February, 1912 
in the flesh. This may be done by brushing the sleeve or 
hand over the spot. 
Many professional bee-keepers seldom use veil or gloves, 
but none of them scorn the bee-smoker, by means of which 
it is possible to ward off many attacks when the bees are in 
ill humor. Sweet-tempered as Italian bees are, they are 
easily angered if interfered with at night or on a cold and 
cloudy day, as well as by nervous and hurried motions. If 
a hive is opened at mid-day, with honey coming in freely, 
the bees will give no trouble, but the use 
of a smoker makes it possible to control 
the insects under all conditions. It is a 
little device in which old rags, rotted 
wood or any material which makes a 
dense smoke may be burned. A small 
bellows blows the smoke through a noz- 
zle, so that it may be directed to any 
given spot. When a hive is to be opened 
a little smoke is driven into the entrance 
and a little under a corner of the cover. 
This is usually enough to subdue the 
bees, for they become demoralized in 
the presence of smoke. Most beginners 
use too much smoke in their nervousness. 
Removing the surplus honey was a 
rather exciting operation until the Por- 
ter bee-escape, combined with a honey- 
board, came into general use. Now it 
is a very simple matter. The bee-escape 
is a little device which is placed over a 
hole in the center of a light board, and 
which allows a bee to pass through in 
one direction only. The board is slipped between the super 
and the hive body and a few puffs of smoke forced into the 
super. When the hive is opened, several hours later, the 
super is found practically free of bees and the honey may 
be removed at leisure, which proves the worth of the device. 
The hive tool is a handy little instru- 
ment for prying open the hive when it 
sticks, and for various other purposes. 
A screw-driver is a poor substitute here. 
The feeder is for use in giving the 
bees aid when they have not stored suf- 
ficient honey to last them through the 
Winter. Occasionally it is possible to 
save a weak swarm by this means. Gran- 
ulated sugar is dissolved in water and 
placed in the feeder, which is put into 
the hive. It must always be used inside 
the hive in order to prevent robbing on 
the part of bees from other hives, which 
often occurs when sweets are exposed, 
and which is highly demoralizing. A 
moral sense seems to be something which 
bees lack. A friend of mine has several 
hives in an attic. On one occasion he 
left the super on one hive uncovered for 
a short time when he was called away. 
When he returned the attic was filled 
with a buzzing horde of robber bees. 
The bee-brush is convenient when it is 
necessary to remove the bees from a frame of comb for any 
purpose. It will be used more frequently as the beginner 
gets experience and adds to the number of his colonies. 
One of the first things about which the amateur begins to 
worry is swarming, but even that bugaboo ceases to trouble 
him when he learns how to clip the tiny wings of the queen 
with a pair of curved manicure scissors. This operation 
should take place early in the season, and is not at all dif- 
ficult. A bright, warm day should be chosen, so that the 
Women are very successful bee-keepers 
- 7 
Smoking the bees betore opening a_ hive. 
These are single-wall hives 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 65 
worker bees will be in the fields, making it easier to find the 
queen. Then Her Majesty may be picked up gently and 
the ends of the wings snipped off. 
The swarming fever may be held in check by putting the 
supers on early and by using a large hive; but if a swarm 
does issue, the clipped queen will drop to the ground in front 
of the hive, not being able to fly. The swarm will keep on 
until it finds that the queen is missing, when it will come 
circling back. In the meantime the bee-keeper will have 
picked up the queen and put her into the 
cage mentioned in the above list. If he 
wants to increase the numbder of his 
colonies, he will remove the old hive 
and substitute a new one. Then, when 
the swarm returns and commences to go 
in, he will place the queen among the 
bees and she will run in, too. When the 
bees have been hived, the new colony 
may be given another location and the 
old hive returned to its orignal stand. 
The bee-keeper will then have two 
colonies instead of one, for only a por- 
tion of the bees swarm, and a new queen 
will be reared in the old hive without 
the assistance of the bee-keeper. A 
queen is raised from an ordinary worker 
egg, her peculiar development being due 
to the manner in which she is fed and 
cared for by the other bees. A cell con- 
taining a prospective queen is easily dis- 
tinguished, as it is made much larger 
thanthe others. It is possible to build up 
a good-sized apiary in a few years from a single colony by 
permitting free swarming. ‘That is why I said at the begin- 
ning that three hives at the most were all the beginner 
should start work with. 
Of course, less honey is secured when the bees are allowed 
to swarm freely, as the strength of the 
colony is depleted. If a new colony is 
not desired, the queen is simply allowed 
to run into the old hive when the bees 
return from their flight. Then two or 
three frames of comb are removed from 
the middle of the hive and replaced with 
frames having only foundation sheets 
of wax. The bees usually are willing 
to begin on them, quickly drawing out 
the wax into comb. When the bees are 
run for honey only, the amount produced 
averages about thirty pounds to a colony. 
Sometimes it 1s much less; again, it may 
be a hundred pounds, or even more, if 
the season is a good one and the colony 
strong. Comb honey sells at the stores 
for from twenty to thirty cents a pound. 
Whether the honey be sold or its value 
credited to the household commissary, 
it represents practically all profit. A 
trifling amount may be required for 
starters and honey sections, but the up- 
keep is very small. Most amateurs will 
want to increase the number of their colonies through 
swarming, and, of course, a new hive with its equipment 
must be supplied with each additional colony. After the 
amateur has had a few years’ experience, however, he prob- 
ably will begin to use single-wall hives, as they are easier to 
handle when there are a considerable number to be shifted 
about. These hives vary in price, but are less than the 
double-wall hives; but whatever is the cost of bee-keeping, 
no other hobby pays a dividend on the money invested. 
