86 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feh. 6, 



for the greater lights to reply to— viz : Which is really the 

 best — i. 6., the easiest, safest or most efficient, cleanest and 

 most expeditious — method of attaching starters, to either 

 frames or sections ? 



Speaking from experience, this is a source of much worry 

 and vesatiou of spirit to the novice. When I first started in 

 the bee-business I invested in a so-called " wax-melter " — a 

 sort of a miniature copper tea-kettle with an inside or double 

 lining, and a thin, tapering double spout ; it was always getting 

 clogged up, the wax congealing at the point just when I was 

 about to begin operations. One day the wretched contrivance 

 boiled dry, the solder, as well as the wax, melted, and it col- 

 lapsed, disinteg'rating into about 20distinct pieces. Inwardly 

 I was glad of it ; for only its prettiness had made me bear with 

 it so long. 



The plan I next adopted — one I had read of in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal — was pressing the foundation on with a warm 

 chisel ; but neither did I find this very satisfactory ; but what 

 I often did find, as a result of it, was starters lying at the bot- 

 tom of the hive. If too many bees got on them at once, the 

 starters had a nasty way of letting go. This drove me to try- 

 ing the camel's-hair brush way ; I used it for a long time, but in 

 the end I found it too messy, and so I cast about for something 

 better. 



I then adopted the plan of raising the melted wax from the 

 pot by means of a goose-quill, pressing my finger on the upper 

 end when full, and conveying it to the frame — held sloping — 

 raise my finger, when a nice little trickle runs all down the 

 starter — and all is lovely. Finding this a success, no time was 

 lost in substituting little taper pipes made of very thin sheet 

 copper (tin will do) for the quills. These beat the camel's-hair 

 brush all to fits ! If there is a better plan, pray let us know of 

 it. I greatly doubt whether there is. In adopting this metal 

 pipe arrangement, the wires (in the sections) are a decided ad- 

 vantage, as they hold the starter nicely in position until fixed. 

 Of course, the wires must be placed true in the center, or the 

 starters won't be true. But with a simple guage and a lead- 

 pencil, one can mark 1,000 in an hour, and then little children 

 can do the wiring ; and if wired sections will travel safe every 

 time, where a considerable proportion of unwired ones break 

 down, then the extra work of wiring is not worth talking 

 about. 



2. The bee-books and papers teach us that bees will not 

 accept queen-cells when there are laying workers in the hive. 

 Does this agree with your experience? 



Lately I made a colony queenless, with a view to rear 

 queens ; upon examination a few days after, I found they had 

 two queen-cells sealed, though there was ample evidence of the 

 presence of laying-workers — one unfinished queen-cell having 

 no less than eight eggs in it. How is this to be reconciled 

 with the above statement ? S. A. D. 



South Africa. 



Answers. — 1. For sections, I've always cut starters 

 square, both top and bottom, as wide as can be conveniently 

 worked in the section, and that's about 3?i inches ; bottom 

 starter about %-inch deep. At one time I thought I'd like to 

 have them deeper, but after trying it I found they tumbled 

 over with their own weight. The top starters I've made deep 

 enough to almost touch the bottom starters. So you see I All 

 the section about as full as I can. Some experiments I made 

 last summer with brood-frames inclines me to believe that pos- 

 sibly I might better cut the upper starter shallower, so as to 

 leave a space of perhaps half an inch between the two start- 

 ers. But it may not work well. 



I hardly like " extra thin " foundation in sections, and if I 

 used it for the upper starters I certainly would want some- 

 thing heavier for the bottom starters. 



I'm a little afraid there would be prejudice on the part of 

 customers against wire in sections, as it would suggest that the 

 bees had had just that much less to do with the business. Be- 

 sides, when a section is firmly fixed at the bottom and top — as 

 it must be with bottom starters — I'm not sure that the wire is 

 needed. My sections go hundreds of miles with never a break. 



Compared with the camel's-hair brush your plan of fas- 

 tening sections is a grand improvement, but I cannot help 

 wondering that you have never tried the " Daisy fastener," 

 the Clark or the Gray. I think the Daisy is the best of the 

 lot, and away ahead of any plan of fastening with melted wax. 



