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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Dec. 28 1899. 



In his address delivered at the meeting, Pres. Lovesy 

 said : 



" As far as the bee-industry is concerned, this has been 

 a peculiar season, and in many parts of the State it has 

 been anything but a profitable one for the bee-keepers ; 

 while in some localities the winter losses were not so severe, 

 the wet, cold, backward spring was very destructive, some 

 bee-keepers suffering heavily, and even those bees that were 

 left were so reduced that while many of them built up. and 

 some of them did very well, others lingered along, and some 

 of them died off thru the summer. But it is pleasant to 

 note that in the south and southeast parts of the State, as 

 also in parts of the southwest, the conditions have been 

 more favorable. Some bee-keepers in those localities in- 

 form me that their bees never did as well before as they 

 have this year. I have received reports from different parts 

 of the State, ranging all the way from nothing up to 282!< 

 pounds per colony, spring count. While a few have re- 

 ported a scant honey-flow, many have reported that it has 

 been abundant : thus the fault, as a rule, where success was 

 not obtained, seems to have been climatic conditions, and a 

 lack of strong colonies to collect the flow of honey ; the 

 principal cause of these conditions being the unusually 

 severe weather in the month of May in the north, and in 

 some portions of the central part of the State. As a rule, the 

 honey crop is excellent in quality, and the prices are fair, 

 with a good demand. 



"I have received many complaints in regard to the 

 fruit-spraying. We had hoped that this question was set- 

 tled for all time, but, like Banquo's ghost, it bobs up again. 

 There are more wild theories advanced in regard to this 

 matter than there are about any other subject. It would be 

 very gratifying if some plan could be adopted to remedy this 

 matter effectually." 



No. 2.— A Colony of Bees— How to Make the Most 

 Out of It. 



BY "oi,D GRIMES." 



I WILL suppose in this instance that the bee-keeper de- 

 sires to make as much advancement as possible and to 

 keep abreast of the times. When I was a boy and lived 

 at Old Grimes' homestead, the box-hive was used exclu- 

 sively, and I have no doubt my grandfather. Old Grimes, 

 could have written a volume upon the benefits of said hive 

 over the earlier straw-skep or the hollow-log. 



But the Grimes family have now moved out more into 

 the center of our Nation, and the progress of bee-culture 

 has moved along also to a more improved management, 

 and tho, like my grandfather, I am called Old Grimes, I 

 have not learned all there is about bee-keeping — there is 

 enough left to the business to keep the younger generation 

 busy improving for a long time. 



In article No. 1 the reader has learned that to get the 

 most out of a bee-hive it must be of good material and well 

 made, and the same terms can be applied to the bees that 

 occupy it. 



My long experience teaches me that to have a colony 

 do its very best in 1900 I must commence to prepare it in 

 this year 1899. A first requisite is a vigorous race of bees, 

 and for an all-pui-pose bee I would recommend the Italian. 

 The Carniolan race has within the past few years gained 

 many advocates, but the test of further time will be neces- 

 sary to allow it to equal the Italian, if it ever does. 



In order to get the most out of a colony there is a gen- 

 eral consensus in the fraternity of bee-keepers that the 

 prosperity of the colony is centered in the queen ; from my 

 own, and the experience of my ancestors, that is all very 

 true, but before the advent of queen-breeding the drone 

 held an equal if not a superior place in the eyes of the 

 apiarist. And why not ? In the rearing of a superior race 

 of horses the selection is in the male line, the same in 

 the rearing of all other animals, the same in poultry and 

 other feathered tribes. But in bee-culture the breeding 

 from a superior strain of males is a more difficult problem, 



and the energies of the breeder are centered upon the easier 

 problem surrounding the queen. 



