July 19, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



455 



pens to fall in company with a small after-swarm or some 

 other colony having a flying queen, when it will leave you 

 without ceremony. As soon, however, as the first young 

 queen emerges, the frenzy to swarm will be redoubled, and 

 there will very likely be cases (I had a number of them) iu 

 which the queen will get thru the excluder or thru some 

 crevice, and away go the bees. In some cases the young 

 queens will be successfully held, but exit for the queen must 

 be allowed for the wedding-flight, or you will have a drone- 

 laying queen. 



2. I cannot clearly make out just what your plan is, but 

 I think you mean to have the queen without brood in the 

 lower chamber, and eventually all the old brood taken 

 away. If rightly carried out, this will prevent swarming, 

 and may result in a satisfactory crop. 



Inside Measur e of a 10 -Prame Hive. 



On page 374 Dr. Miller says the 10-frarae dovetailed 

 hive is 14J',s inches, inside measure. Is that right ? I wrote 

 the A. I. Root Co. last winter for their measure, and they 

 said 14'4 inches inside. New Yokk. 



Answer. — I was wrong and the A. I. Root Co. right. 

 I was a victim of misplaced confidence in the maxim that 

 figures cannot lie. The 8-frame dovetail is 12' s inside, and 

 two more frames spaced If s adds 2'+ to the 12,'s, making 

 14ys. That's the way I figured it out, and I felt quite safe 

 in those figures, not thinking that I had a 10-frame hive 

 that I could measure. I have, however, three of the Draper 

 barns, which are 10-frame, and I have just measured one, 

 and find it 14 '4. It seems that in the 10-framers no room is 

 left for a dummy as in the 8-frame ; hence the discrepancy. 

 I certainly would not like to do without tiie dummy space in 

 the 8-frames, and it would probably be an improvement in 

 the 10-frames, but that wasn't the question, and I ought to 

 have answered 14 '4. As a spite shot at the A. I. Root Co. 

 for getting me into this trouble, I may say that it is a diffi- 

 cult thing at present to get a frame out of the 10-frame 

 hive, and after being in use two or three years in any local- 

 ity where bee-glue is plenty, it will be simply unendurable. 



Bitter Honey— Italianizing— Swarming. 



1. I send you by this mail two vials of honey, numbered 

 1 and 2. 



The honey in vial No. 2 I know whence it came, but 

 vial No. 1, I am not so sure about. Can j'ou tell me thru 

 the columns of the American Bee Journal the plants it was 

 gathered from ? It is honey that was gathered early, say 

 thru April and up to May 20, or thereabout. You will dis- 

 cover it is very bitter — in fact, so bitter we can't eat it, nor 

 •do we undertake to put it on the market. 



The honey in vial No. 2 is (or will be when thoroly ripe) 

 very fiyte, both in quality and body, as when well ripened it 

 is very thick ; in fact, so thick it will hardly run, and you 

 notice from the sample it is real clear. This No. 2 vial, 

 which is the large one, is sumac honey. If it doesn't rain 

 too much my 34 colonies will store lots of sumac honey. 



2. Did I do right in swapping frames of bitter honey 

 stored in extracting-frames, for empty combs on the out- 

 side of the brood-chamber? thus, you might say, making 10 

 frames for queens to lay in. 



3. Are 10 frames 13^4x858 inches, inside measure, as 

 much as ordinary queens will keep filled ? My hives hold 

 12 of these frames, and I have seen every one chock-full of 

 brood. 



4. I ordered two golden Italian queens a few weeks ago, 

 expecting to try to Italianize my entire apiary this fall af- 

 ter black drones were " done doing." Now, what do you 

 think of this ? I am quite sure I could accomplish it a 

 great deal easier early in the spring, yet I prefer to do the 

 Italianizing in the fall, that I may have laj'ing queens 

 ready for business early in the spring. 



Will you give me your ideas about what you would do if 

 in my shoes ? 



5. I have had only 4 swarms in 3 years that I am aware 

 of. How's that ? Lonoke Co., Ark. 



