October, ipo8. 



American Hee Journal 



>=.^^#^1 



Wliile it does not pay to use defective 



nibs, neither is it profitable to keep 

 the bees continually at it building new 

 ones, or drawing out comb foundation, 

 which virtually amounts to the same 

 thing. The profits of bee-keeping are 

 not so large that one can neglect these 

 small items and make a financial success 

 of the business. Though not of tre- 

 mendous importance, in order to put the 

 business upon a paying basis, the bee- 

 keeper can not ignore these small de- 

 tails. 



The c.xtracted-honey producer is not 

 the only one to whom empty combs are 

 of value. There is no yard run for 

 extracted honey where idle combs are 

 better cared for than in our comb honey 

 apiary. If they are to be had, a full 

 set is given in place of foundation when 

 hiving swarms. They are, also, superior 

 to foundation in transferring. As long 

 as a comb is straight and even, and 

 comparatively free from drone-cells, it 

 is kept in use for years, and is prefer- 

 able to that newly constructed. 



Probably the greatest difficulty of all 

 in keeping empty combs will be met in 

 the shape of the ordinary wax-moth, 

 especially if there are a few scattered 

 cells containing pollen. Moths are a con- 

 stant menace to idle combs during the 

 warm months, and should they make 

 their appearance, there is but one thing 

 to be done and that is to fumigate. Bi- 

 sulphide of carbon will be found prefer- 

 able to cyanide of potassium, sulphur, 

 or any other of the various things rec- 

 ommended for this purpose. We use it 

 quite often, not only for combs and 

 honey, but for the pea and corn weevil, 

 etc. When only a few combs are to be 

 treated tliey may be placed in a tight 

 barrel, filling it nearly full if necessary. 

 On top of the combs set a saucer, or 

 some open vessel, into which a small 

 bottle of the liquid is poured and an 

 old piece of blanket or carpet thrown 

 over all. Of course, where a quantity of 

 combs are to be fumigated, the barrel 

 would be too slow, and a tight bin or 

 room that will accommodate all, should 

 be used. As some smell of the stuff 

 may cling to the combs for a few days, 

 it is probably best not to use them im- 

 mediately after the treatment. 



So long as no moths appear, the prop- 

 er place for idle combs is a lot of 

 empty hive-bodies piled across each oth- 

 er in some light, dry spot. If you 

 would have them become moth-eaten, 

 put tliem in a close, dark box, and by 

 no possibility could they be more ably 

 arranged to that end. After fumigating, 

 it may lie well to put them at once 

 into ;i tii/ht bo.K, but should a crack be 

 left sufficiently large for a moth to en- 

 ter, we will have hit our finger, in- 

 stead of the nail, for a dark, quiet place 

 is tlie favorite rendezvous of this pest. 

 An excellent place for empty combs is 

 in the care of the bees. Any strong 

 colony can care for quite a number 

 more of combs than is in actual use, and 

 a section of such a hive as we use, filled 

 with empty comb and placed below 

 them, is not going to interfere with their 

 work in the least. 



On several occasions, we had combs 

 badly eaten by mice ; but this was purely 

 the result of carelessness. As mice do 

 not become troublesome until winter, 

 when there is little danger from moths, 



one has only to pile the combs up in 

 tiglit hive-bodies, with a close-litting 

 cover put at the top to make the whole 

 mouse-proof. Combs may te completely 

 riddled by mice if they are not kept 

 from them; especially if they should 

 contain some honey. 



Mold is another thing to be avoided 

 in keeping empty combs. If placed in a 

 damp place or under a leak in the roof, 

 they may become wet and mold. A sure 

 preventive for this is to keep them at 

 all times in a dry place. 



The number of good combs I see 

 strewn about the apiaries at neighboring 

 farms to rot and become moth-nurseries, 

 is little less than outrageous. I ven- 

 ture to assert that the value of such 

 combs thrown away as useless, would in 

 this State during the course of a year 

 set some poor bee-keeper upon his feet. 



Ft. Smith, Ark. 



Preparing Bees for Winter 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Along the middle of last February, I 

 was accosted by a bee-keeper living 6 

 or 7 miles from me, who wished to know 

 how the bees were wintering. I told 

 him that they were doing as well as 

 usual, and asked how his were winter- 

 ing. He said he guessed all right, that 

 he bad not looked at them since the De- 

 cember before when he "hefted" the 

 hives, and from the "way they hung to 

 the ground," he considered them all 

 right. To the practical bee-keeper such 

 ideas seem quite strange, yet I find that 

 more than half the people who have bees 

 about here, and especially those who 

 have gone into bee-keeping during the 

 past few years, know just about as much 

 about their bees being in good condition 

 for the winter during the fall months as 

 did this man. 



