February, 1915. 



American Hee Journal 



rather crystallizing — "candying" is 

 the word generally used. It is well 

 known that the honey gathered during 

 the summer seldom candies, while that 

 from the fall flowers does almost in- 

 variably. There is undoubtedly some 

 difference between the honeys pro- 

 duced by different kinds of flowers. 

 Also the honey left on the hives dur- 

 ing summer until fully ripe seldom 

 candies. Extracted honey is more 

 liable to candy than comb honey. 



In this locality there is usually 

 enough hon;y in the late fall to keep 

 up the bees during the winter, but sel- 

 dom enough to furnish a surplus. 

 Four years ago there was an e.xcep- 

 tion. Quite a surplus was obtained in 

 one of my apiaries situated where the 

 golden-rods and asters are plentiful. I 

 put on plenty of sections so that the 

 bees would not be cramped for room. 

 The cold weather came suddenly when 

 the sections were only half full. There 

 was nothing to do but to cut the honey 

 out and put it in lard cans. Of course, 

 a portion of the honey ran out of the 

 combs, so that the contents of the 

 cans were the equivalent of a mixture 

 of comb and e.xtracted honey. 



I had for a neighbor a man who 

 made a specialty of selling fresh veget- 

 ables, eggs, butter, etc., directly to con- 

 sumers. He bought this honey. I 

 directed him to keep it in a warm dry 

 place and sell it as soon as possible. 

 That apiary is quite a distance from 

 home, and the road, or at least a por- 

 tion of it, is quite bad. I did not go 

 there until the early spring, and then 

 inquired about the honey. I had 



agreed to replace what might candy on 

 his hands. To my surprise none had 

 candied. What he had yet was thick, 

 well ripened honey, as good as I have 

 ever seen. He had kept it in " the lit- 

 tle room in the attic." 



The kitchen ii that house is quite 

 large, and in winter time at least is 

 used also as a dining room and family 

 room. The only heating is by a large 

 cooking range. This has a large stove- 

 pipe which goes through the ceiling 

 through "the little room in the attic " 

 and ends in the flue above the roof. 

 The man had to be up at 1 or 2 o'clock 

 in the morning, in the days he went to 

 town That meant an almost continu- 

 ous fire through the whole winter. The 

 cans of honey had been placed around 

 the stovepipe. 



We have here three following facts: 

 1. The honey gathered in the early 

 part of the summer and exposed to 

 the warm weather during two or three 

 months rarely candies. 

 ■ 2. The fall honey, exposed to the cold 

 weather almost immediately after being 

 gathered, usually candies. 



:l The fall honey kept throughout 

 the whole winter at a high temperature 

 in "the little room in the attic" not 

 only did not candy but ripened un- 

 usually well. 



I have not had any fall surplus since 

 then, and therefore have not been 

 able to repeat the experiment. I pre- 

 sume that where there is a furnace in 

 the house, the furnace room would be 

 the best substitute for "the little room 

 in the attic." 

 Knoxville, Tenn. 



Dr. Miller's 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Frames and Honey from American Foulbrood 

 Colonies 



I have 40 colonies of bees with American 

 foulbrood. I would like to treat them in the 

 sprini;. Would it be safe to give them the 

 foulbrood honey after meltinK the combs 

 or would I have to boil it ? Would it be safe 

 to use the frames aeain after boiling and 

 cleaning them. vVvoming. 



Answers —You must boil it. If you boil 

 it without any water, the outer part may 

 burn while the center is not heated enough 

 to make it safe. So add water, perhaps half 

 as much water as honey, slowly heating at 

 first until all is thoroughly melted, and then 

 bring it to a boil and keep it there for at 

 least 15 minutes. Even then some think 

 it unwise to feed such honev. 



The frames may be used aeam if thor 

 oughly boiled. 



Melting Combs in European Foulbrood 



You state you will never melt up any more 

 combs on account of European foulbrood. 

 What would you do with combs partly filled 

 with h'iney and empty, that were left by a 

 colony that had died with the disease ? 



Kansas. 



