1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



135 



from the line. The Territory will be a grand place for bee- 

 keeping when it is "brolsen out," and, besides that, it will 

 break up the gang of out-laws which give us so much trouble. 

 Edna, Kans., Jan. 23. W. E. P. 



Answer. — The plan you propose, with perhaps half a 

 dozen thicknesses of flannel will work all right. The greatest 

 likelihood of trouble with your percolator will be that you may 

 not get the flannel fit down tight on the wood, and the water 

 will work a channel through the sugar to such a place, and 

 run through without taking its proper quota of sugar with it. 



But I wouldn't make any percolator at all. That's a thing 

 of the past. Set an empty hive-body over your hive of bees, 

 the frames being covered over with only a small hole for the 

 bees to get up into the empty hive. Fill a tumbler two-thirds 

 full of sugar, more or less, then 811 it up with water, lay over 

 it a single thickness of flannel, or two thicknesses of cotton- 

 cloth, put a saucer or a plate over this, then holding one hand 

 on top the plate, and the other under the tumbler, quickly 

 turn the whole thing upside down and set it in your empty 

 upper hive and cover bee-tight. It may be necessary to daub 

 a little syrup from the hole to the feed to get them started. 

 That's easier than getting syrup ready, and it's just as good 

 if not better. If you want to feed a larger quantity you can 

 take a gallon crock. 



A Question on Best Management. 



I wish to increase 30 colonies to 60, and get as much ex- 

 tracted honey as possible. Which is best to work, half of 

 them for honey and the rest for increase, or divide them all ? 

 My surplus houey is principally from heart's-ease. 



Shelton, Nebr. A. W. S. 



Answer. — I believe I'd work all alike, especially as your 

 chief harvest is late. 



He Wants a Successful Self-Hiver. 



I have some colonies in box-hives, and do not want to 

 transfer them this year. In swarming time I want them to 

 swarm naturally. I have no time to watch them as the 

 swarms issue. What is the best practical automatic swarm- 

 hiver or self-hiver now in use? Tenn. 



Answer. — I don't know. The swarm-hiver business is 

 yet in the raw, many having machines that they think will be 

 successful, but I don't know that any one as yet has anything 

 that will hive a swarm as satisfactorily every time as you can 

 hive them yourself. 



Transferring and Swarming. 



I have two colonies in box-hives, which I expect to transfer 

 to chaff hives next spring, on a full set of wired frames 

 of foundation. They are strong colonies. I am living in a 

 section where are black locust, poplar, basswood, white clover- 

 and Alsike clover, besides other wild flowers. 



Will the bees cast a good swarm by stimulating them on 

 granulated sugar syrup, after being transferred? Or had I 

 better not let them swarm ? I have been keeping bees for 

 five years, and had no opportunity to transfer. I have had 

 pretty fair success. 



Koch, O. A.M. S. 



Answer. — You will hardly transfer until honey is yielding, 

 and putting them on empty frames of foundation can hardly 

 be called transferring. Very likely they may not think of 

 swarming at all, and unless you are quite anxious for increase 

 you will be better off if they do not swarm. Feeding syrup 

 will not make much difference in the matter, unless there 

 comes a time when for several days they can gather nothing 

 outside, when feeding would keep up brood-rearing. 



Bee-Eeeping in New Mexico — May be Golden-Rod. 



I bought 10 colonies about a year ago, and last season I 

 got 8J:0 pounds of honey in one-pound sections, which I sold 

 for $136. -±0, and I have 38 colonies at present. My bees 

 were in the S-frame dovetailed hive, one super to the colony, 

 with flat covers painted on both sides, and I would not give it 

 for the gable cover for my use. Swarms come out as late as 

 Sept. 9, and fill the hive. 



We have a yellow flower that blooms late, and yields lots 



of honey. If Dr. Miller had it growing where he lives it 

 would be worth $100 a year to him. It grows in the driest of 

 years — the drier the better. I will mail him some of the seeds. 

 In a few years he will not have to feed S75 worth of sugar to 

 carry his bees through the winter. B. S. 



