July, 1910. 



American ^Bac Journal j 



Clark's Plan for Requeening 



R. F. Holtermann, in Gleanings, re- 

 ports a highly interesting address on 

 queen-rearing by P. I. Clark of New 

 York State, at the Ontario convention, 

 and says : 



The jewel, set in gold, of his address, in 

 my estimation, was when he gave the sim- 

 plest method of requeening try putting to one 

 side of the hive a comb of urood. separating 

 it from ilie rest of the hive by means of a 

 tin which acts as a tight division-board, and 

 which also folds oversufficiently to separate 

 the top of this compartment from the super. 

 In'this a capped cell is placed that is within 

 two or three days of hatching. Tliis cell is 

 protected by means of a cell-protector. In 

 this compartment the young queen is ferti- 

 lized, and at the proper time after the old 

 queen has been removed, the nucleus with 

 the young queen and the full colony are 

 united by means of a small round hole in the 

 tight di\ision-board. 



Comb-Honey Carriers Made Too Strong 



Mr. Henry Trickey entertains views 

 that are widely at variance with those 

 generally entertained, but, as he pre- 

 sents them, they are at least worth 

 thinking over. The following is from 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture : 



Mr. Trickey produces comb honey; and 

 when we asked him if the distance which ht 

 liad to ship his product to the market was 

 not quite a problem, he replied. " No. sir. It 

 depends upon the amount of handling which 

 the honey receives as to how much it is dam- 

 aged, and not upon thedistance it is carried. 

 Comb honey may be just as badly broken up 

 in 10 miles as in a thousand, if it is not prop- 

 erly packed and if it is improperly handled 

 by the railroad men. A good many have a 

 WTong notion in regard to the crates or car- 

 riers. Bee-keepers often come to me and 

 say that they are going to have the crates 

 made stronger and heavier so as to with- 

 stand the hard usage. Now. they say that, 

 because they have not given the matter suffi- 

 cient thought. A strong, heavy carrier may 

 not be broken up, it is true: but that is just 

 the trouble. The honey in the carrier may 

 be badly damaged; but if the carrier itself 

 has not been hurt, the railroad company 

 will do nothing about it. If we make com- 

 plaint that our honey was injured in transit. 

 we are only reminded that we did not pack it 

 right, if the carrier itself is still in good 

 thape. I say. then, the carrier should be just 

 stiv/m enough to carry the honey through in 

 good shape, provided it is handled properlv 

 Then if it is not handled properly, and the 

 honey is injured, the carrier will be broken 

 also, and the railroad company will have to 

 stand the damage." 



A Sure Way of Introducing Queens, 



B. F. Dobhs, in Gleanings, gives a plan 

 that not many may care to use on ac- 

 count of the extra trouble, but in some 

 cases where extra safety is desired it 

 inay be wortli while. Ho says : 



\Vhen the new queen arrives, go to tin- 

 hive to which you wish to introduce her and 

 take nut _ two combs of scaled or hatchin;; 

 brood, being sure not to get the old quccii. 

 In itieir places put full sheets of foundation, 

 then over the brood-chamber put a sheet ot 

 wire cloth, and set an empty hive-body on top. 

 Ill lhi> empty hive-lxidy nver tlic biutul chain 

 ber put the two combs of sealed brood with 

 the live bees nti tliein, ;iiid between tlie tw <. 

 combs put the caged queen. Make the en- 

 trance of the upper body just large enough 

 so that one bee can come out at a time, and 

 be sure that it faces the opposite direction 

 froin the entrance of the lower body. 



I'nder the conditions uniiied ahnve. all tiu- 



old and flying bees will come out and go back 

 to the lower hive, leaving only young bees on 

 the two frames with the queen above. As a 

 rule, these young bees will accept anything 

 in four or five days, and in this time the 

 queen will have been released. She should be 

 left in the upper hive until she is laying, which 

 will probably be by the end of the four or 

 five days. 



When the queen is laying in the upper 

 body, set this hive aside temporarily, remov- 

 ing the old queen from the lower hive; then, 

 without putting the wirecloth back, set the 

 upper hive on the lower one again. In 24 

 hours the queen will be found laying in the 

 lower hive, or at least the two frames in the 

 upper one will be covered with bees, so that 

 the two frames of foundation can be remcved 

 from the lower hive and these two upper 

 frames put back. If the queen is found in 

 this upper hive on the two frames, do not 

 touch her, but slip the two frames out and 

 put in the lower hive as quietly as possible, 

 and leave the colony alone for a few days. 



