April 21, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



297 





Hasty's Afterthoughts ] 



' Old Reliable "' seen through New and L'nreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hastt, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



HOLDING HONEY OVER A SEASON OK TWO. 



" I have never seen honey in the comb a year old or 

 more that could be sold at as good a price as new honey." 

 C. P, Dadant, page 166. I guess that's sound. But when it 

 comes to the other side of the thing I guess I must protest 

 a little against encouraging teginners to think they can 

 keep their extracted and sell it the second or third year. 

 Let them remain a little in uncertainty until they have 

 actually done it. As to Mr. D.'s four-year-old barrels of 

 honey, let there be no incredulity about them. They're all 

 right. But I don't know as I ever had SO pounds in one lot 

 that was as good the second fall as it was the first. Often 

 not anywhere near as good ; and sometimes totally spoiled. 

 'Spects that there are a lot of the boys who can't for the life 

 of them keep out of the same boat. And I decidedly don't 

 believe that one-half the extracted honey on the general 

 market would be safe to hold over a warm season. 



TAKING OFF UNFINISHED SECTIONS OF HONEY. 



A criticism on a very common piece of advice is made 

 by D. McCarthy, page 173. It is often advised to take off 

 the supers of sections while some are unfinished. A super 

 is to be filled with these unfinished ones, and then it is to 

 be put onto the next hive that comes handy to be finished. 

 His experience is that they are not finished off so as to look 

 well. This is surely quite important. Now, I seldom take 

 off honey till it is done (except at the end of the season), 

 and so my experience here is crippled. But I can tell you 

 what I think : If the sections are less than half done, and 

 no capping upon them, they will come out all right — that is, 

 they will if put on some hive immediately. But sections 

 half capped over, and the bottom and corners two-thirds 

 built out, if you once take them away from the little gangs 

 of bees that built them originally no other equally efficient 

 gangs will ever take up the job. Nothing but a poor look- 

 ing finish can be expected. 



VARIETIES OF THE LINDEN OR BASSWOOD. 



I don't believe John P. Coburn will find any American 

 woodman that can tell him about the lumber qualities of 

 the European linden. Not found in our woods, I think, ex- 

 cept as rare samples escaped from cultivation. But we have 

 several kinds of our own — three at least, perhaps more — 

 that a wise head might tell about. Page 173. 



SECESSION AMONG WESTERN BEE-KEEPERS. 



And is it secessionists the Western bee-folks are going 

 to be, and cut loose from the Association ? Better let out 

 the job— and forget whom they let it to. Page 181. 



PROTESTING AGAINST SCANT-WEIGHT SECTIONS. 



Good for you, Allen Latham, for your call and protest 

 against scant weights ! Unfortunately, no one is entitled 

 to say, " So say we all of us;" but I can say, " So says 

 another one of us." Page 182. 



LAW FOR PRIORITY-OF-LOCATIOX PROTECTION. 



Shall we have Dr. Miller's law written out and put in a 

 glass case to look at — until we have a fighting chance to 

 get it passed by some State or other? (Law against the 

 one-out-of-twenty scamp who bounces into his neighbor's 

 fully occupied field.) On the whole, it's possible that such 

 a model text would not do harm — might do some good. 

 Cold glazed missionary for righteousness. But possibly a 

 lot of the brethren would " argie and argie and argie " 

 about the bearing of its terms until all would be mad as 

 wet hens — but then wet hens get dry again without any 

 mortality list. But here's one important item the Doctor 

 did not weigh sufficiently : Public sentiment enforces rules 

 according to what they ought to be : and if the form of 

 words we have laid down fail-, to match the equities of any 

 particular case little or no harm is done. Courts, on the 

 other hand, enforce laws as tucy read, not as they ought to 

 read. Even when a form of words is capable of two mean- 

 ings we can't always depend upon a court to take the com- 



mon-sense meaning — some absurdly far-fetched precedent 

 may weigh more in court. Must be sure our law is right 

 before we ask to have it passed. Page 182. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the ofiice ot the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



T Super vs. the Section-Holder Super. 



It you were to begin anew in bee-keeping would you select the T 

 super for comb honey?. Or, in other words, do you prefer T tins to 

 pattern-slats; Sodth Dakota. 



Answer. — Yes, I think I would prefer the T super to anything 

 else I have seen. 



Wintering Bees in a House-Cellar. 



I have a cellar under the house divided by a brick wall, with a 

 door in it. Where the furnace is it is '31x'jr feet, and a vegetable cel- 

 lar 15x36 feet. In the furnace room it has been about 4.5 degrees all 

 winter. April 3 it was 50 degrees. It has not varied over 5 degrees 

 either way. Is this a good place to winter bees? 



Massachusetts. 



Answer. — So far as temperature is concerned, you hare an ideal 

 bee-cellar. If along with that you have darkness and sufficient 

 change of air, you ought to be happy. 



T Tin Supports— Oxide of Zinc in White Lead. 



1. What are used for T tin supports? What I mean is this : What 

 holds the T tins in the supers, and what is used in the end of the 

 super to hold the sections? 



3. What effect has oxide ot zinc used in white lead in making 

 cloth-eovered hive-covers ; Illinois. 



Answers.— 1. A strip of tin is nailed on the bottom at each end 

 to support the sections there. To support the T tins I have squares 

 of sheet -iron I'^xl inch. Three of these are nailed on the bottom at 

 each side projecting inward, making a supporting surface of 1 inch 

 by 'V- Some of the latest made have what is perhaps a little better, 

 staples ot light wire an in:h wide, driven in the lower edge and then 

 bent over. 



3. I don't know. I have an impression that it works all right, 

 and will be glad to be corrected by any of the brethren it wrong. 



Home-Reared Queens— Controlling Swarming. 



1. I want to rear a few queens for my own use. Can I do this by 

 placing a queen-excluding division-board in the center ot a 10-frame 

 hive, put the queen on one side, let the i pees rear cells on the other, 

 then, when ripe, cut the cells out and change the queen over, and let 

 the bees construct queen-cells on the other side, and so on, as long as 

 1 want queen-cells? 



3. By the above process could I not control swarming by keeping 

 the queeu-cellscut out about every 10 days and changing the queen 

 over on capped-brood '. 



3. How did driviug on capped-brood work with you last year, in 

 the control of swarming and securing honey ! 



4. What do you think ot Mr. Aikin's plan with double-brood- 

 chamber hives for the controlling of swarming? Missouri. 



Answers.— 1. You will not find it very reliable; sometimes cells 

 will be started and sometimes not. 



2. I don't know; I'm afraid it wouldn't always work. 



3. So far as I could see, giving sealed brood to a driven swarm 

 worked just as well as giving toundation, and ot course made a 

 stronger colony. 



4. I have no personal acquaintance with the method, but much 

 faith in the man. 



Thinks His Bees Have Poul Brood. 



I am disheartened and discouraged 

 my colonies of bees out of the cellar, 

 rather weak. On examining closely, I li 

 and 3 more have H combs, each ;-:j full of 

 pin-holes, color and all symptoms given 

 brood. Has Iowa a foul inspector; or 

 brood to see if it is foul brood or nut ; 



Which would he cheapest, to use bri 

 let them go, after cutting out the worst 

 traded honey this season? After that. 



this morning. After taking 

 I found only one dead, and S 

 mi No. 1 died of foul brood, 

 (Iliad larva', sunken caps with 

 liv writers as iudicatliig foul 

 where can I send some of the 



nistome on 8, doctor them, or 

 brood, and then run for ex- 

 to use brimstone and make 



