Alexander's writings on practical bee culture

Front matter

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

NEW YORK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

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Preface

In 1904 we began the publication in ‘‘Gleanings in Bee Culture,’ an illustrated semi-monthly magazine, a series of articles from the pen of Mr, E. W. Alexander, of Delanson, Schenectady Co., N.Y. For a period of nearly forty years Mr. Alexander had been keeping bees in a large way, producing honey by the carload. He was regarded during a large portion of that time as the most extensive bee-keeper in Northeastern New York; but it was not till later that he began to give to the public the secrets of his success.

His first writings were so valuable, coming from so ripe an experience covering so many years, that, as editor of ‘‘ Gleanings,’’ I finally induced him to furnish us a short series of articles. So much impressed was I with the value of his teachings in practical apiculture that I tendered hima sum far in excess of what I had ever offered any other new contributor, and with only one exception did I ever pay any writer more than Mr. E. W. Alexander. After he had completed us his first series I induced him to continue as a regular contributor, and this he did with more or less regularity up to the time of his death, September 19, 1908.

During a good portion of the time that he was furnishing us matter for the journal he was a great sufferer; and his disease finally compelled him to lay down his pen, which he had used so long and so well in behalf of his brother bee-keepers all over thecountry. After his death there came an almost universal demand for those articles in book form. So insistent were these calls that we were finally prevailed on to pick out the best of his ideas, and we now have pleasure in presenting them to the general public.

In this series of articles Mr. Alexander gave out many useful hints and ‘tricks of the trade.’’ Some of these seemed to be almost revolutionary, not to say unorthodox; and occasionally his methods were criticised as being ‘‘ impractical and valueless.” But in order to understand the man and his writings one needs to know something of his locality as well as his methods of management; for his forty years of experience had shown that they were in perfect harmony, and, so far as he was concerned, he had no desire to recall anything he had said. While at times he may have seemed unorthodox, yet it must be remembered that he occupied a locality where conditions were peculiar, not to say remarkable. He was the only bee-keeper in the United States who was ever able to manage from 700 to 800 colonies all in one yard. Others have had as many as 500; but this has always been regarded as an extremely high figure for one place. Mr. Alexander’s apiary was located, and is now, in fact (under the management of his son), on one of the hills near the little town of Delanson, N. Y. It is probably one of the finest, if not the finest, buckwheat bee-ranges in the

United States. From the Alexander apiary, when the fields are in bloom, one can see from twenty to thirty white patches down in the valley and on the hills, to which the bees are streaming in countless thousands. Then the locality is remarkable for the large number of asters which possibly furnish almost as much nectar as the buckwheat itself.

While the white-honey harvest along in June and July can not be considered anything remarkable, yet when this is supplemented by the buckwheat and aster bloom one can form some idea of the possibilities from keeping so many colonies in one locality.

These writings are not published in their chronological order, but, rather, have been rearranged with the view of having one article gradually lead up to another. For instance, we selected the first article, ‘Taking up Bee-keeping as a Business.’’ While this was written toward the latter end of the series, it served as an excellent introductory to that which follows; for it gives one an idea of the possibilities of the business from the standpoint of one who has had so large an experience. The next article deals with what constitutes a good locality; and so there will be found clear through a harmony of plan and method.

The beginner should not lose sight of the fact that Mr. Alexander did things in a large way. Some methods that are practical on a big scale would not be adaptable to the management of bees in a small way; but nevertheless it will pay any beginner to go over each article very carefully, for he will find he can pick out a large number of valuable hints which will be useful in making dollars off his bees.

It may be interesting to note that nearly one thousand copies of this little volume were sold before it was ready for delivery from the press. This large scale of matter that has been published once, shows in what high esteem bee-keepers all over the country held this Gamaliel of beedom. We may well sit at his feet and learn.

Medina, Ohio, March 25, 1909. E. R. Roor.

Introduction

BHE-KEEPING AS A BUSINESS.

