JULY 1, 1912 



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Bees a Nuisance in Strawberry-picking Time 



In conversation with a young man who left his 

 present position to go b«ick to gardening and small- 

 fruit raising, I spoke of beekeeping. He said, 

 "Don't talk bees to me." I asked him why. He 

 said that in eastern Canada v/here he once worked, 

 a large producer of strawberries, blackberries, and 

 raspberries was located near an orchard in which 

 were about 200 colonies of bees. He said that they 

 did not bother any one until picking time, when 

 the boxes were filled and placed in the shelter of the 

 bushes to be collected. When the collector came along 

 he found the berries covered with bees. Of course, 

 the person collecting the boxes was in danger of be- 

 ing badly stung. Now, what I want to know is, 

 while we have the word of many fruit-raisers and 

 beekeepers that bees will not injure plums, grapes, 

 apples, or peaches, all of which are hard-skinned 

 fruits, have you or any of the contributors to 

 Gleanings had any experience with bees and the 

 soft-skinned fruits such as the three berries referred 

 to? Harvey G. Brant. 



St. Paul, Minn., April 1. 



[It is possible and even probable that, during a 

 dearth of honey, bees might attack overripe rasp- 

 berries, blackberries, or strawberries, especially if 

 the fruit is bruised in handling. In a ease like the 

 one referred to, the beekeeper should make some 

 arrangement with the fruit-grower to induce him 

 to cover all fruit with mosquito^netting as fast as 

 picked. It would take but a moment of time to lift 

 up a cover and place the freshly picked berries 

 under it. It is useless for beekeepers to deny that 

 bees will sometimes attack overripe or broken fruit, 

 especiallj' fruit like strawberries or raspberries. 

 But as a general thing, when strawberries, at least, 

 are in bearing, clover is beginning to yield. When 

 blackberries begin to yield, there is apt to be a 

 dearth of nectar. It is at such times that the bee- 

 keeper and the fruit-grower should get together in a 

 friendly way to avert the trouble. It can always 

 be arranged amicably when proper precautions are 

 taken in advance. 



In this connection it is proper to state that bees 

 will not attack sound fruit such as peaches, plums, 

 cherries, etc. ; but whenever there is a dearth of 

 honey we always advise having any fruit, as soon 

 as picked, put inside of a building or under a net- 

 ting. Even if there are no bees around, the fruit 

 should be screened to keep off the typhoid fly, com- 

 monly called the domestic or house fly, as that in- 

 sect can do a thousand times more damage to the 

 human race at large than a few bees on broken 

 fruit.- — Ed.] 



To Avoid Uncapped Cells in Comb Honey 



I have been keeping bees for three seasons, and 

 have now six colonies. I should like to go into it on 

 a larger scale if I thought I could make it pay. 

 I am producing comb honey, and the larger part of 

 the sections are not completely sealed over. In some 

 sections, perhaps only one or two cells are not seal- 

 ed; still, it is enough to drip in handling. I should 

 like to inquire what is the best method of disposing 

 of these sections. I had thought of cutting the hon- 

 ey from the section box and straining and bottling 

 it. Kindly tell me the proper way to do this. Should 

 the honey be heated, or is it bottled cold ? I am 

 using eight-frame hives, and mostly plain sections 

 with fences, although I have used beeway sections 

 with the slatted separators, but this does not seem 

 to make any difference in getting the cells all seal- 

 ed. I use a starter of about one inch in each sec- 

 tion. 



Ware, Mass. Chas. H. Walker. 



[It is almost impossible to get every cell sealed 

 in a section of honey, taking the super as a whole, 

 You will find some, it is true, that are perfectly 

 sealed; but these generally grade as fancy. The 

 No. 1 grade may have unsealed cells ne.xt to the 

 wood. There is bound to be a little drip from these 

 cells, but still not so very much either, for the honey 

 becomes very thick in such cells after standing a 

 short time, and is, therefore, less likely to drip. 



