January, 1916. 



American ^ae Journal 



I noticed in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal an article by Frank Rauchfuss, say- 

 ing that propolis stains on wood can- 

 not be removed entirely. Yes, they 

 can, and quickly and cheaply, too. Not 

 only they can, but oughtto be removed. 



There is an easy and cheap way for 

 cleaning the sections. The Minnesota 

 Beekeepers' Association will testify 

 that section honey of all grades can be 

 put on the market in sections as clean 

 and white as when they come from the 

 factory. Such section honey was on 

 exhibit at their December convention 

 in Minneapolis. 



When sections are removed from 

 supers, the coarse propolis is first 

 scraped off with a small sharp knife 

 from the outer sides of the section 

 with one or two strokes of the knife to 

 each side. The four edges are then 

 scraped, with the point of the knife, 

 protruding from between the thumb 

 and the first finger just far enough to 

 clean the edge of the section and not 

 injure the cappings. In the same man- 

 ner, with the point of the knife, the 

 propolis for about 's of an inch inside 

 of the section maybe removed. One 

 can soon learn to do this without hurt- 

 ing the cappings or dropping any into 

 the cells next to the wall. 



Tnis, however, is only preliminary 

 work. The sections must now be sand- 

 papered. A simple sandpapering ma- 

 chine which every beekeeper can afford 

 is used for this purpose. By foot power 

 a round wooden disc, one foot in diam- 

 eter, is put into rotary motion. On this 

 disc is attached a sheet of sandpaper of 

 the same size as the disc. Three tiny 

 nails near the outside of the disc will 

 hold the paper firmly in position. Now 

 a board is fitted in, about one-third 

 from the bottom of the wheel, in such 

 a manner that the sand wheel will re- 

 volve in a slot, with two-thirds of the 

 wheel above and one third below the 

 table formed by the board. There 

 should be a quarter inch space between 

 the face of the sandpaper and the board 

 through which to convey all dust be- 

 low the table. 



After starting the machine, take a 

 section in your right hand, lay it side 

 down on the table and just touch one 

 side (the dirtiest) against the sand- 

 paper. In a fraction of a second it is 

 as clean as new. One, two, three, four, 

 and the outside of your section is 



clean. Set your section now upright; 

 touch the edge of the section against 

 the sandpaper; turn it around and do 

 the same with the opposite edge. You 

 can do it as fast as you can count one, 

 two, three, four, five, six. In this man- 

 ner all sections, fancy. No. 1, culls and 

 all, can be made attractive and market- 

 able ; the wood will look as clean as 

 new. 



One sheet of sandpaper will clean a 

 hundred sections. It would help the 

 honey trade if such a section polishing 

 machine was put on the market. Num- 

 ber 1 comb honey in sandpapered sec- 

 tions was sold at Minneapolis at $1.31 

 per case, or nearly 20 cents a pound, 

 when plenty of daubed section honey 

 could be bought on the market at 12 

 cents. The sandpaper machine used 

 by the writer cost $10. 



College Farm, St. Paul, Minn. 



[Section polishing machines have 

 been described from time to time. 

 Probably too little attention is paid to 

 this subject. The machine above de- 

 scribed is certainly very simple. — Ed] 



Swarm Control in South Texas 



BY HENRY BRENNER. 



AT the beginning of February we go 

 through the apiaries to see if the 

 colonies have enough stores to 

 start brood-rearing which takes place 

 about this time in apiaries along the 

 river courses. Weather conditions, of 

 course, determine the exact date. We 

 have had many cases where brood-rear- 

 ing started as early as Jan. 15, and 

 sometimes, if about Feb. 1 we have 

 wet or cold weather, brood-rearing 

 starts a little later. February 1, is about 

 the time that it generally starts. In 

 this latitude there is practically no 

 cessation of brood-rearing at any time 

 during the winter. There is seldom 

 a time when no brood is being reared 

 in the colony. But by brood-rearing, 

 as the term is used above, we mean 

 regular operations of the bees in build- 

 ing up the colony for the spring flow. 



At the initial visit to the apiaries at 

 this time we do not disturb the brood- 

 nest or break up the cluster, but if we 

 find a colony with light stores we give 

 it a frame from another colony that 



F;vnf Vieul 



to-p vjtuf 



T 



r- r<ak 





W- 



:Cj, 



PROF. JAGERS SECTION CLEANING MACHINE 



can spare it. We do not put this 

 honey in the brood chamber however, 

 but we put it in the super above the 

 brood chamber. If no colony in the 

 apiary has stores that it can spare we 

 fill empty combs with sugar syrup and 

 some honey added which is just as 

 good for brood-rearing, only it does 

 not last so long and we have to give 

 more than if we gave sealed frames of 

 honey. Generally we put in two or 

 three frames according to the amount 

 of brood and the strength of the col- 

 ony. Even at this early date quite a 

 bit of pollen can be gathered from 

 early bloom and some nectar is begin- 

 ning to come in. In our apiaries in 

 the prairies and away from the river 

 we start work two weeks to a month 

 later than in our river apiaries. 



At the end of February we see 

 whether the queens have enough lay- 

 ing room. Should they be crowded 

 we remove the honey from the brood- 

 nest and replace it with empty combs. 

 It is not wise to break up the brood- 

 nest even then, but we put the empty 

 combs on each side of the cluster, and 

 if they have frames filled with honey 

 we raise them into the super. At this 

 time we mark the colonies having 

 drone-brood as they will be the ones 

 likely to cause trouble in swarming. 

 Only about 10 percent will show the 

 swarming impulse. At every visit it is 

 well to see that there is plenty of 

 hon< y and to equalize stores from the 

 richer hives. 



At the river apiaries our bees could 

 winter with practically no surplus 

 stores if they could fly every day be- 

 cause there is always something in our 

 valleys on which they could feed. It 

 happens some years that we have peri- 

 ods of cold and wet weather in the 

 early spring, and if we have not pro- 

 vided stores the bees will drag out the 

 young brood and contract the brood- 

 nest to two or tlfree frames. They do 

 this, not because the weather is too 

 severe for brood-rearing, but because 

 the bees fear famine. 



In early March, if we find as many as 

 six frames of brood in the brood-nest, 

 we raise one frame of brood out of the 

 center of the cluster into the super and 

 replace it with an empty comb. Our 

 experience is that if bees confine their 

 brood-rearing to the lower story, even 

 though they apparently have plenty of 

 room there, they are more likely to 

 contract the swarming fever, and our 

 object in thus early raising a frame of 

 brood to the super is to encourage the 

 queen to extend her operations to the 

 two bodies. 



The few colonies which we had 

 marked as having drone-brood we now 

 look over carefully to find if there are 

 eggs in queen-cells or if new queen- 

 cups are being formed. If we do find 

 them, we spread the brood about over 

 the hives and, of course, destroy the 

 queen-cells. The amount of spreading 

 depends upon the strength and condi- 

 tion of the colony. If the brood is 

 spread too much and a cold night oc- 

 curs too soon after the spreading there 

 is loss from chilled brood. Some col- 

 onies seem to have a passion for brood- 

 rearing and go far ahead of the ability 

 of the colony to protect and cluster 

 the brood. 



After the brood has been spread in 

 colonies that have shown an inclination 



