548 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



preciate any suggestions you may have 

 gained through shipping the four ears from 

 the South. 



Duncan Falls, Ohio. 



[The illustration shown herewith gives a 

 good idea of the construction of the frame- 

 work. Notice that we notch the uprights 

 and fasten the horizontal pieces to them 

 with carriage-bolts. Depending upon nails 

 alone is rather unsatisfactory, and a little 

 dangerous too, as Ave find by our own ex- 

 l^erience. 



A double-deck hog-ear has been consid- 

 ered, but there are a good many disadvan- 

 tages. Tor instance, one cannot stand up 

 on either deck; and to get from the lower 



deck to the upper one he would have to 

 climb out of the door. There would be no 

 aisle, which would necessitate walking over 

 the tops of the screen Avhen necessary to 

 give the bees water — a proceeding that 

 would be almost impossible when the car is 

 moving rapidly. 



One of the Ohio beekeepers, who moved 

 bees down to Florida for the tupelo honej'- 

 flow, ordered a double-decked hog-car for 

 bringing his bees back this spring; but after 

 seeing it he decided that it would not an- 

 swer. The framework that we use costs be- 

 tween $30 and $40, but allows three tiers of 

 hives Avith aisle between, running the entire 

 length of the car. — Ed.] 



BEEKEEPERS I HAVE MET — BEMT W. HOPPER 



Br AVESLEY FOSTER 



Rumors kept drifting in from the famous 

 melon toAvn of the Arkansas Valley in 

 Colorado of a beekeeper there Avho owned 

 and operated something like two thousand 

 ( olonies of bees. One of the most persistent 

 i-umors Avas to the effect that this particular 

 man often went south and bought bees in 

 Texas along in February, divided each colo- 

 ny into about five nuclei, made up express 

 shipments, and took them to Colorado in 

 time for alfalfa bloom. Naturally I was 

 glad to meet Mr. Bert W. Hopper Avhen 

 the opportunity ottered, for he is the man 

 of Avhom I had heard so many i-eports. 



Mr. Hopper is a hustler in every sense of 

 the Avord. He buys and sells any thing in 

 the bee line. Many of the neighboring bee- 

 keepers sell their honey to him, and he sells 

 each year two or more cars of supplies. He 

 Avill buy bees whenever the opportunity 

 offers. Even though he does not Avant them 

 he will soon find some one he can sell them 

 to. He is a man under forty, I should say 

 — large and rather heavy set. He thinks 

 and talks nothing but bees, and never tires 

 of the themes so common to honey-produc- 

 ers. He will not concern himself Avith doing 

 the routine and detail Avork in bee culture. 

 This he delegates to others. He will hire a 

 man to driA-e the team to and from the 

 apiaries, and he jumps on his motorcycle 

 and gets to the yard an hour earlier, and 

 leaves an hour later than the helper Avho 

 hauls the loads. As yet he doubts the econ- 

 omy of keeping an auto to haul a beekeep- 

 er's loads. He has Avell demonstrated the 

 practicability of operating colonies a long 

 distance from home by use of the motor- 

 cycle; and he told me he was planning to 

 rao^or to Texas tliis Avinter Avith his auto, 

 taking his wliole family, and then ship bees 



back in the spring. Loading a car of bees 

 is not any more nerve-racking to him than 

 loading a car of potatoes or apples Avould 

 be for any other man. Mr. Hopper has 

 done even more than rumor has it in the 

 Avay of moving bees from the South. He has 

 shipped a good many carloads. At one time 

 he brought in one thousand nuclei, and I 

 believe he got nearly a ear of comb honey 

 the first year from them. The last feAv years 

 have been hard on bees, and his number of 

 colonies dropped down to about 800, but he 

 increased back to about 1400 before the end 

 of the season. He thinks in apiaries, not in 

 colonies. He will tell you about getting 150, 

 200, 400 cases of honey from a given yard. 

 Most beemen tell you about getting five 

 cases of honey from a colony. He has at- 

 tended feAv bee conventions; but he reads 

 every thing on bees that he can get hold of. 

 His trade in honey is large, and a good 

 share of his crop is sold in local shipments. 

 He is superintendent of the apiarian exhib- 

 its at the Colorado State Fair, and exhibits 

 quite largelj' himself. This is a help in 

 selling his oAvn honey. 



The honey-house is of cement, one stoi'y 

 only, and Avith a cement floor. The dimen- 

 sions are about 40 x 60 feet, I should say, 

 and the ceiling is about 15 feet high in front 

 and nine or ten feet at the back. This room 

 will house thousands of supers, hundreds of 

 hives, a car of bee supplies, a car or tAvo of 

 honey, the automobile and motor cycle, and 

 leave room for the work-bench and honey- 

 extractors. 



Mr. Hopper has a A-ery nice house, some- 

 what like a bungaloAv in style, with about 

 six rooms. He plans to build a larger house 

 on the corner lot adjoining, which he is 

 saving for the purpose. Upon this lot he 



