July, 1908. 



p^erican Hee Journal 



^eedoitv_^ 

 foiled DowiO 



Misfortune to a Brother Kditor. 



Editor E. R. Root has been doing 

 ■sonic excellent work at bee-conventions 

 by the use of the stereopticon, and his 

 devotion to this interesting pursuit has 

 cost him a severe injury to the sight 

 of his right ej'e, if not its permanent 

 loss. Only the fraction of a second 

 looking at a strong arc light at too 

 close range, and then the physicians' cr- 

 uder that for some months there must be 

 110 reading of proof, printed matter, or 

 manuscript. Truly a privation, indeed, 

 but with one good eye left. Editor Root 

 will no doubt be shortly mounted on the 

 tripod again in good shape, and it will 

 be the wish of thousands that the ex- 

 perts may be mistaken in their forecast, 

 and that the injured member may yet 

 ■do good service. 



Painting Against Robber-Bees. 



R. M. Spencer, in 'Gleanings, says that 

 when robbers become troublesome he 

 paints the cracks with fresh paint of 

 the same color as the hive, also paint- 

 ing alighting-boards and about 2 inches 

 above the entrance on the hive-body. 

 Editor Root says in a foot-note : 



"Prof. H. A. Surface, zoologist, in 

 the employ of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of Pennsylvania, conducted some 

 ■experiments in the use of paint to dis- 

 courage robbers that were around 

 the hives, and his experience was about 

 the same as yours. We may say that 

 plain turpentine will answer almost as 

 well ; and a solution of carbolic acid and 

 water painted on would also be nearly 

 as effective. There would be one ob- 

 jection to the use of paint; and that is, 

 that the cracks of the hive might get 

 too many coats, giving it a rather bad 

 ippearance." 



Xuclens Increase. 



I. A. Crane says this in Gleanings in 

 1 '.oe Culture : 



"When I wish to use a colony for 

 making nuclei I remove the queen, plac- 

 ing her in a cage on top of the frames. 

 I leave her there 3 days, at the end of 

 which time there should be cells started. 

 1 then take one frame with a little 

 brood, and place it in a hive of drawn 

 combs ; set the colony off its bottom, 

 and place the hive of drawn combs in 

 its place, letting the queen run on to 

 this one comb of brood. Over this I put 

 a queen-excluder, and set the hive of 

 brood on top, and put on the cover. The 

 bees will finish tlie cells just as well 

 as if the queen were caged for the ten 

 days, and a new colony will be started 

 below, so that, when the cells are nearly 

 ripe, we can take the brood and bees 

 from the upper story, and form nuclei 

 without having to leave a single frame 

 or any of the bees that are on them. 

 If tlie colony was very strong there will 



soon be a good working colony on t'lie 

 old stand." 



Instead of the queen being caged, if 

 she were put with one or 2 frames of 

 brood in a nucleus for 3 days, there 

 might be a greater certainty of cells 

 being started, and the number might be 

 greater. 



Different Kinds of Foundation Sold. 



The following interesting facts are 

 given in a Stray Straw in Gleanings : 



"The question as to the proportion of 

 thin to extra-thin surplus foundation 

 having been raised, I asked Dadant & 

 Sons what was the proportion in their 

 sales, and received the following very 

 full reply : 



"Our sales of foundation last 3'ear av- 

 eraged as follows : 



Medium brood — 42 percent. 

 Thin surplus — 34 percent. 

 Thin brood — 11 percent. 

 Extra thin— 13 percent. 



"From this it will be seen that the 

 thin surplus was 2.6 times as much as 

 the extra thin. The medium brood was 

 .1.8 times as much as the thin brood ; 

 the total brood, 13 percent more than 

 the total surplus. Perhaps you might 

 tell us how these figures compare with 

 figures at Medina. 



"[We do not keep an extended record 

 of every grade sold during the year; 

 but we have asked the foreman of our 

 department to give a report of it for the 

 last month, and the figures are as fol- 

 lows : For more ready comparison we 

 put the Dadant figures alongside of 

 ours : 



Medium — 34. Medium — 42. 



