May, 191.'.. 



15r. 



American ~Ree Jonrnal 



Apiary Demonstrations in Ontario for 

 1915. — Arrangements are well advanced 

 for the apiary demonstrations to be 

 conducted throughout the province of 

 Ontario this coming summer. The 

 increased attendance of this last year 

 indicates the great interest that is be- 

 ing taken in this line of work. In all 

 .55 demonstrations, with an average 

 attendance of 34, were conducted this 

 past season. The whole apiary and the 

 beekeeper's equipment is placed at the 

 demonstrator's disposal, giving him 

 excellent opportunities to illustrate 

 with the actual objects many of his 

 remarks. 



The demonstrator has complete 

 charge of the meeting. Usually he 

 starts by a short talk on foulbrood, then 

 proceeding to the apiary and examin- 

 ing several colonies. If the disease is 

 found a colony is treated. Suggestions 

 are offered on many minor details that 

 present themselves as the hives are be- 

 ing opened. Special attention will be 

 paid to wintering. Models of the four 

 hive wintering case will be supplied 

 the demonstrator. These will form a 

 new factor of the meetings. 



Final arrangements are yet to be 

 made, but ample notice will be given 

 later. 



Iowa Field Meet A field meeting of 



beekeepers will be held at the Heights, 

 McGregor, Iowa, Wednesday, May W. 

 Miss Mathilda Candler and Mr. Harry 

 Lathrop of Wisconsin, and Mr. C. D. 

 Blaker, State Inspector of Minnesota, 

 will be the speakers. The Heights is 

 a very sightly place overlooking the 

 Mississippi river and near the depot at 

 McGregor. A very pleasant meeting 

 was held there last year, and a larger 

 attendance is expected in 1916. .A pic- 

 nic dinner is planned the same as last 

 year. Fr.\nk C. Pellett. 



Nany Uses for Honey. — "Various 

 ways in which the housewife can use 

 honey to advantage are suggested in a 

 new publication of the United States 

 Department of .Agriculture — Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 653, ' Honey and Its Uses 

 in the Home.' In this country honey 

 has hitherto not been in as common 

 use as in Europe, especially in cookery. 

 It is, however, a comparatively simple 

 matter to substitute it in many recipes 

 for common sugar or for molasses, 

 and when this is done the resulting 

 flavor is often both novel and agree- 

 able. 



"One of the great advantages in the 

 use of honey is that cakes made with it 

 will keep much longer than those made 

 with sugar. A honey-cake made with 

 butter, for instance, will keep its qual- 

 ity until the butter grows rancid, and 

 one made without butter will keep 

 fresh for months. For this reason 

 honey is especially useful in recipes 

 that call for no butter. Icing made 

 with honey has the same advantage, 

 and some icing made in the experi- 

 mental laboratory of the Department 



of -Agriculture, was found at the end 

 of ten months to be as soft and in as 

 good condition as when it was first 

 made. 



"The experiments conducted by the 

 Department indicate that many of the 

 instructions in the old cook books for 

 the preparation of honey were unneces- 

 sarily elaborate. For example, it used 

 to be thought that honey had to be 

 brought to the boiling point and then 

 skimmed and cooled. Some honey is 

 extremely likely to boil over, this pro- 

 cess requires great care. E.xperiments 

 showed, however, that it appears to be 

 quite unnecessary, and it is quite prob- 

 able that the notion arose at a time 

 when ordinary commercial honey con- 

 tained more impurities than at present. 

 Similarly, the older recipes say that the 

 dough should be kept at least one day 

 before the soda is added. 



" No evidence to support this theory 

 was found by the investigators. On 

 the other hand, however, they did dis- 

 cover that dough containing honey can 

 be more easily kneaded if allowed to 

 stand for several days. Again, the use 

 of ' potash ' is recommended in most 

 of the recipes in foreign cook books 

 as a means of raising the dough. The 



properties of potash are quite similar 

 to ordinary baking soda, and there 

 seems no reason why the latter should 

 not do just as well. 



