198 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 17, 1904. 



smoking slightly. Close up the hive and continue the jarring 

 for half an hour longer. This is for the purpose of having 

 queen and bees become thoroughly assimilated in actions and 

 scent. 



The hive is now left till dark before opening. They are 

 generally left at least two hours, and sometimes all night be- 

 fore opening. The object of leaving till dark is that the bees 

 may have a time undisturbed to resume a normal condition, 

 and robber-bees take no part whatever in the operation. 



Secretary Stone — I have never tried introducing queens 

 in the fall of the year, or when there were robber-bees abroad, 

 but once. I bought two very fine golden Italian queens at the 

 State Fair the first of October, in one-frame observatory 

 hives. I attempted, the first week in October, to introduce 

 them. I selected the two colonies I wished to requeen, opened 

 the hive of one, and began search for the queen. By the time 

 I had removed about three frames, the robber-bees came so 

 thick I was compelled to hustle them back. Having no beo- 

 tenl, I carried the hive into the honey-house, and just inside 

 the screen-door. I removed all the frames into a box used for 

 the purpose, and did not find the queen till emptying out the 

 remaining bees. I then caged the golden Italian, and brushed 

 the bees from her frame on the tops of frames in the box. 

 Some of her bees flew to the screen door that was covered 

 with bees from the hive, and the others settled with the bees 

 in the box. I then removed the frames from the box to their 

 hive, brushed back all loose bees from the box, screen doors 

 and windows, and placed the caged queen between the tops of 

 the frames, with the cage entrance closed by honey from the 

 hive; moved the hive to the old stand, and left it closed with 

 wire-screen till after dark. 



I went through tlie same process with the second golden 

 Italian queen, and the only afterthought given them was 

 anxiety to know as to my success. The little slates that lie 

 on top of these two hives are marked thus : 



" March 13th [the spring following], an occasional Gold. 

 It. can be seen. May 1st not a black bee left." 

 (Concluded next week.) 





Contributed Articles 





Use of Separators in Section Honey. 



BY WM. M. WHITNEY. 



PAGE 10 contains answers under the department head of 

 "Some Expert Opinion," to the questions, " Would you 



use separators ? If so, what kind ? Why?" 



While the opinion of a novice in the business may not 

 weigh very much as against that of an expert, yet he may 

 be allowed to express it, as it may be possible that some one 

 may be able to glean something from it that shall inspire a 

 desire for further investigation along the same line. 



It is hardly to be expected that apiculture, in all of its 

 ramifications, has attained perfection ; yet we are struck 

 with the wonderful advancement made since the days of the 

 bee-gum, straw-skep, and the box-hive — all through the 

 persistent elfortsof investigations and inventors in the art 

 of apiculture. Perhaps the most important of these was 

 the invention of the movable-frame hive, which has immor- 

 talized the name of Father Langstroth among the bee-keep- 

 ers of this country, at least ; also, the invention of founda- 

 ion, the modern system of queen-rearing, etc.; and not 

 among the least of these was the creation of the beautiful 

 one-piece section, to contain, as nearly as possible, one- 

 pound of choice table honey, with its face so true that a 

 straight edge would touch at every point on its surface. 



The time was when honey was obtained wholly from the 

 brood-chamber by " brimstoning " the bees; later, by cut- 

 ting it out in chunks (which is still practiced in many 

 places) ; by cutting it from brood-frames it has obtained 

 the name of " chunk honey ; " still later, some one conceived 

 the idea of boring holes through the top of the hive and 

 placing boxes over them for the bees to occupy, thus secur- 

 ing a better quality of honey. This was considered a great 

 advancement in apiculture, notwithstanding the combs 

 were built irregularly, as in the brood-chamber. But when 

 the section-case and the beautiful basswood sections, came 

 into use, honey-producers exclaimed, " Eureka! " 



Yet, on trial, something seemed to be lacking, notwith- 



standing foundation starters or even full sheets were used. 

