American l^ee Journal 



Jan. 17, 1907 



other, placing nuclei in various parts 

 of the apiary, wheeling out winter-cases 

 in preparing bees for wintering on the 

 summer stands, and wheeling them away 

 again in spring, or where tiie bee-keeper 

 depends upon natural swarming for his 

 increase, and hives the swarms where 

 they cluster, the swarms can then be 

 wheeled to the stands prepared in ad- 

 vance and placed on them with very lit- 

 tle labor. 



The wheels should be sufficiently large 

 so that it will run fairly easy with a 

 number of heavy supers of honey, and 

 should be wide enough so that it will not 

 upset if the ground is not perfectly level. 

 Whether the bee-keeper uses such a 

 device or not, it will be found a great 

 convenience in many instances to have 

 the apiary graded. 



Better Super-Protection. 



_ In one feature, in comb-honey produc- 

 tion, at least, it can be said locality plays 

 no part, as I believe it will be found in 

 all localities, and that is, the rows of 

 center sections in the super will be 

 sealed over much sooner than the two 

 outside rovvs. In fact, in many in- 

 stances, it is a hard matter to get the 

 bees to seal over these outside rows, and 

 as a result of this kind of experience 

 for a number of years, I have spent 

 considerable thought in trying to find 

 the cause, and at the same time solve 

 a way to prevent it. 



Here is another thing: When there 

 are 2 or 3 supers of sections on the hive 

 at the same time in course of comple- 

 tion, the outside rows in the lower su- 

 pers would be sealed over as well as 

 those in the center. Now why is this? 

 In removing a super of filled sections the 

 past season by the use of a bee-escape 

 board, I let this board remain on top 

 of the super under the one removed un- 

 til the ne.xt examination, and, though 

 this was only a few davs later, to my 

 surprise I also found this super all filled 

 and sealed over ready to come off, and 

 even the outside rows being sealed. I 

 believe this was due, largely, to the bees 

 sealing this board down solid, barring 

 out the light and currents of air, as no 

 other colonies made such rapid gains at 

 storing. I am of the opinion the reason 

 bees will seal the outside rows in the 

 under supers, and not do it on top, or 

 under the roof, is because it is further 

 away from the light and currents of 

 cool night air. 



It should be remembered that bees 

 can gather and store honey when it is 

 too cool to work at comb-building or 

 sealing, and for this reason (for I be- 

 lieve this is the chief cause), we should 

 provide much better protection to the 

 top of the hive in order to retain the 

 warmth. There is entirely too much 

 warm air going out, and cool air com- 

 ing in. and as most comb-building is 

 done during the night, this is also when 

 the supers are the coolest if no protec- 

 tion is provided. For this very reason 

 many bee-keepers use a telescope cover, 

 as by the use of a deep cover of this 

 kind the heat can not escape nearly so 

 rapidly. During the storing season is 

 also when brood-rearing is the heav- 

 iest, and on cool nights the bees will 

 leave the supers and go down below in 



order to prevent a possible loss to the 

 brood, if the matter of warmth has not 

 been attended to. 



I believe we will secure better re- 

 sults by giving much better super-pro- 

 protection during the honey harvest. 



than by ventilating at the top of the 

 hive. The entrance is the proper place 

 to ventilate. It must be a faulty hive 

 that must be ventilated at the top in 

 our Northern latitudes. 

 Nisbet, Pa. 



CuuviucLcd hy i^.uAiA M. VV ILau^i, AittlcD^U, ii 



Keeping Bees and Poultry 



Dear Miss Wilson : — I wonder if the 

 sisters all want to "talk back" every 

 week when the American Bee Journal 

 arrives, as much as does the "Mistress 

 of Clovernook." Also, if they promise 

 themselves that they will, and then — 

 don't. 



