1917 



AMERICAN 3EE JOURNAL 



345 



mum results. Some increase is neces- 

 sary to replace such colonics as arc 

 lost througli failing queens, poor win- 

 tering and other causes, even though 

 the beekeeper does not care to ex- 

 tend his business. If the bees can be 

 kept from swarming and the young 

 queen be mated in a separate apart- 

 ment she can rear her own colony 

 in due time and they can be removed 

 without deducting anything from the 

 production of the old queen, all of 

 whose progeny remain with the pa- 

 rent colony. 



To begin with, when the colony be- 

 comes populous I place the queen on 

 a frame of brood in an empty hive- 

 body and fill out with empty combs. 

 This is set in the same place occu- 

 pied by the hive, so that the workers 

 coming from the field will find their 

 queen with an abundance of room in 

 which to lay. This is the system of 

 swarm conntrol advocated by Dem- 

 aree to this point. I now place an e.K- 

 cluder over the hive-body containing 

 the queen and over this a super of 

 empty combs. On top of these is set 

 the original hive-body containing the 

 brood. A hole is bored in this upper 

 body to give the bees an extra en- 

 trance above. About twenty-four 

 hours later a ripe queen-cell is placed 

 in the upper story with the brood. If 

 no queen-cells are available the bees 

 will often build cells of their- own ac- 

 cord. The time is shortened and suc- 

 cess insured by having a supply of 

 cells ready in advance. The queen 

 should emerge within a day or two 

 and will shortly leave the hive by 

 way of the auger hole for her mating 

 flight. Within two or three weeks 

 she is laying in the upper hive and 

 the regular activities of the bees will 

 continue without interruption in the 

 lower story. By this time all the 

 brood from the old queen will have 

 emerged. The brood which now ap- 

 pears in the upper story is a net ad- 

 dition to the resources of the colony 

 and when the upper story is nearly 

 filled with sealed brood it can be 

 removed and placed on a new stand 

 without checking the work of the 

 colony. 



This year I gave a queen-cell to a 

 strong colony on May 21 as above de- 

 scribed. On July 14 the upper hive- 

 body with a young queen and seven 

 frames of brood were removed to 

 form a new colony. The old colony 

 was' apparently just as strong as it 

 had been at any time. Yet possible 

 swarming had been prevented, tem- 

 porarily at least, by the Demaree 

 plan of placing the old queen in the 

 empty hive below. I now have two 

 good colonies which are much better 

 than a parent colony and swarm of 

 the best we have had this season. In 

 this way I have been entirely safe, as 

 the new colony was not removed 

 from its parent until both were pro- 

 vided for. Other cases have been 

 successful as well. 



After three years of trial I find this 

 the most satisfactory plan of making 

 increase. I have never tried it on a 

 large scale, but if it succeeds gener- 

 ally on a small scale I can see no 

 reason why it should not on a large 

 scale. Both queens can be left in the 



same hive until the close of the 

 lioney-flow if desired, but there is 

 niithing to be gained af er the upper 

 hive-body is filled with brood. If 

 both are left in the hive until latt 

 fall one of the queens will usually 

 disappear. 



I do not make any claims to offer- 

 ing something altogether new or 

 original, but have simply adapted dif- 

 ferent suggestions to my own sys- 

 tem and present it for what it is 

 worth. If desired, the process can be 

 repeated as soon as the upper story 

 is removed, as by this time the old 

 (|tieen will have filled the lower body 

 witli brood again. By beginning early 

 it should be possible to take two or 

 possibly three new colonies without 

 reducing the honey crop from the 

 parent colony to a serious extent. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 



Making Vinegar From the 

 Washing of the Cappings 



By The Editor. 

 "I would like the receipt for making 

 vinegar from cappings." — J. J. Cor- 

 beille, Jr., North Freedom, Wis. 



AT the present day many beekeep- 

 ers are using a capping-melter 

 to melt up the wax and secure 

 the honey out of the cappings at once. 

 But there are objections to this im- 

 plement. When the temperature is 

 already between 80 and 90 degrees it 

 is not very pleasant to increase it by 

 the use of artificial heat of any kind 

 within reach of those who have in 

 charge the uncapping job, in extract- 

 ing honey. Then, unless exceedingly 

 great care is taken, the honey secured 

 is browned and no better than so 

 much molasses. In fact, it is impos- 

 sible to secure out of the capping- 

 melter anything but an inferior 

 quality of honey. For that reason we 

 have discarded the capping-melter. 



After a few days' work in extract- 

 ing, the cappings contained in the 

 capping can or other receptacle are 

 transferred into a barrel or a tank 

 having a screen a short distance 



above the bottom, so that the remain- 

 ing honey may drain out. When the 

 crop is at an end, all the cappings 

 are removed and placed into a large 

 boiler with water, which is heated 

 only enough to soften the mass with- 

 out melting it entirely. Our boiler is 

 sufficient to hold several hundred 

 pounds of cappings. 



When the water is warm to a point 

 where it is still possible to work the 

 cappings with the hands, say about 

 130 degrees, they are stirred so as to 

 let the water permeate them well. Im- 

 mediately afterwards they are lifted 

 out and put into a small handpress, 

 in a clean cloth or sack to keep any 

 of the wax from being lost. Pressure 

 is applied to remove the sweetened 

 water. The cappings are then set 

 aside for rendering into wax, with a 

 fresh lot of water. 



The quantity of water used in 

 washing cappings should depend en- 

 tirely upon the amount of sweetness 

 left in them when the operation is 

 performed. This is difficult to deter- 

 mine. But it should not worry us. If 

 the sweetened water is found too 

 sweet for vinegar, more water may 

 be added; if too weak, a little honey 

 diluted in it will soon bring it to the 

 proper strength. 



Perhaps the reader will ask why 

 we do not allow the cappings to melt 

 entirely in the washing water. Our 

 reason is that, in such a case, all the 

 impurities become mixed with the 

 water and it acquires an odor and a 

 flavor which we do not like. When 

 the cappings are just made lukewarm, 

 although they color the water con- 

 siderably and cause it to look dirty, 

 we find that the small amount of 

 color and impurities are easily elim- 

 inated after the process of fermenta- 

 tion. 



To know whether the water is of 

 the proper sweetness, after the cap- 

 pings have been washed, we test it 

 with a raw egg. It should float, show- 

 ing above the surface a spot about 

 the size of a dime. This will make 

 strong vinegar. In fact, the sweet- 

 ened water will make good vinegar if 



GIVE YOUR BEES SOME SORT OF PROTECTION, IF IT IS ONLY A WIND- 

 BREAK OF CORN STALKS. APIARY OF H, O. BADER, BROWNING. ILL. 



