678 



Tmm Mm.mmi^mm mmm j@wm.mmi^. 



to solve in marketiug the badly-filled 

 sections. All the nicely filled sections 

 were put into crates holding 24 sec- 

 tions each, and then sold in the city 

 market for 16 cents per section. As 

 the sections were light weight, aver- 

 aging only about 13 ounces. I regard 

 the price a good one. 



The honey of the poorlj-.filled sec- 

 tions was cut out and packed daintily 

 in 4-quart tin buckets, and the corners 

 were filled with a nice, light-colored 

 article of clover honey extracted. 

 When these packages were made up 

 they contained 5 pounds of cut comb, 

 and 3 pounds of clear honey, extracted, 

 making the packages uniformly 8 

 pounds each. The lids of the buckets 

 were fastened down with annealed 

 wire, and crated four buckets in a 

 crate. Each bucket had a plain laljcl 

 with rubber stamps. They were sent 

 to the city market as an experiment, 

 and they sold at sight for 15 cents per 

 pound. I am much pleased with the 

 result. Poorly finished sections will 

 not trouble me in the future. 



For good, thick honey, such as I 

 produce by employing plenty of good 

 combs in working the tiering system, 

 so as to have the honey well thickened 

 on the hives, there is nothing equal to 

 the tin bucket as a package for ship- 

 ping, and especially for selling honey 

 both in cut comb and the extracted 

 form. The tin buckets, bought at 

 wholesale prices, cost me a little less 

 than any other form of tin vessel, and 

 the honey will sell tor from 1 to II 

 cents more per pound in thom in a 

 jobbing way. than for the same article 

 in close vessels. The obvious reason 

 is, the wire fastening can be untwisted. 

 and the lid of a bucket removed, and 

 there the nice, thick honey is viewed 

 to the very best advantage. I use the 

 tallest form of the standard family tin 

 buckets in use — 4, 8 and 10 quart 

 buckets being my favorite sizes. 



I make weekly shipments in these 

 dainty packages to my commission 

 merchant, who sells out ready for the 

 .next consignment, and I'emits a check 

 or draft as often as I direct him to do 

 so. I can say without reserve, that 

 the season's work has been one of 

 profit and pleasure to me. 



EXPERI.MENTING IN FEEDING BACK. 



To have unfinished sections com- 

 pleted by feeding back. I think can be 

 made profitable by proper manage- 

 ment, if the demand for comb honey 

 justifies the extra care and labor. I 

 have experimented in this line the 

 present season, and it has paid me a 

 fair profit, counting time and margin 

 between the price for clear honey, and 

 honey in the comb. I here give the 

 work of one colon)', drawing from my 

 memorandum book the facts, which 



will answer for aijy other colony inan- 

 aged in the same way : 



A feeder just the size of the top of 

 the hive, and the same size of the sec- 

 tion-cases, was used. The feeder, 

 however, is only three inches deep, 

 including the bee-spaces at the top and 

 the bottom. It is arranged so that the 

 bees can pass from the brood-nest 

 through the centre, of the feeder as 

 well as at both sides. The feeder pro- 

 jects at the back of the hive far enough 

 to expose the two holes in which the 

 feed is poured when filling the feeder, 

 and the holes are covered with close- 

 fitting buttons. 



After the honey harvest was over, 

 and the robbing impulse was at its 

 worst stage, I selected a good colony 

 of Italians, aud made the brood-nest 

 full of brood and honey, and placed 

 the feeder on top of the brood-cham- 

 ber ; and having gathered together all 

 the partly-filled sections into cases, 

 the work was commenced. The sec- 

 tions were from one-fourtli full to 

 nearly full of comb, and most of them 

 had a little honey in them. At first 

 one case was adju.sted on the feeder, 

 and the feeding begun. Good honey 

 was used, diluted with warm water, 

 one pint to eight pints of hone}-. 



The first two days tiie colony took 

 25 pounds of honey, when another case 

 of sections was given them. The cases 

 hold 32 sections 4|x4Jxl|, and. when 

 well filled, the sections average 14 

 ounces. Afer the second case was put 

 on. I fed 8 pounds a day for two or 

 three days, and put on the third case. 

 Every colony will not work alike — 

 some will go faster than others, but 

 this colony worked faster than the 

 average. I now fed 5 pounds a day. 

 skipping a day at intervals until the 

 three cases were filled — % sections. 



The feeding was stopped after the 

 sealing was half completed. This is 

 necessary, or the bees will injure too 

 many of the sections with brace-combs. 

 It required 93 pounds of hone}' to 

 finish the 96 sections. 



The three cases were removed, and 

 the work commenced anew. One case 

 was put on. and 6 pounds of honey 

 per day was given for three days, 

 wfieu a second case was added, and 

 the feeding kept up until the combs 

 were drawn and filled ; towards the 

 last, the amount of feed was diminish- 

 ed. It required 43 pounds to finish 

 the 64 sections. 



It will be seen that this colony fin- 

 ished up 160 sections.using 138 pounds 

 of honey. According to my estimate, 

 all these sections contained about 30 

 pounds of thin, unmerchantable honey 

 when jilaced on the hive, and when 

 finished they brought about $25. at a 

 cost of 138 pounds of extracted hone}', 

 worth $13.80. 



It will be noticed that I have taken 

 no account of partly-tilled combs, and 

 the estimated 30 pounds of thin honey. 

 These items are left to the intelligent 

 reader to figure out. 



The greatest dilliculty to be over- 

 come when "feeding back,"' to have 

 sections completed, is the incorrigible 

 tendency of bees to build brace-combs 

 between the sections, and to bridge 

 the combs, and that troublesome fea- 

 ture of having open cells of honey 

 around the edges of the sections. If 

 the combs are to be crated for the 

 market in good shape, separators are 

 essentially necessary, and then many 

 combs will be damaged by little brace- 

 combs breaking loose, and causing 

 breaks in the capping of the sections. 



Christiansburg. Ky., .Sept. 27, 1890. 



QUEENLESSNESS. 



Wliy Some Colonics do not Rear 

 Queens. 



Written for the Prairie Fai-mei- 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



'Good morning, Mrs. Harrison ; I 

 came to call you to account ; didn't 

 you say that when bees were queenless 

 if you gave them a frame of larvas and 

 eggs, they would roar a queen ? Now 

 I know that they won't. One of my 

 hives had pretty plenty of bees, but as 

 I could find neither queen, eggs nor 

 larva3. I inferred that they were queen- 

 less ; and after considerable work, lift- 

 ing out frames of other hives, I found 

 one I considered just the thing ex- 

 actly ; the queen was upon it and I 

 saw her lay. I took the frame out so 

 quietly that she did not appear to 

 notice it, and as I held the magnifying 

 glass over her, I saw her poke her head 

 into a cell, inspect it, and tlien curl 

 her tail into it and lay. She seemed 

 then to take fright, and I let her run 

 down among the bees, so I know that 

 at least the eggs were fresh enough. 

 I put this frame into the q^ieenless 

 hive, and in about 10 days examined 

 it, expecting to find sealed queen-cells, 

 when lo, there was nothing of the 

 kind — nothing whatever where the 

 eggs and little worms were. There 

 was some sealed brood where the big 

 larva? were. Now what became of it, 

 I would like to know ?" 



My friend, do not jump to the con- 

 clusion that queenless bees never rear 

 a queen from eggs or larva- because 

 yours did not. If a baby should be 

 left at your door, and you had no milk 

 nor could not obtain it, it might per- 

 ish. Yon put into a hive bee-babies 

 where there are no nurses giving milk, 

 or in other words, young bees with 

 prepared food, and are surprised that 



