THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



741 



Explanatory — The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has Isept bees. Those after, sliow 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring' and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named : 

 6 north of the centre ; ? south ; 0+ east ; 

 +Owest: and this 6 northeast; X) northwest; 

 o* southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



Tor the American Bee Journal. 



Production of Extracted Honey, 



17— G, M. DOOLITTLE, (40—95). 



Beside me lies this request : " Will 

 you please tell the readers of the 

 Amekican Bee Journal your 

 method of securing extracted honey, 

 what sized hive you use, and liow you 

 prepare them in the spring ? and thus 

 greatly oblige thousands of bee- 

 keepers." Of course I desire to oblige 

 " thousands of bee-keepers," but I 

 can hardly see how the writer of this 

 request knows that " thousands of 

 bee-keepers " desire my method ; for 

 my opinion is, that "thousands of 

 bee-keepers " would not give a cent 

 for it. However, as I wish to say a 

 few words regarding Query, No. Hi, 

 more than I said on page 676 regard- 

 ing that query. I will give my plan of 

 working for extracted honey. 



When working for extracted honey 

 I. use what is termed the Doolittle 

 hive, and is described in the pamphlet, 

 " The Hive I Use," which is published 

 at the 15ee Journal office. (As I 

 have no interest in the sale of this 

 pamphlet, please do not send to me for 

 it.) 



The description of my hives are as 

 plain in the above pamphlet as I can 

 jjossibly make it, and the writer of 

 the request will please accept this as 

 an answer to iiis question regarding 

 tlie size of the hive I use. 



Now to the questions : When spring 

 opens there are usually from 6 to 9 

 frames in the hive having the colony 

 of bees which are to be worked for 

 extracted honey. The bees are re- 

 stricted to these frames until they are 

 filled with brood clear down to the 

 bottonw corners of the frames. If 

 they do not have honey enough they 

 are fed by placing a frame of honey 

 outside of the division-board ; or, if 

 no honey is at hand, sugar syrup is 

 fed. As soon as the combs are filled 

 with brood, one or two empty combs 

 are inserted between those Hlled with 

 brood, thus tilling out the brood- 

 chamber. When all the 9 combs in 

 the brood-chamber are filled with 

 brood, the chaff packing is taken out 

 of one of the side-apartments, and 3 

 frames of sealed brood selected from 

 the 9, and placed into this side-apart- 

 ment ; placing 3 frames of comb in 

 the brood-chamber where they came 



from. When all are full again, the 

 packing is taken out of the other side- 

 apartment and 3 frames of sealed 

 brood placed over them, filling the 

 space left vacant in the brood-cham- 

 ber as before. This gives, at the end 

 of another week, 15 frames lilted with 

 brood, which is the full capacity of tlie 

 hive, and as much room as is required 

 by the most prolific queens. 



As soon as the flowers begin to 

 secrete honey, another hive, having 

 the brood-chamber filled with empty 

 combs, is placed on top of the one 

 mentioned above, and in from 4 days 

 to a week more the side-apart- 

 ments are filled with empty combs 

 also. I now have a 30-frarae hive 

 with lots of bees all ready to secure 

 the harvest which is now beginning 

 to be at its best. As soon as the 

 honey is being sealed along the top- 

 bars in the second story, I raise this 

 up and put another between it and 

 the first or brood-chamber, when 1 

 now have a 45-frame hive which is as 

 large as will be needed even by the 

 most powerful colony, while queens 

 of only moderate capacity require 

 only a J50-frame hive. As a rule none 

 of the queens go into the side-apart- 

 ments of any of the hives, and the 

 reason for placing the brood over 

 them, as stated, is not to get the 

 queen over there, but to give her 

 room for all the eggs she can lay 

 right in the centre of the hive, so that 

 a mighty force of bees can be obtained 

 just at the right time to gather the 

 harvest. After preparing the hives 

 as above described, they are left until 

 the close of the white honey harvest, 

 when the honey is extracted in a 

 thoroughly ripened condition. 



