FEBRUARY 1, 1914 



111 



Idaho is a good bee country, but it is 

 fretting badly overstocked for profit to the 

 beeman. 



Roswell, Idaho. 



[Mr. Paine has promised us a set of pic- 

 tures of his portable power-extracting out- 

 fit. These Avill ai:)pear later in the season. 

 —Ed.] 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS CONCERNING BEES KEPT PRIMARILY FOR 

 FERTILIZING FRUIT-BLOSSOMS 



FROM HERBERT MILES 



What is the best apparatus for separat- 

 ing honey from the comb for use on a farm 

 having from five to ten hives'? 



What is the best method of keeping the 

 luimber of hives down to ten? Please under- 

 stand, we have not time to practice any 

 scientific methods of swarm j^i-evention and 

 processes of that sort, but we don't want to 

 lose any swarms or weaken our present 

 stands by too much swarming. What we 

 want to do is build up permanent strong- 

 colonies that will produce the gi-eatest quan- 

 tity of fine honey each season for our own 

 consumption and that of our friends and 

 relatives. 



The i^rime purpose for maintaining these 

 bees is to 'fertilize our fruit trees, flowers, 

 etc. We have 150 acres in the heart of 

 Maryland, one-half under cultivation, the 

 other half in woodlands. 



There is no running stream 

 very close to our bees, and the 

 writer noticed a number of 

 them drinking out of a cess- 

 pool a considerable distance off 

 in the field from the house, into 

 which are drained the ui-inals, 

 bath-room, and kitchen of the 

 dwelling. I believe this is a 

 dangerous proceding, and one 

 that is liable to carry infection 

 not only to the bees but the 

 people eating the honey. Of 

 course, we have been told many 

 times by scientists that water 

 purifies itself after being ex- 

 posed to the air and running a 

 certain distance, and it Avould 

 be difficult to cover the entire 

 draining system from this cess- 

 pool. The only other place for 

 the bees to get water would be 

 at the horse-trough or around 

 the well-curb of the windmill. 

 Can you suggest any easy and 

 practicable arrangement to pre- 

 vent the bees dinnking at the 

 cess-pool drain. 



New York City. 



[Under the circumstances we 

 suggest that you keep all queens 



clipped, clipping the two right wings even 

 years and the two left wings odd years. 

 This plan will automatically enable you to 

 tell the age of the queens at any time. 



Undoubtedly it would pay you to produce 

 extracted honey, as the problem of swarm 

 prevention in extracted-honey production is 

 very small compared to the same one in 

 comb-honey i)roduction. Use good shade 

 boards if the hives are located out in the 

 cpen, and make sure that there is plenty of 

 ventilation, both at the entrance and under 

 the cover in the hottest part of the hottest 

 days. Use pieces of broken sections under 

 the cover, one at each corner, to give a little 

 ventilation at the top in the hottest weather. 

 This will do much toward preventing 

 SAvarming, but, of course, should be done 

 awaj^ with entirely when the nights are cool. 



FHH .HONEV BEE {^ipis ii/eili//ca) 



A.N 15 flER F^RODUC^ S. 



The cover of the writing-pad sent out by the N. Y. State Bee- 

 keepers' Association. See Jan. 15th issue, p. 69. 



