138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 26, 1903. 



CONDUCTED BT 



OR. O. O. MILLER, Mareaeo, m. 



[The Qnestlons may be mailed to the Bee Jonrnal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers bv mail. — Editor. 1 



Tartaric Acid in Syrup— A Correction. 



On page 89, the statenieot is made that to prevent 

 granulation of syrup an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid 

 should be used for each 30 pounds of sugar. I don't know 

 whether the fault was mine or the printer's, but that 30 

 should be 20. It is possible that the smaller quantity would 

 do in some if not most cases, but the teaspoonful for every 

 20 pounds is surer. The better plan, however, is to feed so 

 early and so thin that no acid is needed. C. C. MiHER. 



Recipe for Making " Good " Gandy. 



Please give the recipe in full for making the "Good" 

 candy for bees to winter on. I have extracted honey and 

 sugar. 



Answer as soon as possible. I have no text-book and 

 cannot find any recipe. Ontario. 



Answer. — Heat the extracted honey, being very sure 

 not to burn it, and stir it into the sugar till it seems quick 

 thick, and take it from the fire. Then pretend you're 

 kneading bread dough, with sugar instead of flour. Have 

 the dry sugar on your bake-board, put the sugar-dough on 

 it, and knead all the sugar into it you can. Let it stand a 

 day or two, and then knead some more sugar into it until it 

 is quite stiff, unless it is already quite stiff. That's all 

 there is of making the Scholz or Good candy. 



You probably have little idea how much a text-book on 

 bees would be worth to you. 



Taldns Bees Out-Best Extracting-Frames— Chunk 

 Honey— Best Bees. 



1. I have 14 colonies of bees in a cellar that I made in a 

 bank. It is 6 feet square by S feet high, and an A-shape 

 roof with an air-pipe in the center of the roof. I put the 

 bees about a foot from the ground. The cellar is very dry. 

 The bees seem quiet so far. What time do you think will 

 be the best, in this climate, to take the bees out in the 

 spring ? 



2. Will pure honey sour before candying, or afterward ? 



3. Which is the better frame for extracting, the shallow, 

 or regular Laugstroth frame ? 



4. Which is the most profitable to produce, chunk honey 

 or extracted ? 



5. What strain of Italian bees do you consider the best? 

 And to what kind of bees do you give the preference ? 



Idaho. 

 Answers. — 1. I don't know enough about the climate 

 in Idaho to say. A good time is about the time red or soft 

 maple is in bloom ; but you may not have any trees of that 

 kind in your neighborhood. When they can fly out fre- 

 quently, say every three or four days, you will be safe to 

 take them out. 



2. Yes, it may if it is thin enough, or is in a place where 

 it becomes thin enough. 



3. A shallow frame is considered preferable, but many 

 use the regular Langstroth frame so as to have only one 

 kind of frame. 



4. That depends largely upon your market. If there is 

 a good market for chunk honey at a fair price, that is best ; 

 otherwise not. 



5. Those that give the best results in storing, no mat- 

 ter what kind or color. The leather-colored Italians are per- 

 haps as hopeful as any ; but leather-colored Italians are by 

 no means all alike. 



Pull Drawn Combs vs. Starters Dummies. 



1. I have been reading that full drawn combs are not the 

 right tiling to use, but to use starters. What would be the 



best thing to do with old combs that are in hives where the 

 bees had died? Could not the cells be shaved off and just the 

 base or foundation be left, and then let the bees haVe them 

 just as you would foundation? 



2. What are dummies made of, and how are they made? 



I will give my experience with a swarm inside of a house. 

 Last July (5) I went over to Perry to visit a friend of mine, 

 and he had a swarm in the side of his house which had been 

 in there for eight years. They liad gone in at the comer of 

 an upstairs window, and they had built combs up and down, 

 and between one of the studdings of the outside of the house, 

 and had then gone in between the upstairs floor and ceiling of 

 one of the lower rooms. Tliere were combs that were 10 feet 

 long, I secured 100 pounds of white honey that was free from 

 pollen and young larvae. The queen was the largest I ever 

 saw, she was a third larger than any in my apiary at home, 

 cells that were like large peanuts. They were crossest bees I 

 ever worked with, being a gray color. I took them out and put 

 them in a new hive, and they stored enough to keep them this 

 winter. I will report more about this swarm of bees the com- 

 ing summer. Iowa. 



Answers. — I. Most bee-keepers would count old combs 

 out of which bees had died as valuable stock, and would give 

 them to bees to use over again. Better find out whether start- 

 ers are better for i/ou than are full combs before you decide 

 to prefer the starters. 



2. A dummy is made of wood, pine being the best wood 

 for it. Make a board with a top-bar to it so that the whole 

 thing shall be much the same as a frame filled out solid with 

 wood. It may be an inch thick, but i inch in thickness will 

 answer as well or better, depending upon where you mean to 

 use it. 



Bee-Sting Remedies. 



Some bee-keepers may congratulate themselves for receiv- 

 ing slight pain when stung by a honey-bee, while others have 

 to bear intense pain, as was my case last simimer. In hiving 

 a swarm I had the misfortune to receive a sting on the left 

 ear. After a short time, about five minutes, I began to itch 

 intensely, then my entire body broke out as though I were 

 stung all over by the bees. What is a good preventive for a 

 sting? I used' spirits of ammonia, but to no effect. 



Illinois. 



Answer. — In the case mentioned, the best preventive 

 would have been a bee-veil. If you mean the best I'emedy, 

 there is none. Perhaps it might be better to say there are 

 hundrds of them, for nearly every one will tell you of this or 

 that i-emedy that has proved best. Possibly nothing is better 

 than a local application of common mud or wet clay, of course, 

 getting out the sting the first thing. When the whole body is 

 affected in the way you mention some have found relief by a 

 pack in a wet sheet. If you have not had piany stings it is 

 quite possible that after receiving a few more the system 

 will become so habituated to it that there will not be any 

 very bad results from a sting. In some eases, however, the 

 results continue to be so bad that it is advisable to give up 

 trying to work with bees. 



Questions on Management. 



1. Can I make a weak colony strong in the spring by 

 taking a frame of hatching brood and adhering bees from a 

 strong colony and adding it to the. weak one? 



2. Can' old comb be wired? If not, can I use it in the 

 extractor ? 



3. If bees are shaken on starters only, as suggested by 

 many bee-men, would they not build too much drone-comb 

 in the brood-nest?- 



■4. If I can increase by taking a frame of brood, having a 

 ripe queen-cell, from a strong colony in the spring, and put 

 this in nucleus, should an empty comb take its place in the 

 old hive? 



5. A sheet of foundation is put in a hive between two 

 combs; now, the bees will, in most cases, bulge the combs on 

 either side of this sheet of foundation, instead of drawing it 

 out. What is the remedy? Kentucky. 



Ans\vers. — -I. It will make it stronger — probably about 

 •'5.000 bees stronger, if it is a pretty full frame — but it 4e- 

 ])ends upon how weak the colony is whether that will make it 

 a strong one. As a general rule one frame of brood would 

 not make a weak colony strong. But look out that you do not 

 do not do more harm than good by taking brood from a strong 



