244 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



Any one interested at all in dairying 

 will do well to get this book It sells 

 for $1.75, and can be obtained direct 

 from the publishers, or we can furnish 

 it direct from this ofiRce. 



Combs Horizontally Between Hive- 

 Bodies. — Last June during the com- 

 mencement of the honey flow from 

 clover, we tried an experiment with 

 eight colonies of bees by placing be- 

 tween the two Heddon hive brood- 

 bodies a shallow frame, a frame about 

 1;'4 inches deep with three sides only, 

 the open side has a skeleton drawer to 

 slide in and out. On this skeleton 

 drawer we laid two Heddon frames 

 filled with drawn brood-combs which 

 had been wired and were old and 

 strong. When the combs were in place 

 a good bee-spice was maintained both 

 above and below the combs, the combs 

 were empty when placed in the drawer, 

 but were soon used by the queens. 

 Eggs and brood were soon found on 

 both upper and lower sides, some 

 honey was also stored around the out- 

 side edges of combs; later on queen- 

 cell cups were built on the underside 

 of combs and also in other parts of the 

 hive. 



In no case do I remember of finding 

 queen-cells on the horizontal combs 

 only. I found trouble in removing the 

 drawer, as the empty spaces were full 

 of bees. Also many brace combs were 

 built up under its support, the horizon- 

 tal combs, the bees having the idea 

 that these combs were liable to sag 

 down and needed some supports, or 

 they needed some step ladders to walk 

 up. Anyway, when I attempted to draw 

 out the combs, the brace-combs under- 

 neath would mash bees, honey, and 

 qu en-cells, and so roll them together 

 that I soon gave it up. 



If I try it again this season I think I 

 would have a slatted bottom in the 

 drawer. Our aim is to have a quick 

 and easy method of finding queen cell 

 conditions in colonies preparing to 

 swarm. E. T. Bainard. 



Lambeth, Ont. 



Canning Fruit With Honey— Can What 



you Can There is no mystery or luck 



about the successful canning of fruit. 

 If properly done, failure is almost out 

 of the question The fruits or vege- 

 tables should be barely ripe, never over- 

 ripe, perfect of their kind, or at least 

 with no fermentation started in them, 

 and the sooner they are taken from 

 tree or garden and sealed up in jars 

 the better New fruit jars are best put 

 over the fire in cold water to cover 

 them, brought slowly to a boil, and 

 slowly CO led ; then they will stand 

 greater extremes of heatand cold. 

 If particular about keeping the fruit in 

 shape, or where a large amount is to 

 be done at once, it is usually put un- 

 ci oked into thejars and covered with 

 the honey. The jars are then set into 

 a larger boiler with a perforated rest 

 under them to keep them from the bot- 

 tom. Fill the boiler with cold water 

 nearly to the shoulders of the jars. 

 Screw the tops on rather loosely; put 

 the cover on the boiler and bring to a 

 boil. Both fruit and vegetables can be 

 done up in this way. As a rule the 

 Utter is more difficult to keep than 



fruit, and require much longer cook- 

 ing. 



Twelve quarts of raspberries require 

 two quarts of honey. Put two quarts 

 of the fruit in the preserving-kettle 

 and heat slowly on the stove. Crush 

 the berries with a wooden vegetable 

 masher and spread a square of cheese- 

 cloth over a bowl and turn the crushed 

 berries and juice into it. Press out 

 the juice and turn it into the preserv- 

 ing kettle. Add two quarts of honey 

 and put it on the stove. When the 

 syrup begins to boil, add the remaining 

 ten quarts of berries. Let them heat 

 slowly. Boil ten minutes, counting 

 from the time they begin to bubble. 

 Skim well while boiling. Put in cans 

 and seal. 



Of cherries, take six quarts, lyi 

 quarts of honey. Measure the cherries 

 after the stones have been removed. 

 Pit them or not, as you please. If you 

 pit them, be careful to save all the 

 juice. Put the honey in the preserving- 

 kettle over the fire until it simmers. 

 Put in the cherries and heat slowly to 

 the boiling-point. Boil ten minutes, 

 skimming carefully. 



Of pears, plums, and peaches, you 

 take the weight of the fruit in honey. 

 Plums should boil about fifteen minutes ; 



peaches and pears, from twenty to 

 thirty. 



Blackberries are put up same as 

 raspberries. 



Of strawberries, take four quarts of 

 fruit and \% quarts of honey. Boil 

 ten minu'es. From the time it begins 

 to boil, skim well. 



Of rhubarb, take equal weight of 

 fruit and honey. Boil ten minutes. 



