536 



THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



rights of others is lacking or is over- 

 balanced by the stronger self-interest, 

 or because the term "rights "is not 

 properly interpreted. 



Though these moral checks may be 

 effective in preventing overstocking, 

 still injustice may be involved in the 

 result. Here is the practical point. 

 Where a locality is overstocked, who 

 has a moral right to occupy the field 

 and who has not ? 



I venture the assertion that no 

 locality will accommodate to advan- 

 tage more than one honey producer. 

 If he makes that a specialty, and I 

 will venture a guess that within two 

 or three miles of nearly every skillful 

 and successful bee-keeper,there could 

 be found one or more farmers or 

 others who owned a few " bee-gums " 

 when the specialist began. The en- 

 terprise and success of the specialist 

 has influenced others to " dabble in 

 bees." and the result is overstocking. 

 Should the specialist now retire from 

 the li eld in favor of the prior occu- 

 pant V Would Mr. Clarke's " respect 

 for the rights of others " lead him to 

 do so ? 



Tlie fact that a man was first on 

 the ground, is a point in his favor; 

 but the fact that another has natural 

 and acquired qualifications to best 

 utilize the honey resources of his 

 locality ,is,in my judgment, a stronger 

 one in his favor. Of course any one 

 has a moral riglit to keep kees in 

 localities that are not fully stocked, 

 but as soon as the number of bees 

 increases beyond a certain limit, the 

 locality is overstocked, and some one 

 must fail. Then he who is lacking in 

 qualifications will consult his own 

 self-interest by respecting the moral 

 rights of those best fitted. 



About 18 miles from here a frtend 

 of mine keeps a few bees and sells 

 standard supplies. He says that a 

 few years ago he sold a thousand dol- 

 lars worth of supplies a year to the 

 farmers and others in his immediate 

 neighborhood, and that now scarcely 

 any of them have any bees. A well- 

 managed monopoly of the bee- busi- 

 ness would have saved these farmers 

 hundreds of dollars. Ageneral knowl- 

 edge of the business on their part 

 would have accomplished the same 

 result. Whether the desired protec- 

 tion be by law or by the power of 

 moral sentiment, the result should be 

 the same—" the survival of the 

 fittest." The utilization of our honey 

 resources should be intrusted to those 

 who are best qualified to accomplish 

 it, with little or no regard to priority. 



Mt. Vernon, o Iowa. 



Farm, Stock and Home. 



Points of Excellence in Bees. 



WM. HOYT. 



Having for several years given con- 

 siderable thought to the matter of 

 improving our bees, I will briefly out- 

 line a method that, if carried out by a 

 majority of the bee-keepers, would 

 undoubtedly in a few years give good 

 results. 



The first and principal object in the 

 keeping of bees is the production of 



honey, but there are several minor 

 points that must be taken into con- 

 sideration therewith. I will here in- 

 troduce a scale of points, imperfect, 

 I am well aware, but it will serve to 

 illustrate my meaning : 



To every colony of bees that gather 

 sufficient stores for winter, I would 

 allow one point ; then for every 15 

 pounds of extracted honey, one more 

 point. 



The next desirable quality to be 

 taken into consideration is hardiness 

 and ability to stand our unfavorable 

 winter and spring weather. Colonies 

 that winter perfectly, and come 

 through the spring without dwindling, 

 should be allowed three points. 



Next should come character and 

 disposition. If a colony can be hand- 

 led during a flow of honey without 

 stinging, spread out evenly upon the 

 combs and remain quiet while being 

 examined ; good to repel robbers and 

 moths, and not meddlesome (that is, 

 not attempting to rob weak colonies 

 or putting out their keeper's eyes, 

 when molested) I would allow three 

 points. 



Thus a colony having perfect dis- 

 position, wintering perfectly, and 

 getting 45 pounds of surplus honey, 

 or 90 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 having sufficient stores to winter, 

 would score ten points. 



I think that excessive natural 

 swarming should be discouraged, con- 

 sequently I would not allow any credit 

 for swarms east, but would commence 

 a new account with the new colony. 

 The bee-keeper, having kept a record 

 with each colony for one year, is then 

 ready to select say about 4 colonies 

 that have, during the previous season, 

 scored the highest number of points 

 from every 10 colonies, from which to 

 rear queens and drones ; two of the 

 selected colonies to be used for the 

 rearing of drones, and the remaining 

 two being used for rearing queens. 

