206 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



with, my screw driver. Rags are a 

 bully thing to stop the entrances 

 with for long or short distant move- 

 ment. 



You will notice I had not yet put 

 the extra hive bodies on preferring 

 to do that after the bees were 

 moved for the comfort of the mov- 

 ers and other reasons and it was 

 now dark so I did not dare tackle 

 iJ3e job and so agreed to come back 

 the next afternoon to finish up, so 

 I had the farm manager place these 

 5 bodies on where the bees were 

 removed from to catch the bees that 

 would surely go back to the old 

 siands as the weather was excep- 

 tionally fine and warm both days. 

 This was a wise precaution for 

 there was a lot of bees went back 

 to the old stands as I felt sure 

 there would, and so I did not sleep 

 good as I did not know just what 

 might happen, or how I might get 

 these bodies onto the hives where 

 they were wanted to be and needed 

 with these lest bees that had been 

 making it anything but pleasant 

 for the help and the children in 

 the big farm house. When I got on 

 the scene again about 3:30 I found 

 a seething lot of bees about these 



hive bodies not in the best of hu- 

 mor, but not really offering to 

 sting much as it was in the midst 

 of apple and other blooms so all 

 were well filled with honey and 

 loaded with pollen that they did not 

 know what to do with. They did 

 not want to deposit it in those 

 hives without top or bottom, no 

 queen there or any young to 

 likely need the pollen, and what 

 to do they did not know. They 

 seemed to make me think of those 

 poor fellows to the south of us in 

 a naked country with no govern- 

 ment, fighting they know not what 

 for, but I brought along some new 

 oil cloths as I had discovered there 

 was only old burlap to cover with. 

 I put these over the bodies and this 

 seemed to add a little to their com- 

 fort and as night drew on they 

 Quieted down and many of them 

 gave up their tenacity for their 

 old home and went back to the 

 new situation as chickens which 

 have scratched all day in their 

 neighbor's flower bed will go home 

 to roost, so after a good supper 

 in the big house, we loaded these 

 hive bodies on our carrier quietly 

 (Continued on page 225) 



Management of Three Thousand Colonies of 



in Fifty Yards 



Bees 



By J. J. WILDER, Cordelia, Ga. 

 From 1000 to 1200 Colonies in 16 Aijiaries 



At the end of this article our 



bee-keeping takes a change. It 



might be said, that it took a long 



time for me to reach the 1200 col- 

 ony mark; but it takes capital to 

 establish a large bee business. To 

 make it all out of the business it 

 takes time and much energy. When, 

 at the end of the season, I had 

 over a Thousand Etollars above all 

 expenses, I decided to invest it in 

 bees in another field. The results 

 will appear in future articles. My 

 manner of procedure was about 

 the same as before. I invested the 

 returns in the business where I 

 thought the results would be most 

 profitable and would require least 

 time. It might be thought that my 

 main building is of brick or even 



of concrete; far from it. It is only 

 a cheaply constructed wooden build- 

 ing, but with plenty of room, and 

 every convenience. The necessary 

 equipment inside is not heavy nor 

 even the latest improved,, such as 

 power driven extractor, etc. A 

 much cheaper and lighter outfit was 

 all that I needed as yet. For only 

 one third of product consisted of 

 extracted honey. At every outyard 

 is a galvanized sheet-iron building 

 just large enough to hold the ne- 

 cessary supplies for that year; 

 such as supers, hive bodies, bot- 

 toms and covers. In this building is 

 a small stour shelf which we use 

 as a work bench, for nailing up 

 hives and fixtures, whenever such 

 come apart. There is also on this 

 shelf one Wilder foundation fast- 



