134 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



put upon the market mills with a 

 rounded cell which gave very satisfac- 

 tory foundation. But this was a very 

 heavy grade, as it was difficult to man- 

 ufacture anything lighter than five 

 square feet to the pound with her mills. 

 Vandervort, who was a fine machinist, 

 at the suggestion of the writer made 

 mills with walls of different thicknesses 

 and different depths. It was with his 

 mills that the first separate grades of 

 brood and super foundation were se- 

 cured. 



Vandervort was as warmhearted and 

 generous as he was skilled in his pro- 

 fession. We used his mills for years, 

 and I visited him in 1884, to suggest 

 some improvements in his methods. 

 He had a little shop about 12 by 12 feet, 

 and in the midst of his skilled work, 

 which required a great deal of atten- 

 tion, he would find occasion to help 

 his neighbors. I remember his stopping 

 from his work on a mill to repair a 

 tool for a neighbor blacksmith, free of 

 charge. He cared little for money, and 

 I have before my eyes a letter from 

 him, dated Sept. 2, 1884, in which he 

 writes: "You sent me nearly $50 more 

 than belongs to me, and for this I shall 

 try to get even with you some future 

 day." We never could get him to send 

 us a bill for the numerous mills that 

 he manufactured or repaired for us, 

 and one of his favorite sayings was: 



" What a grand country America would 

 be if it would only forget the Almighty 

 Dollar." 



Mr. Vandervort was thrice married, 

 and of the first marriage in 1853, there 

 survive two children, Mrs. Carrie Dar- 

 row, of Reading, Pa., and A. L. Vander- 

 vort, of Laceyville. In June, 1875, he 

 was married to Emily Jane Fish, of 

 Silvara, and of this union there sur- 

 vives one daughter, Mrs. Frank Creasy, 

 of Berwick, Pa., and in 1890 he was 

 united in marriage to Mrs. Ella Brown, 

 of Golden Hill, who also survives. 



Rhode Island Association The Rhode 



Island beekeepers organized a society 

 at Providence Feb. 21. The outlook 

 ahead seems very encouraging in power 

 of members. The society is to meet 

 frequently, place of meeting will prob- 

 ably be the Lecture Room of the Provi- 

 dence Public Library. 



It is the intention of the society that 

 any one interested in beekeeping shall 

 not be overlooked. This is the only 

 society in the State, and any one inter- 

 ested is cordially invited to become a 

 member. Communicate with the Presi- 

 dent, Arthur C. Miller at the Provi- 

 dence Institution for Savings or the 

 Secretary, Gardner B. Willis at the 

 Providence Technical High School. 

 Gardner B. Willis, Sec. 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo, \w.. 



He does not answer bee-keeoine questions by mail. 



Putting Dummies Between Brood Combs 



1. I am getting to think that old brood- 

 comb is much of an abomination and should 

 unconcernedly be turned into wax. In or 

 der then to make eood what is thus lost, 

 what ways are there co-incident with regu- 

 lar honey production and With minimum 

 sacrifice thereof, to get full foundation in 

 brood-frames drawn out in maximum quan- 

 tity so far as aforesaid not detrimental to 

 honey production ? 



2. I am an opponent of the divisible brood- 

 chamber; yet it seems that some offer a 

 superior way for contraction, and thus 

 sending bees up into the sections by confin- 

 ing the bees to one part of the brood-cham- 

 ber. How can one approach this nearest 

 when using lo-frame full depth Langstroth 

 hives? Of course, by using dummies. Now 

 according to Dadant, bees neglect sections 

 that are not over frames. What would then 

 be the best arrangement of frames of brood 

 and dummies in such lo-frame hive, if there 

 were therein four or five dummies per hive ? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— I. The best scheme for getting 

 combs drawn out depends somewhat on cir- 

 cumstances. With natural swarming, or 

 even with shake-swarming, probably the 

 best time is to give the frames of founda- 

 tion at the time of hiving or shaking the 

 swarm. In other cases a good way is to have 

 combs drawn out in a super. 



There may be some peculiarity in your 

 case that makes old combs objectionable, 

 but did you never notice that when bees are 

 given their choice they prefer old combs to 

 new? I have been keeping bees more than 

 half a century, and I've never yet turned 

 down a comb because of old age. 



2. The Dadant opinion is entirely correct. 

 Put (our or five dummies in one side of the 

 brood-chamber, and the sections over the 

 brood will be finished while the outside sec- 

 tions over the dummies will be hardly 



touched. Well, is there any other way but 

 to put the dummies between the brood- 

 combs? Had thought of that, hadn't you ? 

 but you thought it would hinder the Queen 

 from going from one frame to another. Well, 

 it won't, for I have tried it. It might, if you 

 should put the dummies in a bunch in the 

 middle of the hive, but scatter them, with 

 only one in a place, and it doesn't seem to 

 hinder the queen from keeping all combs 

 occupied. For all that. I don't believe you 

 could coax me to try to limit the queen's 

 room in that way. 



