AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



541 



will allow any consumer, or family of 

 consumers, to have at one time. 



The gross weight of each package is 

 5}4 pounds, and net weight 5 pounds. 

 My price, without any exception, is 

 .f 1.30 for the entire package, to rich or 

 poor, white or black ; but I give my 

 patrons 10 cents for each empty pack- 

 age, if returned to me on day of delivery. 



The package I now use, and have used 

 for ten years or more, to hold my honey, 

 is simply the common so-called 2- 

 Quart tin pail, with loose cover. This 

 package answers every purpose for my 

 family trade, and I ask for nothing 

 better. 



Many honey producers are surprised 

 to learn that I am able to get 24 cents per 

 pound for extracted-honey, when they 

 have hard work — so they say — to get 

 even 10 cents per pound, and they 

 sometimes insinuate that I must deal 

 with a very ignorant class of people. On 

 the contrary, my very best patrons are 

 the average in intelligence. They have 

 sense enough, however, to know a first- 

 class article of honey when they see it, 

 and seem willing to pay me the price I 

 ask for it. 



St. Charles, Ills., April 11, 1891. 



fflanaps an Apiary for Surplns Honey. 



T. K. MASSIC. 



I have given this matter considerable 

 thought, and I would rather be called a 

 thinker than a " hustler," but my friends 

 often give me the latter name. I wrote 

 the following for the Faim and Fireside, 

 but I feel sure that it will interest many 

 readers of the American Bee Journal,, 

 and so will give it to them : 



In running an apiary for large yields 

 of surplus honey, the first thing we want 

 at the beginning of the honey flow is 

 bees. We want to know how to have 

 our hives literally " boiling over " with 

 bees, for it requires bees to gather the 

 nectar from the flowers. To get the bees 

 at the proper time, we must have a pro- 

 lific queen — one whose reproductive 

 powers, or egg laying, we can manage to 

 suit the time of our honey flow. We 

 must also see that our bees are well sup- 

 plied with plenty of stores, both honey 

 and pollen, in early Spring, and well 

 protected from the cool nights and early 

 frosts by keeping the hives well pro- 

 tected with chaff or other suitable 

 material. 



As the danger of chilled brood from 

 cold snaps begins to pass, we must com- 



mence to spread the brood-nest by 

 inserting an cmi)ty comb in the middle, 

 using caution lest we get ahead of the 

 bees, and cause them to get more brood 

 than they can protect in case a cool spell 

 should set in. In a few days take the 

 two outside frames containing brood and 

 put them in the center, placing the two 

 center ones on the outside. Repeat this 

 a few times, and when all danger of 

 chilled brood is past, take the frames 

 containing the most brood and put them 

 next to the sides of the hive, placing 

 those containing the least brood in the 

 center. 



If there are not enough stores, feed a 

 thin syrup made from granulated sugar. 

 Place rye flour where the bees can have 

 free access to it. They will carry this 

 in, which answers for pollen in brood- 

 rearing. 



When the honey flow sets in, which is 

 known by the bees commencing to whiten 

 their combs along the top-bars, reverse 

 your frames, and put on your sections, 

 with starters or partly-built combs for 

 "bait." If bees refuse to go into the 

 sections, fill a section with comb contain- 

 ing drone brood, and place this in the 

 center of your super. I know all this is 

 not new, but the proper management 

 during swarming time is where the main 

 surplus crop is secured. 



When I first commenced keeping bees 

 I read in the bee-books and periodicals 

 that when bees swarmed we must secure 

 as many foragers with the swarm as 

 possible. This was accomplished by 

 moving the old hive to one side, turning 

 it half way around and putting a new 

 hive in its place, when a swarm issued. 

 Every day the old hive was turned a 

 little, so that on about the sixth day 

 it faced in the same direction as the new 

 hive containing the swarm. At about 

 12 o'clock, when as many of the bees 

 were out as possible, the old hive was 

 carried to a new location, so that the 

 returning foragers would enter with the 

 swarm. 



This required too much labor, and I 

 adopted a plan requiring no hiving- 

 boxes or other swarming implements, 

 giving much better results, and requir- 

 ing much less labor. I clipped the wings 

 of all my queens, and when a swarm 

 issued, I caught and caged the queen, 

 moved the old hive a few feet to one 

 side, and placed a new hive in its place. 

 I then took the super off the old hive, 

 using a little smoke, of course, and set 

 aside. I next took off the honey-board, 

 and lifted out the two outside frames 

 from each side of the brood-nest, with 

 their adhering bees, and placed them in 



