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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 9, 1903. 



[ Hasty's Afterthcughts ) 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



MATBSIAI, FOR HIVH-MAKING. 



Yes, if the lumber was so costly it could not be used for 

 hives me could use clay and straw. Are you " gittin' in a 

 hurry " for the time to come 7 As a half-way house before 

 going to clay, quite small saplings can be sawed into lath, 

 and lath make pretty good hives. Poles large enough to 

 saw into lath can be raised in less than a lifetime, while 

 big logs can not — that is, not as a general proposition — Cot- 

 tonwood and some other trees can be made to furnish a big 

 log in a moderate number of years. I find my full-grown 

 oaks between 200 and 300 in age. With an intensive sort of 

 forestry that could be shortened greatly. And an immense 

 majority of the States haven't even a forestry officer yet. 

 Page 327. 



MAKING HONEY-BREAD. 



If a man should undertake to make honey-bread, as per 

 page 329, he would put the things named together and dump 

 them into his flour directly, innocently expecting to knead 

 up bread. I guess the ingredients named are to be fer- 

 mented together first. If I'm wrong so much the better for 

 the bread-makers. 



THE WEATHER AND SWARMING. 



Mr. Doolittle makes a worse report on bee-weather than 

 I can. Bad here, but some of the bees don't give up the 

 swarming idea yet. Page 332. 



HONEY ON FRIED BACON. 



Honey on fried bacon, eh ? We can not put very much 

 trust in the approval of soldiers in camp. Appetites too 

 uproarous. But the combination is a striking one, not alto- 

 gether incongruous, so if folks would only try it perhaps 

 many would like it. Perhaps they won't try it. Some may 

 say, " Why try to whiten the lily, or paint the rose ?" 



SPRING-FEEDING EXPERIENCES. 



The spring-feeding experience of Edwin Bevins will 

 make some of the let-alone folks smile. Began early with 

 some — got to feeding them all — has to keep at it now, 

 weather is so bad. My usual May and June tactics is not 

 to feed a colony unless it shows the outward signs of star- 

 vation — bees in stupid lumps by the door, or climbing feebly 

 up the front, and dead ones beginning to scatter away. And 

 when such a colony is fed I don't want to get them in the 

 habit of expecting feed. Lots of mistakes made both ways 

 in feeding tactics. Many dollars worth of sugar and honey 

 are fed when the value of it never comes back again — bees 

 would have done better left to their own resources. On the 

 other hand, for want of some feeding just at the right time, 

 often the harvesting generation is only half strength, and 

 can gather less than half a harvest. Which set of risks it 

 is the best to run is a matter of location — and man. You 

 see, in a good location some loss from too generous feeding 

 can be borne ; while in a poor location the bees can easily 

 be allowed to eat up more than they are ever known to 

 gather. Page 335. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDERS UNDER SECTIONS. 



I have been thinking all along that the " orthodox " 

 way was not to use an excluder under sections. The con- 

 sideration mentioned editorially, on page 339, is heavily the 

 other way. Brood-combs will get black, and section cap- 

 pings will partake more or less of near-by comb, if there is 

 easy running back and forth. On the whole, wherever 

 purchasers are extra-critical about whiteness the orthodoxy 

 of excluders under sections must be conceded, I guess. 



HONEY SHOWS AND PREMIUMS AT CONVENTIONS! 



Combined convention and mutual admiration honey 

 show ! Premiums to be given if the condition of the treas- 

 ury admits, otherwise not. The above is what the Wiscon- 

 sins are about to experiment in. I think the rest of us 

 should look on with decided interest to see how the thing 

 works. Might knock out of itself what little life a feeble 

 convention has. Might revive decidedly the waning inter- 

 est of the old members, and bring in lots of new ones. 



Also might attract prospective customers to a valuable de- 

 gree. Quite as legitimate to pay themselves premiums as 

 to buy themselves buttons, one would say ; although the 

 consideration that every one can have a button is in the 

 buttons favor. Permanent subdivision of the brethren into 

 two classes, sharps who get the money and flats who pay it 

 in — well, that's a very undesirable subdivision, and heedless 

 management might easily bring it about. The brother 

 who suspects he has been put in the flat division will soon 

 make himself scarce — has already done so long since. Page 

 340. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Swarming— Bulk Honey— Building Worker-Combs. 



1. I have a colony this spring with a last year's Italian 

 queen in an Sframe hive. They were strong, so I added 

 eight empty combs below. Three weeks after that they 

 swarmed without starting below at all. I examined the 

 combs and found lots of worker-cells bulged out with drone- 

 brood here and there all through the combs, but also consid- 

 erable worker-brood. I hived them on five starters, and now 

 (ten days after swarming), they have queen-cells nearly 

 ready to seal again. What would I best do with them ? 



2. How is " bulk comb " honey managed to keep it 

 from granulating, as it can not be heated and sealed ? 



3. I have had success getting worker-comb built from 

 starters by putting all but four combs of brood above an ex- 

 cluder (queen below), and putting in a starter in the center 

 of the brood. They build very fast, being so strong. Do 

 you think it will always work ? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. I suspect the queen was at fault, and you 

 will probably do well to change her. 



2. I don't know, and it seems strange that nothing has 

 been said upon that point — at least I do not remember see- 

 ing anything about it. I should expect the liquid honey out- 

 side the comb to granulate, and then it would have to be 

 eaten in that condition, unless the whole were melted and 

 the wax removed. Perhaps Mr. Hyde will tell us about it. 



3. No, you need hardly expect to have it always work, 

 but there's no law against your continuing it so long as it 

 does work. 



«-.-*. 



A Bee-Mix-Up tliat Mixed Up tlie Bee-Man. 



I served three years as private of Company A, 36th Illi- 

 nois Volunteer Infantry, and have been subject to the vicissi- 

 tudes of a life in this world over 60 years ; but during the 

 three years' experience I have had with the " little busy 

 bee " I have encountered more circumstances that I was un- 

 able to account for than during all my preceding life. Now 

 here is what I met with in the last experience : 



I had hive No. 1 filled with black bees with two dove- 

 tailed hive-bodies and super. Beside it was No. 2, Italian 

 bees in one body with super and clipped queen. No. 2 sent 

 out a swarm about 10:30 o'clock. I caught the queen, but 

 before I could get a hive in place the bees nearly all re- 

 turned. I moved the old body away about 20 feet, placed a 

 new hive with foundation on the old bottom with the old 

 super and the bees in it on the new hive, and liberated the 

 queen in it, expecting the field-bees to return to it, which 

 would make a strong colony. 



About 2 o'clock I was informed there was a swarm of 

 bees about a block away that I could have for 25 cents. I 

 arranged a 10-frame hive about four feet from No. 1 and No. 

 2, and went and cut down the swarm and brought it home. 

 They were evidently a stray swarm of black bees. I felt 

 that I was on the road to success until about 5 p.m., when I 

 discovered that Nos. 1 and 2 were in great excitement, and 

 that the Italians from No. 2 were migrating to No. 1 by run- 

 ning down to the ground and across the 18-inch space and 

 up to No. 1 ; and that there were black bees taking posses- 

 sion of No. 2, and my 25-cent swarm was not in the hive I 

 put them in. 



Now, there is much said about dfc-paralysis and its 

 treatment, but never have I seen a word about bee-keepers 



