Nov. £, 190 ° 



979 



American Ttee Journal 



President Hilton, General-Manager France, 

 Directors Hatch, Holekamp, and Stone; ex- 

 Editor Putnam, Associate Editor H. H. Root, 

 and many other prominent bee-keepers. 



With us, also, were Dr. Bohrer, of Kansas, 

 and P. D. Jones, of New York — two of the 

 those who attended the very first national 

 gatherings of bee-keepers in the United States 

 — one meeting being held in IndiaDapolis, in 

 1870, and the other in Cleveland, in 1871. And 

 these two "old stagers " were as lively as any 

 boys in the whole " bunch " of 36 that made 

 up the car load. The complete list is as fol- 

 lows: . 



G. A. Bleech 

 Mathilde Candler 

 Olive Bull 

 Clara Bull 

 Mary M. Bull 

 J. C. Bull 

 P. D. Jones 

 G. H. Adkins 

 N. E. France 

 D. H. Coggshall 

 F. L. Kimmey 

 Mrs. Kimmey 

 Freddie Wilcox 

 J. C. Frank 

 H. H. Root 

 R. W. Boyden 

 J. C. Thies 

 M. E. Darby 



G. E. Bacon 

 Geo. E. Hilton 

 W. H. Putnam 

 J. P. Doll 

 A. L. Hatch 

 C. A. Hatch 

 Mrs. C. A. Hatch 

 Mrs. Ferebee 

 Dorothy Ferebee 

 Nellie Ferebee 

 F. W. Muth 

 R. A. Holekamp 

 Mrs Holekamp 

 C. P. Dadant 

 W. S. Carrioo 

 Dr. G. Bohrer 

 J. J. Measer 

 George W. York 



The youngest was Freddie Wilcox (8 years) , 

 who was accompanied by his grandparents, 

 Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Kimmey, of Chicago. Mr. 

 K. has about 50 colonies of bees, and is suc- 

 cessful with them. He is also a well-known 

 poultryman, being the efficient secretary of 

 the National Fanciers' and Breeders' Associa- 

 tion. 



The other two children were Dorothy and 

 Nellie Ferebee, who, with their mother, were 

 going from Wisconsin to spend the winter in 

 Texas near the Gulf of Mexico. 



Arriving at the Union Station in St. Louis 

 about 7 p.m., there were added to the original 

 company Mr. Dadant, Mr. and Mrs. Hole- 

 kamp, Mr. Muth (of Cincinnati), and Mr. 

 Carrico. Dr. Bohrer and Mr. Measer, both of 

 Kansas, got on the train at Monett, Mo. At 

 Springfield. Mo., Mr. Darby^ should have 

 joined us, but through a misunderstanding he 

 ooarded the first section of the train (we were 

 in the second section), and so he missed the 

 special car until he reached a station near 

 central Texas, where he waited until the bee- 

 keepers' car arrived. Every berth in the 

 sleeper was then taken, and many of them 

 were occupied by two persons, both lower 

 and upper berths. 



After arriving in Indian Territory the cot- 

 ton-flelds began to appear, and from there on 

 to San Antonio it seemed that practically all 

 the crop grown was cotton. There were bales 

 and bales of it at many of the railroad sta- 

 tions along the way, and often the pickers 

 and wagon-loads of cotton were seen in the 

 fields. For manv miles where the frost had 

 appeared, or until perhaps south of the mid- 

 dle of Texas, the cotton-fields looked like 

 fields of raspberries, especially if the cotton 

 had been picked recently. Then in southern 

 Texas, where there had been no frost, the cot- 

 ton plants were quite green. It was a very 

 beautiful sight — the white, fluffy cotton 

 mixed in with the green leaves of the plants. 



Some of our company had thoughtfully 

 brought with them large baskets of good 

 things to eat on the way, including honey, of 

 course. This was a very wise precaution, for 

 sometimes it seemed a long while between 

 lunch stations for some of us. But the " in- 

 ner man " was well supplied from the 

 "stores" laid in by "Gen." Putnam, 

 " Mama " Holekamp, and others. We always 

 came in for more than our share. (If you 

 want to have enough to eat on a long trip, be 

 sure to join a special car-load company of 

 bee-keepers going on a journey of over a 

 thousand miles.) 



Next week we will tell of the arrival in San 

 Antonio, how the " band " failed to meet the 

 special car, how " hot " the Mexican banquet 

 aws, etc. 



Difference in Colony Honey- 

 Yields 



BY G. M. DOOUTTXE 



" Our colonies were exactly alike last 

 spring, a6 far as I could see, or as near as I 

 could discover, yet one colony has given an 

 excellent surplus, others from a fair to a good 

 yield, while others gave none, or very little. 