Answers. — 1. I can't tell the source of the bitter honey. 

 It reminds one of hoarhound, and in spite of its bitterness 

 some might like it. It is not impossible that a demand 

 might be created for it on account of medicinal qualities. 



The sumac honey is not very heavy in body (possibly 

 not well ripened), light in color, with a peculiar flavor 



which is by no means unpleasant. If well ripened it is not 

 hard to imagine it might be very fine. 



2. Probably you could do no wiser thing than to give 

 the bees frames of bitter honey in place of empty combs, 

 thus getting the honey changed into bees. 



3. There is a great dilTerence in the capacity of queens. 

 Some would not keep 12 frames like yours filled, and some 

 would need more ; 10 such frames are equal to about 8^4 

 Langstroth frames, and many <jueens find 8 Langstroth 

 frames enough, while others need more. 



4. I should certainly Italianize this fall rather than to 

 wait for spring, having just that much the start, but if it 

 were spring I don't think I should wait for fall. 



5. If you have for 3 years kept from 10 to 30 colonies, 

 and in that time have had only 4 swarms, you are very much 

 to be envied. Please tell us what you think is the reason 

 you have had so little swarming. The non-swarming ques- 

 tion is a live one. J. O. Grimsley goes as far as any one 

 can go iu that direction, believing that the swarming pro- 

 pensity can be bred out entirely. 



The Chicago Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association meets the last week in August, as will be noted 

 by the following from Secretary Mason : 



Editor of American Bee Journal : — 



Please allow me to remind the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal that the next convention of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association is to be held in Chicago, 111., on the 

 28th, 29th and 30th of August next, commencing Tuesday 

 evening, the 28th, at 7:30 o'clock. 



The sessions will be held in Wellington Hall, No. 70 

 North Clark St., about a block and a half from the Bee 

 Journal office, and about five blocks directly north of the 

 Court House. The hotel at which members can secure 

 lodging, etc., is the Revei-e House, southeast corner of Clark 

 and Michigan St., only one-half block from the hall. Rates 

 of lodging will be SO cents per night, and several will have 

 to occupy one room. To many bee-keepers this will be an 

 "added attraction," especially as they will have good beds 

 to sleep on, as Mr. York has been assured by the hotel pro- 

 prietor. It may be possible that this hotel will not be able 

 to accommodate all of the bee-keepers, altho the proprietor 

 will do his best to see that it does. Each one attending the 

 convention should secure a lodging-place as soon as possi- 

 ble after arriving in the city. There is usually no trouble 

 in getting enough to eat at reasonable rates. 



The program for the convention will be different from 

 what it has usually been. There will not be to exceed one 

 paper at each session, and the remainder of the time will be 

 occupied in the asking, answering, and discussion of ques- 

 tions. The question-box will be in charge of such veter- 

 ans as Dr. C. C. Miller, of Illinois ; Rev. E. T. Abbott, of 

 Missouri ; D. W. Heise, of Ontario, Canada ; C. P. Dadant, 

 of Illinois ; R. L. Taylor, of Michigan ; O. O. Poppleton, of 

 Florida ; and the editor of the American Bee Journal. 



On Wednesday evening the editor of Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture will give an " Illustrated stereopticon talk on bee- 

 keepers I have met, and apiaries I have visited." 



The papers will be from such noted ones as Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan, of I/ondon, England; Dr. Wm. R. Howard, of 

 Texas ; Mrs. H. G. Acklin, of Minnesota ; S. A. Niver, of 

 New York : Herman F. Moore, of Illinois ; and R. C. Aikin, 

 of Colorado ; and if you want to know what the papers are 

 about, and assist in the discussion and enjoyment of the 

 questions, please report in person at the above mentioned 

 hall at the time indicated. 



I have been unable as yet to learn what the railroad 

 rates will be, but they probably will be as heretofore— one 

 fare for the round trip from some localities, one and one- 

 third from others, or a cent a mile each way in the Central 

 Passenger Association territory. The exact rate may be 

 learned by inquiring at any railroad station. 



A. B. Mason, Sec. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one nezv, yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



