Feb. 7. 1907 



111 



American l^ee Journal k 



a living. Prices of such nuclei can be 

 obtained from shippers of bees 'adver- 

 tised in the bec-papcrs. 



Rains have been quite general over 

 the South, from reports received so far. 

 A good season in the ground means 

 much for the bee-keeper. More rains 

 are needed, however. 



May in Texas in January 



It is warm — yes, hot — weather here 

 the middle of January, the thermometer 

 registering 75 to 80 degrees through the 

 day, and only once or twice il went be- 

 low 60 degrees at night for the past 

 month. Agherites (wild currant), black 

 chaparral, and various other early- 

 blooming shrubs are now blossoming, 

 and the bees are working and roaring 

 at night as if it were May here in Texas. 

 This \vc would very much rather not 

 see, as the bees are rearing brood as 

 if it really were spring. And this, too, 

 more than a month earlier than I ever 

 saw it before. This will cause a large 

 consumption of stores that the bees will 

 be sure to need later, as February is 

 almost always our coldest month here. 



Interchange.\ble Bee-Suppues. 



A marked copy of Dr. G. Bohrer's 

 good article on "Home Hive-Making 

 and at Factories," on page 28. should 

 be sent to every bee-supply manufac- 

 turer in the United States. 



I have reference to the last two sen- 

 tences of that article. Now I believe 

 that our bee-supply manufacturers want 

 to have their goods so that they will 

 at least be interchangeable with sup- 

 plies from other factories, but they are 

 not always that way, by any means. 



All the Beginner Needs. 



One trouble with the average novice, 

 he thinks he has to buy almost all he 

 sees advertised in the bee-supply cata- 

 logs when he starts with bees. So he 

 counts and figures on this and that 

 article until he runs the bill up to hun- 

 dreds of dollars for making a start with 

 only a few colonies of bees. Then he 

 becomes disgusted and quits right off. 



Now let me tell you what I would 

 buy if I had only a few- bees and want- 

 ed to make a start : Outside of the 

 hives and frames actually needed for 

 the bees the present year, I would get 

 a smoker, a bee-veil, an extractor, and 

 an uncapping knife — that's all. I would 

 add a good text-book if I didn't already 

 have one. 



A Cure for Bee-P.\ralysis. 



Mr. F. J. R. Davenport, of this State, 

 gives this as a cure for bee-paralysis : 



"Take equal parts of honey and granu- 

 lated sugar. Melt a pint together for 

 each colony that is affected. At sun- 

 down remove the top and pull the cloth 

 off and pour this warm liquid over the 

 brood-frames and contract the entrance. 

 The next morning, if it is warm, they 

 will come out and take a cleansing flight, 

 and come back to their hives all right." 



I copy the above from the Dallas 

 News. We hardly know from the above 

 which Mr. Davenport considers the cure 

 for the disease, the mixture of sugar 

 and honey, or the cleansing flight. If 



the latter, 1 sup|jose either alcjne would 

 answer, as .1 lecil of any kind will cause 

 bees to lake .1 llight. If the mixing of 

 the two sweets performs the cure, I 

 am compelled to say that I hardly see 

 the philosophy in it. 



Thanks for an Article. 



Mr. .Vdrian Getaz has my thanks for 

 kindly answering some of my questions 

 asked on page 704, the past season, and, 

 as usual, I think his answers are about 

 as nearly correct as we will likely get. 

 (See pages 1032-1033, 1906, for his re- 

 plies.) I am glad 1 fired those ques- 

 tions at Mr. Getaz for we have at least 

 another one of his many good articles 

 that we might otherwise not have had. 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. Smith. 



Yes, indeed, the weather has been Iwt, 

 and everything has seemed like spring 

 for the last 2 months. Indications are 

 that we will have colder weather soon, 

 and T .im fearing a late, cold spring. 



.Such are disastrous to the bee-keepers. 

