May 30, 1907 



451 



American ^^e Journal 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



A Sister's Experience With Bees 



My Dear Miss Wilson : — About 10 

 years ag^o a friend gave me a swarm 

 of bees in a box-hive, and told me this 

 was too poor a honey-producing region 

 to make bee-keeping profitable, but 

 that I could hive the swarms that 

 came off each year, and in the fall kill 

 off the old colonies and use their honey. 



For the first 2 or 3 years I paid little 

 attention to the bees. If we chanced 

 to be about when they swarmed we 

 put them in a box, but got little honey, 

 as I could not make up my mind to kill 

 them. Finally I was persuaded to get 

 a frame hive, and the way we mis- 

 managed the swarm that we put into 

 it would take too long to tell. All the 

 family, and some of the neighbors, 

 assisted ; and the stings we got ! I 

 was stung on the face and head, and 

 in about an hour my eyes were closed, 

 and for a day or so I could not see, and 

 was very sick. The "other half" 

 wanted to shoot the bees, and not have 

 one on the place, but for my part I 

 rather admired them for resenting our 

 treatment, and next year I got S hives, 

 and that season I sold $9 worth of sec- 

 tion honey, at 20 cents a section. The 

 bees in the boxes (except the old one) 

 died. I now have the old box and 25 

 colonies in frame hives, though I have 

 lost quite a number some winters. 



Most of the hives are under an open 

 shed, and part of them out in the open, 

 and only one colony died last winter. 

 Some seasons there is too much rain, 

 and they store very little honey, while 

 in others they store a good crop. 



Some years I have sold $35 worth of 

 section honey at 15 cents. I take it to 

 our little town and peddle it out among 

 my neighbors. Often I could ask 25 

 cents, but believe it better to take less 

 and have a steady cash custom. 



Last year I put a new swarm into a 

 hive where the bees had died during 

 the preceding winter, and in about 4 

 weeks they had filled the 24 sections 

 <also the body). 



As the stings poison me so I do not 

 handle my bees as they should be han- 

 dled for profit ; that is, I could divide 

 and double up colonies, and do much 

 more with them according to the bee- 

 books. 



I do not know what kind of bees they 

 are, but unless abused they are easy to 

 work with. Often, when I am work- 

 ing with them, I get interested and 

 handle them quite freely, and am not 

 nervous with them at any time, yet I 

 think it best to wear a veil and be on 

 the safe side. A number of times. 



when trying to saw off a limb high up 

 in a tree, I have had the swarm fall on 

 my head, and down to the ground in a 

 shower, but they would at once go back 

 to the limb, and never seem to know I 

 was there. 



The bother about swarming time is, 

 there are so many trees, and tall ones, 

 too, in which the bees cluster. I find 

 that if they seem inclined to go too 

 high or not settle, a shower with the 

 spray-pump settles them — just a mist 

 so they think it is raining. Sometimes 

 I put on a trap when I think a swarm 

 will be coming out, and that way I 

 have less trouble ; but as I am quite 

 hard of hearing (not deaf, but unable 

 to hear low sounds), I can not hear the 

 queen, nor have I ever been able to see 

 her, though I often have looked for her 

 so I could put her into the hive, as 

 sometimes a swarm seems so contrary 

 about going in, though maybe the next 

 swarm that I have will go into the 

 same hive at once. 



Two years ago I was alone when a 

 swarm issued and clustered high up in 

 a young oak-tree. I could get to them 

 all right by using a long ladder, but I 

 could not bring down the swarm — it 

 was so very large. I disliked asking a 

 neighbor to help me, so this is how I 

 managed : 



After cutting away all brush below 

 the cluster, I carried a small rope up 

 and put it over a crotch above the bees, 

 then tied it to the limb holding the 

 swarm. Then I went down and fast- 

 ened the other end of the rope ; went 

 up the tree and sawed the limb off, and 

 descended and lowered the cluster till 

 it almost touched the table holding the 

 hive. As they made no move toward 

 going in, I gently brushed them down 

 on the cloth, and in IS minutes there 

 was no sign of a bee out of the hive, 

 but they scampered in at once. 



