740 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 21, 1901. 



placed for the bees Sept. 25, but were left un- 

 touched the entire day. Next day the clusters 

 of grapes were sprinkled with honey-water. 

 They were vehemently attacked by the bees, 

 the sweetened water licked up clean, yet not a 

 berry injured. September 29 the clusters 

 were changed, sprinkled with honey-water, 

 and five berries in each cluster pierced with a 

 needle. They were promptly licked ofl, the 

 punctured berries emptied, and the rest left 

 whole. The next day ten grapes were punc- 

 tured in each cluster, and these alone cleaned 

 out, except two or three berries that had 

 probably been accidentally injured. Black 

 Portuguese grapes were an exception ; ripen- 

 ing early they burst open, especially in wet 

 weather, and, of course, were then cleaned 

 out by the bees. 



A Good Word for the Blacks is 



spoken in the Rocky Mountain Bee Journal. 

 A. E. Willcutt has blacks with a tongue-reach 

 of 16-100 inch which gather more than his 

 Italians with 19-100, and he thinks if blacks 

 had had as fair a chance as Italians the 

 blacks would be ahead. 



\ YVeekly Budget. I 



That Texas Hobsemint paragraph, on 

 page 706, was written by Mr. Louis SchoU. 

 instead of Editor Root. The wrong credit is 

 clearly an error on our part, as we have since 

 noticed that it is plainly stated in the original 

 article from which the paragraph was taken, 

 that Mr. SchoU was requested to write about 

 the horsemint, after Mr Root had departed 

 from Texas. We are glad to make this cor- 

 rection. 



Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, writing us Nov. 

 10, said : 



Friend York:— When at Buffalo I prom- 

 ised Mr. H. G. Acklin that I would come up 

 to their December convention at Minneapolis, 

 Minn. I have just received notice that it will 

 be held the 4th and 5th. This throws me out 

 of attending the Chicago convention. I am 

 sorry, as I had anticipated having an enjoy- 

 able time. Yours truly, 



W. '/.. Hutchinson. 



Well, that is too bad. But the meeting 

 will be a good one, anyway. Of course, all 

 would like to have Mr. Hutchinson present, 

 but what will be our loss will be Minnesota's 

 gain. ^ 



Mr. W. J. C'RAia, the editor of the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal, and withal a very pleasant 

 gentleman, was present at the Buffalo con- 

 vention, and has this to say editorially : 



As was previously announced, the exercises 

 consisted principally of ijuestions and an- 

 swers. We were afraid at first that this kind 

 of program would become monotonous and 

 tiresome, but the interest continued right 

 through, and very much valuable information 

 was imparted. Mr. E. R. Root proved him- 

 self an ideal chairman, and perfect order and 

 good humor prevailed during the sessions. 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, the genial secretary, has a 

 happy faculty of making people feel at home.. 

 We Canadians were treated with the greatest 

 possible courtesy and consideration ; pleased 

 to say we had agood representation. 



I The Buffalo Convention. I 



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(Continued from page "2".; 

 USING FOUND.\TION FOR COMB HONEY. 



"Is it desirable to use drawn founda- 

 tion in securing comb honey?" 



Mr. Wilcox — Some years ago I was 

 called upon to conduct some experi- 

 ments on the subject of the use of full 

 sheets of foundation and small 

 starters, and, from those experiments, I 

 might say that the result showed that 

 the more comb I gave them the quicker 

 they were filled and finished, hence the 

 drawn comb was the first filled and 

 finished, the full sheets of foundation 

 next, and the small starters last. This 

 question probably relates to the prac- 

 tice of putting in a sheet of foundation 

 to be drawn out half length or more, to 

 be cut up and used in sections as 

 starters for the bees. I am satisfied 

 with that experiment and subsequent 

 experience, that the bees produced 

 more honey if supplied with combs fully 

 drawn. At the same time, I do not 

 think it practicable for the majority of 

 bee-keepers to do it. The difficulty or 

 trouble of getting them drawn out bal- 

 ances the gain, and I prefer to put in 

 the starters and let the bees draw them 

 out and then fill them. 



