424 



American Bee Journal j 



December, 1914- 



be honest about what it does weigh. The new 

 interstate law requires that each section 

 have stamped upon it the minimum weiglu 

 of the h«ney actually contained in it. not 

 counting in the weight of the wood in 

 the section, which weighs about an ounce. 

 If you can stamp yours as containing noth 

 ine less than i2^i ounces each you will be 

 doing wonderfully well. 



1 don't know whether the majority of the 

 4XS sections are i'b or i>^. The great major- 

 ity of sections. 1 think, are 4!<X4^xi%. 



Rearing Brood Without Excluders 



I, Many of your large bee-keepers rear 

 brood into the upper stories in order to 

 make the bees take to the supers, and some 

 work without using queen-excluders. Do 

 they not find the pollen very troublesome in 



the combs ? I hava tried both methods, but 

 find the pollen a nuisance when uncapping 

 as it clogs the knife. 



2. Does C. F. (Ireening (page 3io. Septem- 

 ber number) use a queen-excluder when 

 practicing his non-swarming system ? 



England. 



Answers.— I. Generally there is no need 

 to put brood in the surplus apartment, 

 empty comb being suflScient attraction for 

 the bees. But if brood should be put in the 

 super it would be quite important to use a 

 queen-excluder. As to pollen troubling the 

 knife, it will hardly do so unless combs are 

 quite irregular, so that you have to cut deep 

 in places, for I think cells are never en- 

 tirely filled with pollen, an empty space be- 

 ing left which may be filled with honey. 



2. No. He will be glad to have you write 

 him direct concerning his system. 



A Kentucky Letter 



We have had a dry season this year, but a 

 bumper honey crop, which resulted largely 

 from the copious rains of April. I harvested 

 some 75 pounds per colony of No. i chunk 

 and extracted honey from basswood. ber- 

 ries, persimmon and other wild bloom- 

 clover being a failure. 



Bees are still storing from the fall fiow at 

 this date. Oct 15. Almost all colonies have 

 already stored enough for winter. We have 

 a good market for our honey. I dispose of 

 what 1 produce at 18 and 20 cents per pound. 



I have been keeping bees the past 10 yeais. 

 and have found nothing that will beat the 

 single-wall hive with winter cases, with a 2- 

 inch space between hive and case, packed 

 tightly with forest leaves, and absorbents 

 above the brood-nest. 



Gimlet. Ky. Frederick Mank. 



Honey High in Stores 



The honey crop was pretty fair in Carson 

 Valley. Nev., and the quality good, white 

 and sweet clover. The market is dull and 

 prices low here in California. I bought two 

 jjttle glass jars of honey in two different 

 irt tores, and I had to pay 25 cents for each. It 

 was not a .\o. i grade of honey. How does 

 this compare with other things ? I said to a 

 friend, why don't you eat honey, it is health- 

 ful ? Don't the children like it? He an- 

 swered: " Yes. I know it is healthful, and 

 the children like it so well that they eat so 

 much of it I cannot afford to buy it because 

 honey is so high." Henrv Vorwerk. 



San Francisco. Calif.. Oct. 25. 



Will Have to Feed 



The past summer some colonies did not 

 gather 10 pounds of honey, some 24. and 

 some hardly enough to keep them, and I 

 will be obliged to feed when the weather 

 gets cooler. I think. There are very few 

 bees kept around here. There are several 

 patches of alfalfa, and a great deal of alsike 

 is grown for hay. and plenty of sweef clover 

 on the roadside not far from here. Bees 

 should do well Ai'sriN Powers. 



Sterling, 111., Oct. 15. 



Caucasian Bees 



I was interested in what was said in re- 

 gard to the color of Caucasian bees. I have 

 succeeded in getting a few queens over 

 from the Caucasus, that were a dark bronze 

 themselves without any gold or coppery 

 threads, and their worker progeny was a 

 steel gray, then some that I imported 

 showed coppery yellow threads around the 

 body, and invariably their worker progeny 

 would show about one-tenth of one percent 

 of bees that would have one or two yellow 

 bands. 



That they were pure Caucasians could 

 not be disputed, but evidently they were 

 mixed with the yellow-banded races that are 



mentioned. I am adhering to the real gray 

 strain as being distinctive of the true moun- 

 tain bees of the Caucasus, and they are 

 more evenly tempered and do not at any 

 time cluster out.l ike Italians. In hot weather, 

 and where they have room on Jumbo frames, 

 (I prefer big frames. I use for the brood- 

 nest ten), they have never yet cast a nat- 

 ural swarm, and I have had a single queen 

 to keep three of these hive-bodies full to 

 overflowing of worker bees, and know what 

 that means when there comes a big honey 

 flow. 



I enjoy very much the Editor's notes from 

 abroad, and regret that he was unable to 

 extend his trip into England. 



Chas. W. Quinn. 



Beaumont. Tex., Oct. 18. 



Bees More Numerous with Education 



Bees in this section are in fine condition; 

 brood-chambers full of nice clear sealed 

 honey, and the steelweed is at its height of 

 production. The frost is holding off late. 

 Some colonies will store more than 200 

 pounds from the fall flow. We never had a 

 case of bee disease in this part of Kentucky. 