Eddy, N. Hex., Jan. 28. 



Answer. — I wonder if the yellow flower mentioned is not 

 golden-rod. It is highly lauded by some, while in other locali- 

 ties it seems to be worthless. 



CONDtrCTED BY 



Re\'. Emerson T. A-bbott, St. Josepft, Mo. 



mark ttlis. — " Quietness is the essential quality for 

 safe wintering, for with it always comes the least consump- 

 tion of stores, and with a minimum consumption of stores 

 comes the least possible exhausted vitality and the greatest 

 longevity during the spring and early summer days." — Doo- 

 little. 



Here is food for a good deal of thought, as it tells in a 

 few lines what one might take pages to write on the " winter 

 problem." To prevent " exhausted vitality " is everything to 

 the bee-keeper. When it is remembered that bees ivear 

 themselves out and do not die of disease, in most cases, it will 

 be seen how important it is to stop this wear as far as possible 

 during the winter, when we expect the workers to live five or 

 six months instead of that many weeks, as they do when 

 actually engaged in gathering honey. I have long insisted 

 that any method of feeding which makes it necessary to 

 disturb the bees during cold weather is a mistake, and a 

 serious one, too. Here is something along this same line from 

 Henry Alley, put in his blunt and rugged way : 



"Should we find any one in our apiary on a cold day 

 disturbing our bees, there would be a racket at once. Noth- 

 ing could make us so near wild as such a thing as that. We 

 hardly ever go about the hives at all in winter, fearing that 

 by merely stepping about the stands we might disturb the 

 bees. A colony of bees well supplied with food has no trouble 

 in caring for itself." 



Kot About Bees. — "Some people do not seem to be 

 able to comprehend the fact that almost all kinds of work 

 nowadays require careful, tlwugluful, earnest a^tlention. The 

 men who get good pay, who are making great strides in their 

 profession, concentrate all their energies — all their attention 

 and thought — on the work in question." — A. I. Root, in 

 Gleanings. 



Here is a real gem set in the finest of mounting, and it is 

 refreshing to find such in this age when many men spend more 

 time whining about the poor pay they get than they do in 

 thinking about how to do the work well they have in hand. I 

 hardly think Friend Root knew what a gem he was setting 

 before his readers when he uttered these words. Just think 

 of it ! "Careful, thoughtful, earnest attention !" How many 

 of us are giving this to the work we have in band ? Oh, if 

 this could only be printed in large letters and hung up in 

 every apiary, every shop and factory, in every store, on every 

 farm, and in every kitchen — nay, more, in every place where 

 human hands and brains are striving to get for themselves an 

 honest living — what a grand monitor it would be ! A careful, 

 thoughtful, earnest bee-keeper ; a careful, thoughtful, earnest 

 farmer ; a careful, thoughtful, earnest doctor, preacher, 

 lawyer, clerk, daily laborer, or housewife, giving close atten- 

 tion to all details — surely they mu.st succeed, and not be long 

 in want of soinething to do. But, alas for human weakness ! 

 No wonder that Bro. Root said he was tempted to say some- 

 times, " Oh, why is it that God made so many worth so little, 

 and only a few worth so much ?" But, then, as he says, God 

 did not make us so. We mode ourselves that way. Think 

 again — careful, thoughtful, earnest — are you ? 



Please ISeiiieniber that I am not a dealer in bee-keepers' 

 supplies, so do not send to me for a catalogue, etc. Just write to 

 those who advertise in the Bee Journal, for anything you may de- 

 sire in that line, and tbey will be pleased to supply your wants. 



But there's something you am send to me, and that is your sub- 

 scription to the Bee Journal for one or more years, if not already 

 paid in advance. Suppose you look at the wrapper-label on your 

 next copy of the Bee Journal, and see how your subscription ac- 

 count stands. If it is in arrears, please send on enough to put it^ 

 well, say to Jan. 1, 1896. any way. That will surely make at least 

 two people happy — yo^frself and /nyselt. Please "try it on." — Ei:>. 



