers. I made boxes about 6 inches 

 high with the same outside dimensions as the 

 top of the hives. I laid sticks acros6 the 

 holes in the hive-tops and placed cakes of 

 candy over them. With a piece of old carpet 

 I covered it up snugly. Over this I placed a 



piece of oil-cloth large enough to fold down 

 and tie about the hive. Over this was placed 

 the box weighted down with a stone. 



I took a peep at them yesterday. One col- 

 ony had finished their candy all but a little 

 rim around the outside. I gave them some 

 more and covered them up again. The others 

 still had some candy left. I thought it would 

 be safer to try to winter them thus than to 

 transfer after it was too late to feed syrup. 



All the bees were flying yesterday and work- 

 ing on the sap of the maple-trees, but to-day 

 it is snowing and blowing. Many bees about 

 here will perish this spring on account of 

 lack of stores. Freeman Davis. 



Center, Mo., Feb. 28. 



Clover Seems to Be Iojured 



Bees seem to be wintering very nicely injthe 

 cellars thus far. We have had practically no 

 snow here this winter, and that, with our 

 many thaws followed by hard freezing, has 

 injured the clover badly. But it may come 

 out better than it looks now. _j 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino. N. Y., Feb. 28. 



Feeding Iron-Rusted Honey— Queen- 

 Eggs that Wouldn't Hatch 



I noticed on page 187 a remedy given Jfor 

 bee-paralysis, of sulphur and molasses, and 

 also to cleanse the blood. Now I have no 

 fight to make on the treatment, but want to 

 say that iron rust will not cleanse the blocd. 

 I have just tried that. I had some honey in a 

 rusty can that had granulated, and I placed it 

 in a vessel of water on the stove, liquefying 

 it in the can, and all the loose rust mixed up 

 in the honey. I fed it to the bees. The re- 

 sult was that it killed them at once. I could 

 not believe that the honey containing rust 

 was the cause at first, so I took honey from 

 another can which had no rust, and fed the 

 two side by side, and now I am 6ure that the 

 honey containing the rust wa6 the cause of 

 the death of the bees. There was enough of 

 the rust to cause the honey to be very dark. 

 If any one else has had like experience, I 

 would like to hear it, or if my conclusions 

 are not correct, will some one please tell what 

 was the cause? _ i 



A question for the sages: I have had in 



