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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 7, 19C4. 



dovetailed hives with a nuilt over the frames (Ho£fman), and the 

 supers are tilled with chaff; bottoms, supers, etc., securely fastened 

 by Daitiug lath dia{,'onally on both Fides. What classification would 

 they come under as freight? Would owner or other party have to ac- 

 company them? Ordway is on the iMissouri Pacific railway, while this 

 point is on the Union Paeiflc. Would transfer be necessary! Would 

 early March do to move them, and would wire-cloth over the entrance 

 be all right for ventilation? Nebraska. 



Answers. — 1. To be entirely frank, I must say that although I 

 have heard and read much about bees on shares, I don't know enough 

 about the subject to answer your questions with any degree of author- 

 ity. There is no fixed rule on the subject, and the share business is 

 not at all sure to Ije satisfactory to either party. The plan you pro- 

 pose would be all right in some cases, providing both parties should 

 agree to it, although usually you would be expected, I think, to fur- 

 nish all supplies. I don't know of any way you could protect your- 

 self thoroughly against a dishonest man. 



3. A good tiiue to remove them is after the severe weather of win- 

 ter is over, for when very cold the combs are brittle and likely to break. 

 Place in the car so the frames shall run from front to rear of car. If 

 room enough, better not tier up. If necessary to tier up, fasten in 

 some way by boards nailed across the car. Classification differs; ask 

 your freight agent. Not necessary to accompany them. You could 

 prolmbly arrange to have them go through in the same car. Early 

 March would be a good time; and at that time wire-cloth over the 

 hive-entrance would probably give sufficient ventilation, unless the 

 entrance be small. 



Spacing Frames- Number of Frames. 



1. What distance are your frames spaced from center to center? 

 and if you were starting anew what distance would you space them? 

 What are your reasons for your preference for either distance; 



2. How many frames of Langstroth capacity do you use for comb 

 honey? and if you were starting anew how many would you use? And 

 what is your source for surplus honey, when does it commence to 

 bloom, and how long does it last? Ohio. 



Answers.— 1. My frames are spaced 1,?^ from center to center, 

 and it I were starting anew I think I would make no change. One 

 reason for this spacing is that it is the fashion ; in other words. I think 

 the majority favor it. It is true that some report 1'.. as the prefer- 

 ence of the bees; but even if that should be so it must be remembered 

 that the bees figure in drone-comb, and I don't. 



2. Iff were starting anew I would use the same as I am using now, 

 the 8-fraraehive, part of the time using two stories. Unless, however, 

 I intend to pay much attention to my bees, I should use 10-frame 

 hives. My chief source of honey is white clover, which begins to 

 bloom about the first of June, sometimes failing utterly to yield nec- 

 tar, sometimes yielding two weeks, and from that on up to two or 

 three months. 



Rearing Queens Early-Sample of Honey. 



1. What is the best way you know of, to rear queens and drones 

 very early in the spring, so I can get them purely mated before my 

 neighbors' bees get to flying? I want only a few queens, but I want 

 some good ones. 



2. I am going to mail you a sample of honey which my bees gath- 

 ered in the month of September, and as long as I have kept bees I have 

 never seen anything like it. Is it honey-dew! Do you think bees will 

 winter on it? They would bring in 8 or !> pounds a' day, by the scales, 

 and I have a thousand pounds of it. New Hami'shibe. 



ANSWERS. — 1. It isn't easy to hurry up the business of queen- 

 rearing much before the usual time. About the only thing you can 

 do is to stimulate by feeding, and strengthen by exchanging combs of 

 sealed brood. A colony thus treated will have drones earlier than it 

 would otherwise, providing it has drone-comb in the center of the 

 brood-nest. The same treatment applies to the colonies to be used for 

 rearing queens. 



2. The sample received is water-white and of good flavor. I don't 

 know from what it was gathered, but it was not honey-dew, and I 

 should have no anxiety about its being good winter food. 



Sowing Sweet Clover Seed Near a Coal-Mine. 



I have read that sweet clover will grow on almost any kind of soil, 

 that it will grow on such barren places as old coal-dumps, for example. 

 These dumps are not made of coal, but are composed of the clay that 

 comes out of the mine with the coal together with disintegrated soap- 

 stone. There is an abandoned shaft near my apiary which has a very 

 large dump by the side of it, and probably several acres of ground 

 about it that is of no use whatever for cultivation. The question is 

 this: 



1. Do you think it would pay to seed that dump and the surround- 

 ing ground with sweet clover? I should add, perhaps, by way of ex- 

 planation, that there is an abundance of sweet clover within a mile of 

 the dump, growing wild. I have never seen the plant grow on those 

 places as a result of natural causes. 



2. When is the best time to seed the ground, provided it seems 

 advisable to do it? Illinois. 



