Various

“ As The American Bee-Keeper is published in the interest of beginners, allow me to say to them that the first thing to be learned is the fact that no set rules can be given to suit everyone under all the varying conditions of climate, location, etc., and that everyone must use intelligence and make rules to suit his own individual case—must make a vigorous use of his own “think shop.” ”

“ If he is gifted with an average insight into the mystery of common things, he will quickly choose the hive and system that are most universally used, and will stick to that system, and nine chances in ten he will make a success of his bee business. If, however, he is gifted with a volatile nature, he will not be satisfied until he has eight or ten different style hives in his apiary at one time, and will spend all the money he makes in trying new apiarian fixtures, until he finally gives the bee business up in disgust. ”

“ The production of honey is the principal object that a beginner has in view when he contemplates starting in the apiarian business. Of course, he generally buys a few box hives and does the transferring himself; which I think is a good idea, as he gains considerable knowledge of the inside of a bee-hive and of handling bees. Before he invests in bees, he generally buys and reads a couple of bee books and obtains a few catalogues of leading apiarian manufactures, to see what style of hive is best. ”

“ A hive that is too complicated will never come into general use. Competition in the honey business requires that we use the cheapest appliances, combined with the greatest excellences. Here in this state (California) where honey is so cheap, it would be folly to spend $8.00 for a bee-hive, because a $1.50 hive will answer every purpose equally as well, the hive does not make any difference in the amount of honey gathered, bees will store as much honey in a box hive as in any frame hive ever devised; the queen and race of bees make the difference in the amount of surplus gathered. ”

“ The man whose soul is so small and his ideas so contracted, and his business principles so mean as to place a half pound honey package upon the market for the purpose of extorting a half penny or so from his fellow man deserves to be classed with—you may draw your own comparison. ”

“ The old queen always goes with the first swarm unless she is unable to fly. When making artificial swarms raise your queens and drones from the best colonies. A queenless colony will raise queens at once if it has larvae less than three days old and these queens will hatch within 10 to 12 days. If you give your bees a good supply of empty combs before the beginning of the honey crop and keep them at work they will rarely swarm. But if they once find themselves crowded and get the swarming fever, nothing will keep them from swarming. ”

“ A hive full of bees during these 53 days are not only of no use to me but a positive disadvantage. They are only consumers and not 39 honey gatherers because there is no honey to be gathered. Reason would dictate to me that I must use every means in my power to build up my colonies as strong as possible from early in the spring to within 35 days of the end of the honey flow, or about the 19th of June, that about this time, certainly not later than June 25th, I must restrict my queen to as few frames as possible, so as to have but few bees during the 53 days of dearth. ”

“ Some women cannot keep bees, any more than some men; but many can, and to their great profit. Often a farmer’s wife or daughter welcomes an occupation for the sake of its novelty, something to break up the routine of cooking, washing and sewing; and bee-keeping, even if it brings only a few pounds of honey for the table, is undertaken and carried through with pleasure and delight.—Ex. ”

“ But add the cost of hives and fixtures which the change involves with the loss which one is sure to meet with for a time under any new arrangement, and can we wonder that there is so little confidence placed in inventions or the inventors. Still had we gone more slowly, tested more carefully, and on a smaller scale and given ourselves more time to sum up the evidence, no doubt many times our verdict would bless instead of curse the inventor. No doubt there are inventors who abuse one’s confidence, but they too well have but little chance to deceive us if we go slow. ”

“ Remember, beginner, that if you don’t manage your bees intelligently you had better never go into the business for you will have no “luck” and the business will be a failure with you; and you might as well try to raise corn without seed as to try to raise honey without a scientific work on bee culture and one or more of the many excellent bee journals. ”

“ Now if we place a thin board down solid on the top bars of our brood frames early enough in the fall for the bees to glue up the crevices and thus prevent all air currents from passing up through our hives, we again get even with our box hive brethren, and when we prevent all radiation of heat by placing a cushion on top of this board, the same as we do the sides. And further, in spring and early summer, when we give our bees just the ventilation required by raising this board, we are another long step ahead of them. ”

“ While it is safe to our own pockets to be conservative, yet no class has done more to advance the interests of the bee-keepers than those who experiment, and seem not to be satisfied with their present condition. Had the inventors of the Monitor been contented with wooden war ships our great American Republic would have been divided. ”

