376 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



June 13, 1901. 



always been in the habit of taking the honej' off the hives 

 as fast as the bees tinish the sections in the supers, and 

 that the bees always beg-in to work promptly in the empty 

 case, put on in place of the one that was removed. But, 

 you see, such testimony doesn't weigh a feather, because it 

 is one-sided : for, if those bee-men have never thoroughly 

 tried both ways, they have no right to say that there is no 

 difference. 



"Now. Mr. Bond, I am fond of testing things, for the 

 mere sake of the thing, sometimes. Hence, when I read 

 about ' tiering-up " the supers, leaving them all on until the 

 end of the honey-rush because of several reasons given, I 

 at once tried it. But. in order to test the trial, I made a few 

 experimental observations bearing on the questions. One 

 of these was a case where one of my colonies had gone 

 out on a strike, as it were. They, for reasons known only 

 to themselves, refused to work. All the other colonies in 

 my apiary were rushing the honey into the supers at a 

 lively rate. Some of them had tilled from one to three 

 supers each, while this balky one had not even drawn out 

 the foundation in the sections of the super on their hive. 

 I had tried everything I could think of to induce them to 

 "get a move" on themselves, but without the result sought. 

 It was a strange case, for the hive was full of bees — even 

 the super was full during the day-time— and the eight 

 frames were solid with brood and sealed honey. 



"Well, sir, I don't now remember how the idea came to 

 me — whether I dreamed it, read it in the bee-papers, or 

 heard it related at a bee-keepers' convention — but, at any 

 rate, I did this : 



"I opened that hive one beautiful morning and took 

 their empty super away from them. Then I took out two 

 frames that had more brood than honey in them, and gave 

 them to another colony, from which I took, instead, two 

 frames nearly filled with honey, some of it unsealed, and 

 put them into the hive of lazy bees. Nest, I took out the 

 frames that had the most honey in them, and with my 

 honey-knife shaved oft' the capping, thus unsealing a large 

 patch on each frame. This drastic proceeding set a lot of 

 honey loose, of course ; but it also broke up the strike. I 

 watched them nearly the whole of that day. and I tell 

 you, Mr. Bond, I had to laugh out loud to myself several 

 times to see those bees hustle themselves to keep that loose 

 honey from going to waste. Of course I was on the look- 

 out all the while to prevent any of the honey from running 

 out at the bee-entrance and tempting other bees to come 

 and investigate matters. 



"The nest morning those bees went to work in the super, 

 which I had replaced the evening before ; and they didn't 

 let up until the end of the honey-flow, when they had 

 filled two supers, and a third partly. 



" Another experiment I made — no, I beg your pardon, 

 it wasn't an experiment, but an experience — and it hap- 

 pened in this way : 



" Before I adopted the tiering-up system I always put 

 on only one super at a time, and then "looked through the 

 glass in the side to see when the bees were sealing the out- 

 side sections. When I saw them do that I took that super 

 off and gave them an empty one. Well, I had often before 

 noticed, when I had performed this operation, that there 

 was a very marked slacking-up of work in those hives from 

 which I had taken full supers ; but I did not stop to study 

 about the cause. It %vas not until that same season when I 

 learned how to break up a strike in a colony that I took 

 particular notice of this streak of loafing, or sulking — I 

 am not sure which it was. 



"When I was taking off full supers one morning I 

 found that one of the colonies had put in spare time in 

 building brace-combs between some of the frames, and 

 had extended that kind of work to the top of the frames, 

 for I found that they had filled the space between the brood- 

 frames and the bottom of the super almost solid with 

 honey. Well, in taking the super off, this extra arrange- 

 ment was of course' broken up, and a lot of honey let 

 loose. 



