196 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sources of Honey around Portland, Oregon 



I am lint as yet a beekeeper, even on a small 

 scale ; but I hope to get a few colonies next spring. 

 My work is very confining, and I shall not have a 

 great deal of time to devote to bees, nor can I have 

 room to keep very many of them ; but with, say, five 

 colonies (as I plan to start with five) I should be 

 able to get some increase as well as a fair surplus 

 of honey. 



The part of the city in which I live should furnish 

 good bee pasture, as there are lots of wild flowers in 

 addition to dandelions, dogwood, and white clover. 

 On the hills above us are myriads of dogwood, wild 

 blackberries, thimbleberries, wild strawberries, wild 

 peas, and numerous other flowers that I know no 

 names for. In addition there are hundreds of acres 

 of hazel brush that I suppose would furnish poilen 

 enough for all the bees in the State. 



On the open places on the hillsides, and down on 

 the lower lands, including lawns, white clover and 

 dandelion grow in profusion ; so it looks to me as 

 though I am admirably situated for keeping a few 

 bees. We also have a kind of thistle here which 

 bears a (matured) burr similar to the cockleburr 

 (the blossoms are of a kind of shaving-brush shape, 

 of the ordinary thistle), which must be a good hon- 

 ey-plant; for during the summer I noted one plant 

 on which bees were working ; and while; I can not say 

 how many of them, I would venture a guess at about 

 fifty. 



Portland, Ore., Oct. 17. D. C. Millican. 



Bees in an Attic 



I have a large attic in my house some 10 feet high 

 in the center, and 36 feet wide, with sloping roof. 

 It is perfectly dry. The house faces the north and 

 south. I have been told that this would be a good 

 place to keep bees. It is in a good residential sec- 

 tion where there are plenty of white-clover blossoms 

 all summer. Any assistance you may be able to give 

 me will be greatly appreciated. 



Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 8. W. D. Frasee. 



[There is no reason Avhy you can not start bee- 

 keeping in your attic as you suggest. About the 

 only objection to the plan is that it is a little incon- 

 venient to take supplies up and down, and it is also 

 a little difficult to manipulate the bees without having 

 a good many of them fly out around the room; and 

 as they can not find their way back they become lost. 



The first objection named need not be a serious 

 one if the work is planned as it should be; and the 

 second objection can be overcome if the hive or hives 

 can stand by a window, which, during the summei 

 at least, is removed entirely. In the fall you can 

 replace the window, allowing the bees only a small 

 entrance, and the colony will winter very nicely, 

 since the hive is well protected. 



If your attic has a south window this would be 

 the window in which to locale the colony of bees, for 

 it pays to select a sheltered window if possible. 



A gi-eat advantage in having the bees located in 

 the attic is that they are up so high that very few 

 persons will ever know you have any bees, and no 

 one is likely to be troubled by them. There is hardly 

 a city in the country that does not have a number of 

 colonies of bees located in attics. — Ed.] 



with the bees. About two years ago I went into the 

 machinery business as a side line, and thought per- 

 haps that with a helper I could attend to the bees 

 and at the same time make good with the machinery. 

 Before I took on the machinery end of the deal I was 

 averaging from $4. .50 to $6.00 a colony per season 

 Owing to the honey-flow and weather conditions I 

 run mostly for extracted honey, but have found that 

 since I have been doing both the bees have not aver- 

 aged me over $4.00 per colony, because they have 

 not had as good care. I find there is ahvays some- 

 thing to do around tlie beehouse or apiary at all times 

 for the betterment of the bees as well as to the profit 

 of the keeper. 



Any one who wislies a larger income than at pres- 

 ent, and who has a few liundred dollars more to in- 

 vest, will do well to put on a few more colonies of 

 bees. He will be better satisfied in the end, and will 

 have more dollars in his pocket. 



I have seen king-birds eating bees by the hundreds 

 when there were no drones in the yard to speak of. 

 I also have shot these birds at different times, and 

 found worker bees in their crops in great numbers. 

 If these birds are allowed to hang around the apiary 

 ill great flocks, as I have seen them, they will weak- 

 en the working force of every colony. 



Haskinville. N. Y. " M. C. SiLSBKh. 



If a Beekeeper Wislies a Larger Income Let Him 

 Get More Bees 



I have just read Mr. O. L. Hershiser's article, p. 

 29, Jan. 1. To a beekeeper who wishes to make the 

 most out of his bees I would say that I would not 

 advise him to take on another line in connection 



A Good Record from Kansas 



About May 1, 1913, I bought four colonies of Ital- 

 ian bees, paying $20.00 for the four, and $.3.00 extra 

 for fixtures. I brought them home and set them on 

 places I had provided for them to stay all summer. 

 The hives were in fairly good condition as to strength 

 when I got them. About June 1, or with the com- 

 mencing of white-clover bloom, I worked them ac- 

 cording to the Alexander plan of increase, leaving 

 the queen with one frame of brood and nine frames 

 of foundation in the body below with queen-excluder 

 over them. I set the old body with brood on top, 

 then let them alone for nine days. On the ninth day 

 I looked through them. The brood was all capped 

 over, and three of the four had plenty of nice queen- 

 cells capped over. 



One hive had not started any queen-cells, so I let 

 them stay as they were. One of the hives I did not 

 think quite strong enough to divide. I cut out all 

 queen-cells and let them alone without making any 

 division. From the two other hives I set the top 

 body off on new hive-stands. So you can see my 

 increase in that way was from four hives to six. 

 However, I formed a nucleus later on and built it 

 up to a fairly strong colony by cold weather. 



I worked the bees for extracted honey ; but the 

 drouth cut down the white-clover and sweet-clover 

 crop about half, if not a little more than that. The 

 season was so dry we did not have any fall honey- — 

 only a little which they got from the river bottoms, 

 which are about two and a half miles from my place. 

 However, my bees made a living after the clover gave 

 out, but nothing more, up until frost. I know they 

 got it from the river bottoms, as there were no live 

 flowers nearer to my place for about a month or 

 longer before frost. They gathered some surplus 

 during a part of June. I sold $28.00 worth of ex- 

 tracted honey, and kept three gallons for home use. 

 I sold it at 50 cents per quart, the parties furnishing 

 the vessel into which they put it. My honey weighed 

 full 12 pounds to the gallon. This surplus was noth- 

 ing to brag about; but the price was good — 16 2-3 

 cents a pound. 



This is where the city b<»r keeper has the advantage 

 of the beekeeper who pa>8 freight, commission, and 

 tlien gets a low price for his honey. I had customers 

 who came back for more, but I had to refuse them 

 or do without myself. 



Kansas City, Kan. W. A. Dillon. 



