1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



181 



early yet. Give the cellar good ventilation at 

 night, when it is not too cold, by leaving the 

 doors and windows open, and close up again in 

 the morning. I would hardly advise you to 

 take your bees out before maples come into 

 blossom. Some, however, think it is an advan- 

 tage to take their bees out early; but better 

 take them out a little too late than too early. 



A. C. A., Wis. — If you do not claim that the 

 honey you are selling, bought of another, is of 

 your own raising. I do not see why your cus- 

 tomers should object to it providing you stand 

 guarantee as to its purity. Such objection as 

 you find is very unusual indeed. They certain- 

 ly could not arrest you for selling what you do 

 not produce yourself, unless, perhaps, there 

 should be an ordinance against selling stuff 

 which you have not yourself produced, without 

 a license. 



E. T. C, N. Y., desires us to offer a reward to 

 chemists who will discover some chemical 

 which, used in small quantities, will prevent 

 the granulation of extracted honey. The best 

 method I know of is to bring the honey up to 

 180 degrees, never higher, and seal immediately 

 while hot. Sometimes it will not granulate for 

 two years, and sometimes it will in one year's 

 time or less. I should not like to put any thing 

 into honey for any purpose whatever. I should 

 prefer to leave it just as the bees give it to us. 



J. M. IF., Cal. — I can give you no particu- 

 lars in regard to mixing glucose with honey. 

 Such a practice is condemned by all reputable 

 bee-keepers, and I feel sure you would not 

 knowingly desire to do injury to the industry. 

 In the first place, I doubt if you could make it 

 pay on a small scale. Yes, there is a demand 

 for water-white honey; but I think you will 

 find in every case it is pure, genuine sweet, 

 from the flowers. White-sage honey from your 

 State is water-white, and clear and beautiful 

 in color; but glucosed honey is abominable to 

 the taste and injurious to the health. 



H. C. S., FLa. — The method of using two 

 starters in one section, as spoken of by B. Tay- 

 lor in a recent number of Gleanings, was the 

 one originally advocated, I believe, by Dr. C. C. 

 Miller. He puts in a wide starter at the top of 

 the section and a narrow one at the bottom, the 

 two starters being about ,V or >4 inch apart. 

 The bottom starter should not be much wider 

 than }o or % in., otherwise it will tumble over 

 and only make the matter worse. The object 

 of the bottom starter is to induce the bees to 

 make a continuous comb attachment clear to 

 the bottom of the section. This fills the sec- 

 tion out better, and better tils them for shipping. 



J. Y. T., N. F.— It would be impossible to give 

 an exact answer to your question as to the 

 proper size of a honey-tank for two hundred 

 colonies of bees. Much would depend upon the 

 honey-flow, locality, and whether you desired 



to store the entire crop; if the latter, the tank 

 would need to hold about one thousand gallons. 

 This would allow about 50 lbs. per colony. 



In reply to your second question, an eight- 

 foot windmill, under a good stiff breeze, might 

 run a light power mandrel for a 7-in. circular 

 saw; but a ten or twelve foot would be much 

 better. 



D. N. B.. Minn.— You can practice uniting as 

 you suggest. If you are not particular about 

 which queen, the bees will destroy one and 

 keep the other. Otherwise you had better de- 

 stroy or remove the least valuable one. 



Japanese buckwheat yields no more honey, 

 but larger and more grain. All buckwheat 

 honey is dark, and all about the same quality. 



There are ways of doing something toward 

 the prevention of swarming when running for 

 honey. All these, and more, are set forth in our 

 A B C of Bee Culture. 



J. S. C. Mich. — I think you misunderstood Mr. 

 Boardman. By unfertilized eggs he meant eggs 

 laid by queens that had not been fertilized; but, 

 as we now know, queens have the power to lay 

 both fertile and unfertile eggs. You will find 

 this matter quite fully explained in Cheshire's 

 work, "Bees and Bee-keeping," Vol. I.; also 

 in " The Honey Bee," by Cowan, and in "Dzier- 

 zon Theory." which has now come to be ac- 

 cepted as fact. In the end of each egg there 

 is a micropile, or minute hole. Each egg laid 

 for a worker-bee receives through this opening, 

 as it passes from the ovary of the queen, the 

 spermatic fluid; but the eggs for drones do not 

 receive the fluid. 



L. V. J., O. — In regard to windbreaks, I 

 would not advise going to the expense of set- 

 ting out trees of any kind, because it takes so 

 many years for them to mature sufficiently to 

 be of any service. It is true, we have around 

 our apiary a row of tall evergreens; but they 

 have been seventeen years in growing, and it is 

 only for the last three or four years that they 

 have been of much service. They make a per- 

 fect windbreak — the very best — but they are 

 very expensive; and by the time they would be 

 of service many an apiarist would be out of the 

 business. As a general rule we would advise 

 the selection of a locality where natural wind- 

 breaks may be found. The apiary can often be 

 located in the L that is sometimes formed by 

 the barn and wagonsheds. If, however, there 

 is only one place where the apiary can be locat- 

 ed, and that has no windbreak, I would advise 

 putting up a tight board fence, say six or eight 

 feet high, using cedar posts if you can get them. 

 This will last a good many years, and be ready 

 for immediate use. 



No, windbreaks do no harm in shutting out 

 summer-breezes. If the bees have sufficient 

 entrance they can create ventilation enough to 

 keep the hive cool, providing they have a little 

 assistance in the way of shade. 