When our attention is called to some new line of business, usually our first thoughts are, “How much money can I make out of it?’ or, “How many dollars can be made annually clear of all expenses from a given amount of capital invested?” While I will admit that these are questions of much importance—questions worthy of due consideration—there is still one question which is of paramount importance above all others, which, I am sorry to say, we seldom think of. That is, “Am I naturally qualified for that line of business? If so, then I have the principal requirement to success; if not, then no amount of study or hard labor can fully take the place of my inability to fulfill its requirements.” Oh how many of us spend our whole lives like water seeking its level, and never find the business that God fitted us best to follow! My young friend, if you have any thoughts of taking up bee-keeping as a business, then think this subject over carefully before you invest much money. My advice would be to work one summer, at least, for some successful honey-producer— one who would take pains to teach you all he could in regard to rearing queens, forming nuclei, increasing colonies, wintering, and producing honey—yes, and a thousand and one little things which only experience can teach. In this way you could be earning your board and fair wages while learning your business.

In regard to the amount of money that can be made from bee-keeping, it is like all other rural pursuits—it depends to a great extent on the season. It is no get-rich-quick business; still, if rightly followed, it will give as good returns one year with another as any business of a rural nature, considering the amount of capital invested and labor required. About five dollars per colony, spring count, clear of all expenses, is a moderate estimate of the profit from the business—that is, if run wholly for the production of honey without any special care to see what might be accomplished; but if run by an expert on high-grade methods, then 15 or 20 dollars per colony can frequently be made.

Here is where the specialist has a great advantage over the man who divides his capital and time into two or more channels. These men soon find that they have twice or three times the trouble to contend with, and only a third or a half the capital to use in making a success of any one of the several lines they have taken up; but the lack of necessary capital is only a small factor, for that can be got at the bank. But the necessary intellect, business capacity, and experience can not be borrowed, and without these elements to success there is only one alternative, and that is and always has been simply failure.

Then there is another thing to take into consideration. It is pleasant to have a paying business that requires your time only about half of the year, and that the pleasant part, when you can be outdoors and enjoy all the pleasures of nature’s spring and summer. With me it is a real pleasure to breathe free air unsoiled by either beli or whistle calling me to labor.

I will now take it for granted that you have spent one or two seasons in learning all that you could during that time from some competent person, and you still want to follow bee-keeping. I can not advise you to go slow, as some do. That “go slow” is a blight on any man. First be sure that you are right, then go ahead with willing hands and a good stock of perseverance ever ready to overcome the unexpected troubles as you meet them. Make up your mind from the first to take good bee literature; have good bees; use good tools and hives, and then produce good honey. Take pride in your business. If you have taken up queen-rearing, forming nuclei for sale, or increasing your colonies for sale, or producing comb or extracted honey, don’t forget to look well to quality. Then advertise and let the public know what you have, and you will in a short time not only surprise your friends but yourself with your success. You now have a clear track and a light grade compared with what some of us older men had fifty years ago. We then had a hard time of it—no bee journals, no Italian bees, no comb foundation, no honey-extractors, no bee-smokers, and no market for the little honey we secured.

_ How different now, with our large markets established, where our honey is annually sought for, either in small lots or by the carload, and with our new inventions and improved methods enabling us to produce five times the amount per colony we did then! To me bee-keeping now seems like quite a good business. Still, I never advise one to take it up, not even my own sons, for I have always taught that, when it comes to choosing a life business, each one should choose for himself. While it is true that man to a great extent makes his circumstances, still it is also true that circumstances to a great extent make the man.

I am well acquainted with a man who was born on a farm, and worked hard on it for several years aftervhe was married. He was temperate and of excellent habits, working early and late; but still his farm life was a perfect failure. After toiling in close circumstances for several years his wife’s friends got him a situation in New York city. Then the scale turned. He struck a place that God had fitted him for, and for the past thirteen years he has had a net income of over twenty thousand dollars a year. I speak of this case to show that many of us are trying to make a success of some business to which we are not at all adapted; also to show the importance of trying hard while young to start right.