If the above plan is followed, not 

 one colony in one liundred will cast a 

 swarm, which is the reason I an- 

 swered Query, No. 144 as I did. I see 

 no other metliod of increase where 

 working profitably for extracted 

 honey, except by division, and the 

 answers to Query, No. 144, which 

 say, " I prefer natural swarming," 

 seem strange to me. Colonies worked in 

 such a way that they desire to swarm, 

 cannot, in my opinion, give the best 

 results in extracted honey. Many do 

 not seem to see that to produce the 

 best results in extracted honey, re- 

 quires a very different method of 

 management from that required for 

 comb honey. 



JNIessrs. Dadant & Son are correct 

 in their opinions regarding large hives 

 and few swarms, for they work for 

 extracted honey almost exclusively. 

 They are also correct in saying that a 

 hive sliould have a large capacity so 

 as to give the queen room according 

 to her ability to lay prior to the honey 

 harvest, so that multitudes of bees 

 can be obtained for that harvest ; 

 but when the honey harvesthas come, 

 I prefer the small brood-chamber, a la 

 Heddon. A hive that will not admit 

 of being expanded to the full capacity 

 of a queen in May and June, and of 

 being contracted to 5 or 6 frames 

 during the honey-flow, is not the hive 

 which will give the best results in 

 comb honey, according to my experi- 

 ence ; while for extracted honey a 

 hive giving from two to three times 



the capacity of the queen will give the 

 best results in this direction, no con- 

 traction Ijeing necessary. 

 Borodino,© N. Y. 



Bee-Keeping in South Australia. 



REl'OllT OF CONVENTION. 



The first annual report for the year 

 ending June 30, 1885, was read as 

 follows : 



i'our committee have much pleas- 

 ure in presenting to the members of 

 the Association a report of their 

 proceedings during the year. They 

 take this opportunity of explaining 

 how the Association came to be 

 formed, so that there may be no mis- 

 understanding in the matter. 



In the early part of the year 1884, a 

 good deal of interest was shown in 

 bee-keeping by many persons residing 

 near Adelaide, and the Chamber of 

 Manufact*urer5 was applied to for the 

 purpose of moving in the matter of 

 organizing a bee-keepers' association. 

 The Chamber at once responded to 

 this application, and called a meeting, 

 which was held July 11, 1884. There 

 was a large attendance, and the 

 movement was warmly taken up, the 

 result being the formation of the 

 South Australian Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. V 



Your committee think that the fact 

 of this being the first Association of 

 the kind organized in Australia, is a 

 matter for congratulation, and shows 

 that this Colony is at present ahead of 

 her neighbors in apiculture. Whether 

 she will keep the lead depends upon 

 the energy of our beekeepers, for 

 with a suitable climate and magnifi- 

 cent honey resources, it will be their 

 fault if any of tlie other Colonies are 

 allowed to pass us. 



AVitli one exception, meetings have 

 been held regularly each month 

 throughout the year, and many in- 

 teresting discussions have followed 

 the reading ot papers on various sub- 

 jects connected with bee-keeping. 

 Mr. J. Robertson read two papers, 

 one on " Swarming," and the other 

 on the "Langstroth Bee Hive ;" Mr. 

 J. H. Weidenhofer gave a lecture on 

 "Queen- Rearing," and ilr. A. E. 

 Bonney read a paper on "Foul 

 Brood."" The committee regret that 

 during the winter months the attend- 

 ance at the monthly meetings has 

 fallen off considerably. 



There are now 39 members in the 

 Association, and it is expected that 

 this number will be increased as soon 

 as the weather becomes warmer. 



Your committee have ordered all 

 the best magazines in the English 

 language devoted to bee-culture, and 

 they are now available for circulation 

 amongst members. It is suggested 

 that a good library of modern books 

 on bee-keeping would be a- useful 

 investment for a portion of the funds 

 of the Association. 



Two shows of bee-keeping appli- 

 ances, honey and bees, have been held 

 —one in connection with the Flower 

 Show, on Nov. 27, 1884, and the other 

 at the Royal Society's Autumn Show 

 on March 5, 1885. Both shows were a 



