Dec. 17, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



809 



Doubling Up Colonies in the Fall. 



BV T. I'. BINGHAM. 



THE doubling of my bees for reduction in numbers, re- 

 ferred to in the American Bee Journal, depended entirely 



upon circumstances, and not any peculiar adroitness of 

 the operator. 



To understand the operation, it is essential to know that 

 my hive is 12'j inches square and 6,' ■ inches deep, composed 

 of 7 closed-end frames, held together by a wire loop or link 

 at each end. From one to ten such " hives " are a hive, 

 according- to conditions. Of course, the doubling did not 

 take place until all the brood was hatched, and the loose 

 honey all concentrated, usually in the top of the hive, or 

 collection of hives, as above. This clearing of those parts 

 or frames after the brood is matured is the main feature of 

 reduction of parts, as well as colonies of bees. The small, 

 short frames in the lower parts or hives the bees clear en- 

 tirely of honey, if there is room enough in the parts above 

 to hold it. It will be readily understood that one or more of 

 these hives of empty combs could be quickly removed, and 

 the remaining top hives of honey and bees set on the same 

 bottom-board. 



This year the honey was short in all hives, and a pile 

 that was full of bees and 5 feet high in July could now be 

 reduced to two, or perhaps one such corresponding hive. 

 This, you will readily see, made it easy to unite to two, and 

 still keep the hive down to a wintering basis. 



As I wished to select queens, hives not having well- 

 marked Italian bees were selected for reduction, and the 

 queen removed. I tried several periods of time after re- 

 moval of the queen, and found one or two days for queen- 

 lessness was desirable before uniting, which was done by 

 setting one colony on top of another, one of which was 

 queenless. Even though colonies deprived of their queen 

 showed confusion and evidence of queenlessness. It was 

 found that in some instances a few bees were killed if only 

 queenless a few hours. No brushing, or shaking, or smoke, 

 was used when setting them together, to induce them to be 

 kind to one another. 



The small hives were readily taken apart, or out of the 

 pile, and, as appearances usually indicated which of them 

 contained the queen, the finding was readily accomplished. 



My combs or hives are now piled up safely, ready for 

 another season's operations, while the bees are in hives 

 containing no more combs than required for safe wintering, 

 and quietly biding their time in the cellar. A few of them 

 were rather light in honey, and I have been feeding them 

 2}i pounds of sugar syrup once a week. They seem to like 

 it, and settle down just as well as if out-doors. They were 

 put into the cellar Nov. 10. The cellar showed 30 degrees, 

 and was closed. The cellar now shows 40 degrees with one 

 ventilator open. It might be a pleasure for some bee-keep- 

 ers to know that all the bees any queen can as a rule rear, 

 in ever so large hives, when the season is over, will cluster 

 in a hive of empty combs one foot square and 6'; inches 

 deep. 



Miss Wilson's lady friends, who don't exactly like to 

 lift 50 to 100 pounds, might get a pointer from my hive as 

 above. I have none to sell, however. 



Clare Co., Mich., Nov. 30. 



Money as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (31^x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy free; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

 for 40 cts.; 50 for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 

 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front page, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Upon receipt of $1.00 

 for your Bee Journal subscription a full year tn advance, 

 we will mail you a Wood Binder free — if you will mention it. 





Hasty's Afterthoughts 





■ okl Htliulile " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

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



THAT TEXAS AVERAGE OF HONEY AND WAX. 



As to that queer Texas yield of 12 pounds of honey and 

 41 pounds of wax per colony, I saw what the trouble was at 

 the time, but thought best not to correct just then. Will 

 not Prof. Sanderson, and all the rest, avoid a kind of state- 

 ment so very liable to misunderstanding? Even if the 

 printer doesn't go wrong and leave out the dot, half the 

 readers will read wrongly. Very many of us are more or less 

 rusty on mathematical kinks which we never use ourselves. 

 If a single amount less than unity, or a few of them, are to 

 be given, state them some other way. If figures must 

 needs be used, don't be so stingy of them. Instead of .41 

 write 0.41, and mistakes by the reader will be cut down sev- 

 eral hundred percent. Page 692. 



HOW NOT TO LEARN ABOUT BEES. 



The way not to learn about bees. (Apologies to A. I. 

 Root.) Take every old farmer you can get at and pump him 

 dry on the subject. My, what an amount of misinformation 

 — and contradictory misinformation, at that — can be laid in 

 by that method ! Page 693. 



LABORATORY FOUL BROOD AND PRACTICAL FOUL BROOD. 



The bees are unjriendly to half-killed germs of foul 

 brood, don't want to develop them, while the experimenter, 

 of course, must be friendly. I think that circumstance ac- 

 counts for most of the divergence between laboratory foul 

 brood and practical foul-brood in the bee-yard. To get 

 started in a vigorous colony of bees the germs must not 

 only be alive, but lively. But don't you, on that account, do 

 less than the best you can to keep all germs away ! Page 

 696. 



SHOOING INSTEAD OF SHOOTING HIGH SWARMS. 



In my domain, page 698, read "shooing" instead of 

 "shooting," to get down the lofty swarm. This is the 

 worse, because, in default of anything else that seems prac- 

 ticable, actual shooting is sometimes indulged in. 



SOME INTERESTING CALIFORNIA HISTORY. 



Mr. Harbison's remarkable talk should hardly be passed 

 over without gleaning a little. Honey at a dollar a pound, 

 and bees at 100 dollars a colony, and business brisk in both 

 directions! Must be pleasant to remember these old Cali- 

 fornia times, as it is pleasant to us to hear about them. For 

 one man, 3750 colonies in 12 apiaries is quite a lot. Appar- 

 ently no one ever had time to figiire up their biggest crop — 

 only knowing it was a heap over 100,000 pounds of comb 

 honey. (Biggest crop seems to have come when there were 

 not nearly so many bees. 'Twould be only a matter of 30 

 pounds each for the maximum number.) 



The point-blank contradictions of the human mind get 

 a good illustration. "Nothing that bees could live on in 

 California," was the verdict of many apparently intelligent 

 men that had been there. Other men, who had been there, 

 contradicted — and were right. Curious that the same thing 

 had to be gone over again a few years later. " Nothing for 

 bees to live on in southern California" — best bee-pasture in 

 the State, if not in the world. Pages 709 to 711. 



KEEPING A BINGHAM KNIFE CLEAN AND DRY. 



Wonder if Bingham is right, that honey and water rusts 

 the knife carelessly left in it much less than pure water. 

 Quite imaginable. But don't you experiment in that line. 

 The Bingham knife is a choice tool, and do you clean it up 

 nicely every day— and dry it off lovingly with a nearly dry 

 hand. Page 712. 



CLEANING PROPOLIZED HANDS. 



As to hot water versus cold water to clean propolized 

 hands I'm going to split up again. Use both. Don't ex- 

 pect to accomplish a job of such magnitude without quite a 

 bit of work, and intelligent work, too. Clench the smooth 

 limb of a tree, and, twisting slightly, make that take ofi" the 

 first installment of the propolis. Then get the coldest 

 water you can and wash with very decided emphasis — with- 

 out any soap at first — then put on the soap and do so some 



