1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



23 



should No. 13 swarm while I was 

 away. 



The best the Good Father had to 

 give the children of the earth was a 

 land flowing with milk and honey. 

 Xectar is found in practically every 

 flower and there is no other way to 

 obtain this sweet for man's use but 

 through the agency of the bees. 

 Think for a minute of the many trips 

 afield for the raw product and the 

 mysterious work in the hive that 

 must be done before it is ready for 

 man's use, then have some consumer 

 wonder why the beeman wants more 

 than 10 cents per pound. 



In these troubled times when we 

 are all urged to do our bit in the 

 great struggle for universal peace, 

 we housewives, in answering the call, 

 have canned nearly every known food 

 product, from dandelion greens to 

 beef, pork and chicken. The bees 

 knew the art of canning their stores 

 long before the Mason jar and the 

 cold-pack method were known, and 

 every can keeps, the secret of their 

 canning no one has found out, but if 

 the seal is not broken it seems to 

 keep indefinitely. When supplies are 

 scarce the bees go on scant rations 

 and no one murmurs; their stores are 

 so carefully guarded, supplies issued 

 in such just manner that the colony 

 often lives through a severe famine. 

 But when the harvest is ripe and 

 white clover in bloom, how the bees 

 do work. They let no opportunity 

 pass to bring in supplies, even from 

 the humblest source. There are no 

 strikes for shorter hours. The bee- 

 keeper is happy as he watches the 

 heavily laden workers returning to 

 the hive, knowing that the surplus 

 stores will enrich himself. There is 

 not a slacker in the hive, no one asks 

 for exemption from the duty at hand. 

 The future need of the colony is at 

 stake, the life of their home depends 

 upon each doing her bit, and all 

 cheerfully rally to the call. 



Oskaloosa, Iowa. 



Bees Wintering on Honey Stored 

 Below Brood-Nest 



I ran my bees this summer for ex- 

 tracted honey, using the 5)4 inch su- 

 per containing the regular shallow 

 extracting frames, but when I was 

 ready to set on my chaff trays for 

 winter I found in eleven of my colo- 

 nies that the cluster of bees was 

 partly in the shallow extracting su- 

 per while the bees of the lower part 

 of the cluster hung in the main hive. 

 I found that if I would remove the 

 super they would not have enough 

 honey below to winter on, so I took 

 the supers, bees and all, and set them 

 below the hives, wrapped them with 

 slaters' felt, a sort of tar paper, put 

 my chaff trays with packing on top 

 of the main hives and then the tele- 

 scope covers. 



I have my bees in 8 and 10-frame 

 standard double walled hives, and if 

 I left the supers on top I could not 

 use a chaff tray, for there would be 

 nothing to protect the rim of the 

 hive from rain, and water would leak 

 through at the corners and wet the 

 packing in the spaces at sides and 

 ends. 



Now the question is, will my bees 

 starve after they have eaten all the 

 honey out of the main hive, and not 

 go below? 



I was afraid they would not go be- 

 low, because it is more natural for 

 them to travel up after stores, and 

 the heat of the cluster would be at 

 the top of the warm hive. They 

 might not be able to keep up the 

 right temperature if they went below 

 on account of too much space above. 



I have the eleven packed this way. 

 MISS BIRDIE M, HARTLE, 



Reynoldsville, Pa. 



The likelihood is that the bees 

 will take care of their stores all right 

 without any interference on your 

 part. Since your last handling there 

 have probably been days warm 

 enough so that the bees would carry 



up from below the honey; since, as 

 you say, it is natural for them to 

 travel up after stores, it is also nat- 

 ural for them to carry up any stores 

 that may be below. There is, how- 

 ever, a chance that some one of the 

 colonies has been a bit sluggish, and 

 has not been as active as it should 

 about carrying up. At any rate, it 

 will do no harm, the first day it is 

 warm enough for any of the colonies 

 to fly fairly well, to see that all are 

 doing so. If you find any colony that 

 is quiet while others are riving, pound 

 on the hive until the bees are tnor- 

 oughly stirred up and flying. When 

 they become thus active you may 

 count that they will be sure to give 

 their atention to carrying up any 

 honey that may be beneath the clus- 

 ter. 



Will Change to Extracted Honey 



I am contemplating changing from 

 comb honey to extracted honey. The 

 prospects are bright for 1918. 



FRANK COVERDALE, 

 Delmar, Iowa. 



Price is Good 



This has been a good year, and the 

 honey is retailing for 25 cents per 

 pound. The old crop is gone. 



J. E. RIDLEY, Douglas, Wyo. 



never lose any from wintering. They 

 are out nearly every month in the 

 year. I have sold my honey at 20 

 cents in 50-pound lots and 25 cents 

 per pound in small lots of five and 

 ten pounds. AL. PORTER, 



Page, Okla. 



Crop a Failure 



The bees will not make enough 

 honey to do them around here. 

 There has not been a pound of 

 honey taken off, as far as I have been 

 able to learn. About 50 per cent of 

 the bees were lost last winter on ac- 

 count of continuous cold weather. 

 Many starved in the cluster with 

 plenty of honey in the combs. White 

 clover was mostly killed last win- 

 ter. J. H. WARREN, 

 Elliott, Iowa. 



A Colony o^ Hustlers 

 The queen of this colony, a leather- 

 colored Italian, distinguished herself 

 during the season of 1917. Her Keep- 

 er heeded the editor's advice, page 

 124, and she did the rest. At swarm- 

 ing time she attended strictly to busi- 

 ness instead of following the foolish 

 fashion of her neighbors. Super af- 

 ter super was added and nicely 

 filled until the pile was nearly five 

 feet high. Where the nectar was 

 found, when other colonies found 



1 Gets a Fall Flow 



We got a little honey from white 

 clover in the spring, but our fall flow 

 from Spanish needle was fairly good. 

 I had eighteen colonies and increased 

 to twenty-one, all in good winter 

 condition. I had 825 pounds of honey 

 all sold at 18 and 20 cents. 



PAUL PIERSALL. 



Robinson, 111. 



Another Change to Extracting 



I have 400 colonies of bees and have 

 turned them over to extracted honey. 

 LESTER K. KEISTER, 



Wisconsin. 



Good Crop and Good Price 



As far as I can learn from beekeep- 

 ers in this part of Oklahoma, they 

 have all done extra well this year. 

 My bees have filled two supers. We 



A COLOXY OF HUSTLERS 



