54 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



locality to gather all of the nectar, even 

 if some of the colonies did fall behind, and 

 he believed that he coald make more 

 money by keepingf a larg'e number of 

 colonies and leaving- the superseding to 

 the bees, than by keeping a fewer num- 

 ber and using the time in rearing and in- 

 troducing queens. He said there were 

 many things that might be done with 

 profit in a single apiary that must be 

 dropped when the number of apiaries is 

 increased. 



fM^%^^P-M''m' 



A Hive Lifter ought to be the next api- 

 cultural invention. In the production of 

 extracted honey, where the hives are 

 large and tiered up, this lifting off and on 

 of twelve combs of honey is no boy"s 

 work. Several of these contrivances have 

 been put into use, but just how practical 

 they are I can't say from actual experi- 

 ence. The most of them are of the 

 "stump puller" type, a tripod of light, yet 

 strong timber, with some sort of a con- 

 trivance like a set of pulleys or levers for 

 lifting the hive. E. M. Hayes, of Veedum, 

 Wis., suggests the use of a tackle-block 

 wire stretcher, such as is used in stretch- 

 ing wire when putting up wire fence. The 

 cost is only 75 cts., and the power is 

 abundant for lifting hives, and the device 

 can be locked at any point. 



A hive lifter ought to be light, easily 

 and quickly set up and attached to the 

 hive, and allow the operator to lift the 

 hives easily and with the least possible 

 expenditure of time. Inventors, go to 

 work on the problem. 



■ ■.OaKa^'a^a* 



When is the Best Time to Move Bees ? 



1 expect to move 100 colonies from 

 Port Huron (60 miles of here) to Northern 

 Michigan, sometime the coming spring; 

 when will be the best time to move them ? 

 Here is one point : Unsealed brood 

 usually suffers more or less when the bees 

 are confined. It is said the loss comes 

 from a lack of water. We have been 

 advised to give each colony a comb that 

 has been filled with water; to lay a wet 

 cloth over the screen; or to sprinkle the 



bees with a sprinkler. I am sometimes 

 led to wonder just how practical these 

 things are. Do the larvae die from lack 

 of water in the hive, or from lack of care 

 because of the excitement? If the bees 

 are moved early, there will be less loss of 

 brood, because there will be less brood in 

 the hives to lose. Then, again, will the old 

 bees that have stood the rigors of winter 

 stand the journey as well as young bees 

 that have just hatched out ? If we move 

 the bees early, before the young bees 

 have hatched out, and then the old bees 

 succumb to the hardships of moving, the 

 colonies would be left in a weakened con- 

 dition. If we move early there will be no 

 danger of hot weather to contend with. 

 The points are all in favor of early mov- 

 ing, except that of the old bees dying off 

 while on the road, that is, dying off more 

 than would be the case with young bees. 

 The bees may be confined five or six days 

 but probably not longer. I moved 1 00 

 colonies last spring, and they were con- 

 fined only three days, yet there were 

 quite a lot of dead bees in the bottom of 

 some of the hives. I have moved bees 

 where they were confined only one day, 

 and there was no loss of either bees or 

 brood. Any suggestions? 



a^ai^a^aa »^*.» 



Where is the Best Location ? 



A subscriber wishes me to tell in what 

 part of North America I would locate to 

 engage in the business of producing honey, 

 provided I was "foot free," and could be- 

 gin all over anew. He then says, "What 

 about California ?" 



California produces some enormous 

 crops — sometimes. I believe W. L. Cogg- 

 shall once told me that he had taken the 

 pains to go over a series of years, and 

 compare the yields of New York with 

 those of California, to the discomfiture 

 of the latter. A fair crop each year is 

 much better for the average mortal than 

 a big crop occasionally, and short crops 

 and failures between, even though as 

 much honey in the aggregate were secured 

 in either case. It is doubtful if there is 

 any location in the world that is the loca- 



