210 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to a much higher standard than it has 

 been in this and other counties. But we 

 have turned the whole business "up side 

 down" in the south end of this country, 

 this season; and another season we will 

 show the people of iSouthern California a 

 thing or two about bees. 



Much has been said in The AmebtCan 

 Journal about the standard hive. This 

 is all nonsense. A hive that is just 

 right for a cold climate is not the hive 

 for a warm climate. Mr. Harbison in- 

 vented his great " California hive " upon 

 his experience in Pennsylvania, and in 

 shape it is just like the American, which 

 is good for a cold country ; but my experi- 

 ence in transferring a great many bees 

 from the Harbison hives that had been 

 occupied by bees for several years, shows 

 that the combs above the cross bar in 

 frames, or the upper six inches of the 

 comb, had never been occupied by brood, 

 or in very few cases ; the brood for the 

 whole time having been raised in the lower 

 8 inches. There is but little need of 

 honey in the hive for bees to winter on 

 here, and consequently no need for a deep 

 frame. 8 or 9 inches deep I think is plenty 

 as the bees have a shorter distance to 

 travel to reach the surplus honey recep- 

 tacle. I have been trying both the long 

 hive, and the two story hive, and my ex- 

 perience this season in this climate 

 teaches me that the greater amount of 

 honey can be procured by using a hive 

 123^ inches wide, with 9 frames below, 

 and 8 above. My frames are 15x93^ 

 inches. By using only 8 frames to 12)1 

 inches, gives room for the bees to length- 

 en the cells, thereby causing the combs to 

 hold much more honey. We extract 

 every week and take about 30 lbs. each 

 time. This season has not been a good 

 one. 



Probably the readers of The Journal 

 would like to know Amateur's plan for 

 dividing. It is this: 



Have the bees very strong by time for 

 surplus honey. And when there are an 

 abundance of flowers, and bees are gath- 

 ering large quantities of honey — have 

 queen-cells enough for all the new swarms 

 you want — when queen-cells are ready to 

 transfer, remove the old queen with three 

 combs and what bees cling to them from 

 each of your strong stocks into a new 

 hive and put on a new stand. As these 

 nuclei have a laying queen and a good 

 many bees, they will soon need empty 

 frames which you will add as needed. 

 These nuclei will need no further help 

 to make good strong colonies by the close 

 of season. The next day after removing 

 tlie old queen, you will introduce a queen- 

 cell into each iiive and in a short time the 

 old swarm will have a new queen. The 

 advantage of removing the old (lueen from 

 the hive, is that the bees will gather and 

 store about double the amount of honey 



while rearing a queen, than when they 

 have a laying queen. By emptying with 

 the extractor, the young queen will have 

 plenty of room to deposit eggs, and will 

 soon have the hive filled when the same # 

 process can be repeated. I think this a 

 very valuable plan because the greatest 

 yield of honey can be procured from a 

 queenless colony — as long at there are 

 plenty of workers. 



Well satisfied with past success and full 

 of hope for the future, I am, as ever, an 



Amateur. 



Westminster, Cal. 



For ine American Bee Journal. 

 Feed the Bees. 



Bees in some districts of the country 

 will have to be fed or they will strave. I 

 give the readers of The Journal my plan 

 of feeding, which they may follow if they 

 choose. Take clarified sugar, (Coflfee A 

 will answer), add sufficient soft water to 

 make a syrup about the consistency of 

 extracted honey; bring to a boil; when 

 cool it is ready to feed. If regular bee 

 feeders are not at hand, glass tumblers 

 will answer. Fill nearly full of syrup; 

 tie a piece of muslin over the mouth of 

 the tumbler ; turn bottom up ; place them 

 on the frame immediately over the bees, 

 and they will soon store the syrup in the 

 combs ; and cap it over. The bees should 

 be fed as rapidly as possible, until they 

 have enough to winter. The best time to 

 feed-is just at sunset, to prevent robbing. 

 If tumblers are used, place on as many as 

 possible, so as to get through feeding in a 

 short time. If they are fed sparingly they 

 will consume much more. See that the 

 tumblers, or feed, is covered perfectly 

 tight, so that the robbers will not discover 

 it. Weak colonies should have the 

 entrance closed, so that but one or two 

 bees can pass it at one time, to prevent 

 robbing. The latter part of September 

 and first part of October is the proper 

 time to feed, for wintering. It is a shame 

 to let bees starve when they are so easily 

 and quickly fed. A. Benedict. 



Bennington, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Exchanging Brood Combs. 



It was formerly my custom, when 

 extracting honey, to exchange half the 

 combs of every hive with the same num- 

 ber in the next hive opened. This was 

 done merely for convenience, and in or- 

 der to save time and get each hive closed 

 as soon as possible. Observation con- 

 vinced me that the bees removed nearly 

 or quite all of the eggs from the strange 

 combs, and sometimes they destroyed 

 part of the very young larvaj. In an 

 apiary of forty hives in which the combs 



