1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



honey-board on top of frames before putting on sur- 

 plus frames? The space on my hives is nearly 14 

 inchbetwcn the frames. Will reducing' the space to 

 1 1 inch stop them? If so, how sh ill I do it? 



HOME PAPERS. 



Now, I wish to say a word about those Home read- 

 ings. I know you have no idea of leaving them out. 

 If I thought you did, I should hold up both hands, 

 and use my tongue pretty freely too, to keep them 

 in. I think this a very nice journal as it is, and if 

 there isn't room for all, you must iucrease its pages 

 or leave out some other matters of not so much 

 profit. What does it profit a man to gain the whole 

 world and lose his own soul? Let us have the Home 

 readings. Brother Koot, and my dollar shall be com- 

 ing along to you every year to help you out, and all 



others whom I can get to subscribe. 



L. S. Smith. 



Cherryfleld, Washington Co., Me., Dec. H, 1881. 



The difficulty you mention, friend S., is 

 one not very easily remedied . Reducing the 

 space to i inch will usually answer, yet there 

 are some stocks that will even then fill the 

 space up solid with honey. If you scrape 

 the top-bars and bottom-bars clean, and 

 glease them with clean tallow, it will usual- 

 ly prevent any further attachments, but it 

 may hinder tlie bees some from going into 

 the sections. With the case for the H-story 

 hive, you can take out the sections, put them 

 in a new case, and leave the case over the 

 frames until the end of the season, if you 

 choose, but you will then be unable to exam- 

 ine the brood-combs during all this time. A 

 good many let alone these attachments, and 

 when they wish to pick out the filled sec- 

 tions, break each wide frame loose, being 

 careful to smoke the bees away, when they 

 are replaced, that none may be killed. I am 

 inclined to think the bees move right into 

 new sections more readily when the latter 

 plan is followed, than where they are pre- 

 vented from bridging up the space as men- 

 tioned. 



QUESTIONS FROM AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



ALSO A PRETTY GOOD REPORT FROM 4 COLONIES. 



^p^DITOR GLEANINGS:- Permit me to ask a 

 Jmi few more questions. 



CURING HONEY. 



How long does it take to cure honey? A good deal 

 has already been written on this subject; but per- 

 mit me to use a little space for remarks in this con- 

 nection. During the white-clover season I took 

 some of the best extracted honey, and, after allow- 

 ing it to stand open a few days, I sealed it up to keep 

 till fair time. I thought it splendid honey, and well 

 ripeued too. I also kept specimens of all the kinds 

 of honey, clear to the end of the season. Now, at 

 this time the best 1 have is that last extracted from 

 fall flowers. I allowed it to stand open a long time, 

 and it has constantij' improved till now, and there is 

 not aparticleof the "tang" (if that is the word; 

 that we sometimes taste after eating honey. It is 

 even better than the white-clover honey. I have ob- 

 served all through the season that the longer the 

 honey is left open, the better it is. Is this the gen- 

 eral verdict? 



I believe the general testimony is, that ex- 

 tracted honey improves by stantting open to 



the air, if protected from dust. Friend 

 Ileddon said, at the convention, he placed 

 his honey in stone crocks, and piled them 

 ui) on each other, but so the air could circu- 

 late through. The crocks, of course, will 

 give it no taint or flavor, as barrels may do. 

 It seems to me I would use tin cans, because 

 they are so much lighter to handle. Well, if 

 at any time he has an order for a barrel of 

 honey, begets it from these crocks into the 

 barrel in this way: He has a large tin can 

 to set on the stove, that will hold, say, eight 

 2<)-lb. crocks. Water is poured around them, 

 and brought gradually to a heat that will 

 melt the honey ; it is then poured into the 

 barrel, while hot. Two lots, melted in this 

 way, make a barrel full. I believe as fine 

 honey as I ever tasted had been standing a 

 year "in open crocks, and was candied hard. 



GRANULATION OP HONEY. 



What principle in honey causes granulation? I 

 noticed that the first honey I extracted was the last 

 to granulate, and vice verm. This being the case, 

 which will winter bees better, the early or late 

 honey? If the former, then why extract from the 

 brood-chamber at all? AVould the Queeii be driven 

 out of it, and we be compelled to extr.-ict to give her 

 room ? 



I believe the source from which the bees 

 get the honey has much to do with granula- 

 tion. Some will get solid very soon, while 

 other samples will not. Honey that is gran- 

 ulated in the combs, seems to be inconven- 

 ient for the bees in winter, like grape sugar; 

 but when the weather gets warm, they use 

 it without trouble. Aside from this, I do 

 not know that we have any reason to think 

 granulation is any objection, although I be- 

 lieve clover and linn honey is thought to 

 winter bees rather better than late-gathered 

 honey. 



CONTRACTED ENTRANCES AND DEAD BEES. 



One year ago I had i colonies of bees, my father 9. 

 I took equal pains in preparing all for winter on 

 their summer stands. During winter, my father 

 failed to keep his entrances clear of dead bees; I 

 kept mine clear, and once or twice, on warm, sunny 

 days, I took every frame out, and cleaned the hives 

 of dead bees, they voiding their faeces at the same 

 time. I had the satisfaction of successfully winter- 

 ing mine, my father losing all his. Our hives and 

 bees were alike. What made the difference? 



FOUL BROOD. 



In speaking of dead bees, allow me to ask if they 

 will induce foul brood to appear. Does this disease 

 ever appear in the winter? And will it live through 

 winter with a swarm of bees? 



Foul brood hurts only the brood, and it 

 therefore can do harm only while brood is 

 being raised. The germs of the disease stay 

 in the combs over winter, and affect the 

 Ijrood as soon as brood is raised again. It 

 is claimed that dead bees and dead brood 

 may generate foul brood where none has ex- 

 isted. I am very loth to accept this; still, 

 it may be so. We have never had a cell of 

 foul brood in our apiary, and, in fact, I have 

 never seen any in our State, so I may not be 

 very good authority in the matter. See p. 16. 



FROM 1 TO 13 IN ONE SEASON. 



A man in this county increased 1 swarm to 12 

 in 1880; lost all but 1 last winter; said they were all 

 good swarms. This year he increased again to 13. 



