484 



June 6, 1907 



American l^ee Journal 



fourth more surplus than the best Ital- 

 ians. Third, they are more prolific, 

 therefore more profitable to keep. 

 Fourth, they are far the best winterers 

 — more quiet — both wintered outside 

 and in the cellar ; consume less honey, 

 and do not spring dwindle. They work 

 all day on cold, spring- days when Ital- 

 ians do not fly at all during the day. 



In regard to propolis, they plaster 

 most of that near their entrance, but 

 carry none whatever to the sections. 

 Their section honey is whiter, cleaner 

 and better-finished than any Italians 

 ever did for us. 



To beginners and ladies wishing to 

 start in bee-keeping, we consider them 

 the best of all, and we predict that as 

 soon as the veteran bee-keepers test a 

 pure strain of Caucasians, they will 

 very soon weed out their Italians and 

 keep none but the former. 



South Dakota. 



Bee-Keeping in Carniola 



BY F. GREINKR 



The home of the Carniolan honey- 

 bee (Carniola, Austria,) is also a coun- 

 try in Europe where bee keeping is 

 carried on by professionals, and where 

 bees are reared for sale and to stock up 

 the empty hives of less fortunate bee- 

 keepers. There must be a good honey- 

 flora in those mountainous sections, for 

 very large apiaries are kept. I hope 

 some time to see them myself, but at 

 present I only write from what I learn 

 through the press. 



Ambrozic was the owner of one of 

 the largest and oldest bee-establish- 

 tnents in that part of the country, and a 

 circular of Strgaris coming tome now. 

 Bees and queens are reared here for 

 sale in large quantities. The apiaries 

 are kept in the mountains, and it is a 

 common sight to see men and women 

 following the mountain-paths with 

 hives containing bees strapped on 

 their backs, for it is probably imprac- 

 tical to reach these high points with 

 any vehicle. In America a business 

 could not be carried on this way on 

 account of high wages. It would 

 hardly pay here to move bees on the 

 backs of men and women carrying 

 them many miles. 



The hives used in Carniola are rather 

 peculiar on account of their shape. 

 They are about 27 or 28 inches long, 

 and 12 inches wide ; in height they are 

 only about 7 inches. A hive with bees 

 like the illustration is sold for about 

 S3 in Carniola. The fact that such a 

 hive can winter bees in the cold, ex- 

 posed regions in Carniola speaks well 

 for the bees, and perhaps is also a 

 proof against the so often advanced 

 theory that bees ought to have their 

 winter stores above rather than at the 

 side of the cluster. However, it must 

 not be lost sight of that the method of 

 keeping the bees in Carniola difi'ers 

 from our own very materially. Such 

 hives are never placed singly ; on the 

 contrary, they are corded up as we 

 would cord-wood, the whole lot of bees 

 in one huge pile, and under one com- 

 mon roof. This manner of wintering 

 leaves only the ends of the hives ex- 

 posed, and if the combs run crosswise 



and not lengthwise of the hive, there 

 are no frames in the hives producing 

 a draft around the cluster, and the 

 combs at the ends act as division- 

 boards, thus giving a very good pro- 

 tection. 



The hives are made of thin lumber, 

 the ends being the heaviest. Prof. 



Benton exhibited one of these ends or 

 fronts of such a hive, which he had 

 brought from Carniola some years ago. 

 It was decorated nicely with some 

 Bible scene — a habit these Carniolans 

 have of proving again that time is not 

 worth much with them. 

 Naples, N. Y. 



<^anadian 



^>o 



Conducted by J. L. Bter, Mount Joy, Ont. 



Early Manipulation of Bees 



In Gleanings of May 1st, R. F. Hol- 

 termann tells of having "examined 

 colonies for queens, brood and honey, 

 clipped queens — something unusual 

 for us in March." While I am, as a 

 rule, pretty much in accord with Mr. 

 Holtermann's teachings, yet in this 

 case I would decidedly take issue with 

 him as to the advisability of such early 

 manipulations in our climate. I am 

 quite certain that tearing the brood- 

 nest apart early in the season, espe- 

 cially when no pollen or nectar is com- 

 ing in, is responsible for a whole lot of 

 queens " turning up missing " later on. 



Aside from a little time gained by 

 having the queens clipped before a 

 busier time comes, I fail to see any 

 good reason for lifting the frames out, 

 in order to diagnose the condition of a 

 colony. Where a quilt is used, all that 

 is necessary is to turn the same up 

 slowly, and gently puff in a little 

 smoke to drive the bees down ; nine 

 times out of ten a single glance among 

 the frames will reveal the general con- 

 dition of the colony. 



bee-keepers, among them Messrs. Mc- 

 Evoy and Storer, who follow this plan 

 every year with their super-combs. 

 While I personally have followed the 

 plan advised by Mr. H. — cutting out 

 the pollen-filled parts and melting into 

 wax — yet, after seeing Mr. Storer at 

 work scraping the pollen off, I am 

 bound to say that he made a neat job 

 of the matter. 



Propolized Fingers for Clipping' 

 Queens 



Speaking of clipped queens, Mr. H. 

 says : " If bee-keepers would thor- 

 oughly rub propolis over their fingers 

 before touching a queen, no evil results 

 would occur from foreign odors." 

 Dear me ! the problem with a number 

 of us has been how to keep the propo- 

 lis off our fingers ; in fact, the propolis 

 item was one of the factors that led me 

 to adopt the sensible plan of clipping 

 the queen without touching her with 

 my fingers at all. 



Early Stimulating of Bees 



Removing Pollen by Cutting 

 Down Combs 



Commenting on a question asked by 

 a bee-keeper in England, as to whether 

 any British bee-keepers had tried the 

 "Canadian system " of cutting away 

 the comb to the base or mid-rib to re- 

 move pollen clog, Mr. Holtermanu says 

 that it is news to him that this plan is 

 a Canadian system. While I do not 

 know that the idea is of Canadian ori- 

 gin, yet I do know of a number of good 



Mr. House, in his address, had con- 

 siderable to say in favor of early stimu- 

 lating, yet he admitted that stimulat- 

 ing was impracticable for out-yards. 

 To quote his own words : 



" It is too much trouble to feed out-apiaries. 

 I stimulate them by giving them a queen so 

 prolific that she will lay all the time. I de- 

 pend upon my queens for stimulating out- 

 yards." 



While it pleases me to agree with Mr. 

 House, yet it appears quite logical to 

 ask why he doesn't apply the same less 



