96 



American Hae Journal 



March, 1913. 



erance in the shape of a tremendous 

 cloud of smoke appeared from the di- 

 rection of the woodshed door. The 

 proprietor of the ranch, taking pity 

 on our helpless condition, had put 

 some live coals into a large tin pan 

 and onto these a quantity of woodpne 

 accumulations, which sent up a col- 

 umn of smoke that compared favor- 

 ably to the puffings of an express lo- 

 comotive. Holding this pan in front 

 of himself, it had a magical effect on 

 the bees. They did not offer to mo- 

 lest him on his way to the shop, and 

 when he opened the shop door in a 

 triumphant way, he said: "There, 

 take this pan and blow the smoKe 

 against the hives, that will fix the 

 devils." 



Our friends' advice proved literally 

 true. After allowing the infuriated 

 bees a reasonable time to quiet a lit- 

 tle, and replenishing the smoke pro- 

 ducing pan with a liberal supply of 

 fuel from the woodpile, we were en- 

 abled to resume our work. In due 

 time we finished the job with no trou- 

 ble to speak of. 



Only a short time ago a bee-keeping 

 friend, to whom I related the incident, 

 remarked, after we had a good laugh 

 over it: "Why don't you write it up 

 for the bee-paper?" And here it is. 



A little later another of our custo- 

 mers had a similar surprise in store 

 for us. On a previous visit we had 

 discussed the benefits and advantages 

 derived from the use of a properly 

 constructed bee-smoker. Being some- 

 what of an inventive genius, he had 

 fastened over the valve of a common 

 hand-bellows, such as were used in 



those days with the old-fashioneo 

 charcoal flat irons, a tin can with 

 perforated top and bottom. This latter 

 he filled partly with rotten wood and 

 finished with live coals from the 

 stove. In opening the bellows the suc- 

 tion would draw the smoke inside and 

 closing it would send the smoke out 

 of the nozzle. With the exception of 

 the disadvantage that it required both 

 h!inds to work it, our friend's contriv- 

 ance would have been quite a formid- 

 able bee-smoker, if moderately used. 

 But when we called there at this time, 

 he was so enthusiastic over his inven- 

 tion and so eager to demonstrate its 

 efficiency that he not only blew the 

 poor bees of an opened hive off the 

 frames and over the edge of the hive, 

 but half way across the vard. 

 LaSalle, N. Y. 



[Similar troubles to friend Greiner's 

 have been the lot of many of the older 

 bee-keepers. The ancient smoker which 

 he describes was the only kind used 

 anywhere until 1873, when Moses 

 Quinby made the first bellows smoker 

 that could be used with only one hand. 

 Very few of our younger men can 

 have an idea of the difficulties encoun- 

 tered by the older heads before the 

 advent of practical bee-smokers and 

 of comb foundation. We have often 

 blown smoke upon the bees until we 

 were dizzy with the work. 



Friend Greiner's articles bear the 

 stamp of experience, and are always 

 welcome. — Editor.] 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .■\merican Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, M.^rengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Queen-Excluders — Requeening 



1. Will bees store as much honey by using 

 a honey-board in an 8-frame hive? I have 

 trouble by the Queen going into the upper 

 story. 



2. What kind of a honej'-board would you 

 recommend ? 



3. Would it be necessary to use a honey- 

 board on a lo-frame dovetailed hive ? 



4. We have a spring and fall honey-flow 

 here. The queens quit laying before the 

 fall flow, and do not begin in time to rear 

 enough young bees to winter. Would re- 

 queening help this ? 



5. Would it be best to requeen twice a 

 year: also what time of the year ^ 



6. Please give me the address of a golden 

 Italianqueen-breeder that would be adapted 

 for this part of Indiana, and who has no dis- 

 ease in his apiary ? 



7. Does any queen-breeder ensure his 

 queens free from disease; if so. in what 

 way? Indiana. 



Answers.— I. I suppose you have refer- 

 ence to a queen-excluder. You will prob- 

 ably not be able to see any difference in the 



amount stored with or without an excluder 

 if indeed there is any difference at all. 



2. There is probably nothing better than 

 the wood-zinc excluder. But if you are 

 working for section honey you will find it 

 not worth while to usean excluder, provided 

 you use full sheets of foundation in sec- 

 tions. If you use small starters of founda- 

 tion it will be better to use an excluder. 



3. In this respect there is little difference 

 between an 8-frame and a lo-frame hive, 

 although the queen will probably be more 

 inclined to enter the super over the smaller 

 hive. 



4. I wonder now wjiether you are not the- 

 orizing just a bit. If there is a fall flow 

 enough to be called a flow, or enough for the 

 bees to store any surplus from it. it's about 

 a sure thing that it will start the queen to 

 laying, so as to secure a crop of young bees 

 for winter. Yes. it is easier to start a young 

 Queen to laying than an old one. 



5. I never knew of any one who thought it 

 paid to requeen twice a year. 



6. You will find addresses of queen-breed- 

 ers in the advertising columns: but I don't 

 suppose one would be more adapted than 

 another for any particular part of any State. 



7- I'm not sure whether anj- one says so in 

 so many words, but practically every queen 

 is so ensured, for no honest man would send 

 out disease with a queen and say nothing 

 about it. And yet I suppose it might hap- 

 pen that disease would be thus carried 

 sometimes without the sender being aware 

 of it. The present tendency to make queen- 

 candy with boiled honey, or with no honey 

 at all. tends toward safeguarding against 

 disease. 





Charles Chandler and Part of His loo- 

 CoLONY .A.PIARV aT Emporia, Kan. 



Bees On the Hill or In the Valley 



I have 7 colonies of bees located in a val- 

 ley, and a neighbor bee-keeper has his bees 

 on a high hill, perhaps 175 feet higher than 

 mine. He says my bees have the advantage 

 of his. as my bees go up hill empty and down 

 hill loaded, while with his it is just the other 

 way. 



That is all right, and true as long as my 

 bees go west or north, but when they go east 

 they would have to go up first and then 

 down on the other side, and 1 notice that 

 they don't go very far that way. Now if I 

 would place my bees on top of this hill I 

 think they would go farther south and east 

 than they do now. .Most of the basswood is 

 on the hillside, but the best clover is in the 

 lowlands. Do 5;ou think it would pay to 

 move my bees higher up for this reason ? 



Iowa. 



Answer.— It surely must be easier for a 

 bee or anybody else to carry a load down 

 hill than up. In actual practice I have some 

 doubt whether the difference is enough so 

 that a colony in the lower location would 

 show a distinctly larger yield than one 

 higher up. But the matter of distance may 

 be a much more important factor. Within 

 a distance of perhaps a mile and a half it is 

 doubtful that distance counts for much. Be- 



30 MILLION * 100000 10 THE ANNUAL OUTPUT OF 

 SECTIONS B HIVES 



IP THE 

 lo THE 



Send for Annual Catnlo^; wliioli will tell 



Tou who is TOiir nenrcst IJistributer. 



LEWIS FACTORY G. B. Lewis Company. Wafertown. AVis. 



