184 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



gather it ; wliile the Itahaii queens 

 cease laying as soon as the lioney 

 stops coming in from the fields about 

 July 1, and when Dec. 1 comes, they 

 have hardly bees enough to protect 

 their combs from the moth, ^ow, do 

 not let any one understand me to say 

 that I do not like the Italians— not by 

 any means ; they are all right for a 

 summer honey-flow, but our honey- 

 flow here comes right after a4-months' 

 dearth, and, as old bee-keepers know, 

 there are but few strains of bees that 

 will breed when there is no honey 

 coming in. The Holy Land bees are 

 much better in that respect, than the 

 Italians, and, therefore, we consider 

 them far nreferable for this country. 

 Cuba, W. I. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Report, Honey-Backs, Sections, etc. 



D. VIDETO. 



In the spring of 1884 I had 90 colo- 

 nies, all strong and healthy for the 

 season's work. Eleven had become 

 queenless during the winter, some of 

 which were dead and others nearly 

 so, which were united to other colo- 

 nies. Seventy were run for comb and 

 20 for extracted honey. 



Tlie season, here, was very poor ; 

 basswood and chestnut did not secrete 

 any honey. White clover seemed 

 abundant, but reluctantly yielded up 

 its sweets. Very few colonies 

 swarmed which were hived' with the 

 parent colonies that had cast a swarm 

 from 1 to 5 days previous, after re- 

 moving 2 or 3 frames of brood and 

 lioney, pinching off the queen-cells, 

 and putting on surplus from the 

 parent colony with one extra empty 

 case of sections. This system, though 

 highly recommended by some, proved 

 a failure with me, as two-thirds, at 

 least, swarmed out and seemed so 

 demoralized that they reluctantly 

 staid anywhere within bounds of the 

 apiary. About one-third worked 

 well, and from these and such colo- 

 nies as did not swarm, 1 secured my 

 surplus— about 2,.500 pounds. 



I sold white comb honev in one- 

 pound sections, put up in nice crates, 

 for 17 to 20 cents per pound, and dark, 

 for 14 cents. This kind of honey 

 passed off very nicely, and I hardly 

 realized that the people were groan- 

 ing tuider tlie pressure of "hard 

 times ;'' but when I offered the ex- 

 tracted, the times to all appearances 

 had changed — nobody wanted that 

 kind of honey. The grocers had a 

 supply, and could not sell their last 

 year's stock. I took the trouble to 

 examine their honey, and in every 

 case I foutui it looking dingy, rusty 

 and uninviting. After a careful sur- 

 vey over the extracted honey in the 

 market, with its evident unpopularity, 

 I became convinced that the less 

 there was of this stuff forced upon the 

 people, the better it would be for 

 those bee-keepers who would desire 

 to fiu'nish the con.sunier with a nice 

 article, inviting to look at and pala- 

 table to the taste. 



After experimenting with the Iled- 

 don lioney-rack with a slat honey- 



board. I am satisfied that no better is 

 wanted. I made 100 cases with wide 

 tin strips attached to the bottoms, on 

 which tlie sections rest, thus avoiding 

 a honey-board ; but I do not like it so 

 well. The objections are, the sections 

 become glued to the tins and are not 

 easily removed : besides, it is almost 

 impossible, after removing the filled 

 sections, to put in new ones without 

 crushing bees. This difficulty, of 

 course, may be averted by removing 

 the case, but this being held down by 

 the brace-comb attached to the brood- 

 frames, makes it inexpedient. 



I very much prefer the one-piece 

 section to the dovetailed ; not that 

 they look any better when filled with 

 honey, but they are much more easily 

 cleaned and handled when working 

 unfinished sections over for storage 

 and use another season. I think that 

 more patience is needed than the 

 average beekeeper possesses, to clean 

 up one or two thousand dovetailed 

 sections containing starters of foun- 

 dation well drawn out, which is very 

 desirable, and should be preserved. 

 The place to store these sections is in 

 the cases, in a clean room. 



I would not use very much founda- 

 tion in the sections. The " fish-bone " 

 is very noticeable upon our table. 

 Mrs. Videto cuts the honey down 

 from either side and politely invites 

 me to use the same to fill another sec- 

 tion. In some instances, if I use very 

 light foundation, the bees cut it down; 

 if heavy, the bees accept it and add 

 wax ami honey to it. I do not think 

 that bees draw out the foundation, 

 as has been stated so often. 



