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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



have taught us much) it is hard, at 

 least for me, to believe that all this 

 talk about the winter problem and 

 winter protection in the ^cuthe'-n 

 Slates is necessary. 



Let me give the very best packing' 

 a colony can have in any of the South- 

 ern States, that is, a good strong col- 

 ony of bees with a young, ) rolifie 

 queen and 50 to 60 pounds of honey. 

 This may seem extravagant v.a to the 

 amount of stores, but is not a bit too 

 much for our warm climate, when 

 bees fly most every day anrt often 

 keep up brood rearing all winter. 



With the above condition present, 

 I would not hesitate to insure perfect 

 wintering of every healthy !,-olony of 

 bees in any of the Southern States. 

 Pay no attention to the numlier of 

 combs a colony has, let it be one or 

 five supers. 



The only requirement is to con- 

 tract the entrance against i.he mice 

 and robber bees, as we have so many 

 days that bees can gather nothing to 

 speak of, through the winter, so rob- 

 bers often become a real nuisance in 

 the South. 



Now, to the doubting Thomas, let 

 me say: Try half your colonies 

 packed my way, the other half packed 

 the real orthodox way, with i.ll sur- 

 plus combs removed and ihe usual 25 

 to 30 pounds of stores to the colony. 



I would not have you believe that I 

 think these extra combs of special ad- 

 vantage to the wintering of your bees. 

 I am equally sure that they siiv in no 

 way detrimental. 



The combs are always safe in the 

 care of the bees, not so otherwise in 

 this warm climate, for we often have 

 warm weather here, even in mid- 

 winter, when the larvae of waxmoths 

 seriously damage, or destroy combs. 



I noticed in Mrs. Grace Allen's de- 

 partment, in Gleanings, that ?he triod 

 packing the bees in Tennessee and it 

 proved of not practical beriefit. I 

 know there are many things said by 

 prominent writers of the North that 

 are all right in the Noi'th, but will not 

 stand up when put to a practical test 

 in the South. Most of the Northern 

 writers say: Face your hives to the 

 south, or east, for best results. This, 

 no doubt, is good advice where bees 

 are confined for weeks, even months, 

 to their hives without a flight. 



Here hives facing north or west, 

 are more favorable to the bees than a 

 .south or east exposure, especially 

 where bees have almost daily flight. 

 It is not the greatest, but the fewest 

 number of flights we want our bees to 

 have here. All practical beekeepers 

 know these daily flights mean a large 

 consumption of stores and a heavy 

 tax on the strength and vitality of .;ho 

 bees. 



Texas. 



The Bees 



When winter winds have ceased to 



blow, 

 And sun has dried the mud and snow, 

 The bee man hurries to and fro 

 Among his hives. 



He takes the winter wrappings off 

 And with a deprecating cough 

 Informs the bees the lid is off, 

 It's time to work. 



Some colonies are good and strong. 

 While others need a boost alciig; 

 Perhaps increasing late wa., wrong. 

 Unite a few. 



He hunts each queen from hiding 



place. 

 And makes her promise to his face 

 That she will propagate a race 

 Of workers strong. 



Each comb is lifted out with care 

 To see what are conditions there. 

 It's a lot of fun, but I'll stay v/here 

 There are no bees. 



— Nellie -M. Sheldon. 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



A Maine Beekeeper 



There is a very general impression 

 that New England is poor country 

 for beekeeping. Lester W. Longfel- 

 low, of Hallowell, Maine, is a bee- 

 keeper whose returns compare favor- 

 ably with those of many sections fa- 

 mous for honey production. Mr. 

 Longfellow is President of the Main9 

 Beekeepers' Association and is de- 

 voting much time and attention to the 

 intei'ests of the new organization. In 

 partnership with his brother, Longfel- 

 low keeps 300 colonies in several 

 yards. The average return is about 

 100 pounds per colony in Northern 

 Maine, and about 7.5 pounds in the 

 central part of the State. He states 

 that there is much good territory 

 which is unoccupied in Northei-n 

 Maine. Clover is the pi'incipal 

 source, with some good raspberry lo- 

 cations and some places where fire- 

 weed is abundant. 



Lester W. Longfellow, President of M;iine Bee- 

 keepers' Assocuition. 



BEES AT SORGHUM MILLS 



I am a beekeeper and live on a 

 farm and make more clear money 

 from the bees than we do from our 

 100-acre farm. I have increased un- 

 til I have 100 colonies in fine shape 

 for this season. Last year I began the 

 season with 86 colonies and sold 

 $1,162.90 of honey. I am having a 

 little trouble with swarming; have had 

 5 swarms so far, but am trying to 

 hold them together until I can begin 

 to extract; after that I will not be 

 troubled. I am stating these facts so 

 that you may know that I am a bee- 

 keeper. The last year or two of 

 scarcity of sweets of all kink devel 

 oped the industry of sorghum making 

 near by. 



Last year there were three sorghum 

 mills located as follows : One one- 

 quarter mile, on one-half mile end one 

 three quarters mile from my apiary. 



Last year being dry, fall flowers 

 were rather scarce, causing a dearth 

 of honey, so these sorghum mills at- 

 tracted the bees, and they i.warmed 

 around them so badly that) they 

 caused much annoyance and trouble 

 to the operators of these mills. I lost 

 my field bees by the millions, conse- 

 quently I did not get my usual fall 

 crop of honey. However, I heard 

 no serious complaint by the soi-ghui-i 

 men. I think they bore the trouble 

 well, because they thought they were 

 ruining my apiary for all time. 



I have heard it rumored recently 

 since they see me doing business on 

 the old stand with more bees than 

 ever, that they are going to put mo 

 out of business this fall ; und they 

 really believe that I will have to kill 

 out my bees if they insist, because it 

 interferes with their business. I 

 would like to know what my rights 

 are as a beekeeper and what course I 

 should pursue to be doing the right 

 thing by them and myself as well. 



I have a fine home trade o'. honey 

 and I have a ready sale at all times; 

 can't possibly supply my trade. 



Each of these mills is operated out 

 in the open and their output is only 

 a few hundred gallons. My crop of 

 honey is worth three times a', much 

 as the entire output of these mills. I 

 would like very much to see this dis- 

 cussed in the columns of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal ; perhaps some reader 

 can and will advise me what to do in 

 ease conditions cause the bees to in- 

 terfere with the sorghum men. With 

 a good fall flow, I hardly th:nk the 

 bees would bother the mills. I will 

 add that I have been keeping bees 

 ever since 1902; have never had any 

 trouble with my neighbors on account 

 of the bees. H. C. Gadberry. 



Missouri. 



Answer: This is one of the unfor- 

 tunate happenings of bad seasons. 

 Sorghum mills, cider presses, wine 

 presses, candy stores, dry fruit pre- 

 serving and dozens of other bttle in- 

 dustries not only suffer from the bees' 

 short crop, but cause the bees to suf- 

 fer, since many of them get drowned 

 or killed in the vats, in the presses, 

 and wherever .sweets are gathered. 



This is not the only harm it does to 

 the beekeeper. His bees gather some 



