Published ^Veckly at Sl.OO a Vear by Oeorge W. Vork & Co., 3a« l>earborn St. 



Entered at the Poet-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



OBORQE w. YORK, Editor. CHICAGO, ILL, OCT. 20, t904. VoL XLIV— No. 42, 



Oet Unfinished Sections Emptied Now. 



There are some who believe it just as well that it be left 

 till spring to have sections cleaned out that do not contain 

 enough honey to be sold or used in the home. Perhaps the 

 majority think it better that the work should be done in the 

 fall, before the honey has had time to candy. If you want 

 the bees to do the work this fall, it should be put off no 

 longer. Pile up the supers some distance from the apiary, 

 six or eight in a pile, and cover up so that only one bee at a 

 time can get in. The bees will make a clean job of it with- 

 out tearing the sections to pieces, as they would if free 

 access were given. 



Hot vs. Cold Water for Honey-Knives. 



J. A. Green says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture : " Back 

 in Illinois I seldom found it of any benefit to put the honey- 

 knife in water, either hot or cold. When I did, cold water 

 was just as good as hot. But when extracting Colorado 

 alfalfa honey, hot water is decidedly better than cold, even 

 in hot weather". 



Locality again. He also says that while in the East 

 honey may be extracted from combs containing unsealed 

 brood, in Colorado it requires time and skill to do it without 

 throwing out a large proportion of the brood. 



Winterinjr Bees on Sugar. 



HeiT Wilier reports in Praktischer Wegweiser that for 

 30 years he has wintered his bees in large part on sugar 

 syrup without observing any evil results therefrom. Others, 

 however, report cases of bees winter-ng apparently well on 

 sugar, but dying off rapidly in spring because weakened for 

 lack of nitrogenous matter, of which honey contains from 

 one to 3 percent, and sugar only a trace. 



be remembered : that customers who are well-informed will 

 be likely to prefer the neater-looking sections, and once 

 educated to prefer them will not be likely ever to prefer 

 those of untidy appearance, while those customers who are 

 ignorant enough to prefer uncleaned sections are likely to 

 prefer the others when better informed. 



Hoffman Frames Pro and Con. 



Several pages of a recent issue of Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture are taken up with a discussion of these frames by 

 eight different writers. If the discussion shows nothing 

 else, it shows very clearly what opposite views bee-keepers 

 can entertain upon the same subject. 



Don't Delay Uniting Weali Colonies. 



Such a caution will not be necessary for the experienced 

 bee-keeper, but there will no doubt be some of inexperience 

 who have continued up to the present time weak colonies 

 that should be united, not realizing the need of haste. If 

 you have delayed thus far, don't delay longer. 



Shall Sections of Honey Be Cleaned? 



Some are scrupulously particular to remove all trace of 

 propolis from sections, scraping and sandpapering them so 

 as to make the wood look as nearly as possible just as it did 

 when first given to the bees. Others put sections on the 

 market just as they came from the hive, and some of these 

 claim that their customers are better satisfied with un- 

 cleaned sections, feeling more sure that the uncleaned is 

 the genuine article. 



Whatever the difference in markets, one thing should 



Small Hives and Large Colonies. 



G. M. Doolittle, in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, champions 

 the small hive by saying that nine Gallup frames, equiva- 

 lent to 6}i Langstroth frames, will entertain the best queen 

 to her full capacity as to egg-laying, and says : 



"How could a larger hive give any larger colonies? 

 Large hives do not give large colonies beyond arty hive 

 which gives the queen room for herjull capacity ". 



If the premises be correct, it is hard to get away from 

 the conclusion. Some, however, would probably claim a 

 greater capacity than 6^4 Langstroth frames for the best 

 queen. 



Virgin Queens and Afterswarms. 



In that neatly printed journal, the Rural Bee-Keeper, 

 in the " Question, Extracted, and Observation Department," 

 conducted by T. K. Massie, occurs the following : 



The American Bee Journal, page 500, says : •' When a 

 prime swarm issues, a number of queen-cells are in the hive, 

 and in a week or more the virgins in these cells are ready 

 to issue. If further swarming is contemplated only one 

 (italic ours) is allowed to emerge, the others being guarded 

 in their cells by the workers. A second swarm issues with 

 the free queen, and it may be that only one of the remain- 



