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.'VMERICAM BEE lOURNAL 



Feb. 27, 19J2 



as 1 have been b)- the importation of inferior stock. It is 

 a nuisance and a serious menace. Get an expert to _buy for 

 you. At the same time, I think a man in the business is 

 a chump to sell good stock. Superior stock counts as much 

 in bees as in horses and cattle. 



Levi Booth — If all bee-keepers were like you, where 

 would beginners buy ? 



Mr. Lytle — There are persons who make a business of 

 selling good stock. I do not. 



Mr. Gill — We have a very good strain of bees in 

 Colorado. Many of our bee-keepers have bought queens of 

 the best stock. Beginners would do just as well to buy at 

 home. 



F. H. C. Krueger — I think the paper an excellent one. 

 As your stock increases, get knowledge. I commenced many 

 years ago in a small way. I think i was the first to write 

 to the American Bee Journal that there are sometimes two 

 queens in a hive. Start small; feel your way along; then 

 make a business of it. If you want to farm and take care 

 of bees, too, you can not make it a success. 



D. A. McLean — If nobody must commence the bee- 

 business unless he makes it an -entire occupation, and yet 

 must commence with a few colonies, how is he going to 

 live? It is not right to say no one must keep bees 

 unless he does not make it a side-issue. Two-thirds of 

 the members present make bees a side-issue, and yet are 

 good bee-keepers, and I know some who make money out 

 of it as a side-issue. 



Mr. Harris — I think the paper an excellent one. We all 

 make errors. I would say, don't rush in and think you are 

 going to make money. Work carefully. Experiment. Then 

 enlarge. I think we should always lend a helping hand to 

 those starting in. 



B. F. Hastings — I think it well enough to tell our ideas 

 to those already in the business; but to have a lot more 

 jumping into the same occupation is not good business. 



W. L. Hawley — I think it is a good paper. I don't care 

 how much book-learning you have ; without practical ex- 

 perience it comes to nothing. The advice to beginners 

 always ought to be, Attach yourself to a practical man. 



A Good Honey = Mouse. 



With the assignment of this topic came a note saying 

 it was desired to embrace a combined workshop and honey- 

 house to be constructed at moderate cost. This last re- 

 quirement carries limitations not always easily overcome. 



If the bee-keeper is expert with tools, as all should be, 

 one large item of cost can be saved; but if he is not, it is 

 simply a question of cost of materials and labor. Of the 

 materials costing the least, good adobes, well laid and plas- 

 tered outside and in, furnish a thoroughly serviceable build- 

 ing, and in many ways desirable. Grout and concrete are 

 also good and not very expensive to make. Still, I suppose, 

 wood will be used in the greater number of cases, and there- 

 fore I shall speak more fully of it as a material for such 

 purposes. 



My experience does not cause me to look with much 

 favor upon makeshifts. It is better to avoid them where 

 possible, as they are the dearest in the long run ; and few 

 can plan out really good devices of that character. Instead, 

 use good materials, exact workmanship, and then care well 

 for the structure. 



I will not try to outline a plan and specifications for such 

 a building in this article, because conditions may demand 

 variations and individuality be a controlling factor, but 

 rather note the things which, to me, seem necessary in all 

 such buildings. 



And, first, make a good foundation, either of stone, con- 

 crete, or brick, so carefully built that not a crack or 

 crevice remains to allow the entrance of any pest. The floor 

 joists should be made straight or slightly crowned, and be 

 built into the foundation wall, whicli should be carried up 

 flush with the top of these joists. The upper ends of the 

 joists should be notched to receive a 2x4 sill flush with the 

 upper edges of these joists and the outer line of the frame- 

 work of the building; and upon this sill erect the frame of the 

 building. I should have this frame of 2x4 lumber, machine 

 dressed on all sides to size, the studding spaced to receive 

 a super easily between them. Over all secure horizontally 

 two layers of good building-paper, the inner one smooth 

 calendered, well lapped, and inner edges pasted down snugly. 

 Side up with good quality drop-siding, carried up flush with 

 top edge of rafter,s. Cover over the paper on rafters with 

 sheeting, and finish roof with a good grade of shingles. 

