1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



413 



WHAT TO DO WITH DARK BITTER HONEY IN SECTIONS. 



I should like to receive your advice on the followiner 

 proposition that somewhat upsets my calculation: I 

 was patting' myself on the back for the showintr my 

 bees made for the last ten days or two weeks, as most 

 o." them have two supers nearly full. I took out a few 

 sections that are completely sealed, and that honey is 

 so bitter it is not fit to eat. This honey must be from 

 honey-dew instead of blackberry blossoms, as I 

 thoutrht it was. Wiiat can I best do with it? I do not 

 w.int to sell it to my retrular trade. If it was in frames 

 I could extract it. As the stores in the hives for next 

 w.nter are undoubtedly of the same kind, shall I run 

 any risk of losing my bees by leavintr it to them? 



Fredericktown, Mo. Jas. Bachler. 



There is not mudi you can do with these dark sec- 

 tions containing' bitter honey except to melt them up, 

 usinjj the wax that you tret, and feeding back the hon- 

 ey for brood-rearintr. It would certainly be a mistake 

 to sell it, as the cry would be raised right away that it 

 Wis manufactured. Dark or bitter honey in the comb 

 — in fact, almost any dark honey, except buckwheat, in 

 sections, if it has a poor flavor — does a great deal of 

 damage to the market for first-class white honey in 

 sections. 



There might be some risk in your attempting to win- 

 ter your bees on the same quality of honey in your 

 regular brood-combs. As a matter of precaution we 

 would advise extracting it all out in September, if they 

 do not use it up in brood-rearing, and feeding sugar 

 syrup instead, keeping this dark honey for next spring 

 to feed for stimulating brood-rearing. You can feed it 

 out in quite a considerable quantity in the spring or 

 early summer, because the bees would undoubtedly 

 use it all up in breeding, and it would be practically 

 as good as any honey for that purpose.— Ed. ] 



A PROTEST AGAINST UNWASHED FIVE-GALLON CANS, 

 EITHER NEW OR OLD. 



Mr. Allen Latham's point against new unwashed 

 honey-cans, March 1, p. 129, is well taken, especially 

 in view of the fact that we are pushing the merits of 

 honey as a pure food. Let us be consistent and clean. 

 The round cans are, obviously, more sanitary than the 

 square, having no corners; and if they were made 

 with wider openings, so that a person's hand could 

 be inserted for the purpose of wiping it dry with a 

 clean cloth, no water could remain any way, and thus 

 that question would be settled. The cans might be 

 made like the five-gallon milk-cans used hereabouts, 

 with a wide mouth, and closed with a wooden plug, 

 sealed with rosin when shipped, instead of the screw 

 cap now in use. Of what beneft is it to put up the 

 honey in carefully washed, attractive, flint-glass jars, 

 if we have to take it out of unclean cans? 



At the canning factories the cans that are used in 

 presers'ing fruits and vegetables are not washed; but 

 one has the satisfaction of knowing that any germs 

 they may contain have been thoroughly cooked, and 

 possibly rendered harmless; but honey, being a "raw" 

 commodity, has not this advantage to commend it. 

 Give us clean cans by all means ! J. B. Levens. 



Maiden, Mass. 



bees GOING AFTER ARTIFICIAL POLLEN IN CHICKEN- 

 COOPS. 



Reading your editorial, April 15th, page 221, in re- 

 gard to chicken-coops being visited by bees, reminds 

 me that we had a similar experience a few weeks ago, 

 though in this case our bees bothered our own chick- 

 ens. We fed cracked corn, and the bees were after 

 the meal that was not sifted out. They went into the 

 coops, and into the pails of feed left uncovered on the 

 coops. They were quite annoying until some second- 

 trrade flour was put out for them. I have kept chick- 

 ens White Wyandottes' for five years, and do not 

 remember having had a similar experience before this 

 spring. Mary S. Andrews. 



Farina, 111. 



cow PEA; IS IT A GOOD HONEY-PLANT? 



I should like to know whether you or any of the 

 readers of Gleanings have ever had any experience 

 with cow peas as a honey-plant and for stock. If you 

 do not know, I should like to hear from some of the 

 readers. C. W. Barr. 



Florence, Kan. 



