June 13, 1907 



503 



American ^cc Journal /^^^ g^^gaii^ i 



swarm clustereil wiis iinotlier low, bushy tree 

 — a damly place to liidufroin uii angry bee, 

 because you could bury your&ult in the (;reun 

 branches. So I p;ot our long-handled ral<t\ 

 and hiding myself in this bushy trt"-, I- 

 reached over until I could hook the rake ovir 

 the limb where the bees clustered, then I 

 .s7/(K>/.-, and down went the bees kerrtop, right 

 in front of the hive. I shook a few more 

 times tor luck, then dislodging the rake- I 

 tapped the hive gently with it. After a while 

 they all crawled in and made themselves at 

 home. That was my lirst attempt to hive 

 bees, and after explaining my method to 

 papa, he said it certainly should be success- 

 ful, and he guessed they would be willing to 

 stay almost anywhere after that bump. 

 Seems to me my ellorts are not appreciated 

 as they might be, here at home. Of course, I 

 don't hive that way any more, but don't you 

 think I was one of the very tirst shakers? 

 St. Clair Co., 111. Sistek Esperanza. 



Yes, you certainly are a "shaker," 

 or, perhaps, to use the more fashion- 

 able form of the word, a "shooker." 

 Let us hope that the time occupied in 

 " shaking " or " shooking " did not re- 

 sult in too dark complexion for that 

 cake. 



Lessons from Losses of Bees 



Our British Expert Sisters 



In 1906 there were in England 128 

 examinations for experts' certificates, 

 and we are told in the British Bee 

 Journal the 87 successful candidates 

 were principally ladies. The British 

 lady bee-keepers seem to be getting 

 the start of their Yankee sisters. 



I have been comparing notes with a 

 few fellow bet-keepers in my own 

 State and elsewhere, and when I find 

 how others have fared, my own loss — 

 20 percent which includes the dead, the 

 queenless, and the very weak colonies — 

 seems small in comparison. 



I have had 2 reports from Lincoln, 

 Nebr., which show heavy loss. One is 

 from an extensive bee-keeper who 

 handles pure Italians only. He reports 

 a loss of two-thirds of all colonies. My 

 own loss was mostly amongst the Ital- 

 ians. Carniolans and Cirni-Italians 

 are without doubt better able to with- 

 stand severe conditions. 



A party writing from Kansas City 

 reports the loss of all but 2 out of 9, 

 and these 2 are weak. So it goes. 



One of my correspondents is in the 

 northeast part of the country. He is 

 not a small bee-keeper, having more 

 than than SCO colonies of different 

 kinds of bees in separate yards. He 

 says : " Fifty percent of the golden 

 Italians are dead, and the balance are 

 weak ; 25 percent of the leather-col- 

 ored Italians are in the same condi- 

 tion ; 10 percent of the Carniolans are 

 weak, but the rest are all right." 



I see the A. I. Root Co. also testify 

 to the greater hardiness of the dark 

 races of bees. Practical honey-pro- 



ducers will draw their own conclusions 

 and act accordingly. 



I have ijiite a variety of hives in my 

 bee-yard, and I did not find that bees 

 in small or medium-sized hives came 

 out wor.se than those in the big ones. 

 Some of the lost colonies were in large 

 hives, with abundance of honey. Per 

 contra : I wintered a few colonies on 

 5-inch frames with candy cakes on top, 

 and there was no loss amongst these, 

 although I had removed the remains of 

 the candy and given frames early ip 

 April, which I surely would not have 

 done if I had foreseen such a " spell of 

 weather " as we were to have through 

 April and much of May. Therefore 

 one lesson for me is to be very slow 

 about changing the winter arrangement 

 for that of summer. I had supposed 

 that lesson learned. 



As to forage for the bees, there has 

 been very little here so far. Fruit- 

 bloom was a failure. Much of it was 

 " nipped in the bud," and did not open 

 at all. There are very few dandelions 

 here. The first real support the bees 

 are to have is likely to be yellow sweet 

 clover, which is a little behind time, 

 but is looking nice since the heavy 

 rains we have had for the last week. A 

 few of the earliest blossoms are likely 

 to open within a week. 