Light — 20. Light — 1 1 . 



Thin — 30. Thin — 34. 



Extra thin — 16. Extra thin — 13. 



"The difference in percentage here 

 shown may be due to the fact that we 

 advise extra thin for sections, not be- 

 cause the bees take to it better, for they 

 do not, but because we believe it makes 

 a finer grade of comb honey. — Ed.]" 



Averill's I'hm with Foundation 

 Splints. 



B. F. Averill has been wiring combs 

 for 30 years, and using foundation 

 splints for 23 years. He likes splints 

 better than wiring, and they require less 

 time. His plan has some advantages 

 well worth considering. He says in 

 Gleanings : 



"My plan of using the splints incor- 

 porates them with the frames as well as 

 with the foundation; and thereby I se- 

 cure a more substantial comb than if 

 incorporated only with the foundation. 



"The first essential part of the plan 

 is to have top .ind bottom bars grooved 

 in the center to receive the ends of the 



splints. A saw-kerf ■^ gauge and 

 % deep is the most suitable dimension 

 to adopt. The splints should be -h-K-fis 

 or iV X ^. The latter dimension is bet- 

 ter for splints properly built into combs 

 . on a good flow of honey. 



"The splints are 14 inch longer thafi 

 the distance between the top and bottom 

 bars, inside measurements. Waxing is 

 best, but may be dispensed with in a 

 good honey-flow. 



• "To wax the splints, take a dozen or 

 two at a time between the fingers and 

 twirl them in a vessel pf hot wax. A 

 little practice will develop the requisite 

 skill. It is not necessary to wax the 

 entire length of splints. There will 

 never be any gnawing of foundation 

 around the splints near the top-bars. It 

 is at the bottoms of combs being built 

 that all the cutting-out is done. 



"So you can leave two inches at one 

 end of the splints safely, and the wax- 

 ing is a small job comparatively. Just 

 stand the splints on end in a leaning 

 position until you have enough supplied 

 for the foundation to be used that day, 

 or a week or month later. 



"Now, in putting in the foundation 

 you have two inches of unwaxed splint 

 to handle them by. Take hold of this 

 portion and insert the waxed end in 

 kerfs in the bottom-bars, and spring the 

 splints into the top-bars, that is the 

 whole process. Now, by using eight 

 splints there is no need of fastening 

 foundation to the top-bars. This saves 

 much time, and all that is requisite to 

 success is to be sure the foundation fits 

 close to the top-bars. If bottom-bars are 

 not of good thickness to support the 

 weight of heavy combs, there is going 

 to be sagging sooner or later. I would 

 advise gluing in a splint to the top and 

 bottom bars through the center of each 

 frame. This unites the top and bot- 

 tom bars at the center of the combs, and 

 no sagging of combs is possible. 



"For imbedding splints I use a small 

 wooden roller. Imbed the foundation 

 by placing the splints on the bottom of 

 the foundation and the roller at the top. 

 It is eas)- work compared to wiring, and 

 a much greater amount of foundation 

 can be stayed in the same length of 

 time." 



Those WTio Have Honey to SeU. 



Bee-keepers will soon be marketing 

 their honey. At this time it seems 

 proper to reiterate our annual caution 

 where one ships. If the honey is sold 

 outright he should be sure that the party 

 to whom it is consigned is responsible. 

 Let him go to his bank and have it look 

 him up. If he can get no information 

 he should require casli in advance or 

 ship by freight C. O. D. — that is, send a 

 bill of lading to some bank where the 

 customer is located, requesting it to col- 

 lect the cash before the goods are turned 

 over. 



Some argue that, if a house is not re- 

 sponsible, it is safe to send the honey on 

 commission because the consignee can 

 be arrested and jailed if he does not 

 make returns; but if he is dishonest 

 there is nothing to prevent him from 

 making very meager returns, leaving the 

 burden of proof on the producer to 

 show that they are not entirely adequate 

 for the quality of the goods. To do 