Taut Versus Slack Wiring. 



Editor Hutchinson protests against 

 slack horizontal wiring with a vehem- 

 ence that is interesting, and it will be in- 

 teresting also to see what reply will be 

 made to him by those who direct that 

 horizontal wires must be left slack to 

 allow for sagging. Regarding this he 

 says in his Bee-Keeper's Review : 



That advice is what riles my temper. Put 

 in wires to keep the foundation from sagging; 

 then leave them slack so it can sag! Why 

 use the wires at all? Yes. I know what the 

 argument is, that the foundation will buckle 

 if the wires are taut. Well, suppose the wires 

 are put in slack, and then the foundation 

 stretches until this slack is taken up, and the 

 wires begin to support the foundation, then 

 what will prevent the foundation from buck- 

 ling? Yes, I know that there is not much, 

 if any, sagging after the foundation is partly 

 drawn, but the wires did not help any while 

 this stage was being reached. 



Pettit Improved Honey-Strainer 



This is described and illustrated in 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review. As hereto- 

 fore used, honey-strainers of cheese- 

 cloth have been at the bottom, and ac- 

 cumulations of the particles strained 

 out soon make it difficult for the honey 

 to pass through. S. T. Pettit conceived 

 the idea of having the straining chiefly 



done at the sides. Now he has greatly 

 increased the straining surface in a 

 way that Editor Hutchinson thus de- 

 scribes : 



Perhaps there is no more graphic way of 

 describing this feature than to say that the 

 bottom of the inside wire-cloth vessel has 

 deep ziTitfkles in its upper surface. There 

 are three of these wrinkles or double folds, 

 and they are 5 inches deep; the side-walls 

 being M inch apart. As the wire-cloth basket 

 is 15 inches square, these cross-sections add 

 over 3 square feet to the straining surface; 

 and at a point where the pressure is greatest. 

 This feature is decidedly novel, original and 

 valuable. As the strainer is now made 

 square instead of round, and is 8J4 inches 

 deep, there are 8 square feet of straining 

 surface; and, as already mentioned, nearly 

 all of it [t>W feet! is vcrlkal. The strainer 

 holds about a bushel. The outside box is of 

 tin. 16 inches square and 10 inches deep. 

 There is a large gate at the bottom of the tin 

 can. but this is not shown in the accompany- 

 ing engraving— simply the hole where the 

 gate is to be placed. Of course, the inside is 

 lined with cheese-cloth; that is. a piece of 

 cloth of the right size is laid in the strainer 

 and nicely folded or fitted to all of the inner 

 parts. Cheese-cloth varies in weight and 

 texture, and care should be taken in its 

 selection. No handles are shown in the cut, 

 but they might be added to the strainer to 

 make it more convenient in handling. 



Bees and Fruit. 



A very striking illustration of the 

 need of bees in order to the securing of 

 a crop of fruit is given in The British 

 Bee Journal, where Editor Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan says : 



Unfruitfulness may be due to a scarcity of 

 bees. I could mention several instances where 

 orchards bad proved unprofitable until bees 

 were introduced. As a case in point, I can 

 mention that when visiting a friend at Pen- 

 ryn, in California, some years ago, who had 

 40 acres of "Alexander" peach-trees, which 

 are generally supposed to be shy bearers, he 

 complained that he could hardly get any fruit 

 from them, and was about to cut thera down 

 and plant some other variety. It was spring, 

 and the trees were a magnificent sight, beiiift 

 in full bloom. As we were going rourni I 

 noticed that there were no bees of any sort 

 on the blossoms, and therefore asked my 

 friend how far was the nearest apiary. He 

 told me it was at Newcastle, 5 miles from 

 where we were. I said those bees were no 

 use to him at all, and advised him to give the 

 trees another season's trial, and to get some 

 bees at once, and if then the trees did not 

 bear fruit he could replant in the autumn. 



He was an intelligent man, took my advice, 

 and obtained 2 colonies of bees, which he 

 placed in the center of his orchard. Of 

 course, by that time more than half the blos- 

 som was over, but for all that he got a fair 

 amount of fruit, the trees nearest the hives 

 having the most on them. This was the first 

 fruit my friend had obtained from his trees, 

 and he was so well pleased that nistead ot 

 destroying the trees he got more bees. 



On visiting him the next year he took nie 

 out to see his orchard, which was a perfect 

 sight, and showed the bees' work, for the 



I'lii-. Pktiit !MrKO\iii Honkv-Str.ainer. 



