496 



OLEANINOS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 1 



Kmpty combs can be fastened In sections by ap- 

 plying them momentarily to the top of the stove. 

 It wonUl he much cleaner and handier to nse a hot 

 plate over a little lamp stove. As a general thing 

 it is not advisable to put full-drawn combs into sec- 

 tions from the previous season. They merely serve 

 as eood liaits to induce the bees to go above. 



It would be perfectly feasible for you to transfer 

 the colonies referred to into modern frame hives. 

 We would advise you to follow the directions in 

 anv of our standard text-books, especially the ABC 

 and X Y Z of Bee Culture. See "Transferring." 



in making increase you can buy queens, for in so 

 doing you get stronger colonies for winter. If the 

 iucreiise is made early in the summer you can rear 

 your own queens, but in the meantime you will 

 lose valuable time.— Ed.] 



More about Sweet Clover, etc. 



I note there is considerable said in (Jleanings 

 about sweet clover— a pest as 1 have always consid- 

 ered it (if it is the same), of which there is a great 

 abundance here. It is thick along the side of every 

 road around my place: and, considering it a pest, I 

 have tried to keep pulled up every plant found In- 

 side the fence — not that I knew any thing worse 

 about it than that all ovir farmers pronounced it a 

 pest, and were trying to eradicate it. and that I 

 never saw an animal of any kind that would eat a 

 spear of it at any season, no matter how hungry, 

 though it is the first thing but buckeye that is big 

 and green enough to furnish a bite in the spring. 



I note you say, "If your crop won't eat it, let 

 me know." This country is completely overrun 

 with it— acres and acres of it going to waste; but it 

 is surely good bee pasture. 



The story goes in these parts that some 40 years 

 ago there was an aged Methodist preacher by the 

 name of Salisbury who came from l':ngland, and he 

 was a beekeeper as well. He settled at Comargo, 

 Coles Co., 111., a station some 40 miles west of here 

 on the Springfield branch of the C, II. & D. R. R. 

 He had a small quantity of seed sent him from old 

 England that he scattered along the highways to 

 furnish pasture for his bees. 



I keep some 20 stands of bees, and have about an 

 acre of fine thrifty alfalfa just across the fence from 

 them, and have so had it for three years. It is in full 

 bloom, three times last .season, but I have never seen 

 a bee on a blossom. Can you tell me why this is? 



Hillsdale, Ind., July 5. Ed Vax Sickle. 



[I congratulate you, friend V., on haying so good 

 a thing as sweet clover all about you, and yet you 

 did not know it. The sample you inclose is verita- 

 ble sweet clover, and I am sure that your stock will 

 eat it when they have once been taught what it is. 

 Some time when your horse is hungry, and is grab- 

 l)ing for all sorts of vegetation, let him get hold of 

 some of this sweet clover. After he has learned the 

 trick I feel sure he will prefer it to every thing else, 

 and so will all other kinds of stock. And another 

 thing, just tell your farming friends that this same 

 sweet clover is worth more than red clover or any 

 thing else to plow under. If you want to get the 

 very best results with alfalfa, get sweet clover in 

 the ground first, and then plow it under and sow 

 your alfalfa: or, if you choose, put on any other 

 where the rank growth of sweet clover has been 

 plowed under, and see what the results will be. If 

 It is true that a Methodist preacher did start sweet 

 clover in your region, he certainly did "missiona- 

 ry work " for the coming generation of farmer-s. 



In regard to the bees not getting honey from your 

 alfalfa-Iield, it has been said that alfalfa does 

 not often yield nectar in the unirrigated portions 

 of the country. Can our friends where alfalfa hon- 

 ey is a tolerably sure crop tell us more about this? 

 —A. 1. R.] 



Extracting Honey Without an Extractor. 



Can you tell me how to separate the honey from 

 the wax in brood-frames that are not of good shape 

 without an extractor? I do not care to save the 

 com"b except for wax. 



Mad. son, O., March 3. J. H. Wood. 



