Jan. 31, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



71 



be drawn oS thru a faucet without having to move the tank. 

 For a crop of a few hundred, or even of a few thousand, 

 pounds, this is certainly good. We sometimes have unripe 

 honey, and I know that such honey would be benefitted by 

 standing- in an open tank in hot weather. But if the crop 

 is harvested at the right time, there is usually no need of 

 artificial ripening. There are seasons when the weather is 

 damp and the crop is so watery that it even ferments in 

 the combs before harvesting. No amount of ripening will 

 help such honey. 



3. We always return the combs to the hives to clean them. 

 If there is no honey in the fields at the time of extracting, we 

 wait until evening to return the extracting supers, so that 

 the bees may not be incited to rob. About sunset is a good 

 time, and if any excitement prevails it dies out before any 

 damage is done. The next morning all is quiet. In a good 

 season, when the bees are still at work, the combs may be 

 returned at once, that is, the combs of one hive, that have 

 just been extracted, are exchanged for those of the next, 

 and so on, till the end of the day. 



We have tried keeping the combs over, from one year 

 to another, without giving them back to be cleansed — we 

 do not like it. They are sticky, and leak more or less : they 

 attract mice and robber-bees, and the liquid honey that 

 sticks to them is likely to sour. Then when spring comes, 

 if we happen to put them on the hive during a day of short 

 crop, we have some risks again from the excitement caused, 

 and some danger of robbing. 



4. Yes, if your colonies are strong, the combs are better 

 off on the hives during the summer than in the honey-house 

 or anywhere else. Even if there is no crop, the bees take 

 care of them and neither mice nor moth can touch them. 

 But we must not leave a lot of supers on a weak colony. 

 That would be an error. Some judgment must be used in 

 this as in a.ay other thing. Let us always remember that 

 snccessful bee-culture is made of many little details, and 

 that the most careful man is also the most successful. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



Queen-Rearing en a Roof Feeders and Liquefy- 

 ing Granulated Honey. 



BY jOUX K. SCHMIDT. 



SO much has been said already about bee-keeping on a 

 roof, and especially as this has been my subject quite 

 often it is really becoming one of the "old chestnuts." 

 It is about time this subject were buried, at least long 

 enough to allow the readers to recover from the "too much 

 of one thing "' malady which creeps into our periodicals so 

 often, not only in bee-literature, but in many others as 

 well. For instance: Not long ago while talking to a pho- 

 tographer who has made a success of his profession, I 

 chanced to ask him which is the best photographic journal 

 publisht. Picking up one of the high-priced journals and 

 turning to the frontispiece he said: " Here we have an ex- 

 ample of composition and lighting that we buried 20 years 



A'onj-.lpuny o/A/i: C. II. U\ Wehn. Hamilton Co.. Ohio. 



ago, and it is the same with many of the articles as well — 

 the rethrashing of the same old things until we actually do 

 not care to read them." Now this is just the trouble with 

 articles written on bee-culture — the rethrashing of the same 

 old things until the advanced readers will not read them. 



The only excuse I have for bringing an old subject be- 

 fore the readers is, that it introduces something which 

 heretofore to my knowledge has never been attempted on a 

 large scale, viz: The rearing of queen-bees for the trade. 

 The illustration herewith is a photograph of the C. H. W. 

 Weber apiary again, and also shows a few of the nuclei 

 used last season to accommodate some of the queens. It has 

 been suggested that the only sure way to get queens purely 

 mated is to establish an apiary on an island, away from 

 other bees, and even to accomplish this desired result a des- 

 ert was mentioned. Probably this led to the idea of going 

 to the other extreme and rearing them on a roof in the 

 city : anyhow, this has proven to be a capital idea, at least 

 in this city, where house-top apiaries are few and far be- 

 tween. Mr. Weber tested this method of queen-rearing 

 last season and found it to work well, his business having 

 developt to such an extent that a move was necessary to 

 the roof proper, about 20 feet higher, where more room and 

 sunshine could be given the bees. 



The same idea of having the hives under cover has 

 been adhered to, as this is important when located on a 

 high roof where the wind has full sweep without a break, 

 over the house-tops. It would become a troublesome and 

 often disastrous undertaking to winter hives of bees under 

 any other method, but as it is here, each hive nestles up to 

 t he second story in a solid packing both winter and sum- 

 mer. A thing of no little importance has been added to 

 these hives. That is, every one has a permanent Doolittle 

 feeder on the north side of the brood-chamber, and manipu- 

 lated entirely from the outside thru a N-inch tin tube closed 

 with a cork. The arrangement is so convenient that one may 

 feed any desired amount of syrup at any and all times; 

 even in the coldest days the bees may be fed with the same 

 convenience and safety as in summer, the packing not 

 being disturbed in the least. Just pull out the cork, insert 

 a funnel, pour in the feed, replace the cork, and we're ready 

 for the next hive. This is almost convenience itself, and 

 as near being the perfect way to feed as anything could be. 



Another thing, every one of the hives under cover has 

 three queens in each — tzi'O young laying queens besides the 

 old one — living peaceably, too. I believe this was consid- 

 ered impossible heretofore. Can't tell you now (by request) 

 how it is done, but it is an accomplisht fact — nothing 

 theoretical about it. 



LIQUEFYING GR.^NULATED HONEY. 



The sale of liquid extracted honey is another specialty 

 of Mr. Weber's, and to keep it in the liquid state is not an 

 easy thing to accomplish, judging from the amount of 

 granulated honey we see. This localitj' undoubtedly wants 

 liquid extracted honey, and to make a success of the busi- 

 ness we must give them what they want. Realizing this, 



Mr. Weber has de- 

 vised a liquefying- 

 tank with a capacity 

 of one barrel at a 

 time. The honey- 

 chamber is surround- 

 ed hy a water-bath, 

 and the water is 

 heated by a gas stove 

 of special design. The 

 exact amount of wa- 

 ter in the tank can be 

 read from the out- 

 side upon an auto- 

 matic register, and 

 when the water is too 

 low a turn or two of 

 a small wheel admits 

 the water thru a sep- 

 arate hydraulic con- 

 nection for this tank. 

 Should the water sup- 

 ply become too great 

 it may be turned into 

 a drain - pipe, and 

 needs no further care. 

 The temperature 

 of the surrounding 

 water is of great 