2. I think the books and papers do not put it down as a 

 rule without exception, that where laying workers are pre- 

 sent no queen-cell will be accepted. Certainly they are not 

 justified in so doing, for sometimes cells will be accepted all 

 right, especially if the case has not progressed any great length 

 of time. Laying workers are very vagarious little torments, 

 and do all sorts of things. Sometimes they are even found in 

 a hive after a young queen begins to lay — at least I have read 



so, although I think I never had such an experience myself. I 

 think the safest thing to give to a colony with laying workers 

 is a young queen that has just hatched, or one just ready to 

 hatch that you pull out of a cell. Simply putting such a young 

 queen on a comb among the bees has so far succeeded with me 

 in every case. 



M I — ■ 



Building Up Colonies in Spring. 



How can we build up colonies best in the spring? 

 Syracuse, N. Y. F. 



Answer. — That isn't a very easy question to answer. Per- 

 haps, too, the same answer wouldn't fit all oases alike. If 

 every thing is all right with the previous treatment — plenty of 

 stores the previous fall, and plenty of bees — very likely noth- 

 ing better can be done than just to let the bees alone. 



If there is any scarcity of stores, see to it that the defi- 

 ciency is supplied in season so that the bees will never have a 

 feeling that there is any necessity to economize. After they 

 begin to fly in the spring — if you are in a region where there 

 comes a time when there is an utter dearth of pasturage and 

 yet good weather for bees to fly every day — breeding may be 

 kept up by feeding. Not only feed honey or sugar syrup, but 

 also some substitute for pollen, as ground oats and corn, or 

 some other grain. 



Some advocate packing the hives in spring, and some 

 think it isn't a good thing. Perhaps you can decide for your- 

 self by trying both ways side by side, trying only a few in the 

 new way. If there is much empty room in the hive, you can 

 close up with division-boards, giving the bees only what room 

 they need, although some experiments made in France seem 

 to indicate that a comb full of honey is about as good as a 

 division-board. 



Whatever you do, don't try to build up weak colonies by 

 giving them brood and bees from stronger colonies. For 

 although the weaker colony will gain by it, that gain will 

 be more than counterbalanced by the loss of the stronger 

 colony. Rather take from the very weak and give to those 

 that are of medium strength. Indeed, it isn't a bad plan to 

 break uo entirely the very weak ones, and unite them with 

 the stronger, then later in the season you can more than 

 make up your number with what the strongest can spare. 



Beeswax Questions — Extracling Honey — How to 

 Put on a Super. 



1. How can I keep beeswax from sticking to wooden 

 molds when molding in small cakes for market ? 



2. How can I make wax of a nice, clear, light color ? 



3. How is snow-white wax made ? 



4. How long is honey left in the cells by the bees before 

 it is sealed over ? 



5. What is the best extractor for me to get for extracting 

 about 100 pounds late in the fall ? 



6. Is extracted honey drawn from the extractor and put 

 into small bottles for market, or is it strained through cloth to 

 make it clear ? 



7. This is a very important question with me : How to put 

 on extra supers in the summer without getting stung unmerci- 

 fully. The way I do is to blow a little smoke in at the en- 

 trance, then lift the old super a little and blow smoke in, then 

 lift quickly off, set it on top of the new one, and then put both 

 on top of the hive. G. C. B. 



Bridgewater, Mass. 



Answers. — 1. Having the molds thoroughly soaked with 

 water before putting wax in them will probably accomplish 

 the object. 



2. There is, of course, a difference in wax in the first 

 place. That made from cappings of new comb will be lighter 

 than that made from melting up old black combs. But even 

 from the latter can be made a nice article of yellow wax. 

 Be careful that it isn't heated too much in separating the wax 

 from the slumgum or refuse, and to make sure of this there is 

 probably no better way than to melt it in a sun extractor. The 

 secret of making it clear is in letting it cool very slowly so 

 that all impurities have plenty of time to settle slowly to the 

 botto'n. A very large quantity is likely to be clearer than a 

 small quantity, because the large body is a long time in cool- 

 ing. If you have only a small quantity, you can make it cool 

 more slowly by having a large quantity of water with it. One 

 good way to have it cool slowly is to put it in the oven of a 

 cookstove just before letting the fire die out for the night. Of 

 course, it should be put in long enough so that it will all be 

 thoroughly melted before the fire begins to die out, and care 