It amuses me to read about the pos- 

 sibility of sisters handling bees, doing 

 the rough or heavy work, with the ex- 

 ception of moving the hive when full 

 of comb, etc. I have done everything 

 required myself, when no one is here 

 to help. When I tell you I am in my 

 56th year, you will agree with me that 

 climbing trees and all that is no easy 

 work, but a great many times I do it. 



Taking oft" the supers used to be the 

 hardest for me, as I almost always got 

 stung, but I got a bee-escape, which 

 every bee-keeper should use. I put it 

 in a board as directed, but when it was 

 put under the super I found that the 

 honey was so heavy it had sagged in 

 the center, and that left a space around 

 the edge where the bees went back and 

 forth ; and, besides, I did not like so 



much handling the bees, so I set my 

 wits to work and this is the result : 



Make a box H inches deep, of proper 

 inside measure to set a super into. On 

 the inside, half way down, fasten the 

 board in which is the escape. Early in 

 the morning — it is cool then and the 

 bees are more quiet, I find — set the 

 prepared box near the hive. Have 

 ready another super with a cover on. 

 Take off the super full of honey, and 

 set it inside the prepared box ; put on 

 the other super, and there you are. If 

 you have some one to help it is easier, 

 but I do not mind in the least doing 

 the job alone — and you can have your 

 honey for dinner. Of course, you un- 

 derstand that the ends of the box be- 

 low the escape are to be open to allow 

 the bees to get out, and there is to be a 

 cleat on the upper side of the board so 

 as not to crush the bees. 



Another improvement, in my opin- 

 ion, would be to have the metal strips 

 holding section-holders wide enough 

 to be seen at the outside of the hive. 

 A number of times when they are 

 glued down tight, I have run the knife 

 above the tin strip and lifted the super- 

 frame off empty. 



The bees are now working well. I 

 looked in a few times this morning and 

 they are filling sections. Some are al- 

 most full, but I do not like to take off 

 too soon. 



Regarding light and dark honey, a 

 good many prefer the dark, saying it 

 has a better flavor than the white. I 

 can not eat honey myself, as it makes 

 me sick. I try it once in a while, 

 though, and now and then, if it is old 

 and dark, it does not hurt me. 



Mrs. Gertrude L,. Goodwin. 



Roy, Wash., May 1. 



As a help against having swarms 

 settle in high trees, you might try a 

 plan that some have reported as suc- 

 cessful. Take 4 poles 6 feet long, or 

 longer, tie them together near the top, 

 and then set up the 4 wigwam fash- 

 ion, with a small bundle of branches 

 with leaves upon them fastened at the 

 top, and also a piece of old comb. Of 

 course, the leaves will wither, but that 

 may be all the better. 



If one swarm settles on it, others 

 will be more likely to settle in the 

 same place. 



No matter how sharp your hearing, 

 you would not hear a queen in a 

 swarm. When flying she makes no 

 noise different from other bees. 



Always glad to hear from you. 



Management for Extracted Honey — 

 "Catty" Molasses vs. Foul- 

 Broody Honey 



If I should run my bees for extracted 

 honey till they have the benefit of the honey- 

 tlow, which ends about July 15, I think, up 

 to this time I would start nuclei, having each 

 on top of a hive with a laying-queen, with 

 wire-cloth under it to keep the bees from 

 going down and carrying up honey from the 

 lower ones, and to give them the same scent. 

 At the end of the flow I will set the old col- 

 ony off by itself, put the nucleus down to re- 

 ceive the flying bees, with an excluder over 

 them, and the honey over them to finish 

 ripening. What would be your opinion of 

 the results? 



When I was a girl I lived with the family 

 of a man who made sorghum molasses tor the 



