American ^ae Journal 



December, 1909. 



the honey they praposed to call for it 

 the following Sunday. The honey was 

 replaced in the box. and while standing 

 near one of the men the other struck 

 Mr. Davenport a terrible blow on the 

 head with a loaded billet, as it ap- 

 peared, and almost knocked him sense- 

 less. He was struck twice more, but 

 reached the door, pushed it open, and 

 rushed out yelling at the top of his 

 voice. This frightened the men so 

 they ran across a field, but in their 

 haste to get out of the building, they 

 upset the honey which was scattered 

 and broken on the floor. Though the 

 shock and injuries to Mr. Davenport 

 were severe, he was rapidly recovering 

 the first of November. 



A reward of $100 has been offered 

 for the apprehension and conviction of 

 the person or persons who committed 

 the murderous assault. It seems strange 

 to Mr. Davenport that any one should 

 so attack him, as he never has any 

 money on hand worth mentioning. We 

 regret very much to learn of this dis- 

 tardly attempt on the life of one of our 

 subscribers, and trust that the culprits 

 mav be arrested and made to suff^er 

 for' it. 



Two Virgriii Queeii.s Introduced 

 Together 



Two laying queens have been known 

 to live together peaceably if one or 

 both were old. Virgin queens are un- 

 derstood to have a mortal antipathy to 

 each other, a fight to the finish occur- 

 ring as soon as they can get at each 

 other. But now the supposedly impos- 

 sible has happened. Here is the state- 

 ment as it appeared in Gleanings : 



As the season was drawing to a close our 

 Mr. Pritchard. at our north yard, had a sur- 

 plus of virgins that came near starving to 

 death. He had no place to put them, but he 

 picked out two of the best, and put them 

 intocwi? Miller introducing cage. This cage 

 of two queens was tlien given a compartment 

 in a baby nucleus, and contrary to what he 

 expected, both queens were kindly received; 

 both were fertilized, and both began laying 

 side by side without showing any inclination 

 whatever to quarrel. 



Mr. Pritchard accounts for these two vir- 

 gins not fighting, when placed together, to 

 the fact that they were nearly starved. 

 When put in the same cage they both began 

 to eat away the candy. If they had not been 

 nearly starved, he says the first thing they 

 would nave done would be to engage in a 

 mortal combat. 



Todd Hive-Stand 



F. Dundas Todd has devised a hive- 

 stand that is unique. He says this, in 

 Gleanings : 



At present my hives rest on three dowel- 

 rods J'a-inch in thickness, and so far I am 

 satisfied with the results. These rods pass 

 through suitable holes bored in 2x4 rough 

 lumber; and as I prefer to have 2 hives on 

 each stand, each will, therefore, consist of 

 3 cross-pieces. The specifications are; 3 

 pieces hxiz inches, dowel-rod; 3 pieces 2x4- 

 X24. rough lumber, witfi ?^-inch holes bored 

 at 4. 12. and 20 inches, centers 2 inches from 

 one side. 



The construction is simple. Push the rods 

 in place and fasten with nails. Cost, about 

 20 cents. 



A hive-stand made of fencing, simply 

 2 cross-pieces nailed on 2 longer pieces, 

 will cost, with fencing at $3.5 a thou- 

 sand, about 1.1 cents for each stand, 

 and it is a simpler matter to make than 

 the Todd stand. What advantage has 

 the new hive-stand to offer that will 

 overbalance the extra expense and 



trouble? The plain fence-board stand 

 presents a larger surface for the hive 

 to rest upon, and this larger surface of 

 contact gives a good chance for water, 

 in a rainy time, to remain between the 

 bottom-board and stand, making the 



colonies which, at this time, is 26. I am now 

 building a honey-house which will be located 

 immediately under the trees in the rear of 

 the stum p which appears in the foreground 

 at the left of i\^q main picture. No. i. 



The view of No. 2 is that of my increase for 

 this season, which are all located under 

 hickory trees. 



No. I.— Apiary of L. W. Crovatt, of Savannah. Ga. 



stand rot much more quickly tTian the 

 Todd stand with the hive resting merely 

 upon the dowel-rods or round sticks. 

 But the lasting of the stand is a smaller 

 matter than the lasting of the bottom- 

 board. The same rotting that occurs 

 in the stand will at the same time oc- 

 cur in the bottom-board, thus making 

 the cheaper stand much more expensive 

 in the long run. In many localities 

 the presence of large black wood-ants 

 is a factor to be reckoned with. The 

 two flat surfaces coming together offer 

 just the right thing for these pests to 

 make their nests, and both bottom- 

 board and stand will be thoroughly 

 honey-combed. The very small surface 



ics 

 comb 



I am running a portion of the 26 colon 

 for extracted and the remainder for como 

 honey. Last season was extremely poor in 

 this locality, but we are very hopeful for a 



good crop this year, th- "-- "- ' 



proven good t 



upon the fall ,.,_.,. il^.h k, „ „ 



lific swamp growths for our crop in this sec 

 tion. 1 might say that the year is an excep- 

 tion to the rule since we have secured a fair 



is year, the spring flow having 

 to date. We depend principally 

 flow from goldenrod and pro- 

 rowths for our crop in this se" 

 t say that the year is an exce 

 iiuii 10 intr rule since we have secured a fj 

 crop of honey from the spring flow, wliich 

 the first in several years. Other bee-keepe 

 of this section report the same condition. 



:pers 



View No. 2 is a picture of Mrs. Crovatt, 

 who hives the new swarms and assists gen- 

 erally in the apiary. In fact, she is my main- 

 stay in the business, looking after things 

 generally in my absence. I am home only 

 on .Sundays, and look after the bees onlv 

 once in seven days. This is our fourth. vear 

 with bees. Others report failures, but I find 

 invariably that the bees are not at fault: 



No. 2.— Apiakv of Mks. L. W. Ckovatt, of Savan.nam. Ga. 



offered by the dowel-rods does not 

 favor these nests. In the long run the 

 Todd stands may be much the cheaper. 



A Georgia Apiary — Selling Honey 



I am sending two views of my apiary 

 located at Thunderbolt, near Savannah. Ga.. 

 but while they give a fair impression of the 

 apiary, they do not show the full number of 



rather the erstwhile keepers, for I have 

 bought out 3 already, and in building up the 

 colonies I have had fair luck to date. Last 

 season I secured i?!^ cents per section for 

 comb honey, and 35 cents per pint for ex- 

 tracted honey. 



Those Farmers' Tactics. 



It is a great pity that the bee-papers could 

 not educate up the rural bee-keepers to se- 

 curing what the honey is really worth for 

 their crop. Think of it! They market.honev 



