^rtirdue university s
LAFAYETTE, 1NB|
j.-.y,^      -     _,~-~-_rN-_r_-_l_r_»-.ll
VOL. UX.
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 7, 1904.
NO 19.
BEE KEEPING FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT-
Has Kept Records (or 34 Years.
1st Premium.—My experience with bees
for pleasure dates from "pbout the j-jear
1854. Father usually kept a few hives,
and I, then 15 years of age, was very
much interested in the mysterious workings of the bees and especially in their
swarming. One day a younger brother
found a small cluster ot bees, not larger
than a teacup, hanging on a currant bush,
and called me to see them. We got a
little box land put them in it. Thley
would not stay, but went back to the same
bush. "We concluded they had no queen,
or "king" as called then. We had never
seen a queen, but had been told they
were of the shape and appearance of a
black wasp. Why not give them a
wasp? My brother went to the shop loft,
whero we knew wasps were plentiful,
and soon captured one. With a thread
we tied the wasp to a staple in the top
of the box, then held the box) rander the
cluster of bees and shook them in. Did
they stay? No! With the whirl of a
cyclone and a buzz of disgust they were
out and gone, and we saw them no more.
Swarms going off to the.woods was, in
those days one of the draw-backs to beekeeping. Now, of course, we know how
to prevent that almost entirely. One
swarm, I (remember, after coming out
the second time, took a straight course of
half a mile and went into __ hollow limb
of a poplar tree. That the place had
been selected beforehand is proven by the
fact that they were seen going ia the instant they got there. Having a desire to know and learn all I could of the
busy little bee, I procured the standard
book, at that time, "Mysteries of ibee-
being explained," by M. Quimby. This
I studied closely, and I would advise those
wishing to work with bees, for pleasure
or profit, to study one of the up-to-date
books on bees now to be had.
My experience with bees for profit dates
from 1870. Beginning with that year, I
have book accounts of all my operations
in that line, and so do not write jfrom
memory. July 28, 1870, I bought of L.
Ia. Langstroth, of Oxford, O., one Italian
queen, for $10. This proved a good investment, being the first Italian bee in
this part of aur county. The demand
for queens and pure Italian bees became
good, and for some years my sale of bees
interfered with the production of honey
for market, which was what I wishjed
mainly to work for. However, the accounts show some fairly good yields of
honey. In 1875, the surplus from 54
colonies was 7,000 pounds, and sold Ior
.$088. In 1879, 2,725 pounds ,was the
surplus. Comb honey then sold for 25c
and extracted for 15c. Then came a few
years of scarcity, in which the surplus
barely paid expenses. Our best honey
seasons usually come after a hard winter,
with snow to protect the white and red
clovers, white clover being the principal
honey source. In the last ten years there
have been a number of very good honey
seasons, and also-a few poor ones, but
so it is with the wheat crop, and most all
crops. More farmers should keep bees
than do. There is a wealth of honey
secreted in the clover and other bloom
most every year. Keep bees and they
will gather it for you.
Forl5years,or np to 1800, the main par*
of our honey was extracted and sold in
barreJs at wholesale, but in  the last 12
years have produced mostly comb in one
pound sections.
Extracted or slung honey, pays about
as well as comb, but is more work for tho
beekeeper. Beginners in the business
should by all means use a honey slin-ger,
even with only three or four hives, as
double the amount of honey can be taken,
swarming can be prevented, and thereby
the entire force of thie colony be kept
at work storing surplus, instead of sending
out from two to four swarms to starve
tlie  following winter.
In 1897, we had an unusually good
honey   season. Our  average  in   comb
honey was over 100 pounds per colony,
while one colony, urged to its full capacity, in a douiblo story hive, gave 342
pounds of extracted honey and had plenty
left for winter. J.  S.
Fayette Co.
selves with honey ready for a flight if
necessary. I can tell as soon as I take
gathering. Never open the hive or disturb tliem, except when it is absolutely
necessary. I can tell is soon as I take
a man into my apiary whether, he Jias
studied the nature and ways of the bee.
If he stands up erect, within a few feet
of tho entrance of a hive, and slaps at
tho first bee that flies against him, you
had better get him out of the apiary and
into the cellar, if you do not want him
badly stung. Or, if he boasts that bees
never sting him, you can mark it down
that he knows little about bees. Yet
wo may handle bees with impunity, if
the conditions are right and we conduct
ourselves properly, but you want to keep
cool, move quietly, and make as few gestures as pj)ssible. Your apiary should be
near  the  bouse,   aud   I   should   like   my
Logging on Blue Lake, Florida.
Carefully Study the Best Bee Book.
2d Premium.—My experience in beekeeping goes back close to 1830, for that
is the date that I came to Indiana, and it
is no fault of mine that I did not come
sooner. One of the first things I can recollect after I got here was a long row of
bee-hives on a slab that rested on somo
blocks. Probably the first thing that
attracted my attention to the bees was
when I wobbled around too near them,
and came in contact with the business end
of some of the guards, but it is much
more pleasant to j-ecall the time when
father would pry off the top of one of
those old box-hives, blow in some smoke,
and then dive in after the honey, for then
it would not be long until I would have
a section of comb three or four inches
square, and that most delicious sweet
would be dripping from my hands and
lips.
