DECEMBER 1, 1916 



1115 



GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE 



OUR GREATEST BEEKEEPING PROBLEM; HOW TO HELP SOLVE IT 



BY GEORGE H. REA 



Box-hive beekeeping as practiced by the 

 average farmer is a serious menace to the 

 whole industry, especially since foul brood 

 has become so widely spread. The box hive 

 will not admit of manipulation of any sort. 

 The owner knows nothing of the inside con- 

 ditions of his colonies, and in many cases 

 cares less. When foul brood comes his 

 waj', his bees become polluted with it, and 

 rapidly die out. The owner knows nothing 

 of the real cause, but blames it on bad luck 

 or "worms,'' or something else. This kind 

 of beekeeping presents eveiy inducement 

 for the rapid sj^read of foul brood. Hives 

 in which the bees have died are left standing 

 for other bees to clean out and the combs 

 later destroyed by moth. Our gi*ea,test 

 present danger is the foul-brood phase of 

 this question. In the fall many colonies are 

 "taken up," or sulijhured. The old luve 

 daubed with honey, and the combs contain- 

 ing brood and a little honey, are scattered 

 about for robbers to clean up. Often the 

 ones killed are those that are too light to 

 winter because diseased. Thus the disease 

 may be scattered all over the surrounding 

 country. 



The box-hive beekeeper is constantly 

 losing more than he makes out of his bees. 

 No matter how willing he may be to make 

 the most out of them, he is unable to produce 

 results that will compare with the results 

 obtained from good bees kept in good hives 

 and operated by modern methods. From an 

 economical standpoint alone, box-hive bee- 

 keeping is a losing game. 



Ignorance regarding bees and beekeeping, 

 and often regarding many other things, goes 

 hand in hand with box-hive beekeeping. 

 So far as the personal requirements of the 

 box-hive beekeeper are concerned, real suc- 

 cess consists in getting swarms. "That gum 

 over there, he is a good one; he swarmed 

 four times already, and I took ten pounds 

 of honey from him," is a familiar expres- 

 sion. Some of the most ridiculous supersti- 

 tious beliefs and practices are found among 

 beeke^]iei"s of tliis class. 



One lady, not far from Harrisburg, ob- 

 jected to having her bees inspected late in 

 August because she said the honey would 

 have to be disturbed, and to do so in tlie 

 " cat days " would make it all sour, and she 

 would lose her bees. 



But that was mild in comparison to the 



fellow who was afraid lest the inspector 

 would charm his bees and they would all 

 follow him home. He stated that the in- 

 spector could say a few words that would 

 cause his neighbors' bees to leave their hives 

 and go over into his hives — all excepting the 

 queen. He was challenged to prove it, but 

 he said he was afraid some one would find 

 out his secret or make trouble for him. 



One good old German lady solemnly told 

 me that her bees had all died because no 

 member of the family thought to rap on the 

 hives when her husband died. 



Not very long ago a man lay on his 

 stomach before his hives for the greater 

 part of three days, impaling certain large 

 bees on a sharp stick which he wielded. A 

 passing neighbor called to him asking what 

 he was doing. " Killing these infernal rob- 

 bers. I guess they come over here from 

 Smith's." He was killing drones. 



We are all familiar with the practice of 

 " drumming " down swarms. I know one 

 fellow who has a large circular saw suspend- 

 ed on wire, for this jDurpose alone. He uses 

 a plowshare for a hammer; and when his 

 bees swarm he makes a racket that may be 

 heard a mile. 



That is a harmless pastime, perhaps, and 

 it serves to amuse and entertain the neigh- 

 bors. 



In the discussion of this subject I be- 

 lieve that we are safe in dividing box-hive 

 beekeepers into four general classes: 



1. Those who know something of the im- 

 portance of better beekeeping, and who are 

 ready and willing to transfer their bees and 

 to co-operate in constructive work along 

 this line. They are usually much interest- 

 ed in securing literature on the subject, and 

 with a little encouragement become good 

 beekeepers. I believe that fully 75 per cent 

 of the fai-mors and backlotters who now 

 keep bees in the old-fashioned way belong to 

 this class. 



2. This class consists of the people who 

 enthusiastically inform us that their bees are 

 all in modern hives and all pure Italian. 

 I'hey get two swarms and ten pounds of 

 lioney from each hive, and expect to have 

 one tliousand colonics some day, etc. Do 

 they read a bee journal? Oh, yes! tliey 

 liad Gleanings at one time. But all their 

 ideas of beekeeping are so magnified that 

 they scoi'n the bee journals, and then they 



