1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



381 



have laboratory equipment for ex- 

 amining samples, and beekeepers are 

 invited to bring samples of diseased 

 brood. Further particulars may be 

 obtained by addressing the State Ex- 

 tension Director at Pullman, Wash., 

 Berkeley. Calif., and College Station, 

 Texas. These courses are, of course, 

 free. 



Making a Start With Bees 



By Morley Pettit 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that 

 on account of lung trouble he 

 has been advised to take up 

 beekeeping. He wishes advice as to 

 best locations in Ontario, and the 

 capital necessary to give a return of 

 $1,500 per year in a normal year. "In 

 any case, what would be the most 

 advisable course to follow?" 



There are very few spots in On- 

 tario where farming is successful 

 and beekeeping is not. In fact, in 

 looking over a district, we usually 

 note the general appearance of pros- 

 perity or otherwise of the farms and 

 judge accordingly. The soil is the 

 first consideration. Any good farm- 

 ing district with soil not too heavy, 



and particularly not too light, will 

 give good returns to a good bee- 

 keeper. The only other considera- 

 tion from the standpoint of honey 

 production is to avoid crowding bee- 

 keepers who are already occupying 

 the district. In considering this mat- 

 ter one must look to the future and 

 allow for expansion. If a $1,500 in- 

 come is to»be the goal, the two or 

 three apiaries necessary can be 

 placed in desirable locations almost 

 anywhere in Ontario; but if ambi- 

 tions are liable to expand with the 

 business greater care will have to be 

 exercised. The only way. is to learn 

 of a place where one would like to 

 live, then go and look it over. Thin 

 try another until satisfied. 



A good beekeeper expects at least 

 57 per cent annual income on his 

 capital investment, exclusive of real 

 estate. Now hold on! We are not 

 profiteers, any more than any other 

 skilled workers with comparatively 

 small investment in tools. That is 

 all the bees and equipment are, for 

 without skill and experience th ;y 

 are a very uncertain investment. 



By far your best plan, if circum- 

 stances permit, would be to live for 

 whatever wage you can get with a 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



A Booster for Sweet Clover 



For 25 years or more, R. A. Mor- 

 gan, of Vermillion, S. Dak., has per- 

 sistently boosted for sweet clover 

 as a forage plant. In season and out 

 of season he has insisted that move 

 Sweet clover would make a more 

 prosperous agriculture. When sweet 

 clover was thought to be a weed and 

 it was regarded as a crime to spread 

 the seed, he began his campaign. 

 Sweet clover reaches its highest de- 



Morgan, of South Dakota 



velopment in the secretion of nec- 

 tar in the region from the Missouri 

 river valley, westward. Wherever 

 there is a large acreage of sweet clo- 

 ver in the plains region, we find good 

 beekeeping territory. While Mor- 

 gan has never been an extensive bee- 

 keeper, he haj kept bees since the 

 days when he lived near Adam 

 Grimm, in Wisconsin, and became 

 impressed with the great possibili- 

 ties of the industry. He was among 

 the first to appreciate the possibili- 

 ties of sweet clover for the bee- 

 keeper. When he became convinced 

 that the plant had a place as a farm 

 crop, also, he began a campaign to 

 introduce it to every part of South 

 Dakota. 



When the writer had occasion to 

 mention Mr. Morgan's name in a let- 

 ter to a State official of South Da- 

 kota, the latter replied that every- 

 body worth while in that State 

 knew Morgan. As editor of the Bee 

 Department of the Dakota Farmer, 

 he has done much for the develop- 

 ment of beekeeping in the Missouri 

 valley. There are few areas where 

 sweet clover is better appreciated 

 than in the territory where the Da- 

 kota Farmer circulates. Much of the 

 credit for this condition is due to 

 Morgan's tireless efforts. The pleas- 

 ing thing about it is that nearly ev- 

 ery man who has been induced to 

 plant sweet clover as a farm crop is 

 enthusiastic in its praise. To es- 

 pouse an unpopular but worthy sub- 

 ject and to win over his public is an 

 enterprise worthy of any man. We 

 feel that Morgan is to be congratu- 

 lated on his success in popularizing 

 sweet clover in the Middle West. 



successful beekeeper for one of two 

 seasons. This would give you an ex- 

 perience that would cost you years 

 and great expense to get in any 

 other way. Another plan would be 

 to buy a fully equipped apiary 'A 

 75 to 100 colonies and hire an ex- 

 perienced beekeeper to spend one 

 day in the week teaching you. You 

 will easily see that the latter plan 

 would involve greater chances of 

 success or failure. The plan has been 

 worked with the best of results, but 

 the beginners involved were real 

 good sports, and that is one of the 

 prime requisites of success in bee- 

 keeping. 

 Georgetown, Ont. 



Shipping Bees in Refrigerator Cars 



"I helped prepare five carloads of 

 bees, of from five to seven hundred 

 colonies each, which were shipped 

 into Utah and Idaho. I left Colton, 

 Calif., with the fifth car, which was 

 the first car they shipped in a re- 

 frigerator, under ice, to Oasis, Utah. 

 There were about 525 colonies, some 

 of which had from 5 to 7 frames of 

 brood and a strong force of old bees. 

 These were the ones we had run for 

 orange honey and split up after the 

 flow was over. 



"They came through in fine shape 

 and started to work at once on the 

 sweet clover and alfalfa and are 

 building up in great shape. Just a 

 week ago they shipped me another 

 car of 425 colonies, so now I have 950 

 to look after, with two young lads of 

 17 years to assist me." 



The shipping of bees in refrigera- 

 tor cars has passed the experimental 

 stage and has been found an assured 

 method of shipping bees through the 

 heated desert sections of the West- 

 ern States, where, under ordinary 

 methods a heavy loss of worker bees, 

 and especially of brood, was sure to 

 occur. 

 (Western Honey Bee, Aug., 1919. ) 



Caging Queens 



By W. Griffiths, Silkmore, England 



REFERRING to Dr. Miller's re- 

 ply to "Ohio," in the August 

 number of the American Bee 

 Journal, "Caging Queens," Mrs. 

 Saint, a first-class expert of the 

 British Beekeepers' Association and 

 a member of the Staffordshire Bee- 

 keepers' Association, has hadanltal- 

 queen from Signor Piana, of Italy, in 

 a cage for six weeks. She had occa- 

 sion to introduce this queen to a 

 strong stock which was certainly 

 queenless, but had a super on. She 

 removed the super temporarily, 

 opened out the brood frames slightly 

 and placed the queen cage over the 

 space, having previously removed 

 the cardboard from over the candy, 

 then replacing the super. Six weeks 

 later she removed the super and was 

 very much surprised to find the 

 queen still in the cage. All the can- 

 dy was gone and in the space under 

 the cage there was a lovely new 

 comb extending to the floor of the 

 hive. This was full of brood in all 

 stages, as was also the adjoining 



