26S 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



September 



placed it on a tree stump and con- 

 tinued ray investigations with a hand- 

 kerchief tied over my hair. I guess 

 I must have been out in the field for 

 about three hours, and when I went 

 to get my hat I saw a bee go into the 

 hole in the top. This kinder surprised 

 me, and I halted. Then another bee 

 went in and one came out, and while 

 1 looked I'll be hanged if there wasn't 

 a continual stream of bees going in 

 and coming out of the hole. Well, I 

 didn't like to pick up the hat and risk 

 being stung to death, so I concluded 

 to get a stick and scare them off. 

 Nary scare, though, for the bees kept 

 coming and going in a steady stream. 

 Finally I called one of my men and 

 explained the situation. He went off 

 and shortly returned with a wad of 

 cotton batting, which he fastened on 

 the end of a stick. This he set fire to 

 and soon smoked the bees out of the 

 country. Then I went for ray hat. 



"Well sir, you may believe rae or 

 not, as you wish, but those confounded 

 bees had actually opened a hive inside 

 of the beaver, and the thing was half 

 filled with honey. I knew California 

 was strong on bees, but that just beat 

 ray tirae, aud I say again if you want 

 to see bees come to California." 



fFrom Canadian Hee Journal.) 



THE HANDLING OF BEES. 



BY ALPINE MCGREGOR. 



So much depends on the raanage- 

 ment bees receive in the spring that 1 

 have dedided to give the plan, which 

 after trying many others, I have set- 

 tled on,as it involves but little expense 

 and labor. The former is of extreme 

 importance to all bee-keepers in view 

 of the present prices of honey and 



meagre honey crops, while the latter 

 is of special importance to the writer, 

 who is not blessed with a very large 

 stock of physical strength and whose 

 enthusiasm has so completely evapor- 

 ated, that he no longer delights to 

 work, even in the enchanted (?) field 

 of apiculture. 



Preparation should begin in the fall 

 by giving the bees full combs of honey 

 which have been filled in supers, un- 

 til each colony in the "dovetailed" 

 hive weighs not less than 56 lbs. 

 (Not an ounce of sugar should ever 

 be fed except in a season like 1895.) 



In placing bees in the cellar, each 

 tier should rest on a seperate stand 

 placed on the cellar bottom, which 

 permits of their removal in spring on 

 the instalment plan. The first lot were 

 taken out on March 29th, and the last 

 on April 15th. Manitoba weather was 

 the cause of the long delay in remov- 

 ing this last lot. They were fed flour 

 as a substitute for pollen, about two 

 weeks before the natural appeared. 



Of all the blunders that are made in 

 removing bees from cellar, one of the 

 worst is to wait till "natural pollen 

 appears,or till the "soft maples bloom" 

 as the books say and then when this 

 time arives, which in this locality is 

 tometimes as late as the last week in 

 April, rush them all out some fine 

 morning. What is the result? The 

 bees rush out for a fly and in their 

 excitement never think of raarking 

 their hive. The bees frora two or 

 three go into one, balling and killing 

 the queen and leaving those adjoining 

 almost empty. There are few apiarists 

 who have not had this experience and 

 many I have reason to believe, prac- 

 tice this plan at the present day. 



My hive stands are 8 feet apart and 



