August, 1909. 



279 



American Vae Journal 



issued I went to get that hive to hive them in, 

 and there, to my surprise, was the swarra going 

 in and out with comb and honey on their legs. 



I am located in xvansas City, 7 miles from 

 the post-office, and I live close to a golf club 

 with 2uO acres in clover and blue grass. As 

 soon as I can get a photographer out, I will 

 send you a picture of myself and my out-apiary. 



All my hives are the Langstroth-Simplicity 

 style. 1 here is a great deal of timber around 

 here, and 1 am going to hunt bee-trees. I 

 would like to hear through the Americain Bee 

 Journal how I can do it. 



Kansas City, Mo. Frank R. Johnson. 



Best Time Ahead for Bees. 



Bees don't do very well in this locality. 

 There is no white clover this year, and other 

 flowers appear to contain no nectar. We have 

 just had 3 aays of rain, so from now on there 

 may be a good honey-flow, as sweet clover is 

 commencing to bloom. As no honey is coming 

 in there is hardly any swarming. But we are 

 not giving up hope, as we have just ahead of 

 us the best time for bees to store in the supers. 

 D. H. Gathman. 



Forest City, III.. July 6. 



Flour Plan of Introducing Queens. 



I will tell my experience in introducing a 

 nice yellow queen; 1 thought I would try tWe 

 flour plan, so I found the oid queen, put her 

 away, then waited a little while till every- 

 thing got quiet. Then I lifted out a frame, 

 dusted the flour on, holding or propping the 

 frame in a slanting position, also dusting a 

 little flour on the queen in the cage. Then I 

 opened and let her out on the frame of bees. 

 ^>he walked a step or two, then jumped an inch 

 or so, and then flew away. I reached out after 

 her, touched her with my finger, but that was 

 the last 1 saw of her until 3 days afterwards I 

 opened the hive to see if they had started cells, 

 and to my surprise I found a beautiful yellow 

 queen walking about seemingly at home. I 

 concluded she must be that queen. When I 

 touched .ler with my finger in that desperate 

 reach out for her. I must h^ve knocked her 

 down in front of tue hive, and she went in the 

 front entrance, and the bees accepted her at 

 once. So I have decided to try the flour plan 

 a^ain. I mav have a screen wire-cage about the 

 size of the frame to olace over her when I put 

 her on the frame until I cin slin the frame 

 in niace. R. E. Hickok. 



Chrtstiansburg. \'a., July 1*==. 



Bees and Cucumber Growers. 



It may be news to some of our bee-keepers to 

 learn from Burton N. Gates, the expert in 

 apiculture, that the 118 large growers of cu- 

 cumbers in Massachusetts have found it im- 

 yjerative to the success of their enterprise to 

 keep bees in their large conservatories to '*set" 

 or fructify the cucumbers raised in those huge 

 glass houses. In all, about 1000 colonies are 

 used for this purpose, and must be replenished 

 yearly as the bees are severely exhausted by the 

 work they do. Hence the necessity for con- 

 tinued demand for bees. The recorded sales 

 of bees during 1908 was 1027 colonics, some of 

 the larger growers requiring from 40 to 80 

 colonics for their forcing work. And they find 

 that it is only by the help of the bees in fer- 

 tilizing the bloom that they get from 10,000 

 bushels of cucumbers, and less, according to 

 the extent of space at their command. 



Their present consideration is how they may 

 continue to use the bees with less loss than 

 they have thus far suffered. W^hether it is 

 their confinement in a heated apartment, neces- 

 sary to forcing the plants, or the want of more 

 forage is not stated. Pity 'tis that so great 

 sacrifice should be imposed on their well-doing. 



Worcester, Mass., is the central point of this 

 enterprise. Dr. Peiro. 



Kavtnswood, Chicago, III. 



Weather Extremes — National Conven- 

 tion. 



June was wet to the extreme up to the 20th, 

 and then cooking hot up to July 3, since which 

 it has rained every day or night, and frenucntly 

 several times a day and night besides. No sur- 

 plus honey is in sight as yet, and unless belter 

 weather comes very soon no honey will be 

 shipped from this place. I haven't had even 

 the sight, let alone a taste, of honey of this 

 season's production. Such weather it has not 

 been my misfortune to see before, and I hope 

 I shall never be called upon to witness again. 

