August. 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 





Olt-Apiarv of Geo. O. Berry, of Whittier. Cal. 



Apiary of Geo. O. Berry 



This apiary is located 19 miles south- 

 east of Los Angeles and one mile south 

 of Whittier, in the Citrus belt. The 

 120 colonies on this location produced 

 7 tons of extracted honey during May 

 and June. 1908. 



The past spring we had 450 colonies 



on the same location, but have moved 

 300 about 100 miles farther east to 

 the edge of the desert, where I expect 

 to harvest a big crop of wild buck- 

 wheat honey. The buckwheat flow starts 

 about the middle of June and lasts till 

 October or November. Geo. O. Berry. 

 Cajon, Calif., June 16. 



Conducted by EMMA M. WILSON, .Mareiii.'". HI. 



Stung !-Selling Old Comb Honey-Attic 

 Bee-Keeping 



Uear .\I[.-5S Wilson : — It lias been a Iouk 

 time since you have heard from me. But I 

 am still keeping bees, and have had some 

 experience since I last wrote. 



On July 13. I took off my first honey. I got 

 up at 4 o'clock and went first to my Grossest 

 colony. I had on a big long-sleeved apron. 

 and I neglected 10 put on a belt. The result 

 was a bee got into my veil and stung me on 

 the left temple. I had to go to the house and 

 undo my hat. and it was several minutes be- 

 fore 1 could get the sting out. It was in my 

 hair, and in very deep. So I had to give two 

 good pulls before I got it out. I put on some 

 tincture of myrrh, as I saw by the Bee Jour- 

 nal one sister did. and went back to the 

 bees. In a half hour my left eye was swollen 

 /7^A/shut. All day it was shut as tight as 

 though it were blind. But I managed to un- 

 cap and extract 150 pounds of delicious 

 honey, and the next day I took off about 50 

 pounds of comb honey from another colony. 

 All this from 3 colonies. 



The doctor— whom I met on the street- 

 told me the reason my sting swelled so was 

 because it was so near the nerve center. It 

 did not pain me in the least, but I had a 

 "swell affair " for 3 days. The tincture of 

 myrrh. I find, on me has a tendencj- to spread 

 the swelling, but it takes out the fever and 

 the itching. Only for that I am of the firm 

 opinion that the less you fuss with a bee- 

 sting the better. 



I have just finished reading tlie July num- 

 ber of the .Journal. And it is one of the best 

 numbers— for me— ever issued. I was much 

 interested in the article on page 242 of G. C. 



(jreiner, I ran all in.v colonies, when 1 first 

 started to keep bees, for comb hoiie>-. But 

 I had so many calls for extr.icted honey that 

 I decided t(j try some, I put it up in quart 

 Mason jars as Mr. (ireiner does, and sold it 

 all last year, while I still have some comb 

 honey left over. I bought new quart Mason 

 jars which I find hold 3 pounds net of honey. 

 .\nd i sell them— jai- and all— for 50 cents, 

 making 15 cents per pound net for the 

 honey. I find most of my customers prefer 

 the extracted honey if they are sure it is 

 rii.'/:/. An we get more honey when running 

 for extracted honey here in the city, I run 

 all my colonies but one this year for ex- 

 tracted honey. 



Will you kindly advise me the best way to 

 dispose of last years crop of honey? I have 

 been informinga prospective purchaser that 

 I have a little last year's honey which I 

 would sell for 2 cents a pound less than the 

 new honey. But they all prefer "new 

 honey," \Iust I make a larger reduction in 

 price, or don't I go at it properly? 



Last year when I was looking for queen- 

 cells I had an unusual experience. In one 

 hive was a queen-cell just about to hatch. I 

 cut it out carefully .in<I held it in my hand 

 a moment to examine it better when. lo. and 

 behold, the young queen opened the top like 

 a trap door and stei>ped out. I took her to 

 the house aiul put her into a queen-cage 

 with a few bees. I fed them and made a new 

 colony from frames taken from different 

 hives and introduced the queen. That col- 

 ony has proved one of the best I have from 

 every point of view. The same day the same 

 thing happened from another colony, but the 

 queen died. It was a novel experience to me. 



A number of tJefiple in the city have a col- 

 ony of bees in the attic for their own benefit. 

 The fad was started by a well meaning old 



man who used to keep bees. But the fad is 

 not what it was supposed to be. No one of 

 those having a colony dares go near the bees, 

 and the result is they have to depend upon 

 the man they bought them of for care. >Jow 

 this man is getting old and forgetful. And 

 the owner doesn't get any honey because he 

 forgot to remove the cloth over the frames, 

 or forgot to put on a super. So, in my opin- 

 ion, the fad will gradually die out, except by 

 a man— or woman— who can handle the bees 

 himself or herself. 



A young man called at my house about a 

 week ago and asked if I would lend him my 

 smoker, bee-gloves and hat. He kept bees 

 near our house several years ago, but has 

 since moved them to the country. He ex- 

 plained that one of the houses near where 

 he worked had a swarm of bees in the attic. 

 They were painting the house, and the bees 

 were so angry that none of the men dared 

 work on that side of the house. And the 

 people had appealed to him for help. His 

 idea was to take off the cover and put a 

 screen on the top for ventilation and a 

 screen over the entrance to keep them in. 

 But I understood from a neighbor that they 

 finally had to take the bees into the country. 

 Evidently they did not take them far enough 

 as they were coming back in small swarms, 

 and the workmen were all too frightened to 

 work. I informed them that they must paint 

 their house early in the spring before the 

 bees fly much, or later on in the fall, 



I wish you a big honey crop and much suc- 

 cess, (Miss) Elsie A, Cutter. 



Grand Rapids. Mich., July 17. 



You say you had to give two good 

 pulls before you got the sting out. 

 Please don't "pull" stings out; scrape 

 them out with the finger-nail. Yes, of 

 course it is not so easy to scrape a 

 sting out that's among the hair, but it 

 isn't easy to pull a sting there either. 

 You may have to scrape several times 

 more than twice, but you are not forc- 

 ing the poison in at every scrape, and 

 you are at every pull, for when you 

 pull you pull by the poison-sac, and at 

 every pull you squeeze the sac and 

 force out more poison. 



You are quite right that it's a good 

 plan not to fuss much with a sting. 

 Some one — is it A. I. Root? — says, 

 "Get the sting out, then let it alone 

 and think about something else." When 

 you've had more stings they will not 

 trouble you so much. 



.As to last year's honey, much de- 

 pends upon how it has kept. If it has 

 l)een kept in a dry, warm place, it ought 

 to differ very little from new honey. 

 But it may not have kept so well, and 

 may now be candied. At any rate, you 

 must come down on the price enough 

 so that some one, a/ the price, will pre- 

 fer it to new honey. You may also sell 

 it in the liquid state. Unless it has 

 been kept in the very best condition 

 you can liardly e.xtract it; but you can 

 melt it. It should not be heated over 

 1()0 degrees. Set the crock or dish 

 containing the honey in a vessel of 

 water, put it on a part of the stove 

 where it will not be very hot, and let 

 it slowly melt. No matter if it is 2 or 

 3 days at it, cooling off several times. 

 When entirely melted and cooled, take 

 off the cake of wax and your honey 

 will be nice. 



Nougat Letitia 



Take 2 pounds of honey, boil it in a 

 cup of water and skim. Stir constantly 

 and moderate the fire. When the syrup 

 begins to thicken remove from the fire, 

 and, stirring constantly, add 5 ounces 

 grated chocolate and 12 ounces al- 

 monds coarsely chopped, warmed, and 

 previously blanched and dried. 



Let thicken, and pour in dishes 



