1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



the business, extra, against ni}^ experience, 

 this s<anie extra to be divided equally between 

 us if we should ever dissolve partntrship? I 

 write you, as I believe your judgment to be 

 ^ood in such matters. 



Ottawa, Kan. J. Q. Adams. 



[It is a little hard to give an answer ; but 

 perhaps we can arrive at a solution something 

 in this w&y : I'nskilled labor, in the case un- 

 der consideration, should be placed, perhaps, 

 at half of that of skilled. For instance, in 

 Colorado, if a good experienced bee-keeper 

 can earn $2 00 a day, a man who is learning 

 the business ought not to have more than $1, 

 if as much as that. But assuming that the be- 

 ginner will be gathering experience and be- 

 coming more and more competent, we may 

 assume that his labor will average at about 

 half of the labor of the expert. Now, then, 

 to your question. If the wages of an expert 

 bee-keeper in dollars and cents — one who un- 

 derstands his business — is rated at )?2 a day in 

 Colorado, then your friend, considering that 

 you are an expert, should receive half of the 

 proceeds of the apiary less $1 per day for time 

 actually spent by yourself. 



A good deal of labor in an apiary that an 

 expert would have to perform, the novice 

 could do, such as lifting and carrying combs, 

 brushing bees off the combs, turning the 

 crank of the extractor ; but, on the other 

 hand, it should be considered that the unskill- 

 ed labor would be worth perhaps SI less per 

 day, and possibly in some cases more than 

 that without the skilled labor placed in co-op- 

 eration. If your friend agrees to this kind of 

 division then each of you should share equal- 

 ly in the expenses and the profits. — Ed.] 



HIVING ON DRAWN COMBS. 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — Owing to the extraor- 

 dinarily poor seasons for the last three years, 

 and the gradual dwindling away of many col- 

 onies, I am left with a large number of the 

 ordinary-sized Hoffman brood-combs on my 

 hands. It is possible that next season may 

 surprise us by being a good one, and that I 

 may have many swarms. Will you please ad- 

 vise us through Gleanings how drawn brood- 

 combs may be used to the best advantage in 

 hiving swarms ? My practice has been here- 

 tofore, in the days when the seasons were 

 good enough for the bees to swarm, to use 

 brood-frames with starters of foundation, 

 about four frames to a ten-frame Dovetailed 

 hive ; fill up the rest of the brood-nest with 

 dummies, and put on the sections ; but this 

 season I shall have plenty of old brood-frames 

 to use. Please advise how you would use 

 them in hiving swarms to best advantage, giv- 

 ing details. Ben Avon. 



[Dr. Miller replies :] 



Using brood combs fully drawn out, in place 

 of foundation, need not call for a great deal 

 of change in managemtnt, at least in the man- 

 agement you have been using. Whatever ne- 

 cessity you may have felt for limiting the 

 frames of foundation to four when hiving a 

 swarm, that necessity is emphasi7ed when 



combs are used ; for if the hive were filled 

 with combs the bees would prefer to store in 

 them in place of the super. I^et the swarm be 

 put on four combs ; fill the dummies and 

 place it on the old stand, with the mother col- 

 ony close beside it, the super being transferred 

 to the swarm. A week later move the mother 

 colony to a new stand. Ten days after the 

 time of swarming, four more combs may be 

 put in the center of the brood-nest if it is an 

 eight-frame hive. If it ic, a ten-frame hive, 

 give three combs, putting on fach side of 

 these three combs two of the filled combs. 

 Ten days later still, put three more combs in 

 the center of the hive. 



I do not speak with authority, as I have not 

 used ten-frame hives for some years, and it 

 may be that it would be all right to give five 

 combs at first and the other five ten days lat- 

 er, c. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Jan. 28. 



A SIMPLE WAY TO STRAIN THE HONEY AS 

 IT COMES FROM THE EXTRACTOR. 



In the article of W. A. H. Gilstrap, Jan. 15, 

 page 48, I see that he does not know how 

 " Messrs. France and Coggshall can sell honey 

 right from the extractor." Well, I do not 

 know either ; but I will tell how / do it. 



I am using two cans, made as per illustra- 

 tion, to hold 5 gallons each. These are ustd 

 under the extractor, one 

 at a time. Each can has 

 a strainer on top (an old- 

 fashioned flour sifter, but 

 finer wire), and a hone} - 

 gate at the bottom. As 

 soon as the can is full, it 

 is set up on a box, high 

 enough to put a square 

 can under the honey-gate 

 of the can, and the honey 

 is started to run into the 

 lower can, when I go on extracting into the 

 second can. In this way I do not need to 

 watch, to keep the honey from running over, 

 as it will do by filling from a tank, especially 

 when one's mind is on something else at the 

 time. I like this arrangement, especially for 

 out-apiaries, as I can take home the honey as 

 soon as extracted, and am not compelled to 

 leave it in a tank unprotected on the desert or 

 mountain range. I know of one bee-keeper, 

 who has his honey-house at an elevation, who 

 found his honey at the foot of the hill, losing 

 several tons of honey, as some one had fired 

 a rifle-ball through his tank, and in this way 

 liberated the honey. This might have been 

 great fun for the hunter, but certainly rot for 

 said bee keeper, who lost the larger part of 

 his crop. M. R. Kuehne. 



Pomona, Cal., Jan. 19. 



[Your honey-strainer is doubtless a very 

 serviceable and useful implement ; but while 

 it will separate out all the coarse particles of 

 wax, propolis, bee-legs, pi. ces of wood, etc., 

 it would not, I should sup]iose, catch the finer 

 particles that will pass right through a sieve. 

 These can be separated out only by gravity or 



