American Hee Journal 



they were the first wild bees we had captured. 

 A large part ot the old brood-comb was cut and 

 fitted into the frames which were given them, 

 also frames of unsealed brood taken from 

 other flourishing colonies. Ey caring for them 

 in this way they were in fair condition at the 

 close of the season. These bees were the 

 blackest and worst about fighting of any in 

 the apiary — they were known as "the fight- 

 eis." When any one ventured near this hive 

 he was sure to be attacked by them; although 

 ill-disposed they were the most active workers 

 in the yard. When I was ready to take off 

 a super from the black bees I was quite sure 

 that my smoker was burning perfectly, and 

 my veil in good condition. 



One day when I was watching the black bees 

 I noticed some yellow ones coming out of the 

 hive with them, and in about a year the whole 

 colony had changed from black to yellow. 

 They also changed in disposition, and now are 

 the most quiet bees in the yard. At the first 

 of the season (1908) I purchased a queen and 

 introduced her, but in a few days she had 

 absconded. Possibly she went into the hive 

 ol the blacks and took possession as she was 

 a young queen, or the bees might have super- 

 seded her, as we j^ave them unsealed brood 

 taken from hybrid-Italians. 



Another colony which deserves comment — 

 they are hybrid- Italians and last season pro- 

 duced 125 sections of honey. 



All 10 of my hives have been wrapped with 

 heavy paper and well protected from the wea- 

 ther, with plenty of honey to last through 

 the winter months, and will be ready to start 

 to work next season, witii a larce army of 

 honey-gatherers. 



Turning to the financial standpoint, I have 

 gathered from 6 colonies 400 pounds of honey 

 (not including that left over in frames). This 

 was sold for 10 cents per pound, and yielded 

 $40 on a $46 investment.. 



I purchased this year, from a dealer. 25 

 second-hand hives for half the original price; 

 one coat of paint makes them look as good as 

 new. 



Next season I will move my bees to the 

 prairies where the clover abounds. 



T. Mason Handy. 



-Mt. Meigs. Ala.. March 27. 



Comb Honey Production. 



This season, no doubt, many comb- honey 

 producers will try the methods of our experts 

 in this line. Mr. Myers, who has joined the 

 i-'reat majority, practised the method of Dr. 

 Miller. He cut out the queen-cells of his 8- 

 frame double- walled Hilton- Langstroth hives, 

 every S days, and could report a yield of 250 

 pounds of comb honey from one of his col- 

 onies, or all of them, I forget which. This 

 shows that a mighty colony of bees will pro- 

 duce comb honey in sufficient quantities to pay 

 well in Northern latitudes. 



I have practised the method of Chapman, 

 of Michigan, which consists in putting frames 

 containing brood in a second storv. At the 

 commencement of the honey-flow a Porter bee- 

 escape can be placed under the hive containing 

 brood, when the hatching brood will descend 

 into the brood sections. I know the bees will 

 fill the sections by this method in a manner 

 to gratify the comb-honey producer'^ heart. 

 The old combs, especially those containing 

 pollen, can he kept out of the brood chamber 

 by this or the Dudley-Tube method, and one 

 cause of swarming, according to Aspinwall, be 

 removed. 



One Ohio bee-keeper claimed to me to have 

 gotten a splendid supply of comb honey last 

 season by Doolittle's method, with the ex- 

 ception that he placed the frames uf brood 

 alongside the other, with a Dudley Tube con- 

 necting both. Mr. Williams has given his 

 comb honey method, so the comb-honey eentle- 

 men have plenty of methods to practise on 

 this season. Geo. T. Moloney. 



Wolverine, Mich.. March 27. 



cold weather, and the honey-flow was cut short. 

 On examining them in September I found I 

 would have to feed them, for they were short 

 of honey, and had very little young brood. I 

 commenced feedine; sugar syrup to increase 

 their stores for winter and stimulate them to 

 breeding. The former I accomplished. The 

 latter I failed in. I laid the failure to get 

 them to breeding to the dry weather, drying 

 the bloom so that they produced no pollen, for 

 I could see them bring in very little of it. 



The second prediction was that w-e would get 

 no white clover honey in Southwestern Ohio 

 this year. The summer and fall drouth killed 

 all tlie white clover, and tlure was not enough 

 moisture to sprout the clover seed last fall. 