Let me say right here that, before
you can handle bees for pleasure or profit,
you must study their nature and habits,
and the short cut to that is to read such
works as those by Quimby, Langstroth,
Cook, Boot and others. Keep your eyes
open to the bees' way of doing business
they have never changed as far as man
knows. They will stow just as much
honey in an old salt barrel jas in tlie
finest hive man can construct, and the
quality will be the same. Therefore,
all we can do in the construction of hives
is to get our honey in the best Marketable shape, and so we can handle bees
and honey to the best advantage.
One trouble with beginners, after they
get their bees into the moveable frame
hive, is to handle them too much. Every
time you blow smoke into the hive, or
otherwise  disturb   them,   they   fill   them-
hives to face to the cast, so that they
can get the bent-fit of the morning sun in
early spring, yet I would shade my hives
to some estent during the very hot
weather . Place your bees far enough
back from all drives and walks so that
they will have distance enough to rise
above them beforo they reach them. There
should be no obstacles in front of the
hive to prevent tho bees from having a
clear entrance.
If your lighting board slopes to tho
ground, you will save the lives of many
heavily laden bees that fall to the ground,
especially in time of storm.
I would advise every farmer to keep
a few colonies of bees, not only for the
sweet nectar they gather from the flowers
but for their example of industry.
For 40 years that I stayed on the farm
I kept a few colonies, and I derived both
pleasure and profit from tliem. We
were hardly ever out of honey for the
table. In the spring of 18S0 I had 18
colonies; in the fall I had 35 colonies and
a cash balanco of $300 for
bees and honey sold, besides all the honey
that the family of six could consume and
many dishes set out to friend and neighbor. I. N. &
Marion Co.
Early Swarms are Most Profitable.
3d Premium.—If one wants to get a
start of bees he should get young swarms.
_j_ay swarms are best, as they are generally stronger, and the bees have more
time to store away honey for winter uso
than the later swarms have.
Bee-keepers differ as to the kind of
hive that Shouid be lused. Some use
tho patent hive, with frames and starters,
and the patent cap,    that is    filled with
small frames, each holding one pound of
honey. With tha aid of a bee smoker
they take the honey as needed, a pound or
.so at a time, or all at once. Again some of
our most successful bee-keepers prefer
the old-fashioned high box, or just blocks,
about two and one-half feet high; sawed
oft a hollow log. Thesio hiave sticks
crossed iu the center of the cavity, and a
board place on them, with a small hole
through it for the bees to pass through
into the cap, which is a box with one side
glass, or a wooden bucket turned upsidd
down. These caps are left on till well
filled with honey. This may be known
by thumping on them. Then remove
cap, honey aud all, and replace with an
empty   oue. The   cap   should   not  be
placed on the hive in the spring till the
bees havo the hive well filled with honey
for winter use. If it is, they may fill
the cap first, and when the cap is removed their supply for winter will be
short, 'and they will suffer for their mis-
takie.
Bees should be kept free from roaches,
ants, etc., or they will leave their hive.
Also they will not live in a hive whtere
mice havo been. . They should be kept
warm in winter. It is best to have the
hives placed along a picket fence, with
the front facing the south. If this is
not convenient, wrap the hives with old
carpet, during the cold winter months, but
ilo not leave them^wrapped when warm
w<__ther comes, as it softens the comb inside the hive and it is apt to fall down.
Bees should be fed in winter. gomje
hives may not need it, while others will
suffer and the bees may die if not fled.
Rye flour and cream candy is good to feed
them, if one has no old honey for this
purpose.
Oue large swarm of bees during a summer is enough for one hive to send out.
If they swarm too often they will not be
profitable. The swarms will not be
strong, therefore will do no good, and
the bees in the old hive will not make
very much honey. It is better to look
through the hive and kill all the young
qneens, after they have swarmed once.
One queen is enough, then when the young
bees hatch they will remain in the hive.
When bees are ready to swarm they
should be watched closely and "settled"
as near the hives as possible. Some
throw water on them, some soft dirt, some
ring bells and hammer old pans, and some
shoot through the swarm. The latter is
very dangerous as it kills so many bees
and is liable to kill the queen. Bees
generally havo their location "spotted"
before they swarm, and it it not necessary
to do anything more than watch them to
see where they are going. If they are
going to the woods, they will go, and all
the noise that can be made will n ot cheek
them. If they settle on a limb of a tree,
which they generally do, a sheet or canvas shou... be placed on the ground directly under the bees, and the hive placed on
this; then the bees should be gently shaken
from the limb onto the sheet, and they will
crowd into the hive. If they are slow
to go into the hive, or fly again to the
limb, the queen is sure to be on the limb
yet. She should be hunted out and placed
in the hive, then the bees will follow as
clucks follow an old hen into a.coop. If
the limb is high on the tree, it should be
sawed off and gently lowered to the sheet
with a rope.
If one does not understand bees and
bee-keeping, he had better have an expert
look through tlie hive and give   him some
Continued on page 9, column 3.