 When the stores are nearly consumed 

 and the bees need the flowers to re- 

 plenish them from, there may be none, 

 and the weather may be such that the 

 bees are kept in the hive. It is then 

 that the bee-keeper must look at and 

 watch the bees, and provide for them. 

 Extra protection to the outside of the 

 hives will also be essential at such 

 times. However, we shall hope for the 

 best. 



I should be glad to have some good 

 short articles on "Home Hive-Making," 

 from those with experience. I am sure 

 locality plays a big part in this matter. 

 If I had white pine lumber, or anything 

 like it, I'd make all my supplies with 

 a foot-power buzz-saw, but our yellow 

 pine lumber is hard to work, and then 

 it warps, checks and twists very badly. 



If I were a beginner, I would not 

 forget to subscribe for a good bee-paper 

 or two. These would be almost as nec- 

 essary as any of the other things. 



■^ 



I Convention 

 Proceedings 



-it^w«aaite.»i^feB.*^.-^ -7. 



Report of the Michigan State 

 Convention 



REPORTED BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



(J. ntinued fiom pa^e ^2 ) 



Mr. Geo. H. Kirkpatrick read the fol- 

 lowing paper on: 



WHY BEE-KFEPER5 SHiULD 

 PEUULb THEU HONEY 



First, they, should do so in order to 

 get the largest amount of cash possible 

 for their product. If a product is sold 

 direct to the consumer, there will be 

 no heav}' freight bills to pay, and no 

 middle man to share in the profits at the 

 expense of the producer. 



A few cents on the dollar may make 

 a difference between success and fail- 

 ure. An individual may operate a given 

 number of colonies and secure a fair 

 crop of honey. Should he sell his honey 

 to the city merchant at a market price 

 of 7 cents, he would receive for 10,000 

 pounds. $700. Had this individual sold 

 his 10.000 pounds direct to the consumer 

 in the country where he lives, at 10 

 cents per pound, it would have brought 

 him $1000. — $300.00 more than he got 

 for it in the city. 



We will now see how many days one 

 must labor to pn-pare and peddle 10,000 

 pounds of hone\ . and wdiat he will re- 

 ceive per day for his labor. It will re- 

 quire 20 days ti) liquefy 10.000 pounds, 

 put it into pails, and label it. I think it 

 is fair to put the number of sales per 

 day at twenty lo-pound pails at $1.00 

 each, or 200 juiunds per day. Thus it 

 will require 51 > 'lays to peddle 10,000 



pounds, in- 70 days to prepare and peddle 

 it. 



Now-, if he will divide the $300.00 by 

 70 (the $300.00 being the difference be- 

 tween retail and wholesale prices) we 

 have $4.28 per day for labor w-hile ped- 

 dling 10,000 pounds of honey. The 10- 

 pound friction-top pails w-ill not cost 

 more than the 60-pound cans, for the 

 storage of 10,000 pounds. If we sell at 

 wholesale, the cans go with the honey. 

 If we peddle, we can reserve the pails 

 and gather then up on our next trip. 



Style of Honey-Pack.\ge. 



I use a lo-pound friction-top pail, one 

 size only. I have never found it practi- 

 cable to carry any pail with a capacity 

 of less than 10 pounds. 



Every pail of honey should be neat- 

 ly labeled, the label giving the number 

 of pounds the pail contains, the source 

 from w-hich the honey w-as gathered, the 

 body, color and flavor. We should al- 

 so give notice on this same label how 

 to liquefy honey when granidated. 



One pleasant feature of peddling 

 hone\- is that one becomes more wide- 

 ly known, and makes friends and ac- 

 quaintances. 



Special Vehicle for Peddling. 



I consider it an advantage to use a 

 special vehicle, neatly painted, and let- 

 tered, giving in full in large, plain let- 

 ters, one's occupation, name and ad- 

 dress. 



Adv.\nce Notice When Selling. 



As men do not generally leave money 

 w-ith their wives when its need is not 

 foreseen, 1 give notice to the heads of 

 families on a Rural Route, a few dayt 



