Feb 21, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



123 



CREDIT TO WHOJI CREDIT IS DIE. 



" Bees do nothing- invariably."' A good editorial on 

 that topic is the one on pag-e 51. But I shouldn't have told 

 you so were it not that Sommy in the Progressive Bee- 

 keeper credits the proverb to me. Give Mrs. Tupper her 

 due. 



DOOI.ITTI.E AS A "GRBEN BEGINNER." 



G. M. Doolittle as the " Arkansaw Traveler," and by 

 and by, may be, the Arkansavp resident, why, we wouldn't 

 know him ! " Who's that green beginner off there ? " we'd 

 be saying. Page S2. 



THE "BARRELS VS. CANS " CONTROVERSY. 



In the long discussion of barrels versus cans on pages 

 53, 54 and 55, several things are apparent. One is that that 

 heavy villain, the barrel, is not about to pull a tombstone 

 over his head right away. Another thing is, that those 

 who succeed well with barrels from year to year take 

 more care than average humanity will take until pretty 

 sorely whipt with losses and annoyances. Another thing 

 is that the whim of a big buyer who is used to getting his 

 honey in barrels has got to be yielded to. He'll buy of 

 somebody else if you don't yield. Perhaps most remark- 

 able of all is the utter decadence of the practice of treating 

 barrels with wax or paraffine. Not one waxes his barrels 

 now ; and most, in their talk, seem not to have any such 

 practice in their minds. Yet awhile agone we were to wax 

 the barrels, of course, if we went according to book. Why 

 is this thus ? I'll venture the guess that waxing does no 

 harm, but that it encourages the neglect of other precau- 

 tions which are worth more. t)r is it that ordinary, hard- 

 wood barrels will leak in spite of it, while just the right 

 kind of soft-wood barrels can be made to refrain from leak- 

 ing without it ? 



EARLY OUEEN-REARING. 



And as advice anent getting wedded to early queen- 

 rearing Mr. Doolittle pronounces the traditional " don't." 

 D'ye hear, ye callow young people ? And if you ivill diso- 

 bey (young people have been known to do so) you >iiust wait 

 longer than merely to see young drones in open cells — else 

 your queens will have to wait. Queens started when plenty 

 of drones have been sealed a week — is the correct match. 



Quite interesting is Mr. Doolittle's observation that the 

 queen's development may be hastened at the utmost only 

 one day, while it may be delayed four days by unpropitious 

 circumstances and weather in the fall. Page 55. 



" POP " AND HIS BEE-BOAT. 



Mr. Poppleton and the " Thelma," on page 58, make me 

 feel envious and piratical, e'enymost. Doubtful if anybody 

 has ever found a better way to combine the three — health- 

 seeking, pleasure and moderate profit — than by this open- 

 air life of cruising and " beeing " along the coast of Flor- 

 ida. As we look at him standing there in the sunlight we 

 are just prepared to hear him say (albeit he is gray-bearded 

 and somewhat bent), " Wouldn't call the President my 

 brother this minute." Six miles per hour will get there suf- 

 ficiently soon if the " there " is not too far away. None of 

 our business, but we are regretful that he did not give us 

 the total cost of the little steamer. 



"The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearlv subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



*-•-►- 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



The American Fruit and Vegetable Journal is just 

 what its name indicates. Tells all about growing fruits 

 and vegetables. It is a fine monthly, at 50 cents a year. 

 We can mail you a free sample copy of it, if you ask for it. 

 We club it with the American Bee Journal— both for $1.10. 



\ Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DK. C O. MU^LUR. Mareasn, 111. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor.1 



Flat-Bottom ttueen-Cells. 



I have made a lot of artificial queen-cells, a la Doolittle, 

 with flat bottoms. Since making them I have been in- 

 formed that the bees will not accept them as readily as the 

 round-bottom queen-cells. Which is the better ? 



Colorado. 



Answer. — I never before heard of queen-cells with flat 

 bottoms, and 1 don't believe the bees would like them. Still, 

 you can hardly be sure about anything without having the 

 bees try it, and it is possible the bees might accept queen- 

 cells with flat bottoms. 



Amount Of Honey in 10 Frames Spacing Frames- 



1. How many pounds of capt honey is there in 10 Hoff- 

 man frames (9 inch) before it is extracted ? 



2. If I choose to space them 8 frames in a hive, how far 

 apart can they be put ? 



3. Is there any danger of the bees building combs on 

 the cover ? California. 



Answers.— 1. I don't know what you mean by "9 

 inch," unless it be the depth of the frame, the usual depth 

 of the Hoffman frame being g's inches. Ten Hoffman 

 frames well filled may contain as much as 60 pounds of 

 honey, if there is no pollen in them. 



2. That depends upon the width of the hive ; but you 

 probably have reference to having 8 frames, in a 10-frame 

 chamber. In that case you would space the frames about 

 1 '4 inches from center to center. 



3. If you puts frames in a 10 frame chamber, and the 

 cover is only '4 inch above the top-bars, as is generally the 

 case, there will be no danger, I think, that the bees will do 

 much more at building comb above than with the 10 frames. 



Hives Damp anil Maldy in tlie Cellar. 



My nine colonies of bees are wintering in the cellar. 

 They are in 8-frame dovetailed hives. The cellar is mod- 

 erately dry and warm— vegetables keep well in it. The 

 hives were brought in from the summer stands Nov. 26_th, 

 the bottom-boards removed, and the hives placed crosswise 

 upon a shelf some two feet from the ground. This shelf is 

 about a foot wide, so the middle of the hive rests upon it, 

 leaving a space three inches or more open at each end of 

 the bottom of the hive for ventilation. The hive-covers 

 have remained sealed down as on the summer stands. 



I noticed, Jan. 30th, on raising a hive-cover, that it was 

 wet beneath, so much so that water dript from it, and some 

 mold appeared on the top of the frames. The colony, to all 

 appearance, was strong and vigorous. I should judge all 

 the other colonies are in the same condition as this one ex- 

 amined. What would vou advise me to do with them ? 



Maine. 



Answer.— Your bees may come out all right if you let 

 them entirely alone. But it is certainly no benefit to them 

 to have water standing on the cover, and if that water drips 

 on the bees it may be a damage. The moisture from the 

 bees comes in contact with the hive-cover, and the hive- 

 cover is so cold that the moisture condenses upon it just as 

 water from the air settles on a pitcher of very cold water on 

 a hot summer day. If the cover were warmer, the moisture 

 would not be so much inclined to settle upon it. Possibly 

 the cellar should be warmer. Try it by a thermometer, and 

 try to keep it somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 degrees, 

 or to be more exact, keep it at the temperature at which 

 the bees are most quiet. If the air of the hive had freer 

 escape, the moisture would escape with it. To help in that 

 direction it may be a good plan to raise each cover and put 

 a common nail'under it, so as to make a small crack for the 

 air to escape. 



