242 



July, 1914. 



American Vee Journal 



Sections in the four stages— Photograph by G. C. Greiner 



must be governed by the kind of honey 

 that is chosen as a specialty. If comb 

 honey is the objectexcktsively, we need 

 a very few colonies only to pmduce 

 the necessary quantity of feeding 

 honey. To decide the exact propor- 

 tionate number of the yard for this 

 purpose is more or less guess work, it 

 depends very much, like many other 

 leatures, on the season, but mainly on 

 the alertness of the beekeeper. These 

 colonies need only one super, but the 

 combs must be extracted as fast as they 

 are filled. The honey, call it "nectar" 

 if you will, taken in this way, is just the 

 thing for beesto work over and use for 

 capping. Being very thin and pliable 

 it makes bees believe they are gather- 

 ing natural stores from the field. As 

 I produce mainly extracted honey, I 

 have not practiced the wholesale pro- 

 duction of this article. My supply was 

 taken from a few combs of each super, 

 the larger part of the combs being 

 allowed to be ripened and capped. 



In the foregoing I have tried to 

 cover the main points of my method. 

 It remains now to say a few words in 

 regard to the appliances I use. My 

 whole management, from the first ex- 

 amination in the spring to the last 

 feeding and preparing for winter, 

 makes three features of my outfit obli- 

 gatory, if rapid work, ease and enjoy- 



ment is our aim. 



First.— Loose-hanging brood- frames. 

 It is the greatest mystery to me that 



beekeepers will be hampered by any of 

 the various self-spacing devices. Many 

 times, when making demonstrations in 

 my yard, I have heard such expressions 



as: "I wish I had your frames. What 

 would you do if you had the Hoffman 

 frame ?" I simply explain : I would 

 not have them. I admit that self-spac- 

 ing frames offer some advantages over 

 the loose-hanging kind, but their in- 

 conveniences impose a tenfold hin- 

 dr nee upon the beekeeper. 



Second.— Broad-frames for section- 

 holders. It is almost useless to say 

 anything in their favor. Their advan- 

 tages over nearly all other section- 

 holding rigs are so apparent that see- 

 ing them manipulated convinces any 

 person of their practicability. Chang- 

 ing sections back and forth from one 

 hive to another would be a tedious job 

 with the T super, or any other of simi- 

 lar construction, while the exchanging 

 of broad-frames is like turning the 

 leaves of a book, extremely easy and 

 simple, after the super springs have 

 been removed. 



Third. — A serviceable bee feeder. 

 With a few added improvements of my 

 own the Miller feeder, made of wood, 

 fills the bill exactly. The leaking fea- 

 ture of a wooden feeder, of which we 

 hear frequent complaints, can be over- 

 come by proper treatment. My feeders 

 are stored under the roof on the upper 

 floor of my honey house, where the 

 heat during the warm spring days is 

 almost unbearable. They season and 

 shrink to such a state that water would 

 run out as fast as it is turned in. When 

 I am ready to use them I take one after 

 another on my bench and give each 

 nail a light tap with the round face of 

 a little riveting hammer. Then I place 

 them in rows on the lawn close to the 

 honey house, and give them a thorough 

 washing with the garden hose. That 

 cleans out all the old remnants of 

 granulated honey from last year's use, 

 and by keeping them filled with water 

 for an hour or two, half a day if neces- 

 sary, I have no more trouble with leaky 

 bee feeders for the season. 



The use of paraffin, or painting them, 

 stops the leaks for the time being, but 

 it is not a permanent remedy. After 

 they shrink again, they leak as before, 

 and the operation has to be repeated 

 the same as my washing process. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C Miller. Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keepine Questions by mail. 



Finding the Queen MakingRoom— Whal is Good 

 for Feeding and Brood-Rearing ? 



1. I opened two of my hives the other day 

 to lind the queens and clip their wings, but I 

 couldn't lind them. If there are certain 

 methods 1 would like to know wliat they 

 are. How would it do to place a swarm 

 guard over the entrance, then transfer the 

 bees, frames and all to another hive-body; 

 shake or brush the l)ees from tht-ir combs 

 in front of the hive with guard, then placing 

 each frame liack in its proper place after 

 the bees are brushed off so that ihey can 

 cluster on them again as soon as they get 

 through the guartl ? 



J. Here is my plan to get honey, but I have 



never put it into practice yet: Give each 

 colony supers as needed until they are ready 

 to swarm or show signs of swarming. Then 

 find the queen and place her on a frame of 

 brood. Put this frame of brood in an empty 

 hive, tilling out with frames of foundation 

 orcomb. On this put a iiueen-excluder and 

 then the supers, placing the hive-body on 

 top of the supers. How would it do to put a 

 ripe cell in the bottom brood ciiamber on 

 the frame of brood instead of the old queen, 

 then cage the old queen in the top of the 

 hive so that if the young queen is lost or 

 fails to hatch, the old one can be liberated 

 again? 



3. In taking a ripe cell from one hive and 

 putting it in another where there is no 