You should look upon your business as your bank; and whenever you can add a dollar to it, do so, and it will return in due time many fold. Take pride in having a good apiary, and remember there is far more in the man than in the business. If the bee-keeper in the future will take our leading bee journals he can, through their advice, shun so many troubles that we older men had to bear that it is almost like another business—not but that it is still subject to many discouraging conditions; and our inability to have any control] over the season is and always will be its worst feature. But all lines of business have some troubles with which to contend. When the farmer loses his stock it is hard and costly to replace, and it often takes some time to do it; or when als crops are ruined by untimely frosts or protracted drouths the loss is hard to bear and overcome. But when the bee-keeper loses a large per cent of his bees he still has the hives and combs left; and if he has some good colonies he can soon have his original number again with but little expense, and usually secure some surplus besides.

Here is one great advantage our business has over many others. Taking our bees safely through long cold winters and very changeable spring weather, with small loss, has been a hard problem to solve; but this part of the business is now so much better understood by nearly all bee-keepers than it was a few years ago that we feel much encouraged in eventually overcoming other troubles as we have this.

Each year brings some new methods perfected whereby our business’ is placed on a more reliable basis than it formerly was, enabling us to produce honey cheaper than we ever could before. Still, we have some dark clouds of losses and disappointments hovering over us. I have seen many through which it was almost impossible to see a ray of silver lining; but as the mariner’s compass will guide the ship safely through ocean storms, so will continual perseverence lead you on and on through the trying hours until a clear unclouded sunset welcomes you to a Jand of rest.

February, 1907.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A “FAIRLY GOOD LOCALITY’? IS IT BEST TO ALLOW THE FIRST HONEY TO FILL THE BROOD-CHAMBER?

It may not be out of place for me to describe what I consider a fairly good locality. It is this:

Any place, after June 1, that will furnish a harvest for 35 days, sufficient for one colony of Italian bees of a good honey-gathering strain to gather a surplus of 100 lbs. of extracted honey, is what I call a fairly good location, and is as good a locality as this is; and all that we have been able to secure more than that has been done by adapting certain methods which the majority of bee-keepers have known but little about until recently.

Now as to the number of colonies that this or any other fairly good location can furnish a good surplus for. That is a problem that no one has ever been able to solve. I know that this location has furnished and can furnish a surplus of just as many pounds of honey per colony for 750 colonies in one yard as it ever did for a less number, and IJ think the same will yet be proven true of any fairly good location.

In regard to breaking up good colonies just previous to the main honey-flow, I can say that I have never advised any one to do this except where increase was preferred to surplus honey. I have always advised doing every thing possible to build up the colonies so that they will not only be strong in bees but have their hives well filled with brood in order to keep them strong during the whole honey-flow. Either make the increase long enough before the harvest to enable all colonies to become strong in time for it, as can very easily be done in a buckwheat location, or make no increase until the harvest for surplus is over.

LEAVING THE WELL-BEATEN PATH, AND THE CONSEQUENCES.

In regard to the wisdom of cautioning beginners about leaving the “beaten paths too far, and following what may in their localities turn out after al] to be a phantom,” I wish to say that, when I was a boy, a very small minority of bee-keepers left the well-beaten path of setting their best colonies over a brimstone-pit in order to get a little honey, and adopted the more humane way of cutting a little out of the sides of their hives in order that they might save their bees for another year; and I could never see any phantom about that. I can well remember many vears ago, of a small minority that left the well-beaten path of box hives, and in their place adopted movable-comb hives. There was no phantom about that either. Also a small minority that left the well-beaten path of keeping black bees, and in their place keep only good strains of Italians— no phantom about that. Yes, and a small minority that left the well-beaten path of squeezing their honey through a bag, and in its place adopted the improved honey-extractors of to-day. No phantom about that; and it has so happened that a small minority at one time left that well-beaten path of producing their surplus comb honey in coarse hemlock boxes holding 15 or 20 lbs. apiece, and adopted the nice attractive section of the present day—no phantom about leaving that beaten path, that I can see. I might continue to cite many more cases where a small minority have left beaten paths in all lines of business and become the leaders of progress. History shows us, in thousands of instances, where minorities have been in the right, and were a target for the arrows of critics who only followed in their wake and drifted with the masses.

June, 1906.

AMOUNT OF HONEY PER COLONY.

WHAT CAN WE REASONABLY EXPKCT TO OBTAIN WHEN WE GIVE OUR BEES THE BEST OF CARE?

