488 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



GLIMPSES OF WISCONSIN BEE- 

 KEEPING 



Fig. 1. — Ivan Whiting's apiary 



When a bee comes at you to sting, you 

 understand her, don't you? She says 

 plainly, "I mean to sting you." Still 

 you don't run. She perhaps returns 

 to the hive for reinforcements and 

 gets them quickly. I imagine that 

 she reports about like this: "Say, fel- 

 lows, there is a man out there, stone 

 deaf, and sting-proof; got to have 

 help." 



You are all familiar with the heavy 

 hum of the drone. You also recog- 

 nize the merry hum of the worker, in 

 fair weather and good honey flow; 

 also their wailing, moaning sound 

 when in distress. Now is it reasona- 

 ble to suppose that bees are given all 

 these means of expression (which we 

 call noises because of our inability to 

 understand their language), and not 

 be able to hear? I have lived among 

 the bees too long not to have seen 

 them do things which require thought 

 on their part, and communicate them 

 to their fellow-beings, apparently be- 

 fore the things could be accomplished. 



It is all right to discuss this ques- 

 tion among ourselves; but I am going 

 to keep this matter from my bees, lest 

 they may think that we are presuming 

 too largely upon their ignorance. 



Wisconsin. 



Notes and Pictures Showing What 



Beekeepers Are Doing in 



the Badger State 



By H. B. McMurry 



The pictures on this and the fol- 

 lowing page will give an idea of bee- 

 keeping conditions in Wisconsin. 

 These brief notes are designed to I'x- 

 plain the pictures. 



Fig. 1. — Yard of Ivan Whiting, Ply- 

 mouth, Wis. 



Mr. Whiting came to us from Illi- 

 nois, and has established himself as 

 one of the most progressive beekeep- 

 ers in his section. He secures uni- 

 formly large crops, principally from 

 white alsike and sweet clover and 



Fig. 2. — Sheboygan County apiary of L. T. Bishop 



J-'ig. 3. — Mr. Krcigcr keeps liecs in the old way, straw sl<cps 



basswood. Aside from being instruc- 

 tor in the high school, he finds time 

 to assist very materially in the or- 

 ganization work among beekeepers of 

 his county, and this year spent con- 

 siderable time as a deputy inspec- 

 tor. If Illinois has any more bee- 

 keepers of the Whiting "brand" she 

 will please send them along. 



Fig. 2. — The yard of L. T. Bishop, 

 Sheboygan County. 



The picture was made last spring. 

 The packing eases are still on. Mr. 

 Bishop is one of a group of beekeep- 

 ers whom I designate as "paper pack- 

 ers." They use what is known as 

 the Schmidt packing case, which al- 

 lows for no packing underneath, ex- 

 cept a few sheets of tar paper, only 

 3 inches around the hive with 6 or 8 

 inches on top. They leave the cov- 

 ers sealed on. The hive is wrapped 

 in paper, usually 6 to 10 ply, and the 

 packing material is loose planer shav- 

 ings. This method seems to be very 

 sucessful in the hands of beekeepers 