 No cornice is needed. The rafters will project the same 



as if a cornice was designed. The roof sheeting will extend 

 oyer these projecting ends and at the ends of the building, 

 giving sufficient cornice effect. 



I can not impress upon you too forcibly the need of a 

 good floor. It should be strong, firm, and of such lumber 

 as will wear smooth, and should be covered as occasion 

 requires with some good floor-dressing. Nothing will pay 

 you so well as a floor that can readily be kept clean. In fact, 

 I am convinced that where sections are cleaned or extracting 

 done, a floor covered with sheet-metal well nailed down would 

 be very desirable. If there is anything that to me seems more 

 necessary than another in bee-keeping, it is cleanliness, and 

 nothing more disgusting than the floors of some honey-houses. 

 I would really not care to eat honey coming from such places. 



I suppose you will want me to tell how much room I 

 would want for, say, a 200-colony apiary. Well, a 12x14 

 foot work-room, an 8x12 foot extracting-room or section- 

 cleaning room, and a 12x30 foot storage-room. 



Of course you will have doors and windows and roof- 

 peak ventilators screened and provided with bee-escapes to 

 suit the needs of the building. 



In presenting this paper, I do not feel that all has been 

 said, but rather that it may be the basis of a discussion 

 drawing forth from others the good features they have 

 for years, perhaps, practiced. T. Lytle. 



I\Ir Thompson — Probably 49 out of 50 of those who 

 build honey-houses make them too small. In this paper the 

 dimensions given seem to be about right. 



Mr. Foster — How may we get the room warm enough 

 to keep the honey from candying? 



Mr. Aikin — T^iose who handle large amounts of honey 

 must protect themselves against fire. When I look at the 

 size of the check when I have to pay insurance, it makes 

 me feel that if I had to do it again, I should want a 

 fire-proof house. The insurance bill would go a long way 

 towards paying the extra cost. It is also important to facili- 

 tate labor and cut off extra labor. A few hours now and then 

 in the course of years amounts to a large sum. The running 

 expenses eat up the profits, not the permanent ones. 



Mr. Lytle — It was required of me, in writing my paper, 

 to describe a honey-house of moderate cost. Fire-proof 

 structures are always very expensive. 



Abnormal Swarming. 



It seems to me that there is something like the irony of 

 Fate in the fact that I have been chosen to write a paper 

 on this subject — abnormal swarming. If there is one thmg 

 that I know less about than any other thing connected 

 with the management of bees. I think it is how to control 

 excessive swarming in a profitable and satisfactory manner. 



Until last year I should very confidently have said that 

 there would be no excessive swarming if bees were properly 

 managed, and that swarming could be controlled by a proper 

 use of half-depth Hoffman frames used with sections. Our 

 method was to put on a super of those small extracting 

 frames near the close of the season when we took off 

 .sections, letting the bees fill and keep them over winter. 

 Just before alfalfa 'bloom, or when the bees began to get 

 crowded, we raised the small super and put sections between 

 it and the brood-chamber, being careful to have the queen 

 below. The bees usually go to work at once in the sec- 

 tions and continue to work as long as the honey-flow 

 continues. We seldom have more swarms than we want, 

 and get good honey crops, while our neighbors have trouble 

 in getting the bees started in sections and have excessive 

 swarming as hot weather comes on. 



Last year, however, was an exceptionally hot and dry 

 season, and the honey-flow was scant and slow. The bees 

 simply went crazy, and when I raised the extracting supers 

 and put in the sections they just made the queen-cells on the 

 brood in the upper story, and left without beginning on the 

 sections at all. We began as usual, liiving swarms on 

 starters in a new hive on the old stand, but usually^ the 

 swarms would come out again the next day. Sometimes 

 they would loaf in the hive two or three days, gnawing 

 off the starters, but doing nothing else. Sometimes a little 

 comb would be built, a few eggs deposited and queen-cells 

 started, and the swarm would conic oitt again. 



We tried hiving on old combs and on full sheets of 

 foundation, but got no better results than with starters. _ I 

 exhausted my ingenuity, patience, and resources in trying 

 to satisfy them. Near the end of the season I began killing 

 every queen that came out the second time and giving her 

 bees either a newly hatched queen or a frame of brood with 