This is a question which we are often asked by those who know but little about bees, and I sometimes think it might be a good question for each one of us to ask ourselves, and then do a little thinking along this line. For some time I have been thinking this matter over, and I have come to the conclusion that I never gave my bees what might be called the best of care, neither have I ever seen a man who did. Now, why is this? Simply because we have got the idea into our heads that we must have a great number of colonies in order to make a little money. Now, this is a big mistake, and the sooner we realize it the better.

Let us apply the same management to bee-keeping that we see put into practice by all the successful business men of the country. They make the most out of every thing connected with their business that they possibly can. Is it so with us? I don’t think it is. There are but very few who give their bees extra care, consequently their surplus is small per colony, and they may become discouraged. Now let us look this matter over and see if we can not do much better in the future with fewer colonies than many of us are now doing with several hundred; and, by way of explaining this matter, I will suppose that on April 15, you have 100 fairly good colonies that were just taken from their winter quarters, and that each colony contains a good well-developed Italian queen not over ten months old that has been reared from some good honey-gathering strain of bees. I shall take it for granted that your hives are filled with nice worker combs.

We will commence the season’s work by putting a feeder under every hive and giving each colony about 1% cents’ worth of extracted honey, or sugar syrup, which must be made very thin, of about the consistency of nectar, and feed them about this amount every day that the weather is such they can not gather anything from flowers until about the last of May. This will require on an average, one season with another, about 50 cents’ worth of honey or sugar per colony; and, if properly done, you will have, May 25, every hive crowded with brood and maturing bees at the rate of 2,000 or more a day.

About two weeks previous to this we should start the rearing of four or five hundred queen-cells, which are now, May 26, about ready to hatch. Now we will divide our 100 colonies, making two of each, and fix them so that the queenless part will mature two or more of these ripe queen-cells or virgins into nice laying queens; then about the last of June we will separate these colonies that have two or more laying queens, making 100 more increase, or 300 colonies all together.

The old colony, or the part that has had the old laying queen from the first, we have kept busy drawing out frames of foundation into nice extracting-combs, and we have also kept them from any desire to swarm by taking their combs of capped brood away as fast as they had some to spare, and giving this brood to this newly made increase.

In this way of managing your bees you have no swarming to bother with, and at the same time you have increased your 100 colonies to 300, and all are in good condition for any harvest that commences after

July 4.

Now, what I consider a fairly good location (and no man ever ought to bother trying to produce honey in a poor location) will furnish a surplus of three or four pounds of extracted honey per day for as much as 35 days during July and August. This will give us about 100 lbs. per colony, or a total surplus of 30,000 lbs. from our 100 colonies, which we started with in the spring. This, at the wholesale price of 6 cents per Ib., brings us $1,800. Then we have 200 colonies of an increase, worth about five dollars apiece, which gives us $1,000 more, or a total income of $2,800 from our 100 colonies we started with in the spring. Now we will deduct the necessary expenses.

First, $50 for the honey or sugar we fed them to stimulate early breeding; and there, my friends, is the key that unlocks all the rest. Then we have $400 for the expense of new hives filled with foundation for our 200 increase; then the matter of hired help will cost about $125, and the necessary barrels to ship your honey in will cost nearly $100 more, making a total expense of about $675. This, subtracted from your income, leaves a net balance of $2,125—a very nice income for less than six months’ labor which is not very hard at any time.

Now, don’t say that this is overdrawn, and borders on the visionary, for I know it is not. I have several times taken a few colonies in the spring and given them special care as I advise in the above, and in every case they have done still better than this. No, my friends, there is nothing in the above that is overdrawn.

The trouble with us all is, we try to keep too many colonies, and in doing so we do not give them the care they ought to have. The man who requires 500 colonies to give him an income of $1,000 a year is not half as good a bee-keeper as the man who will make that amount or more from 200 colonies.

Study your business so as to keep fewer bees and better bees, and Make more money; also have less idle capital invested; and I know you will have less to worry about than if you continue as many as you are doing. I repeat, study your business until you understand it well, for I assure you that ignorance of any thing connected with our business is far more costly than all the bee-books and journals we now have.