About every week since you "called 

 me down"' on my emergency-cell busi- 

 ness written for Poultry Husbandry, I've 

 tried to find the leisure to "have it out 

 with you;" but, alas, by now all the bril- 

 liant things I have been concocting and 

 treasuring up to rout you with com- 

 pletely, would at this late hour prove 

 but flat, uninteresting stuff to read. So 

 Father Time draws the sting and dulls 

 the venom. 



Really, though, it is very hard for 

 amateurs to write correctly on bees; to 

 express exactly so as to convey what 

 they mean to our readers. 



I've been tasked with a lack of inter- 

 est in my bees as compared with my 

 poultry, because I so seldom write con- 

 cerning this very important branch of 

 Clovernook. I tell them that I'm "scart" 

 to ; that bee men and women are very 

 quick to "catch on" to our inaccuracy 

 and bring us up standing, while I can 

 reel off miles of poultry-lore in blissful 

 security. It seems to make no differ- 

 ence what I or anyone else says — all is 

 silently accepted. Those who know may 

 smile, but do not correct the error, and 

 those who don't know, will, ultimately, 

 at a costly price. 



That is one reason why I'm especially 

 fond and proud of the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity. There is a largeness of scope 

 and a scientific pride that is above mere 

 mercenarj' consideration, and a broad 

 truthfulness is demanded and exacted. 



Now after all this bouquet throwing, 

 let us have another whack at "Bees and 

 Poultry," as discussed in our own cor- 

 ner on Dec. 6, 1906. 



I'm not so sure as I was then, or 4 

 years ago, that the two industries work 

 well together, and can be conducted so 

 that the bees do not suffer. At that 

 time, I was sure that certain persons 

 who advocated bees as a specialty were 

 wrong. It now seems to me that while 

 a limited number of fowls and of colo- 

 nies work all right, as a side-issue — for 



pin-money — where a living is to be made 

 from the two, it is hard to give the bees 

 a fair show. And this for the reason 

 that poultry is so clamorous for atten- 

 tion, and the neglect shows up so quick- 

 ly and fatally in results, and the routine 

 of care so constant and every day and 

 three times a day (the bee-work being 

 sandwiched in between whiles). It is 

 quite likely on the days favorable for 

 opening up the hives, that some impera- 

 tive demand of the fowls must be met. 

 So time slips by, and when our honey 

 crop is in, we wonder why it is so 

 light, and are chagrined at the inroads 

 made by moths, and at other mischief 

 which shows up. 



It works somewhat after the fashion 

 of a good and a bad child. The bad 

 one absorbs three times the care of the 

 good one, and the needs of the good one 

 and its rights are too often sacrificed. I 

 don't think any one can exaggerate the 

 "cursedness' that there is in a chicken, 

 nor the arduousness of the work en- 

 tailed in caring for them under certain 

 conditions, nor the slimness of the re- 

 turn for labor and money expended. 

 On the other hand, where "chicken na- 

 ture" is intelligently studied, the oc- 

 cupation is fairly remunerative, and 

 fairly easy, and fairly pleasant. But as 

 compared with bees, it is not in it ! I 

 think Sister Williams hits the nail on 

 the head when she says, "If I should 

 do the work that is most agreeable, I 

 would take bees, every time, and be- 

 lieve they can be made to pay quite as 

 well, if not better than chickens." 



My experience is that, given the right 

 locality and conditions for pasturage, 

 and the proper care, a good living can 

 be made with bees alone, providing the 

 local market is not hurt or glutted by 

 precipitating the crop on it at once, and 

 by inferior grade of honey. 



I have run bees and poultry for 12 

 years, and not a single season has 

 drawn to its close but I've felt guilty 

 of neglect to my bees, and have prom- 

 ised myself that it was the last time. 

 And I've tried to plan the work so as to 

 do justice to them, but have never suc- 

 ceeded. The past fall I decided to give 

 up the White Wyandotte branch of 

 Clovernook's business, in favor of the 

 bees, and have farmed out 22 of our 

 White Holland turkevs ; so that next 



