1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



49 



in boxes. He succeeded in packing 

 and shipping only half the number. 

 But these were all lost in transit, 

 owing to long delays. 



A little later, in the fall of 1844, an- 

 other man agreed to try bringing the 

 other 25 colonies. His name was Don 

 Carlos Bianchi, and he succeeded i 

 bringing alive two weakened colonie 

 out of this lot. After landing these 

 bees at Valparaiso, they were finally 

 placed upon the farm of the Senor 

 Larrain, at Penaflor. The following 

 spring, the tenant of the farm wr 

 very much astonished at two occur 

 rences which he did not understan 

 The two colonies cast each a fine 

 swarm, and beekeeping was thus es 

 tablished in Chile. The race of bees 

 would have been pure Italian if other 

 immigrants had not succeeded in im- 

 porting also the common bees. S; 

 the bees of Chile are a mixed race, 

 better than the common bee of Eu- 

 rope, but of less value than those < 

 Italy. 



The above interesting information 

 was gleaned from the book "Colmenas 

 I colmenares" (Hives and Apiaries) 

 of Don Carlos Echeverria Cazotte, 

 published a few years ago, in San- 

 tiago De Chile. 



A Winter Problem in the South 



Beekeepers living in the Southern 

 States often complain that too much 

 space is taken up with discussions of 

 wintering, a subject in which they 

 are not interested. After visiting in 

 most of the Southern States it is 

 very evident to the writer that there 

 is a serious winter problem in every 

 Southern State. It is true that it is 

 a different problem from that pre- 

 sented to the northern man. In the 

 south it is largely a question of con- 

 servation of bees and stores. Bees 

 will live through without extra pro 

 tection or care, but often the colo- 

 nies are too weak to profit by the 

 early honeyflows. In California many 

 beemen make it a practice to extract 

 their honey too closely in the fall, 

 with the result that the bees are no: 

 strong in time for the orange flow 

 and a possible crop is lost. An extra 

 super of honey left on the hive will 

 often bring several hundred per cent 

 in returns the following spring. 



Southern beekeepers may not be 

 interested in employing the methods 

 used in wintering in the north, but if 

 they will read the wintering articles 

 closely, they can often find princi- 

 ples discussed which may be applied 

 with profit to their local conditions. 



It is safe to say that nowhere in 

 America is there a locality where th 

 beekeeper cannot study the winter- 

 ing problem with real profit. Not all 

 of wintering consists in getting the 

 colonies through alive, but rather in 

 bringing them to the first honeyflow 

 in condition to make the most o 

 every day when nectar is available. 



Do Bees Get Honey From Corn? 



There is some controversy as to 

 whether the bees get honey from 

 Indian corn or maize. We have fre- 

 quent reports of honey from this 

 source, yet some observers contend 

 that the beekeepers are mistaken, 

 and that the bees get only pollen 

 from corn. However, some contend 

 that the bees may be seen at times, 

 gathering pollen from the tassel, 

 while at other times they work on 

 the silk from the ear and are appar- 

 ently getting nectar, but no pollen. 

 It is known, also that at times plant 

 lice or aphids are present on the 

 stalks and the question arises 

 whether the bees do not get honey- 

 dew from these plant-lice. 



So much hus been said on the sub- 

 ject that we are very anxious to set- 

 tle the question fully and we will 

 accordingly very much appreciate the 

 favor if any beekeeper who has made 

 observations along this line will 

 write us what he has seen. 



Snow About the Hives 



This is an uninteresting subject for 

 those of the American Bee Journal 

 readers who are scattered along the 

 Pacific Coast or who live in the 

 Southern States. But it is a very 

 lively question for the Middle and 

 Northern States during January, Feb- 

 ruary, and often March. What to do 

 with the snow? Leave it about the 

 hives and over them? 



For a number of years, in my 

 younger days, I feared that the snow 

 covering the hive entrances might 

 smother the bees. So it was cus- 

 tomary with us to remove it from the 

 entrance as promptly as possible af- 

 ter it fell. 



One winter, a few days after a very 

 heavy drifted snow-fall, I happened 

 to call on a friend who had a dozen 

 colonies, more or less, ranged along 

 the sheltered side of a very high 

 fence. My mention of the possible 

 smothering of the bees that were un- 

 der the snow gave him at once some 

 anxiety. He and I walked to the 

 apiary, where nothing denoted the 

 presence of hives of bees except a 

 slight wave in the appearance of the 



snow-drift over each colony. We 

 dug the snow away in front of the 

 first hive and soon found that the 

 colony was alive and well, having 

 melted the snow away from the en- 

 trance a few inches, through the 

 natural heat of the bees, evidently. 

 This made one feel as if the "igloo" 

 of the Eskimo might not be a cold 

 winter home after all. 



The other colonies were therefore 

 left to shift for themselves under 

 their snow blanket. But here comes 

 the other side of the picture: 



Some time later a thaw came and 

 the snow began to melt until a hole 

 about 4 or 5 inches in width appeared 

 in the snow-drift before each hive. 

 The warmth induced the bees to 

 issue, and large numbers of them 

 died in this passage, in front of some 

 of the hives. Those colonies were in 

 bad shape when spring came. 



Ever since that time we have con- 

 sidered it a very favorable condition 

 when there was snow enough to 

 cover the hives with it, or at least to 

 thoroughly shelter them against 

 winds. But whenever mild weather 

 came, we carefully and as noiselessly 

 as possible, removed the snow from 

 the entrance. Melting snow which 

 runs into it makes a very disagreea- 

 ble condition for the bees that wish 

 to take a flight, besides the danger 

 of its freezing and making a cake of 

 ice where the air should enter. 



When bees take a flight, in mild 

 weather, we found it very unadvis- 

 able to try to keep them confined. 

 We have wide roofs over our hives 

 and usually turn therri over in front 

 of the entrance for an alighting 

 place. A little straw, or some saw- 

 dust, or coal ashes, scattered in front 

 of the hives, helps them in finding a 

 footing where they may not be 

 chilled. 



Prepare to Stimulate Your Market 



With the harvesting of another 

 crop, the world shortage of food can 

 be expected to be somewhat re- 

 lieved. A fall in prices will be a 

 natural result of this condition. Bee- 

 keepers are now enjoying such prices 

 as they may never see again. How- 

 ever, by judicious advertising of our 

 product we may well expect to main- 

 tain the price of honey at a profit- 

 able point. It stands the beekeeper 

 in hand to begin his advertising 

 campaign before a smash comes. 

 Good printed matter, attractive pack- 

 ages, and many other suggestions 

 can be used to stimulate the interest 

 in honey as a food product. 



