June, 1913. 



189 



American IBcc Jonrnall 



)>=^^^^ 1 



should never clu'=ter on the outside 

 during a honey crop. They are either 

 too crowded, too warm, or too little 

 ventilated. It is sometimes well to 

 raise the hive an inch or two from the 

 bottom-board, especially in front. 



3. Drones cause the bees annoy- 

 ance by their bulk and their noise. 

 Keep the drone-combs replaced by 

 worker-combs wherever it is practi- 

 cable to change them. 



4. Have young queens. They lay less 

 drone-eggs, and the bees are less apt 

 to supersede them. When bees are 

 rearing young queens to supersede the 

 old mother, she is likely to swarm out 

 and the bees will follow. 



•5. If you are raising extracted honey, 

 keep a supply of empty combs ahead 

 of need on the hive, if it takes three or 

 four stories. 



is intended for beginners. Very few 

 practical apiarists use gloves at all, but 

 we all recognize the ne-id of a veil at 

 hand for accidentally irritated colonies. 

 We give our preference to the veil 

 which is most readily put on or taken 

 off, even if a little less safe than the 

 well-fastened veil. Each one should 

 decide this point for himself. 



Veils and Glove.s 



The witty contribution in this issue 

 on the above subject, by Mr. Bigelow, 



Do It In June 



Keep the grass cut away from the 

 front of the hives. Shade them from 

 the hot sun. Do not allow the bees to 

 cluster in front for want of ventilation 

 or for want of room. If they hang out, 

 raise the hive from its bottom, in front. 



See that your colonies have enough 

 room to store honey, when the yield is 

 on. To coax an average colony into 

 the empty super nothing is better than 

 a few half sealed sections exchanged 

 from a very active colony, and the lat- 

 ter won't miss them. 



Miscellaneous <^ News Items 



Dampening Sections by Means of a 



Wet Cloth If the sections make a 



creaking noise when being folded, it is 

 a sign that they are too dry and need 

 to be dampened. 



To dampen sections, take the sec- 

 tions out of the crate and lay them on 

 edge on a table; take a white cloth 

 (towel), soak it in water, wring out 

 some of the water, leaving it very 

 moist, and spread it over the sections, 

 covering the three rows of V grooves 

 as shown in the illustration. 



Leave the sections covered in this 

 manner until they are sufficiently 

 dampened for folding. 



Ordinarily the time required is only 

 one hour. If the sections are very dry 

 it may be necessary to soak the cloth 

 twice or to apply it double. 



The moisture, as it leaves the cloth, 

 settles down into the V grooves just 

 where it is wanted. This leaves the 

 sections dry e.xcept the V grooves, and 

 therefore the sections will not warp, 

 nor will the dovetailing fit together too 



tight, as it usually does when the 

 whole sections are dampened. 



A good way to dampen sections in a 

 hurry, is to lay them out flat on a table 

 and then apply water in the V grooves 

 with a small brush. Many sections 

 should be laid out, side by side, at one 

 time, having the V grooves in straight 

 lines. To prevent the sections from 

 getting wet from the drip, lay them on 

 slats. Sections will answer this pur- 

 pose. — Geo. a. Boyum. 



DA\n'LNi.\(. Sections. 



Reinforcing Fotindation B. Brewster, 



in the Canadian Bee Journal, page 48, 

 speaks in high terms of his success in 

 reinforcing foundation by painting 

 melted wax over the surface with a flat 

 3-inch varnish brush. He does not 

 merely paint over the upper part of the 

 foundation (which secures against sag- 

 ging), but paints over the whole of one 

 side, the side upon which the wires are, 

 thus fastening in the wires and rein- 

 forcing the foundation at one opera- 

 tion. 



Last season gave the plan a severe 

 test. Frames of foundation prepared 

 as described were given at a time when 

 bees were idle from dearth, and instead 

 of chewing down the foundation as 

 happens too often, the bees made good 

 work, so far as they did anything, mak- 

 ing beautiful combs of those that were 

 fully occupied. A peculiar feature of 

 the case was that "in nearly every case, 

 4 or 5 days after hiving, comb had 

 been drawn out in every frame on the 

 side that was painted, whilst little had 

 been done where they had the ' Weed 

 process ' to work at." 



-^ 



The Demand for Beeswax. — L'Apicul- 

 teur for January publishes a state- 

 ment from J. DeHasque, of the Ant- 

 werp Commercial Counting House, 

 who mentions the growing importation 

 of beeswax into civilized countries 

 from new regions, such as India, Abys- 

 sinia, Eastern Africa. He remarks 

 that these comparatively new sources, 

 joined to the modern discovery of 

 parafline and vegetable waxes which 

 are now used in place of beeswa.x for 

 many commercial purposes, ought to 

 have lessened the price of beeswax. 



On the contrary, the value of pure 

 beeswax is now greater than ever. He 

 ascribes it correctly to the increase of 

 the movable-frame system of bee-cul- 

 ture, in which a minimum of beeswa.x 

 is produced. 



Not long ago, assertions were made 

 that there would be profit in producing 

 wax instead of honey. There will be 

 plenty of room in the future for those 

 who hold this view to try it themselves, 

 for beeswax is more and more in de- 

 mand, and there is no probability of a 