 While some were built fairly true and regular, many were 

 buldged on one or both sides, or swung out of line either to 

 the right or left, making it difficult to handle such honey to 

 advantage. Some genius, to control and circumscribe the 

 work of the hive, and overcome this difficulty, conceived the 

 idea of the separator, which, to a degree, seemed to accom- 

 plish the desired result. As has been stated, it is hardly 

 probable that perfection has yet been attained ; may it not 

 be, then, that in this, as in many other lines of human en- 

 deavor, in introducing new methods to overcome obstacles, 

 some underlying principle has been overlooked, which, if 

 understood and applied, would have made the so-called im- 

 provement scarcely, if at all, necessary ? 



During a period of ill-health a few years ago, seeking 

 something light to do, and to think about, I took up apicul- 

 ture as a pastime. The more it was studied and investigated 

 the more fascinating it became. It became desirable to 

 know the why and wherefores of certain things ; hence the 

 apiary became, so to speak, a sort of an experiment station, 

 where many things which have been written, and which 

 appear to have been taken as orthodox, have been tested by 

 actual experiment ; and one of these is the use of separators 

 in the production of surplus honey. 



I am well aware that a large majority of comb-honey 

 producers believe that the use of separators is an absolutely 

 necessary adjunct in the production of first-class comb 

 honey. Now, that which the majority recommend and 

 practice, it would seem at first blush, must be correct, and 

 the proper thing to do. But when has there ever been an 

 innovation made that did not fly in the face of the major- 

 ity ? Without dilating upon this thought — which might be 

 carried to a limitless extent — let us come directly to the sub- 

 ject of comb-honey production. 



Who among experienced bee-keepers has not seen brood- 

 combs of honey as true and straight as a planed board ? 

 I've seen hundreds of them. Who ever heard of separators 

 being used in the brood-chamber ? Such honey, if it did 

 not drip, cut into squares, would make as fine appearance 

 on the dining table as the most beautiful section honey 

 one ever saw. But, says some one, we are inquiring not 

 about brood-comb, but section honey. That is just what we 

 are coming to. The theory of production of one does not, 

 or should not, differ from the production of the other. 

 There isn't a bee keeper in the country, whose opinion is 

 worth consulting, who doesn't know how to produce frames 

 of comb honey as true as a planed board, with the use of 

 foundation. With hive leveled, frames of foundation prop- 

 erly spaced, force of bees to occupy every frame, and a good 

 flow of nectar, the bees do the rest. Apply this principle 

 to section-honey production, and the same results follows. 



I have used all sorts of separators, including the fence, 

 but only in case of a comparatively weak colony do I use 

 them. The fence gives fairly true sections, but with a sort 

 of "washboard" appearance; the solid separator, a 

 smoother appearance, but often a good deal of brace comb, 

 which, of course, spoils the section for shipping. And, 

 again, where there is a great amount of propolis they make 

 a dauby, dirty mess. Not once in a thousand times do I 

 find brace-comb where no separators are used. 



Some think that first-class section honey can not be 

 produced without the use of the queen-excluding honey- 

 board. I have never used it, and not three sections in a 

 thousand has the queen occupied. I think the reason may 

 be the careful spacing of the thick top-bars of brood-frames. 

 At any rate, I have no use for it for that purpose. 



The large majority of my honey is produced without 

 separators, and I'd be willing to compare it with the best of 

 separator honey I ever saw. I have sold it to first-class 

 dealers, at the top market price, which is as good a recom- 

 mendation as one should desire. 



Give me 7-to-the-foot, two bee-way, 4'4x4'+ sections, 

 with full sheets of foundation, the hive level, a full force of 

 good workers, a good flow of nectar — some one else can use 

 the separator. Walworth Co., Wis. 



Extracted vs. Comb Honey for Food. 



BY DR. G. BOHRKK. 



THE human digestive organs can no more act upon 

 honey-comb or beeswax, and prepare it to be taken up 

 by the assimilative organs as food and nourishment for 

 the body, than they can prepare pills of glass or diamonds 

 for the same purpose. Yet tons of bees%vax pass through 

 the digestive organs of the human family annually, and not 



