June 13, 1907 



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Aimv'ic^n ^ee Journal 



V, 



ocfor MillerJs 



Send Questions either to tbe ollite of the Ameriean Bee Journal, or to 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 ' Dr. Miller does nut answer Questions by mall. 



STARTING IX BBE-KBBPING. 



The Saturday Evening Post ot May 

 25 contained an article upon "Quitting 

 the S'treniious Life," which spolce 

 favorably of bee-keeping as a means 

 to that end. The author, Mr. Forrest 

 Crissey — and 1 say by way of paren- 

 thesis that 1 am a bit proud of the fact 

 that so excellent a writer was a pupil 

 of mine in the days when I wns 

 "schoolmaster" — the author, made men- 

 tion ot my name in such a way tliat a 

 small deluge of letters has come to me 

 with inquiries upon the subject. To 

 answer by mail is out of the question, 

 and I am sure it "will he mucli bettor 

 for me to answer in this department, as 

 very nearly the siMne ans\\^er will apply 

 to all. and I can thus answer quite 

 fully. 



\\ isely, nearly all inquire as to a 

 book of information, and some inquire 

 where, and at what price, the book. 

 "Forty Years Among the Bees," can be 

 obtained. You can get it by sending 

 to the publishers of this paper, George 

 W. York & Co., one dollar. That book 

 gives in detail just how I manage my 

 bees, as well as I know how to tell 

 it, but I do not advise it as a sole book 

 on bee-keeping. If you get only one 

 book on bee-keeping, you can not go 

 amiss to get "A B C of Bee Culture." 

 "L,angstroth on the Honey Bee," revised 

 by Dadant, or Cook's "Manual of the 

 Apiary." Either of these you can get 

 from the publishers of this paper bv 

 sending $1.20. They are written in 

 easy, non-technical language, easily 

 understood by one with no knowledge 

 of the subject. Then if you want to get 

 "Forty Years Among the Bees" as a 

 companion book I have no objections to 

 otter. Some make the mistake of think- 

 ing that a montlily or weekly publica- 

 tion upon bee-keeping is all that is 

 needed. The periodical is all right 

 along witli the book, bi't if .\ ou .-.ui 

 have only one, be sure it is a book. The 

 book gives the foundation knowledge 

 .that you need, and the periodical keeps 

 you up to the times. 



As soon as you get your book, go to 

 work reading. Some things, very 

 likely, you will not understand. Don't 

 worry; skip the hard places. Very 

 likely they will be easier on second 

 reading. If you are a subscriber to 

 this paper, this department is at your 

 disposal, allowing you to ask any ques- 

 tions you like. This department, how- 

 ever, is not intended to take the place 

 of a text-book, but to supplement it, 

 pnd when you have given your book 

 the second faithful reading you will 

 probably find there are still plenty ot 

 things you want to ask questions 

 about. Indeed, one of the beauties of 

 bee-keeping is tiiat you never get to 

 the end; there are always fresh ques- 

 tions arising to keep alive the keenest 

 interest. 



No. I don't sell bees, and if I did you 

 shouldn't buy from any one so far 

 away. Railroads generally will not 

 carry bees as freight except in car lots, 

 so you would have to pay expressage. 

 and that's fearfully expensive. Y'our 

 better way is to Ijuy from some one 

 close at hand, so as to save expressage. 

 By inquiring you are likely to learn 

 of some one within a mile or so who 



will deliver them to you. If you can 

 have delivered to you a colony of Ital- 

 ian bees in a movable-frame hive for 

 $10.00, you ■\vill do well. But you 

 needn't be so very particular about the 

 kind of bees or of hive. -After you have 

 studied your book you ought to know 

 how to get into a good movable-frame 

 hive a colony out of any kind of a 

 hive, or even out of a cracker-box or 

 nail-keg. You ought also to know how 

 to change in C weeks' time from poor 

 scrub stock to Italian blood by paying 

 out only a dollar or two for an Italian 

 queen. 



Prices vary a great deal. I said you 

 would do well to get good blood in a 

 good hive at $10.00 a colony, but you 

 may happen in some neighborhoods to 

 get the same for $7.00 or $S.OO. For 

 Impure blood, especially in poor hives, 

 you may pay $5.00 or less. Y'ou'll ha\e 

 to pay the going rate in your neighbor- 

 hood. 



If you canrot buy conveniently near, 

 and have to send to a distance, then 

 get a 2-framo or a 3-frame nucleus and 

 let it grow. In that case one advantage 

 is that you ::an have pure Italians to 

 start with. -At any rate the expressage 

 will be much less for nuclei than for 

 full colonies. If you buy at a distance, 

 you will likely find in this number of 

 ihe American Bee Journal an adver- 

 tisement of a good place to buy. 



That leads me to speak of reliability 

 of advertisers. One ot you asks if a 

 certain firm selling hives, etc., is re- 

 liable. Entirely so; and what's more, I 

 don't know of any of the firms doing 

 business in that line now that are not 

 reliable. 