" There were several important things about bee-keep- 

 ing which I hadn't then learned yet, hence I was not aware 

 of the fact that those bees did that extra job because they 

 were short of honey-storing room for several days before I 

 thought it was time to give them a fresh super. Thinking, 

 however, that the extra comb had to be removed before a 

 fresh super was placed on top the frames, I took the honey- 

 knife and bee-smoker and went at it. It was a sweet job of 

 work, now I tell you 1 But I got through with it without 

 getting more than a dozen stings on my hands ; and then 

 put on the super, and cheerfully closed the hive. 



" While doing that little job of work, Mr. Bond, I 



learned something that was new to me. When I first began 

 slashing into the comb with my honey-knife I got quite a 

 number of hot stings on my naked hands; As I proceeded, 

 my hands became daubed with honey, and I noticed that 

 the bees did not attempt to sting where there was honey. 

 Taking the hint, I daubed honey all over my hands, with 

 the result that I got no more stings doing that job. 



" This recipe I throw in extra, without cost. You can 

 tell by trying it — should occasion call for self-defense some 

 time when 3'ou find it necessary to do such work — whether 

 it will pay for the wasted honey or not. There are occa- 

 sions, you know, when a bee-keeper can't keep his hands in 

 his pockets and yet do the work that calls for their use." 

 (To be continned.; 



\ Questions and Answers. \ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. AHLLER, Mareago, Ul, 



[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 



Building Up Colonies. 



My bees wintered well — 47 colonies out of 49. A few 

 of them are very strong. What is the best way to build 

 them up ? Give them a frame of brood from a strong col- 

 ony, or exchange hives in the middle of the day when the 

 bees are flying the strongest ? Ontario. 



Answer. — Take from a colony that has five brood or 

 more, leaving it only four frames of brood. Do not give 

 these frames of brood to the weakest colonies at first, but 

 give a frame to each colony that has only three frames, 

 until these are all supplied, then give to the weaker ones. 

 Take the adhering bees with the frame of brood, but be 

 sure you don't take the queen. If you give more than one 

 frame to any colony, let them be from dift'erent hives, for 

 if you should give two frames with adhering bees from the 

 same hive it would endanger the queen. 



Pilling Combs With Syrup for Feeding— Fastening 

 ttueen-Cups. 



1. I am the newest and " greenest " of bee-keepers. 

 On page 310, Allen Latham writes of filling brood-combs 

 with sugar syrup from a coffee-pot at the beginning of the 

 apple-bloom. How does he hold the comb during the oper- 

 ation — upright, as it is in the hive, or does he turn it from 

 side to side ? 



2. In making queen-cups a la Doolittle, I suppose the bot- 

 tom, i.e., the thickest part of the cup, is fastened to the 

 stick, is it not ? 



3. My bees pay no attention to the syrup I try to feed 

 them. How shall I get them to notice it ? 



Mrs. Bee-Keepkr. 



Answers. — 1. You are no greener than the rest of us 

 have been, but are perhaps a little smarter in finding out 

 sooner your greenness. You are very wise to pocket your 

 pride and ask questions that may betray some degree of 

 ignorance. When you do not find instruction in your text- 

 book upon any given point, 3'ou may gain that instruction 

 through experience, but sometimes that is expensive, and 

 by asking questions you not only gain the desired informa- 

 tion for yourself, but help others as well. 



Mr. Latham gives no particulars, but you may be sure 

 he does not have the comb hanging, as in the hive, when 

 filling it. Lay it flat in a tub ; pour the syrup into it from 

 a height of three or four feet, and the fall from such a 

 height will make the syrup force its waj' into the cells. It 

 will work better if the syrup is hot, but you must look out 

 not to melt the comb. When one side is filled, turn the 

 comb over and fill the other side. Then hang the comb in 

 a hive-body that stands over something to catch the drip. 



Years ago I fed many gallons of syrup in combs, and 

 to make the work easier I had hung three or four feet above 

 the tub a large baking-powder can, or something of the 

 kind, the bottom of the can being punched full of nail- 

 holes, the holes being punched through from the inside. 



