July 6, 1899. 



AMERICAiN BEE JOUENAL 



423 



and to handle, but he has fears that the two-story hives 

 with smaller frames are not so g-ood. Mr. Poppleton thinks 

 there is no question that the g'reater capacity all in one 

 stor3- is much better for extracted honey, altho he doesn't 

 pretend to understand why. Mr. Root says orders are on 

 the increase for 10 and 12 frame Lang-stroth hives from ex- 

 tracted-honey men of the South, and the 8-frame size is pre- 

 ferred by comb-honey men of the Korth. Quite a few are 

 ordering- what he calls Draper's " barns " to test alongside 

 of the reg-ular 8-frame hives. 



Comb versus Extracted Honey. — In a discussion re- 

 ported in the Canadian Bee Journal, Mr. Holtermann took 

 the ground that the beginner should be discouraged from 

 producing- comb honej'. He estimated that 70 pounds of 

 comb could be produced to 100 of extracted. Mr. Gemmill 

 thought this mig-ht be right some years, and some years 

 wrong. Mr. Davidson thought the amount of comb was 

 placed too high, and Mr. Darling said that not far from him 

 first-class comb honey was sold for 5 cents. No one seemed 

 readj' to champion the cause of comb honey. 



Queens Reared in Queenless Colonies.— Dr. Miller 

 seems to have in W. W. Somerford an ally to help support 

 his heretical notion that good queens can be reared in a 

 colony from which the queen has been removed. Mr. S. 

 saj's that such queens have given him entire satisfaction 

 for j-ears, seeming to be just as good as queens reared by 

 the Doolittle plan, except at times just after a honey-flow. 

 At such times he is obliged to do considerable culling in 

 order to g-et large queens that will mate quickly, and early 

 mating and early laying he considers the best evidence of a 

 good queen. — Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



Inspecting Queens in the Cells. — W. W. Somerford re- 

 lates in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that when rearing queens 

 in foul-broody apiaries he found it essential to examine the 

 contents of the queen-cells before the time of hatching, 

 otherwise there mig-ht be in a cell nothing but a dead larva. 

 He made a cut across the base of the cell with the little 

 blade of a sharp cell-knife, tipt the blade sufficiently to open 

 the cut so he could have a good look at the occupant, then 

 masht the cut nicely together, and with one or two delicate 

 touches of the hot tire-bos of a smoker it was welded to- 

 gether to the satisfaction of the bees. 



TraveUStain. — Editor Doolittle, in the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper, refers to the discussion that has been going on as 

 to the cau.se of travel-stain, and after referring to the theory 

 that dark bits of wax from the brood-combs are incorpora- 

 ted in the cappings wliile they are in the process of con- 

 struction, says: 



" While I agree to this part, I also believe there is such 

 a thing as ' travel-stain,' or something of the kind, for I 

 have yet to see a single section of honey which has been 

 left on the hive three weeks after it was finisht that was as 

 spotless snow white as it was on completion ; and if left on 

 two months it is discolored to a sufficient extent to throw it 

 into a lower grade when putting up for market. I quite 

 agree in this conclusion, for I have had combs built scores 

 of times between old combs in the brood-chamber wlien 

 fully one-half of the wax they contained was that taken 

 from the old combs each side of the one being built." 



Mr. Doolittle will have no great difticultj-in having- any 

 comb-hone}- producer of experience and observation agree 

 ■with him. 



Stimulative Feeding. — Editor Gerstung, of the Deutsche 

 Bienenzucht, sent out a series of questions regarding stim- 

 ulative feeding. Of IS replying, 8 thought the harvest 

 might be iiicreast by such feeding, and the other_7 would 

 none of it. The reason for these opposite views is that 

 stimulative feeding is a two-edged sword, a speculation 

 upon the future, sometimes turning out well, and sometimes 

 causing loss. All agreed that as to localities and colonies, 

 the place for such feeding is where early harvests are best, 

 and the colonies to be treated are the strong ones. Eight 

 would feed pure honey, others would add some albuminous 

 substance, as pollen, flour, milk ; 2 would feed sugar if 

 honey was yet in the hive, and one would feed sugar uncon- 

 ditionally. Feeding should begin about 6 weeks before the 

 full harvest, and cease about 6 weeks before its close. Feed 

 in small portions often repeated, preferably at nightfall, 

 with great care to prevent robbing. The conclusion was 

 that stimulative feeding was advisable only in the hands of 

 the careful and experienced, being almost sure to bring bit- 

 ter disappointment to the novice. 



^^jUSf: V :' mmtMy 



MR. J. W. OQLESBY. 



The subject of our sketch this time is Mr. J. W. Oglesbj', 

 a bee-keeper living in Logan Co., Ark., whose picture ap- 

 pears herewith, and who gives the following short ac- 

 count of himself : 



I was born May 29, 1858, near Knobnoster, Mo., and 

 brought up all over the country. In 1863 my parents moved 

 to Douglas Co., Kan., thence to Nebraska, thence to Holt 

 Co., Mo., thence to St. Clair Co., Mo., all within a period of 

 four years. There we lived until I became of age, and I 

 was married to Miss Virginia Peeden, who died in 1888, 

 leaving me with two children. 



In 1889 I was married airain, this time to Miss Nannie 

 Poorman, of Milesburgh, Pa., who is still alive and the 

 mother of four prattlers — three girls and one boy. 



I have followed nearly all vocations, from the cow- 

 puncher to the merchant (my present vocation), having 



been farmer, school 

 teacher, book agent, 

 sewing machine 

 agent, insurance 

 agent, "patent rig-ht 

 man," and about all 

 the rest of the ways 

 of making a living, 

 out finally I settled 

 down with a small 

 stock of drugs, and 

 for the last few 

 years I have been 

 making some mon- 

 ey in drugs coupled 

 with bee-keeping. 

 This latter industry 

 is my chief delight. 

 In' March, 1895, I 

 bought a colony of 

 golden Italian bees, 

 the "ABC of Bee- 

 Culture," and sub- 

 scribed for the Am- 

 erican Bee Journal, 

 and " at it I went." 

 With hard study I 

 managed to conduct 

 my amateur apiary 

 in such a manner 

 that I got about 40 pounds of fine honey the first year and 

 one swarm. The follovs-ing winter I bought and Italianized 

 some blacks, and have since run up, by artificial swarming, 

 to about 30 colonies — last summer — but I doubled up to 23 

 colonies in the fall. I sold 4 colonies and lost 4 by robbing 

 this spring ; however, the 4 that were robbed were queen- 

 less, and there has been no honey-flow whatever here 

 this spring, and I was afraid to g-o thru to examine for fear 

 of Inducing robbing-, when the bees concluded to "go thru " 

 themselves, which they did. Well, I can't say that I lost 4, 

 either, as I doubled them over strong colonies that I was 

 sure had queens, and I think I lost only a few bees, so I 

 don't count that much loss, yet mj- count is 4 colonies less. 



My bees are all in fine condition. I have the Adels, and 

 better workers I never saw. I pride myself in keeping my 

 stock pure and my colonies strong. I use the dovetail hive 

 with Hoffman frames, and run for extracted honey, for 

 which I have a ready market here at home for all I produce, 

 at 7'i to 10 cents a pound. I believe in large hives, even 

 having some of mine 3'i stories high. I get more honey, 

 and can control swarming better. Our products for this 

 year were very good. 



I hope the old American Bee Journal's shadow may 

 never grow less. J. W. Oglesby. 



Logan Co., Ark. 



