692 



rHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Combs of Honey for Next Season. 



Query* Tin, 14T.— I will have about lioo combs 

 very full of honey for next year's awarms and 

 increase. "Would It be advisable to throw the 

 honey out and use empty combs'/ or would It be 

 best to use full combs of honey ? I want to make 

 my Increase by natural swarming. If they will 

 swarm.— Delaware. 



I believe I should empty the combs, 

 if honey brings a fair price.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



Extract the honey and use the 

 combs empty. Often the honey is 

 worse than useless.— James Heddon. 



If only 5 or (i combs of honey are 

 used, and the sections put on when 

 the swarm is hived, the bees will 

 carry the honey from the combs to 

 the sections, and thus it gives them a 

 good start. If a full hive of combs 

 are to be nsed, or it the honey in the 

 combs is dark colored, I should ex- 

 tract it.— G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I always throw out the honey in the 

 fall, and use empty combs in the fol- 

 lowing; spring. NVe do not usually 

 need the honey. 1 always save a few 

 combs with the honey in to use in 

 case I wish or need them.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



I should use those combs for build- 

 ing up tlie colonies in the spring. If 

 there were more than were necessary 

 for this purpose, I would extract the 

 honey. It certainly would not be 

 good policy to carry it till swarming 

 lime.— G. L. Tinker. 



I would warm the honey now, and 

 extract it. I would not hive bees 

 upon combs, unless I was producing 

 extracted honey, and then I would 

 wish the combs to be empty.— W. Z. 



IIUTCniNSON. 



If your combs are full from top to 

 bottom you had better extract the 

 most of them. If they are only one- 

 third full, then you might as well 

 keep them in that condition. We 

 would advise you to make swarms by 

 division and not depend upon natural 

 swarming.— Dadant & Son. 



I would extract the honey and give 

 the empty combs to the swarms. It 

 does not pay to give swarms combs 

 containing even a small amount of 

 honey, because the old honey will be 

 carried into the surplus apartment by 

 the bees, and it will dam:ige the new 

 honey in appearance at least.— G. W. 

 Demauee. 



Save your combs as they are for use 

 next season. Hang them in a close 

 room, about 2 inches apart, ami if any 

 signs of moth vi'orms appear give 

 them a bath of the fumes of burning 

 sulphur. I have kept combs over 

 from year to year to stock up witli 

 and for spring feeding, and have 

 found no trouble in preserving them. 

 —J. E. I'OND, Jr. 



Stimulating Colonies. 



Query, Mo. 148. — Each of my hives have 

 from H to 10 frames of h' ney in the brood-cham- 

 ber. I shall contract them to .'> frames, and 1 have 

 always found that these .i combs contHin more 

 honey than a colony uses all winter. Is it best to 

 throw the honey out of the combs that I take 

 from the brood-chamber, and add empty combs in 

 the spr ng when 1 commence to stimulate them so 

 as to net early Bwarms V or would it be better to 

 Kive them the combs of honey, uncapping them 

 first, to induce early swarming?- Delaware City, 

 Del. 



I should prefer to give empty 

 combs.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



The latter measure suggested is the 

 proper one.— G. L. Tinker. 



Undoubtedly the latter way is the 

 best, but your climate must be very 

 different from ours, if you can winter 

 a 10-trame colony on 5 frames. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



Either way is excellent. Let ease, 

 convenience, and the price of honey 

 decide the matter.— A. J. Cook. 



I would save about what I thought 

 was necessary for spring feeding, if 

 the colonies should neetl it, and ex- 

 tract the rest of the combs. I prefer 

 empty combs to fill out the brood 

 department in the spring, for the rea- 

 sons mentioned in my answer to No. 

 147.— G. W. Demarek. 



It depends somewhat upon the 

 value of honey. Try both ways. — C. 

 C. Miller. 



I should give the combs of honey 

 as suggested, instead of empty combs. 

 — G. M. Doolittle. 



