THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



257 



Bee-Farming in Broome County, N. Y. 



A Bingliampton Times reporter lias 

 been iavestigating the manufacture of 

 lioney as carried ou in the vicinity of 

 IMiigiianiptou. He reports that : 



Tlie principle apiaries in Broome Coun- 

 ty are located, one at or near Chenango 

 Bridge, some 5^ miles from Bingliamp- 

 ton, up the Chenango river, west side, 

 and belonging to Mr. J. L. Schofield. 

 The other two belong to jVIessrs. J. P. 

 ^loore and L. Beard, the former living 

 about a mile below Binghamptom, south 

 side of the Susquehanna, the latter still 

 half a mile lower down, on the same side 

 of the river. They are all practical 

 farmers. They are about the only men 

 iu Broome County who may be called 

 scientific bee-farmers, or who are emi- 

 nently successful iu and make the busi- 

 ness profitable. 



He visited ]\Ir. Moore first, and found 

 him among bis favorites, arrayed as he 

 would be for any farm work, face, 

 hands, and neck bare. He was drawing 

 some large cards of honey from the cen- 

 tre of a hive, a hundred bees darting 

 about his head, and with a large feather, 

 was as cooly brushing the crawling in- 

 sects from each card as though they had 

 been so many wingless ants. A high 

 picket fence surrounds his bee yard, in- 

 side of which are 24 full stocks of bees 

 and 13 nuclei. The yard is well shaded 

 with young apple and pear trees, and 

 grape-vines running over trellises,^ from 

 which hang in profusion rich cluster of 

 grapes. 



Twenty of his stocks are in a bee 

 house, built about a year ago expressly 

 for the keeping of bees. Entering this 

 house Mr. Moore lifted the covers from 

 several of the hives, exposing to view the 

 many boxes and cards of honey already 

 filled and partially tilled, over which and 

 through which the bees were crawling in 

 countless black legions. The most of 

 Mr. Moore's bees are the Italians, a few 

 hybrids being still left among his colon- 

 ies. The house is 8x12^ ft. inside, walls 

 double and filled with sawdust. Under 

 it is a cellar 5 ft. deep. A system of ven- 

 tilation is so arranged that the tempera- 

 ture of the house in summer may be kept 

 as low as desired, while the sawdust 

 walls keep it sufficiently warm in winter, 

 so that the bees are never moved from the 

 house. The hives used are the Langs- 

 troth, with a slight modification. These 

 hives will hold 32 three pound boxes next 

 to the brood comb and 12 boxes on the 

 sides. From one of the hives he has 

 taken 50 boxes this season. The 50 boxes 

 will weigh 1G5 lbs. Another hive has 50 

 boxes nearly full. He had a stock last 



season from which he took 175 lbs. of 

 honey. He states that during the honey 

 season — which in clover lasts about 30 

 days and in buckwheat about 25 — a 

 strong stock will store from 10 to 15 lbs. 

 of honey per day. He keeps the tempera- 

 ture of his house, wlien the bees are at 

 work, at from 75 to 80 degrees. When, 

 they are not working it stands at about 

 70. During the winter it is kept from 35 

 to 40, with an occasional rise to GO. 



During the whole visit Mr. ]Moore kept 

 up a running explanation of his manage- 

 ment of bees and their habits. His first 

 eftbrt is to prevent swarming as much as 

 possible, by which he keeps his bees at 

 work constantly storing honey during the 

 honey season, instead of devoting a part 

 of this valuable time to swarming. Tlys 

 he does by giving them plenty of room ti> 

 store honey, and keeping them at a com- 

 fortable temperature liy shading or other- 

 wise. He succeeds in preventing from 

 two-thirds to three-fourths of his stock 

 that are out of doors from swarming, and 

 all that are in the house. 



A stock that does not swarm will make 

 twice (and sometimes more) as much 

 honey as one that does swarm, hence the 

 importance of preventing swarming. 



Mr. Moore started last spring with 2."] 

 colonies of bees, but one of which has 

 swarmed, one of the out door stands. 

 From these he has already taken l,50t) 

 lbs. of box honey, and will take at least 

 500 lbs. more. Besides, he has extracted 

 nearly 600 lbs., which gives him a little 

 more than 100 lbs. of honey per stand. 

 This is not as well as he did last season. 

 He last year averaged from 15 stocks 

 about 135 lbs. He has now 12 nuclei 

 swarms, with which he is raising queens. 

 These will be put together before winter, 

 and reduce to 5 or 6 regular stocks for 

 wintering. 



After looking over the bees of this 

 j'ard Mr. Moore accompanied the reporter 

 to the residence of Mr. Beard, half a mile 

 further down the river. 



Mr. Beard started with 22 stocks in the 

 spring, and will winter 33 or 34 stocks. 

 His bees are all Italians but one stand, 

 which are hybrids. They are in the 

 Langstroth hive, and are all kept out on 

 tiie ground, but well shaded with apple 

 trees. He manages his bees very much 

 the same as Mr. ]\Ioore's are managed, 

 and his product of honey will vary but 

 little from the product of Mr. Moore's 

 yard. He has one stand that has made 

 this season about ICO lbs. of surplus hon- 

 ey. His surplus honey is all stored in 

 boxes, with four glass sides, and weigh- 

 ing 3i lbs. each. 



Mr. Schofield's yard was visited the 

 next day. He started in the spring with 



