1894. 



THE AMEBIC AX BEE- KEEPER. 



till we go and hunt over the hives in 

 the spring and see how many of our 

 faithful workers are alive to work loi- 

 ns another season? 



Shall we let our books and papers 

 lie neglected, or discontinue them en- 

 tirely, because they did not enable us 

 to get as big a yield of honey as we 

 thought we should this year? 



Whether we be new beginners or 

 old beginners, these are questions that 

 we will all answer in some way or 

 other whether we ask them or not. 



APPLE HONEY. 



Did you ever have any? Right in 

 front of our bee-hives is a r<»w of ap- 

 ple trees that bear large, sweet, yellow 

 apples, that ripen just about the time 

 frost kills all the flowers. They are 

 very juicy and if bruised or broken 

 decay very rapidly. Sometimes after 

 a high wind the ground will be 

 covered with apples, each bruised 

 place then makes a feeding place for 

 as many bees as can get at it. 



As this conies just after a full flow 

 from golden rod that fills the hives, 

 by giving a strong Colony a few 

 empty combs they sometimes till and 

 finish them nicely, and if you like 

 sweet apples you will like sweet apple 

 honey better. 



The season with us has given 

 some surplus, and plenty of good 

 stores for winter. 



We got just enough honey from 

 clover and early flowers to make our 

 bees build up well, but not enough to 

 give any surplus or cause any swarm- 

 ing till the middle of August. All 

 our surplus is from golden-rod, smart- 

 weed and fall flowers, but with us this 

 is fine honey, as light colored as clo- 

 ver honey and with a flavor that many 



think equal if not superior to clover. 

 It brings a good price when put up 

 in nice shape. 



Our bees were all in good condition 

 for winter and profiting by the lessons 

 of the past we hope they may winter 

 well. 



Millard, Neb. 



Bee Escapes — Black Bees 

 vs. Italians. 



BY C. W. DAY TON. 



Before the present forms of escapes 

 were invented I was aware that near- 

 ly every bee could be driven hastily 

 from a rack of sections with smoke, 

 but to get every last bee out before a 

 cap is torn was absolutely impossible. 

 One bee, or even a dozen bees, in a 

 whole rack of 21 or 28 sections may 

 seem small — one bee to two sections. 

 If I used escapes simply to rid the 

 sections of bees, ray time with them 

 would be soon over. The question is 

 not how quickly or how easily they 

 go out, but it is how much damage 

 they do at the time of the going, and 

 in this, one lone straggler may do 

 more than the thousand that she 

 lags behind. 



It depends somewhat upon what 

 kind of honey we are producing. If 

 there are rows of uncapped cells 

 around the edges next to the wood or 

 along the bottom edge alone, it will 

 do but little harm if a few more cells 

 are opened. It will sell about the 

 same and little notice will be taken 

 of it. 



But suppose our honey combs are 

 built evenly and with every cell sealed 

 pearly white clear out against the 

 wood? lu this case one or two cells 

 torn open becomes a "mark" for 