 At this date I am convinced that I was cor- 

 rect, for I have not been able to find the first 

 white clover plant. Alsike clover has done 

 better <han white or red clover. It seems to 

 stand both drouth and wet better than other 

 clovers. People have just commenced raising 

 it in this community, and find it makes a fine 

 feed, and it can be raised on wet land that 

 red clover will freeze out on. Up to this 

 time I have lost 5 colonies out of 93. 



J. G. Creighton. 



Harrison, Ohio, March 29. 



Early Brood-Rearing — Good Results 

 per Colony. 



Mr. J as. W. Bell of Kentucky (page 73), 

 is experimenting in attempting to rear brood 

 during the months of January and February, 

 by keeping a colony in his room at a tempera- 

 ture of 60 to 70 degrees. It seems to nie that 

 there should be no trouble to rear lirood in Ins 

 locality during either of these months, with 

 bees on the summer stand. Brood- rearing is 

 carried on as far north Wisconsin in double- 

 walled hives durine the month of February 

 out-of-doors. I would think it much safer than 

 in a warm room; certainly so this far north. 

 Mr. C. T. vVillis of Illinois, gives a good 

 account of his little apiary of 7 colonies (page 

 73). Fifteen dollars each from a few colonies 

 would be a nice little nest-egg for some mem- 

 ber of a family on a farm — a boy or a girl — 

 to tuck away for some future use. For in- 

 stance, to help out school expenses. I am 

 sorry I knew so little about the bees when a 

 boy on the farm, and at a time when I needed 

 just that kind of help when anxious to go 

 away to school. 



I have a little story to tell on this same line 

 of profits from a single colony of bees. About 

 June 1. 1908, I divided a colony by taking 

 away the queen and about half of the brood 

 and bees from a 9- frame hive, filling the out- 

 side spaces of each with frames of foundation. 

 The hive of the new colony was opened im- 

 mediately, and, of course, the old bees re- 

 turned to the parent hive. Without going 

 into details, I will simply say, that from the 

 made colony I sold 4 cases of honey for $16.00, 

 and the colony for $10.00 in the fall. It took 

 about half hour to make the colony, and about 

 a half day to do the rest of the work. 



Kvanston, 111, Wm. M. Whitney. 



Colonies Weak— Poor White Clover 

 Prospect. 



The predictions I made last fall, from all 

 nidications at this date, will come true. First, 

 bees will come through weak in numbers this 

 sprmg. When I finished taking off comb 

 honey last July. I never had colonies in a 

 better condition, both in number of bees and 

 amount of the honey in the brood-chamber for 

 fall and wmter. In fact, I thought the brood- 

 chamber was filled too much with honey, that 

 there would not be enough room for the bees 

 to breed plenty of young bees in the fall, for 

 ^'e must have young bees hatched in September 

 and October if we want good, strong colonic'^ 

 w the spring. Dry weather continued until 



temperance, is to help them (those that want 

 the truth) to obtain and furnish truthful 

 reading matter for their papers." 



I do not consider the American Bee Jour- 

 nal a newspaper, or anything near it. Mr. 

 Vangundy says, in regard to his methods 

 of management, "My management is to feed 

 the bees all they can eat of liquid honey. 

 ( Do not feed sugar syrup.) Honey is their 

 natural food. I get my bees good and strong 

 when the honey-flow comes." The bees are 

 allowed to swarm once or twice, and then 

 they are fed all the liquid honey they can 

 fat. 



I thank Mr. Vangundy for his kind let- 

 ter, and possibly he will tell -us some more 

 of his methods in the future. While they 

 may not be practical for bee-keepers in Illi- 

 nois, it may help some other bee-keeper in a 

 locality similar to his. 



As to his honey being of better quality than 

 we have in Illinois or any other State, I must 

 say that "I don't know." 



Hampshire, 111. Chas. M. Hix. 



Priority Rights and Bee-Keepers. 



The February number of the American Bee 

 Journal ia a fine one if it did take a little 

 longer time. But, it did amuse me to read 

 the "Priority Rights" item on page 38. I al- 

 ways thought bee-keepers fair and just, and 

 hate to think I have been mistaken. Sup- 

 pose I or some one interested in bees should 

 move down there in California and buy land 

 and pay for it. What right would bee- 

 keepers who had been there before I came, 

 to say that I had no right to put my land 

 to the use of keeping bees? If I bought ibo 

 or 160 acres, should any man have the right 

 (although perhaps he did not have any land) 

 to prohibit me from putting my land to any 

 use I desired? If they try the scheme laid 

 out in that priority rights scheme, I do hope, 

 for the sake of justice, that they will be 

 defeated grandly. 