Answek.— Candidly. I must confess 1 don't 

 know, .^s you state the case. I can imaeint^ 

 a colony so thoroughly rotten with the dis- 



ease that it dies outright, leaving combs 

 containing some honey, but most of the cells 

 filled with diseased and dead brood. If I 

 had such a case I should feel a good deal 

 like burning up the whole thing I'm pretty 

 certain I should if it were the only diseased 

 colony in the apiary. If the disease were 

 spread throughout the apiary. I think I 

 would let such bad combs dry until the 

 dead larv;e were dry. Then if there was 

 honey in some of the combs that I thought 

 fit for table use. I might extract it. Whether 

 the combs were extracted or not. I might 

 give them in an upper story to some colony 

 having the disease but not badly affected. 

 In fact, tliis latter is just what I do. piling 

 the diseased combs four or five storied high 

 —only the combs were notso badlj; diseased 

 a? in the supposed case. 



Even while saying that with a single case 

 in the apiary so bad as imagined. I should 

 burn up the whole thing. I still stand by my 

 assertion that I will never melt up any 

 more combs on account of European foul- 

 brood. because I am very sure I'll never 

 allow a case to get so bad as supposed. 



them are dead or dying. One day while the 

 snow was on the ground I saw dead bees on 

 the snow. While I was there a bee came 

 Hying out of the hive, lit on the snow and 

 was frozen; it was zero weather. I have a 

 box set over the hive; the front side is open. 

 1 hey are not packed. The entrance of the 

 hive is wide open, and they have plenty of 

 lioney to winter on with nothing to disturb 

 them. They are Italian bees. 



2 What is the best bee for this country, 

 the Huckeye strain, vbanded. golden Italian 

 or leather colored ? 



1. How can 1 tell a queen-cell from all the 

 rest ? 



4 What is the best way to introduce a 

 valuable queen ? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. Theremay be nothing wrong 

 at all; depends upon what is meant by 

 "quite a number. " In a strong colony it is 

 nothing strange if a thousand bees die off 

 in the course of the winter; and when the 

 .sun is shining upon the white snow it is 

 nothing alarming to see a bee fly out to meet 

 its death in the snow. 



2. There are good beesof almost all kinds; 

 the majority of beekeepers probably prefer 

 the 1-banded Italians. 



3. Get a good bee-book; you need one any- 

 how, and in it you will have a picture of a 

 queen-cell which will teach you to recognize 

 it easily. Still you will not have much 

 trouble in telling one when you see it. I; is 

 entirely different from worker-cells or 

 drone-cells, which are alike except as to 

 size. If you find a big cell that looks a good 

 bit like a peanut, you may know that it is a 

 sealed queen cell. When it is first begun it 

 looks something like an acorn cup. 



4. With a very valuable queen, if you want 

 to be entirely safe, proceed in this way: 

 Put two. three, or more frames of brood in 

 an upper story over a strong colony, having 

 a queen-excluder between the two stories. 

 In about eight days all the brood will be 

 sealed. Now lift the upper story, take 

 away the excluder, and cover the hive with 

 wire cloth, which will not admit the pas- 

 sage of a bee. Over the wire cloth set an 

 empty hive-body. One by one lift the 

 frames out of the removed upper story, 

 brushing off upon the ground in front of the 

 hive all the bees from each comb, and put- 

 ting the brushed combs into the empty 

 upper story. Put your new queen into this 

 upper story and cover up. making very sure 

 that not a bee can get in or out. Your queen 

 is now alone in this upper story, but will 

 probably have company within five min- 

 utes, for young bees will be hatching out 

 constantly from the sealed brood. No bee 

 can get from one story to the other, but the 

 heat can rise from below to keep the upper 

 story warm. In about five days you can set 

 this upper story on a new stand, giving it 

 entrance for only one bee at a time. If your 

 bees act as mine have done, and the circum 

 stances are favorable, before night you will 

 see some of the s day old bees entering the 

 hive with pollen on their legs. 



Wintering Two Queens In One Hive 



How can I winter two queens in one hive 

 and have the bees run together ? 



Illinois. 



.\nswer.— I don't know, having never 

 tried it. 



Bees Dying— Strains of Bees— Introducing 



I, What ails my bees ? Quite a number of 



Candied Honey as Feed — Where Does Wax 

 Come From? 



1. Since as it would seem no established 

 beekeeper produces enough wax to work 

 into his necessary foundation, where does 

 the surplus come from ? 



2 Why is it that hard sugar candy is used 

 as winter feed while the candying of honey 

 in the hive is deplored ? Why not feed can- 

 died honey over the cluster when needed? 



}. Have you ever had one or more colonies 



