August, 1911. 



American Hee Journal 



239 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Shallow Frames for Nuclei 



BY LEO ELLIS GATELV. 



For cell-Starting no arrangement un- 

 der the sun will surpass a single sec- 

 tion of the divisible hive. For all kinds 

 of nucleus work, the mating of queens, 

 shipping long distances, etc., the baby 

 hives shown in the illustration here- 

 with, holding three shallow frames, are 

 unequaled. 



When undesirable drones are troub- 

 lesome, a dozen or so of these baby 

 hives can without difficulty be loaded 

 into a buggy and be taken 3 or 4 miles 

 to some isolated spot where young 

 queens can be mated with almost ab- 

 solute certainty. 



For shipping, they are light and 

 strong. The combs being but a few 

 inches deep, and solidly attached to the 

 bars at all points, are in little danger 

 of breaking, while just as many bees 

 can be transported upon them at a 

 lower rate, and will come through in 

 better condition. 



While considering, during my earlier 

 experiences with apiculture, the vital 

 question of hives and frames, I confess 

 to much apprehension as regarded the 

 adaptability of the shallow frame to 

 queen-rearing and nucleus forming. 

 Knowing, however, the many advan- 

 tages which such frames possess in 

 honey-production, I decided in favor of 

 their adoption, trusting to luck and 

 my capacity for meeting all such emer- 

 gencies in one way or another when 

 actually confronted with them. As to 

 results, I find that the advantages con- 

 tained in this class of hive and frame 

 are so enormous and manifold, that 

 were I compelled to purchase all my 

 young queens, I would still find their 

 use profitable. 



Since, however, reaching that point 

 in my business where a considerable 

 amount of queen-rearing and nucleus 

 forming has become necessary, I am 

 forced to the diametrically opposite 

 conclusion, that they are, if possible, 

 even more adapted to the requirements 

 of such work than for honey-produc- 

 tion. 



Saline Co., Ark. 



Watery - Looking Capping 

 Section Honey 



of 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes that he has 

 had the Italian bees only a year or two, 

 and that these bees gave him section 

 honey which looked bad on account 

 of the cappings of the cells having a 

 watery appearance. He says his black 

 bees never gave him such looking 

 honey, and wants to know if this is a 

 characteristic of the Italian bee. This 

 question carries me back to more than 

 a quarter of a century ago when this 

 matter of watery-appearing honey was 



the subject of considerable discussion 

 among the bee-keepers meeting in 

 our New York State conventions; for, 

 at that time, the Italian bees were com- 

 ing into prominence, and very many 

 condemned them on account of their 

 being so economical of wax and space 

 as to give their comb honey the ap- 

 pearance which our correspondent says 

 his had. Some could not think that 

 the trouble was in these bees using less 

 wa.x, while others claimed that such 

 was the case, and that by their doing 

 so they were more valuable because 

 less honey was used (for the secretion 

 of this less amount of wax they used) 

 for finishing their comb-honey product. 

 But I am satisfied that the using of 

 less wax has not so much to do with 



Shallow Frames for Nuclei as Used by 

 Mr. Gately. 



this matter as has their laying (if I may 

 be allowed that expression) this wax 

 right down upon the honey, rather than 

 having a liberal amount of air-space 

 between the honey and the capping, as 

 is generally allowed by the black bees 

 when finishing their product. This ap- 

 pearance of the finished product had 

 very much to do with comb-honey men 

 being slow to accept the Italian bees, 

 while those working for extracted 

 honey were loud in their praise. But, 

 as the Italian bee would produce a bet- 

 ter average of any kind of honey, year 

 after year, it finally became the gen- 

 erally accepted bee by nearly all of our 

 apiarists. 



At the time of this controversy over 

 these bees, extracted honey was selling 

 at from 1.5 to 2.') cents a poun<l, while 

 comb honey brought very little more, 

 so it was very little wonder that the 

 Italian bee was especially recommended 

 lor an apiary worked for extracted 



honey, while the blacks and hybrids 

 were thought by some to be much the 

 better bees for comb honey. 



Not long after this it became appar- 

 ent that certain strains of Italian bees, 

 and those coming from mothers sev- 

 eral generations removed from im- 

 ported stock, gave combs of a white- 

 ness which nearly, if not quite, equaled 

 those produced by black bees, and 

 many bee-keepers set to breeding in 

 this direction until the success along 

 this white-capping line was so mani- 

 fest that very little regarding this mat- 

 ter has appeared during late years, 

 although very many still claim that we 

 have no need of further importations 

 of bees from Italy, for the darker Ital- 

 ians, which generally come from all 

 imported queens; still give this watery 

 capping. However, as far as my ex- 

 perience goes, I think that a great ad- 

 vance has been made along this line of 

 white capping of comb honey in Italy, 

 as well as in this country. But upon 

 close questioning of very many who 

 claimed that the bees were to blame for 

 this watery look in their honey, it was 

 often brought to light that the fault 

 was more in their keeper than with 

 the bees, and this fault is not alto- 

 gether gone to-day. 



I remember vv'ell of going to visit an 

 apiary in the '80's where the apiarist 

 claimed that his bees capped their 

 honey so watery that it was almost un- 

 salable. Upon going to see his 

 " stored " honey, I was at once con- 

 vinced that the race of bees had very 

 little to do with the matter. I asked 

 him when he first noticed the watery 

 appearance of this honey. He said he 

 noticed it a little when taking it from 

 the hives, but more especially when he 

 commenced to prepare it for market, 

 as at this latter time he inspected it 

 more closely. 



Now, this honey was stored in what 

 was called the "cellar kitchen," the 

 same being partially under ground, and 

 where the sun and air could scarcely 

 get at it at all. Now, such a place is 

 all that is needed to give any nice, 

 white, capped honey a watery appear- 

 ance after it has -stood there for a 

 month to 6 weeks. Honey is very sus- 

 ceptible to moisture. In storing it in 

 this damp room the honey had taken 

 on moisture, thus becoming thin and 

 expanding until it reached the capping 

 of the cells, and this would give it the 

 same appearance as of that where the 

 bees placed the wax next to the honey 

 when capping it. Upon a closer in- 

 spection, I found that the honey in the 

 unsealed cells which surrounded the 

 capped honey, next to the sides of the 

 sections, had taken on so much mois- 

 ture that the cells were fairly rounding 

 full. To convince him that it was the 

 room, or place where he stored his 

 honey, that was to blame more than 

 the bees, I carefully lifted a section, 

 called his attention to these over-full 

 cells, when I turned the section so the 

 face side of the comb was down, when 

 very much of this thin, watery stuff in 

 the unsealed cells ran out on the floor. 



He now gave me a lesson on hand- 

 ling sections, saying that they should 

 never he handled that way, for he had 

 noticed when putting up the new cases 

 he had i)repared for market that if 

 handled as I was doing the hone y 



