American Bee Journal, 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XI. 



CHICAGO, JULY, 1875. 



No. 7. 



Seasonable Hints. 



This year the honey harvest is late. 

 To most of us it will come about the time 

 of the issue of this number of the Jour- 

 nal. If bees have been fed and the hives 

 kept warm they will be as strong in num- 

 bers now as in better seasons. Strong 

 colonies will need no coaxing to induce 

 them to gather honey. All that the bee- 

 keeper has to do is, to aftbrd every help 

 in storing it. Combs may now be emp- 

 tied of honey every other day, with the 

 extractor, in good weather \ and to one 

 who never has witnessed it, the rapidity 

 with which the combs are refilled, is 

 almost incredible. 



We cannot too strongly impress upon 

 beginners the value of keeping the bees 

 well supplied with comb while honey is 

 abundant, if they have it or can get it. 

 Every square inch of good worker comb 

 should be secured and given to them in 

 some way. As an illustration of the val- 

 ue of empty comb to a colony, we can 

 give the result of a recent experiment. 

 "We put a good large swarm of bees into 

 an empty hive, and the same day one of 

 equal size into a hive with ten frames full 

 of comb. At the end of ten days the 

 latter swarm had stored 116 lbs. of honey, 

 which we took with the extractor, — be- 

 sides filling several combs with brood, — 

 while the one put into the empty hive had 

 only filled three frames with comb and 

 partially filled them with brood. We 

 have put, in our old style bee-keeping 

 days, a swarm into an empty box-hive 

 and had it barely fill the hive in the 

 course of a season, while a swarm put 

 the same day into a hive full of old black 

 comb not only tilled that hive with stores 

 but gave us 72 lbs. of honey ! We regard 



this box honey as really the value of the 

 old comb in the hive. 



The trouble with beginners is that they 

 are not supplied with empty comb; indeed 

 old bee-keepers seldom have as much as 

 they can use to advantage. We hope the 

 time is close at hand when we can buy 

 comb or foundations for it, at very low 

 rates. This has long been considered the 

 great thing to be desired in successful 

 bee keeping. ]\Ir. Quinby had been years 

 experimenting without the success he de- 

 sired. Within a short time, however, 

 these artificial combs have been made in 

 perfection, and we hope cheap enough to 

 make them profitable. 



The miller now will be at work, if al- 

 lowed, and all must be on their guaid. 

 Strong colonies that cover all their comb 

 are the best protection. Those that are 

 weak must be looked after, and the comb 

 examined. A queeuless colony, if allow- 

 ed to remain so, becomes an easy prey to 

 the worms. 



Keep in every hive room for the queen. 

 Without the use of the extractor she is 

 often crami>ed for room, and therefore 

 there are not enough bees reared to main- 

 tain requisite strength. Preparations for 

 wintering really begin now in securing 

 plenty of brood, to keep up the strength 

 of the colony. 



Those who wish to secure box honey, 

 must keep on plenty of boxes now. Set 

 them directly on the frames in any form 

 of hive, with no intervening honey board 

 and put pieces of clean comb in 

 them. You can in this way get any 

 strong colony to work in boxes when there 

 is auy^houey to gather. 



Colonies may be divided all through 

 this month, with profit in any of the 

 Western States. New ones can be built 