Not only should queens be reared from colonies show- 

 ing markt desirable traits, but they should be mated to 

 drones not kin, and showing desirable traits. Isolation is 

 so necessary in these cases that the queen-breeder, if he 

 does not altogether ignore the drone factor, relegates it to 

 the background. The future queen-breeder, or the breeder 

 who wishes to compete for the prize of a hundred-dollar 

 queen, must give more attention to the drone, and I guar- 

 antee that those colonies of bees that have made phenom- 

 enal records were made so from a chance combination of 

 desirable traits. The bee-keeper who desires to get the 

 most from his colony should continually bear in mind that 

 he should leave nothing to chance. 



In order to rear good queens I have no further advice 

 than to refer the reader to the books bearing upon that sub- 

 ject, and I regret I cannot refer to a treatise upon drone- 

 rearing, for in the Grimes family it is held in equal import- 

 ance, and it seems that the only point neglected in this age 

 of progress is the mating of queen and drone thru contin- 

 ued selection and isolation. 



Having a good strain of bees, the next requisite for 

 their welfare is a generous master. As a rule, a colony of 

 bees that have been robbed by a penurious owner until trfey 

 have barely enough stores to last them until spring, will 

 not amount to much unless conditions are exceptionally 

 favorable. The wintering of bees in our cold climate is far 

 from a certainty, and the problem still vexes a great major- 

 ity of the fraternity. The Grimes family have settled sev- 

 eral points in this line to their own satisfaction, and one of 

 the chiefest is an abundance — yes, a superabundance — of 

 good honey for wintering. 



Another factor is a cellar of even temperature ; and a 

 cellar in porous soil is better than one in clay or hard- 

 pan ; the latter can be made healthful by digging it deep, 

 and filling in a foot or more of the bottom with stones and 

 providing ample drainage. In order to winter successfully 

 every time, give the bees plenty of ventilation under the 

 brood-chamber, and ample space for all dead bees to drop 

 free from the combs. A rim at least two inches in depth, 

 with several ventilating holes in it covered with wirecloth, 

 should be placed between the bottom-board and brood- 

 chamber for this purpose. 



There should be no upward ventilation ; loose covers, 

 mats, quilts and cushions have been the cause of the death 

 of more bees than any other cause in wintering, and to 

 hold the heat more effectually in the hive, an even-fitting 

 honey-board should be used, and over this a telescope cover. 

 The hive-covers of the day are for the most part cheap 

 and flimsy, and the flimsiest of all are those made of many 

 pieces. A cover that merely rests upon the top of the hive 

 with nothing to hold it in position except as the bees glue 

 it, is not worthy the name of cover, and by some is rightly 

 termed a ■' lid." The long and the short of it is that a 

 cover covers, and a lid does not cover. A lid may answer 

 when the weather is warm and the colony strong, for they 

 are in a condition to close quickly the openings if broken, 

 but in cool weather, or when a super is added, or when a. 

 colony is in medium or weak condition, a lid is always 

 loose, and the vitality of the colony in the form of heat is 

 constantly wasting. 



The old adage in reference to the preservation of health 

 in a person — "Keep the feet warm and the head cool" — 

 should be reverst in the case of a colony of bees. The 

 cover should cover not only during the winter months, but 

 after the bees are put out upon the summer stand it is more 

 necessary that the upward ventilation should be closed. At 

 this time it is with a colony of bees as with a steam engine 

 — if the engineer sends the steam from boiler to engine 

 thru a defective pipe, he will not get much out of his en- 

 gine. This principle holds good even in cool nights in the 

 hight of honey-gathering, and in any climate, and on this 

 account I call for a radical change in cover construction. 



A colony of bees that comes out in the spring with a 

 whoop and a hurrah is a source of pleasure to the generous 

 master, and it requires but little attention ; this should be 

 given at proper intervals in order to get that old, dark 

 honey, with which the outside combs are filled, manufac- 

 tured into brood. This is easiest done by uncapping a 

 comb and inserting it in the center of the brood-nest ; but 

 please exercise caution here, for more harm than good is 

 oftentimes done. Never interfere thus violently with the 

 broodnest until there are five or six frames in which there 

 is hatching brood. When the brood-chamber is brimful of 

 bees, put on a half-story extracting-super. I prefer these 



