NuvuinbiT, ii)(i/. 



American Hee Journal 



expenses this year, I am going to get 

 111 extractor and educate the piibHc to 

 i.it extracted honey and not think it is 

 half glucose or something worse. There 

 are no extractors in this part of the 

 country. D. B. Kinnison. 



David City, Nebr., Sept. 17. 



No excluders arc u.sed in my apiaries. 

 Tlie queen can go into both the lower 

 and upper half of the hive as it is in 

 winter. As soon as the brood-nest is 

 enlarged, becomes crowded, and more 

 honey is coming in than is needed in 

 the brood-nest, a case of empty combs 

 is slipped in between the 2 halves, thus 

 giving plenty of room for egg-laying 

 and place for the bees. This time is 

 just about when bees are beginning to 

 think about swarming on account of 

 their crowded condition, and this ma- 

 nipulation generally knocks it out. 



1 he upper case now becomes our first 

 extracting super, being gradually filled 

 with the honey not needed below, and 

 crowds out of it the brood. Besides, 

 the queen has plenty of room below, 

 and no excluders are needed. 



I have no trouble with dark combs, 

 as my honey is the same from all of 

 them. The pollen does not fly out in 

 extracting; besides, most of it will be 

 used up in the upper case, and the rest 

 will be stored in the lower ones. 



The same system is used in the pro- 

 duction of comb or extracted honey. 

 The manipulation given above is the 

 same for all. Later, when the flow 

 comes, supers of either sections, frames 

 with starters for bulk comb, or full 

 combs for extracted honey, are given 

 under the top case. Tiering up is then 

 practiced ahke with all kinds also. 



Dry Fall in North Central Texas 



Bees in this locality (Central Texas') 

 are having a long rest-spell. Most of 

 the queens have entirely stopped lay- 

 ing, and no young brood is being reared. 

 This is for the want of pasturage for 

 the busy little workers. The 8-months' 

 drouth we have just passed through has 

 parched the fields and meadows brown, 

 and everything has more the appearance 

 of inidwinter than our usual spring-like 

 October and November weather. 



See to the Winter Stores. 



I should not be surprised if a good 

 many bees would go into winter short 

 on stores in the Northern and Central 

 parts of the Sfate, owing to the long 

 drouth, and the bees gathering nothing 

 since June. Our usual fall crop from 

 the broomweed is a failure, and it 

 would be well to make a close examina- 

 tion as to the amount of stores the 

 bees have, and, if short, feed them. 

 Don't put this off and risk it, and com- 

 plain next spring that the bees didn't 

 winter well; you had "bad luck" with 

 the bees, etc. The days of "good luck" 

 and "bad luck" with bees have about 

 become a thing of the past here in the 

 South. This is as it should be, too, 

 for it is either pure neglect or hard- 

 down stinginess in the apiarist if he fails 

 to winter his bees in this climate. We 

 have no fears of bad stores, too much 

 pollen, or too many bees, etc. It is 

 starvation that kills the bees here. 



Reverse the IIive-Bottoms Now. 



If you use reversible buttom-lxj.irds, 

 November is the month they should be 

 reversed for the small entrance in this 

 climate. This should not be neglected, 

 for the hives with deep entrances are 

 sure to be infested with mice during 

 the winter, which arc very destructive 

 to the combs, to say nothing of the an- 

 noyance they cause the bees, and I have 

 reasons to believe that mice sometimes 

 cause "swarming out" in winter. 



General Rains Over Texas. 



The long drouth is at last broken. 

 We have had at least 3 inches of rain 

 in the last 48 hours, with prospects good 

 for more, and from reports from difTcr- 

 cnt parts of the State, we think the rain 

 is general. This will be of no special 

 benefit to the bees the present year, but 



ill keeping a young queen and 2 or 

 more old queens in the same hive; but 

 with yuun^ queens it is a failure with 

 me. VVho else has had experience along 

 this line? 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. S.mitii. 



Bee-Keeping- in North Carolina 



I feel it is my duty to speak up for 

 my old State of North Carolina, and 

 let the Northern and Western bee- 

 veterans know that we have some honey, 

 and bees that know how to go after it. 

 We have had a fine honey-flow here. 

 Our principal honey-flow is sourwood, 

 which is very fine and clear. The flow 

 lasted 27 days. • 



I am sending a view of the home 

 of my honey-bees. I have 15 colonies, 



Apiary of G. F. Jones, of Elkin, N. C. 



as most of our best honey-plants come 

 up and winter over like fall-sown wheat 

 or oats, this rain has come just right 

 to make them do their best. 



It has been a long time since we have 

 had an old-fashioned, good honey-flow 

 all over the State, and it is just about 

 time we were having such a year; if 

 these rains continue to come this fall 

 and winter, I would not be afraid to 

 assure a good honey crop in 1908. 



Dr. C. C. Miller seems still to be in 

 doubt about queen-bees fighting when 

 confined together. This is something 

 I don't quite understand for so practical 

 a man as Dr. Miller. Old queens 2>^ 

 or more years old will not often fight, 

 but young, vigorous queens that are 

 only a few weeks or months old will 

 alzvays fight to a finish for me when 

 confined together. I don't know that 

 they would do this if they were at 

 liberty on the combs in the hive, but I 

 should expect even then for them to 

 show more or less hostility towards each 

 other. 



Some may say, "What has all this to 

 do with practical bee-keeping?" It has 

 this to do with it: If we are to prac- 

 tice the Alexander plan of keeping 2 

 or more queens in the same hive, we 

 want to know whether or not we can 

 expect 2 or more young queens to work 

 peaceably or not. I have no trouble 



which averaged 70 pounds to the col- 

 ony. I have the hives on foundations 

 8 inches high and just the width of the 

 hive, and sloping as you will see in the 

 accompanying picture. I arrange them 

 this way so that the toads, which are 

 very numerous here, can not pick up 

 the bees at night. I notice them try- 

 ing to catch the bees. But when they 

 make a dive they lose their foothold and 

 turn a somersault every time. 



We have two robbing seasons — one in 

 the spring and one in the fall. While 

 we have a fine honey-flow now, my bees 

 are robbing now the worst I ever saw. 

 It is something that I do not under- 

 stand. I would like to hear from some 

 of the experienced bee-keepers why they 

 should rob when we have a fine flow. 

 My hives are all Danzehbaker style, 

 and there is no place for the bees to 

 start robbing. Our fall flow is from the 

 frostweed and goldenrod, which is the 

 last to bloom here. 



I have been keeping bees 3 years, 

 starting with one colony of Italians, and 

 have built up to 15. I have had some 

 gloomy times with my bees, and have 

 never formed any acquaintance with 

 them yet. 



The American Bee Journal is one 

 hundred percent finer, and I like it much 

 better since it became a monthly. 



Elkin, N. C, Sept. 23. G. F. Jones. 



