378 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bees. A "Manual of the Apiary" 

 -will be found in tlie library of every 

 progressive bee-keeper. We bave 

 made great improvements in beecul- 

 ture within the last decade, and many 

 more are needed and are continually 

 being made, and unless we subscribe 

 for and read a good bee periodical we 

 sball be left behind. I frequently And 

 a single article in my bee-paper that 

 is worth more to me than the price of 

 a year's sublcription. 



Nothing is better calculated to mis- 

 lead us than the idea that bee-culture 

 has acquired perfection, and that we 

 know it all. Americans may lead the 

 world in this art, but it is in its in- 

 fancy, and who can tell what the 

 coming bee will be like V We should 

 keep a register of the apiary, so that 

 at a mere glance we can ascertain the 

 age, race, strain and quality of the 

 queen of any colony ; determine the 

 character of her progeny ; the amount 

 of honey stored, and the increase. 



By having a history of each colony 

 before us, we can avoid many mis- 

 takes that will occur, if we depend 

 upon a treacherous memory. We 

 should have every thing needed in 

 the apiary on hand, and ready for use 

 at the commencement of the season, 

 and we should give our bees all need- 

 ful care, and supply their wants at 

 the proper time. There should be no 

 putting off until to-morrow what 

 should be done to-day. 



Dexter,© Maine. 



supers when hiving swarms with 

 starters only in the brood-frames. 



Whenever I do find pollenized sec- 

 tions, they are over a colony that has 

 not sent out a swarm, and has no 

 queen-excluding board in use ; after a 

 swarm has issued from a parent col- 

 ony it seems to devote its whole en- 

 ergy for a few days to the gathering 

 of honey, not pollen, and but little 

 brood is reared at first while the 

 queen is recuperating her exhausted 

 energies. By the time that brood is 

 being reared, comb has been built, 

 and there is room for the storing of 

 pollen. 



This is how I bave reasoned upon 

 the subject, but, if others who have 

 adopted my method are troubled by 

 newly-hived swarms storing pollen in 

 sections, I see no explanation except 

 that of locality. Still, the fact re- 

 mains that I have never found a pol- 

 lenized section over a newly-hived 

 swarm when managed as I advise, 

 while I have occasionally found one 

 over a colony that has not swarmed ; 

 hence, I reason that using starters 

 only in the brood-nest when hiving 

 swarms ought not to lead to the stor- 

 ing of pollen in sections. 

 JRogersville, d Mich. 



the bees shall store honey, and of the 

 thickness they shall build their combs. 



With the non-progressive, old-fash- 

 ioned box-hive, the bee-keeper must 

 helpessly wait until he shall destroy 

 his colony over the sulphur pit, to see 

 if there is left for him even a mod- 

 erate quantity of honey of inferior 

 quality, and in an unmarketable con- 

 dition. 



Philadelphia, o. Pa. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaL 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



May and Jnne ManageiDent. 



H. GRIFFIN. 



For tne American Bee JoumaL 



Hints to Beginners in Bee-keeping. 



JOHN SHALLCROSS. 



Pollen in tlie Sections, 



-W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



I am in receipt of a card from F. 

 A. Gemmill, asking the following 

 qnestion : " What remedy would you 

 suggest to keep pollen out of the sec- 

 tions when hiving swarms on empty 

 frames ? That is the stickler in this 

 locality— Ont., Canada.'' 



I think Mr. G. could not have found 

 one who knows less upon this subject 

 than does myself. Not more than 

 two or three of my sections in one 

 thousand have contained pollen or 

 bee-bread. It is possible that locality 

 may account for its absence ; and, 

 again, it is possible that queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-boards also exclude the 

 pollen, as where the brood goes, there 

 also appears the pollen. Before I 

 used queen-excluders I was troubled 

 with the queen going into the sec- 

 tions, and then sections adjoining 

 those containing brood were almost 

 always filled with bee-bread. 



I presume that Mr. Gemmill's idea 

 is, that the bees having no combs in 

 the brood apartment would store pol- 

 len in the combs furnished them in 

 the supers. I am aware that this 

 would be a natural inference, and I 

 will admit that I feared there might 

 be trouble when I began using the 

 new Heddon hive, but the result only 

 proved the excellency of that old ad- 

 vice, to " never trouble trouble, till 

 trouble troubles you;" for no bee- 

 bread made its appearance in the 



The use of comb foundation, besides 

 being an encouraging invitation to the 

 bees to commence immediate work, is 

 a great saving of honey. It is esti- 

 mated that at least 20 pounds of honey 

 are consumed in elaborating one 

 pound of wax. 



Some have supposed that wax was 

 gathered by the bees from plants, or 

 manufactured by them from pollen ; 

 but such is not the case. It is the 

 natural, unctious secretion of the bee, 

 which exudes from the wax pockets 

 between the chitinous folds of the 

 under part of the body, and is pro- 

 duced most abundantly during the 

 honey harvest. When most needed 

 the bees seem to have the faculty of 

 producing it as required. If supplied 

 in the shape of comb or foundation, 

 they give less attention to its produc- 

 tion and more to the gathering of 

 stores. 



These are facts of which the experi- 

 ence of the beginner in bee-keeping 

 will soon enable him to take advan- 

 tage, and thus he will learn to make 

 the most profitable use of his bees. 



Occasionally the section-boxes will 

 need inspection. When full, and the 

 cells nicely capped, they must be at 

 once removed and replaced with 

 empty sections. If allowed to remain 

 in the hive, the bees will mar the 

 purity of the white wax by constantly 

 traveling over it. 



This process of obtaining honey 

 will exhibit the advantage of the 

 movable-frame system. At all times 

 the apiarist has access to every comb, 

 and can remove or exchange frames, 

 and direct in what part of the hive 



I say May, because the season is a 

 month late ; I am doing the things 

 that I ought to have done a month 

 ago. 



A beginner in bee-keeping having 

 say 10 colonies, should take the 6 

 strongest for comb honey, and the 

 other 4 for extracted. Having the 

 sections and division-boards, from one 

 of the colonies worked for comb 

 honey take all the frames with no 

 brood, shaking all the bees off, and 

 if they are not very strong in bees, 

 take out one or two of the frames that 

 had brood ; put in the board, and fill 

 the space bee-tight between the board 

 and the side of the hive with some- 

 thing. Close the entrance on the 

 sides; and put on the sections. 



Now, having some combs, take the 

 ones with brood and put them in the 

 bottom of one of the hives worked 

 for extracted honey, lifting out the 

 frames in the place of them, and put- 

 ting all the frames having no brood 

 in the top, and so on with all the 

 hives, filling out the rest of the top 

 with full sheets of foundation. When 

 the strongest of these colonies have 

 pretty nearly all of the tops of their 

 hives full, exchange combs with the 

 ones not being so nearly complete — 

 not extracting any until all are full. 



Kilgore,^ Ky. 



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Price 0) both. Olmb 



The American Bee Journal 1 00. . 



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Canadian Bee Journal 2 00. . 1 75 



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and Cook's Manual 2 25. . 2 00 



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 Binder for Am. Bee Journal..! 60.. 1 50 

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Farmer's Account Book 4 00.. 2 00 



Western World Guide 150.. 130 



Heddon's book, "Success,".. 1 .50,.. 1 40 



A Year Among the Bees 1 75.. 150 



Convention Hand-Book 1 50 . . 1 JO 



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