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THE AMERICAN BEE JOLkWAL. 



Aug. 13, 1903. 



[ Our Bec-Hcepin§ Sisters | 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



An Interested Sister. 



I am much interested in our " corner " of the American 

 Bee Journal. I am one of the admirers and readers of the 

 Journal, to which I have subscribed for many years. I will 

 be glad to be a " contributor." I have kept bees for about 

 .14 years, with varied luck and experience. I will write 

 more at length soon. Mrs. E. G. Bradford. 



Newcastle Co., Del. 



m I — m 



How One Sister Dresses for Bee-Work. 



I am not used to writing for publication, and it has 

 seemed quite a task. I fear you will feel like I do myself, 

 and will dump this in the waste-basket. However, I shall 

 make the effort. 



I think the Sisters department fine, and enjoy the con- 

 tributions, particularly the dressy ones. 



Lake Winnebago is less then a mile from us, and we 

 have a fine view of it from the porch. There are about 1200 

 apple, cherry, and plum trees in the orchards, and my bees 

 have an ideal home, as well as myself. I have 36 colonies. 

 I moved 39 colonies 14 miles last December, and put them 

 into the cellar without a flight, or even taking the screens 

 off the top of the hives, and so many of them came out and 

 died on the cellar-floor that I told my family I would be 

 glad to find half a dozen alive in the spring ; but they all 

 lived through. I found a great many broken combs, and 

 have had a great deal of work mending them, and clipping 

 queens' wings. 



I number my hives with a crayon, and keep a book 

 with a short record of the condition of each colony, and then 

 I have some idea which ones need looking after first. They 

 are all strong, but none of them have swarmed, nor do I 

 want them to do so. Several are, or have been, at work in 

 the supers, and I have taken off a few nicely sealed sections 

 of dandelion honey, but the last two days we have had a 

 cold northeast wind, and to night it feels as if we might 

 have snow. 



I have kept a few bees for 20 years. We found our first 

 colony clustered on an oak-tree. For a few years we 

 thought we did well if we got honey enough for our own 

 use. The men did not care for the bees as I thought they 

 ought to, and for the past IS years I have taken all care of 

 them. I only have to have them carried into and out of the 

 cellar. 



1 buy my hives in the flat and nail them myself. I find 

 that if I care for 30 colonies I have enough to keep me busy. 

 Last year I had 23 colonies, spring count, and increased to 

 41. I had nearly 3000 sections of very nice honey, and 

 found two colonies had been robbed, and the worms had 

 eaten the combs. I doubled up some of the weakest. Just 

 as the blossoms were opening I carried the weakest colony, 

 after catching their queen, and put them above the one I 

 wished to unite them with, with a piece of strong paper be- 

 tween in which I had punched a hole large enough for one 

 bee at a time to pass through at night, and in the morning I 

 saw they were carrying out dead ones and having a general 

 war. I used a spray on both hives, using sweetened water 

 with violet perfume, and mixed them all up, putting the 

 frames that had no brood in the upper hive, and I have had 

 no more trouble since then. I have united two more without 

 the loss of a bee, so far as I could see. 



I wear a sailor-hat, with black lace stitched fast to the 

 brim, and let it fall loose on my shoulders. If a bee gets in 

 I just raise my veil and let it out. I like an extra hat-pin 

 to pin my veil down in front if I am bending over a hive, 

 and find it handy to pick out a worm if I should happen to 

 see one. 



I use a pair of asbestos gloves, such as firemen and 

 engineers use. They do not get scorched on the smoker, 

 and if I get them covered with honey, as I often do when 

 cutting out drone-comb, I take a cloth and wash them off, 

 and they are as soft as ever after they are dry. I clip off 

 the ends of the fingers and thumbs. I like a clean, well- 



starched cotton -dress, or, if cool, a shirt-waist and heavy 

 skirt. 



When cutting out drone-comb I crush all empty waste 

 comb in my hand into a ball and throw it into a basket or 

 bag with the scrapings and all waste, and after the season 

 is over I take a day and melt it out in the oven. If I have 

 pieces with brood in them I throw them out to the chickens ; 

 they are so fond of it, and they will come around the hives 

 waiting for it while I am at work, until the bees get after 

 them, when they soon forget what they were after. 



Now, if this finds the way into the waste-basket I shall 

 not be surprised, as I do not think I have given any new 

 ideas, for I think I have seen it all in the American Bee 

 Journal ; but I should be delighted to give you a chance to 

 become better acquainted with me, if you should ever come 

 to this vicinity — right here at "The Orchards." 



Elizabeth M. Smith. 



Winnebago Co., Wis., May 31. 



Indeed, your communication will not go into the waste- 

 basket. It is extremely interesting, and I hope you will 

 soon favor us with another. 



You must have an ideal home. If you are any like me 

 you will thoroughly enjoy the lake, especially fishing in it. 

 I almost envy you that part of it. 



I am glad you are sensible enough to use a record-book. 

 How any one can keep bees and get along without one is a 

 mystery to me ; but you see we don't all think alike. 



I wish you would tell us more about those asbestos 

 gloves. Where can you get them ? Do they wear well ? 

 Are they proof against stings, etc.? Your bees are not as 

 cross as ours are this summer, or that loose veil would never 

 answer. Too many bees would get under it at once, and 

 when you were attempting to let them out a whole lot more 

 would get in. 



Thank you very much for that kind invitation to get 

 better acquainted with you in that ideal home. I should 

 thoroughly enjoy accepting it, but this is such a busy world 

 I am afraid it won't be possible to do so very soon. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





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

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



When to Take Off Honey. 



I have several supers of fine honey all capped over and 

 finished. Would you advise me to take it off and put it in 

 a well-ventilated room, or leave it in the hive ? If the latter, 

 how long ? Iowa. 



Answbr. — Take it off as soon as finished. The honey 

 will be as good or better if left on longer, but the comb will 

 become dark. 



<* m p 



Brood-Cliamber Crowded with Honey. 



Upon examining one of my hives I found honey all 

 through the brood-chamber, and, to my surprise, a dead 

 queen. Shall I take about 4 of these frames and put them 

 above in an extracting-super, or leave it to the new queen 

 to which I was going to give 4 frames of full foundation ? 

 Just at present she has no place to lay. Minnesota. 



Answer. — If you intend to extract the honey, you may 

 as well extract it out of the brood-combs; but if you leave it 

 in the brood-chamber the bees will empty out cells as fast 

 as the queen needs them. 



Pumpkin Blossoms as Nectar-Ylelders— Difference In 

 Bees. 



1. Do pumpkin blossoms, nettles, common mint, pepper- 

 mint, snap-dragon, camomile and love-in-tangle produce 

 honey or pollen for honey-bees ? 



2. I have five-banded Italians, the queens are large and 

 fine looking, but do not seem to produce extra-good gather- 

 ers, as other bee-keepers about a mile distance, but in an- 

 other valley, have nearly double the yield I have this sea- 



