American l^ee Journal 



1 liad the same proposition that "Illinois'" 

 ran up against. 1 had several sections 

 that leaked, but not so badly as his. 



W. H. RiCKSTREW. 

 Meridian. ( )kla., Sept. 15. 



Foundation-Splints 



.\ writer in The Bee-Keeper's Review- 

 says, "I used some of the Miller sticks 

 in' place of wiring. They will work, 

 but do not make as nice combs as those 

 with proper wiring. They save on time, 

 and that is the only advantage." 



Alfalfa Honey of Washington State 



Anson S. 'White of Yakima Co., Wash., 

 who was superintendent of the honey 

 exhibit at the 'Washington State Fair at 

 North Yakima, says in a letter to the 

 Spokane Chamber of Commerce that the 

 season's output of honey in Yakima 

 County will be approximately lOO tons, 

 the value of which is estimated at $20,- 

 000. Most of the honey was gathered 

 from Afalfa. It is clear white of 

 fine grade. Italian bees are the most 

 popular in that valley. Mr. White says 

 than 100 colonies at his apiary yield 5 

 tons of product. 



Bee-keepers in the district are inter- 

 ested in candied honey, as Mr. White's 

 product crystalized more rapidly than 

 any of the others. His was stored prac- 

 tically all from alfalfa and some of the 

 others contained nectar from other flow- 

 ers. It is believed that if no other plant 

 than alfalfa is visited by the bees, crys- 

 tallizing will take place with more cer- 

 tainty, and crystallization is much to be 

 desired, as it is a proof of purity. It is 

 also an easy way to handle, as paper 

 packages can be used, thus dispensing 

 with comb and bottles. The granulated 

 honey is so convenient for table use, as 

 it can be handled like butter. 



A Short Visit at Dr. Miller's— The T- 

 Super 



On Oct. 27th, we unexpectedly found 

 that we could call on Dr. Miller, at Mar- 

 engo, 111. We had been to Freeport, 111., 

 on business, and returning to Chicago 

 we stopped off at Marengo. We found 

 the Doctor and family well, and in the 

 midst of cleaning and casing his large 

 crop of honey for market. The total 

 was 19.480 sections from about 129 col- 

 onies, spring count. And the honej' is 

 the finest white clover. It weighs about 

 It pounds to the 12 sections — a nice, uni- 

 form weight. 



We were shown just how Miss Wilson 

 cleans the sections, both top and bottom, 

 before taking them from the super. She 

 can easily clean 1000 a day in the T- 

 super. They are scraped and sand- 

 papered on top and bottom in lots of 24. 

 We know of no other super that com- 

 pares with the T-Super for rapidity of 

 handling from the empty sections to the 

 full case, ready for shipping to market. 

 It is a pity that comb-honey producers, 

 who wish ease of handling and to do 

 rapid, effective work, can not be led to 

 see the merits of the T-super. In the 

 matter of cleaning the sections by the 

 superful it has no equal on the market. 

 .\nd then there are so few "contrap- 



tions" and pieces to it. It is so simple 

 in construction. 



But one needs to see how all the de- 

 tails are handled in connection with this 

 super, else he will not comprehend its 

 great advantages. It is very difficult to 

 describe them on paper so that they will 

 be understood. But Dr. Miller has 

 everybody "beat" when it comes to a 

 comb-honey super. He has no financial 

 interest what-so-ever in its sale, so from 

 a financial point of view he doesn't care 

 a fig whether or not bee-keepers use this 

 super. But for their own great benefit 

 he can not understand why the T-supcr 

 is passed over, and others, which lack 

 so much in real merit, are used so ex- 

 tensively. It must be because the T- 

 super has never been pushed by the 

 manufacturers. 



We believe that if the dealers in bee 



supplies could understand just how Dr. 

 Miller uses the T-super, and could see 

 how really superior it is in every way 

 in which a comb-honey super is used, 

 it would not be long before all comb- 

 honey producers would have it, and no 

 other. 



