March. 1912. 



American HQe Journal 



wet with a solution of carbolic acid 

 for the purpose of driving bees down 

 out of supers. In this country it is sel- 

 dom mentioned. It is therefore a mat- 

 ter of no small surprise to learn that in 

 this country there is a bee-keeper thor- 

 oughly familiar with the use of carbolic 

 acid as a super-clearer, and who used 

 it some time even before the bee-es- 

 cape now in common use was known. 

 That bee-keeper is a sister, and that 

 sister none other than that experienced 

 and practical bee-keeper, Miss Ma- 

 thilde Candler. She writes: 



I have just read the editorial regarding; the 

 using of carbolic acid in the apiary, and as 

 I used it when removing comb-honey supers 

 from the hive, regularly and for a good many 

 years before the advent of the Porter bee- 

 escape. I may be able to give some testi- 

 mony that might be of interest. 



I used it only in harvesting the honey. 1 

 poured a small quantity of acid— about a 

 spoonful or so-into enough water to wrmg 

 out 4 or 5 cloths probably about a gallon ot 

 waten. If too much acid is used it burns 

 the hands; if too little, its effect is not last- 

 ing and bees will quickly return to the su- 

 pers unless they can be pried loose and re- 

 moved rapidly enough. 



After being wrung out. each cloth was 

 spread out over a super under the coyer. 

 By the time the last cloth was on. the hrst 

 super was cleared of bees, if the solution 

 was strong enough, and could be removed. 



It works much more rapidly and sure than 

 the escape; in fact.it is done in a minute, 

 and there is no failure through stoppage of 

 the escape-hole, as is sometimes the case 

 with bee-escapes. 



But it has one defect, which caused me to 

 abandon it. though I havesometimes thought 

 of practicing that method again. A large 

 amount of unsealed brood was lost by it. 

 When I opened the hive I found the larva; 

 on the sides of the cell, at the edge, or even 

 on the tioor of the hive. Only an agony su- 

 preme could have induced that young brood, 

 naturally inactive, to move about in this 

 way. Possibly if I had used fewer cloths at 

 a time, it would have worked better, as they 

 would not have remained on so long. 



Cassville. Wis. Mathilde Candler. 



An objection to the use of carbolic 

 acid in this way— perhaps urged only 

 by those who have not tried it— is the 

 danger of having the flavor or odor of 

 honey affected thereby. As Miss Cand- 

 ler makes no mention of this, likely she 

 had no trouble on that score. Strangely 

 enough, the objection she does make 

 has never been mentioned in the books 

 and periodicals of England, if memory 

 serves. Can it be possible that no 

 British brother or sister has ever used 

 a solution strong enough to kill the 

 brood? Or, are they less careful ob- 

 servers across the water than our 

 American sister? 



We are much indebted to Miss Cand- 

 ler for her interesting and valuable com- 

 munication, and it is just possible, con- 

 sidering how quickly and thoroughly 

 the acid works, that we may learn just 

 Iiow strong to make the solution, and 

 how long a time to allow the cloth to 

 remain, so that it shall do its work 

 effectivelyand yet not injure the brood. 

 In that case it may yet become the 

 vogue on this side the water. 



Wintering Caucasian Bees 



Arthur C Miller says in Gleanings in Bee 

 'Culture, that the temperature outside the 

 cluster inside the hive is the same ni winter 

 as that outside the hive. I thought of it 

 when 1 went out to break the snow-crust in 

 front of my hives, and found, as we always 

 do. a large space or chamber in front of the 

 t-ntrances, where the warmth of the cluster 

 in the hive had melted the snow outside. I 

 think a raging blizzard would not attect 

 those bees in the least. But our hives are 

 not always covered out of sight with snow. 



especially in the spring when they are till- 

 ing with brood and most need protection. 



It seems to me that Mr. Holtermann has 

 given us something on wintering that is fuMy 

 as valuable as Mr. Doolittle on ciueen-rear- 

 iug. or Mr. Ale.\ander on swarming and in- 

 crease. Anyway. I have not been successful 

 in cellar-wintering, and I know that many 

 others have not, and his ideas appeal to me. 

 There are one or two drawbacks, however, 

 to Mr. Holtermann s plans. In the spring 

 you will have to stand in the tliglit of the 

 bees, either the swarm you are working 

 with or its next neighbor. No doubt this is 

 better than drifting. Then I see no way lo 

 carry on stimulative feeding when one de- 

 sires, but perhaps with the extra warm bed- 

 room and plenty o( stores, it would not be 

 so much needed. 



We hear so little about the Caucasians 

 that it seems those who have tried them 

 must have been disappointed and given 

 them up. This was my experience. My 

 chief trouble was. they would not enter the 

 comb-houey super, and seemed bent on 

 swarming, but they lived overwinter and 

 built up in the spring under conditions that 

 no other bees would survive. The queen 

 was received too late in the fall to build up 

 a strong colony for winter, and they went 

 into the cold weather with insufficient 

 stores; also, the hive was not well protected. 