Mr. Heise— I think probably Mr. 

 Wilcox has the key to the question. I 

 thought probably this referred to the 

 artificially drawn combs. Probably it 

 does not. 



Mr. Betsinger — I hate awfully to let 

 it stand in that form. My experience 

 is that they will use foundation, do 

 better work and fill the section quicker 

 than they will with the foundation that 

 has been drawn out previously, espe- 

 cially if it has been carried over one 

 season. 



FLAVOR OF RED CLOVER HONEY. 



" Can any one here tell the flavor of 

 red clover honey?" 



J. F. Moore, of Ohio— We have had 

 a good deal of red clover honey down 

 in our section this summer. It is a 

 thing we have never experienced be- 

 fore, and generally after the middle of 

 July the bees seemed to settle back and 

 think they have done all that is neces- 

 sary, but this summer they have gath- 

 ered considerable honey from red clo- 

 ver. It is very much like white clover. 

 When you open a hive in which it has 

 been gathered freshly it reminds you 

 of white clover. It seemed to be very 

 white and nice. The bees were at 

 work on red clover and there wasn't 

 anything else to gather. It is in Sen- 

 eca County, Ohio. Some of the bees 

 were pure Italian; most of them were 

 hybrids. Hybrids are kept more easily 

 than Italians in our section. There 

 was white clover early in the season, 

 but later there was very little of it. 



Mr. McEvoy — Every kind of bee has 



gathered honey this year from red 

 clover. 



Dr. Mason — I suppose there are a 

 good many of those present who have 

 robbed bumble-bees' nests, and if you 

 have, and tasted the honey, you know 

 just about how red clover honey tastes. 

 It has a real, nice flavor. 



Mr. Hershiser — Referring to the sec- 

 retary's remark about bumble-bees 

 gathering red clover honey, I would 

 like to know if bumble-bees do not 

 gather other honey than red clover 

 honey. 



Dr. Mason — I think the flavor of red 

 clover predominates. I have tasted of 

 it quite a good many times in different 

 apiaries, and the parties have called 

 my attention to it as having been 

 gathered from red clover 



HONEV FERMENTING IN THE COMB. 



"Will honey ferment in the comb?" 



Mr. Wilcox — I know it will. 



Mr. McEvoy — Yes. 



Dr. Mason — That depends on where 

 it is kept. I believe. 



Mr. Wilcox — Whenever it is kept 

 warm enough to absorb moisture, and 

 once the moisture clings to the honey, 

 and if it is continued warm and moist, 

 it will ferment. If it is kept warm and 

 dry it is all right. It must absorb the 

 moisture first to ferment. 



COMBS OF CANDIED HONEY. 



" What is the best method of hand- 

 ling combs thatcontain candied honey, 

 in the spring?" 



Dr. Mason — Uncap it and give it to 

 strong colonies. 



Mr. Moore — I would advise uncap- 

 ping it and pouring water on the comb 

 where it is candied. Bees will use it up. 



Dr. Mason — If the honey is moist 

 YOU need not pour any water on it. If 

 it is dry. pour on some water. 



W. L. Coggshall — I would just pile 

 those hives up with the candied combs 

 outdoors where the bees could have ac- 

 cess to them, and that honey you can 

 take and put in a wax-extractor and 

 liquefy it. 



Dr. Mason — If it is moist, you would 

 not need to do that way. 



W. L. Coggshall — I wouldn't pour 

 any water on the coinbs. 



" WHAT IS A TESTED QUEEN?" 



Mr. Wilcox — One you have tried and 

 found to be good for nothing. 



Mr. Heise — Is that the only way we 

 can tell tested queens? 



Dr. Mason — The other is when it has 

 been tried and found to be good. 



Mr. Benton — I think some one who 

 has asked that question would like to 

 know what a tested queen is. In pop- 

 ular parlance a, tested queen is one 

 that has been kept until we have seen 



