102 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



April 



Ed. Am. Bee Keeper, Dear Sir, — 

 At the late meeting of the "North 

 Eastern Ohio and North Western 

 Pennsylvania Bee Keepers Associa- 

 tion," at Corry. Pa., the question was 

 asked: "What is the most efficient 

 method of dealing with robbing 

 among bees?" After the old remarks 

 usuall)'^ resorted to in robbing had 

 been described by several members, 

 Pres. D. A. Dewey described a meth- 

 od, which, while not altogether new, 

 has one new and very valuable feature 

 to it. The method is as follows : 

 When the robbing is confined to your 

 own apiary, or in other words, when 

 one of your weaker colonies is being 

 robbed by one of your stronger ones, 

 simply take the stronger colony that 

 is doing the robbing and place it on 

 the stand of the weak one that is be- 

 ing robbed and the weak one on the 

 stand of the strong. While this part 

 of the method is not new it is never- 

 theless very effective. The new part 

 of the method was this : When your 

 bees were being robbed by the bees of 

 some other apiary the exchange of 

 places was of course not practical. He 

 simply selected a good, strong colony, 

 one that was well able to defend itself 

 and stores against any and all robbers, 

 and placed it on the stand of the weak- 

 er one that was being robbed, and the 

 weak one where the strong one stood. 

 Mr. Dewey said he had tried this plan 

 and knew that it was a very efficient 

 method of dealing with robbers. To 



use his own words, he said, " I never 

 saw a more surprised lot of bees than 

 those robbers were." The strong col- 

 ony was able to so thoroughly subdue 

 the robbers that any further attempt 

 to rob in his apiary by them was given 

 up. The bees returning from the 

 strong colony to their former location 

 so strengthened the weak colony that 

 they were able to hold their own 

 thereafter. Ed. Jolley. 



Franklin, Pa., March 20, 1897. 



The W. T. Falconer M'f'g Co., 

 Gentlemen — * * * * -^ The Lehigh 

 Valley Co., settled for 20 of the cases 

 of honey shipped to New York and 

 no more. I shipped 7 cases to Pitts- 

 burgh, to John F. Barrett and have 

 heard nothing from it yet. It was 

 shipped Jan. 17th, 1896, over a year 

 ago. The plan of allowing commer- 

 cial men to handle ones honey is a 

 very slow and unsatisfactory way to 

 make mone}'. They usually send you 

 the commission and keep the balance. 

 I have two lots in their hands that 

 were shipped Oct. 17, last and they 

 claim that it is not yet sold, only 

 1,200 lbs. for two houses to dispose 

 of, they must do a retail business I 

 think. 1 am glad the bee keepers of 

 this state are trying to get a law pass- 

 ed to prevent spraying trees in blos- 

 som. Spraying cost me 30 colonies 

 last year and although I am wtnter- 

 ing 94 colonies, spraying may take 

 the most of them. Farmers claim 

 that they have the right to spray 

 whenever they please and if one does 

 not want his bees killed, he must 

 keep them at home. That is hardly 

 according to the Golden Rule. My 

 apiary is located in my orchard and 

 in the shade as much as possible. 

 My poultry are allowed to go where 

 they please as my hennery is adjoin- 

 ing my apiar}'. 1 believe it is the 

 proper place for poultry as they pick 

 up moths and moth worms and the 

 loss censequently is very light in that 

 direction. 



