1908 



GLEANJNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



588 



That one colony had dysentery in a very 

 bad form. I removed it. I placed ice in the 

 cellar, opened up my ventilators, opened up 

 the entrance, and cooled down the cellar to 

 40; shut up the cellar, and up to date my 

 thermometer stood at 48 at every examina- 

 tion, with all ventilators open. Now, why 

 was one colony affected and not the rest? 

 It was a colony that swarmed on the 23d of 

 August, and the swarm was put with a weak 

 colony that was queenless. 



Estey, Mich. Milo Wright. 



[We are unable to answer the question 

 without more particulars.— Ed ] 



CATCHING STRAY SWARMS. 



To trap stray swarms, I secure a number 

 of boxes at the local stores, of different sizes. 

 The covers are cleated, and fastened on with 

 four large screw-eyes to avoid the bother of 

 a screwdriver. In one side of the box is a 

 hole which is covered with a wire-cloth door. 

 Finally, a screw-eye is put into the top back 

 edge of the box with which to hang it up. 



With a ladder I go up a tree, drive a nail, 

 hang the box, see that the door is open, shove 

 in some comb honey, and go away. Last 

 spring I caught five swarms in four boxes; 

 and had the season not been so late (after 

 June 10th) I should have captured many 

 more. As it was, I got 14 swarms, from 

 which I put away nine with honey enough in 

 the hives to keep them over winter. 



The bee-trees have been pretty well cut 

 out of the little grove adjacent to my home; 

 and as the bees come to the grove, seeing the 

 trees from afar, it is only natural that they 

 should go into a nice, clean, inviting hive. 

 Dr. a. F. Bonnet. 



no oil will drip, and place them over the hive 

 that is being robbed except the front. Then 

 I close the opening to a small space. The 

 robber bees generally want to try every spot 

 about the hive before they make an attempt 

 to go in at the regular entrance. 

 Chanute. Kan. James Frazier. 



EVAPORATING HONEY IN A VACUUM-PAN AT 

 A TEMPERATURE OF 120 TO 140°. 



I have read several articles in Gleanings 

 on the evaporation of honey; and as I am a 

 practical sugar-boiler I thought perhaps my 

 experience and ideas might reveal something 

 new in the way of evaporating or candying 

 honey. 



Honey can be boiled or evaporated in a 

 vacuum-pan at from 120 to 140° F., and 1 

 think without injury to the same, excepting 

 that it may granulate. Cane syrup boiled 

 under a vacuum will granulate in a few days; 

 though whether it would have the same ef- 

 fect on honey 1 can not say; but even so, if 

 we could evaporate honey and retain its color 

 and flavor, converting it into sugar or can- 

 died honey in a few days, I think it would 

 be a paying proposition. 



There is a small vacuum-pan at the Louis- 

 iana experimental station. New Orleans, 

 where an experiment could be made at very 

 little cost. W. H. Ragan. 



Siloam Springs, Ark. 



PETROLEUM TO PREVENT ROBBING. 



I am in the petroleum regions of Kansas, 

 and when there is any robbing going on in 

 my apiary I simply soak some old gunny 

 sacks in the crude oil and wring them out so 



TOP AND BOTTOM STARTERS VERY SATIS- 

 FACTORY. 



Last year, 1907, I put starters in 10,000 

 sections with the top starter from 1| to 2 in. 

 deep, and bottom starter from i to f inches. 

 During the two previous years 1 used prob- 

 ablv 20,000 sections with top starter from 1^ 

 inches to half full I never had a single case 

 of malformation, every section being straight 

 and evenly filled, with no discrepancy in the 

 cells that I noticed. Two sections that I re- 

 member as being left over from previous 

 vear had a line of wax at bottom, but with a 

 little projection in the center of about i inch. 

 I put a starter at the top and left the bottom 

 as it was. The finished sections showed a 

 tongue-like formation in the middle, show- 

 ing that the bees had built up from the little 

 projection of foundation at the bottom. 

 These were the only two bad sections, and 

 even they were straight, as I use separators. 

 I think the same plan of using starters is 

 used all over Colorado. R. S. Becktell. 



Grand Valley, Colorado. 



the reason for the low prices. 



I notice the honey in our stores is just as 

 the bees left it. When inquiring as to the 

 price paid for such honey I find that it is usu- 

 ally about five or six cents below the market 

 price; yet the producer can't afford the sub- 

 scription price of a bee-journal and learn to 

 clean, grade, and market their section hon- 

 ey. I have a fight here every fall to get a 

 honey market, as these fellows will bring in 

 a super or two (if they have that much), and 

 seem to be afraid of overstocking the mar- 

 ket, and are glad to sell their stuff at any 

 price. Of course, our merchants get it cheap, 

 and that establishes the price. The happy- 

 go-lucky farmer has sold his honey, and goes 

 home to return and do the same thing the 

 next fall. J. W. Ursh. 



Belleville, Mich. 



[Better buy him out or get him to pat 

 their honey up in good shape and maintain 

 prices with you. It is to his interest to do 

 so.— Ed.] 



THE RICH-ALEXANDER PLAN OF PREVENT- 

 ING SWARMING. 



I wish to say a word in regard to the 

 Rich-Alexander plan of non-swarming as 

 given on page 644, May 1, 1907. A year ago 

 I had four colonies equally strong, and I 

 manipulated two of them in accordance with 

 this plan, with the result that I have taken 

 honey from them but no swarms. The other 

 two swarmed — no honey yet, and increased 

 to five colonies. The Rich- Alexander plan 

 for me, after this. E. L. Schumann. 



New York, N. Y. 



