NOVEMBER 15, 1914 



911 



and then dusting over with clean sand, would be all 

 right. But there is just a bare chance that the 

 paint, especially when not thoroughly dried and 

 seasoned, would be objectionable to the bees. Dip- 

 ping the feeders in hot paraffine would enable the 

 bees to crawl out much better, although it might be 

 wise to dust on some sand before the paraffine has 

 cooled. 



You might find that you would have to use a 

 wooden float in each feeder to prevent drowning, as 

 this is sometimes an advantage given with the wood- 

 en feeder, though not often. — Ed.] 



What Associations Can Do. 



The heavy rains of last spring almost wiped out 

 sweet clover as compared with former years. Two 

 years ago our association supplied each of our 

 members with 5 lbs. of clover seed for sowing on 

 spare places and spots that had been bare of any 

 useful vegetation. This year the practice was con 

 tinued. Each good standing member receives 5 lbs 

 of seed to sow this spring. We are at a loss to see 

 one association outside of ours advocating the pres 

 ervation of forage. 



In Europe the beekeepers' associations have spen 

 a great deal of money in supplying the residents o 

 cities and towns with honey-producing trees and 

 plants, especially in Germany and Austria-Hungary 

 Honey in general is better known and more appre 

 ciated by the average citizen than in this country, 

 and prices are better by far than here. Their con 

 ventions are visited, mostly by men who have the 

 welfare of the bee more at heart than any other 

 item of the industry. Why is this? Because the 

 first item considered in this country is " The money 

 there is in it;" hence the many failures. I speak 

 from experience. I have yet to find the man who 

 thinks he would like to keep bees who hasn't asked 

 the question, "Is there money in it?" 



Cincinnati, O., Feb. 8. Henry Reddert. 



How I Stimulate Breeding. 



In March and April I uncap the sealed honey of 

 one or two frames, and then piit them next to the 

 combs having brood — i. e., on the two sides of the 

 brood-nest proper. Within a few days these combs 

 are emptied, and the queen lays in them. On an- 

 other visit, in about seven to twelve days, I repeat 

 the same process until all of the sealed honey is 

 consumed. About the beginriing of May (if the 

 colony is to be run for the production of honey) I 

 put on the super, and I commence feeding at the 



entrance in the Simplicity feeder, with light sugar 

 syrup. Just before dark, every evening and early 

 in the morning, I remove the feeders. 



Feeding in this way is, of course, elaborate, but 

 gives the best result for breeding and for drawing 

 out the comb foundation in the sections so as to 

 have them ready before the honey-flow commences. 

 In this way the bees more profitably occupy their 

 time during the honey-flow, collecting and filling the 

 prepared combs instead of losing most valuable time 

 in building combs. 



I have closely observed that feeding continuously 

 day and night keeps the bees indoors, while feeding 

 in the night only renders the bees very energetic and 

 zealous ; therefore I do not allow my bees to enjoy 

 artificial food during the day. 



M. G. Dervishian. 



Nicosia, Island of Cyprus, Sept. 5. 



Bumble-bee Shown the Door. 



While watching my bees one day I saw a large 

 bumble-bee enter the hive, evidently an unwelcome 

 guest with suspicious designs. After a short time 

 he reappeared, escorted by two guards, each firmly 

 holding one of his hind legs. They allowed him to 

 use his free legs with good speed till they reached 

 the edge of the platform, where they held their 

 prisoner fast while he pleaded for liberty, and (we 

 believe) promised never again to enter the sacred 

 precincts of their home. Then they released him 

 and he flew away unharmed — a wiser and (no 

 doubt) a better bumble-bee. 



Miller's Falls, Mass. C. A. Shearer. 



(A'Oe/i 5/D£ orEfJTRAf^cc Guard 



Metal entrance-guard used by J. S. Kavanagh, Port Thomas, Ky., 

 prevent robbing of weak colonies. 



Colony With Young Queen Swarms. 



The advice usually given to prevent swarming is 

 to keep the colonies supplied with a young queen of 

 the current season. May 23 one of my rousing 

 colonies superseded the queen, the virgin queen 

 hatching on that day. I had previously exchanged 

 combs of hatching brood for sheets of foundation to 

 prevent swarming, and did so again. July 31 the 

 new queen was clipped and the ten-frame brood- 

 chamber reversed back to front, which was on the 

 deep side of a Danzenbaker bottom-board. A full 

 super body was on fop all the time, as there were 

 not bees enough for two supers. Aug. 15 the colony 

 swarmed with a lot of queen-cells left. There was 

 no honey in the brood-chamber at all, and no honey 

 in the super at all. They were getting only enough 

 for breeding. The only extracting had been on May 

 26. This was my only swarm, although my other 

 colonies had queens from one 

 to two years. 



I had another rousing 

 colony which gradually de- 

 creased in population and 

 brood until the bees died of 

 old age, and the queen laid 

 only very sparingly, but still 

 the bees did not supersede 

 her, so I had to kill her right 

 away to introduce a new one. 



TOADS IN THE APIARY. 



In order to prevent toads 

 eating the bees in the apiary 

 I had to fence the whole 

 apiary with wire netting, %- 

 inch mesh, properly fixed in 

 the ground, and 18 inches 

 in heiglit. The toads do climb 

 the fence, and are found in- 

 side the next day. They do 

 not get stung by the bees — 

 no chance ; and if they did, 

 they are invulnerable. The 

 bees are caught with the 

 greatest dexterity in the air 



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