1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



63 



some localities. There is consid- 

 erable sweet clover seed raised here. 

 ."Vs a source of surplus it is rather un- 

 certain, as the dry weather very 

 often sets in before the plant has a 

 chance to bloom. Last year I secured 

 some of the white annual sweet clo- 

 ver seed and found that under our 

 conditions it cannot make a success- 

 ful growth. I have received from 

 the American Bee Journal a package 

 of the white biennial, which ought to 

 do exceptionally well in this locality. 

 Last year I planted half a bushel of 

 unhulled yellow biennial along the 

 roads and have engaged a bushel to 

 plant ne.xt spring. The soil is rich in 

 lime. 



For several years I kept bees in 

 Topeka, within a quarter of a mile 

 of a large alfalfa field. It was very 

 exceptional for bees to work alfalfa 

 at Topeka, and I did not list it as a 

 honey plant. Coming out here where 

 it is the main source of nectar, I was 

 very curious to know just what made 

 the difi'erence and at just what place 

 between here and Topeka was the di- 

 viding line. After a careful study of 

 conditions and careful weather charts 

 and after running for hundreds of 

 miles up and down the streams, I 

 find that in this part of Kansas al- 

 falfa above 1,000 feet elevation is one 

 of the main honey plants, and below 

 that level it is one of the minor 

 plants. It yields practically nothing 

 at somewhere between 800 and 900 

 feet. It is surprising how sharp the 

 line is drawn. 



Alfalfa is a clover, and while it 

 thrives under conditions where while 

 clover cannot grow, the nectar secre- 

 tion responds to heat and rn'oisture 

 very much as does white clover, after 

 the bloom is once out. 



Another rather interesting thing 

 that I find is that the smart-weed of 

 this locality is an entirely diflferent 

 variety from what we have at Topeka 

 and at St. Joseph Mo., and the honey 

 is very different. 



Augusta, Kans. 



WINTERING 



By A. E. Hale 



I winter on summer stands, each in 

 a separate case. Use a bottom-board 

 two inches longer than the hive body, 

 with the seven-eighths inch space un- 

 der the frames summer and winter. 



About November 1 I prepare for 

 winter by nailing a metal entrance 

 guard to the front of hive, leaving an 

 opening 5-16x6 inches as a protection 

 from mice. 



I make the guards of light galva- 

 nized iron, cut 2 inches wide and 14 

 1-2 inches long bent over 3-8 inches 

 at top so as to make it double where 

 nailed to hive. Use the escape boards 

 on top with cleat side down, thus 

 leaving five-eighths or thrCjC-quar- 

 ters of an inch over top of frames. 

 Tack a piece of wire screen over the 

 hole in the escape-board and cover 

 with a piece of burlap. The cases 

 are made of seven-eighths inch 

 stuff for the frame, covered with VA 

 ply roofing paper, tacked to frame 

 with bill posters' tacks. Use 36-inch 



paper cut in two, 18 inches wide. 

 The inside measurement of the bot- 

 tom of the frame is one-fourth inch 

 larger than the hive-body and slips 

 down to its place without moving the 

 hive and rests on the 2-inch projec- 

 tion of the bottom-board in front and 

 on a cleat one-half inch thick, nailed 

 on back end, projecting about three- 

 eighths inch above bottom-board, 

 and covering joint between bottom- 

 board and hive-body and preventing 

 the hive from slipping back when 

 raised in front to e.xamine or clean 

 out. The side pieces of frame cover 

 joint on sides. As the end pieces are 

 nailed on top of the sides of bottom 

 of frame the paper projects seven- 

 eighths inch below ends, closing the 

 entrance to wind and snow except a 

 piece about 4 inches long, which is 

 cut on sides and turned upward for 

 an outside entrance. There is a 

 space of 2 inches on sides and ends 

 of hive-body and 8 inches on top 

 which is packed with leaves; and 

 when taken off in the spring we save 

 the leaves for future use. The pack- 

 ing is left on until settled weather in 

 May. The rims of the covers are 3 

 or 4 inches wide to telescope over 

 the top. The top of the cover is 

 made of thin stuff, covered with 

 roofing paper. The paper costs me 

 about 30 cents per case. For the 

 frame and top I use old crating and 

 boxes. If bought new the lumber 

 would cost 30 to 40 cents each. 

 Iowa. 



Wintering 



At the meeting of the Des Moines 

 County beekeepers at Burlington, 

 Iowa, October 20, Mr. Wm. Judd, of 

 Danville, 111., who succeeds wonder- 

 fully in wintering bees safely, gave 

 his method. He packs his bees very 

 heavily in clover shaff, with about 8 

 to 10 inches of packing. Instead of 

 wintering the colonies in one story, 

 he places two stories and divides 

 the comb half and half, S in each 

 story, with the balance of the hive 

 packed, behind division-boards. This 

 has the advantage of supplying the 

 bees with a large amount of stores 

 above the cluster, so that they do 

 not need to move sideways in cold 

 weather. He packs only two hives in 

 one winter case and leaves them on 

 the same spot all summer. In this 

 way he avoids the "drifting" of bees, 

 which is always to be feared when 

 moving them together at the ap- 

 proach of winter. The attendance at 

 the Burlington meeting was small, 

 but the beekeepers present were very 

 much interested and well pleased. 



Length of the Sting 



The British Bee Journal quotes the 

 following from "Punch": 



"The length of a bee's sting is only 

 one thirty-second of an inch." We 

 are grateful for this information, be- 

 cause when we are being stung we 

 are always too busy to measure it for 

 ourselves. 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



A Man From Tennessee 



Prof. G. M. Bentley, of the Uni- 

 versity of Tennessee, is a worth- 

 while chap, no matter which way 

 you approach him. He gives one the 

 impression that Tenness'ee*. is the 

 garden spot of the world, and you 

 can't much blame him for that, even 

 though you believe that Indiana — or 

 Texas, is better. Judging from the 

 picture, Bentley is a thorough-going 

 horticultural inspector, at least a 

 judge of good melons. 



He takes beekeeping seriously and 

 is making it an important subject in 

 his branch of the University. Last 

 year he had a class of 67 returned 

 soldiers in his beekeeping classes. It 

 is as Secretary of the Section of Api- 

 culture of the Association of Eco- 

 nomic Entomologists that Bentley 

 gets in his best licks for the industry. 

 Many of the members of this organi- 

 zation are officially responsible for 

 the enforcement of foulbrood laws 

 as well as for teaching and extension 

 work in beekeeping. Since Bentley 

 has been Secretary, the apicultural 

 section has been looking up decid- 

 edly. The programs are confined to 

 such problems as are likely to face 

 the members in their official capacity 

 and must come under one of the 

 three heads of research, education or 

 inspection. 



When you see Bentley just tell him 

 you are a beekeeper and he will be 

 glad to see you, but he will probably 

 invite you to move to Tennessee. 



A Tennessee booster. 



