566 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



Sept. 4. 1902. 



of a century, and we are probably safe in 

 saying tliat his name is Icnown wherever a 

 colony of bees is kept. 



He was a man of that high type of charac- 

 ter with whom it is a pleasure to associate, 

 and after whom no one can read without be- 

 ing benefited. His home life was ideal, and 

 he was revered and loved by those who knew 

 him best. The writer has found a hearty 

 welcome in a great many homes, but in no 

 home has he felt more at home than during 

 his visits at the home of the Dadants. 

 •■ Father Dadant," as we were wont to call 

 him, was a capital host, and while he made 

 nopretentipns to being a religionist of any 

 kind, we have no hesitancy in saying that his 



outward life was that of an ideal Christian. 

 It will be a long time before the bee-keepers 

 pay the debt of gratitude which they owe to 

 this venerable patriarch in the industry. He 

 lived an excellent life, and at a ripe old age, 

 without a lingering illness, no doubt died an 

 ideal death. He has left us for something 

 higher and better, we trust, but his work will 

 remain to bless the untold generations yet 

 unborn. 



C. P. Dadant has been associated with his 

 father in the comb foundation business from 

 the start, and his son will now join him, and 

 the tirm name will be continued. 



We shall miss the pleasant welcome of 

 Father Dadant, and the interesting articles 



from his pen, but there will be no change in 

 the policy of the tirm so far as the quality of 

 their goods is concerned. We have done 

 business with them nearly 20 years, and dur- 

 ing all that time, if we have ever differed on a 

 business deal to the amount of a nickel, we 

 have not known it. To us, the word of a 

 Dadant was always as good as a bond, and 

 this has been true, because the goods have 

 always been delivered according to the stipu- 

 lation in the bond. The family has our pro- 

 found sympathy in this, their hour of bereave- 

 ment, and the best we can possibly wish 

 them is that their lives may be like the life of 

 the friend and father who has gone out of 

 their sight for the lime being, 



Convention Proceedings. 



Report of the Texas State Convention, Held at 

 Colleg-e Station, July 16 and 17, 1902. 



BY LOUIS SCHOLL, SEC. 



(Continued from page 550). 

 The subjects regularly upon the program were taken up, 

 and Prof. Wilmon Newell spoke as follows, on 



The Preparation of an Apiary for a Honey=Flow. 



This is a subject that is closely coupled with that of 

 producing surplus honey, and together with the latter sub. 

 ject has received its full share of discussion in the bee books 

 and periodicals. 



The entire subject under present conditions is more 

 adapted to a careful and full discussion by all, rather than 

 a treatment by any one person. What I will have to say 

 will be composed solely of facts and principles that are 

 familiar to up-to-date bee-keepers, and therefore not of 

 paramount interest. 



I have nothing new to introduce, and shall only en- 

 deavor to review briefly those methods of operation that 

 have been found essential to the proper handling of a honey- 

 flow. On the other hand, it is to be expected that the ex- 

 perience of many bee-keepers, in various localities and un- 

 der varying conditions, will bring to light matiy new ideas 

 and methods of manipulation. For this reason I shall at- 

 tempt no more than to introduce the subject, for the full 

 discussion of which I feel sure will follow, and which, I hope, 

 will bring to light many valuable points, that, at least to 

 many of us, will be new. 



HOW BEST TO PREPARE FOR A HONEY-FLOW. 



The proper time to begin preparation for a honey-flow 

 is the year before. All partially-filled , sections, if we are 

 producing comb honey, and all empty combs, if we are run- 

 ning for extracted honey, cannot be made better use of 

 than by saving for use as " baits " the following season. For 

 this purpose they should be placed in a tight super or hive- 

 body and kept absolutely protected from mice, wax-moths, 

 ants, and all manner of insects. It is also needless to say 

 that they should be kept in a fairly dry room, where they 

 cannot freeze. Many bee-keepers assert that these baits 

 are worth their weight in gold ; and, while I believe I would 

 prefer the gold, they are at least worth more for coaxing 

 the bees up into the super, at the beginning of the honey 

 season, than could be realized from them if converted into 

 wax and extracted honey. 