 Why is this? Please tell us through the col- 

 umosof the American Bee Journal." — A Cor- 

 respondent. 



Here is a question which used to 

 bother me greatly, for I formerly was 

 troubled in the same way, but of late 

 years I have succeeded in making each 

 colony produce nearly like results ; 

 that is, if one colony contains 60,000 

 bees and produces 100 pounds of honey, 

 I secure about that amount from every 

 colony containing that number of bees, 

 while one having 40,000 bees will give 

 about 60 pounds of honey, and one 

 having but 20,000 bees about 30 pounds. 

 Thus it will be seen that honey is 

 secured about in proportion to the num- 

 ber of bees contained in any colony. 



After carefully studying on this 

 matter, I found that colonies which I 

 pronounced "exactly alike" during 

 the middle of May would not be so at 

 the time the honey harvest was at its 

 best. The trouble was that I did not 

 have a thorough knowledge regarding 

 the working force of my bees at all 

 times, nor of the interior of the hives. 

 For instance, the colony which I called 

 my best on May 15 might become one 

 of the poorest by June 18 to July IS, 

 during which time the honey harvest 

 was at its best. This, as a rule, would 

 come about through the prolificness of 

 the queen, as I have often noticed that 

 a colony which winters extremely well 

 and goes to breeding very rapidly in 

 early spring does not equal one during 

 the honey harvest which did not come 

 out so strong in bees, but commences 

 brood-rearing in earnest about the 

 middle of May. 



The reason seems to be that by about 

 June 5 to 15 the queen in the colony 

 which was extremely strong when 

 early spring opened ceases to be as 

 prolific as the other, and this allows 

 the bees to put the first honey which 

 comes in, into the brood-combs, rather 

 than force it into the surplus apart- 

 ment or super, as does the other 

 through her extra-prolificness at this 

 time, when the prolificness of the queen 

 is of the most value to the apiarist. 



I have noticed that if the bees are 

 allowed to get the start of the queen so 

 as to store much honey in the brood- 

 chamber, right where the queen should 

 lay and keep occupied with brood dur- 

 ing the beginning of the harvest, such 

 a colony will not be a profitable one in 



yielding section honey. The brood- 

 chamber should be for brood previous 

 to and during the first half of the 

 honey harvest, if we are to secure a 

 good yield of section honey from this 

 colony. And where such brood does 

 not fill the brood-chamber at the time 

 of the commencing of the harvest, the 

 remedy is to allow only as many combs 

 in the brood-chamber as the queen has 

 brood in at that time, taking the rest 

 away, and substituting dummies for 

 these combs taken. In this way, the 

 20,000 bees are set to work in the super 

 on the same principle that the 60,000 

 are. 



To make it a little plainer, when the 

 honey harvest arrives each and every 

 brood chamber should be occupied with 

 brood, the necessary pollen, and only a 

 very little honey, so that what honey 

 is brought in from the fields must of 

 necessity go into the supers. With the 

 60,000 bees and 10 L,angstroth frames 

 in the hive, we have this state of affairs 

 without our going to any extra shutting 

 off of space. With the 40,000 bees we 

 will usually find that there is brood in 

 only 8 of the frames of comb, with 

 plenty of empty cells in the other 2. 

 These empty cells will furnish room in 

 which to store the first honey coming 

 in if left as they are ; and as the bees 

 commence to store in these instead of 

 entering the sections, they take it for 

 granted that here is their " store- 

 house," and so keep filling this store- 

 house to crowding out of the queen 

 with little or no honey in the sections. 

 By taking out these 2 empty combs and 

 putting a dummy in place of each, we 

 shut off this storing of honey in these 

 combs and force this first honey into 

 the sections, when all will go as well 

 here as it did with the 60,000 colony, 

 only the yield of section honey will be 

 nearly in proportion to the bees the 

 colony contains. 



With the colony containing 20,000 

 bees at the opening of the harvest, we 

 will find only from 5 to 6 combs of 

 brood, the other 4 or 5 containing 

 mostly empty cells, and if we leave 

 these as they are, we can rest assured 

 that the energy of these 20,000 bees 

 will be expended in filling all this large 

 space with honey, and by the time this 

 is done they will have no desire to ex- 

 pand out into the sections, but will 

 crowd the queen down and down, till 

 when fall comes we shall have no sec- 

 tion honey, but a hive full, with very 

 few bees for wintering. Now take out 

 those frames of empty comb and fill 

 their places with dummies, putting on 

 the sections, giving section-room ac- 

 cording to the needs of the bees which 

 the colonies contain, and you have 

 placed such a colony in a very similar 

 condition to the one having the 40,000 



