February, 1912 
“ 
A row 
Bee-Keeping 
of well-ordered beehives generally suggests to everyone real country living, and bee-keeping is again becoming popular 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 63 
je LS 3 
as a Pastime 
By E. I. Farrington 
Photographs by W. H. Ballou and Dadman Co. 
S an outdoor hobby for after business hours 
let me recommend bee-keeping. Golf and 
tennis and horses are all very well, but none 
of them have the advantages of a modest 
little apiary under the apple trees in the back 
yard, where one may spend ten minutes or 
an hour or two, according to his mood and opportunities. 
There is a fascination about bee-keeping which seizes 
upon one as soon as he begins to read its literature, no mat- 
ter whether it be Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee” or a bee 
supply catalogue. The expense is negligible and the re- 
wards substantial, both in recreation and sweets. There is 
even a social side to bee-keeping, for those who follow it 
almost invariably fraternize freely and happily, while the 
gift of an occasional pound section of fine honey secures the 
friendly interest of one’s neighbors. 
Three colonies of bees are as many as the beginner ought 
to buy, and in most instances he will do 
just as well to commence with one. A 
colony of bees comprises about 60,000 
workers (the females), 500 drones (the 
males), and a queen—perhaps eight 
quarts altogether. The bees should be 
Italian bees, for those have sweeter tem- 
pers than the common black bees, and it 
is for the interest of the amateur to buy 
them in a double-wall chaff hive, as a 
rule, for such a hive may be left outdoors 
all winter without detriment to the bees, 
whereas hives with single walls must be 
taken into the cellar or protected from 
the cold in one of several ways, involv- 
ing more or less trouble. 
Buying the bees in the hive which they 
are to occupy permanently, and with a 
queen already installed, the beginner is 
ready for business without further pre- 
liminaries. A hive of bees may be shipped 
safely by express, and there are reliable 
dealers in all the larger cities. It is 
The upper illustration shows 
beehive with entrance contracted for winter, 
and the lower, with cover raised to show box 
filled with absorbent material 
sometimes cheaper to buy the bees of a bee-keeper living 
close at hand, but it is a mistake to start with any but Italian 
bees, or with inferior hives. 
All modern hives are built on the same general principle, 
being simple hollow boxes in which are placed eight or ten 
light frames of wood, each filled with a sheet of wax, which 
is drawn out into comb by the bees and filled with honey or 
brood. Each frame may be handled separately, and as the 
bees always cluster on the comb, they may be moved about 
at will. 
All bee-keepers agree, I think, that the best time to have 
bees shipped is the early Spring, just before the fruit trees 
begin to bloom. At that season the colonies are lightest in 
weight, as the bees have not begun to store honey, and for 
some reason the insects are never so docile as at fruit- 
blossoming time. 
When the amateur orders his bees he will be asked 
whether he wants a tested or an un- 
tested queen. Now, an untested queen 
costs seventy-five cents and a tested one 
from one to ten dollars, so that the first 
inclination may be to specify an untested 
queen. That would be a mistake, how- 
ever, and here is the reason. A virgin 
queen mates but once, and that in the 
air, often a long ways from the hive, so 
that no one can tell what drone over- 
takes her in the mad chase which marks 
her bridal flight. He may be from some 
other apiary or a wild bee from the 
woods. ‘That being the case, it is im- 
possible to know whether the progeny 
of the queen will be of pure blood until 
the young bees have begun to appear in 
the hive. Then the color determines the 
matter, and if the young bees are golden 
hued, as they should be, the mother is 
ready to be sold as a tested Italian 
queen. The man who buys an untested 
queen takes chances with this pastime. 
the AGES 
