June 14, 19C6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



507 



(Dur+Stster 

 Beekeepers 



% 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 

 Pollen— Its Gathering and Value 



J 



It is good fun to watch the bees carrying in pollen. Our 

 bees seem to have such a fine time of it, or is that only 

 imagination ? At any rate, they seem to hasten into the 

 hive very eagerly as they come home with loads so big that 

 one wonders how they stick to the pollen-baskets. A pecu- 

 liarity is that the work of pollen-carrying is not evenly 

 divided among all the workers ; the most of them do not 

 gather pollen at all, and the rest carry extra weight. 



Most of the pollen is gathered in the forenoon, but if 

 you watch closely you may see pollen carried in again in 

 the evening, sometimes so late that you wonder that the 

 bees can see to find their way home. 



Not every sister estimates pollen at its true value. 

 Honey is carefully saved, but many a comb of pollen is 

 allowed to be spoiled without compunction, and yet weight 

 for weight it is doubtful if the honey is worth any more 

 than the pollen — possibly not so much. In early spring, 

 if a colony is without pollen, not a young bee can be reared 

 till a stock of pollen is secured. 



The 8-Frame Hive vs. the io-Frame for the Sisters 



In general, the sisters will use the same implements 

 and plans in bee-keeping as those of the sterner sex, yet 

 equally in general they will have a preference for some- 

 thing lighter to handle, wherever there is a choice. In the 

 matter of hives there is a choice. 



A 10-frame hive is something like 20 percent heavier 

 than an 8-frame one, and when one is lifting about to the 

 limit of one's strength, an addition of 20 percent is no trifle. 

 It is true that hives do not have to be lifted very often, in 

 some cases not at all, and in the latter case the weight does 

 not matter. Most of the sisters, too, can have help when- 

 ever a hive is to be lifted. But in running for comb honey 

 there are the supers, and for the larger hives they are in- 

 creased in weight to a corresponding degree. Even if there 

 is no lifting of hives there is no getting along without lift- 

 ing section supers, and they must be lifted so often that it 

 is a matter of no little consequence how heavy they are. 

 So, if for no other reason, any woman who is working for 

 comb honey will be likely to look with a partial eye on the 

 8-frame hive. 



But it must not be left out of consideration that a 10- 

 frame hive is much safer for the bees than the smaller hive, 

 and no woman should think of adopting an 8-frame hive 

 unless she gives very close attention to her bees. Given 

 the same care that will pass muster with a 10-frame hive, 

 and there will be a lot of colonies starve every winter in the 

 smaller ones. There must be extra combs of honey to give 

 some colonies each fall, where 8-frame hives are kept, and 

 again in spring some colonies will starve if left to them- 

 selves. Not that bees in larger hives are always safe from 

 starvation, but they are safe as compared with those in 

 smaller hives. 



An objection is sometimes raised to the 8-frame hive 

 because it is not large enough to accommodate a prolific 

 queen. True ; but neither is a 10-frame hive large enough, 

 and there is no law against giving a queen 2 stories of 8 

 frames each, and with 16 frames she is not likely to feel 

 cramped for room. Then when the harvest comes, one 

 story can be removed and super-room given in its place. 



When working for extracted honey, it is just as easy to 

 handle the extracting frames in a large hive as in a small 

 one, and the advantages of the larger hive for extracted 

 honey are such that it has the general preference. 



In comparing square with tall sections, there is one 

 thing to be considered that makes more difference to women 

 in general than it does to men. It is the matter of the 

 weight of supers when the bees have filled them. A section 

 S inches high is 17 percent higher than a A% section, so a 



super of the 5-inch sections will be 17 percent heavier than 

 one of 4'4 sections — a matter of considerable importance. 



Another matter equally concerns both sexes : The super 

 that is 17 percent heavier will take a longer time to fill, and 

 in general there is likely to be a little more even work in a 

 smaller super. At the close of the season, if the bees have 

 just enough honey to finish up a super containing 24 pounds, 

 there would be a shortage if they were asked to fill a super 

 containing 4 pounds more. But that exact state of affairs 

 might not often arise. 



M I — 



Early Swarming in Nebraska 



My bees have commenced swarming, the first swarm issuing May 

 22. Is this not early for central Nebraska? 



Westerville, Nebr., May 24. (Miss) Jennie Booknaw. 



Indeed it is early, and your bees must have been in good 

 condition to swarm thus early. They probably built up so 

 as to swarm in fruit-bloom — an unusual thing. 



Southern 

 4- Beebom -fr 



Conducted by Lorjia H. Scholl. New Braunfels, Tex. 



A Sister Bee-Keeper in the South 



=J 



Mb. Louis H. Scholl:— My first experience with bees was 7 year6 

 ago when I found a very small swarm in my garden, and nothing else 

 being handy, I simply put them into a Hour-barrel. 



To begin with, I was very much afraid of bees; in fact, all I knew 

 about bees " was just to keep away from them.'' After calling up all 

 the bravery I ever possessed — and, of course, I felt I was almost sui- 

 ciding to attempt such a thing— I did really brush the bees in a paper 

 pad and threw them under the barrel. I was almost ashamed to tell 

 of doing such a desperate thing. 



That little handful of bees did wonders the next spring. Tbey 

 stored such a lot of nice honey, and I am sure there was a half bushel 

 of bees, but they never did swarm. 



I kept them in the old barrel, and 1 never saw one colony store so 

 much honey. I never have done as well with hives, and talk about 

 non-swarming ! If you will give them a barrel you won't be bothered 

 with swarms 1 



But now I am not any more afraid of my bees, wearing neither 

 gloves nor veil. 



I can not say whether or not my bees are blacks, but they are not 

 vicious Any one can handle bees if he or she is not afraid of them. I 

 love my bees, and just live with them. I do believe they love me, for 

 I can hardly work in the garden, they follow me so much. 



1 have been feeding my bees lately on cake-sugar. It does not 

 dope them like syrup. . 



Our main source for honey here in Arkansas, I think, is from 

 chinquapin. We also have corn and cotton-bloom. Some say bees 

 do not pay here, but that is not right. My husband i6 a cotton buyer, 

 and, of course, we have to live in town. My bees are within 10 feet 

 of the sidewalk, but they never bother any one. They are only com- 

 mon bees. I have ordered Italian queens. Can 1 take brood out of 

 one or two hives and put it into a new hive ard put the ordered queen 

 with them? Of course, take some bees with the brood. I want Ital- 

 ian queens, but do not like to destroy the common queens. The bees 

 in this part of the country are of a very common kind. They do not 

 store more than 30 pounds per colony the first honey-year. I feel sure 

 that with improved stock we could beat that. 



I had a swarm act strangely last summer. They swarmed May 1, 

 and 6uch a fine swarm, too. But only half of them would work; the 

 other half clustered on the outside of the hive, and just lay there un- 

 til cold weather drove them in. Were there 2 queens, or what was 

 the real trouble? 



The American Bee Journal is a fine paper. 



Magnolia, Ark. Mrs. John Williams. 



We are glad, indeed, to have our sister bee-keepers take 

 a part in " Southern Beedom." I have often been told by 

 " elder brethren " that we needed the ladies to help us to be 

 successful in life. I, myself, do not know much about that 

 for— I am not yet married ; they were. However, we will be 

 glad to hear from other sister bee-keepers of the South. 



There are a great many bee-keepers who were at first 

 very much afraid of bees, but who soon got over their 

 timidity and became successful bee-keepers. One person I 

 have in mind in particular, declared that he would not go 

 near a bee-hive " with a shot-gun," but soon afterward he 

 surprised me very much, for he had purchased a dozen colo- 



