1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 





Ed. Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir: — 

 I have at present ten colonies of bees 

 which represent an unbroken line of 

 descent from stocks which ray father 

 started over forty years ago. Al- 

 though from my first recollection I 

 have been no stranger to the industri- 

 ous insect, still 1 have never cultivat- 

 ed a close acquaintance with them ex- 

 cept on special occasions For in- 

 stance, when they would chase me 

 out of the garden into the house, or 

 my bare feet would disturb their labors 

 on the clover blossoms. I have always 

 been afraid of them , which they were 

 aware of only too well, and took un- 

 due advantage of the fact to my per- 

 sonal discomfort and peace of mind, 

 for what is more agravating to a timid 

 person than the persistent buzzing of 

 a bee about ones face ? 



Since my father died the care of 

 our bees devolved on mother, (who is 

 always "hale fellow well met" with 

 them) 'til about two years ago when I 

 saw advertised the " A. B. C. of Bee 

 Culture," which I procured, and also 

 a copy of Dadant's Langstroth on the 

 Honey Bee, in the study of which 1 

 became greatly interested as it opened 

 up a new world of wonderland. Our 

 bees at this time were in box hives 

 with two glass boxes about five by five 

 by fifteen inches long on each side of 

 the brood chamber for surplus. Last 

 winter while business was slack I 

 made up twenty hives after the Da- 

 dant pattern, only I put in Hoffman 

 frames, and this spring all swarms 



were put in these hives on full sheets 

 of foundation. While I got no sur- 

 plus from these young swarms I think 

 they did very well to fill such large 

 hives and I expect to hear from them 

 next season. 



Living in town I have been troubl- 

 ed in the past considerably by sneak 

 thieves helping themselves to a few 

 boxes of honey, so concluded I would 

 put a stop to their depredations by 

 placing the hives inside a small empty 

 building and cutting passages through 

 the sides, converting it into a house 

 apiary, which works very satisfactory 

 as it can be locked up, and then you 

 have everything handy to work with, 

 besides your hives are not exposed to 

 sun and rain. 



The harvest from clover here the 

 past season was good, in fact the best 

 for years, but the buckwheat was a 

 disappointment as there was not a 

 pound of surplus from it, although 

 considerable was raised in the imme- 

 diate vicinity, but was not visited by 

 the bees as the blossoms apparently 

 gave no nectar. 



Honey was never so cheap here as it 

 is this season, pound sections being 

 peddled at 10c to 12c on the streets, 

 the usual price being from 13c to 15c. 



There are no bee keepers here who 

 make a regular business of it, the 

 largest apiary comprising about thirty 

 hives. Stocks are either black or 

 hybrid, there being^no Italians. The 

 largest producer originally had pure 

 Italians but has allowed them to be- 

 come mixed till now his bees run from 

 clear black to three banded. He 

 claims the blacks are better honey 

 gatherers and that the reason nearly 

 all apiarists hold opposite views is that 

 they have queens to sell. I had in- 