 No drones should be allowed to issue 

 from the other colonies selected for 

 that purpose. 



For ttie American Bee jonmal. 



Some Exueriences of tlie Season, 



J. D. MANDEVILLE, M.D. 



I have kept bees for the last 11 

 years, and every year brings with it 

 some new experience and knowledge, 

 as well as increase and surplus. This 

 year my profits will consist, in part,of 

 experience. I began with 2 colonies 

 in 1876, and have increased them to 

 about 110 or 120 colonies, but 1 now 

 have 46 colonies, having lost 51 colo- 

 nies with diarrhea in the spring of 

 1877 from out-door wintering, I think, 

 which reduced my number to 3 colo- 

 nies ; since then I have wintered my 

 bees in the cellar, with little or no 

 loss, and last winter I wintered 42 

 colonies without any loss. 



This being a remarkably dry season, 

 I fear that the profits to apiarists will 

 be largely in experieuce, with but 

 small surplus and little or no in- 

 crease. 1 am a little more fortunate, 

 however, than some others who, de- 



siring to increase their number of 

 colonies by natural swarming, kept 

 off the supers until the white clover 

 honey-flow was over, and did not get 

 any honey, nor much increase. But 

 I did not desire any increase, so I put 

 on my supers early, and I think I 

 have SOO or 1,000 pounds of surplus 

 honey in one-pound sections, if I 

 take it before they carry it below into 

 the brood-chamber. I think that the 

 coming fall and winter will furnish a 

 bitter experience to the bee-keepers 

 in this locality, for if the bees are not 

 fed, they will perish for want of win- 

 ter stores, as some colonies have 

 already left their hives for want of 

 food to sustain them. 



The high mercury has given me 

 some new and profitable experience, 

 as it has been most of the time, for 

 the last month, from 95° Fahr. to 

 100', and several days it has risen to 

 102°. 103°, 104°, and one day 106° ; but 

 on Sunday, July 17, it stood for six or 

 seven hours at 104" in the shade, and 

 I think not less than 130° in the sun, 

 although I did not try the thermome- 

 ter in the sun on that day, but other 

 days, when it was 102^ in the shade, 

 it has been 127° in the sun, and my 

 thermometer varies but little with the 

 one kept at the State Agricultural 

 College at Urbanna, ten miles north- 

 west of here, which has been 103>^" 

 Fahr. 



I have never used shade-boards, 

 but have always followed Mr. Doo- 

 little's plan, viz : kept my hives 

 painted white, and 1 have never had 

 any trouble with lioney and comb 

 melting down ; but on the day men- 

 tioned it was too hot for one of my 

 best colonies that gave me 144 pounds 

 of surplus comb honey last year, and 

 this year it had filled two supers of 36 

 pounds each, aud I had raised them 

 up and put on the third super, when, 

 to my surprise, the honey in the two 

 supers melted and the comb fell 

 down, killing and drowning about 

 one-third of the bees, and ran out at 

 the entrance. The high temperature 

 killed all of the brood, and I assure 

 you that I had a sweet mess of melted 

 comb, honey, bees and brood. 



The colony was immediately at- 

 tacked en masse with robbers, which 

 was equal to the multiplying the 

 former complication by ten thousand. 

 It was Sunday afternoon, as is 

 usually the case when bees get out of 

 joint, as we sometimes say ; and if a 

 cow ever does kick over the milk-pail, 

 she is sure to do it when you are try- 

 ing to do a nice job of milking, with 

 your Sunday pantaloons on ; so this 

 calamity occurred on Sunday after- 

 noon. I saw at once that the " critter 

 was in the well," and the " good 

 book " says that if it falls in on Sun- 

 day, that you may help it out, but I 

 did not ; I let the colony alone until 

 nightfall, when I carried it to the 

 bee-cellar, and removed the supers 

 and dead bees and brood ; I found the 

 queen all right. I transferred the 

 frames and bees to another hive, put 

 them on another stand in a secluded 

 spot, and all are doing nicely, and 

 still have plenty of honey for winter. 



Perhaps some one may say, " I told 

 you so ; why did you not use shade- 