“ We would much rather have ten feet of snow over hives than none at all.
A friend of ours once told us how he had made a great mistake by digging away the snow from some of his hives, but at the same time learned a valuable lesson. His apiary was situated in somewhat of a valley, and one morning after a heavy fall of snow which had been considerably drifted, he looked out and was dismayed to see his entire apiary buried beneath the fleecy flakes. One portion, however, was much worse than the other—that at the north end being buried in some places ten feet deep. ”

“ We have many discouragements and losses before we succeed in turning out one. Many of these inventions must be tested by bee-keepers before a true verdict can be given, and we should all be willing to lend a hand to be one of the great jury in the discussion of these cases as they are brought before us by our leaders; the inventors. ”

“ Do not extract before your honey is sealed, if you do it is not ripe and too thin and will sour, thus spoiling your reputation as a honey producer. Don’t be too eager to obtain a large quantity, let the quality be good and you will have no trouble 45 to find plenty of buyers. It is only the poor, unripe article that cannot be sold, and which gives some of our writers in the bee papers so much trouble to find a way to dispose of their honey. ”

“ The honey harvest lasts but a few weeks, so you must be ready for it. “Make hay while the sun shines.” When hiving a swarm give them a hive full of worker comb, or comb foundation if possible, or else give them narrow stripes for guides, but do not give them a hive partly filled with comb, as they would be sure to build a great deal of drone comb in the remaining space. ”

“ In an apiary composed of Italian and hybrids if a Carinolan queen be introduced and the Carinolans then be left to reproduce themselves naturally they will hold their own for hundreds of generations before their markings will begin to be eliminated. Place a colony of Carinolans in an isolated location, and allow natural breeding, and in ten years they will not deteriorate a single bit; but take a colony of Italians, and allow natural breeding and in a year or two we have nothing but common black, or very poor hybrid bees ”

“ Anything smaller than a one pound section or frame is a loss to the producer as well as the consumer. A one pound comb makes a nice package, and such frames can be nicely crated and safely shipped.
Comb honey should be removed from the hive as soon as all the cells are sealed over. If left to remain it becomes darker by the bees passing over it. When taken from the hive it should be placed in a dark room until sold or shipped to market. ”

“ At the end of forty-eight hours open the entrance and let them fly if they wish, feed them a little sugar syrup every night for about a week, and if the honey season is over, or, if this is done during a dearth of honey you should feed them regularly so as not to let them starve. I had the disease in my apiary the past season and this is the plan I used to cure it. My bees are as healthy now as as if they had never had it. ”

“ We can change too much, and again too little. I am aware that I have missed some good opportunities by being a little too set in my ways, and I have had too little charity for improvements; medium ground is safe ground on which to stand. ”

“ Take a clean new hive with new, clean frames, fill it with comb foundation, take and run all the bees out of the diseased hive into the clean one, do this in the evening and as soon as the bees are all in close the entrance with wire cloth, keep them confined for forty-eight hours until they have consumed all the honey in their sacks in building comb. ”

“ In a village in Germany, where the number of bees kept was regulated by law, a bad season had proved that the place was overstocked, from the great weakness of all the colonies in the neighborhood. There was but one exception, that of an old man who was generally set down as being no wiser than his neighbors. ”

“ The simplicity hive, with its various modifications, is the hive that gives the best satisfaction among advanced apiarists, and when used with the Hoffman frames it is hard to beat. To persons who 38 contemplate starting out-apiaries, the Hoffman frame offers very superior advantages. My opinion is, that bee-keepers who keep out-apiaries, and who move bees considerably, will in time settle down to the fixed frame. ”

“ Commence by giving them one half pint thin sugar syrup each day; do not feed them in the daytime, feed them at night and they will have all the feed taken down before the next morning. This will start them to rearing brood rapidly and by the time the honey harvest arrives they will be strong and overflowing with bees ready for it. Make but a limited number of swarms and make them strong and early. Late natural swarms should be returned to the parent hive, about twenty-four hours after hiving them. ”

“ Mr. Pierce says the pollen theory is not the cause of diarrhea; that diarrhea in bees is caused by cold and lack of stores, and is only intestinal catarrh.
Chaff cushions, or other porous material over a sealed cover are all right and serve a good purpose.
Mr. Pierce is a thorough advocate of protection and packing around the bees; but the cover must be sealed down that no heat can escape into the packing above. ”

“ This onward impelling force in Americans has sought out so many good things in the last fifty years that I have not space to tell them. Some rejoice in real improvements. Well, we can’t grind out out a grist of real improvements to 35 order. ”