"Baking soda is a common kitchen 

 commodity in America, and potassium 

 bicarbonate — the potash of the cook- 

 ery book is almost unknown for house- 

 hold purposes. As a matter of fact, a 

 little e.xperience will enable any com- 

 petent cook to substitute honey suc- 

 cessfully for sugar in bread, cake, pre- 

 served fruits, sauces and candies. It is 

 safe to estimate that a cupful of honey 

 will sweeten a dish about as much as a 

 cupful of sugar, but since honey con- 

 tains water in addition, there is less 

 need for milk or other liquids. For 

 practical purposes it is accurate enough 

 to consider that for each cupful of 

 honey a quarter of a cupful is added to 

 the recipe. If these facts are kept in 

 mind special honey recipes are unnec- 

 essary." 



This Bulletin. No. (5.53, contains a 

 number of recipes. We advise the 

 beekeepers to send for it either through 

 their representatives in Congress or 

 through the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



Bee-I^eping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Marengo. 111. 



Taking Olf Sections 



In the spring of 1914 my husband 

 purchased two bee-hives; they are one 

 and a half story hives including sec- 

 tions and foundation starters. They 

 came in fine shape, and we were well 

 pleased. The bees filled 31 sections 

 last summer. I took them out a few at 

 a time and left vacant places. Now the 

 separators are warped. What shall I 

 do about it ? Can I wet separators in 

 warm water and press them straight ? 

 These two colonies are strong now. 

 Please advise me what to buy and how 

 to manage to make them fill the most 

 sections this summer? What kind of 

 foundation fastener do you advise for 

 a few colonies ? 



I put a colony in an 8-frame hive 

 April 27, 1014, and they built the combs 

 crooked. June, 1914, they were work- 

 ing fine, super /'it//, so I cut out 30 

 pounds of honey and returned empty 

 super and frames at once. They did 

 not work in the super another bit. 

 What was my mistake in this case ? I 

 also have a strong colony in an 8-frame 

 hive nou; which has nice straight 

 combs in five of the frames in the su- 

 per, some cells being filled and capped. 

 How shall I manage it? In case you 

 advise me to use full sheets of founda- 

 tion in frames, what shall I do with 

 little bits of comb ? 



Bees are bringing in pollen now. I 

 have 19 colonies of nice bees, but a 

 motley collection of hives. 



[Mr.';.] Bki.le 1-"verett. 

 Maryville, Tenn. 

 If your separators are without glue 



you cannot only wet them with warm 

 water, but better yet give them a good 

 soaking in hot water or steam them. 

 Leave them in a place where they will 

 dry out quickly, leaving under pressure 

 until thoroughly dry. But glued sep- 

 arators cannot be wet, as they will fall 

 to pieces, so they must depend- upon 

 pressure for a long time. 



It is a little difficult to say just how 

 many sections you will need, so much 

 depends upon the season and the crop 

 you get, but it is always safe to have 

 ready more sections than you expect 

 to have filled, as there will always be 

 some sections at the end of the season 

 unfinished ; still you must have these 

 sections as a safety valve, because you 

 never know just when the flow will 

 cease, and these partly drawn sections 

 are valuable to use as bait sections 

 next season. If you think that in an 

 extra good season you may get 150 

 finished sections per colony, better 

 have ready about 175 sections per col- 

 ony. If in a best season you think you 

 will need more or less sections than 

 that you should be guided accordingly. 

 You should always be ready for a big 

 crop, and if there are sections left over 

 until the next season they will be all 

 right to use then. 



Never allow the bees to feel crowded 

 for surplus room. When the first su- 

 per is about half full raise it up and 

 place an empty one under it. When 

 this last is about half filled another 

 may be added under, and so on as fast 

 as needed. It is not a bad plan to add 

 an empty one also on top w^iere it will 

 not be used if not needed. 



