1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



125 



proper age to gather in the nectar 

 when the season had also reached its 

 "peak" for nectar. 



In 1916 every queen in my yard was 

 replaced with a virgin that mated 

 from the full colony. This I consider 

 the most desirable way to requeen. 

 By August of 1917 I had lost more 

 than a dozen colonies from queen- 

 lessness, while doubtless many of 

 my 1917 queens had been replaced by 

 supersedure unknown to me. I men- 

 tion this for the reason that, having 

 requeened under what I consider 

 ideal conditions, I found many of my 

 queens gone by the end of the fol- 

 lowing season. The ideal time 

 for requeening, in my opinion, would 

 be in September or October, for then, 

 even with much winter laying the 

 greatest energy of the queen would 

 not have been passed. But there are 

 so many years when conditions are 

 such that requeening at that time is 

 almost impossible, owing to a dearth 

 of honey, it is found necessary to 

 requeen when opportunity offers and 

 and not wait for conditions that may 

 not come. Immediately following the 

 main honey flow is preferable, when 

 a dearth of nectar may be expected 

 later. 



Redlands. Calif. 



A Talk for Young Folks 



By Harry Lathrop 



A SHORT time ago there passed 

 away, at Denver, Colo., one 

 who was the full realization of 

 the ideal scout and pioneer — "Buf- 

 falo Bill," or speaking more correct- 

 ly, William F. Cody. "Buffalo Bill," 

 as we love to speak of him, repre- 

 sented a class that will be known no 

 more in our country except in his- 

 tory and romance. 



In like manner is passing a class of 

 men who were pioneers in the realm 

 of modern and scientific beekeeping. 

 They were a noble band of men and 

 their names will also live on , the 



pages of history. They will be hon- 

 ored and revered by other enthusi- 

 asts who will take up beekeeping for 

 the love of it in the days to come. 



^'hat was it that gave the pioneers 

 and plainsmen their power and ef- 

 ficiency? Was it not their ability to 

 read intelligently and unerringly the 

 language of nature and the wilds 

 among which they lived? Like the 

 Indians, they were good sign read- 

 ers. 



What is it that has enabled bee- 

 keepers to so control the activities 

 of our interesting little friends, that 

 the result is remarkable in compari- 

 son with primitive and uninteligent 

 methods? I think it is the ability to 

 hear the language of the bees and 

 the understanding that bees will uni- 

 formly do certain things under cer- 

 tain conditions. Thus the conditions 

 are met and men reap the benefit of 

 the unerring skill of the little work- 

 ers. 



Among all living beings, including 

 plants, there is a strong instinct to- 

 ward reproduction, or in other words, 

 self-preservation of the race. Notice 

 how many, many seeds are produced 

 by trees and plants. Some trees, 

 like the maple, produce seed pods 

 with wings so they can fly to distant 

 parts. The dandelion uses a balloon 

 or airship to scatter its seeds afar. 

 Among insects, eggs are produced by 

 the millions, and thus some, like the 

 grasshoppers, become a menace to 

 man. 



Among higher animals some are 

 not so persistent and in many cases 

 certain families become extinct. The 

 beautiful passenger pigeon, which was 

 plentiful up to about 1882, belonged 

 to this class. The mother bird laid 

 only two eggs at a sitting and the 

 birds refused to breed unless they 

 were in large colonies. History tells 

 about the great pigeon roosts of 

 former years in which there were 

 acres and acres of timber so loaded 

 with nests that some of the branches 

 would break from the trees. 



In Florida, some of the apiaries have to be put up on platforms for 

 protection in the lowlands 



The roosts were broken up by the 

 ruthless hand of man, great inroads 

 were made in the flocks by the means 

 of shotguns and nets, and the scat- 

 tered individuals were discouraged 

 and allowed themselves to die with- 

 out attempting to breed. 



In order to illustrate the strong 

 impulse toward self-preservation on 

 the part of bees, I am going to tell 

 you a little story of what I saw in 

 my own bee-yard last summer. About 

 the beginning of the white clover 

 yield I noticed a hive that was strong 

 in bees and brood and in which sev- 

 eral queen-cells were already started. 

 I thought it would be a good thing 

 to divide this colony lest the bees 

 should swarm when I was not look- 

 ing. The colony had two eight-frame 

 bodies for a brood-chamber, and one 

 super of store combs over an ex- 

 cluder. I procured another hive and 

 placed it on another stand about 

 ten feet distant. Then I proposed to 

 take all of the brood and some of the 

 bees out of the parent hive and place 

 them over in the other hive, leaving 

 the queen in the parent hive, which 

 I would fill with clean brood-combs. 

 I was sure the bees would go to 

 work in each hive, and give me a 

 good crop of honey at the close of 

 the season. 



The division was made, and as I 

 took out the combs of brood and 

 placed them over in the new hive 

 I kept a sharp lookout for the queen. 

 I failed to see her and simply took 

 it for granted that she was left in 

 the broodless hive. The bees knew 

 better and they soon told me so in 

 language which the bee-master 

 knows very well. You see it is this 

 power to understand the language of 

 bees that makes a beekeeper. I had 

 evidently taken the queen with the 

 brood, and the bees, in the now 

 queenless and broodless hive, mani- 

 fested the most unmistakable signs 

 of distress. Such distress on the part 

 of humans would be heartrending. 



I had taken away their last hope of 

 perpetuating the colony. Now bees 

 don't care so much for an individual, 

 it is the good of the colony (com- 

 munity) they are looking after. They 

 are great socialists, indeed. But to 

 return to the hives ; what should I do 

 to make matters right so that the 

 discontented colony would go to 

 work, clean house and begin storing 

 operations? I will tell you what I 

 did. Without taking the time to look 

 up the queen. I just lifted out one 

 comb having brood and a few queen- 

 cells, from the new colony, and 

 placed it in the parent hive. Almost 

 instantly the bees quieted down and 

 gave out that contented, musical 

 hum that the beekeeper so loves to 

 hear. 



What I did gave them the means 

 whereby they could rear another 

 queen, or mother bee, and thus go 

 on as a living family and not miser- 

 ably die out as they would have done. 



What of the results? I do not have 

 much time to give to mv bee-yard on 

 account of other duties, so these 

 hives were not looked at again till it 

 came time to extract the crop. The 

 first one gave ISO pounds of nice, 

 white clover honey. I really expect- 



