031 



1905- THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 7 



ducer, and we can now look into DISADVANTAGE OF UNPRE 

 that part of the program. PARFnMP-QQ 



In working for comb honey, we can i-AKh^iJNiiijb. 



give room enough in tne supers, but tv.^ t orv,»r,* r iv/r 

 it is only foundation, instead of built Lament of a Massachusetts Apu 



combs. And when the honey comes 

 in freely, the bees cannot build out 

 the foundation fast enough to hold it, 

 and they cram it into the brood nest 

 until there is not room enough for 

 the queen to lay, and then swarming 

 takes place. 



anst. 



By Joe Pen. 



DITOR BEE-KEEPER: — A 

 stinging cold day in March found 

 me in close conversation with a 



But the most remarkable and, to ^^"tleman owning the finest cattle in 

 me, inexplicable feature of the case, ^ county, the prize-winning sheep, 



is the fact that the young queen will t"0"sands of acres of pasture, wood- 

 defend herself, and prevent the bees ^",' brooks, stones and rattle- 

 from crowding the brood nest with snakes, and thirty stands of bees that 



honey, far better than an older one. ^^"'^ '"^o winter quarters with su- 

 That's one thing for which I don't P^''^ ^"*^ honey boxes all on. 



see any adequate explanation, but it , After a lunch on cold lobster and 



is a fact all the same; and I presume "°^ Scotch, 1 started in high spirits 



the reason why young queens do not °" "^^ ten-mile drive home. The 



often swarm. prospect of being associated with a 



However, the above applies to Prominent gentleman who would have 

 comb honey work. The European ^ dozen apiaries, rear queens by the 

 apiculturists who use modern hives thousand, supply the champagne-tint- 

 always work for extracted honey. ^^ palates of our exclusive summer 

 That changes the condition entirely, residents with choicest honey, filled 

 If enough empty combs are given, "^^ with glee, although the thought 

 the queen will not be crowded, ^^^^ ^ would not be able to enter the 

 but she will have all the space '^nks of those who were rearing 

 needed; and no matter whether she is q|^ieens in quantities rather clouded the 

 one, two, three or four years old, or picture, but the stock I had worked 

 more, there is not likely to be any ^o hard to improve, and when I had 

 swarming until she begins to fail. got it on as good a honey-producing 



There is another condition that I basis as T could, would simply be 

 should have taken in consideration, transferred to a new field, and the 

 Most of the bees in Europe are kept few short cuts in the business I had 

 in box hives, rather straw hives or studied out would be applied to a 

 skeps, entirely too small. The mod- larger field. This was the mental 

 ern or movable-comb hives are often picture. Now for the facts and re- 

 one-story affairs, entirely too small. suits: 



I have but very little experience A large order — not so large as we 



with small hives, and furthermore, 1 at first intended — was made out. 



don't want any of it; but I can readi- When it was forwarded, instead of 



ly see that in such cases the most hundreds of hives, it was twenty. But 



prolific queens, usually the young- with the thirty eight-frame hives this 



est, will fill all the available space would do. and of course more material 



the quickest and swarm the first and would be coming right along. Strange 



most often. In fact, an inferior queen as it may seem, many of the colonies 



might have all the space needed and survived without any protection. The 



not swarm in a hive too small for a last year's honey boxes being on the 



better queen. 

 Knoxville, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1904. 



Mr. Wm. Smith. Cameron, Calif., 

 writes that "the past honey season 

 was a flat failure in Southern Califor- 

 nia." 



Can you use a few sample copies? 



hives, as I mentioned before. Twen- 

 ty to thirty "below," and no protec- 

 tion, out on their summer stands — • 

 how did a bee manage to survive? 



A large house was in course of con- 

 struction, plenty of carpenters, and 

 yet not one for the twenty hives. 



After much urging and strong talk, 

 the' hives were assembled, bees, in 



