1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



sulphur it any more than is necessary; so I made a box as 

 wide as the widest super I use, and about 10 inches high. A 

 piece of sheet-iron is nailed over the entire top of this box — I 

 think tin would answer as well — and a small door Is cut out 

 on one side. Then I have other boxes about 6 inches high 

 without top or bottom, the size of the different supers I use, 

 to set over the first box. A hole is cut out of each side of the 

 top box, and a piece of glass fastened iu. 



When I wish to sulphur honey I set this iron-covered box 

 right in the honey-room, put soraesulphur on the centerof the 

 iron top, then take one of the top boxes, the size of the supers 

 in which the honey is, and set it on top of this sheet-Iron, then 

 set the supers on this, and tier them up ten or more high, as 

 the case may be, and put a cover on. A small lighted lamp is 

 put through the door in the side of the lower box, so that it 

 will be right under the sulphur, and for awhile through the 

 glass in the upper box one can see how the sulphur burns, 

 and regulate the heat as needed. This is much the easiest 

 and most effective way to sulphur honey that I have ever 

 tried. By leaving the windows of the room open it will not 

 affect the rest of the honey, and no one need be afraid but 

 what they can kill the moths by this plan, even if the supers 

 and cover do not fit very closely ; but it takes much less time 

 and sulphur by this plan, and one has to be very careful not to 

 use too much sulphur, or to leave the supers on too long, for 

 if they do the honey will be colored. 



Last summer we got but very little white honey here, and 

 while I was away from home an inexperienced hand undertook 

 to sulphur some honey by this plan. He took 11 supers of 

 choice white honey and colored the combs and also the wood 

 of the sections nearly as green as grass. I did not know what 

 to do with them, but I thought perhaps soaking them in water 

 might remove the stain, so I took the gearing out of one of 

 the extractors, then set as many of the sections in the can as 

 I could, and then filled it up with cold water in the evening. 

 The gate was opened, and this water allowed to run out. It 

 was then filled up with fresh water, and in the morning every 

 particle of the coloring was gone from the combs and wood 

 also, but the water caused the wood to swell, and a good many 

 of the combs were nearly detached from the sections. These 

 were placed on the hives again, and the bees soon fastened 

 them all right. But if any have to be returned to the bees 

 to be fastened in this way, I found out that if it is at a time 

 when no honey is coming in, one has to use care and select 

 colonies that have the broodnest well filled, or else some of 

 the honey in the sections will be carried below. If I had been 

 careful about this, I would have saved all those sections with- 

 out much loss. 



With one of those boxes that I have just described, it is 

 very easy to kill moths in brood-combs. AH one has to do is 

 to put some sulphur on the iron top, then pile on the hives 

 and light the lamp, and no matter how big the worms, or how 

 many there are, they can be killed in a very short time. 



If one prefers, such a box can be set out-doors while the 

 sulphuring is being done, and if there is not much wind, there 

 Is no need to put anything around the cracks between the 

 hives, even if they do not fit very tight. 



A NEW KIND OF TRAP FOR SWARMS. 



In my next I will describe a new kind of trap to be used 

 at swarming-time, which differs somewhat from those in gen- 

 eral use. for while this trap when attached to a hive catches 

 and confines a queen when a swarm issues, whether she is a 

 laying queen or a virgin, it does not prevent the drones from 

 leaving or re-entering the hive, for to do so neither they nor 

 the workers have to pass through zinc. It appears that this 

 trap will also allow a virgin queen to go out to mate, and then 

 re-enter the hive. The trap is very simple in construction, 

 and anybody can make it. Southern Minnesota. 



The House-Apiary — Eastern Shore Notes. 



BV " MORTON'S BROTHER-IN-LAW." 



Mr. J. H, Andre, on page 806 (1S95) asks if the house- 

 apiary isn't more objectionable than the chaff hive, because 

 the sun's heat cannot penetrate the house and two inches of 

 shavings besides the single wall of the hive. I cannot see 

 why there should be any difference. But why does Mr. Andre 

 desire the sun's heat to affect the temperature of the interior 

 of a hive? Isn't that one of the main causes of spring-dwind- 

 ling ? It causes the bees to come out and fly when it is too 

 cold to safely do so, and many never get home again. 



In this connection, an incident came under my notice last 

 spring in northern Pennsylvania (I am something of a " Ram- 

 bler " myself), which will bear telling. 



