January, 1908. 



American ^ae Journal 



year to hold on to their old queen un- 

 til she became a drone-layer. Why 

 they should do this I will leave it to 

 others to say. L. B. Smith. 



Rescue, Tex., Nov. 27. 



There is a difference of opinion re- 

 garding the quality of honey from any 

 given source. Mr. Smith, and so it is 

 with "marigold" honey. Gaillardia pxil- 

 chella, commonly known as "wild mari- 

 gold," yields a rather dark, golden hon- 

 ey, of heavy body, with a rather distinct 

 flavor of its own that some people do 

 not like, if accustomed to some of our 

 mild flavored honeys. This, however, 

 has never been objectionable to me, nor 

 have I heard others complain as does the 

 bee-keeper mentioned by you. I am 

 like you — I could sell a lot of that honey 

 now, and surely would not have to go 

 out of business on account of the quality 

 of "marigold" honey. 



The Divisible Hive Again 



Here is given a letter from quite a 

 number in which are asked questions 

 that are also contained in the others. I 

 have thought that such letters would 

 stop coming, as they have been coming 

 to me for 10 years, since I have used 

 such hives ; and since so much has been 

 written in the various bee-papers re- 

 garding them. But it seems t4iat there 

 are so many points to consider before 

 making a radical change from one good 

 hive to another that, perhaps, may not 

 prove as good. And well may it be that 

 a thorough investigation be made, there- 

 fore, before making a change. Hence 

 all fthese letters: 



Dear Mr. Scholl: — Your article re- 

 ferring to the sectional hive together 

 writh the other good things I have read 

 concerning it, have nearly converted me 

 to that hive. It is not so much that 

 hive that appeals to me as the system 

 wthich goes with it. I think I can see 

 benefits connected with the sectional hive 

 which no other hive can give, but I 

 wish to be sure before I make a change. 

 I have a good hive for this location, but 

 of course, the "frame-handling system" 

 goes with it. It measures 14^^ inches 

 long and wide, and io54 inches deep. 

 I tise shallow extracting supers nearly 

 entirely, and if I change to the sectional 

 hive I will use these supers as brood- 

 chambers as well as supers. Mr. Hand 

 uses the standing frame, and I under- 

 stand you use the hanging frame. Would 

 you mind telling me why you do not 

 use the standing frame? Mr. Hand al- 

 so has a movable side to his hive. I 

 do not think that necessary. What is 

 your opinion? 



If you were producing extracted hon- 

 ey entirely, would you still prefer your 

 have? 



In tiering up my supers without an 

 excluder I nearly always have a little 

 brood in every super. Would the same 

 thing happen with you by a httle mis- 

 management, and have you a kink which 

 always prevents it? I am very much 

 interested in this sy.stem, but I want to 

 be "dead sure" before I adopt it. I 

 know I am presuming a good deal in 

 asking your advice, but hope you will 

 find time to give me a little help in the 



matter, with any suggestions you may 

 think helpful. There is only one man 

 in Canada who uses the divisible brood- 

 chamber, so far as I know. 



H. A. Smith. 

 Palermo, Ont., Dec. 17. 



As regards the divisible brood-chamb- 

 er hives, I can not refrain from believ- 

 ing that such hives, together zinth the 

 system of management that should al- 

 ways go tvith them, (mind you that), 

 are bound to become more popular in 

 the future than they have in the past. 

 That they will supplant the other styles, 

 I would never claim, for there are too 

 many bee-keepers for whom the divis- 

 ible hives would not prove a success, 

 hence some other style of hive should 

 be used by them. 



Neither would I advise any bee-keep- 

 er, no matter how well he is informed, 

 to make a radical change from the deep 

 to the shallow hive. Try a few of them 

 and see if you will not be convinced. 

 If I had all the prospective bee-keepers 

 who have written me regardiing my 

 hive, and others who are interested in 

 my apiaries, during one season, I know 

 there would be a majority of converts. 

 Several of my earlier opponents have 

 been converted in less than a month's 

 time with me. 



The idea of using the shallow ex- 

 tracting supers already on hand for the 

 experiment is good, hence I call special 

 attention to it. If none are in use pro- 

 cure a few, and if the experiments with 

 them as divisible brood-chambers do not 

 prove satisfactory, use them as supers, 

 and very little expense is entailed. 



Either hanging or standing frames 

 can be used, and I think the difference 



is generally due to what the apiarist has 

 become accustomed. I can not see why 

 standing frames are used, as I have 

 tried them. They are not so easily 

 handled in rapid, short-cut, large-scale 

 operations as the hanging frames, which 

 can be dropped in place in a twinkling. 

 Neither could I prevent mashing bees 

 where the standing frame-rests are be- 

 low and out of sight, while with the lat- 

 ter the rests are in sight, and the frames 

 swing into place. Where propolis is 

 abundant, as it is in some of my apiaries, 

 standing frames have been even a nuis- 

 ance. My preference is a shallow Hoff- 

 man self-spacing (V-edge) frame with 

 thick end-bars, full ^-inch, and narrow 

 }i-'mch top-bars ^-inch thick. These 

 go into a plain super shell with rabbets 

 (no tin rests), and are handled from the 

 top. No movable sides are necessary, 

 as there would be no use for them with 

 me, and would be only an extra ex- 

 pense, besides weakening the super. 



Some of my apiaries are managed en- 

 tirely for extracted honey, others for 

 comb and extracted. The queens have 

 access to the first shallow extracting 

 super at the beginning of the season, 

 and later the honey is put in the combs 

 in place of the brood, keeping the queen 

 below. Then if the brood-nest is manipu- 

 lated just at this time, by exchanging 

 the upper half with the lower one, pro- 

 viding room for tlie queen, there will 

 be very little trouble about brood in 

 the supers, as the bees fill the combs 

 rapidly with honey; and, besides, there 

 is sufficient room for the queen from 

 there on in such a large brood-chamber 

 equal to 12 Langstroth frames. I have 

 tried queen-excluders, but discarded 

 them soon about 8 years ago, and would 

 not use them in honey-production. 



Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mount Joy. 



The Ontario Convention Again. 



In the very brief report of the On- 

 tario Bee-Keepers' Convention, which 

 appears in December issue of this jour- 

 nal, several features of the proceedings 

 are not mentioned. This is explained 

 by the unavoidable absence of the 

 writer during one of the sessions, and 

 also to the fact of his having to act 

 as auditor du.ing the time that one 

 address was given during another ses- 

 sion. The brief report referred to, was 

 hastily prepared from notes taken while 

 at the convention, and the foregoing is 

 simply given, in the hope that any who 

 took part in the proceedings will not 

 think that any slight was intended. 

 Some of the addresses given, of which 

 no mention was made in the December 

 issue, were as follows : . 



A paper by Prof. Surface, of Har- 



risburg. Pa., on the subject of "Bees 

 and Horticulture ;" a paper by R. H. 

 Smith, entitled "A Chapter of Mis- 

 takes," and a lucid address by Arthur 

 Laing, on the "Production and Exhibi- 

 tion of Honey." 



Time for Fall Feeding: of Bees 



So you think, Mr. Editor (page 741), 

 that the diverse views of Canadian 

 bee-keepers in regard to the proper time 

 for fall feeding, is apt to make begin- 

 ners feel "somewhat dizzy." As one of 

 the trio referred to in said editorial, I 

 shall endeavor to reconcile somewhat 

 such seemingly different opinions, and in 

 a measure bring order out of chaos. 



The writer, as correctly quoted, said 

 in the Canadian Bee Journal, that in his 

 experience it is not wise to feed much 



