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THE AMERICAN BEE JOLRNAL. 



Aug. 27, 1903. 



[ Hasty's Afterthoughts ] 



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

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



MENDING THB WEATHER — SHADE-BOARDS. 



Mr. Abbott must be allowed his joking question about 

 what we are going to do to mend the weather — warm 

 weather in winter — but that is a very misleading joke. If 

 decided that bees really suffer serious loss from much and 

 daily flying around, the flying can be greatly reduced. The 

 main question is simply whether that much work and ex- 

 pense is called for — and whether our arrangements will not 

 be left to do harm further on, when Winter really gets busy. 

 The key to the situation lies in shade-boards mainly. A 

 complete shade has great power in the winter. Page 421. 



THE OCTOPUS OF COMBINATION. 



Curious variations, the Octopus is capable of taking on, 

 it seems. The fruit combine of California now walks on two 

 equal legs, one a company of producers and one a company 

 of commission men — the same head and tentacles answer- 

 ing for both. Case of necessity again. Benificent. Curi- 

 ous to see how, in these present years, the benificent whis- 

 tle of combination is in the boys" pockets, and how it in- 

 clines to get to whistling itself. And if boys were saints 

 how good a thing it would be I Page 422. 



A SISTER TO TRY HATCHING EGGS OVER BEES. 



Now we are to know whether it is practical to hatch 

 eggs over bees. A woman with " gumption " to do things, 

 and who handles both fowls and bees, is going to try it. 

 Page 424. 



REMOVING HONEY FOR BROOD. 



May be. Must be— seeing good men say it — in Cuba, 

 and perhaps in other places, too, sometimes— But still I feel 

 pretty sure nectar will be taken out of the way of the queen 

 whetieaer both queen and workers eagerly ivant brood. In- 

 stead of studying on some other kind of bee, brethren, 

 can't you put the bee you have in a different frame of 

 mind ? Page 428. 



VENTILATION OF BEE CELLARS. 



Surely, Bingham is strong on ventilation. He gives 

 cellar three tall ventilators, each big enough for a chimney- 

 sweep to crawl in. And when they take the temperature 

 down he inclines to just " let her go down." Yet, popularly, 

 the present drift of sentiment is toward no special ventila- 

 tion at all. How perplexing! May it not be that these two 

 things I name are bolh truths ? With correct and even 

 temperature extra-pure air is not mandatory. With per- 

 rectly pure air even temperature is not mandatory. Of 

 course we know that everything is mandatory, and still the 

 bees will die,- if the food is bad. Page 428. 



SACKED SVS^ARMS THAT DESERTED. 



Ah ! Nine swarms tied up in sacks because there were 

 no hives for them, all deserted when hived. Worth heed- 

 ing. Several days sacked. England. In Yankee land we 

 do things better. Guess some would have staid if they had 

 been fed properly. Page 430. 



IRONING UNEVEN COMBS. 



Thick, uneven combs put into shape by ironing them 

 with a sad-iron not quite melting hot. 'Pears like it might 

 answer. Page 436. 



SOLICITING ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS. 



Solicitors to get bee-folks to join the Association. I 

 had not thought of that before. Guess it will work — that is, 

 can be made to work — in those regions of countrv where 

 bee-men " hang thick on the bushes." Page 438. 



UNITING WEAK COLONIES IN SPRING. 



Yes, Mr. Green, I agreed with you at the time, but 

 thought it well to have reasons more fully stated. Let each 

 weak colony in spring paddle its own canoe the best it ever 



can paddle it. Help them if you can, but don't muss them 

 up. More and better ones will get through than by contin- 

 ued uniting. Still, we don't want the iron-clad proposition 

 that weak bees are never to be united in spring. Page 439. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





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

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



Best Hive— Gathering Honey. 



What is the best kind of hive to use for bees ? We have 

 a colony in a box, and I am anxious to get a hive. 

 When shall I gather the honey, and how ? 



Illinois. 



Answer. — You will do well to adopt a movable-frame 

 hive, the dovetailed being one of the most popular. It is 

 now so late that perhaps it will be as well to leave the bees 

 in the box till next season after the first swarm. Very 

 likely, however, they may do more than to fill the box, and 

 you may be able to obtain some nice surplus for the table. 

 Make one or more holes in the top of the hive or box — no 

 matter if you bore right down into the honey — set over this 

 a box four or six inches deep, and large enough to cover the 

 hive, or more than one smaller boxes of the same depth, 

 and when filled remove. You can tell better when filled by 

 having glass on one or more sides, darkening the glass. 



If you are going in for bees, one of the first things to 

 do is to get a book of instruction, telling you how to take 

 care of them. 



Transferring Bees— Overstocking and Preventing 

 Increase. 



1. I wintered two colonies last winter. This spring they 

 each swarmed three times, and one of those swarms swarm- 

 ing again. One (in au old Langstroth hive, the other in a 

 Jones) has filled all of the eight frames and the spaces be- 

 tween, so I can not takeout any frames without cutting the 

 comb between and drowning a great many bees. I do not 

 wish to leave this hive in the condition it is. How can I get 

 the bees out of the hive and put them into a new hive, so I 

 can save honey, comb and bees? 



2. I have 15 colonies. There are about 60 or 70 other 

 colonies in the village. What number could I safely work 

 up to without the neighborhood being overstocked ? 



3. When I get to that number, how can I prevent in- 

 crease ? Palermo. 



Answers. — 1. You need have little fear of drowning 

 bees in honey, for the other bees will clean them up. But 

 you can get the bees out by smoking and drumming them, 

 as directed in your bee-book. 



2. That depends altogether on the pasturage. It is 

 possible that you have reached the limit already, with 75 or 

 85 in one locality. Many localities will bear 100 colonies, 

 and some favored places 200, 300, or more. 



3. There are various ways, one being to double in the 

 fall or spring to the desired number. 



Queenless Colonies— Difference in Bees. 



1. I have over 100 colonies of bees. At this time of the 

 year the honey-flow is over, and I find many queenless colo- 

 nies. I give them brood from other colonies, and still some 

 fail to rear a queen, and finally dwindle away. There are 

 plenty of drones about. Why do they not rear queens ? 



2. When going through the hive I find in some that 

 many of the supers contain uncapped honey, while others 

 are starving for lack of it. Does uncapped honey in the 

 extracting super prove that the bees are still gathering 

 honey ? If so, why is it that while some colonies gathered 

 sufficient to store some, that other colonies failed even to 

 support themselves, both colonies being equally strong ? 



3. I bought some queens this spring from a breeder as 

 Italian queens. One of them seems different from the others. 

 They are quite a gray color, having a couple of rusty bands. 



