292 



September, 1910. 



American ~Bee Journal 



empty hive that you have at hand for con- 

 venience. 



Now take out of the upper story the frames 

 that contain brood, putting them in the hive 

 on the stand. Then select from all the frames 

 left the ones best filled with honey, until you 

 have the hive on the stand filled up. From 

 the frames that are left brush into the hive 

 all the bees so as to make sure the queen is 

 in the riRht place, unless it be that in putting; 

 frames into the hive you may have seen the 

 queen and know she is in the hive on the 

 stand. If it be pretty late in the season, you 

 can store away the one story of combs taken 

 away, but if it is yet somewhat early it will 

 be a good plan to put it back on. with a 

 queen-excluder between the two stories. Then 

 later on vou can take away this upper story, 

 brushing all bees back into the hive, or on the 

 ground in front of it. 



Selling Honey on Commission. 



What can I expect from commission men 

 selling my honey in sections 4^4x4^x1?^. 

 weighing about 10 ounces per section, all alike 

 in each shipping-case of 24, and weighing 

 alike? There will be grades of white and 

 amber weighing 11 ounces per section, 12, 13, 

 14, 15, and 10 ounces. There will be in each 

 shipping-case 24 sections, each weighing alike, 

 shipping-cases and crates furnished, freight 40 

 cents per 100 pounds to New York City. How 

 would you grade this, and what percentage 

 are broken in shipment to commission men, 

 or what will it cost per section for each grade 

 fancy A-1. No. 1, No. 2. and No. 3? In 

 grading, do you have sections of all weights 

 in each shipping-case? New York. 



Answer. — I really don't know what you 

 ought to expect from commission men for sec- 

 tions sorted as you have sorted yours. Such 

 sorting is entirely new to me, and I doubt 

 if you will follow it up very long. It in- 

 volves the weighing of every single section 

 separately, the sections then to be distributed 

 into 7 different lots of the white honey, and 

 as many more of the amber. The commis- 

 sion man would probably be somewhat unde- 

 cided as to just how he should sell it. If he 

 is in a market where honey is sold by the 

 pound instead of being sold by the section, 

 likely he would sell at the same price per 

 pound all of the kinds from those that weigh 

 16 ounces to the section down to those that 

 weigh 12 ounces each. The sections that 

 weigh 10 or 11 ounces each should not be 

 sent at all, for they will be only partly filled 

 and sealed. 



As to properly grading, the folowmg rules 

 will help you: 



Eastern Grading Rules for Comb Honey. 



Fancy. — All sections well filled, combs 

 straight, firmly attached to all four sides, the 

 combs unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise, 

 all the cells scaled except an occasional one. 

 the outside surface of the wood well scraped 

 of propolis. 



A No. 1. — All sections well filled except the 

 row of cells next to the wood; combs straight; 

 one-eighth part of comb surface soiled, or the 

 entire surface slightly soiled; the outside sur- 

 face of the wood well scraped of propolis. 



No. 1. — All sections well filled except the 

 row of cells next to the wood; combs com- 

 paratively even; one-eighth part of comb sur- 

 face soiled, or the entire surface slightly 

 soiled. 



No. 2. — Three-fourths of the total surface 

 must be filled and sealed. 



No. 3. — Must weight at least half as much 

 as a full-weight section. 



In addition to this the honey is to be 

 classified according to color, using the terms 

 ivhite. amht-r, and dark; that is, there will 

 be "Fancy White," "No. 1 Dark," etc. 



New Comd-Honey Grading Rules Adopted 



BY THE Colorado State Bee-Keepers' 



Association. 



No. 1 White. — Sections to be well filled 

 and evenly capped except the outside row, 

 next to the wood; honey white or slightly 

 amber, comb and cappings white, and noi 

 projecting beyond the wood; wood to he well 

 cleaned; cases of separatored honey to average 

 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections, no sec- 

 tion in this grade to weigh less than 13 J^ 

 ounces. 



Cases of half-scparatored honey to average 

 not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 

 sections. 



Cases of unscparatored honey to average not 

 less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 sec- 

 tions. 



