October, igog. 



Amc»rican Hee Journal 



Now the rain will put some nectar in the 

 fall flowers, and I will get some honey yet. 

 Everybody seeing my success is wanting to 

 go in the bee-business, and is wanting bees 

 or honev. 



What is the name of the weed I send you? 

 It grows abundantly here. I see a bee on it 

 once in a while. Is it any good for bees? 



R. B. Fkrry. 



Greenfield, Tenn.. Sept. lo. 



[The name of the plant asked about is Hog- 

 wort— Croton capitatus— and is somewhat 

 abundant in dry fields South and West. So 

 far as I know it is of little if any value as a 

 bee-plant.— C. L. Walton.] 



Poorest Season in Years 



I have been keeping bees for i years, and 

 have got up against the real thing this year. 

 The early honey was as black as crude oil— 

 no white clover at all. and the fall crop is as 

 poor. I will have to feed all of my bees for 

 winter. I haven't had a bee go up in the 

 supers. We have had the poorest season for 

 years. W. T. Kelsey. 



St. Francisville, 111.. Sept. 28. 



More Than An Average 



We have harvested more than an average 

 crop of honev in Georgia this season, and 

 our increase has been more. We have never 

 harvested an overwhelming crop of honey 

 here or had a total failure, except in a few- 

 locations where we have only one soiirce of 

 honey. Our average is never very high, nor 

 varies much in some localities. Bee-keeping 

 here pays a large percent on the capital and 

 time expended, and can be depended upon 

 for the only source of living, and some sur- 

 plus money with a reasonable investment 

 and proper management. 



Cordele, Ga. J- J. Wilder. 



Only Half a Crop 



1 will give an outline of the honey crop 

 here so far. The first small gain was in fruit- 

 bloom. Bees hardly held their own until 

 June 5. June 18 to 20 there was a great flow. 

 On the i/th. i8th and 20th (just i days), the 

 scale colony made m pounds clear gain— the 

 greatest for 3 days I ever had— all white 

 clover. The first of July the flow seemed to 

 stop, and by the loth bees were doing noth- 

 ing. I have only half a crop to report for tliis 

 part of Missouri. We have had very little 

 noney-dew here at home, but I hear some 

 complaint among my neighbors. I never saw- 

 so bright prospects cut short so ouicklv. 

 Bees are doing nothing now. hut the fields 

 are yellow with fall flowers. We expect a 

 fall flow. Irving Long. 



Marceline. Mo.. Sept. u- 



Foul Brood in New York 



Who told Mr. Byer. page zvH. that black 

 brood seemed to be under control in New 

 York State? Somebody has been fooling 

 him. It is raging as badly as it ever did. but 

 in new sections. Where it has spent itself 

 and destroyed nearly all the bees in sight " it 

 seems to be under control," but still keeps 

 marching on. and I ought to know what I am 

 talking about, for it has marched into t> of 

 my yards this year. And after I had shaken 

 it out and begun to boast that I was on top, 

 back it came again this fall, hitting every 

 colony in one yard of 45. and a large number 

 in the home apiary. You might as well get 

 the old-fashioned chills and fever if you get 

 black brood, for you will have to shake and 

 shake until all the careless and indifferent 

 bee-keepers about you lose their bees. 



" .-\ Nkw Yorker." 



Rendering Combs Into Wax 



Where exhaust steam is available let the 

 puff below the bottom of the hive be 1 inches 

 extra deep with a sieve bottom. When these 

 combs have fallen down shovel them with a 

 fire shovel in a bushel bag. tie it and tread it 

 over slats over a box or tub one foot deep, 

 with large rubber boots having felt socks in 

 them. Then to make a clean job of it throw 

 the pressed slumgum into a boiler of boiling 

 water and tread againover a separate tub or 

 box. if yon desire the best separate, a foot 

 or 10 inches deep, and 2 feet square with 

 taps to let out the wax and water if many 

 combs are to be done. 