I am going to feed the bees some and 

 " bide my time," with good courage. 

 (Mrs ) A. L. Amos. 



Comstock, Nebr., June 1. 



Cleaning Sections of Honey In a 

 Warm Climate 



On page 337, " Missouri " asks a number of 

 questions on the subject of cleaning sections. 

 yo. .9 is a serious one with some of us, and as 

 Dr. Miller answers it only by telling him to 

 clean in cold weather, which is not always 

 feasible, may I give him another answer 

 through your column? 



A damp cloth is not much good as it smears 

 the knife. I always keep a little pot of lard 

 on the table, and slightly grease my fingers 

 and knives before I begin to clean ; this keeps 

 the propolis from sticking badly. Then I 

 always use 3 knives — a butcher-knife with a 

 curved point to clean the sections, and a com- 

 mon kitchen-knife to clean this knife with. 

 A sharp stroke will clean the propolis from 

 the greased knife much more easily than a 

 cloth. 



For taking off honey that has run out, I 

 always use a cloth and cold water, as Dr. 

 Miller does. Mias Colorado. 



Many thanks for your experience. 

 Truth is, what is especially needed is 

 such experiences in warmer latitudes 

 where cold weather can not always be 

 had to order. (In this locality we can 

 always have weather so cool that prop- 

 olis will be brittle, if we wait for it.) 

 I have used the butcher-knife with the 

 case-knife to clean it, but much prefer 

 the cabinet scraper, as it takes hold so 

 much better than a knife will, and does 

 so much better work. Just try for 

 yourself and see if you don't find it 

 better. 



It must be admitted, however, that 

 my experience is in weather when the 

 propolis is generally brittle. If very 

 warm, it might not be so easy to clean 

 off the scraper. 



It might be well to caution those who 

 use grease on the fingers to use it very 

 sparingly else the wood of the sections 

 may be marred by grease-spots. 



Rcflectioiiisr 



or .» 



California Bee-Kceper ^^^ 



Bt W. a. Pryal, Alden Station, Oakland, Calif. 



New Lse for the Auto-Bike 



I was out to see my friend Otto Byke 

 the other day. He was in the back 

 yard overhauling what he called his 

 " flying-dutchman." I asked him 

 where he was going, and he replied, 

 " Down south." 



"And going to take that auto-bike 

 with you ?" I ventured to question him. 



" No, not exactly ; it will take me." 



" And what do you expect to do down 

 there ?" 



"Well, Bill Beeman has asked me to 

 comedown and run his honey-extractor 

 this season. I have planned to harness 

 the auto-bike f,'as-engine to the extrac- 

 tor, and between us we shall have a 

 sweet old time making the honey fly." 



"You don't say!" And I wondered 

 if some other fellow would steal his 

 idea and get it patented. 



Bee-Glue 



Bees must be insane at times. Just 

 look at the crazy manner in which 



they will daub the inside of their hive 

 all up with nasty, sticky propolis. If 

 the stuff were used intelligently, I 

 would not mind it a bit. But when it 

 comes to shoving the dauby article in 

 hunks in unnecessary places on hive 

 and frames, I simply give up and pro- 

 nounce the bees "crazy." And there 

 is so much of it. May be it is my loca- 

 tion ; perhaps the poor little pets get it 

 stuck to their feet and use the inside 

 portions of the hive as a door-mat to 

 wipe it off. But the trouble of getting 

 the propolis off one's hands — that's 

 what sticks me : the nasty, sticky stuff ! 

 I've pulled, and I"ve scraped, and per- 

 spired ; the gum has flown in my eyes, 

 got into my pockets ; I breathed it all 

 day and dreamed of it by night, as the 

 odor of it haunted my wakeful as well 

 as my sleeping hours. And it has be- 

 smeared my hands so that it would not 

 come off even when I tried grease, oil 

 and soap of fine and coarse degree. 

 My hands are not beauties, 'tis too 

 true, but, then , who wants to go to a se- 

 lect affair in the social line with hands 

 stained and daubed with a disagreea- 

 ble yellow ? Why, people would think 



