DECEMBE:: 1, 1913 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Extracting from Brood combs in September 



October 25 I put my bees in their winter berths 

 consisting of the telescope for each individual hive 

 in which they came through last winter in good 

 shape. I much prefer wintering my bees on their 

 summer stands, as there is always some loss in both 

 the fall and spring, even if one moves his bees only 

 a few feet. So by using the telescope, and leaving 

 Ihem undisturbed, I find it works much better than 

 1 unching them. As to cellar wintering I much pre- 

 fer the summer stands. There is no lifting of heavy 

 hives, no anxiety as to temperature and ventilation. 

 I simply set the telescope over them, and pack dry 

 leaves around them. Then I forget them until about 

 April 1, when the telescope should be removed and 

 the hives examined and equalized as far as it is 

 possible to do so. 



I am right now wondering if there will not be a 

 lot of dead bees next spring that now seem to be in 

 good condition. 



I have been guilty of a serious error, and I be- 

 lieve many in this State are guilty of the same error 

 — viz., I failed to extrac^ the honey from the brood- 

 chamber in September, spread the brood, place the 

 empty combs in the center, and feed some good su- 

 gar. On examining my bees in late September, prepar- 

 a'ory to getting them ready for winter, I discovered 

 many hives with no brood, and others with but little. 

 I attributed this condition to the fact that, when the 

 honey-flow from the sweet clover ceased, the queens 

 slopped laying; and when the aster flow commenced, 

 there was but little room for the queen to deposit 

 her eggs, as she had been so crowded with sweet- 

 clover honey. I feel quite sure that I am going to 

 lose a few bees on this account, especially if we have 

 a hard and prolonged winter. So far as I have 

 been able to learn, many colonies of bees are in this 

 condition, and I greatly fear that next spring will 

 find many of us with few bees and plenty of honey. 



Indianapolis, Ind. J. F. .Kight. 



[It is of the greatest importance to make sure of 

 the proper proportion of young vigorous bees in the 

 fall. If the conditions are such that the brood- 

 combs are filled solid with honey in the late summer 

 or early fall, so that the queen has no room to lay, 

 possibly it might be best to extract some of the honey 

 to make room for brood reared because of the stim- 

 ulative feeding later on. However, we think it would 

 be best to start brood-rearing earlier b)' stimulative 

 feeding so that, in case there is a good fall flow, the 

 lower part of the central combs will still be occupied 

 by brood, which, hatching out later on, will leave a 

 " winter nest." 



This whole question is a disputed one — that is, the 

 question of wintering on solid combs of honey or on 

 combs having empty space in the lower part for a 

 winter nest. We suggest that all those who have the 

 opportunity to do so should test the two plans this 

 loming winter and report in the spring, said reports 

 for use in our Sept. 1st issue in 1914. 



We doubt whether many beekeepers would sanc- 

 tion the plan of extracting from the brood-nest in 

 September. — Ed. ] 



Comb Honey Cut to Fit into Sections has a " Stuck 

 i.i " Appearance 



I have read with interest the article by Dr. Hum- 

 pert, Oct. 1, p. 674, and your remarks on it. I was 

 surprised that you should consider the plan of cut- 

 ting frame honey into chunks for the bees to fasten 

 in section bases as something of originality and value. 

 Before now you will probably have heard from many 

 beekeepers who have experimented in this line with 

 more or less success — generally less. 



Last spring I had more calls for section honey 

 than I could begin to supply. I had a good many 



more shallow frames of orange honey than I needed, 

 so I tried to make the bees fasten my chunk honey 

 into sections. I found the best way to get the comb 

 in the sections was to cut it a very little too large, take 

 a folded section, open the joint, slip it over the chunk 

 of honey, and squeeze the dovetail together again. 



The bees certainly fastened in the combs; but the 

 results were not satisfactory. In almost every case 

 the cells next to the wood were cut down to (or 

 nearly to) the midrib, and the adjoining ones round- 

 ed off to match, and, of course, emptied. Nor could 

 I get these empty cells drawn out and filled again, 

 though the colony I used was an ideal one for such 

 work — a prime swarm requeened with a ten-day-old 

 queen. The brood-nest was packed with honey and 

 young brood, the bees were finishing their first super, 

 a good flow from orange bloom was on, and a big 

 feeder was under them at night. Five days after 

 giving these stuck-in sections the colony swarmed, 

 and the sections still had the stuck-in look, so I cut 

 out the honey again and put it up as " bulk comb." 



Some beemen may make a success of Dr. Hum- 

 pert's method, but my little experience leads me to 

 believe that section honey produced in this way will 

 always have what might be termed a stuck-in appear- 

 ance, and necessarily so, for the bees must clean out 

 every cell next to the wood in order to do the stick- 

 ing in, and I am not sure whether they can even 

 stick it without cutting down the walls of the cells 

 somewhat. 



As to eliminating swarming, I think I will use the 

 method for making extra-rapid increase next spring. 



By the way, I can give a sure method for elimin- 

 ating tree-climbing for the purpose of capturing a 

 swarm. It is very simple. Let the swarm come out 

 and circle higher and higher iintil the bees pitch on 

 the uppermost and outermost limb of the only nn- 

 climbable tree in the yard; then stand oflf where you 

 can get a good sight of the cluster, and with a 22 

 rifle shoot off the queen's wings. You will kill a 

 few of the bees near her, but that will insure her 

 losing her hold and coming to the ground ready to 

 cage. Don't say this is impracticable, for I did it 

 myself last week. True, I was not aiming at the 

 queen, but trying to cut off the limb so the bees 

 would cluster somewhere else, and made a " miss 

 shoot." and cut through the edge of the cluster. I 

 killed about 20 bees, and the queen came down with 

 them with half of both wings shot clear off. She 

 is laying now, and apparently no worse for getting 

 into a shooting-scrape. I would not recommend the 

 plan to a novice : but one with experience in beelore 

 should succeed. 



Apopka, Fla., Oct. 27. Harry Hewitt. 



A. I. Root's Directions for Wintering Bees Given 

 Thirty Years ago 



Xow that cold winter is about to close in on you 

 in the colder regions, let me repeat the formula that 

 our old friend A. I. Root gave to us (how to winter 

 bees) over 30 years ago. If you, my brother and 

 sister beekeepers, will strictly adhere to the formula 

 I would not be afraid to insure every colony you 

 have to winter without a single loss, providing you 

 have healthy bees and good pure winter stores for 

 them to eat. 



Have a double-walled hive, the intervening space 

 filled with oat chaff: a couple of division-boards 

 made of %-inch lumber, doubled-walled, filled with 

 oat chaff, cushioned around the ends and bottom so 

 as to fit the hive tight, ifow comes the particular 

 part. Weigh out four combs that will average 15 

 lbs. of honey to the comb ; the best quality of honey 

 possible. Place them in the center of your double- 

 walled hive properly spaced; crowd down your chaff 

 division-boards on each outside. I will add, before you 