If melting combs over a cook-stove with 2 

 boilers on, one can place the hive with sieve 



bottom over the front one. then after the 

 combs have fallen, shovel them into the back 

 one. then dip into the tread-mill bag; or. 

 better, first have a bag to fit the inside of 

 the above hive, and when combs fall into it. 

 tie it and tread again over another tub or 

 box, thus securing superior wax. having 

 never touched water in the first box. 



R. F. Whiteside. 

 Little Britain. Ont.. Sept. 2. 



Poor Honey Crop 



The honey crop is poor here this year. The 

 bees filled only the brood-chamber— just 

 enough for winter. 



Lawrence McDonald. 



Turlock. Calif.. Sept. 16. 



Severe Stinging 



A friend of mine, a few weeks ago. in cut- 

 ting a bee-tree was stung on the arm. which 

 produced unconsciousness lasting about one 

 and a half hours, but no further ill effects. 



Spargursville. Ohio. J. R. Cooper. 



Very Light Honey Crop 



The honey crop here this year has been 

 very light. From 25 colonies I have received 

 about 300 pounds of comb honey, as com- 

 pared with 800 ponnds from only 15 colonies 

 last year. I will try to winter about 65 colo- 

 nies next winter, and hope for more honey 

 next year. John Egenes. 



Story City. Iowa. Sept. 15. 



Better Than Last Year 



I have done better this year than last, 

 starting in the spring with s colonies, one 

 queenless. and now have 15 colonies. 1 have 

 taken off 150 pounds of fine alfalfa honey and 

 3oopoundsor more are on yet. It has been 

 dry this year, having only 4 rains from 2 to g 

 weeks apart, just when the flow was on. I 

 have increased by swarming and artificial 

 increase. E. Carly Goldsmith. 



Pond Creek. Okla. 



Not Much Surplus — Too Dry 



Bees did not give much surplus here on 

 account of dry weather in July and August. 

 Goldenrod is blooming now and bees are 

 getting pollen. 



I am going to try for some strawberry 

 honey next season. There are several hun- 

 dred acres of strawberries around here. 

 Several people keeii bees here, but there are 

 none whom the bees keep. 



One man 711 years old has kept bees 30 

 years. He said to me that the bees will kill 

 off one of their Queens when honey gets 

 scarce! I thought to myself, a man can get 

 too old to learn unless he reads a bee-paper. 



The beeS here are nearly all blacks. The 

 moth is bad on black bees or vacated combs. 

 I find this out by inspecting hives all over the 

 county. I bought 20 colonies of bees that I 

 am feeding up for winter. I wired all my 

 frames and used full sheets of foundation. I 

 will run for comb honey. L. W. Benson. 



Anderson. Mo.. Sept. 27. 



Hunting Bees in Trees 



I see in the last Bee Journal an enquiry as 

 to some method of hunting wild bees, or to 

 locate bee-trees in the timber. I here give 

 an old-time method; 



Prei)are a small box with a slide in the top 

 large enough to hold a one-pound box of 

 honey flying flat. Now take a small oil-can. 

 fill it with syrup made with sugar, or a little 

 strained hoiu'y thinned with water, and a 

 very small box. small enough to put in a vest- 



Eocket. filled with fine white flour. .And last, 

 ut not least, a large piece of old strong 

 honey-comb witliout honey in it. Thus 

 eauii)ped proceed into the timber where yon 

 wish to locate bee-trees, on some nice, still. 

 warm morning after the first light frost. 

 Select an open place where the flight of a 

 bee can be traced some distance. Now light 

 a little fire with bark or chips. If conven- 

 ient take with you an old pan or skillet. 

 Drop a T>iece of the old honeycomb into the 

 fire. The odor of it burning will soon attract 

 bees if there are any in that vicinity. Now 

 open the slide on the box in which you have 

 the pound of honey. Uncap the cells on the 

 upper side, and a be 



filling with honey. Now take your can with 

 honey and drop a little just back of theihead 

 and between the wings. Be careful and don't 

 get any on the wings. Now drop on a little 

 of the' flour. ,A.s soon as the bee is filled 

 watch it and the direction it takes. If it re- 

 turns soon its home isn't far. It will soon 

 come back with others. Move on in the line, 

 burn some comb, and yini will soon "line" 

 them home. Joseph Richards. 