[If the combs are full of old cocoons you should 

 squeeze them in a press and thus sei)arate the hon- 

 ey from the wax; but if they are not very old we 

 tiiink it would be much better if you placed all of 

 the combs, or as many of them as iwssible. in a 

 large can or pail, and then set this vessel in a larger 

 can containing hot water. By surrounding the can 



containing the comb with the hot water you can 

 melt the wax, and the wax will then separate and 

 rise to the top, floating on the honey underneath. 

 When all Is melted you can allow It to cool and 

 then lift up the cake of wax off the top, when you 

 will have your honey in good shape, with the ex- 

 ception that it will need to be strained to get rid of 

 the propolis, pollen, and other refuse. Be careful 

 not to boll the water, since there would be some 

 danger of Injuring the flavor of the honey. 



The plan given above would be similar to the 

 principle used in the capping-melter, although in 

 the latter device the honey and wax as soon as 

 melted run out of the bottom directly into another 

 receptacle so that the process can be continued, and 

 the honey is not heated longer than necessary.— 

 Ed.] 



Do Center Baits Mean Drone Brood in the Sections? 



Doolittle tells us to put the bait sections In the 

 center of the super; taut I should think he would 

 have baits full of drone brood if no excluder is 

 used. I put all baits in the corners and ends of the 

 supers, and I get the exact results that L)r. Miller 

 does by putting a completed super from sojue 

 hive on top of the super that has the baits. The 

 bees seem to take to running up into this fresh full 

 super, and soon fill the space between it and the 

 hive full of bees. I believe it to be a good plan. It 

 has proven a success with me in hot weather, but 

 the opposite in the fall. 



Bradshaw, Xeb. C. B. Palmer. 



[Following is Mr. Doolittle's reply;] 



Undoubtedly you would be right about this drone- 

 brood matter if the baits were of drone size of cells; 

 but as nearly every bee-keeper now fills his sections 

 full of very thin worker foundation these baits are 

 of worker comb, so that drone brood in sections 

 "cuts no figure" during the twentieth century. 



Baits in the corners of the supers are all right 

 with a hive full of bees; but as baits are mainly 

 used to entice the bees into the sections early in 

 the season, before the colonies get strong enough to 

 contract the swarming fever, they do this enticing 

 much the best in the center, thus starting the bees 

 above long before they would with these not over- 

 populous colonies if placed at the corners. 



You admit the correctness of my position when 

 you say your plan works well in }wt weather with a 

 hive full of bees, but the opposite in the fall. 



Borodino, X. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



A Reply to Dr. Miller on the Question of Cells 



Hatching in Nuclei or in Nursery Cages in a 



Strong Colony. 



Dr. C. C. Miller:— We find proof every day, in our 

 queen-rearing work, that cells do not hatch as well 

 In cages as when in direct contact with the bees. 

 We hatch a lot of virgins in nursery cages because 

 we have orders for virgin queens. At the close of 

 our grafting last year we made a large graft from 

 which we got 140 cell.s. This was on Aug. 28. On 

 September 7 we found that we had only about half 

 enough queenless nuclei for our ripe cells, so that 

 over 60 had to be caged. These were hung in the 

 upper section of strong two-story colonies. Four 

 days later we found that, while nearly every cell in 

 the nuclei had hatched, only 12 hatched In the 

 nursery cages. 



Our nuclei were somewhat depleted, as they al- 

 ways are near the close of the season, and the 

 nights were cool; yet under these unfavorable con- 

 ditions the odds were five to one in favor of hatch- 

 ing the cells in the nuclei. More than that, we 

 have found from repeated experiments that queens 

 hatched In the nuclei will commence laying two 

 days sooner "on an average " than queens hatched 

 from cells of the same date In cages and introduced 

 to the nuclei. 



Medina, O., July 9. M. T. Pritchard. 



[It will be remembered that Mr. Pritchard Is the 

 apiarist in charge of our north yard.— Ed.] 



Continuous After-swarming with Virgin Queens. 



In July 1 had a colony swarm and return to the 

 same hive. These bees came out (just a few at 

 lirsti and circled around; then one morning I heard 

 a roaring sound; and when 1 looked out the air was 

 thick with flying bees. I watchetl, and noticed a 

 few seemed to be alighting In front of the hive from 

 which they just came out. 1 went to see what they 