If Dr. Miller and Miss Wilson could 

 be persuaded to make a demonstration, 

 of this super at the Chicago-Northwes- 

 tern convention, Dec. 2 and 3, it would 

 be a great thing. We'll ask them to do 

 it. 



But we didn't start out to boom the 

 T-super, even if it is a good thing. We 

 expected only to report that Dr. Miller 

 looks younger, and seems to be feeling 

 better, than he did several years ago ; 

 ditto Miss Wilson ; and that they har- 

 vested next to the largest crop of honey 

 in 1908 that they ever had. Their for- 

 mer largest crop was in 1903. 



Conducted by EMMA M. WILSON, Marengo, 111. 



Split Sections. 



\ good deal has been said about split 

 sections lately. One of the sisters, Ber- 

 tha M. Timoney, thus expresses her- 

 self in Gleanings in Bee Culture; 



"The split section is all right until taken 

 from the hive. I have but one life to live, and 

 I do not want to take part of that in ex- 

 plaining to people why' I took that nice, white, 

 polished section and made that ungainly saw- 

 cut through it, and then plastered the crack up 

 with be. 



That's well said. Whatever the breth- 

 ren inay think about it, a sister's sense 

 of daintiness will object to that ugly 

 blight upon our pretty sections. With 

 both top and bottom starters, all objec- 

 tionable appearance is avoided, and the 

 business is done just as well. 



A Sister Qiit'i'ii-Hi'i-eder — Moving 

 Bees — Talcing Off Honey. 



I have been purchasing from 5 to 20 

 queens every year for the last 25 years, 

 and the best queens I ever received came 

 from a lady residing in Illinois. I was 

 then residing in Rock Co., Wis. These 

 queens were extra-well behaved, only 

 moderately yellow, and good workers. 

 So that I requeened a whole apiary with 

 them, which averaged 125 pounds of 

 comb honey to the hive the next season. 

 I had 2 of the queens sent to California, 

 where several thousands were reared, 

 of nearly the same stock. I could at 

 one time count up 15 apiaries which 

 were established with this stock. Sev- 

 eral of these apiaries we have read 

 about, in the bee-papers. 



.'\s these bees were continued to be 

 bred here in California, they became of 

 the lemon-yellow shade ; or, a sort of 



watery-grey. The workers were so un- 

 usually large as to cause astonishment. 

 I exhibited them at fairs where there 

 were others from different States, and 

 there was never a bit of trouble in walk- 

 ing away with all the preiniums. They 

 were e.xtra quiet at the fairs. That is, 

 they did not worry over their confinement. 

 A 2-coiTib observatory colony finished 

 up a row of 17 queen-cells while perch- 

 ed on a standard in the exhibition room, 

 and after sealing the cells they added 

 the little combs to the cells as they often 

 do in strong colonies. It requires either 

 very correct management, or else very 

 well-disposed bees when they complete 

 every cell under disturbed conditions. 



I always sold the queens for $5 each. 

 Several hundred have been stolen from 

 the apiaries when I was away. For 

 several years it was quit.e common to 

 miss several of my best colonies in the 

 spring. And three or four who stole 

 colonies or queens wrote me letters of 

 confession, years afterward. And those 

 bees actually gathered lighter colored 

 honey than any other stripe of bees I 

 ever saw. I have never been able to 

 buy as good stock as I was able to pro- 

 duce from home stock. The only, way 

 to get or keep good stock is to keep 

 rearing and selecting. The bees of the 

 best established breeders in the United 

 States are all the time changing, in 

 color and other characteristics. 



One day as my wife was returning 

 from the post-office she saw a small 

 swarm on a fence-post, and an old man 

 and several other persons looking at 

 them. Our apiary was about 2 miles 

 away. She looked at the bees and said 

 that she knew they were from our api- 

 ary, although there were other apiaries 