Hampshire, III.. Sept. 3. 



Comb Honey Production 



One of the comb honey specialists here has 

 tried Doolittle's system of comb honey pro- 

 duction, and is eloquent in its praise. He 

 simply puts the frames containing brood 

 right over the comb honey sections. An ex- 

 cluder is then placed over the brood-frames, 

 and the bee-escape taken out. The hive 

 containing old brood is then removed at the 

 end of 6 days, and a new colony formed. His 

 entire stock of comb honey has been sold. to 

 a Detroit firm for I3>t cents per pound, and 

 the extracted honey to a Michigan firm for 

 10 cents. A Minnesota lady, last year, got is 

 cents per pound for extracted, and custo- 

 mers bought it right at her apiaries. She 

 took the first prize for extracted honey at 

 the St. Louis Fair, and people had confi- 

 dence in. the purity of the honey. 



The article by W. K. Morrison, in the Sep- 

 tember Review, was read by me with great 

 interest. It relates to the production of 

 comb honey without separators. This has 

 been a great honey seasqn here. 



Geo. J. Moloney. 



Wolverine. Mich.. Sept. 14. 



Mountain Mint — Bees Doing Well 



I am enclosing a small sample of flowers 

 and leaves of which I would like to know the 

 name. I see quite a lot of it. and it must 

 certainly be a fine honey-plant. I don't think 

 I ever saw bees work so eagerly in any bloom 

 as this, as manyas a half-dozen being on a 

 single stem like the sample, at onetime. I 

 think it furnishes only honey, as I have never 

 seen any bees working on it with pollen on 

 them, it grows about iH inches high, and on 

 ground tliat has not been cultivated. 



Bees are doing well here, the second crop 

 of white clover being now in bloom. We 

 need rain very badly. We had a heavy crop 

 or fall of honey-dew here which we would 

 have been glad to have done without, as it 

 was badly mixed with the first crop of white 

 clover. Swarming was light, not quite an 

 average of one swarm per colony. There 

 seems to be a good demand for honey at 10 

 cents for chunk or extracted, and I2}4 cents 

 for nice section honey. H. S. Carroll. 



Lentner. Mo.. July 25. 



[The flower is mountain mint— Koellia vir- 

 giniana— a plant infesting old fields and 

 thickets all through the Middle West. The 

 mint family to which this flower belongs is 

 famous for rich nectar, and bees visit these 

 flowers wherever found.— C. L. Walton.] 



oee or bees will soon be 



Preventing Overheated Brood 



I will give "Michigan" a tip or two (see 

 page 270). and he will not have any more over- 

 lieated brood at least. By taking a small 

 bit. 3-16 or '4 inch, and filling the outside case 

 with small holes, then dropi.iiug a few down 

 around at the top between the two walls, as 

 his cases are airtight or less, they would not 

 be so hot. or hot at all. 



While I do not think much of the 2-inch 

 double-walled hives sent out by the factories 

 today, yet when they are well ventilated they 

 are much better than single-walled hives— 

 for me. at least. (I have .■; of them). And 

 what few bees I keep here in the city are in a 

 very hot place. By setting the single-walled 

 hives in a box 6 inches longer and 8 inches 

 wider, making an air-space 3 inches at the 

 end and 4 inches on each side, and a i^i-inch 

 entrance, the box is kept from 6 to 8 inches 

 above the supers, a gable cover over the 

 supers with the 2 lower boards of the cover 

 slightly apart in the center of the gable cover, 

 and no cover during the summer over the 

 box. The bottom of the box is 4 inches froin 

 the ground filled with these small holes, and 

 the inside bottom-board 2 to 4 inches above 

 the lower one. I have had no trouble this 

 summer— no queen-cells, no loafing at the en- 

 trance, or laying out in front in colonies in 

 these boxes. The colonies transferred in 

 these boxes in Inly and August quit their 

 bad ways and almost stopped their fanning 

 at the entrance during the hottest days. 



Oregon. 