 Discouragements have been on everv hand, so 

 far as the bees were concerned. Out of 200 

 last fall, 117 dead ones, is the record. Causes: 

 Poor honcy-fiow previous fall, hence few young 



b^es to begin the winter; cellar after March 1, 

 left ui care of new occupant and ventilator 

 openings nailed up; (incubator in cellar-room 

 adjoining, and other irritants) ; next, horrible 

 weather to move bees by rail, and delay by 

 railroad in moving to destination ; and a con- 

 tinuance of cold, windy, and cloudy weather 

 during the latter half of April and all of May. 

 And June was wet up to the 20th, and it is 

 only a wonder how so many survived as did. 



Like most bee-keepers, we are vet hopeful 

 that the weatner will make a change, and let 

 us gather a normal crop at least, for I want 

 to go to the National Convention at Sioux City, 

 with a smile, and not a little puny one at that, 

 but a big, broad one, right out loud. I hope 

 to see this convention rival any other heiu by 

 the National, and that is hoping for a good 

 deal ; and while the prospects for a crop of 

 honey are very discouraging just now, I trust 

 at least something will be gathered from this 

 on through the season. F. W. Hall. 



Storm Lake. Iowa, July 19, 



Good Prospects for Honey, 



Bees are doing fine. They have stored con- 

 siderable from the first crop of alfalfa, and are 

 working on sweet clover now. It has been wet 

 here^and the nectar was thin. I have 3 or 4 

 supers on some hives, a number of which are 

 filled, but none sealed. Prospects are cood. 

 Louis Macey. 



North Platte. Nebr., July 20. 



Alsike and Basswood. 



Bees are doing well on alsike clover, but as 

 the farmers are now cutting the same it will 

 soon end. But as basswood will open about 

 July 5 to 7. the break in the nectar-flow will 

 not be noticeable if the weather proves good 

 during the basswood bloom. 



G. M. DOOLITTLF. 



Boroaino, N. Y., July 2. 



A Little Hope for Honey. 



Bees don't seem to work on white clover this 

 year, and have not more than started in tlie 

 supers. There is plenty of sweet clover and 

 smartweed, so there is a little hope for some 

 honey. Most of the colonies are in fine con- 

 dition. Mrs. Aug. Tosephsox. 



Granville, 111.. July 12. 



A "Young" Bee-Keeper. 



I am younc in the bee-business — only 3 years 

 old. But I find it very interesting and instruc- 

 tive. I have 41 colonics in 10-frame hives; all 

 doing well. ^ome are at work in the third 

 super. I have the swarm control well in hand, 

 not having had a swarm this year so far. 



Sterlin", Kans., July 12. K. E. Potter. 



No White Honey This Year. 



We have had a lively season, but the honey 

 is iust awful. It is black as the darkest mo- 

 lasses, being almost exclusively honey-dew. 



The prospect for a fall crop is good, but our 

 clover crop is entirely jeopardized by this 

 honey-dew, and we will have no white honey 

 this year. C. P. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111., July 10. 



Prospects for Fair Crop. 



We have 1 1'lO colonies of bees here. The 

 first and second blooms of alfalfa are over, but 

 there arc three more blooming periods coming, 

 and although up to this date the honey-flow has 

 been slow, the prospects are good for a fair 

 cron. 



The clean, bright American Bee Journal is 

 alwavs a welcome visitor here. I am proud to 

 be able to place such wholesome literature in 

 the hands nf mv family. Geo. H. Rea. 



Mesilla Park. N. Mex.. July 5. 



Some Swarming Comments. 



Some of the .i<lvice civen nn iiaec 2iir> seems 

 a little difficult of apidication. When dividing 

 by hive-stnries. we arc told that the original 

 brood-chamber "shouUl be svt up on a new and 

 preferably remote stand in order to retain what 

 old bees it hapifns to contain." In this lo- 

 c^Ittv if set in the most remote corner of the 

 pniary just as many old bees would return as 

 if it were moved onlv a few feet. Kven at 4 

 mil'-s. C. P. Dndant says some bees return. 