Another way that seems just to me, would 

 be to allow a settled number of colonies to 

 each, according to the amount of land or bee- 

 pasturage he had. That would be more like 

 a square deal. The right of priority is not a 

 right at all, and I am pretty sure that a law 

 to that effect never will be made, or at least 

 would not hold. 



I remember in the old country, the cattle 

 pasture was in common, but you would keep 

 only so many head, according to the acres you 

 were the owner of. Can any one say that 

 that was not right? 



Now, fellow bee-keepers, let us try to keep 

 up the good reputation that bee-keepers have 

 had for fair-mindedness and justice, and show 

 the world that we can see the right of the 

 other man as well as our own. 



Bees around here have wintered fairly well» 

 although we have had a pretty cold winter. 

 One day the temperature was down to 10 de- 

 grees below zero, and that is pretty cold for 

 here. O. K. RicE. 



Grays River, Wash., Feb. 25. 



That Big Honey-Yield from One Col- 

 ony and Its Increase. 



Some time ago I received the following 

 letter from Mr. G. W. Vangundy, which 

 explains itself: 



"On page 23 of the American Bee Journal, 

 I see an item stating that you doubted that 

 I obtained 1144 pounds of honey from one 

 colony and its increase. I obtained the honey 

 j ust the same. What would you say if I 

 should tell you of a man who obtained 1800 

 pounds of honey from 2 colonies of bees, 

 without the increase ? Then you would say. 

 'There is something wrong somewhere,' if 

 the American Bee Journal would print it. 



"In conclusion, I wish to say that the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal has not printed anything 

 false in regard to the 1 1 44 pounds of honey 

 from one colony and its increase. I sold the 

 honey at 6 cents a pound. It was extracted 

 honey. It was a fine quality, and if I had a 

 sample bottle I would send you some, just 

 to let you know that we have a better qual- 

 ity of honey than you have in Illinois, or any 

 other State. This is saying a good deal, 

 but the proof of the pudding is in the [show- 

 ing] eating." 



In regard to doubting the truth of Mr. 

 Vangundy's statement, I find nothing in the 

 item that says any such thing. I am of the 

 opinion that he thought that last paragraph 

 was meant for him and the American Bee 

 Journal. It says: 



"In conclusion, I wish to say that I believe 

 the best way to get the newspapers to stop 

 publishing falsehoods about bees, honey, and 



Bumble-Bees — Bees Too Forward. 



On page 58. Rev. Mahin and Mr. Tilling- 

 hast each discuss the bumblebee. I was glad 

 to see it, as w^e know very little of the bumble- 

 bee. In my experience I have found much of 

 the experience of these gentlemen to be true, 

 with the exception of the females going into 

 the earth for the winter. I never saw, nor 

 have I seen any one among our people that 

 ever saw a bumble-bee in winter. We dig, 

 we plow, we grub up bushes, all in the regular 

 routine of farm work, and find many insects 

 in the bosom of the earth for protection, but 

 no bumble-bees, "yellow jackets" or "bell" 

 hornets. The habits of the two last-named, as 

 far as a preparation for perpetuation of species 

 is concerned, are about the same, but we don't 

 find them here in winter. The female wasps are 

 plentiful. Any dead tree or an old house 

 is, as a rule, their winter quarters. It is a 

 curious thing about bumble-bees taking up 

 their breeding-places in early spring. 



I am a bird-lover, and put up homes for 

 the titmouse, the bluebird, and house martin 

 every year. The first-named bird makes her 

 nest early, of wool and hair, in March, and 

 by the time Mrs. Bumble-bee comes, she is 

 quietly sitting on her eggs. Mrs. Bumble- 

 bee generally goes in and takes possession 

 of the cozy nest, and my beautiful little 

 songster leaves me. Also, in my shed and 

 out-houses where I store empty boxes, into 

 rats' nests these bees go, and, in all proba- 

 bility, I don't find them until enough of those 

 small workers are out and ready to go for 

 me at the slightest interference. 



Never can I forget my experience on the 

 farm when breaking up a clover fallow in the 