Putting Up a Hive 



Last spring I bought a lot of hives which 

 were shipped to me knocked down. I put 

 them together, and among the lot. for each 

 hive, was a board Vi inch thick, and as long 

 and wide as the hive. This board has a hole 

 in the center 3M inches long and i!i inch 

 wide. The question is. where does this 

 board fit in ? Does it go on top of the brood- 

 hive under the super or on top before the 

 metal top is put on ? Illinois. 



Answer.— It goes on top of the brood- 

 chamber, under the super (when there is a 

 super on). The slotted hole may take a Por- 

 ter bee-escape, and it may also serve to put 

 a feeder over. Don't use that board during 

 the honey crop. 



Miscellaneous Questions 



1. In working for comb honey, is it essen- 

 tial to use excluders to keep the queen from 

 laying in the super ? 



2. How many colonies of bees are there in 

 Illinois? In Canada? 



3 Is it necessary to put bees in the cellar 

 or use winter packing cases in this locality ? 



4. Is it essential to provide shade for bees 

 to prevent their swarming and leaving the 

 hives? 



5. Which is better for the production of comb 

 honey, the 8-frame hive or the 10-frame? 



6. From an article in the Canadian Horti- 

 culturist^ and Beekeeper for July. ioi6. 

 headed. " Beekeeping in Holland." I inferred 

 that straw skeps were used in place of the 

 modern movable-frame hive. Has the mov- 

 able frame hive ever been introduced there 

 and disliked, or is it unknown ? 



7. I bought two colonies of 3-banded Ital- 

 ians in July, I9i6. A neighbor did the same, 

 and bought bees from the same apiary. 

 His made a super of honey and enough 

 stores to last them through the winter. 

 Mine made only enough to last them through 

 the winter. From careful watching I ascer- 

 tained that mine flew in large circles about 

 the apiary gathering very little honey when 

 a field of white clover in full bloom was 

 within a hundred yards. What was the 

 matter with them ? 



8. What is the best method to entice bees 

 from a hollow tree or log into hives ? 



g. How cold does it have to get to kill bees 

 in winter housed in 8 frame hives with no 

 packing cases and in the open ? 



10. Which method is the better in a queen- 

 rearing apiary, the Ben G. Davis plan or J. 

 M. Davis plan ? 



11. Which is the sweetest, honey, molasses 

 or sugar? Illinois. 



Answers. — i. I don't use excluders under 

 sections, as I think they aregenerally used. 

 But I have sections filled with worker foun- 

 dation. If you use small starters in sec- 

 tions it may pay you to use excluders; 

 otherwise the queen will go up to lay in the 

 drone-comb; the bees are sure to build in 

 sections when only starters are present. 



2. I don't know. 



3. You are in latitude about 39 degrees, and 

 will do better to winter outside. 



4. It is not essential, but better for the 

 bees, and better still for the beekeeper. 



5. All things considered, the larger hive is 

 better. 



6. Holland. I think, is like some other 

 European countries, where some use mov- 

 able-comb.hives. but a good many have not 

 yet advanced so far. same as in some parts 

 of our own country. I don't think there is a 

 country in the world where movable combs 

 have been rejected after fair trial. 



7. One colony may have been stronger than 

 the others, or the bees may have been bet- 

 ter. Possibly the management may not have 

 been the same. If the bees got nothing from 

 the white clover, it was no doubt because 

 the clover yielded no nectar. That happens 

 a good many times. 



8. I don't know of anyway to entice them 

 out. They must be forced out by means of 

 smoke, carbolic acid, etc , or the tree felled 

 and cut open. 



9. That depends on many things. A colony 

 weak enough may succumb to a tempera- 

 ture above freezing, if that temperature be 

 long enough A colony strong enough, with 

 stores enough, will defy the mercury to get 

 low enough to kill it. 



10. Like enough the Ben G. Davis plan is 

 better for the son, and the J. M. Davis plan 

 for the father. 



11. If you touch your tongue to each of 

 them in succession, you will probably say 

 honey is the sweetest. But I have never 

 been able to find out for certain which of 

 them would go the farthest in sweetening, 

 say a batch of dough, although I have tried 

 to do so. 



Checking Swarming 



In " Fifty Years Among the Bees" you ad- 

 vise, before the bees become crowded in the 

 spring, to place a brood-chamber with 

 empty combs under the colony to check 

 swarming, etc. How would the plan work 

 to substitute full sheets of foundation for 

 empty combs? Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— Foundation will do well. After 

 one has been in the business some time, 

 however, there will generally be drawn 

 combs on hand, and they will keep better to 

 be in the care of the bees 