Along in March, perhaps two weeks be- 

 fore they had a flight. I opened the hive and 

 poured a few tablespoonsful of warm sugar 

 syrup right on the cluster. They were ex- 

 cited, ves! but it did not seem to hurt them, 

 and they commenced to build up. I con- 

 tinued to feed them irregularly, and they 

 soon went away ahead of any of my Italians. 

 Later I reared a number of young queens, 

 but afterwards requeened them all with 

 Italians, because they would not store comb 

 honey. 



Now I am going to try them again. We 

 want early brood and young bees, but are 

 always cautioned not to wear out the bees 

 and run the risk of losing brood in a sudden 

 cold snap by too early stimulating the bees 

 to rear brood. Why could not an Italian 

 and Caucasian queen be kept side by side 

 in a Holtermann wintering-case on a Hand 

 bottom-board, thus supplying early Cau- 

 casian bees to the Italian queen ? No great 

 harm done then if some of the old Italians 

 did die with more than enough young bees 

 to take their place. 



There is no denying that early brood and 

 bees mean honey and money, even if stores 

 are used. We know that the Italians are no 

 good to rear brood in March or April, but it 

 doesn't seem to injure the constitution or 

 disposition of the Caucasians to get up early 

 on a winter morning, light the fires a^d go 

 to work. 



They will rear brood on short allowance if 

 they must, but will make a good return for a 

 full table. It costs no more stores to rear 

 bees when you want them in early spring 

 than when you don't want them after the 



honey-flow is over. As in a Holtermann 

 wintering-case, j'ou can not use the back 

 entrance, a Porter bee-escape would have 

 to be arranged at the front entrance of the 

 Caucasian hive to shift the bees when they 

 were wanted in the Italian hive. This could 

 not be done except on some day when the 

 bees were flying, but there are always such 

 days in the last of March and in April. 

 Brood-rearing in the Caucasian hive might 

 be checked for a time, but there would be 

 vouug bees to care for the brood, the hive 

 being protected with the wintering case: 

 and the Italians would certainly be the 

 gainers. D. E. Light. 



Is it not just possible that conclu- 

 sions may be drawn without sufficient 

 data on which to base them ? You say 

 your chief trouble with Caucasians 

 was that they would not enter the 

 comb-honey super. If others have 

 found the same objection it has es- 

 caped attention. It is just possible 

 that there was something exceptional 

 in your case, and that upon fuller trial 

 you would find that Caucasians would 

 take to supers as kindly as other bees. 

 It would be of interest to know what 

 inducements you ofTered in the way of 

 baits to coax the bees into the supers. 

 There is probably no race of bees that 

 will be satisfactorily prompt at enter- 

 ing a section-super which has in it 

 nothing beyond foundation. That is, 

 for the first super. At least one bait- 

 section should be in the first super; 

 that is, a section that has been partly 

 or wholly filled the previous season, 

 and then the honey emptied out by the 

 bees in the fall. If you gave such bait 

 to your Caucasians, and they then re- 

 fused to enter the super when other 

 bees were doing work at surplus-stor- 

 ing, it remains to be learned whether 

 Caucasians in general act in that way_ 



Again, you say Italians are no good 

 to rear brood in March or April. That 

 raises the question whether there may 

 not have been something exceptional 

 in your experience, for that objection 

 to Italians has not been at all general. 

 Certainly in this locality they build up 

 early enough to do good work as sur- 

 plus-gatherers. 



We will all be interested to hear how 

 you come out in your further experi- 

 ence. 



Conducted by .T. L. BvER. Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



The Blending of Honeys 



As to the blending of honeys men- 

 tioned on page 48 by Mr. A. C. Miller, 

 without taking the trouble to look up 

 the matter, I can not recall the man 

 spoken of who was doing such a rush- 

 ing business in the Toronto markets. 

 Without ([uestioning the statement in 

 the least, I would remind Mr. Miller 

 that "one swallow does not make a 

 summer," and even if one man does 

 blend his honey, that is not proving it 

 to be a good practise. 



As a luatter of fact, the term " blend- 

 ing "is almost a misnomer so far as 

 Ontario honey is concerned, for, gen- 

 erally speaking, about all our white 

 honey is from clover and basswood. 



while our dark honey is from buck- 

 wheat. Some years even our clover is 

 a little o{f' in color, and at such times 

 we find we are "up against it " when it 

 comes to selling it in a market where 

 whiter honey is being offered. By this 

 I mean that some localities will give 

 whiter clover honey than others in 

 some seasons. Generally speaking, the 

 whiter the honey the better article it is, 

 other things, such as body, etc., being 

 equal in all samples. The public have 

 learned tliis, and I do not blame them 

 for wanting a white honey — indeed, I 

 would prefer that grade myself if want- 

 ing any. 



If I remember correctly, Mr. Miller 

 said that the honey in his State varied 

 very much in color, flavor, etc., and I 