No. 1 Light Amber. — Sections to be well 



filled and evenly capped, except the outside 

 row, next to the wood; honey white or light 

 amber; comb and cappings from white to off 

 color, but not dark ; comb not projecting be- 

 yond the wood; \voo<l to be well cleaned. 



Cases of separatored honey to average 21 

 pounds net per case of 24 sections; no section 

 in this grade to weigh less than 13!/j ounces. 



Cases of half-separatored honey to average 

 not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 

 sections. 



Cases of unscparatored honey to average 

 not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 

 sections. 



No. 2 — This includes all white honey, and 

 amber honey not included in the above grades; 

 sections to be fairly well filled and capped, 

 no more than 25 uncapped cells, exclusive of 

 outside row, permitted in this grade, wood to 

 be well cleaned, no section in this grade to 

 weigh less than 12 ounces. 



Cases of separatored honey to average not 

 less than 19 pounds net. 



Cases of half-separatored honey to average 

 not less than 20 pounds net per case of 24 

 sections. 



Cases of unseparatored honey to average 

 not less than 21 pounds net per case of 24 

 sections. 



The Colorado rules contemplate selling by 

 the case, not by the exact weight, and so 

 there is a definite limit as to the weight of 

 sections going into each case, but not so as 

 to require the weighing of each separate sec- 

 tion. For instance, in No. 1 white, you must 

 see that no section goes into the case that 

 weight less than 13f.-2 ounces, and that cases 

 of separatored honey holding 24 sections each 

 shall average not less than 21 pounds net. 



The Eastern rules contemplate selling by 

 weight, and so no definite weight is men- 

 tioned. Of course, you will see that by either 

 grading there will be in the same case sec- 

 tions of different weights. 



If the sections are properly filled and prop- 

 erly packed for shipping, there should be no 

 breakage whatever. If they weigh only 10 

 ounces each, and have no bottom starters, they 

 should all be broken in shipping. 



You can figure out for yourself what the 

 honey would net you, depending on the price 

 at which the commission man sells. Ten pe.- 

 cent of the total amount he receives for the 

 honey must be deducted for commission (un- 

 less a smaller per cent on a large amount), 

 and freight and cartage must also be de- 

 ducted, the balance being the net amount he 

 should send you. 



The *'Long-Ideal" Hive. 



Kindly refer me to any bee-papers or other 

 sources of information about the Long- Ideal 

 hive? Cuba. 



Answer. — I don't know just where to re- 

 fer you, although years ago there was quite 

 a little scattered through the bee-papers about 

 the Long-Ideal hive. Although used some- 

 what largely in Europe, it is used very litth* 

 in this country. O. O. Poppleton is its chief 

 apostle, a very able bee-keeper of Florida, who 

 likes it much. All there is of it is to make 

 the one story large enough to contain all the 

 frames you want, so as to use no second 

 storv. Some use a queen-excluder so as to 

 separate the hive into two compartments, one 

 for brood and the other for honey. I'm not 

 sure about it, but I rather think Mr. Popple- 

 ton does not use this excluder. Perhaps he 

 will tell us something about this hive as ho 

 uses it. 



Some Questions from a Beginner. 



1. When a queen is introduced in a weak 

 colony, why are queen-cells allowed to be 

 capped, over? Does the new queen destroy 

 these before hatching, or does she kill the 

 queen after she is hatched? 



2. Do you feed your bees in the spring to 

 get them strong for the honey-flow? 



3. In putting a super under a partly filled 

 one, do the bees finish the partly filled one 

 first, or the one just put on? 



4. Do you keep all your hives in the shade? 



5. I sec in Gleanings some frames with tlio 

 owner's name in raised letters madt- of comii 

 and honey by the bees. How is this done? 

 That is. how is the foundation fixed so the 

 bees will do that kind of work? 



G. Do you contract the brood-nest to crowd 

 more honey and bees into the supers? If so, 

 how many frames do you take out of a 10- 

 frame hive? 



7. Do you find the blacks as good honey- 



gatherers as the pure Italians? 