In visiting an apiary of about 25 colonies, I found the 

 bees all fastened tightly in their hives by a cigar-box nailed 

 over the entrance, with wire-cloth over one side of it. It was 

 well along into warm weather, too, and the bees had been fly- 

 ing freely on several occasions previous to my visit. The pro- 

 prietor explained that he had noticed bees come out too early 

 and died in the snow, so he " fixed 'em last fall that-a-way, 

 and they are all snug and safe yet." That was a new way to 

 me, and I urged him to release them right away, and give 

 them a chance for life. To my surprise their long confine- 

 ment had not injured them, as far as I could discover, and two 

 weeks later those bees were working as well as you could ask 

 them to — and he only lost two colonies, one of which was 

 queenless. 



To the bee-crank, this " Eastern Shore" (as they call that 

 part of Maryland lying east of the Chesapeake Bay) possesses 

 some interesting features. Oysters is their main industry, 

 and honey cuts a very little figure. In Easton (the county 

 seat of Talbot county) I found three sections of white clover 

 honey which the grocer informed me had been plenty of stock 

 for his trade for a month (two for a quarter) — and no other 

 man kept honey at all ! The town has about 5,000 inhabi- 

 tants, and is a wealthy, stylish place surrounded by a fine 

 country, where the majority of farms are on a water front, so 

 Mr. Farmer can raise oysters, crabs, fish, terrapins, wild 

 ducks, etc., as well as corn and wheat. 



There are a few up-to-date bee-keepers In this county, but 

 lower down the peninsula, in Dorchester and Wicomico coun- 

 ties, the great majority of bees are in " gums " — 12x 12x36 — 

 (that's standard I) and they "rob " once or twice a year — that 

 is, by taking ofif the top of the hive and digging out combs as 

 far down as they wish. 



The wintering problem doesn't seem to bother any one 

 down there. If that big bee-man from York State — who uses 

 a 3-inch rim, a chaff hive, and a cellar just 45^ for 160 days 

 — could see how bees will " paddle their own canoe," and come 

 through the winter in fine condition — with perforated zinc for 

 a cover (upward ventilation, you see), or the cJicJ of the hive 

 so rotted out that it fell away, exposing combs and bees to the 

 naked eye, and yet do well the following season — he might de- 

 cide to emigrate to " de Eesten Sho'." 



Moths are the anxiety — not wintering— in this " neck of 

 the woods." Mr. Radcliffe thinks his chickens have a check- 

 ing influence with this pest. Morton seems to have a similar 

 notion, for he turns his flock of Golden Wyandottes into his 

 bee-yard every evening, and it is short on moths — very ! 



I was informed that there was " right smart o' bees' on 

 " Hungry Neck," and went there to investigate. The first 

 party interviewed had "right smart," but did not know ex- 

 actly how many " gums" he did have, but "reckoned" less 

 than 20. 



No. 2 was a woman; also had "right smart" — couldn't 

 say how many. 



Mr. R. had seven or eight behind the house, and 10 or 12 

 over by the barn. He did not know just the number. My 

 companion told me that it was considered unlucky to count 

 the " gums," or to sell any. To buy bees on " Hungry Neck," 

 you must make arrangements for the owner to go away from 

 homo ; then you can go and take them, and leave the pay 

 where it can be found. 



Another strange notion was to tell the bees {in a ivhisper) 

 when a death occurred in the owner's family, or the bees 

 would die, too I 



One bee-keeper told me that he thought a cross between 

 bees and fireflies would result in a critter that would work 

 night and day. That is "seeing" the Apis dorsata man, and 

 going him "one better." St. Michaels, Talbot Co., Md. 



Comb Honey vs. Extracted, and Wintering. 



BY CHAS. DADANT & SON. 



We have received the following letter, desiring our experi- 

 ence on the subject : 



Trinidad, Colo. 



To CnAS. Dadant & Son: — At the meeting of the Colorado 

 Bee Keepers' Association, held in Denver, in January, one of the 

 prominent honey-producers in the State advocated earnestly the 

 production of comb honey instead of extracted, and asserted, as au 

 objection to working for extracted honey, that the bees become so 

 eager to store honey in the upper story that they neglected to pro- 

 vide themselves with sufficient stores in the brood-chamber to last 

 them over winter. I have not had much experience in producing 

 extracted honey, while you have been working for it for years, so 

 I ask that you will be kind enough to inform me, if you have such 

 trouble, whether you have to feed the colonies from which you 

 have extracted honey, every winter. If not too much trouble, 

 please give me the benefit of your experience. P. O. Blaih. 



