4-14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



SHOOK SWARMING EITHER FCR COMB OR EXTRACTED 

 HONEY. 



If I understird your pans for the prevention of 

 swamiing-, as siven in lesson 8 of your Correspondence 

 Cofu se, I am to begin examining my out-apiary at reg- 

 ular intei vals as soon as the swarming season begins; 

 and when I find a colo ly with eggs or larva in queen- 

 cells I am to divide or brush the swarm, otheiwise I 

 am to leive the colony alone until the next visit. How 

 oftcii would you visit tn outyard? If a colony wilh 

 two section-supers on is found making preparations to 

 swarm wou d you divide Ihe colony, as taught in les- 

 son 8, and c ige the queen in the section-supers for 

 eight days on the old stand? 



If, in place of the sections, I were using a full-depth 

 b idy, and I intended to run t'le colony for extracted 

 honey, could I" set the brood-nest back on top of the 

 body on the old stand now, in 14 days using it as an 

 e\tracting-super? The remaining larva^ would hatch 

 ill seven days more, and all cells could be filled with 

 honey. E. L. Hofmann. 



Janesville, Minn., May 31. 



I You have a correct understanding of lesson 8. As 

 to how often you should visit an outyard, much will 

 depend upon conditions, the season or locality, and 

 whether or not the yard is run for comb or extracted 

 honey. If the former we would make a visit as often 

 as once a week, and oftener if swarming should once 

 get started at the yard. 



Suppose a colony has two section-supers on, and it 

 was discovered that the bees were building swarming- 

 cells. we would move the parent hive off its stand and 

 put an empty one in its place. We would then tMkeout a 

 frame of brood and the queen and put them in the empty 

 hive; the remaining space we would fill out with frames 

 of foundation. We would now shake over half the 

 bees from the parent hive in front of the new hive on 

 the old stand. This new hive should be given the two 

 section-supers, after which the p irent hive should be 

 moved to another location. Should the parent hive 

 have much unsealed brood it would be best to examine 

 it in a few hours to see wheiher there were enough 

 bees to take care of it; if not, put it in some other hive. 



If, however, you are running this colony (that was 

 starting swarming-cellsi for extracted honey, and 

 swarming-cells were under way, we would still advise 

 carrying out the same procedure as outlined above. 

 But a colony run for extracted, very possibly and prob- 

 ably would not be building swarming-cells, particular- 

 ly if you kept ahead of them by giving them plenty of 

 empty comb. During the swarming season, in the case 

 of colonies run for extracted honey we would see that 

 they were supplied with extra supers of comb, placing 

 the empty frames under those partially filled out. If 

 you do this, you will have very little trouble from 

 swarming. Keep on tiering up in this way until the 

 end of the season, even if the hive grows to be four 

 and five stories high. The average queen, however, 

 will not take care of more than one or two stories in 

 addition to the brood-nest; that is to say, she will not 

 have a colony strong enough for such expansion of 

 the surplus apartment. 



Referring more particularly to the question in your 

 last paragraph, we may say that you can carry out the 

 plan as there suggested. 



In either the Doolittle or the Alexander book this 

 whole question of keeping down swarming and run- 

 ning for either comb or extracted honey is fully dis- 

 cussed. — Ed. I 



THE time of feeding MODIFIED BY LOCALITY; BEES 



THAT TEAR DOWN STARTERS AFTER BEING 



SHAKEN FOR FOUL BROOD. 



On page 285, May 1, there is some argument against 

 spring feeding for stimulative purposes. I wish you 

 would advise me in this regard. Our main honey-flow 

 racemes between the first of February and the last of 

 March; and if our bees do not get into condition for 

 this mustard and fruit-bloom we do not realize much 

 from them. Of course, we are apt to have some in- 

 ferior weather during these months, which the bees 

 might be forced to fly in if they were stimulated, how- 

 ever. I have one case of ropy brood in my 25 colonies. 

 This one appeared last year, and was treated according 

 to McEvoy's plan; but. instead of the bees building 

 comb, they tore the starter off the frames and apparent- 

 ly did nothing; however, I decided to try them, so I 

 gave them new frames with full sheets of foundation, 

 upon which they went to work, and apparently did all 

 right until this season, when I noticed, after they fail- 

 ed to store any surplus, that they still had the dread 

 disease. I immediately gave them the same treatment, 

 and find they are doing things just as they did a year 



ago— that is, they pull the starter off the frames and 

 build no comb and store no honey any place. 

 What would you advise in this line? 



The queen arrived as frisky as a lark, and was re- 

 leased by the bees. I haven't looked for further de- 

 velopments. 



