c 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



lur 



514 



^yJ^ these morn- 

 ings at our 

 home, as the 

 truck is loaded 

 with brood- 

 chambers filled 

 with frames of 

 foundation, su- 

 pers of sections, 



smokers, bee-veils, extra clothes in case of 

 rain, lunches for the noonday meal; and two 

 experienced beemen with two strong boys, 

 with jest and laughter, start for outyards 

 four to twelve miles away. 

 ■jf * * 



Bees are doing well in this section altho 

 the weather has been too cold and wet for 

 the greatest yield of honey. A light frost 

 on the mornings of June 22 and 29 reminds 

 us that winter lasts until July in New Eng- 

 land and "comes out in spots all summer." 



* « * 



The idea of putting a super of brood- 

 combs on a hive after the sections are re- 

 moved at the close of the season, as advised 

 by Belva M. Demuth, page 426, is new to 

 me. About here we want for winter use all 

 the late honey, if there is any stored in the 

 brood-chamber. "Locality" again. 



* * * 



When I read of the immense quantities 

 of extracted honey that is being produced 

 in carloads and carloads, I am reminded of 

 a letter written about 1872 by D. W. Quimby 

 of New York to the American Bee Journal, 

 asking beekeepers not to ship extracted 

 honey to New York as there was very little 

 demand for it. 



I find a super of shallow frames about as 

 heavy as 1 care to lift alone; but, with a 

 strong boy to help, I can lift those with 

 deep frames just as well. We are using only 

 seven frames in an eight-frame super this 

 year. It saves frames and makes uncapping 



easier. 



* » * 



J. L. Byer says, page 449, "One thing 

 sure, the prospective or present active bee- 

 keeper must more than ever realize the ne- 

 cessity of being able to diagnose the two 

 brands of foul brood, and in a measure be 

 his own inspector." He hits the nail square 

 on the head. It looks hereabouts as tho 

 the old-fashioned let-alone beekeepers are 

 about to go out of business and stay out. 



* * * 



I received a nice letter from S. A. Kat- 

 liff, some time since, explaining the reason 

 for holes in the bottom of aluminum combs. 

 These holes were, he said, for the purpose 

 of getting the bees started to work in the 

 combs. I was glad to know this. The alumi- 

 num comb I had was placed in the center of 

 i) strong colony June 21, and I found three 

 (lays later all these holes stopped in the 

 central part of the comb, and in a week 

 nearly all were closed with wax, and sorne 



GLEANINGS IN B K E CULTURE 



AiGUST, 1919 



1 



iU 



honey and pollen 

 stored. After 

 e 1 e \- e n days 

 there was, I 

 judged, one and 

 one-half pounds 

 of honey stored 

 near the top and 

 ends of the 

 comb while the 

 central part was left for brood. The work- 

 ers evidently thought it was all right for 

 this purpose; but the queen, more fastidious, 

 had refvised to trust her eggs to a metal 

 comb. However, queens often refuse to lay 

 in new combs when they can find old ones 

 in which to lay. After the bees have work- 

 ed it over, it looks absolutely perfect, and 

 no one would suspect its artificial origin ex- 

 cept by the color and ends. I am watching 

 it with intense interest. Of course, one 

 comb in one hive is not a fair test of its 

 value. Whether these combs prove a suc- 

 cess or otherwise, the person who succeeded 

 in making them is worthy of great credit. 

 I hope they may prove all that is claimed 

 for them. * * » 



An invalid across the street, confined 

 most of the time to an open air porch, finds 

 not a little recreation and enjoyment in a 

 one-comb glass hive. The glass is covered 

 with corrugated paper when the bees are 

 not being watched or studied. 



* * * 



This section seems to be improving in 

 honey resources. In an inspection trip a 

 few days ago with a horse and carriage, I 

 saw very few meadows in which there was 

 not more or less alsike clover in blossom. A 

 horse and carriage is, to my mind, much bet- 

 ter for looking over the country than an 

 auto. A new colony on scales yesterday 

 gained eight and one-fourth pounds. 



* » * 



That press for extracting the honey from 

 eappings, page 423, July Gleanings, looks 

 good, but — Mr. Holtermann represents it as 

 being able to press out nearly all the honey 

 when the eappings are dropped directly into 

 the hoops and then pressed; and then farther 

 on he tells us that Mr. Bedell by first al- 

 lowing his eappings to drain thoroly before 

 pressing them saved some 40 pounds of hon- 

 ey to each one thousand pounds of honey ex- 

 tracted. He is quite sure very little honey is 

 left in the cakes of pressed eappings, for in 

 chewing pieces of these cakes the wax is 

 only slightly sweet. It would be interesting 

 to know the exact proportion of wax and 

 honey in these cakes. We could then esti- 

 mate quite accurately the saving by the use 

 of the press. [The fact that Mr. Bedell is 

 willing to uncap directly into the hoops and 

 then press instead of allowing to drain a 

 day as he did last year, would indicate that 

 he is getting nearly if not quite as good 

 results in this way. We cannot tell the 

 exact amount of honey left but, from the 

 samples we saw, the amount must be very 

 slight indeed. — Editor.] 



