420 



American Hee Journal 



December, 1913. 



of the American Bee Journal: they are to 

 be found only in the Lanestrot^■Uadant 

 book and in Ben'rands " Conduite dii Ruch- 

 er " iConduct of the Apiary), which has been 

 published in eight different languages. The 

 dimensions of the frame are about the same 

 as those of the original Quinby movable 

 frame. This hive is especially adapted to 

 the production of extracted honey, and that 

 is why it is very much more widely used in 

 the countries where modern bee-keepers 

 can secure almost as much fot* extracted 

 per pound as for section honey. We give 

 the cut of the hive. The dimensions are to 

 be found in the Langstroth-Dadant book. 



Foundation and Drawn Combs^Splints 



1. I have been running my apiary for 

 chunk honey, but find that I can Hndasale 

 for quite a lot of extracted honey. I have a 

 few nice straight combs on medium brood 

 foundation, wired. What would be the 

 storing capacity of one colony with one- 

 inch foundation starters, one colony with 

 full sheets of thin surplus, and one colony 

 with full sheets of medium brood founda- 

 tion, as compared with a colony with full 

 draw-n combs; that is. if a colony with full 

 drawn combs could fill 20 frames, about how 

 much could the other respective colonies 

 fill, everything else being equal. I expect 

 to use full sheets of thin surplus for chunk 

 honey, and full sheets of medium for ex- 

 tracted. I ask these questions simply to 

 have some idea as to how much foundation 

 of each kind to buy this season. 



2. I use full-sized Hoffman frames. I have 

 a good supply on hand, and do not wish to 

 buy any more this season, or 1 would buy 

 shallow frames. I notice that i can buy full- 

 sized sheets of thin surplus to fit these 

 frames, and expect to use them this coming 

 season instead of narrow starters as hereto- 

 fore. Do you tnink I will gain any more 

 chunk honey by this ? 



3. On page sgj. of " Langstroth on the 

 Honey Bee." youadvocate the useof wooden 

 splints to support these wide strips of foun- 

 dation. Do you use these splints in extract- 

 ing frames as well as in frames for chunk 

 honey? 



4. Do you use splints opposite each other 

 on the foundation, or do you use them on 

 one side only? Kentl'cky. 



Answers.— I. I don't know. If you want 

 me to guess. I'm willing to do my best at 

 guessing. I must premise that by saying 

 that the answer depends somewhat upon 

 the flow. If a short and very heavy flow is 

 on. the fully drawn combs will have a much 

 greater advantage than they will have in a 

 light and long-continued flow. In the former 

 case, whilethe colony with fullcombs stores 

 20 pounds, the colony with one-inch founda- 

 tion starters will store from 10 to 15 pounds, 

 and the colony with full sheets of thin sur- 

 plus from 12 to 17. With medium brood foun- 

 dation it ought to do just a little better than 

 with thin surplus. 



In the case of the long, slow flow, while 

 built combs give 20. the starters should give 

 15 to 18. and the full sheets of foundation 16 

 to 10. I can. however, imagine an extreme 

 case with an immensely heavy flow lasting 

 only a day or two. in which 20 pounds would 

 be stored in the built combs and not a drop 

 in the others. On the other hand. I can im- 

 agine a very long flow with a very little more 

 gathered daily than the bees need for their 

 own use. and very nearly as much stored 

 with starters as with full combs. But re- 

 member that all this is only guessing, and 

 my guesser may not be in perfect working 

 order. I think the editor-in-chief knows 

 more about it than 1 do. and I'd be glad to 

 have his guess, even if it makes mine look 

 like the guess of a beginner. [My guess 

 would be a greater difference when built 

 combs yielded 20 pounds, say 10 to 15 pounds 

 for starters, and 15 to 18 for sheets of foun- 

 dation. I have seen sometimes what Dr. 

 Miller states. 15 to 20 pounds in built combs 



Family of C. N. White, of England. 



and not a drop in the others.— Editor.] 



2. There will be a very little gain in a long 

 and slow flow, and a very big gain in a short, 

 heavy flow 



3- I would use splints in extracting combs. 



but on no account in chunk honey, unless 

 the honey were afterward to be cut up on 

 the lines of the splints and the splints taken 

 out. 

 i. On oneside only. 



Twelve Colonies Yield $244.25 on a City 

 Lot 



The honey-flow here this season was the 

 best ever, white clover especially. There 

 hasn't been so much in 10 years. Sweet 

 clover bloomed until frost killed it. We had 

 a few acres of buckwheat that yielded well, 

 but it was about 2'r miles from town. 



I sold all of my honey here at home for 20 

 cents per pound. I sold $210.25 worth of 

 comb honey and $J4. 50 worth of bees. Bee- 

 keeping is just a side-line with me. and all 

 this was done on a city lot 75x150. with 12 

 colonies, spring count. I got 1307 sections 



with bees, and make a better living than I 

 do now. 



I have worked 27 years for one man in a 

 sawmill as head sawyer, and it is quite a re- 

 lief to go home and spend a little time with 

 my bees: not only a relief but a pleasure. If 

 any of the subscribers can beat this record 

 of getting 1307 sections and selling $210.25 

 worth of honey, and $34. So worth of bees on a 

 city lot four squares from the court house, 

 with 12 colonies, spring count, I would be 

 glad to hear from them. 



The American Bee Journal has been a 

 great help to me. and I cannot afford to be 

 without it while keeping bees. 



Frank Langohr. 



Columbia City. Ind., Nov. 13. 



Scraping Sections 



I. like some other writers, am willing to 

 give valuable information away and not get 

 it patented .excuse me for classing myself 

 with writers . When I sat down to scrape 

 over 17.000 sections of comb honey this fall, 

 I tried several schemes to shorten and bet- 

 ter the process. I got up after scraping, 

 grading, and boxing it ready for market very 

 tired. Now. the valuable recipe I am about 

 to give to the old beekeepers as well as the 

 new. is this: "Just keep on a scrapin'." 



Nampa. Idaho. L. W. Benson. 



The Apiary Which 'Vielded S244 25 on a 

 City Lot.— Owned by Frank Langohr. 



from bees this season. I have 15 colonies 

 all packed for winter, with an abundance of 

 stores. Attached is a small picture of my- 

 self among my bees. This was taken just as 

 the buds on the trees were shooting forth. 

 To the left is my shop where I make my 

 hives and do all of my work for the bees. 



No swarms got away from me this season, 

 as I use the clipped queen plan. I find this 

 is the best way to prevent them from getting 

 away. The experience of this season tells 

 me that there is money in bees if conducted 

 rightly. If I had a place, say 20 acres, I 

 would be right there and have it stocked 



Revengeful Bees 



An unusual case of injury to the " innocent 

 bystander," is given in the following inci- 

 dent: At one of the farm houses in north- 

 eastern Pennsylvania, the children had a 

 pet fox. which they kept in a chicken-wire 

 cage staked down on the lawn. One day the 

 farmers wife came from the spring-house 

 carrying a dish of honey. This she placed 

 on top of the fox's cage for convenience 

 while she busied herself with some other 

 outdoor work. She forgot all about the 

 honey until late in the day. and on hasten- 

 ing out for it found the fox dead. The bees 

 from a neighboring hive had been attracted 

 by the honey, and they had attacked and 

 killed the fox. Do you believe that the bees 