IS HONEY FROM FOUL-BROODY HIVES FIT FOR HUMAN 

 CONSUMPTION? WHAT TO DO WITH SOUR HONEY. 



Is there any reason why honey taken from a foul- 

 broody hive should not be eaten? 



About a month ago a friend having two hives of bees 

 with which he had grown tired gave them to me. After 

 getting them home I found that the super ta cherry- 

 box i contained about a gallon of what I supposed to 

 be good honey. I took it off and extracted it, put it in 

 jars, and left it on a table in the pantry for three or 

 four days, when, to my surprise, it had soured and fer- 

 mented, forcing its way out of the j:ir under the cap, 

 and is now unlit for any thing. Can you tell me what 

 was the matter with it? E. B. STONE. 



Campbell, Cal., May 27. 



[Your locality is peculiar from the fact that the flow 

 comes so much earlier than it does in most localities 

 in the United States, so directions that are intended 

 mainly for the Noithern Central States would not, of 

 course, apply to a locality like yours. It might be nec- 

 essary to feed at any time that would give you a good 

 force of bees by the time your harvest comes on. 

 Where you are located you do not have the winter 

 problem to contend with, and it is this one fact that 

 modifies all instructions accordingly. 



We do not understand why your bees shou'd tear 

 down the starters that you gave them to draw out when 

 feeding for foul brood. Possibly you left them too 

 long without feeding. At the end of 24 hours the bees 

 should be fed sugar syrup. This ought to have the ef- 

 fect of setting them to work immediately on the draw- 

 ing-out of the starters. 



Honey from >oul-broody hives would be perfectly 

 safe and palatable for human beings; but it must not, 

 however, be put back on other hives that are healthy, 

 as the infection would be almost sure to be carried 

 there. 



We should conc'ude that the honey you extracted 

 must have been partially soured before it was taken 

 from the hive. It could hardly turn acid in three or 

 four days after extracting. There is not much that you 

 can do with it except to convert it into honey vinegar. 

 Boiling it will sweeten it somewhat, but not enough to 

 take away the acid entirely. It would be unfit to eat, 

 and unsafe to give back to the bees. If they will take 

 it, however, it can be used for brood-rearing, but you 

 • must make sure that they consume it all before cold 

 weather comes on. — Ed.] 



BOILER-PLATE MATTER TO BOOST THE SALE OF GLU- 

 COSE. 



The inclosed clipping is from the Detroit Free Press 

 of June 24. It looks as though the glucose people had 

 a hand in this, and were trying to get even with us 

 bee-keepers for fighting their interests. It is too bad 

 that such stories are allowed to circulate. 



Highland, Mich., June 24. R. D. MILLS. 



IThe clipping referred to is as follows. — ED.] 



GUI II) BKKLKSS HONEY. 



A FreDeli humorist. Alptionse .\lal8. once maintained grrave- 

 ly tliat little butis like bees eould not iio.sslbly make honey, 

 and that If they had been Intelligent enouyrh to do so they cer- 

 tainly would have been clever enough to lieep the product to 

 themselves. He concluded, therefore, that honey Is made by 

 the grocers who sell it, and the pretty fable of the bees was In- 

 vented merely to help the fale. 



L'nfortunately the French honey man was telling a good 

 deal of truth In the •■ skit." fir much tl at Is sold as honey nev- 

 er saw a bee-hive. Imitation honeys are usually made on a 

 basis of glucose or uncrystalli7able sugar, called s 'metlmes 

 in this country " corn syrup," because it results from the 

 treatment of corn starch with sulphuric acid, declares the 

 Cincinnati ( Oiiiniercitil-Tribinw. 



Pure glucose, with the addition of an e.xtract skillfully pre- 

 pared to Imitate ttie flavor of the natural product, makes a 

 very respectable •' honey." The only way to avoid being 

 served with the Imitation would appear to be to keep bees. 



We are assured by makers of imitation hoi.ey. however, 

 that it is really much preferab'e to the genuine article, which 

 Is full of Impurities of all kinds, such as pollen-grains, bits of 

 wax, pieces of dead larv;e. etc.; whereas the imitation honey 

 is chemically pure. Possibly there may still be some bo per- 

 verse as to prefer Impure honey from the hive to the pure and 

 pellucid ( but beeless) article. 



I We agree with our correspondent that it looks very 

 much as if the glucose people were back of this item. 

 It has a certain suggestiveness of " boiler plate," and 

 the object is, apparently, to boost the sale of glucose, 

 or corn syrup, so called. If that is the purpose it is 

 high time the neat little scheme were laid bare.— Ed.] 



