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70 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Holekamp — I use the lo-frame 

 hives, and if I don't use queen-exclud- 

 ers my queens will go up all through 

 the hives; besides that, it makes my 

 honey dark. I get a much better grade 

 of honey than I used to get. The honey 

 is clear, and it is easy to do the work, 

 especially when fall comes I do not have 

 to put the frames of brood down; the 

 brood-chamber is in good condition. I 

 raise the front of my hives about one 

 inch, which I believe assists the bees in 

 coming into the hives, at least I find 

 that since I raised the hives that my 

 bees work quicker, I mean they fly into 

 the hives without crawling on the en- 

 trance floor. There is only one objec- 

 tion, and that is, a person waits too 

 long without taking it out; but we had 

 an early cold spell this year and I have 

 not tried them, still I don't see any- 

 thing hurt. The hives are heavier this 

 year than usual. Now, I am from St. 

 Louis, and a good many people think 

 I cannot get any good honey. Two 

 years ago I had about 200 colonies of 

 bees, and I extracted from them about 

 8,000 pounds of honey and left 10 or 

 12 pounds, for spring feed. This year 

 I have about no colonies and got about 

 4,000 pounds of honey. I put on supers 

 as soon as I think my bees will need 

 them, usually about May 20, and as soon 

 as I think the first supers are about 

 half filled I put another underneath. 

 This year our bees worked all summer. 

 I have some colonies which stored from 

 100 to 150 pounds of extracted honey, 

 while the weaker colonies did not do 

 well. A good many colonies were wild 

 bees, which accounts for the fact of the 

 small crop. If the bees had been kept 

 in a fair condition I believe we would 

 have had a better yield. We have a 

 good deal of sweet clover which helps 

 our honey crop. Comb honey is an en- 

 tire failure with me. 



Dr. Bohrer — Do you get ready sale 

 for the extracted honey there? 

 Mr. Holekamp — Yes, sir.- 



Dr. Bohrer — I think it is known by a 

 number of members that I am engaged 

 almost entirely in the proi^uction of ex- 

 tracted honey, for several reasons. I 

 beheve it to be the most profitable 

 method of managing an apiary where 

 I live, and it is certainly the most'whole- 

 some form to be taken into the human 

 stomach. And I think it saves the bees 

 very much time and labor. A great 

 difficulty is taking care of combs, and it 



requires some care. As to the manner 

 of manipulating the frames during a 

 honey-flow, I use the queen-excluder 

 in order to keep the queens from go- 

 ing above. And I empty the honey out 

 above and put down below for the queen 

 to fill again, and it is the most profitable 

 manner for me. The people are ac- 

 quainted with me all over the coun- 

 try, and outside of it, and I find no 

 trouble in selling my honey. I don't 

 sell to the raerch_ants, because they want 

 me to take goods in exchange alto- 

 gether, and I don't- live on goods alto- 

 gether. I put my honey up in 5 and 

 10 quart vessels, and a great many peo- 

 ple will buy a quart or a pint when they 

 use It. But taking it all in all I find it 

 to be the most satisfactory and the 

 easiest manner of managing an apiary. 

 I am not in love with putting sections 

 together. 



Mr. Kimmey — The gentleman has 

 stated that the greatest difficulty he has 

 found is in preserving the combs for 

 future use. For myself, I would like 

 to know how he overcomes it? 



Dr. Bohrer — I have a house that is 

 closed with ordinary doors, and hang 

 the frames away there. I take' the 

 empty hive-bodies and put the frames 

 in them and store them away, and 

 then put them away as near dry as 

 possible, and I don't have a great many 

 millers, yet I have some; they will get 

 in there occasionally. 



Mr. Kimmey — Do you cover those 

 hives at the bottom or top? 



Dr. Bohrer — I set the hives down on 

 a plain board, and I don't see how any- 

 thing can get under them, and the hives 

 weight each other down ; then put a 

 cover on and put a weight on them. 

 This is as near as I know how to get 

 at it. 



Mr. Stone — I would like to have the 

 author of that paper here, so that I 

 could quiz him. I don't see how he 

 keeps the bee-bread out of the upper 

 stories. 



M. E. Darby — I will answer this gen- 

 tleman's question. I just extract my 

 honey and then put the frames right 

 back into the supers, and when the sea- 

 son comes the frames are all dry, all 

 the honey cleaned up, then I take the 

 supers off. I have a honey-house and 

 I have never yet had a moth to get into 

 any of my frames. I live near Spring- 

 field, Mo. 



Mr. Cook — I first store the hives and 



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