526 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



less liable to He out. at the entrance, and loaf; 

 and it is more comfortable to the apiarist to 

 work in the shade. 



./. M. G., of Pennsylvania, says he has one of 

 our eight-frame hives, but does not know what 

 the division-board is for. ^4n.s.— With spaced 

 (or, rather, self-spacing) frames, it is best to 

 have a division-board ^^o the frames can be 

 I'emoved without rolling over and killing bees. 

 After removing the division-board, space over, 

 from the middle, three or four frames close up 

 to the hive. This can be done at one operation 

 providing that HoiTman frames are used; you 

 will then have plenty of room to pull out the 

 frame yon desire to examine. The division- 

 board is also a convenience in reducing the 

 hive capacity when the colony occupies less 

 than the regulation eight frames. 



J. M. S., of Indiana, wants to know what is 

 a good remedy to l^eep ants from hives. Ans. — 

 Find the nest if possible, and pOur about half a 

 pint of coal oil on it. A better way (according 

 to Prof. Cook) is to buy an ounce or two of bi- 

 sulphide of carbon at the drugstore. With a 

 crowbar make a hole right in the center of the 

 nest. Pour in the bisulphide, and close the 

 hole by tamping around the edges. That will 

 be the end of those ants. Ants do no particular 

 harm in the hives here in the North, although 

 they do considerable mischief in the South. As 

 we have not had any experience in treating the 

 "varmints" in that portion of our country, we 

 will leave it to some of our subscribers there to 

 tell how they get rid of them. 



S. P.. of Florida, wants to know how to keep 

 extracted honey from candying. ^l?i,s.— The 

 only way we know of is to let it get thoroughly 

 ripened in the hive— that is, evaporated down 

 so it will be thick. Such honey, without any 

 further treatment, will sometimes keep all win- 

 ter without candying. As a rule, however, it is 

 necessary to heat the honey over hot water to 

 atout 1.50°, and then seal tt, while hot, in bot- 

 tles or tin cans. But there is no method that is 

 infallible. If possible the heating should be 

 avoided, as some think that a little bit of the 

 delicate aroma is lost. The Californians allow 

 the honey to evaporate in large shallow vats 

 until it becomes thick. Such honey will keep 

 for a long time without candying. 



J. E.L.. of Virginia, says he has a colony oJ 

 bees in a patent hive, and they will not swarm, 

 although they cluster out at the entrance. 

 Anx. — Bee-keepers have for years been racking 

 their brains for a system or hive that would pre- 

 vent swarming, or a strain of bees that have no 

 desire to swarm. Better get a patent on the 

 bees, and sell the daughters of the queen. If 

 the bees cluster out at the entrance, possibly 

 there is a lack of shade or a lack of room. 

 Plenty of room, good big entrances, and shade, 

 will usually cause the bees to go inside. Give 

 them a super of empty sections, one of said sec- 

 tions being filled with partly drawn-out comb 

 and honey. If extracted honey is the object, 

 place an upper story on, with a frame of brood 

 above, and empty frames on each side. 



J. S. I/., of New York, wants to know how to 

 make vinegar of honey, ^ns.— It takes two 

 pounds of honey to make a gallon of vinegar, 

 and from one to two years' time. Use, as a 

 general thing, only refuse honey — such as can 

 not be used for any other purpose. Put water 

 enough into the honey so it will iust float an 

 egg, and allow the sweetened product to stand 

 in a barrel with one head out, under shelter. 

 Cover the barrel with a piece of cheese-cloth, to 

 keep out the dirt and flies. This sweetened 

 water will soon begin to " work," and occasion- 

 ly the scum should be taken off with a skimmer 



until nothing rises. It will take anywhere 

 from a year to two years to make good vinegar. 

 But honey vinegar is not profitable unless old 

 refuse is used — such as can not be sold for any 

 other purpose. 



C. C. M., of Ohio, asks what time of the year is 

 best, and what condition the bees should be in, 

 to produce all worker cells from wired founda- 

 tion in brood -frames. Ans.—ki any time of 

 the year, and under all conditions, so far as we 

 know, you can secure worker comb from work- 

 er foundation. During the height of the hon- 

 ey-flow, wilh only starters of foundation, the , 

 bees are apt to build drone comb, because they 

 can make this quicker, and thus sooner have a 

 receptacle in which to store their hard earnings. 

 Drone comb may result from worker founda- 

 tion, providing said foundation is adulterated 

 with paraffine or ceresin wax. But we believe 

 that there are no foundation-makers in this 

 country who make use of any thing but puii^ 

 beeswax. Nothing else seims to answer, for 

 other things have been tried. C. C. M. asks 

 further what a " pulled " queen is. We will let 

 the other "C C. M.," of Illinois, answer this 

 question. It was he who originated the teriii 

 and practice. 



W. H. J., of Ontario, asks how we ship comb 

 honey. Ans. — We follow no invariable method. 

 While we ship in 1:3, 24. and 48 pound cases, 

 w(> prefer the^24-lb. single tier. If we have 

 half a dozen or so of cases to ship at once we 

 crate them up in such a way as to leave con- 

 venient handles at each end of the crate. On 

 the bottom slats of the crate is piled straw deep 

 enough to make a sort of cusliion between the 

 crates and said slats. The handles at each end 

 of the crate tiMid greatly to insure careful treat- 

 ment. As another precaution the cases are 

 crated up so the glass shows on the outside. If 

 freight-handlers see that the crate contains 

 something easily broken they will be more apt 

 to handle with care. In shipping honey by the 

 carload we recommend strewing considerable 

 straw on the floor of the box car. The cases 

 can then De piled up with spaces in between, 

 so that the separate combs are parallel to the 

 rails. Be sure not to put them in the car the 

 other way. We omitted to mention above, that, 

 in small shipments, we put on a caution label, 

 printed in red letters, with a finger on one end. 

 The directions below this are to load with the 

 finger pointing toward the locomotive. 



W. E. D., of West Virginia^ wants to know if 

 it is a good plan for a beginner to open his hives 

 every day or two to examine the brood comb. 

 A71S. — An enthusiast will probably do this whe- 

 ther it is advisable or not. It might and it might 

 not do harm. During a honey-flow, however, we 

 would not disturb them unnecessarily. Every 

 little interruption prevents just so many liny 

 drops of honey from coming in in the regular 

 way. W. E. D. also asks what to do when all 

 the brood-combs get full of honey in the midst 

 of a full flow of honey, so that the bees make 

 combs all over the tops of the frame, even when 

 they have section boxes in the super. Ans. — If 

 the flow of honey continues, the bees ought to 

 go above; but sometimes they get quite con- 

 tent with what is already stored in the brood- 

 nest, and then you must set them at work in 

 some way if possible. If you have other colo- 

 nies that are started in sections, remove two 

 sections with comb partly drawn out, and filled 

 with honey, from one of the supers where the 

 bees are working, aud place it in the super 

 where the bees seem disinclined to go. Give 

 the bees plenty of shade; and if they then fail 

 to go above, we should be tempted to clip ihe 

 queen's head, and introduce one of a strain 

 whose bees' go into sections readily. 



