408 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1920 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



little or no honey comes in, the bees seem 

 to lose completely all instinct for propaga- 

 tion, mercilessly slaughtering the very 

 drones they were raising a few months be- 

 fore. They will not build quee'n-cells even 

 to replace a failing queen, altho they will 

 rear worker brood quite normally tbo in 

 somewhat less quantity. 



Our honey crops have been below normal 

 for the last four years. The price for- 

 tunately was high. Some of our crop last 

 year sold at over $1200 a ton. 



St. Lucia, West Indies. A. Butsch. 



A BOY'S SU CCESS WITH BEES 



Last Summer He Cleared up ^125.00 to Pay Him 

 for His Summer's Fun 



Towards the end of July in the summer of 

 1915 when I was eleven years old, a large 

 swarm of bees settled on a branch about 

 six feet from the ground and about the same 

 distance from the corner of our dining 

 porch. When I was about to enter the porch 

 for lunch, my mother covered up my eyes 

 and led me over to the corner where the 

 bees were. I had not heard of the bees nor 

 seen them before, and, of course, I had no 

 idea what the trouble was. When I reached 

 the corner she uncovered my eyes. I looked 

 out, and to my great amazement saw the 

 cluster of bees. It was the first that I had 

 ever seen, and I was so excited that I could 

 hardly eat my luncheon. 



After lunch the gardener, who pretended 

 to know something about bees, took a box 

 and cut a- hole at one end about an inch 

 square. Then he nailed several sticks across 

 the inside. He told me that bees never 

 sting when they swarm, and made me hold 

 the box under the swarm while he shook 

 the limb. When the bees dropped in I al- 

 most unset the box, but he came to my res- 

 cue and turned it over on a board, which he 

 had put on the ground under the tree. 



The bees were soon busy in their new 

 home, and I, not realizing that they would 

 soon have that box full of comb, took my 

 time about finding them a hive. I finally 

 decided on a double-walled hive and pur- 

 chased one about two weeks after the ar- 

 rival of the swarm. 



Then I got from the village a man who 

 had once kept bees to come up and transfer 

 them for me. All the neighbors, having 

 heard about the bees, came over that after- 

 noon and sat on the porch, where they were 

 protected by the screens, while the man and 

 I worked with the bees. When he pried up 

 the top of the box, I expected to see a piece 

 of comb about six inches square; instead of 

 that the whole box was full of brood and 

 honey. It was so late when we transferred 

 them that I had to feed them for winter. 



1 studied a great deal about bees that 

 winter^ and early the next spring I examined 



them and found that they were still alive 

 and stinging, in spite of the small amount 

 of stores that I had left for them. Towards 

 the end of June they cast a fairly large 

 swarm, which my brother helped me catch. 

 Then they began to cast after-swarms every 

 few days. Not knowing what to do, or that 

 there was anything to do, I kept catching 

 and putting the after-swarms in the same 

 hive until I had quite a colony, even 

 stronger than the prime swarm. Altogether 

 I got 100 sections from them that year, 

 which sold for $25. 



The next winter I gave a short talk on 

 bees before the pupils of a large school in 

 Chicago. The next summer, 1917, I tried 

 clipping my queens; but I made a failure 

 of controlling swarming in this way, for 

 the queens either got lost or else I was not 

 around when they swarmed. I increased 

 to six colonies, but on account of queenless- 

 ness and laying workers I had to unite them 

 and had but three then, with no surplus. 



In 1918 I had lots of swarming, as I was 

 unable to attend to them until the first 

 week in June. In spite of the swarming I 

 secured 100 pounds of comb honey and 

 increased from three to seven. 



Last winter I staid out of school to go to 

 the meeting of the National Association in 

 Chicago. I had Dr. Phillips and Prof. Wil- 

 son up for dinner. I met Dr. Miller, and 

 had a fine time during those few days. In 

 the spring I determined to produce extracted 

 honey so as to do away with the swarming 

 nuisance. I bought an extractor and loaded 

 on the frames with foundation for I had 

 no drawn combs. The bees never swarmed 

 or thought of swarming, as far as I know. 

 At the end of July, with the aid of my 

 brother and sister, I extracted 300 pounds of 

 honey in about three hours, which is not so 

 bad for the first time. Then a month later 

 I extracted 100 more pounds, which together 

 with some comb honey amounted to 430 

 pounds, or about 70 pounds to the colony. 



I sold the honey in large flint-glass jars, 

 holding five and a half pounds, for $2.50 

 each. I had no trouble in selling them, and 

 one of my customers even went so far as to 

 take six jars. The value of the honey was 

 $200.00. The cost of supplies and the ex- 

 tractor for the summer was $75.00, which 

 makes $125.00 clear gain for my summer's 

 fun. Howard Fisher. 



Hubbard Woods, 111. 



CI =:3o^si r t ff 



"Beekeeping for Beginners" is the title 

 of a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station 

 bulletin. No. 255, written by Gleanings ' reg- 

 ular correspondent, H. B. Parks. This ex- 

 cellent bulletin contains much valuable in- 

 formntioii in a small space. It is well illus- 

 trated and the advice is given in clear, sim- 

 ple fashion. The bulletin would be of inter- 

 est to any beginner anywhere. 



