18 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



about the grinding. They are made 

 of Jessop's steel and well tempered. 

 Once in a while one proves too hard 

 and an edge may snap, but unless 

 too large a piece is nicked out, it can 

 be re-forged 



Why the nickel? It retards rust- 

 ing, and is nice to handle and look 

 upon. And such is Miller's hive tool. 

 I have about a dozen made each year 

 and try to keep several in each yard. 

 By carrying the tool in my hip 

 pocket when working about the yard 

 it seldom gets lost, and is always 

 ready for use. But some visitors in- 

 sist on buying one now and then, 

 so I have to replenish my supply 

 from time to time. 



Rhode Island. 



NOTES FROM TEXAS 



The past season has been quite 

 favorable for both bees and honey. 

 An open spring put the queens to 

 work early with abundance of pollen 

 to keep things going until the nectar 

 started, when all the colonies were 

 evened up and heavy work com- 

 menced. Extracting should have 

 taken place in June, but owing to 

 forced absence from home it was de- 

 ferred until July, when the supers 

 were filled to their capacity. Seventy 

 pounds average was taken off, and at 

 this writing (Oct 19) there is about 

 the same amount stored. The picture 

 shows stands I am using, which, for 

 convenience and strength, and also 

 durability, cannot be excelled. They 

 measure 2 feet by 4, strong of con 

 struction, easily accessible on both 

 ends, and are supported by four ce- 

 dar blocks 12 inches high, making 

 them convenient and stout enough 

 to easily hold all the weight two col- 

 onies would call for. 



WALTER W. DURHAM, 



THE QUESTION OF SUPPLIES 



Read at the Illinois State meeting 

 by C. F. Bender. 



Having been called upon for a 

 paper to be read before this conven- 

 tion, it seemed to me that a full dis- 

 cussion of this subject from the bee- 

 keeper's standpoint might be of in- 

 terest. I wish to assure you at the 

 outset, that I am in no way interested 

 in the sale of bee supplies, but view 

 the matter solely as a purchaser. 

 Having decided upon my own policy 

 with regard to the purchase of sup- 

 plies for the coming season, it may 

 be useful to give you the facts and 

 fancies on which that decision is 

 based. 



I have just returned from a month's 

 vacation in which I visited some of 

 the largest supply factories, making a 

 leisurely visit at each, with a view to 

 learning present conditions, as well 

 as future prospects. I will confess 

 that I went as a missionary to these 

 benighted brethren, saying: Lo, the 

 poor bee man ! How is he to pay 

 war prices for his supplies, and take 

 a chance on selling his honey next 

 fall? 



I was surprised to find that they 

 were already true believers. They 

 knew all that I had to tell, and much 

 more. Instead of darkly plotting 

 how they were to keep up the prices 

 of supplies, they were anxiously and 

 even prayerfully considering how 

 these prices might be reduced. They 

 told me that the factories must be 

 run through the winter, if the de- 

 mand next summer is to be supplied; 

 that if they are run through this 

 winter, materials and labor must be 

 purchased at prices that average less 

 than 10 per cent below the highest 

 war prices. Coal and iron, lumber, 

 beeswax, labor, were still selling at 

 astonishing prices. Freight rates on 

 those materials were higher 'than 

 ever before. Taxes were a burden, 

 interest on borrowed capital unus- 

 ually high, and in many cases bor- 

 rowed money was not to be had at 

 any price. Considering all these 

 things, it would be folly to store a 

 large stock of supplies, in the hope 

 of selling them next summer. The 

 only course left was to run the fac- 

 tories short-handed, storing only 

 such a stock as would certainly be 

 sold, at nearly the present level of 

 prices. This in the hope, not of 

 making a large profit, but of avoid- 

 ing a heavy loss. 



It seems to me that our problem, 

 while apparently the same as that of 

 the manufacturers, is really diflferent, 

 because the labor employed is 

 largely our own. Unless we are to 

 abandon our business entirely, it 

 will not profit us to limit the produc- 

 tion of honey because our supplies 

 cost us twenty per cent more than 

 they will probably cost us a year 

 later. It will not even pay us to limit 

 increases on account of the high 

 price of hives, because the net profit 

 per colony for one season will more 

 than cover any probable reduction 

 in the price of hives during that 

 year. 



If these statements are accepted as 

 facts, there only remains for us one 

 possible question. Shall we buy our 

 supplies now, so far as we can fore- 



see our needs, or shall we wait until 

 spring or summer, in the hope of 

 getting them cheaper? In my mind 

 that question, also, is easily an- 

 swered. I have tried to show you 

 that the factories and dealers are 

 carrying only small stocks, and that 

 a normal demand during the busy 

 season cannot be supplied. Conse- 

 quently, if we wait until the last 

 moment, there is danger, not only 

 that we shall be obliged to pay 

 higher prices, but that we shall not 

 get our supplies at all. 



Our only consolations are. that we 

 have used some low-priced supplies 

 in the production of high-priced 

 honey — that, as we have gone up 

 with the commercial balloon, we must 

 come down as it cools ofT, as other 

 producers are doing, and must con- 

 tent ourselves with reduced profits, 

 hoping for better times in the years 

 to come. 



My prediction is that the lowest 

 prices for supplies during the year 

 will be those quoted in the January 

 catalogs. Acting on that belief, I 

 have already ordered my supplies for 

 the next season and expect to do 

 business at the old stand, in quite the 

 usual manner, in 1921. 



Illinois. 



QUEEN LAYING ON POLLEN 



We have seen this repeatedly and 

 have also seen a supersedure queen- 

 cell, the basis of which is a pollen- 

 cell in which the queen laid. Normal 

 development takes place, and there is 

 no reason to expect otherwise. — Bee 

 World. 



Uurham-'s hive-stand 



MODERN METHODS IN COMB- 

 HONEY PRODUCTION 



By E. S. Miller 



In discussing comb-honey produc- 

 tion I do not claim to present any 

 original or untried scheme. My de- 

 sire is merely to outline a method 

 used with success by a considerable 

 number of commercial beemen, a 

 method applicable to commercial out- 

 yards within the clover belt. 



In the first place, one should begin 

 preparation as early as August of the 

 preceding year, seeing that every 

 colony has ample stores, a good 

 quten and a strong force of bees. At 

 the time of the August manipulation 

 there should be placed above queen 

 excluders upon a sufficient number of 

 colonies, supers filled with brood- 

 combs, provided there is a prospect 

 for a fall flow. These combs, when 

 filled, are to be used for fall and 

 spring feeding. The colonies should 

 lie examined again later in the sea- 

 son, after brood-rearing ceases, and 

 all not up to standard in weight 

 should be fed by inserting combs of 

 scaled honey in place of empty combs 

 removed. If there is not likely to 

 be a fall crop, combs of honey from 

 the previous flow should be reserved. 

 If the feeding is done not earlier than 

 three or four weeks after brood-rear- 

 ing ceases, it will be found that the 



