MARCH 1, 1914 



195 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



650 Pounds from Four Colonies in Detroit 



The past season has been a good one. I increased 

 Ironi 4 to 10 colonies, and have 650 lbs. surplus. 

 The honey is mostly from sweet clover. 



Detroit, Midi,, Oct. 27. Fred Koepfgen, 



A Large Yield in a City of 100,000 



I have 13 colonies in the rear of my city lot ; and 

 while I had a very good crop of honey last year I 

 could have sold twice as much if I had had it. The 

 buyers come to the house to buy, without my making 

 any effort to sell. They seem to think that honey 

 produced in a city is a great novelty. 



Youngstown, Ohio, Nov. 28. J. R. McCurdy. 



Bees to Educate Three Boys 



I had seven colonies in the spring, and took off 

 over 500 lbs. of comb honey, and increased to ten 

 colonies. I bought ten more hives for next year. I 

 am absent from home two and three weeks at a time ; 

 but by shaking my colonies I did not lose a swarm 

 this year. I hope to make the bees educate my three 

 boys. I am glad I have been led into such a pleasant 

 and profitable avocation. 



Brownstown, Ind., Nov. 18, D. F. Rankix. 



Four Colonies on a City Lot 75 by 120 Feet 



I will try to tell about my success last season. 

 Last spring found me with twelve strong colonies in 

 fine condition on a city lot 75 x 150, four squares 

 from the courthou.se on one of the main streets. 

 From these twelve I took 1307 sections of honey 

 made from white clover, sweet clover, and buck- 

 wheat. This was all sold to the local trade, without 

 advertising, at 20 cts. per lb., which netted me 

 $210.25. Besides this I sold $34.50 worth of bees. 

 I consider this doing very well, taking into consid- 

 eration the small amount of time I had to give to 

 them, which wa>s in the morning before going to 

 work, and after six o'clock at night. 



Columbia City, Ind. Frank Langhor, 



Increasing 3 Colonies to 17 in Two Years, and Se- 

 curing 2100 lbs. of Honey, all on a City Lot 



We live in the city on a lot 40 x 120. We have a 

 chicken-coop on the back of the lot, with a good-sized 

 yard to it, and in this yard we keep our bees. A 

 year ago last fall we put five colonies in the cellar 

 and lost two of theui. The other three were in pretty 

 good shape, and that summer we took off 500 lbs. of 

 comb honey and got 8 new swarms. I put the eleven 

 colonies in the cellar in the fall, and last spring we 

 carried out the eleven, all in good condition, and 

 this fall we quit with 17 swarms, and I took off 1600 

 lbs. of honey — 800 lbs. comb and 800 of extracted 

 \ioney. We had one little after-swarm come to ns 

 the latter part of June. I built it up and took 106 

 lbs. of comb honey from it, and the bees had plenty 

 left to winter on. 



Madison, Wis. F. D. Johnson. 



What can be Accomplished in Four Years 



Perhaps it would be interesting to know that, four 

 years ago next spring, I placed an advertisement in 

 Gleanings, seeking a position on a honey-ranch. I 

 landed here at Elso with just $50 in my pocket, I 

 went into partnership with Henry Willis of this place, 

 and bought 50 stands of bees, he furnishing the cap- 

 ital. Last fall I bought out his half interest, and 

 I now have, all my own, about 250 stands of bees 



wliich produced nearly 20,000 lbs. of alfalfa honey 

 the past season; about 200 extra hives, frames with 

 full sheets of foundation, 1000 supers, both extract- 

 ing and comb — -the former with either full sheets of 

 foundation or combs di'awn out; one bee-cellar, one 

 honey-house, large power extractingouffit, one I. H. 

 C. auto truck, and one 50-horse-power Springfield 

 roadster for ,ioy-riding. Last, but not least, I have 

 a honey market which will take at least 40,000 lbs. 

 of honey a year. Can any one beat that ? 



Elso, Mont,, Jan. 24. A. H. Bell, 



807 Sections from Six Colonies, in Auburn, N. Y. 



Tlie inclosed report is from my notebook, telling 

 the date and number of sections taken from each 

 hive. The sections were all fancy. No. 1, and a few 

 No, 2. I also have over 100 unfinished sections that 

 I expect to use for baits. Hive No. 6 is a stray 

 swarm that clustered on our hospital porch .June 14, 

 to which I gave all brood from the other hives, using 

 Doolittle"s plan described in " A Year's Work in an 

 Out-apiary." 



Hives 12 3 4 5 6 



July 4, sections 32 42 20 70 



.July 12, sections 36 26 35 26 50 43 



July 20, sections 21 48 22 36 15 



August 23, sections. .. . 40 42 37 30 42 44 

 September 20, sections. 20 10 12 8 



97 168 146 112 189 95 



Total, 807 sections from 6 colonies. 



Auburn, N, Y, MRS, .Joseph Raesler. 



Castor Beans for Shade for Bees on a City Lot 



I am only a backlot beekeeper, located here in a 

 city of 30,000 inhabitants. Here one has many 

 things to contend with that the man out in the country 

 is free from. In the first place, we must not place 

 the bees too near the house or the walks in the yard, 

 or the " boss " of the house is liable to put in a 

 vigorous protest. The neighbors have to be taken 

 into consideration also-; and to keep peace with all, 

 and have the bees well located as to sun and shade 

 i.5 no easy problem with the limited space at hand. 



I keei3 my bees in a small house, 6 x 10 ft. This 

 provides the required shade; but in the house the 

 light is poor and one can't see to work with the bees 

 to advantage. Last summer I planted some castor 

 beans sent me by a friend from the Botanical Gar- 

 dens, Washington, D. C. I planted the seeds about 

 five feux south of the fenc» on the north side, of the 

 lot; and when the plants started to grow, " Jack and 

 the Beanstalk " were distanced a mile. The growth 

 was very rapid and strong ; and when the trees came 

 to maturity they were from 6 to 8 feet tall, and some 

 of the leaves were 2 ft, across. 



I had a bracket on the fence to place a hive of 

 bees on. The trees shaded this stand very nicely, 

 and made an ideal place for one colony. The shade 

 STiggested to me that this would be a good opportu- 

 nity to use the plants for other than ornamental pur- 

 poses, and also an easy manner to get the desired 

 shade when the hive-stands are in exposed positions. 

 The plants can be trimmed from time to time ; and 

 as the season advances, if more sun is needed, say in 

 September, cut the trees down. 



I call the plants " trees " for the reason the ones 

 I had were trimmed just as one would trim a shade- 

 tree. I have promised to furnish, seed to a friend 

 out in the country about ten miles. He has 100 colo- 

 nies of bees, and very little shade for them in the 

 beeyard. 



La Crosse, Wis,, Jan, 17. Thos. D. Budd. 



