June, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



ing out to raw foundation at the out- 

 side. These are given to the bees to 

 empty out after the end of the flow, 

 and a super of this kind is nicely baited 

 to be given for the first super the next 

 season. 



While I have never, to any e.xtent, 

 given bait-sections other than in the 

 center of the sections, I think I have 

 sometimes advised, "If you have abund- 

 ance of bait-sections, put one in each 

 corner of the super." It stands to rea- 

 son that if the bees begin at the corn- 

 ers, where they are the last at finish- 

 ing, there ought to be more even work 

 than if the start is made at the cen- 

 ter. But sometimes our reasoning 

 doesn't agree with that of the bees. 

 Here is a letter from a man in whom 

 I have much confidence : 



I notice in your answers to some ques- 

 tions in the American Bee Journal that you 

 seem to be in some doubt as to the best 

 place to put bait-sections in the supers. I 

 had some experience last season that leads me 

 to believe that the best place for them is in 

 the center of the super. In some supers 



■V frrr' 



in others I put one in each corner and one^ 

 1 put one bait-section in each corner, and* 

 or two in the center. The baits in the 

 corners seem to have the effect to divide the 

 working force too much, drawing it away 

 from the center where it naturally belongs. 

 In some instances the bees would begin work 

 on the baits in the corners, and then leave 

 them and finish up the two sections with 

 starters between the two baits on each side 

 of the hive before finishing the corner baits. 

 In some instances the corner baits were not 

 finished at all. Some I found with no honey 

 in them when the supers were taken off, 

 while every other section was completed. 



After this I shall put my baits in the 

 centers of the super, be they few or many, 

 and leave the bees to do the work in the 

 corners when they get ready. It is no great 

 matter if there is some uncompleted work in 

 the corners. The finishing can be done else- 

 where. Edwin Bevins. 



\ pint of experience from a man like 

 Mr. Bevins is worth more than a bushel 

 of theory, and thanks are hereby given 

 him for his letter. The center is the 

 natural place to begin work in a super, 

 and the unfinished sections at the out- 

 side can easily be assembled in another 

 super and given to the bees to finish. 



Marengo, 111. 



RcfleciioMiF 



or js 



California Bee-Kccper 



7 



by W. A. PKVA1>. Aldeu Station. Oakiaud. Calif. 



Weather Extremes — Swanning. 



It seems that it is either a feast or 

 a famine in California, at least in a 

 goodly portion of it. Take for instance 

 the matter of rain. For the lack of 

 this heavenly fluid, we are often thrown 

 on the verge of a real famine; perhaps 

 there would be a dearth of eatables 

 if it were not for the fact that some of 

 the river districts and those sections 

 that can be irrigated from the melting 

 of the perpetual snows in the high 

 mountains, and produce abundantly of 

 the good things of the earth, even in 

 the dryest years. But what if two or 

 ithree dry years should follow each 

 other and there were no snowfall in the 

 mountains? We have had such years 

 and still there was water from the 

 snow-springs up in or near the clouds, 

 but of course not so plentiful as in 

 years of abundant rainfall. 



All this may be neither here nor there ; 

 the subject, however, was brought about 

 by the fact that the winter and early 

 spring was about one of the wettest 

 we ever had. And yet looking back 

 from these closing days of April, I can 

 say the month was about the dryest we 

 ever had. Rain is greatly needed to 

 freshen the earth and invigorate all sur- 

 face-rooted vegetation, for much of it is 

 suffering for the need of sufficient mois- 

 ture. And the month .has been a hot 

 one. too. Hay has gone soaring around 

 $30 a ton ; potatoes are $2 a hundred 

 weight, and will be higher, as we of this 

 State are being called upon to furnish 

 the succulent tuber to that renowned 

 "spud-country," Oregon. The crop in 



the latter State is said to have been a 

 failure — how, I have not heard. 



