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THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHINAC. 



Nov. 12, 1903. 



would be too much work. Furthermore, the 90 colonies, 

 which would uot have swarmed, will do better if left undis- 

 turbed. 



So I let them swarm, if they want to, and treat only 

 those that do swarm. Using- queen-traps, I have no chasing 

 of swarms to do (except in some occasional cases), and no 

 queens to hunt, since I get them in traps. But if I had a 

 large number of swarms to attend to, I would prefer caging, 

 by a long way, and do whatever requeening I might need 

 after the honey season. And if anything like a large por- 

 tion of ray colonies were to swarm, I would certainly fore- 

 stall them, and cage throughout the whole apiary at the 

 proper time to be effective. 



There is a misprint in my contribution on page 407. 

 The last part of the second paragraph in the second column 

 should read : There must be a forced interruption of some 

 sort or other to destroy the swarming fever, or, rather, 

 queen-cell-building fever. Knox Co., Tenn. 



I Our Bee-Heepin$ Sisters ) 



Coniiueted by E.mma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Tomatoes and Honey— Origin of Propolis. 



I have recently discovered a new use for honey, and 

 hasten to place the recipe before the bee-keeping sisters : 



Slice tomatoes, add a little honey to each slice. Try it 

 and report. 



We are amateurs as yet in beedom, but have already 

 established some rules. One is, to be sure we have a plen- 

 tiful supply of honey for our own use before selling any. 

 Another is, that whoever gets a sting is entitled to an extra 

 pound of honey to eat. One member of the family fears 

 the bees, so does not go near them, and, consequently, does 

 not get stung ; but being a kind, sympathetic chap, offers 

 to share the sting by eating half the honey. 



Query : Can you explain how the bees make propolis ? 

 and what from ? Alice M. House. 



Oneida Co., N. Y. 



They gather propolis from the gums to be found on the 

 buds and branches of many trees. They may also often be 

 seen collecting and packing upon their legs propolis that 

 they find about the apiary on old frames, etc. 



Best Size of Hive for Women. 



What size of hive is best for women, the 8 frame or the 

 10 frame ? 



There are some advantages in having a large hive. 

 There is always abundance of room for stores, and you need 

 not worry about the bees starving in winter. That scores 

 one for the 10-frame, and one against the 8 frame hive, for 

 there is always a little danger if you have only 8 frames, 

 and a very prolific queen, that she may keep the frames so 

 filled with brood late in the season that the honey will be 

 mostly put into the sections, and when those are taken off 

 in the fall it may leave the colony short of stores ; so we 

 will have to admit that the Sframe hive will need careful 

 watching on this point. 



Then in reference to swarming : There will certainly 

 be less tendency towards swarming with the lOframe than 

 with the 8-frame. That is the second item in favor of the 

 10-frame hive, and really those are the only two items that 

 I can think of in its favor and against the smaller hive. 



But with proper management we can use 8 frame hives 

 without much trouble from starving or swarming, and they 

 are oh ! so much lighter and more pleasant to handle than 

 the heavier hives. Just in the matter of supers alone it 

 makes so much difference. Take, for instance, a super that 

 fits an 8frame hive holding 24 sections. When these sec- 

 tions are filled with honey, and the super also filled with 

 bees, it is about all the average woman cares to lift, espec- 

 ially if she has to lift them nearly, if not quite, all day 

 long. We will say that each colony will average 3 supers 

 apiece during the honey harvest. Every time you open a 

 colony those supers have to be lifted ofi' and then on again, 

 unless some of them are ready to come off for good — quite a 



bit of lifting to do if you go through SO or more colonies in 

 a day. 



Now, suppose we have to lift supers that fit a lO-frame 

 hive ; won't it be more than the average woman can do ? It 

 seems to me that this one item will bar out the 10-frame hive 

 as far as women are concerned. 



There are other things to be considered, such as hauling- 

 bees to out-apiaries, carrying them into the cellar, etc. Of 

 course, it is possible to hire these things done, so I don't 

 think they count so much as the things that have to be done 

 every day. 



Some one will say, " But you can have larger colonies 

 with 10-frames than with 8, and it is the large colonies that 

 give us the honey." It is true that the strong colonies give 

 us the honey, but can we not have just as strong colonies 

 with the smaller hives? "No," you say, " a good queen 

 will fill more than an 8-frame hive." Of course she will, 

 and for that matter more than a 10-frame hive, and if we 

 are to be limited to a single story the lO-frame hive will, in 

 many cases, be too small. But there is no law against 

 using two stories, and I have known an extra queen to fill 

 fairly well two stories of 8 frames each. That's for the 

 early part of the season, before the harvest, and for that 

 time 16 frames will, in many cases, be better than 10 frames, 

 or than 20 frames. 



When the time of harvest comes, the queen will need 

 less room, and will get along very well with 8 frames. If 

 we are working for comb honey we want the honey to go 

 into the sections. We don't want the bees to have much 

 room to store in the brood-frames, and even if there were 

 no advantage in the lighter handling, it is likely we can get 

 more section honey by having only 8 frames during the 

 harvest. 



For extracted honey the room needed can be gauged by 

 the number of stories given. 



But it should be said that any one who is not willing to 

 give the proper attention, so that there shall be no danger 

 from starving, will do well to use the larger hive. 



( 



Nasty's Afterthoughts 





' Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

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



UNPROFITABLE COLONIES — BEE-HIVE EXPERIENCE. 



Sister Morgan found a colony that has its duplicates in 

 many places — no good to anybody, but getting along them- 

 selves nicely left entirely alone. Temptation to call them 

 a worthless strain of bees ; but in most of these cases we 

 may presume the bees, queen included, just as good as the 

 average. Often they lack any really convenient place to 

 build, and that prevents any surplus. I remember how I 

 used to keep bees when I was in box-hive heathenism, and X 

 can almost wonder that they ever mounted to the tops of 

 my great empty boxes and commenced building there. Then 

 there's the too-big hive — full of comb, and with lots of sur- 

 plus honey in the comb nearly every fall ; but no one has 

 the enterprise to break in and get it. Page 617. 



A BLIND BEE-SISTER'S CHEERFUL LETTER. 



The letter of the blind bee-sister sounds in its very 

 cheerfulness and matter-of factness pathetic. Sitting there 

 under the trees and putting frame by frame and hive by 

 hive in order. Curious that the last two hives of a great lot, 

 supposedly all dead, proved to have bees enough in to be 

 salvable — and to make them into eight good colonies in one 

 season was famous work. Page 617. 



CARNIOLANS AND ADELS. 



Isn't it Carniolans instead of Italians that the Adels 

 were to start with. Dr. Miller ? Unselected bees brought 

 from Carniol.T. are of two different types, if I have the right 

 of it, although the two types are pretty thoroughly mixed. 

 There is the steel-gray type, and the type which is more or 

 less yellow-banded. Pretty much everybody decided for 

 the steel graj's, and worked to eliminate the stripes. Mr. 

 Alley, on the contrary, built up a real nice strain of striped 

 fellows. 'Spects he does'nt care whether you call 'em 

 Italians or not, so as you buy 'em. Page 619. 



