May, 1911. 



143 



American l^ee Journal 



^^^^^O 



Black Bees and Wide Frames. 



I am not wholly alone in preferring 

 the black bee to the Italian — certainly 

 not in this country; and it seems there 

 are some who prefer the wide frames 

 for holding sections, in comb honey 

 production, as well as myself. 



Like Miss Candler (see American 

 Bee Journal for November, 1910, page 

 351), I very much prefer the wide 

 frame for holding sections, over any 

 other way I ever tried, and one of the 

 chief reasons is that the sections are 

 kept so much cleaner, and are freed 

 from propolis, etc., so much quicker 

 and easier than those taken from the 

 T-super or section-holder. 



Now I will make this plain, so that I 

 will be perfectly fair in this contro- 

 versy. My supers are not the regula- 

 tion T supers, but have wooden slats 

 for sections to rest on instead of tin. 

 This may make all the difference, 

 though I can not see why it should. 

 This can not be my fancy alone, for I 

 often have some of the neighbors help 

 me in cleaning up the sections for 

 market, and without exception they are 

 very glad when we get to work on sec- 

 tions taken from wide frames. 



I have tried Dr. Miller's way of 

 cleaning in a body, but lam not a suc- 

 cess at it. I find no trouble to remove 

 sections from wide frames, and can do 

 it much quicker than I can take the 

 same number from a T-super, unless I 

 take more chances in breaking honey 

 in T-supers. 



Another reason for preferring wide 

 frames is that separators are nailed to 

 the frames, and never have to be han- 

 dled separately from the frames. Then, 

 again, I find it much handier to set 

 aside, in another super, a frame of un- 

 finished sections, than to handle four 

 sections separately. In using for bait- 

 sections, one frame is placed in the 

 center of the super without being dis- 

 turbed. 



My frames are H inch thick ; top and 

 bottom bars are IH inches wide, and 

 end-bars 1%. When honey is coming 

 in freely, if not left on the hive until 

 late in the season, the sections will 

 need but little cleaning. Miss Candler 

 need not hesitate to try frames js inch 

 thick, though I think it would make 

 little difference. 



This is the first time I have taken the 

 opportunity to disagree with Miss Wil- 

 son, and I trust she won't accuse me of 

 contrariness. 



Origin of Honey-Dew. 



There is one other thing I feel very 

 sure of — all honey-dew is not the ex- 

 udation of insects. Twice in my bee- 

 keeping years (I'J, all told) I have had 

 a flow of honey-dew. Both seasons 

 were exceptionally dry, and the flow of 

 honey-dew came at the very close of 

 the season, late in .August. The honey 

 was very heavy, thick, dark-colored, 

 and was much liked by some, while 

 others cared little for it. Some pre- 

 ferred it to any other honey they had 

 ever eaten. The last of the flow was 

 thinner, darker, and much inferior in 

 quality. I feel safe in saying that the 

 source of this honey was the beech- 

 trees. The forest growth here is 

 mostly a mixed growth of beech, birch 

 and maple in the hard woods. The 

 leaves of the beeches were covered 



with it, much as if covered with a 

 light shower. Bushes and the branches 

 of other trees that extended under the 

 beeches, and even rocks and logs, were 

 covered in the same way ; while other 

 trees not 20 feet away from the beeches 

 showed no signs of it. It simply could 

 not have been insects in this case. 



The bees worked early and late, and 

 but little in the middle of the day. 

 Some 40 colonies stored nearly a half 

 ton in the sections, besides filling up 

 the empty brood-frames. My winter 

 losses following that season were 

 about 00 percent. Bees were wintered 

 in the cellar, and were without a flight 

 for ■} months. 



One interesting sight observed by me 

 during this flow was a shower of 

 honey-dew. This I witnessed about 



:30 o'clock in the morning. The sun 

 had just risen, so that standing in the 

 woods, looking toward the sun, the 

 branches of the trees shading my eyes, 



1 noticed a fine shower falling out of a 

 clear sky, which I at first thought to 

 be dew, but which, on investigating, I 

 found to be honey-dew. Leaves, stones 

 and logs were wet with the substance, 

 and when I repeatedly applied my 

 tongue to the surface of these, I was as 

 thoroughly convinced of the sweetness 

 as if I had tasted honey. 



If I ever pass through another flow 

 of honey-dew I shall make some very 

 careful notes for the benefit of the fra- 

 ternity. 



Aroostook Co., Maine. 



Bee-Keeping and Good Health 



BY F. B. CAVANAGH. 