"Ti'hat is the b^st hive?" Well, .-i hcr- 

 will gather the same amount of nectar 

 in a day whether its home is a gilded 

 palace or a naii-keg. 'Ihe clv^ice ui 

 hives is rather a matter of convenience 

 f,-,,- the bee-keeper than for the bees. 

 Certainly you must have a movitle 

 frp'^-K^- hivf. -inri nnp of the simrilest ^^ 

 well as most popular Is what is called 

 the dovetaileu line, the same as the 

 writer uses. If you are going to work 

 for extracted honey, get a 10-framo 

 dovetailed hiv.-. If you're going to 

 work for comb lioney — it takes more 

 skill to run for comb honey — you will 

 still do better to have a 10-frame hive, 

 unless you mi an to give a great deal 

 of attention to the business, in which 

 case it may be better to have an 8- 

 frame hive. 



May or June is a good time to buy, 

 the farther south the earlier. Still you 

 can begin any time during "warm 

 weather. 



"How many colonies shall you start 

 with?" If you have money to burn, 

 you can start with 100. and then the 

 likelihood is that you will be out of 

 business insitl'/ of ^ year. For most 

 people perhars 2 colonies is the best 

 number to bCL:i:i "^'ith. You can have a 

 lot of fun v.-i;l! a single colony, but 

 there are a-lv.intages in ,having 2. 

 In any case, vi'-'^^e don't think of start- 

 ing with mo;-, than 6. 



Now you \vil: not feel hard toward 

 me for not viriiiiig you a private letter, 

 will you? I wnld hardly have got all 

 this stuff int' ' privat i letter, and I 

 get so man\' 1- tt-^rs all the tinT^ about 

 bees that the only way I can do is t) 



treat all alike and an.swer them In 

 print. Hut don't let that deter you In 

 the lea.st from asking any question 

 to be answered In this department, pro- 

 vided you are a subscriber. It not, bet- 

 ter send your dollar to the publishers 

 at once for a year's subscription and 

 enough more to get a bee-book. 



usixG <'I(ooki-:d combs 



HONEV. 



WITH 



What fiw bees I had died out last 

 winter, and they left some combs with 

 honey in. I Intend to send for a nu- 

 cleus in a few days, and I want to give 

 the honey to the bees when they get 

 here. The combs are In bad shape — 

 too crooked to use. How would It do 

 to put them Into the hive with a 

 dummy between them and the bees, 

 or is there a better way? 



Minnesota. 



Answer. — Your plan is all right if 

 you will look out for two things; one 

 is, that you must not let brood be 

 started in these crooked frames, and 

 the other that you must not let robbers 

 get a start. Have the entrance very 

 small, and don't let it open into the 

 part where these combs of honey are. 



TIPPER MICHIGAN FOR BEE&. 



Is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan 

 good for bees? 



Answer. — I'm not too sure about 

 exact localities, but I know that In 

 what is called Northern Michigan there 

 are locations that are excellent; the 

 pine lands being burned off and wild 

 raspberry and flreweed coming '- 

 abundantly. 



in 



L\TE FEEDING OF THIX SUGAR 

 SYRUP. 



The statement of F. L. Day, page 

 433, that he always feeds his bees all 

 the syrup thev need of half sugar and 

 half water after Sept. 20, and that last 

 fall he finished feeding Oct. 1, and no 

 trace of dysentery resulted, certainly 

 comes to me as a surprise. Of course, 

 something depends upon how much 

 Mr. Day means when he says his bees 

 "are fed all the syrup they need. If 

 each colony needs only half a pound 

 to a pound, then there would be no 

 harm expected. I take it, however. 

 that Mr. Day feeds a considerable 

 fiuantitv. However safe it may be for 

 Mr Day thus to feed, in the face ot re- 

 ports of other cases in which results 

 were disastrous, it would hardly be 

 wise in general to advise such late 

 feeding of thin syrup. 



WTESARING A B3E-VEIL. 



You say in "Forty Years Among the 

 Bees" that you wear your veil so that 

 it can be pulled down over your face 

 at a moment's notice. Do the bees al- 

 ways give you the moment's notice? 

 Mine didn't the other day. 



Iowa. 



Answer. — Y-es, I think it's pretty 

 fair to say that I never fail to have a 

 moment's notice. Well, hardly evei-. 

 If I were to be compelled to go and 

 open a hive at- this present moment. I 

 would have more than a moment's 

 notice to pull down my veil. You see. 

 I don't need to have notice from the 

 bees always. Just now the fact that 

 it is raw, cloudy, and cold is notice 

 enough before I leave the house. "O'hen 

 weather is fit to work at bees, it some- 

 times happens that the first notice I 

 have that my veil ought to be down is 

 when a bee stings me; but that doesn't 

 often happen. Either. by the way the 

 bees appear in the hive or in the air, 

 I generally have time to pull down my 

 veil before I am stung. In fact, unless 

 bees are very good-natured I generally 

 have my veil down anyhow. 



