1908 



GLrAAiiXUS iN BbL CULlJKL 



831 



DOES CUTTING OUT CELLS TO RESTRAIN SWARM- 

 ING MAKE THE BEES CROSS? 



Eight days after one of my good colonies sent 

 out its first swarm I removed all queen-cells but 

 one. It has apparently had the desired result of 

 preventing another swarm; but one result was 

 any thing but desired, and that was that the bees 

 immediately became so vicious and ugly that for 

 two or three days it was not perfectly safe for any 

 one to come within several rods of the hive, to 

 say nothing of approaching within customary 

 observing distance. They gradually became more 

 peaceable. Is that the usual result of the opera- 

 tion.? 



One old bee-keeper tells me that, if the young 

 queens had been killed by piercing the tells with 

 a needle, instead of removing, the bees would 

 have retained their good temper. Do you think 

 that would be true? If so, why not always do it? 

 Chester G. Dalzell. 



South Egremont, Mass. 



[The case here cited is quite unusual. It is our 

 opinion that the cutting-out of cells had nothing 

 to do with the subsequent vicious temperament 

 of the bees. It is conceivable that scattering the 

 royal food and mutilating the brood during the 

 robbing season might make the bees temporarily 

 cross, but that the cutting-out of cells during the 

 swarming should do so, hardly seems tenable. 

 The mere poking of a hole through a cell with a 

 needle amounts to just the same thing as tearing 

 the cell down; for if the cell be perforated in the 

 side the bees will finish up the work of destruc- 

 tion. — Ed.] 



a plea FOR NON-SEPARATOR COMB HONEY. 



On page 546, May 1, you seem to be sure that 

 the use of separators is to be commended for 

 comb-honey production. Now, when I go into 

 a store to sell honey I always call attention to 

 the fact that my honey is nearly, if nOt quite, full 

 weight. When I use separators or fences I al- 

 ways feel as though I did not care to put my 

 name on the cases because they are so light. I 

 have shipped tons of honey that would run from 

 23 to 25 pounds to the case, and it always gives 

 satisfaction to dealers and to consumers. 



Side by side in my yard I have nine-frame tele- 

 scopic hives and different makes of eight-frame 

 hives, the latter being provided with separators. 

 I always feel sure of getting more sections in the 

 nine-frame hives, where the separators are not 

 used, and the sections are also nearer full weight. 

 I think that, without the separators, the bees 

 have a better chance to work, although the great- 

 er yield of honey on the nine-frame hives might 

 possibly be accounted for by reason of the extra 

 frame or because of the telescopic cover which I 

 use on those hives. I have taken first premiums 

 at State, interstate, and county fairs, competing 

 with the product of thousands of colonies where 

 separators were used. Charles W. Sager. 



Mabton, Washington. 



[If you will refer to what we have said on this 

 subject you will see that we have never claimed 

 that no bee-keeper can produce good marketable 

 comb honey without separators; lor it can not be 

 denied that there is occasionally here and there 

 one who can produce fine comb honey without 

 separators; but he is the exception that proves the 



rule. But the average man in the average locali- 

 ty should be discouraged in the most emphatic 

 manner from making any attempt at it. 



The great bulk of the non-separatored comb 

 honey that has been shipped out has done more 

 to hurt the markets, if we except dishonest grad- 

 ing, than any other one thing. Those of us who 

 visit the large centers and look over the lots of 

 comb honey that come in find that the a\erage 

 lot of sections produced without separators is a 

 bad mess. It should never have left the locality 

 in which it was produced. About all that can 

 be done with it is to cut it out of the sections, 

 pour a little extracted honey over it, and sell it 

 for chunk honey at a low price. 



The fact that the Colorado Honey-producers' 

 Association are now discriminating in their grad- 

 ing-rules against an article produced without sep- 

 arators, and the further fact that the great major- 

 ity of bee-keepers do not attempt to work by that 

 plan, should be sufficient warning to others not 

 to try it. 



That more honey may be produced without 

 separators may be so ; but the average bee-keep- 

 er can not afford to spoil the markets, even if it 

 is true. — Ed.] 



WHY the bees don't GO INTO THE SUPERS. 



1 have two hives of bees that completely refuse 

 to go up into the supers to work. They have an 

 abundance of stores below, and plenty of brood, 

 the brood covering three-fourths of the frames. I 

 have tried to coax them up by taking two frames 

 of honey half drawn out, bees and all, and putting 

 them in, but it didn't do any good, so I resort to 

 you for instruction. I. B. Mitchem. 



Newburg, Ind. 



[There are two reasons to assign why bees may 

 not go up into the supers: too light a force of bees, 

 or too light a tlow of honey, or both. The 

 remedy is to have strong colonies for comb-hon- 

 ey production. Of course, if the honey-flow be 

 not strong they will not enter the supers and 

 store honey, unless the light flow continues for a 

 considerable length of time; but in the meantime 

 they may swarm, for a light flow is more condu- 

 cive to swarming than a heavy one. It is advis- 

 able to look through the hive, cutting out any 

 swarming cells that may be found on the combs; 

 give a large entrance, not less than yk deep by 

 the width of the hive, and see that shade is pro- 

 vided during the hottest portion of the day, say 

 from ten o'clock on to three in the afternoon. If 

 there be no shade it would be advisable to put a 

 shade-board projecting front and rear and over on 

 the south side, so as to shade the hive during the 

 hot part of the day. — Ed.] 



SUCCESSFUL wintering OF TWO DANZENBAKER 

 HIVES packed IN PAPER. 



Last fall I had two swarms in Danzenbaker 

 hives, and no suitable cellar in which to put 

 them. I bought the thin super covers and deep 

 telescope covers. On top of the super i over I 

 laid newspapers, letting them hang down all 

 around until there were about 100 layers on all 

 sides and ends. The telescope covers were then , 

 slid on and left for the winter. Entrance was 

 smallest on the Danzenbaker bottom-board, and 

 sheltered by a piece of board set in front under 