A good deal has been said lately re- 

 garding the healthfulness of bee-keep- 

 ing and stings; perhaps more particu- 

 larly the latter. In fact, the casual 

 reader might be inclined to believe that 

 the more bees kept the greater would 

 be the degree of health attained, should 

 he combine the writings on health 

 with the popular advice to keep more 

 bees. However faithful and true are 

 the writings on this snbject, it is true 

 that there are certain elements enter- 

 ing into extensive bee-keeping which 

 are not conducive to health, and bee- 

 stings and hard work are not among 

 the least of these. 



Do you, my amateur bee-keeping 

 friend, ever stop to consider what the 

 difference might be between keeping a 

 few colonies for diversion and pastime, 

 and of being crowded with the over- 

 whelming rush of work which the spe- 

 cialist has at certain seasons to endure ? 

 With you it is fresh air and an agree- 

 able change ; with the specialist it be- 

 comes a daily grind and routine. In 

 all this routine is the fascination of 

 seeing success in sight, which leads 

 men on to exe'rtions which are often 

 injurious to health. 



The rush season of the honey-flow 

 offers the greatest menace in this man- 

 ner to the extensive bee-keeper. With 

 a multitude of details to plan, and 

 hired help to arrange for, he arises 

 early, rides perhaps T) or 10 miles to an 

 apiary, and aTter doing a big day's 

 work reaches home late in the eve- 

 ning. The successive days are repeti- 

 tions of the first, for with half a dozen 

 apiaries to visit he must finish at least 



one yard a day, so that it will be safe 

 to leave for a week, at least. There is 

 honey to be extracted, and swarming 

 to be controlled, concurrent with all 

 the complications which are prone to 

 occur should there be an unusually 

 heavy flow in all yards at once. Unde 

 the excitement of the honey-flow th^ 

 bee-keeper essays to keep up ; he does 

 keep up, in fact, although working un- 

 der a terrible strain and fearful odds, 

 the result of which he is bound to rea- 

 lize years after the honey-flow has been 

 forgotten. 



A few years ago much was said about 

 " lightning operators," and I confess 

 that the idea took strong effect on me 

 at the time, but what was the result of 

 these fantastic maneuvers ? Well, in 

 the majority of cases we were no doubt 

 left to surmise the effect on the opera- 

 tor after continuing this lightning work 

 for a time. Neither are we told how 

 much honey these extra-swift crews 

 extracted the day following the one on 

 which they made their record. How- 

 ever, we have a few examples of what 

 such exertion can do for a man, as well 

 as some others, who will admit as they 

 read this that they have been injured in 

 the same manner by trying to do two 

 men's work. Harry Howe and some 

 of the Coggshalls of New York could, 

 1 believe, tell what this sort of thing 

 continued can do for a man. Yes, and 

 I also have seen a little too much of it, 

 although I am beginning to gain a lit- 

 tle sense in the matter, at least. 



Continued over-exertion is followed 

 by weakened nerves, and incapacity to 

 continue the pace which ambition or 

 pride in excelling has set. A promi- 

 nent bee-keeper once said to me that 

 the shipping of bees shortened a bee- 

 keeper's life. After going through the 

 ordeal several times I agree with him 

 perfectly, and it is certain that many 

 bee-keepers are accomplishing the 

 same result by trying to do all of their 

 work alone, when they have more bees 

 than one man is able to care for. Na- 

 ture has given us a reserve force which 

 may be drawn on rapidly or slowly, but 

 which should never be depleted. Ex- 

 haustion is the danger signal which 

 reads, "Stop, and take rest and refresh- 

 ment." Will we heed it, or will we, 

 under the lash of enthusiasm, whip our 

 poor, tired bodies on to their final de- 

 struction ? 



There is a better way to succeed than 

 to break one's health down through 

 overwork. In fact, such procedure is 

 itself the ruination of success. That 

 way is to take forethought for the fu- 

 ture, and to plan properly during dull 

 days the work of the inevitably busy 

 future. How best to reach our api- 

 aries, what machinery to install, and 

 what help we shall employ, are ques- 

 tions which should be carefully planned 

 ahead of the busy season, in order that 

 we may be able to accomplish what we 

 formerly thought was a big 10 hours' 

 work in the short space of 6 hours. 



Arrangement is only second in im- 

 portance to equipment in an apiary, and 

 the oriler of manipulation is vital in 

 attaining speed. The apiarist should 

 know in advance of the rush season 

 just where each piece of machinery is 

 to stand. The arrangement, as a ri'le, 

 will be, capping tank, extractor and 

 strainer; situated in order at the left 