Answers— 1. Sweet clover seems to be fond of places or soils 

 avoided by other plants; stiff clay for instance; and the likelihood is 

 that it would do well on those dumps. It wouldn't pay you the first 



year, for you would get no blossoms till the second year. The second 

 year you might get enough nectar from it to pay for the seed, but it is 

 doubtful, for there being abundance of the plant within a mile, and 

 your not having many bees, you would hardly see much difference in 

 your crop. But for all that, if I were in your place I would invest a 

 half dollar or a dollar in seed, and scatter it in the thinnest manner a!l 

 over that ground. . Then a year later I would do the same thing. That 

 will give a start, and the plants will in a few years cover the ground, 

 ready to render the increased harvest needed by your increased num- 

 ber of colonies. 



2. Sow in early spring, as perhaps the best time, although any 

 time from the time seed is ripe until late the following spring will do. 



After writing some other things following your questions, you say, 

 "Please pardon me for writing so much." Please don't say that 

 again ; it isn't pretty talk. Although I haven't the time for writing 

 private letters to the many good friends in the world of bee-keepers, 1 

 do have time to read their letters, and always enjoy having, aside from 

 the questions, something not intended to go into print. It rests me. 

 Do it again. 





Some Expert Ooinion 



■ In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." — Bible. 





Lse of Separators -Kind, and Why? 



It for some reason you were to start i new to keep bees, and 

 were obliged to get an entirely new outfit — 



Qiies. S. — Would you use separators? If so, what kind! Why? 



N. E. France (Wis.)— Yes. 



Wm. Rohriq (Mo.) — I do not produce comb honey. 



O. O. Poppleton (Fla.)— I do not produce comb honey. 



R. L. Taylor (Mich.)— Yes. Tin. Because they last, and are 

 always in good order. 



C. H. DiBUERN (111.) — 1. I would not produce a pound of comb 

 honey without separators. 



G. M. DooLiTTLE (N. Y.) — Yes, between the sections. Because 

 perfect comb honey can be secured in no other way. 



Dr. C. C. Miller (111.)— Surely. Plain wood. They cost so lit- 

 tle that I can afford to throw them away after using once. 



P. H. Elwood (N. Y.) — We always use wooden separators. We 

 have used tin, but wood is better — warmer — better ladders, etc. 



2. Wood ; yellow poplar preferred in solid .sheets, as wide as the 

 sections used. To insuregood, straight combs, of even weight. 



h. Stachelhausen (Tex.)— I would use separators to get straight 

 combs in the sections. Probably fences are the best separators. 



Geo. W. Brodbeck (Calif.) — Yes. The fence separator. To 

 secure uniform sections. The fence secures this with the least ob- 

 struction. 



.1. M. HAMBAUon (Calif.) — Were I producing comb honey for the 

 markets, yes, every time. Tin was always my favorite. It is less 

 bulky and more desirable. 



El GENE Secor (Iowa) — In the supers? Y'es, every time. Kind! 

 That doesn't matter so much. I have used tin, veneer and fence. 

 Don't see much, if any, difference. 



Prof. A. J. Cook (Calif. )— I should, as I found I could not get 

 as good, straight sections without them. I have licile choice between 

 wood and tin. Cheapness and convenience would guide. 



C. Daa'enport (Minn.) — Yes, I would use separators of some 

 kind. I have never used the slotted or fence separator, so I can not 

 give an opinion as to whether they are superior to the old style or not. 



Mrs. L. Harrison (111.) — I've never used separators. Our honey 

 is sold in the home market. We use a very small comb-guide, and 

 if any sections are built the wrong way, they are easily disposed of to 

 families. 



E. E. Hasty (Ohio)— Most assuredly. Tin. I think it on the 

 whole handier. I think bees not quite so much inclined to build onto 

 it as onto wood. For certain strains of bees, that need to be coaxed 

 ii/i in every possible way, perhaps wood should be chosen. 



.Ias. a. Stone (111.) — Y'es, all the time. The fence, with plain 

 sections l^.i inch, for the reasons that bees fill them much better to 

 look at, and will put in as near a pound as in a wider section, as they 

 fill so much closer to the wood, and they are more easily cleaned. 



C. P. Dadant (111.) — I might use them in producing comb honey, 

 but not in extracted honey. Because, when producing extracted 

 honey, it is of small importance whether or not we have absolutely 

 straight combs, and the separators are always in the way of the bees. 



E. S. Lovesv (Utah)— I would use tin or wood separators be- 

 tween every other row of sections, scalloped at both edges, with sec- 

 tion-holders above and below the sections. This keeps the sections 

 clean, and makes the honey good weight, which is satisfactory to the 

 purchaser. 



Adrian Getaz (Tenn.) — Y^es. The fence. To secure uniformly 

 filled sections. Also, none bulging so as to prevent casing. The 