My 120 colonies had good flights on 

 Dee. 29 and 30, 1884. Since that time 

 part of them have been buried in 

 snow, and all, I think, are enjoying 

 their cold winter's nap. 



North East,^ Pa. 



nies averaged almost 20 pounds each, 

 wliile Mr. Webster got less than 4 

 pounds each on an average from his 

 30 colonies. Our increase was the 

 same, each having 154 colonies ready 

 for winter quarters. I fed 1,000 

 pounds of sugar, and Mr. Webster 

 fed nearly 1,500 pounds of honey for 

 winter stores. 



As to experience in the production 

 of comb honey : Mr. Webster was 

 producing and selling comb honey for 

 years before I commenced keeping 

 bees. Both of our yards are well 

 stocked with the best strains of Ital- 

 ian bees, and here is, I think, tlie ex- 

 planation of Mr. Webster's failure in 

 producing comb honey in a compara- 

 tively poor season. It is generally 

 agreed, that to be successful with the 

 Heddon case, either black bees or 

 hybrids should be used, because the 

 Italians are slow to cross the two 

 empty spaces between the brood- 

 frames and the sections. Air. Web- 

 ster's bees were too highly bred for 

 that style of case, while mine, having 

 continuous passage-ways from the 

 brood-frames to the sections, had no 

 such objections to going above with 

 their surplus honey. Tliis is the only 

 explanation I know of for the differ- 

 ence in our results in producing comb 

 honey. 



After using hives with continuous 

 passage-ways, I am free to say that I 

 like them. I think that I can work 

 as fast with them as with any other 

 style, at the same time killing as few 

 bees, and I never used either a 

 " wedge," " chisel," or "brush- 

 broom," nor did I ever need them. 



Lindsay, Ont. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Comb Honey Production. 



S. CORNEIL. 



Bee-keepers should now be getting 

 their hives and surplus cases ready 

 for another season, and as there has 

 been much said about hives contain- 

 ing continuous passage-ways, and 

 hives with cases having two empty 

 spaces to be crossed before the bees 

 reach the sections, the results of a 

 trial of these hives in adjacent apia- 

 ries during the past season may be 

 interesting. 



My neighbor, Mr. T. J. Webster, 

 and I had 80 colonies each in the same 

 kind of hive, the closed-end Quinby, 

 at the beginning of the honey season. 

 Mr. Webster worked 50 colonies, and 

 I -59 for extracted honey, both using 

 our old hives for that purpose. From 

 my -59 colonies I obtained an average 

 of about 85 pounds per colony, and 

 from his 50 Mr. Webster secured an 

 average of about 120 pounds each, 

 showing that his field was better than 

 mine. For comb honey, Mr. Webster 

 used the Ileddon-Langstroth hive and 

 case, and I adapted a Tinker-case to 

 my own frames, which are 10x16 

 inches, inside measure. My 21 wlo- 



For the American Bee JournaL 



The Cause of Bee-Diarrhea. 



C. W. DAYTON, (50— 112.) 



If Mr. L. L. Triem (page 123) is 

 sure that the colonies spoken of were 

 breeding, and that the syrup given 

 them entirely covered the pollen, then 

 the natural supposition is that the 

 bees would have remained as restless 

 as before, until some pollen could 

 liave been obtained for the brood ; 

 but as by the pollen theory, perhaps 

 the bees were made listless by the 

 syrup, and, hence, it is amenable. 

 That the hive of a diarrhetic colony, 

 in a warm temperature, and at the 

 time of the first outward appearance 

 of the disease, should appear to be 

 crowded with bees, is a logical and 

 general sequence ; but how old bees 

 may be distinguished from young 

 ones when in winter quarters, is not 

 as apparent. (Juite u:idoubtedly, in- 

 stances of this kind will be a boon to 

 such theorists as W. F. Clarke. 



Sometime previous to the appear- 

 ance of the diarrhetical evacuations, 

 which time is greatly varied by con- 

 ditions, a number of bees in the then 

 quietly clustered colony may be seen 

 to slightly move their bodies as if 

 they were in the act of drawing a full 

 breath, and frequently a single bee 

 will suddenly run about the cluster as 

 though seeking a more suitable place 

 to rest. These movements are the 