We know little about this plant, except that it yields 

 some honey in some of the Southern States. We 

 should be pleased to hear from any who can give the 

 information.— Ed. 1 



THE ALLEY TRAP FOR RESTRAINING SWARMS. 



I should be pleased to know to what extent the drone- 

 trap has proven successful in preventing the swarm 

 from leaving. I have but one colony to start with. I 

 am on a rural mail route — leave at 9 A.M. and return 

 at 4 P.M. If the bees would swarm soon after I start, 

 would they stay on the outside of the trap until I re- 

 turn? Would there be any danger of their killing the 

 queen if left there too long? J. C. Kanagy. 



Belleville, Pa., May 31. 



(The drone-trap has given excellent results for catch- 

 ing swarms. We see no reason why you could not at- 

 tach one of them to a hive from which you expect a 

 swarm; and even if such aswarm came out duringyour 

 absence on your route, it would not leave, because the 

 queen would be caught and confined in the upper 

 chamber; then you could divide the colony on your re- 

 turn, because it would not do to let the bees make the 

 second attempt or they would kill the queen. We 

 think it would be better for you, rather than to depend 

 on the trap, to practice one of the several " shook- 

 swarm " methods. That advocated in Mr. Doolittle's 

 book is most excellent if we may judge by the reports 

 that have been received. — ED. J 



WORKING WITH BEES BRINGS ON SNEEZING-SPELLS. 



Mr. Root:— I have been keeping bees on a small scale 

 for the last ten or twelve years; but at present I can't 

 go near a hive without being strangely affected. It is 

 something dreadful how I suffer. I sneeze and cough; 

 water runs out of my eyes, and I suffer just like a per- 

 son affected with asthma. Is there any thing I can do 

 to stop this? 



Troy, N. Y., April 7. WM. J. HAYES. 



[There is a sort of hay fever that comes on in early 

 summer when it becomes very hot, and there is anoth- 

 er that attacks the individual in late summer. We do 

 not think the bees have any thing to do with either. 

 It is the season of the year, the weather, and the per- 

 son. Does not our correspondent find that he is worse 

 affected at some portions of the year than others? 



Then, again, there are somp who will have a sneez- 

 ing-spell whenever they get into the hot sun. Possi- 

 bly our subscriber is one of that kind; and if his bees 

 are out in the open he would naturally sneeze when he 

 goes among them. 



Perhaps there are some physicians among our num- 

 ber who would be able to throw light on this question. 

 —Ed.] 



SHOULD THE NOTCHED CORNER OF THE ONE-PIECE SEC- 

 TION BE PLACED UP OR DOWN IN THE SUPERS? 



On page 263, May 1, Mr. Wesley Foster discusses the 

 different ways of placing sections in the supers. I al- 

 ways put the joint up, so that the bottom of the section 

 rests flush on the holder, thus avoiding excessive de- 

 posits of propolis. In some sections the lock-corner 

 notches are a little too deep, so that the ends project 

 beyond the corner, making a little space for the bees 

 to fill with propolis. On this account I have found that 

 I can remove the section much more easily when the 

 joint is placed at the top. 



I had a boy who put up a lot of my supers, and he 

 put in the sections regardless of whether the joints 

 were at the top or bottom. I let them go as they were, 

 and out of twelve supers I broke some twenty sections; 

 and after that, out of four thousand sections that I put 

 in myself, I had almost no trouble. A. N. CoOK. 



Woodhull, 111. 



[If the sections are not nicely filled out after the har- 

 vest, the bottom of the section i or what was the top 

 while in the supen, will be a little fuller. When the 

 notched corner is put down in a shipping-case or on 

 the counter the section will have an upside-down ap- 

 pearance, for it would not do to put the notched corner 

 up.— Ed.] 



COMB BUILT IN DEEP SPACE UNDER FRAMES. 



With a 2H-inch space below the bottom-bars my 

 bees built comb below the frames in every case. I now 

 intend to reduce the space to one inch and try that. 



Marblehead, Mass. P. R. RUSSELL. 



[It is a fact generally admitted, that bees will build 

 comb down to the bottom-bars better when there is a 

 deep space under the frames. Dr. Miller has called at- 

 tention to this, but he found it necessary to use a 

 dummy under the frames at certain seasons of the 

 year to prevent the building of comb under the bottom- 

 bars.- Ed.] 