If you have a very large proportion of unfinished 

 sections, consisting of those only partly sealed, say 

 two-thirds, it may be that you give too many sec- 

 tions at once. This is sometimes the case when the 



new super is added next to the brood-chamber, the 

 one nearly finished being placed on top. The trouble 

 is, that the flow may end suddenly, leaving these 

 upper sections filled but not capped. 



There is a plan which tends to do away with un- 

 finished sections, but which requires much more 

 work ; that is, to shift the sections from the sides of 

 the supers to the center, removing those in the cen- 

 ter just the minute they are finished. Such honey 

 is always whiter and nicer, being freer from trav- 

 el-stain, and there is much less chance for a lot of 

 unfinished sections at the end of the year. — Ed.] 



An old Clipped Queen Found Sealed up in a Cell 



I discovered a peculiar "stunt" yesterday when 

 looking over a strong Italian colony in a Danzen- 

 baker hive. I discovered twenty capped queen-cells ; 

 and, though I looked the frames over several times 

 for the queen, I was unable to find her. Upon cut- 

 ting out the queen-cells to prevent swarming I found 

 the old clipped queen nicely sealed up in one of the 

 cells. She was in head first. The cell was a very 

 blunt one, away from the other cells, and the bees 

 paid no attention to it. I examined it very closely 

 before cutting it, as it looked rather peculiar, and 

 not one bee was on that cell while I was watchinj 

 it, although tliere were hundreds on the comb. The 

 queen was all right about a week ago, and, so far 

 as I know, she was laying at that time. Wheu I 

 pulled the dead queen out she was covered all over 

 with royal jelly. 



I wish to mention here that I am a believer in 

 plenty of ventilation to prevent swarming, and these 

 cells are the first I have found in my twelve colo- 

 nies since 1909. See page 320, May 15, 1910. Some 

 of my colonies have four comb-supers on, all being 

 filled with honey, and there is no sign of a swarm 

 except in this one colony, and this is something un- 

 usual. " Walter T. Ackerman. 



Huntington, W. Va., May 22. 



[A young virgin had probably come from this cell 

 while the old queen was still in the hive, the swarm 

 having been delayed by bad weather, possibly. This 

 old queen, attracted by the royal jelly, very likely 

 went into the cell, and the little hinged door in some 

 way was swung back into place, so that \'-w bees 

 did not suspect any thing wrong, but just staled it 

 down. Young virgins have been found in this pre- 

 dicament, but we do not remember having seen s>n 

 account before of an old queen being thus trapped. 

 — Ed.] 



Veiling Horses when Working Among the Bees 



That plan of Louis Scholl's, page 682, of remov- 

 ing loaded wagons from near apiaries or robbers 

 is very good, but a slow way. I used a rope for 

 two seasons ten or twelve years ago, but discarded 

 it for the more simple plan of veiling the horses by 

 slitting an ordinary grass-sack on one edge from the 

 top to within four inches of the bottom. I slip the 

 sack over the horses' heads and tie under the throat 

 with string placed there for that purpose. Then I 

 put the breast-yoke and doubletrees to the team, 

 slip the yokepin on, drop the pin into the double- 

 trees, and I am off in 30 seconds. As a rule the 

 bees are not bad if horses do not shake their heads. 

 These sack veils eliminate that. 

 A capping-meltee that furnishes steam for 



THE KNIFE. 



Severin's honey and wax separator, Dec. 15, p. 

 756, looks pretty good after the whole is once melt- 

 ed, but looks as though it would be slow work melt- 

 ing, besides using too much fuel. It is so open at 

 the top that one would have to have two stoves go- 

 ing to heat this and the knife. 



I have one of my own invention that I have used 

 for several seasons that requires only one gas-stove 

 to keep the whole outfit hot. My melting-tanks are 

 double-walled. The outside tank is 16x24, and 18 

 inches deep, while the inside tank is 14x22x16 inch- 

 es. At 21/^ inches from the top of the outside 

 tank is drawn in even with the top of the inside 

 tank ; then both are soldered together, air or steam 

 tight, so that no steam escapes except through the 

 steam-knife, which is attached by soldering an or- 

 dinary oil-can spout to the screw top or the place 

 where I put the water in. In this way the honey 