8. Do you plant anything for your bees to 

 work on? If so, what? 



9. In hiving a new swarm is it righ; l^ 

 give them the full lO-frames of foundation at 

 once? Missoui-i. 



Answers. — They are not often capped over. 

 They are generally emptied out by the bees 

 before that. In case they are capped over, 

 I don't know whether they are turn open 

 by the bees or the queen, but likely the 

 young queen is destroyed before she leaves 

 the cell. 



2. No; if there is an abundance of honey 

 in the hive, that is enough. Hut I always 

 like to have extra combs of sealed honey on 

 hand to give to any colony that may need ir 



3. They first finish the super that was first 

 given, whether it be over or under the second. 



4. No; but 1 wish they were all in the 

 shade. Not that it makes any difference to 

 the bees, but because it is pleasanter for the 

 bee-keeper. 



5. I'm not familiar with that sort of thing, 

 but I can think of one way in which it possi- 

 bly might be done. Let a comb be built out 

 in the middle of the upper story with a 

 dummy rather close to it on one side. That 

 will give an entirely flat surface. When it is 

 entirely sealed over, pick off the cappings so 

 as to form the desired design, and return the 

 frame, spaced a little farther from the dummy 

 than it was before. The part that was al- 

 ready sealed will be left as it was, and the 

 design built out further. Perhaps the design 

 might be darkened, if so desired, by having 

 the frame placed, (not before, but after the 

 uncapping) next to an old, black brood-comb. 

 I don't know how much more the spacing 

 should be after the uncapping; possibly ^4 

 inch. If too much, the bees will build a fresh 

 layer of cells over the entire surface. 



6. No, and yes. I use 8- frame hives, and 

 sometimes, before it is time to put on supers, 

 a colony will have 10 or 12 frames of brood. 

 When it is time to put on supers, only one 

 story is left. When I used 10-frame hives, 

 I always left the 10 frames. 



7. At first I had pure blacks, and the Ital- 

 ians are away ahead of them. A cross be- 

 tween the two is as good for honey-gathering 

 as the pure Italian blood; sometimes better. 

 But this cross is likely to be cross, and I am do- 

 in^ something at working out the black blood 

 chiefly because I don't like to work among 

 hornets. Moreover, a cross is not likely to 

 be as stable in character as a pure blood, and 

 more likely to run out. 



S. After trying many things I now plant 

 nothing specially for the bees. 



9. Yes; especially if the swarm is large. 



How About the Black Bee? 



I am a young bee-keeper of but limited 

 experience, and would not presume to speak 

 among our authorities. But I have taken mucii 

 interest in the numerous statements concern- 

 ing the black as compared with the Italian 

 bee. 



My own experience, such as it is, has been 

 with the blacks. My average has been small, 

 but I have, I think, done fairly well for the 

 amount of attention given to the bees. I 

 have had only one colony of Italians of pure 

 blood. Of hybrids, I have had some, but I 

 have a very intimate friend who is requeen- 

 ing with Italians, and has, I admit, obtained 

 some prolific queens whicli produce good work- 

 ers. He has, however, blacks which gather 

 fully as much honey per colony as the best 

 of his Italians. 



But, dnn't you think tliat if our large bee- 

 keepers had given to the black the attention 

 that has been lavislied upon the Italian, that 

 the former would have been developed by a 

 process of selection and careful breeding as 

 the latter have? 



From reports of my personal friends, and 

 from the columns of the bee-papers, it seems 

 that Italians have a tendency to degenerate, 

 or to mate with blnck-s. thus making the black 

 brood the leader. If this be true, does it not 

 seem that they (the blacks) are the stronger 

 on the wing? Did not Dr. Miller develop a 

 strain of hybrids and blacks ihut gave famous 

 results? 



I will not myself attempt the development 

 of the blacks, as the Italians have half a 

 century of selection, and I expect to requeen 

 \vith them, but in so doing. I do not admit 

 that there is no virtue in the black, but that 

 it is owing to care that our Italians arc su- 

 perior. 



D. M. Macdonald poins out that the black 

 is superior in his country where it Icis been 