At the approach of the honey season, there are three 

 points to which I would call special attention : 



The first is the gathering together of all tools and im- 

 plements, getting the tools sharp and clean, and getting 

 every thing into its place, where you can instantly put your 

 hands on it when wanted. Of course in all well-regulated 

 apiaries there is a place for everything, and everything in 

 its place, but, alas, we are all human, and, once in awhile, 

 or perhaps twice in awhile, tools are mislaid. This is likely 

 to entail a waste of time and labor in hunting for them 

 when most needed, and when strictly, as well as literally, 

 time is money, to say nothing of the fact that it is liable to 



be conducive to language very unbecoming to even a Texas 

 bee-keeper. 



In addition to this, a sufficient supply of supers, extract- 

 ing frames, hive-bodies, etc., should be nailed up and 

 painted. If using sections, the supers should be filled with 

 their proper number of fences or separators, and if the 

 honey season is not too far distant, the sections folded, comb 

 foundation inserted, and all made for immediate transfer to 

 the hives. I would not advise the placing of foundation in 

 frames or sections more than a month previous to use, as it 

 does not retain its form and freshness as well as when kept 

 in the original boxes, to say nothing of the exposure to in- 

 sect pests. 



The second point to which I would call attention, and 

 which, above all others, is of the most importance, is that of 

 having strong, hustling colonies at the beginning of the 

 honey-flow. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that un- 

 less a full force of bees is present little or no work will be 

 done in the supers. To attain this result best the colonies 

 should go into winter quarters with plenty of stores and 

 bees in each hive. As soon as possible in the spring, the 

 colonies should be examined, and any that are weak should 

 be stimulated by feeding. In localities where a reasonably 

 good honey-flow is expected there is absolutely no question 

 as to the profitableness of feeding. Only a small amount 

 of cane-sugar is necessary, when fed daily, to stimulate 

 brood-rearing. 



During the forepart of June we conducted some experi- 

 ments in the College apiary to determine the amount of 

 sugar necessary to stimulate. At this time there was little 

 if any honey coining in, and as a result of the shortage all 

 queens had ceased laying. Both neuclei and full colonies 

 were fed an average of 3 ounces of sugar per day, made, of 

 course, in the form of syrup. Within a week the bees were 

 rapidly building comb, and all queens laying. We bought 

 sugar at this time at the rate of IS pounds for a dollar, or 

 6-3 cetits per pound, making the cost of feed per colony 1% 

 cents. Of course, earlier in the spring a larger amount 

 would be necessary, owing to the increased consumption 

 needed to maintain the temperature of the hive. It seems 

 likely, though, that even then stimulative feeds should not 

 cost on an average of more than 2 '2 to 3 cents per feed for 

 each colony. 



The importance of thus feeding in order to have a strong 

 force of bees at the beginning of the honey-flow, is readih' 

 seen when one realizes that approximately ten thousand 

 bees are required to do the household work in an ordinary- 

 sized hive. Suppose a colony to contain 40,000 bees, 30,000 

 of these will be field-workers — really the number which will 

 be gathering surplus honey. On the other hand, suppose 

 these 40,000 bees to be divided into two colonies of 20,(300 

 each. In each hive will be required, as before, 10,000 bees 

 for interior or household work, leaving but 10,000 field-work- 

 ers to each colony, or 20,000 in all, as compared to 30,000 in 

 the former case. The beekeeper cannot afiord to have 

 weak colonies at the opening of the honey season, as a 

 large part of the season at least will be required to build 

 them up to a profitable working strength. 



As a third important point, queens which are prolific 

 should be used in all colonies ; and while it may not be ad- 

 visable to supersede poor layers during the honey-flow, this 

 point should not be neglected, and as soon as a poor layer is 

 found she should be replaced by a queen at as early a date 

 as possible. Wilmon Newell. 



In the discussion that followed, questions were asked 

 as to which feeder was best adapted for this feeding. Of 

 the different kinds used in the College apiary the division- 

 board feeder, or " Doolittle Feeder," was found to be the 

 best. 

 The required amount of syrup for feeding was discussed, 