 Our only loss is with the let-alone beekeep- 

 ers, such as queenlessness and a very light 

 winter loss. Bees are getting more numer- 

 ous since the owners study the anatomy 

 and behavior of the bee. Cecil Whitt. 



Gimlet. Ky.. Oct. 14. 



Light Flow 



We had a light How of honey. This year's 

 crop will be short. F.F.George. 



Eraser, Idaho. Sept. 28. 



First Complete Failure in His Experience 



I have 6j colonies and no honey this year. 

 I have been In the business 10 years, and 

 this is the first complete failure. 1 have 

 been feeding to get the bees in good shape 

 for winter. J. E. French. 



Cainsville. Mo. 



Fair Crop of Honey in Indiana in 1914 — 

 Top 'Ventilation 



The November number of the American 

 Bee Journal for iiji4 shows that the passed 

 season, almost in alt parts of this country, 

 was a poor one. While the southern part 

 of Indiana is not an excellent locality for 

 honey production, in spite of the excessive 

 drouth the yield of honey is far above the 

 averageof other localities. The amount of 

 extracted honey per colony for this season 

 is 82 pounds, with a great amount of stores 

 left for wintering. All colonies are supplied 

 with at least 50 pounds of honey for winter. 



We h«d here two heavy honey flows, the 

 first from May 12 until June 20, chiefly from 

 tulip poplar {! jriodendron ltd!l<iferiim) and 

 persimmons, andtheotherinthelatterpart 

 of September and in the beginning of Octo- 



ber, from white asters and eoldenrod. A 

 the weather was very hot and rather dry 

 during the last flow, white aster honey is of 

 good quality and consistency, and bees 

 ought to winter well on it. 



In wintering bees on the summer stands 

 with some kind of packing over the cluster 

 of bees. I experienced repeatedly how im- 

 portant it is to give top ventilation. If there 

 is not top ventilation the packing over the 

 cluster, which should serve to keep the 

 bees warm, will accumulate a great amount 

 of rnoisture and may prove fatal to the bees- 

 A slight ventilation on too will dispel all 

 moisture and the bees will remain dry and 

 warm. 



Bees need fresh air as well as a human 

 being, and if thepackingcontracts moisture 

 it sliows a deficiency in the proper ventila- 

 tion. The top board must be raised just 

 enough to allow the moisture to escape. 



Spencer Co.. Indiana. Subscriber. 



Yellow Sweet Clover 



All beekeepers are aware of the honey 

 producing qualities of white blossomed 

 sweet clover, which is due to the fact that 

 It starts to blossom about July r, when the 

 white clover is waning, and keeps on blos- 

 soming continually until late in the fall. In 

 consequence of its long tap root, which 

 draws moisture from a considerable depth 

 nectar is secreted in the flowers during the 

 dry period of the summer months when 

 clovers have practically ceased blooming. 



Few beekeepers appreciate the valueof 

 the yellow blossomed sweet clover as a 

 source of honey production. It is different 

 from most other clovers in that it will germi 

 nate and grow about equally as well one sea- 

 son as another. It germinates early in the 

 spring when there is plenty of moisture, 

 and Its long tap reot prevents its being af- 

 fected by any dry periods during its growth. 

 The yellow variety begins blossoming about 

 June I. and continues until about July 10. 

 In localities where bothvarieties are grown, 

 the bees are afforded a continuous flow of 

 honey from early spring until late fall, and 

 this flow is very slightly affected by dry 

 weather conditions, which so often prove 

 disastrous w. M. Budlong. 



Rockford. 111. 



Bulk Comb Honey for Sale— We have 

 sonie very excellent horsemint honey, light 

 amber in color, out up in attractive styles. 

 If you have never tried bulk comb either 

 yourself or to sell, send for a trial shipment. 

 You will be well pleased. Our prices are as 

 follows, f. o. b. Goliad: 



6 lb. cans no to a case) 10 cents a pound 



10 lb. cans { 6 to a case) 10 " 



60 lb. cans i 2 to a case) q 



Freight rate to Illinois and common points 

 in the same general territory, 1.03 per hun- 

 dred pounds. We also handle pecans. 



Goliad Bee & Honey Co , Goliad, Tex. 



Classified Department 



[Advertisements in this department will 

 be inserted at is cents per line, with no dis- 

 counts of any kind . Notices here cannot be 

 less than two lines. If wanted in this de- 

 partment, you must say so when ordering. 



BE£S AND QUEENS. 



Phelps' Golden Italian Queens will please 

 you. 



Bees and Queens from my New Jersey 

 apiary. J H. M. Cook. 



lAtf 70 Cortland St.. New York City. 



F"OR Sale— Choice Golden Queens that 

 produce Golden bees equal to any. 



Wm. S. Barnett. Barnetts. Virginia. 



Pure Tunisian Queens, tested, $1.00; 2-lb. 

 bees with tested queen. I4 00. Safe arrival 

 guaranteed. Lenoel. Nabeul. Tunis. 



Golden all-over Queens. Untested, $1.00. 

 Tested, li.oo. Breeders, J5.00 and $io. 



Robert Inghram, Sycamore. \'a,. 



