February, 1910. 



American ISec Journal j 



r.w. 

 Vandemam 





No. 3.— Exhibit of F. W. Van De Mark at the Oklahoma State Faik.— See page 42. 



Then, if we wish to use " bait "-sec- 

 tions to start the bees to work in the 

 supers, just as early in the season as 

 possible, the profitableness of which is 

 conceded by nearly every practical api- 

 arist in the world — if done without 

 separators, these baits will have their 

 cells lengthened out before capping is 

 commenced, so that they will bulge 

 nearly into the center of those on 

 either side. 



If I am correct, this whole idea of 

 producing section honey without sep- 

 arators originated with the idea that 

 bees will store more honey in a super 

 without separators than they will store 

 in the same super with separators. But 

 just how much more I have never heard 

 any one attempt to say. I used to 

 think just that way myself, but after 30 

 years of close watching, and trying the 

 two plans side by side, / cannot tell 

 how much more; but, my candid opin- 

 ion is, that there might possibly be 

 this difl:erence ; only 499 pounds being 

 stored ivilh the use of separators as 

 against 500 pounds where separators 

 Mr;v tiot used. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Treating Bee-Fever 

 Honey 



Chunk 



BY HARRY LATHROP. 



If I were so minded I might advertise 

 to sell a secret for one dollar, " How 

 to cure the bee-fever." I would be 

 compelled to state, though, that the 

 cure would not be permanent in all 

 cases, and could not be applied at all 

 seasons. As I do not sell secrets, I 

 will give the cure here. It is this : 



Hard work in a bee-yard in hot 

 weather, with more work than you can 

 get through with, and many stings, the 

 latter being especially good ; and the 

 hotter the weather the quicker the 

 fever will abate. 



For myself, I have a recurrence of 

 the disease every winter, and no cure 

 for it until the season arrives when 1 

 can procure the above presciption. 



I do not have time during the sum- 

 mer to read the bee-papers carefully, 

 l)iit in winter 1 get them out and read 



everything in them, whether I had pre- 

 viously read it or not. Then the fever 

 rages, and I honestly believe I can 

 keep as many bees on paper, or in my 

 mind, as any living man. 



Out of this fever usually grows some 

 plans for the coming honey season. 

 Just now I am greatly interested in the 

 subject of bulk-comb or chunk honey. 

 I never liked the pound-section way of 

 producing honey, but feared that if we 

 tried the Texas method of chunk 

 honey, there would be too much gran- 

 ulated bulk honey, which would be a 

 hard matter to handle. I now think 

 that by keeping the honey in the 

 frames in a suitable place as long as 

 possible, then pack in receptacles, using 

 extracted honey that had previously 

 been treated by slow heat in a sun ex- 

 tractor or otherwise, we might obviate 

 the difficulty of granulation. 



Then there is the possibility of mar- 

 keting comb honey neatly wrapped in 

 paraffin paper, a certain weight to each 

 package. It seems to me that such a 

 method might become popular. Any- 

 way, bee-keepers do not want the bass- 

 woods cut up into section wood, and 

 consumers do not want to pay for this 

 wood when they buy honey. The 

 greatest items, however, are the saving 

 of labor, and the increase in produc- 

 tion. 



The only trouble may be that some 

 producers will sell this honey at the 

 price of extracted. In that case there 

 would be no advantage in it. 



I am pleased that we are to have a 

 series of articles on chunk honey pro- 

 duction, in the "Old Reliable." But 

 let us of the North try it next summer, 

 and the experience gained, if given at 

 the close of the season, will make good 

 reading. 



Bridgeport, Wis. 



Shaking Energy into Bees 



BY C. V. UAUANT. 



When something new is discovered, 

 whether in the bee-business or in other 

 lines, many enthusiasts are apt to over- 

 estimate the improvement, while others 

 discourage it beyond reason. The idea 

 of shaking the bees out of their hive to 



give them more energy has been en- 

 grossed upon by the usual number of 

 enthusiasts, and has been ridiculed by 

 many others. I have been quoted as 

 being in favor of this method ; that is 

 why I desire to discuss the pro and con. 



It has been stated emphatically that 

 a natural swarm works with more 

 energy after being hived than its bees 

 worked in their former abode, and this 

 has been laid to some mysterious in- 

 fluence of the disturbance. The oppo- 

 sition, on the other hand, has e.xplained 

 that a new swarm, not having any 

 brood to care for during the first few 

 days in its existence, is in the best of 

 conditions for amassing stores. To 

 this might be added the statement that 

 all the bees in a swarm, by the fact of 

 their emigration, have become active 

 workers. Those who are in the habit 

 of watching swarms emerge from the 

 hive have noticed that only such bees 

 as are too young and too weak to fly 

 remain in the hive, that many of the 

 just-hatched bees nevertheless crawl 

 out, carried by the whirl, only to fall 

 helpless in front of the alighting-board, 

 returning with great difficulty. Many 

 of the more mature young bees, were 

 it not for this pell-mell exit, would 

 have remained a week or more within 

 the walls of their home. Swarming 

 evidently hastens their maturity. It is 

 a case of necessity. Many of them, of 

 course, will remain at home in the new 

 abode for a few days, if their labor is 

 needed inside, to build comb or nurse 

 the young. So the working force of a 

 swarm is greater than that of the old 

 colony ever was, but this increase of 

 ability is at the expense of the old col- 

 ony, and the more thorough the exit 

 has been the weaker the old colony 

 has become, though it is usually some- 

 what replenished from the bees that 

 were out foraging at the hour of the 

 swarm issue. 



The activity of the new swarm is 

 also enhanced by the much greater 

 amount of room which they find to be 

 filled, especially if all, or a good pro- 

 portion, of the combs have been fur- 

 nished to them. However, in this case, 

 breeding is more rapid, and the expen- 

 diture and time required to take care 

 of the brood reduces the apparent 

 activity that much. 



The shaking process applied to the 

 bees of a colony in working order has 

 a somewhat similar influence on the 

 young bees. Many that would have re- 

 mained quiet for a week or more are 

 thus compelled unceremoniously to 

 take a flight. That it causes the young 

 bees to start out earlier in life for the 

 harvest field may very readily be proven 

 if we Italianize a colony of common 

 bees. The change of queens causing a 

 change in the color of the hatching 

 bees within 21 or 22 days, it becomes 

 quite easy to see whether we can 

 hasten the flying out of the young bees 

 by positive disturbances. This is a 

 very good reason for an increase of 

 energy in the colony, if the weather is 

 favorable to their flight and the pres- 

 ence of the young bees is not positively 

 needed indoors to build combs or keep 

 the brood warm. 



In the breeding season there is an- 

 other result secured by the disturbing 

 of the hive from time to time. This re- 

 sult, however, is conditional upon the 



