138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 1 



BEE-KEEPING AMONG 



THE ROCKIES. 



By Wesley Foster, Boulder, Col. 



angle of cells built from foundation. 

 Dr. Miller, the reason for the side of the 

 cell being horizontal in comb built from sur- 

 plus foundation and the angle of the cell 

 pointing to the top in the brood foundation, 

 p. 23, Jan. 1, is that the surplus foundation 

 IS cut across the width of the sheet while the 

 brood foundation is placed in the frame 

 lengthwise; so if you would attach what was 

 the side of your foundation sheet to the top 

 of the section the angles of the cells would 

 point the same as they do in brood founda- 

 tion and in most natural-built comb. 



GLASS-FRONT CASES. 



Mr. Crane, page 37, Jan. 15, thinks the un- 

 glassed paper case will sell in competition 

 with the glass-wood case. If the paper case 

 would ship more safely than the wood case 

 it might be true I do not doubt that the 

 paper case would outsell the single-tier wood 

 case; but the double-tier case will ship much 

 more safely than the single tier. 



When the buyers will pay 10 to 15 cts. more 

 for honey in double-tier glass front cases 

 than for that in single-tier wood- slide cases, 

 it is reasonable to suppose the bee-keepers 

 will supply the better-priced article. 



DEPTH OF SHIPPING CASES. 



On page 455, Aug. 1, I had reference to 

 the double tier case needing an eighth-inch 

 space over the sections. More space than 

 this would endanger the sections should the 

 case be tipped on end or upside down. It 

 would not do at all to make the single-tier 

 case with a l>^-inch space over the sections 

 as Mr. Crane suggests on page 758, Dec. 15. 

 What would happen if sucn a case should go 

 on its side or end, or clear over? and yet I do 

 know that the covers sag as Mr. Crane says, 

 when steoped upon, and that is the chief 

 fault with the single-tier case. The double- 

 tier-case cover Will not sag more than a six- 

 teenth of an inch, because the ht el and sole 

 of the shoe reach nearly across the cover. 

 4i- 

 THE SOLAR EXTRACTOR. 



No method of melting and molding wax 

 can excel the solar wax-extiactor when 

 properly bandied. Refuse must be kept out 

 of tne molding pans, and this can be done 

 by having the screen form an obstruction to 

 the meltt d wax so the bits of foreign matter 

 will settle or lodge. The srreen makes all 

 the bett- r sieve if it is clogged with slum- 

 gum and cocoons. 



The extractor should be opened in the 

 morning early before flies art- about The 

 practice of leaving a cake of wax in the ex- 

 tractor from day to day is a poor procedure. 

 The cakes form in layers, and refuse is al- 

 most sure to be between the layers. Take 



out each day's run the next morning before 

 or about sunrise. It is better to have thin 

 cakes than thick layer cakes with dirt sand- 

 wiched between. 



CORRUGATED-PAPER SHIPPING-CASE. 



Too much can not be expected of the 

 strawboard case. Several cases of these 

 came to Denver from a distance of several 

 hundred miles. The shipper apparently 

 thought they would stand any amount of 

 rough handling by the express company, for 

 no marks were put on to tell what the con- 

 tents were. Three -fourths of the honey 

 was broken out; and what was not broken 

 was cracked badly. A wood case with glass 

 front would go through much better, for the 

 fragile character of the contents can be 

 seen. The strawboard case will stand rough- 

 er treatment than the wood case, but it must 

 not be dropped far in cold weather. 



HONEY GRANULATING. 



When honey in the comb begins to granu- 

 late, the granules form around the sides of 

 the cell, leaving the center liquid. Perhaps 

 this is not true in every case, for in some 

 samples in which the honey was getting 

 mushy, I have found all the honey in the cell 

 of like consistency. Most of the honey here 

 in the West, however, begins to granulate 

 on the sides of the cells, and then spreads 

 throughout the cell. Often quite a little 

 time passes before the honey is candied sol- 

 id. Some combs will remain a third candied 

 for five or six weeks. Where the granules 

 have formed only on the sides of the cells it 

 is very difficult to tell whether the comb 

 honey is candied or not without breaking the 

 cappmgs. These combs, if held up so light 

 will shine through, often look clear and 

 bright, though not quite so clear, I imagine, 

 as the article that is wholly liquid. 



B'lTS IN SUPERS. 



The use of a bait in the super is to start 

 work above before the brood-nest is so 

 crowded that swarming soon results Baits 

 placed in the corners will not be worked in 

 much niore quickly than sections of full start- 

 ers in the center of the super. In my opin- 

 ion a colony that will work in any part of a 

 super is strong enough in liees to do good 

 work above if the flow is daily getting bet- 

 ter. Bees will not till four or tive baits in 

 the center of a super till there is a rather 

 plentiful amount of stores below. In this 

 country I know the control of swarming 

 hangs around the few days after the lower 

 hive is well tilled before we get the bees ful- 

 ly convinced that supers are the next on the 

 program and not swarming. This whole 

 question uf piacinji baits depends on what 

 the aim is. With our bees baits are used to 

 get super work started, not to insure uni- 

 form super work; that can be had by spread- 

 ing the nearly linished combs to the outside 

 when the bees are fully possessed with the 

 super idea. 