I have been told hundreds of times 

 during the past 40 years, and by some 

 who thought themselves quite high up in 

 the bee-keeping world, that according to 

 the "heft" of the hives the bees should 

 winter well, this hefting being done, as 

 a rule, the last of November or first of 

 December. I find that very many seem 

 to think that bees need little or no at- 

 tention during the months of September 

 and October, believing that the month of 

 November is early enough to prepare 

 bees for winter : and quite a few seem 

 to believe that all the preparation that 

 is needed then is to "heft" the hives. 

 Perhaps I should not be too severe on 

 such, for I used to think that way, too ; 

 but after losing heavily several times 

 when preparation was thus delayed, or 

 a guess was made in the matter by 

 simply lifting the hives, I made up my 

 mind that something was wrong, and 

 took the advice of an old bee-keeper, 

 who told me that the month of .S'r/>/r»i- 

 ber was the proper time to fix the bees 

 for winter. After working on his plan 

 for a number of years, T found that 

 he was quite right about the matter, and 

 as I am now fixing my bees for the 

 coming winter, I thought it might not 

 be uninteresting to the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal to know how I 

 do. 



There is one part of this wintering 

 matter that should not be put off even 



as late as September, and that is the 

 knoii.'iny that each colony has a good 

 queen. This part is generally looked 

 after during the latter part of July and 

 the first half of August. All colonies 

 which are found to have queens wliich 

 are not up to the very best, during the 

 forepart of the seasoil. are marked, and 

 as soon as the harvest from white clover 

 and basswood is over, all such queens 

 are superseded by removing them and 

 giving a ripe cell from my best breeding 

 queen. Then, if, 15 days later, I find 

 this young queen laying, I know that 

 such colony is all right as to queen, and 

 that, as a rule, such a colony will have 

 plenty of young bees for wintering in 

 the best shape. , 



Having the queen matter attended to, 

 I wait till the buckwheat bloom is main- 

 ly over, which, in this locality, is from 

 August 25 to September 5, when I go 

 over the whole apiary and kiwiv that 

 all colonies have honey enough, or are 

 fed till they do have, the feeding gener- 

 ally being done by setting in combs of 

 honey saved for this purpose, through 

 having a few colonies do all their work 

 during the surplus season in upper stor- 

 ies. 



The point which seems to have the 

 greatest bearing on successful wintering 

 is to begin early enough so the bees 

 will be enabled to get their winter stores 

 near and around the cluster of bees in 

 time for them to settle down into that 

 quiescent state so conducive to good 

 wintering, prior to October 20. To ar- 

 range these stores and properly seal 

 them requires warm weather, hence all 

 will see the fallacy of putting off caring 

 for them till cold weather arrives. 



Heavy combs of honey may be set in 

 any hive during the fore part of Septem- 

 ber, where the colony is short of stores, 

 setting this comb where it is the most 

 convenient for the bee-keeper, with the 

 assurance that before cold weather sets 

 in, the bees will uncap the proportion 

 of it which is required, and bring it up 

 around the cluster in just tlie shape they 

 wish it for winter. But, set in such 

 combs during November and December, 

 and they must be gotten close up to the 

 cluster if any of the honey is removed, 

 and, even, then, it is often allowed to 

 remain just as it was put in till some 

 warm spell in winter allows the cluster 

 to expand sufficiently to warm it up and 

 carry it where the bees wish it. I have 

 known colonies to starve to death with 

 such combs of honey almost touching 

 the cluster, through a period of extreme 

 cold, because they had ealen up the lit- 

 tle honey they had within the immediate 

 reach of the cluster, and the cold pre- 

 vented them from moving out sidewise 

 on to these combs of frozen honey. 



Probably the easiest way to know to 

 a reasonable certainty that all colonies 

 have sufficient stores for wintering is to 

 prepare a hive with empty combs which 

 are as aged (aged combs are the heav- 

 iest) as any we have in the apiary, and 

 weigh this hive filled with combs. To 

 this weight add 3 pounds for the weight 

 of the bees; or if brood-rearing has not 

 ceased add 3 pounrls more for brood. 

 Suppose your hive of empty combs 

 weigh 25 pounds, you will call the 

 weight you are to figure for each hive 

 less the honey, as 2S pomnls. where 

 there is no brood in the colonies ; or 31 