Of apples, take two quarts of fruit 

 and one pint of honey and half a pint 

 of water. Boil twenty minutes. 



Of corn, take two quarts, cut oflf the 

 ear, half a pint of honey, one pint of 

 water, four even tablespoonfuls of salt; 

 boil twenty or thirty minutes, then put 

 into jars or bottles. 



Of tomatoes, take three quarts, one 

 pint of honey, three tablespoonfuls of 

 salt; boil the same as corn. 



Of corn acid tomatoes, take two 

 quarts of corn, two quarts of tomatoes, 

 one and a half pints of hoiiey, half a 

 pint of water, five even tablespoonfuls 

 of salt; boil thirty minutes, then seal. 



Grape, raspberry, blackberry, cherry, 

 plum, and peach juices are made as 

 follows: One quart of juice, one pint 

 of honey; boil from twenty to thirty 

 minutes. [Mrs.] H. K. Beard. 



Dr.Miller*s ^ Answersi^ 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, II-.. 



He does not answer bee-keeoinE Questions by mail. 



Location — Queens — Ventilation— Inspector 



1. Which of the districts of North America 

 as described on page \\h of the American 



-Bee Journal, is best for a beekeeper to move 

 to in the United States ? 



2 Wtiatis the best plant as a honey pro- 

 ducer in this locality? 1 wish to have one 

 that will bear the same season it is planted. 



3 Are virgin queens sold at 2;. 30. and 45 

 cents profit, or would you advise me to buy 

 ahighei priced Queen, an untested, tested, 

 or select tested ? 



4 How can I increase my colonies arti- 

 ficially ? I was thinking of taking the two 

 center frames of brood and bees from one 

 colony and putting these into an empty hive 

 with loundation. as 1 have no drawn comb. 



5 Will bees in pound packages and nuclei 

 from Alabama or Texas arrive in Grand 

 Kapids in good condition ? 



6. Wtiatistiie besi method of ventilation 

 for the summer for a person who sees his 

 bees about once a week ? 



7. How often should 1 requeen. conditions 

 being normal ? 



8. Uo you consider it necessary to clip 

 queens' wings ? 



How can I change spacing brood frames 

 from i;'s inch to i>4 inch, center to center ? 



10. Is itiere an apiary inspector in Michi- 

 gan ? Who is he, and how can I reach him ? 



Michigan, 



Answers.— I. If I were obliged to move 

 into a new district this year. I wouldn't 

 know which one to choose. There are ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages in each, and 

 quite often it happens that if a beekeeper 

 move some distance to a new location he is 

 glad to move back again, 



2. Mignonette would give a good yield this 

 year if you should plant it largely, but you 

 would not get honey enough to pay. If beans 

 are a paying crop in your locality they might 

 do. 



3. Virgins are hardly advisable, unless you 

 have excellent drones. What kind of laying 

 queens it is best to buy depends on circum- 

 stances. As a rule, it may be as well to buy 



untested, and buy in a larger number. 



4. That's one of the questions that belong 

 to your book and not to this department 

 which is not supposed to take the place of a 

 book, but to be supplementary. Perhaps no 

 book gives more fully the different plans of 

 increase than does "Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees." Tlie plan you suggest will answer, 

 in a way, as will almost any sort of division, 

 but if you trust to the two frames of brood 

 and bees on a new stand. I wouldn't give 

 much for ths queen they will rear. Take the 

 queen with the two brood and bees, and 

 there will be left on the old stand a strong 

 force to rear good queen-cells. A week or 

 ten davs later let the two hives swap places. 



5. Likely they will. 



6. The ventilation should be the same 

 whether you see your bees once a week or 

 once an hour. Ii doesn't matter such a great 

 deal how the ventilation is given, so there is 

 enough. I have an entrance the width of 

 the hive and two inches deep, and beside 

 this generally a quarter inch opening at the 

 back of the hive under the super. Some 

 raise the hive half an inch or more by put- 

 ting blocks under each corner. 



7. Opinions differ. Some think it wise to 

 requeen each year or each two years. 

 Others leave requeening to the bees. If you 

 have good bees it is safe to leave the matter 

 in their hands, in tlie average locality, I 

 never kill a queen on account of age. but if 

 a queen doesn't come up to the mark I re. 

 place her. no matter how young she is. 



8. Hardly absolutely necessary, but if you 

 should offer me half a dollar apiece to let my 

 queens go undipped, you wouldn't have 

 many half dollars to pay, 



g. One way is to use the same kind of 

 spacers I have been using (or many years, 



