August, 1907. 



American Bee JournaJJ 



that a bee-keeper can keep his colonics 

 iikvays strong if he is a bec-kecper. 

 'lake, for instance, the case of Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, of Illinois. The season there 

 was not unlike ours. Warm weather 

 caused bees to breed up and become 

 strong, when the cold snap came upon 

 them. Now, Dr. Miller, old and ex- 

 perienced bee-man that he is, knew, or 

 thought he knew, that his bees were 

 suffering, and would come through 

 weak. fBut did they? No, there were 

 just enough stores for them, and they 

 were strong in bees, and in fine con- 

 dition when warm weather came again. 

 Then, the Doctor ivas bee-keeper enough 

 to examine them — found them at the 

 starving-point, and gave them nice, fat 

 combs of sealed honey from his re- 

 serve stock, and, presto! his bees are 

 in fine condition for the harvest. 



It might be intimated that the locality 

 had something to do with it, especially 

 since Illinois and Texas are quite a 

 few paces from each other. But hold, 

 just a bit south of Rescue, Tex., there 

 is a fellow who did exactly what Dr. 

 Miller did — not with only one yard, but 

 a dozen of them. 



Distance and locality had very little 

 to do with it in this instance, for, let 

 us jump up into Michigan (see editorial, 

 Bee-Keepers' Review, page 179). Ex- 

 actly the same condition still farther 

 north, and making a greater distance 

 between Mr. Hutchinson's apiaries and 

 my own here. 



Leaving plenty of honey in the fall, 

 equalizing stores in the spring and giv- 

 ing protection to the hives in the spring. 

 if they are not already in a sheltered 

 place, will help much in keeping colo- 

 nies strong throughout even a season 

 such as this one. 



It will be only fair for me to re- 

 mark that North Texas, where Mr. 

 Smith resides, is a peculiar one for bees 

 in the spring. There is very little natu- 

 ral resource for them in the early spring, 

 compared with most localities, and this 

 is later followed by an entire dearth 

 until about July I. It is a problem 

 to keep bees over this "gap," in good 

 condition. All the stores are used up 

 in spring in rearing brood, (no matter 

 how much honey is left in them. Colo- 

 nies "rich" in stores will swarm, only 

 to starve later, unless helped. This is 

 a problem to be contended with there. 



Work for Improvement 



A picture of much interest to many 

 of us nowadays is shown here. Al- 

 though box-hives are a thing of the 

 past in many localities, there are still 

 a few of them. 



Now for the improvement that could 

 be worked for in an apiary of this 

 kind: First, the very style of hives does 

 not allow of proper manipulation of the 

 bees, etc., hence best results can not be 

 obtained. Control over the bees is ham- 

 pered to such an extent that the race 

 of bees is far from a good one; and this 

 combination with an over-abundance of 

 swarms, can mean only a meager in- 

 come for the owner who claims to ob- 

 tain an average of "a gallon of strained 

 honey apiece from the good colonies 



New 

 Way 



during a good season." .An average 

 of 12 pounds ! 



Far Ijettcr to transfer the bees to mod- 

 ern hives, double up the number of 

 colonies, introduce good queens, pre- 

 vent, as far as possible, an over-abund- 

 ance of swarms, and obtain much larger 

 yields of superior surplus honey, an in- 

 creased income, with less "fussing." 



There is a difference between these 

 two apiaries. In one, the owner prides 

 himself with the number of "gums" he 

 has; in the other, how much surplus 

 honey he obtains from his colonies, and 



how much pleasure and profit they real- 

 ize him. 



We know that the larger the num- 

 ber of colonies in a given location, the 

 more honey is consumed before any 

 surplus goes to their owner. I have 

 preferred intensive bee-keeping rather 

 than extensive: but, of course, this does 

 not mean that bees should not be kept 

 extensively at the same time. Keep 

 better colonies — not only a large num- 

 ber — and make all there is in it out of 

 them, is a good rule for all of us to 

 go by. 



Canadian 



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



^>o 



Another Poop Honey Season 



The clover has come and gone, and 

 from reports to hand the honey crop 

 from that source is but little better 

 than the year 1906. The poor condi- 

 tion of the bees in general throughout 

 Ontario, to a certain extent explains 

 this result for some sections, but in our 

 own immediate district there was almost 

 no honey in the clover. Just why, is 



hard to explain, as the clover was in 

 splendid condition, and the weather, at 

 least some of the time, simply ideal. 

 True, it has been very dry with us, yet 

 many a time I have secured good crops 

 when it was much dryer than this year. 

 In my 3 yards only 8 swarms issued, and 

 6 of these came in fruit-bloom. Colo- 

 nies in the home-yard that about filled 

 a super from fruit-bloom, did not store 

 10 pounds from the clover. With two 



