TMM MMBmiCJl:!^ MMW J@\IMf€MI^. 



331 



month here. All have considerable 

 brood, and there is drone-brood cap- 

 ped in several hives whose queens are 

 only one year old. I have stimulated 

 by feeding each day a little uncapped 

 honey in sections. I shall keep my 

 bees back as long as possible, as I do 

 not care to have them increase much. 

 Bower, Nebr., May 3, 1888. 



SEASONABLE 



Hints About Populous Colonies 

 and Overstockings* 



Written for the Western Plowman 

 BY C. H. DIBBERN. 



The balmy days have come at last, 

 and the bees and the bee-keepers are 

 once more busy at their accustomed 

 work, the former gathering honey 

 and pollen from the bloom of the 

 apple and peach, the plum and the 

 myriads of wild blossoms that are found 

 in the woods, over hills and valleys 

 during this the loveliest month of the 

 year. Everything is now springing 

 into life — in spring such hope as one 

 cannot always feel in the latter months 

 of the year. The bee-keeper can now 

 take heart and go to work with a will, 

 at least that is what we must do if we 

 hope to succeed. 



The apiarist of the present da}' must 

 be a general. The bees are his array. 

 He must divide them into companies, 

 regiments, divisions. If he has two 

 or more apiaries he may regard them 

 as separate armies. Like the true 

 general he should know the exact 

 condition of his army before starting 

 out on the season's campaign. See 

 that evei-y company (colouj) is full, if 

 not, be sure that the recruiting officer 

 (queen) is doing her duty, if not, 

 supersede her at once. Remember 

 that on the strength and discipline of 

 each company (colony) depends our 

 success in the apiary as well as in war. 

 Never mind about lines of retreat, 

 better burn the bridges behind you 

 and keep ever marching to the front. 

 If you find any lions in the way, there 

 is always a way to make a " flank 

 movement" on them. While the bees 

 must be allowed to roam at their own 

 sweet will among the flowers that suit 

 them best, gathering their delicious 

 treasures, the bee-keeper must ever 

 know the condition of their hives, and 

 keep their general welfare well in 

 hand. 



Another idea has suggested itself to 

 me, and it is that many localities had 

 become overstocked. During prosper- 

 ous years we keep on increasing the 

 number of our colonies, while perhaps 

 our neighbors on all sides of us are 

 doing the same thing, as if there was 

 no limit to the honey resources. A 



bad season or two, like the last, shows 

 >is the folly of such a practice. It is 

 far better to keep only a limited num- 

 ber of colonies, and they as strong as 

 possible. Nature produces honey, like 

 pure gold, only in limited quantities, 

 and we must so manage with our bees 

 that the profit does not all go for 

 expenses. 



Perhaps some of us have missed it 

 just as badly Ijy caring for hundreds 

 of colonies, involving much work and 

 expensawhen we could have produced 

 just as much honey with fifty. We 

 must remember that only a limited 

 amount of honey is produced in any 

 localitj', and if we increase the number 

 of our colonies out of proportion to 

 what could gather tliis at a profit, we 

 are working at a loss. As the colonies 

 are thus increased, the quantity stored 

 per colony is in inverse proportion to 

 numbers of colonies kept. It will thus 

 be seen that the bee-keeper having 

 more bees than can find profitable 

 work, is like the farmer ti-ying to farm 

 all creation. Now I would not be un- 

 destood that I do not want plenty of 

 bees, I want them by the millions, but 

 I want them in a limited number of 

 hives. 



Milan, Ills. 



SEPARATORS. 



The Use of Wood vs. Tin Sep. 

 arators. 



Read at the Ohio Convention 

 BY DR. II. BESSE. 



I suppose that all are aware that 

 separators are used between the sec- 

 tions in order to obtain straight combs. 

 I have not yet progressed far enough 

 to find any benefit in the use of sep- 

 arators made either from wood or tin, 

 although I have experimented quite 

 extensivelj' with both kinds ; and if I 

 should continue the use of either, I 

 should prefer the wood, on account of 

 cheapness. I think that separators 

 should be discarded entirely, except, 

 perhaps, in side-storing hives, and this 

 I do not recommend. 



I have made many experiments to 

 get straight and true combs in sections, 

 and have succeeded just as well with- 

 out separators as witli them, and thus 

 I do away with considerable time and 

 expense, as well as oljjectionable fix- 

 tures to the bees. I am of the opinion 

 that bees will gatlier from 10 to 20 

 per cent, more honey without separa- 

 tors, than by their use. I am aware 

 that in about every 30 or 40 sections, I 

 find where separators are not used, a 

 bulged or "fat" section that cannot 

 be readily crated for shipment ; but 

 these I lay aside, and can find use for 



all such in the family, as well as retail 

 them to friends and neighbors. 



I should have said, that one of my 

 objections to separators is, that the 

 bees will persist in building brace- 

 combs from the face of the beautiful 

 comb to the separator; this has tried 

 my patience a great many times. This 

 trouble exists equally with wood and 

 tin. Since foundation has become so 

 cheap, and in such general use, I think 

 it entirely unnecessary to use separa- 

 tors of any kind when the sections are 

 placed over the brood-chamber ; but, 

 as I have stated above, the}' are indis- 

 pensable in a side-storing hive, and 

 this kind of hive, in my opinion, should 

 soon pass out of existence. 



I doubt if any one could tell the 

 difterence in my comb honey that has 

 been built between separators, or with- 

 out separators, after being crated 

 and ready for market. It is not the 

 separators that make the nice honey. 



Delaware, Ohio. 



CONVENTION DIRECTORY. 



I.SH'^. Time and Place of Meeting. 



May in.— Linwoort, at Bau GaUe, Wis. 



B. J. 'rhompson, Sec, Waverly. WlB. 



May 19.— Nashua, at Nashua. Iowa. 



H. L. House. Sec. Ionia, Iowa. 



May 22.-N. W. Ills. & S. W. Wis., Bt Rorkton. Ills. 

 D. A. Fuller, Sec, Oherry Valley, Ills. 



May 31.— WiB. Lake Shore Center, at Kiel, Wis. 



Ferd. Zastrow, Sec, Millhome, Wis. 



Aug. 3.— Ionia County, at Ionia, Mich. 



H. Smith, Sec, Ionia, Mich. 



Auk. 14.— Colorado State, at Denver, Colo. 



J. M. Clark, Sec, Denver, Colo. 



Aug. 27.— Stark County, at Canton, O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



E^ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Ed. 



m »t» » »«t g»««mtimiIIIimZ IX 



SBISSW^M^^M 





]^e>v Honey— Early Swarm.— L. 



A. Miller, Coviuston, Tenn., on April 30, 



1888, writes : 



My bees have wintered well, out of 117 

 colonies only one having starved. 1 do not 

 tliink that I ever have seen them in as gond 

 condition as they are now. Some of my 

 colonies have stored 30 pounds each, of new 

 honey in sections, whicli was put on the 

 market on April 20. I had a swarm on Apiil 

 4. White clover is beginning to bloom. 



Condition of Bees in Missouri.— 



John Nebel & Son, High Hill, Mo., on May 



4, 1888, write : 



Bees are doing fairly well, now that we 

 have had a week of warm weather. They 

 came through the winter weaker, on an 

 average, tlian we have known them to do in 

 our ten years of bee-keeping. Stimulative 

 feeding last fall would not induce queens 

 to lay, consequently all colonies went into 

 winter quarters with few bees, and the 