That will depend entirely upon how 

 the season opens next spring, and 

 how good the honey-flow is. I should 

 extract and sell the honey now, and if 

 any was needed in the spring, I 

 should furnish them liiiuid feed at 

 that time.— James IIeduon. 



Cause of Sour Honey. 



Query, No. 141>.— What is the cause of un- 

 capped cells of honey souring and running out of 

 the sections freely V As I took them oIT the hive I 

 spread them on the floor in a low room ne.\t to a 

 tin roof, which had one low window toward the 

 west, and a door opposite the window, wliich 

 opened into another room. I thought 1 hud ii nice 

 room in which to keep my honey, but it did not 

 keep. Whs the trouble with the room or with the 

 honey 7 What can I do with the sections to make 

 them salable ?-S. M. H. 



A cool, damp atmosphere causes 

 honey to act as described. A very 

 warm, dry room would thicken the 

 honey again, but would hardly make 

 it salable.— G. M. Doolittle. 



The trouble was with the honey 

 which must have been unripe when 

 the bees sealed it. This happens 

 sometimes during a very good honey 

 season.— Dadant & Son. 



The state of the atmosphere had 

 much to do with the trouble you men- 

 tion. It the room described is well 

 ventilated, I cannot see what hindered 

 the honey from evaporating all right. 

 1 have found that a high temperature 

 in a room is of little service to thin 



honey, if there is no draft of air to 

 carry off the moisture. I have re- 

 turned the sections to the liees and 

 had them dried and cleaned up. but 

 it is an unpleasant job to do it ; and 

 although the bees dry the honey 

 nicely, it never looks as nice as it did 

 when first removed. — G.W.Demaree. 



Honey should not be taken off until 

 sealed : if taken Off before sealed it 

 should be kept in a dry, hot atmos- 

 phere until the excess of moisture is 

 evaporated.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Yon can hardly do anything to 

 make the sections better, but you can 

 perhaps improve the quality of the 

 honey by putting them where bread 

 will dry quickest. The trouble may 

 have been in the honey or the room, 

 or both.— C. C.Miller. 



The honey was thin and the room 

 too cool. We place the sections in a 

 warm room, or extract and keep the 

 honey in a warm room to ripen. Such 

 sections are good for use next year. — 

 A. J. Cook. 



Honey will usually ferment and run 

 out of the cells in a damp, cool room, 

 like a cellar. Comb honey should be 

 kept in a warm, dry room. If the 

 honey has soured it would be best to 

 extract it and use it for stimulative 

 feeding in the spring.— G. L. Tinker. 



In all probability the room was 

 damp and the combs collected mois- 

 ture from it. Honey, whether capped 

 in the comb or otherwise, should be 

 kept in a perfectly dry place, and if 

 warm so much the better. Feed the 

 honey to strong colonies, and they 

 will take care of it for you.— J. E. 

 Pond, Jr. 



The trouble might have been par- 

 tially with the honey, but mostly, no 

 doubt, with the room. Any room, or 

 article in such room, will draw mois- 

 ture rapidly, if allowed to become 

 much colder than the surrounding air 

 at any time. I do not consider sec- 

 tions containing many uncapped cells 

 " salable."— James Heddon. 



Planting Trees for Honey. 



Query, No, 1*>0.— What are the best kinds of 

 trees to plant for bees, this fall or next spring? Is 

 there any tree that will supply as much nectar as 

 linden, and that will grow faster ?— Delaware. 



I know of nothing better than ba.s3- 

 wood.— VV. Z. Hutchinson 



I consider linden or basswood the 

 best honey-producing tree in the 

 world ; and but few trees grow faster. 

 — G. M. Doolittle. 



Lindens are best for this locality. — 

 C. C. Miller. 



No ; and it hardly pays to plant 

 basswood for honey unless they are 

 wanted also as shade trees. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



I should choose linden, if nature 

 had not already supplied a plenty. If 

 so, I can recommend locust — the com- 

 mon black variety— for this locality. 

 Perhaps the honey-locust would be 

 best for your location. — James Hed- 

 don. 



