Xovcmber, lyoS. 



American Hm Journal 



taken or more or less bees will be 

 crushed when a frame is lifted out or 

 put back in. Some are so steady of 

 nerve and muscle that they can move 

 frames quite rapidly while maintaining 

 the proper distance between end-bar and 

 hive-wall, so that a bee is rarely injured. 

 N'ot so others. 



To prevent mangling bees, some have 

 a staple driven into the outside of each 

 end-bar, near the bottom, which pre- 

 vents the possibility of allowing the 

 end-bar to strike against the hive-wall. 

 Some will object that at least in some 

 cases the jarring of the staple against 

 the hive-wall is objectionable, as when 

 one is looking for a queen, for a very 

 slight amount of jarring sets the bees 

 to running, when the finding of a queen 

 becomes a doubtful problem. L. S. 

 Crawshaw has a plan to avoid danger 

 without having end-spacers on the lower 

 ends of the end-bars. He says in the 

 British Bee Journal: 



"I have devised a method bf which speed 

 and certainty may be secured, even with the 

 last comb and tight quarters. Slide the end-bar 

 down the hive side; that is, allow double bee- 

 way at one end and none at the other. This 

 prevents sway or swing in any direction, and 

 crushing cannot take place." 



Thanksgiving Day has come again, 

 With blessings great and small. 



Let thoughts of gratitude o'erflow 

 The hearts of one and all. 



Late Uniting of Colonies 



About this tiiTie of year it is a common 

 thing to have the questions, "How shall 

 I unite? What about queens when unit- 

 ing?" etc. Well, the manner is not so 

 important as it is that you unite any 

 colony that is so weak that its living 

 through the winter is a doubtful prob- 

 lem. 



A very weak colony may be united 

 with one that is not very weak, but yet 

 hardly up to the mark. Two weak col- 

 onies may be united, or more than two. 

 Any way, so that when you are through 

 there shall be no colony which has not 

 enough bees to cover well at least 4 

 Langstroth frames, and better still if 

 it cover 6 or more. 



With regard to queens, if there is 

 any choice, save the best and destroy 

 the others. H you know of no pref- 

 erence, leave it to the bees. In the mat- 

 ter of uniting 2 colonies of unequal 

 strength, you may expect that the queen 

 of the weaker will be destroyed by the 

 bees. • 



H the colonies to be united are some 

 distance apart, unite on the stand of the 

 stronger colony. If the colony to be 

 moved is made queenless 2 or 3 days 

 before the removal, there is less like- 

 lihood of bees returning to the old 

 stand. 



If the uniting is done by alternating 

 frames — first a frame with its adhering 

 bees from one hive, then a frame from 

 the other hive — tlicre will not be likeli- 

 hood of much fit-hting. But of late the 

 tendency is to proceed by two stages, 

 first a sojourn togc-tlur in the same hive 

 without any real mingling of the bees, 

 then the real uniting. One way is to 

 put the two separate lots in the same 

 hive, one on each side, and after two 



or thrcec days move them up together. 

 The Scotch authority, D. M. Macdon- 

 ald, varies this by putting the two lots 

 as close as possible together while still 

 separated by a dummy, the dummy hav- 

 ing carbolic acid smeared on its edges. 

 After 24 hours the dummy is removed 

 and the frames moved up together. 



.•\nother way that requires little skill 

 will suit tnany. Set one hive with its 

 contents over the other, witli wirecloth 

 between. After 2 or 3 days the 2 lots 

 will have acquired the same scent, and 

 may be united. A favorite plan with 

 some is to put a single sheet of newspa- 

 per between the 2 hives instead of the 

 wirecloth. The bees will gnaw the pa- 

 per, gradually uniting peaceably. The 

 2 stories may be reduced to a single 

 story at the convenience of the bee- 

 keeper after 2 days, or after a week or 

 more. 



Here is a plan from Gleanings that 

 will be especially heartening to any one 

 who may fear he has put of? uniting 

 too late : 



"A very good way to unite, and avoid all 

 loss of returning, is to do so at the very time 

 of putting them in the cellar. For example, 

 A and B are both too weak to winter outdoors. 

 We will place the two together in o'ne hive, 

 making a broodnest out of the best combs se- 

 lected from the two hives, leaving the other 

 combs for reserve feeding in the spring. As 

 soon as the two families are placed in one hive 

 they should be put in the cellar immediately, 

 and left there till spring." 



Packing Comb Honey for Shipment 



We received the following letter just a 

 little too late for its appearance in the 

 October number : 



Editor York: — I have about 1000 pounds of 

 comb honey in 4J4x4"4xi?^ sections, in 24- 

 pound shipping-cases, which I want to ship, 

 but I am at a loss to know how to pack it in 



ing in honey in a large way, and, of 

 course, received and reshipped many 

 consignments of comb honey, and never, 

 so far as we recollect, was there any 

 loss when properly packed for shipment. 



The illustration herewith shows the 

 correct method quite clearly.. Before 

 putting in the cases of honey (any num- 

 ber desired, but perhaps 6 or 8 of the 24- 

 pound cases are enough for one crate), 

 there should be from 4 to 6 inches of 

 straw, hay, or excelsior put in the bot- 

 tom of the crate, on which to place the 

 cases. It acts as a cushion, so that the 

 honey will not be broken out of the sec- 

 tions should the crate be set down rather 

 hard. 



While it may not be adsolutely nec- 

 essary, we think it advisable to have the 

 crate large enough so that the packing 

 material can be put at the sides of the 

 cases as well. 



A very important matter is the hana- 

 les, made by nailing on boards at the 

 sides of the crate, and nearly at its 

 top, and extending far enough at each 

 end so that they can be used as handles 

 by two men to carry the crate of honey. 

 These projecting handles also help to 

 prevent the crate from being turned over 

 endwise as might be done by some care- 

 less or ignorant freight-handlers. 



Of course, each crate will have strips 

 or boards nailed on top so that no case 

 of honey can be taken out without first 

 removing the crate's top. And on the 

 top should be put, either printed on card- 

 board or with large, black marking 

 paint, these words: 



COMB HONEY 

 HANDLE WITH CARE 



We believe the railroad companies re- 

 quire the glass sides of the cases to be 



Crate kor Shippinc. Comb Honey. 



crates. I suppose about 6 cases to a crate 

 would be best. 



Have you a cut, or can you give me a de- 

 scription of how to make a crate? 



Should there be space left around the ship- 

 ping-cases for excelsior or straw packing? 



A. s. Crotzkr. 



This is indeed a very important sub- 

 ject, and one. fortunately, in which 

 we have had somewhat extensive expe- 

 rience. For several vears we were deal- 



turned inside the crate so as to be un- 

 exposed. 



We have invariably found that when 

 comb honey is thus prepared for ship- 

 ment, it arrived at its destination in 

 perfect condition. It pays thus to pack 

 it and not run any risk of having it 

 l)roken in transit. 



.\ftcr the bee-keeper has produced a 

 fine lot of comb honey, why, by care- 



