584 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOJENAL. 



for the American Bee Journal. 



Ohio Bee and Honey Show. 



EAKLE CLICKENGER. 



As I had the honor of being the 

 Superintendent of the Apiarian De- 

 partment at the Ohio State Fair, 

 which began on Aug. 31, 1 would say 

 that our sliow of bee-products was not 

 as large as usual, on account of al- 

 most an entire failure of honey in 

 central Ohio. The main premiums 

 were awarded as follows : 



For the finest case of comb honey. 

 Brigham & Chiyburgh. of New Lon- 

 don, O. ; display of comb honey, A. S. 

 Goodrich, of Worlhington; display 

 of extracted honey. Dr. II. IJesse, of 

 Delaware ; display of comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, A.S.Goodrich ; manip- 

 ulation of a full colony of bees, C. A. 

 Jones, of Delaware ; best nucleus of 

 Italian bees, the Superintendent of 

 the Apiarian Department ; display of 

 <}ueeii-bees, A;'.ion Benedict, of Ben- 

 nington; sample of beeswax, Mrs. 

 Jennie Culp. of Ililliard; beeswax ex- 

 tractor, J. W. Newlove. of Columbus. 



The bee-keepers held tlieir meet 

 ings in the Apiarian Hall, the con 

 vention being culled to order by the 

 President, Mr. A. I. Boot. As iheie 

 was no important business to be 

 transacted, the time was occupied in 

 discussing topics that were of in 

 terest to bee-keepers. 



Columbus,© O., Sept. 9, 1885. 



Farmer's Advocate 



Method of Transferring Bees. 



G. B. JONES. 



My method of transferring bees 

 from a box-hive : ('hoose a warm 

 sunny day, when the bees are very 

 busy on apple bloom. In the shade 

 of a tree or building some 200 feet 

 from the bees, prepare a table or box 

 to work on. Have a milk pan, tv\o 

 large meat-dishes, a dish-pan lialf full 

 of water, and a pail of water iieai 

 also two or three dish-towels, a lioney 

 knife, a large rough knife, and a 

 pruning or pocket knife. You will 

 need, too, an old chisel and a hatchet 



Transferring Botird. 



or hammer, a transferring board, and 

 a good supply of transferring sticks. 

 Without the board you cannot do 

 good work, and the sticks will pay 

 their cost several times to each col- 

 ony. You will need ten to twenty 

 pairs of sticks yier I ive. Tliey may 

 be used over and over again for years. 

 Now make a rougli box to fit upon 

 the bottom of your box-hive and 

 about a foot deep ; leave the fitted 



end open. Smoke the box-hive thor- 

 oughly, and carry it some .50 feet from 

 its pfpsent stand. Turn it bottom 

 up. but without the bottom-board, 

 and place the box you have made over 

 it, open side down, and wrap a cloth 

 about the joint and exit to make all 

 bee-tight. This done, take a heavy 

 stick and beat the side of the box-hive 

 till the queen and nearly all the bees 

 liave clustered in your rough box, 

 which will be in about 1.5 to 20 

 minutes. 



Place the box, bees and all, in the 

 exact place from which you removed 

 the box-hive, open side down, but 

 with its front edge raised a little to 

 make an entrance. Carry the box- 

 hive to your shady place, and set it 

 upon the ground at one end of the 





table, and have the body of the new 

 hive in a meat-dish at the otlier end. 

 With a rough knife cut the comb 

 loose from one side. (^The side of the 

 hive is that piece which is opposite 

 the face of the combs). Witli chisel 

 and hammer remove this side. One 

 at a time, cut away the combs and 

 lay each upon the transferring board, 

 which have on a slant so that the 

 loose honey will drain into a meat- 

 dish below it. Cut away all the comb 

 containing honey only, and put it into 

 the milk-pan. 



When you have sufllcient brood- 

 comb upon the transferring board to 

 fill one frame, place a frame over it 

 and fit the comb into a frame as you 

 would patch a floor or lay a pavement; 

 when done, slide the unwired end of a 

 transferring stick down one of the 

 grooves of the board as far as it will 

 go, and fasten the end with the free 

 wire to it securely by twisting the 



wire around it. Use as many sticks 

 as necessary, but no more. As each 

 comb is transferred set it into the 

 new body to drain. When all are 

 ready, fit a bottom to the body ; inter- 

 space as many frames of foundation 

 between the combs as are necessary 

 for the colony ; put on a quilt and 



Transferring Sticks. 



cover, and place the new hive upon 

 the stand previously occupied by the 

 box-hive. Now shake all the bees 

 from the rough box down upon a 

 sheet spread in front of the new hive 

 in such a position that they will easily 

 run in. 



To transfer from a movable-frame 

 hive, the rough box and drumming 

 will be unnecessary— just shake them 

 oft the combs to the sheet, and put in 

 the combs and foundation when 

 ready. In two or three days the 

 combs will be secure, and the sticks 

 may be removed. If the bees are not 

 gathering sufficient honey for them- 

 selves, feed them by laying some 

 pieces from the milk-pan upon the 

 quilt; make a passage-way by folding 

 back one corner of the quilt. 



Brantford, Ont. 



For tbe American See JoomaL 



Bee-Houses and Foul Brood. 



FRANK CONNER. 



I am thinking of building a bee- 

 house the coming winter, about 80 

 lods from my apiary, in the centre of 

 1 piece of timber land. There is a 

 good spring of water there, and I 

 thought that I would build over the 

 spring a double wall, each wall one 

 toot thick, and fill in with earth, leav- 

 ing a dead-air chamber of 6 inches; 

 ind fill in overhead with sawdust 18 

 niches deep. I would like to have the 

 opinion of some of our experienced 

 bee-keepers on the subject, through 

 the Bee Journal. 



Last winter I packed all of my col- 

 onies in chaff, and lost every bee that 

 I had — 16 colonies. 



It is reported tliat foul brood exists 

 in some parts of this county (Ionia), 

 but not in this neighborhood. The 

 following item is taken from the 

 Ionia National : 



" A petition signed by 16 bee-keep- 

 ers in this county, representing 531 

 colonies, was presented to Judge Bal- 

 com on Aug. 3, praying for the ap- 

 pointment of a commissioner to pre- 

 vent the spread and to eradicate the 

 disease known as foul brood among 

 bees. The petition recites that this 

 disease exists in several apiaries in 

 this county, and the owners refuse 

 and neglect to destroy the same. This 

 is the first petition of the kind ever 

 filed in the Probate Court in this 

 county. Judge Balcom, in response 

 to this petition, has appointed Mr. J. 

 H. Robertson, of Pewamo, a commis- 

 sioner to prevent the spread of foul 

 brood among bees." 