But while all these divers calamities 

 worry the average agriculturist, the bee- 

 keeper wears a more happy smile. The 

 rain was sufficient without anything ad- 

 ditional to guarantee a good growth 

 of nectar-secreting plants. And the con- 

 dition of the weather, at least for this 

 portion of the State has been ideal. So, 

 on the whole, we are looking for a big 

 crop of honey. I can say tliat for the 

 past 2 weeks my bees have been doing 

 wonderfully well. Some of the colon- 

 ies were in full swing over a fortnight 

 ago ; the first swarin issued Sunday, 

 Apr. II. A couple of days I had to be 

 away and I believe a ievi swarms came 

 forth, and I further believe, "lit out" 

 for parts unknown. But when I am 

 home it is a wise and cunning aggre- 

 gation of bees that will get away from 

 me. (And I have to confess that one 

 swarm did get away, but I am inclined 

 to tlie belief that it was a truant swarm 

 that came to the apiary, lit well up in a 

 tall tree during the noon hour, and 

 while I was at lunch hied themselves 

 away.) 



The rpth was the "swarmiest" day 

 I ever had to contend with ; and I verily 

 believe it was the warmest .-Xpril day 

 that I ever had to swelter in. Talk 

 about fun ! Fun with a vengeance ! On 

 our place there is much to do. We have 

 a sort of general fruit-farm, garden, and 

 I might say, the Lord knows what not, 

 but I won't. And yet it is a pretty 

 place, and an interesting one. So with 

 all the things to look after and do, it 



is no small task to play second fiddle to 

 the bees. And how they hummed, and 

 buzzed, and cavorted that day; and they 

 commenced bright and early, as they 

 early divined what the day was to be. 

 Everything went along well enough so 

 long as one swarm came out and got 

 settled and fairly hived, before the next 

 one came upon the scene. But along 

 toward noon, they came forth fast and 

 thick, and the fun or deviltry began. 

 But fortunately none of them were of 

 stinging mood, so I did not mind it so 

 much. It was the heat and the anxiety 

 to keep those swarms separate that both- 

 ered me. 



And funny things happened. I had 

 one big swarm nearly hived beneath 

 the cherry-tree it alighted upon, when 

 out came a swarm from a large 3-story 

 hive. I saw what a pickle I'd be in if 

 those two came together, I had the 

 half-hived colony on a large cloth, so 

 I folded it over the hive. But those bees 

 began to pile upon the cloth and many 

 were crawling through the folds, when 

 I gathered the outfit up and placed it 

 to a permanent stand in the apiary. I 

 paid no further attention to this lat- 

 ter swarm for a half hour when I 

 went over to see about hiving it. I 

 imagined the bees were somewhere in 

 the branches of the tree. But nary a 

 bee was there. But I saw some bees 

 flying about beneath the tree, and some 

 hovered near an old bucket that was 

 formerly a coal-oil can. Lo ! and behold, 

 if my swarm had not entered the can 

 and seemed to be as happy as a clam 

 at high tide, .-^nd such a snap it was 

 for me to hive it. I stepped over, took 

 hold of the pail's bail and walked off 

 with a big bucket full of live bees. I 

 sat it on top of a hive for a few minutes, 

 secured my camera, and while they 

 looked their prettiest, (unfortunately 

 mostly within the can,) I took their 

 picture. I am sorry I can't show it to 

 you, for 'tis yet undeveloped. Well, it 

 was a mere "pudding" to get that pail 

 full of bees into a hive I prepared for 

 them right on the stand they were to 

 occupy thenceforth. Swarming would 

 be an easy matter if all bees had such 

 horse-sense ! 



Then, another time, when I was oper- 

 ating on a colony, to relieve it of a bad 

 case of "toomanyqueencells," out of a 

 hive close by began to come a swarm. 

 My head began to swim, figuratively, 

 for it seemed that swarms were in the 

 air, and swarms were everywhere. But 

 my wits did not forsake me, neverthe- 

 less. My first impulse was to nab the 

 queen as she came forth. (I have 

 not practiced queen-wing-clipping these 

 many years, though when I did it was 

 made an easy road to this matter of 

 capturing swarms). 



Well, as I was about to remark, the 

 queen was just a fraction of a second 

 too previous to me; I saw her take wing 

 before my fingers could get half way to 

 where I saw her at the edge of the 

 alighting board. Then, I grabbed a 

 piece of a shingle near by and jammed 

 it into tlie entrance. Most of my hives 

 have entrances only ^ of an inch high 

 and from 6 to 12 inches long. The 

 shingle only contracted the entrance and 

 but few bees could get out at a time. 

 Then I blew in quite a lot of smoke — 



