PlBEUARY, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



101 



28 yeai'S ago, when he first secured a poorly 

 made Laiigstroth-frame hive of bees. At 

 this lime he knew notliing of bee books and 

 magazines, and did not see any for three 

 or four years, nor meet any up-to-date 

 beekeepers. After that he had Root's A 

 B C of Bee Culture and took two maga- 

 zines — Gleanings and the American Bee- 

 keeper — and has read them ever since. 

 They and his own experience taught him 

 about all he knows about bees. He did 

 fairly well with this one colony for several 

 years, securing from 25 to 50 lbs. of comb 

 honey per season. Then, being Avithout 

 capital, he made hives from stove boxes 

 and began to increase. In six years he had 

 worked up to 40 colonies and lost 20 of 

 them the following winter. As the loca- 

 tion was low and sheltered, he had previous- 

 ly suffered very little winter loss. This 

 caused him to study beekeeping in earnest. 



CLEARS LAND AND LIVES ALONE IN SHANTY. 



While producing honey on his father's 

 place he bought, with honey money, a piece 

 of land, not far away, covered with black- 

 beriy bushes, briars, and stumps. He 

 cleared this land and planted a peach- 

 orchard and built a two-story shanty, 

 12 s 16 feet. The ground-floor room serv- 

 ed as a living and work room, and here he 

 cooked his meals on a kitchen range. He 

 slept in the room above, reached by a 

 ladder and thru a trapdoor. This original 

 building now serves as a workshop and 

 honey-room. An outside stairway now 

 gives more convenient access to the upper 

 room. This building as well as the others 

 was the work of his own hands except 

 that he had the assistance of a carpenter 

 in raising the frame. The material of this 

 building cost $100. When completed he 

 moved his 50 colonies to the place and 

 made this his home. 



LOST 100 COLONIES FROM FEEDING TOO THIN 

 SYRUP LATE IN FALL. 



He had been keeping bees for ten years, 

 and, the season before, had increased to 

 110 colonies and bought 40 of a neiglibor, 

 and was obliged to feed winter stores to all. 

 He did not know tliat lie should feed thick 



syrup in late fall. 11'^ had increased too 

 much, fed thin syrup ho late in the season, 

 and lost 100 colonies before spring from 

 dysentery; had only 50 left to move to the 

 new farm. This was a hard blow, but it 

 did not stop him. In (wo years he had, 

 with the hives and old combs, built up 

 again to the same number, and started an 

 outyard. He has since bought 11 colonies 

 of his father. He dug liis well and built 

 the other farm buildings and his modern 

 home at a time when thei'e was no bee- 

 work to do. That is, he did everything but 

 mason work for the houi^e foundation and 

 the plastering, and had assistance in rais- 

 ing the fi'ame. He did his own carpenter- 

 ing, lathing, finishing, and painting and 

 papering. He had not worked at either 

 trade, but just picked it up, 



PEACH CROP HELPS. 



With him the peach-trees gave a crop the 

 third year after planting. They yield four 

 seasons and then die. The income from 

 the peaches, sold right on the place, has 

 never been over half that from the bees. 

 The latter have given more reliable returns 

 than peaches, 



FIVE BARRELS OF SUGAR FOR WINTER FOOD. 



Occasionally the honey-flow is only 

 enough, after surplus is removed, to 

 breed bees, and all colonies will require 

 feeding for winter stores. In the fall of 

 1915 he was obliged to feed five barrels of 

 granulated sugar at a cost of $100, to 

 carry the colonies thru the winter. All 

 but two of the 162 colonies were alive in 

 spring; but a few were queenless and had 

 to be doubled up, leaving 155. 



GAINS THREE AND A HALF TONS OF COMB 

 HONEY AND 35 NETW COLONIES. 



In 1916, from 155 colonies, spring count, 

 he took off 6500 lbs. of comb honey and 

 now has 190 colonies — a gain of 35 colo- 

 nies and SV2 tons of comb honey. His 

 best gi'ade comb honey netted him 15 cts. ; 

 second grade 13, and culls, unfinished and 

 dark, 11 to 12V^ cts. per lb., an average 

 of 14 cts. Last fall no fall feeding was 

 required, as all colonie.s filled up from an 