On the n'-xt naec. under the head of shaken 

 swarms, it is advised to have frames containinc 

 nothing but narrow stsi-tcrs, while the suner 

 contains sections with full sheet*; of foundation. 

 or better still rlrawn sections. In cases out 



of 10 — probably 10 cases out of 10 — the queen 

 would be certain to go up into the super, and 

 it would be well filled with brood; at least that 

 is what happens here. Of course an excluder 

 would prevent that, but nothing is said about 

 any excluder, and naturally one supposes it is 

 not to be used. 



With those narrow starters in the brood- 

 chamber we are told good worker-combs will 

 always be built, if a young queen of the cur- 

 rent year's rearing be in the colony. That 

 seems to take it for granted that it is an easy 

 thing to have such queens on hand in time for 

 shaking swarms, which must be at least a little 

 in advance of natural swarming. Such a thing 

 is hardly practicable here, at least it is a diffi- 

 cult thing to have good queens reared so early. 



In the concluding paragraph it is said to be 

 essential to the highest success to requeen every 

 honey colony with a queen of the current year's 

 rearing, "as early in the spring as possible." 

 Now if some beginner in this vicinity, anxious 

 for the highest success, goes to work and rears 

 young queens so as to requeen in April or 

 May. he would have a lot of queens mostly 

 worthless, if indeed his colonies did not swarm 

 with queens reared thus early. Even suppos- 

 inc he requeens late enough to have good 

 queens, he would hardly attain the highest suc- 

 cess by requeening every colony according to 

 the teachings of tnose who say that for best 

 success we should breed from the best. For 

 if each colony is requeened there is no way 

 of telling which nueen is best, because the force 

 of hres that gathers the harvest will not all 

 be the proeenv of the nueen left in the hive, 

 but i>art of them will be the progeny of the 

 removed queen. Progressive. 



Too Wet for Honey. 



There has been abundance of bloom but too 

 wet for honey, and now linden bloom has 

 passed and white and alsike clover are nearly 

 gone; sweet clover is not plentiful enough to 

 yield honey, but we will have lots of fall flowers 

 with tlie second crop of alsike, from which we 

 may get a good fall flow. Bees have swarmed 

 considerably, and are in fairly good condition 

 now. Comb honey is worth 15 cents a pound 

 in the market for No. 1, and 12V2 cents for 

 No. 2. O. P. Miller. 



Menlo, Iowa, July 20. 



Hard Spring for Bees. 



I have been a steady subscriber to the .-Ameri- 

 can lice Journal for 25 years. Last fall I put 

 .12 colonies of bees m the cellar; 30 of them 

 came out m "'ood condition last April. This 

 has been a hard spring and summer for bees, 

 and 1 do not anticipate much of a honey crop. 

 Kast year 1 had over 1300 pounds of saleaoie 

 honey'. George Gale. 



(■reenville, Mich. 



Hot and Dry Weather. 



The hot weather lias ntarly stopped all nt^c- 

 tar-secretion. It has not rained of any account 

 for 3 weeks; mercury at 93 in the shade today 

 with a scorching sun and high wind just burn- 

 ing vegetation. Basswood bloom is just open- 

 in" and if a change can come, we may yet 

 have completed the sections nicely started from 

 alsike clover. G. M. Doolittle. 



liorodino, N. Y., July 12. 



Beginning with Bees. 



The American liee Journal came and was a 

 real pleasure — a true feast of good things. 

 .Mthough the snow covered the ground, yet 

 your pages brought the promise of spring. I 

 had just skimmed over the tempting array, 

 marking for future perusal the more important 

 to my case when the May allowance appeared. 

 Although its contents may be just as good, yet 

 as I received it from the office it reminded me 

 so much of withered flowers that it was per- 

 haps less appreciated. 



It was my privilege to attend the October 

 meeting of the State and National Associations 

 in Detroit, and from the encouragement so gen- 

 erously given, have ventured in the line, be- 

 ginning with a colony that had put their former 

 patron on his back for several days, and were 

 only awaiting favorable moment for going up 

 in tire and smoke. At my request they were 

 sent to me last January. After a week on the 

 way and a distance of 150 miles they landed 

 here on a mild day. With full knowledge of 

 the last doings I made hold at once to open 

 the hive-entrance. Then, like Mr. Spectator, 

 gracefully retreated. Fully a double handful 

 rushed out, out as I survived that venture, 

 little at a time I got out the spikes from the 

 cover and have cleaned off the entrance-board, 