Think this subject over well and when another season comes, have all your plans well laid on a good foundation, the cornerstone of which must be strong colonies early in the season; and the only way I know of to secure these is to stimulate early breeding by early feeding; then all the rest is easy enough. Don’t think for a moment that I advocate taking any steps backward—far from it. I like to see men push ahead in their business, and make it a success, whether it be with 100 colonies er 1,000; but in doing so, do as our successful business men do—look well to the amount of capital you have invested; look close to your annual income, and then, with a critic’s eye, look to the net profits of your whole business.

December, 1905

ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE T PROFITS IN BEE-KEEPING.

MODERN METHObS REDUCE THE COST OF PRODUCTION.

Some may take issue with my statement as to the net profit in the work—namely, $5.00 per colony, spring count, clear of all expenses. Well, as to that I am sure a very large per cent will question that statement, and I will admit that perhaps not ten per cent of the honey-producers of the United States are making that amount per colony. I will also admit that, during the thirty years of my comb-honey experience, I did not make $2.00 per colony clear of expenses from the many colonies I had then. Neither did I make $3.00 per colony clear of expenses in producing extra: ted honey during the first several years I was engaged in that business. But during the last few years there have been great changes made in producing honey. First, our bees are now bred from much better honey-gathering strains than formerly.

Then some have studied out and perfected certain methods in caring for their weak colonies in early spring, so we now have no more losses in that way, and we have certain ways of making increase whereby not a bit of brood is lost—not even an egg. There has also been great improvement in extracting and curing the honey, which has much to do with selling it readily at a good price; and a few of us have dearly learned the folly of all that out-apiary expense, such as keeping several horses, paying dear rent for a place to set the bees, and losing a large part of the working force from cach out-yard in absconding swarms.

It is only a few years since it cost me 4 cents per lb., cash out, to produce extracted honey. How different now, with these improved methods put into practice!

According to our books, during the past three seasons we have produced 181,237 Ibs. of honey. Now, when all expenses were deducted, such as hired help, including board, barrels for honey, sugar fed in the spring to stimulate early breeding, interest, and taxes on $5,000 capital invested, our own labor, including delivering on the cars at this station, we find the actual cost to have been a fraction less thau one cent per pound.

Now, when honey has been and can be produced at one cent per pound, mostly with hired help, it is net far out of the way to state that bees will pay $5.00 per colony, “Jear of all expenses. But in order to do so you must learn how te reduce expenses to their lowest possible minimum, and produce honey in the largest possible quantities that a certain number of colonies can be made to do.

The fact that thousands of hee-keepers are not making $2.00 per colony is no disparagement to the business. The same can be said of hundreds of farmers in this section, who are not making net $100 per year from their farms. But there is no reason why each could not be made to pay well if better methods were adopted.

No, my friends, I don’t care to modify my statement in the least, that about $5.00 per colony, spring count, clear of all expenses, is a moderate estimate of the profits from the business. There are those that are doing even better than that, as well as hundreds who are making but little.

June, 1907.

How that word “success” seems to fire our very souls with ambition! and we again and again think our business over, each time trying to solve some new problem whereby we can add still more to our income and at the same time reduce our expenses. There are two things that always bring success—that is, good seed sown in fertile soil; and that law of cause and effect which predominates in all things, affects our business all the way through. There is no question that bee-keeping, if rightly done, is fertile soil; and it rests with you, my friend, to inform your mind and adopt methods whereby you will become good seed to develop in that soil.

You undoubtedly have had experience enough to know whether you like bee-keeping or not. If not, then sell out and take up something else; but if you like the business, then “Stand not upon the act of your going, but go at once” with a determination to succeed. Work at it by day, and think of it by night. Aim high, and use all the skill you can command to make it a success; get bees of the best honey-gathering strain you can find, for honey is what you are working for; let all other things be secondary to that. If they sting, make the best of it. If they swarm too much, try to curtail it; but get the bees that will gather honey by the ton; then you will be on the main road to success.

THE DIFFERENCE IN COLONIES.

There is as much difference in the amount of honey that different colonies will produce as there is in the amount of butter that different cows will make; so don’t waste your time on any poor stock. When you have the best, give them good care and you will be surprised at the results. Look upon every colony as you would an individual whom you had hired; then see that each one contributes its part toward producing a fine surplus,