AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



2T5 



our mountain honey is of superior 

 quality, with the exception of the last 

 extractings. 



I have been repeatedly asked if it costs 

 much to establish an apiary here, and 

 this article is partially to answer that 

 enquiry. There are parties here that 

 make quite a business of rearing bees to 

 sell. They get up very cheap movable- 

 comb hives and Italianize and sell at 

 about -$1.50 per colony, and sometimes 

 less. One can pick up colonies in nail- 

 kegs, old boxes, barrels, etc., at from 

 25 to 50 cents each. One party bought 

 a barrel a short time ago for 50 cents. 

 He sold $8.00 worth of honey out of it, 

 and had bees enough to make two good 

 colonies. 



Many colonies can be obtained by 

 taking away the bees and leaving the 

 honey for the owner. Understand that 

 any one who is so inclined can save a 

 swarm or more, for through the months 

 of April, May and June the country is 

 full of flying or clustered swarms; and 

 then again in September and October 

 they take possession of vacant chimneys, 

 church-steeples, cornices of buildings, 

 etc. In letting a contract for a house, 

 it is now customary to insert in the con- 

 tract that it must be bee-proof. 



Santa Ana, Calif., Aug. 14, 1893. 



Tlie Experiment Station — What 

 It May Do for Bee-Kecpiug. 



Written for the Michigan. '■^Grange Visitor^'' 

 BY HON. R. L. TAYLOR. 



Bee-keeping has been carried on for 

 thousands of years, but it is only within 

 the recollection of living men that it 

 has passed out of the mediaeval, which 

 was probably also the pre-historic stage. 

 It is natural, then, that in this, more 

 perhaps than in other rural occupations, 

 there should be questions pressing for 

 solution. It is much that these ques- 

 tions are being propounded, questions 

 for which until recently there was no 

 basis, and this very condition gives 

 promise of certain and valuable results. 

 It is as if the gates were just opened and 

 the apiarists were crowding forward to 

 see what a view of the inside would re- 

 veal. The interest thus exhibited will 

 be sure to observe and secure what is of 

 value. 



What the station may do for this 

 class is to undertake the solutions of 

 these questions that are uppermost, by 

 investigations which the members of 

 this class cannot well undertake sepa- 



rately. For instance, in the matter of 

 diseases of the bee there is much to be 

 learned. It is well known that foul 

 brood, the most dreaded of these dis- 

 eases, is caused by a bacillus which is 

 liable to convey the disease to any hive 

 which it may enter. It is known that it 

 may be carried from one hive to another 

 in honey. May it be so carried in wax ? 

 May it be conveyed by a hive which had 

 before contained the brood-combs and 

 bees of a diseased colony ? If so, how 

 may they best be disinfected ? Whether 

 the disease may be conveyed in wax 

 made from combs from an infected col- 

 ony and so carried from one part of the 

 country to another in comb foundation, 

 is a question of especial interest, and 

 demands speedy and careful attention. 



Again, it is a mooted question to what 

 extent it is profitable to use comb foun- 

 dation in the brood-chamber. Of caurse 

 a single experiment would not settle it, 

 but if carefully pursued on a somewhat 

 extended scale, the truth can be made 

 known. At the station this season an 

 attempt in this direction has been begun 

 with twelve colonies. Four swarms 

 were hived on comb, four on comb foun- 

 dation and four on frames with starters 

 only, and it is quite certain the results 

 will be instructive. 



Then there is quite a large variety of 

 comb foundations used. These are dis- 

 tinguished by a difference in weight as 

 well as by difference in the shape of the 

 septum and of the side-walls caused by 

 differences in the machines with which 

 it is made. Now some bee-keepers se- 

 lect the extra-thin, some the thin and 

 some the medium ; others choose that 

 with a flat bottom, others again want 

 that of the natural shape, and in almost 

 every case the reasons for the choice are 

 purely fanciful. Which is really the 

 best ? Which is least objectionable in 

 the honey, and, by the use of which do 

 the bees secure the most honey ? By 

 proper experiments the station should 

 be able to tell bee-keepers what is the 

 truth in these matters. 



It has been assumed that it is more 

 profitable to have very strong colonies 

 rather than moderate ones during the 

 time when the crop is being gathered. 

 The station ought to be able to say defi- 

 nitely in time whether this is a sound 

 assumption. 



Looking in another direction we find 

 from the very expectancy with which 

 new claims and investigations are re- 

 garded, and the eagerness with which 

 supposed truth is received, especially in 

 matters where there is a promise held 

 \ out of a saving of labor or trouble, that 



