XM1& JEMSRICMf^ MMM JQiT^mMML,. 



601 





Yes, sir ; it is absolutely necessary 

 to use a houey-board between the 

 supers and brood-frames, if j'ou expect 

 j'our work to pass off pleasantly and 

 smoothly. This board can be either 

 wood or metal, and the wooden one 

 mostly used is known as the bee-space, 

 break-joint honey-board, invented 

 about ten years ago, and made queen- 

 excluding by tacking strips of per- 

 forated-zinc on the upper or under side 

 of the slats over the slots, or by putting 

 a saw-kerf in the edges of the slats, 

 and slipping in the strip of perforated- 

 zinc, which is more quickly done, and 

 makes a smoother-looking job. 



There is no patent upon this honey- 

 board, and it is undoubtedly the best 

 one ever invented, and is now going 

 into general use. For comb honey it 

 is hardly worth while to go to the ex- 

 pense of having it queen-excluding, 

 but for extracted honey, unless work- 

 ing on the non-swarming plan, where 

 one has a great plenty of combs I pre- 

 fer to make the honey-board queen- 

 excluding, according to tlie above 

 method. If you once use a good 

 honey-board, you cannot afford to do 

 without them thereafter. 



No, do not use an}- wide frames in 

 the brood-chamber. The honey will 

 not be nice, as a rule, and it is not a 

 jjlace where it ought to be, if you ex- 

 pect to do your work expeditiouslj-. 

 Put on another storing-ease, and again 

 another, as long as the bees need more 

 room. If the last case given them is 

 not finished, during that season, it 

 can be finished up by feeding back 

 extracted honej% or what is already 

 stored can be extracted, saving the 

 combs for the next year. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



HINTS. 



Soiled Sections, Weeds, How 

 Far Bee§ Fly, etc. 



Written for the Western Plowman 



BY C. H. DIBBEKN. 



The gathering of the fall crop of 

 honey now promises to be both large 

 and of good quality. Of course we 

 want all the honey that can be secured, 

 and we want that in the most attrac- 

 tive shape. 



Do IVot Use Soiled Sections. 



We were lately asked if old combs 

 in soiled eections would not be good 

 enough to use for the late dark honey, 

 as it usuallj- sells cheap, anyway ? We 

 most decidedly say. No. If ever we 

 want nice, new, clean sections it is to 

 have the rather dark and less attrac- 

 tive honey stored in. Old comb is not 

 fit to store any kind of honey in, but 



if such must be used, it would be bet- 

 ter to use them for the white honey 

 crop. The.se old sections and old 

 combs have done more to demoralize 

 prices than anything else. 



Uees in <jiood Condition. 



Bees are now in good condition for 

 gathering the fall crop of honey. The 

 hives are all well supplied with good 

 honey, and plenty of brood is con- 

 stantly hatching out. There is now 

 not that disposition to swarm that in- 

 terferes so sei'iously with the early 

 crop. Honey coming in now should 

 nearly all go into the sections, as there 

 is no other place for it. It will not do, 

 however, to put on too many sections, 

 or continue adding cases of sections 

 too late. Remember the gathering of 

 honey will cease entirely with this 

 month, and it is much better to have 

 nearly all the sections finished, than to 

 have a lot of partly finished ones to 

 store and spoil our next season's crop 

 with. 



I have opposed usihg sections and 

 combs held over from the fall crop, for 

 yeai's, and this season's experiments 

 only confirm my previous conclusions. 

 No matter if some bee-keepers think 

 they are very nice to coax bees into 

 the section - cases with, I would not 

 give much for a colony having plenty 

 of bees that would not rush into such 

 cases with foundation in the sections, 

 when honey is plenty in the fields, and 

 the weather is favorable. 



liVire-CIotli Separators. 



Last season we tried a very few one- 

 fourth-inch mesh galvanized wire-eloth 

 separators, and were rather pleased 

 with them. That being a rather poor 

 year, they seemed to be all right. Tliis 

 year we tried a few more, and find 

 them too uncertain to depend on. The 

 bees can get through them anywhere, 

 and seem to like them — so well that 

 sometimes they use them for the center 

 of their combs. There is also too much 

 brace-comb and attaching comb to it. 

 So far tin suits us the best, but we ex- 

 pect to give thin, planed, wooden sep- 

 arators a trial next year. 



After all, the honey crop of the 

 United States does not prove to be 

 nearly as large as we were led to be- 

 lieve. By referring to a late standard 

 report, we find that about a dozen of 

 the Central States have produced a 

 full crop. Michigan and New York, 

 two of the largest honey-producing 

 States, report about one-third of an 

 average crop, and New England States 

 only one-fourth. California, a State 

 that sometimes nearly swamps us, also 

 reports onlj- about one-fourth of a 

 crop. So taking the whole country, 

 there will be quite a shortage, and 

 those bee-keepers in the favored States, 



who send their product to the right 

 markets, will no doubt meet ready 

 sales and good prices. 



IIotT Far Hees Fly. 



A good (leal has been said about how 

 far bees will fly for honey. Some 

 writers claim that they will only fly 

 two to three miles, while others are 

 just as sure they will go from five to 

 seven miles. Now a bee's wings 

 vibrate, or beat the air, at the rate of 

 190 strokes in a second. Some claim 

 that this will produce a rate of flight 

 of a mile per minute. In windy 

 weather, when they take advantage of 

 trees and other obstructions near the 

 ground, they fly at a very slow rate, 

 perhaps not more than ten miles per 

 hour. In fair summer weather, how- 

 ever, when there is little wind, and 

 they fly high in the air, they go like a 

 shot, but I am satisfied that they do 

 not go as fast as sixty miles an hour. 

 Thirty miles perhaps is more nearly 

 right. Now if they travel ^ mile in 

 two minutes, it is fair to suppose they 

 can easily keep this up for twenty 

 minutes. This would take them ten 

 miles from home. 



We think that they will often go that 

 distance to a buckwheat field. It can, 

 however, be easily understood that 

 they would gather much more honey 

 when pasturage is nearer, as they 

 could then make more trips. When 

 bees make long trips, as ours are now 

 doing, they return almost exhausted, 

 often dropping at the entrance, and 

 sometimes resting a minute or two be- 

 fore entering the hive. 



dean Out the Weeds. 



Many bee-keepers get a little care- 

 less towards the last of the season, and 

 allow the grass and weeds to grow up 

 and obstruct the entrances. This is a 

 great mistake, as it makes the apiary 

 look slovenly, and, besides, is a great 

 annoyance to the bees. A bee's wings 

 vibrating at such a wonderful rate are 

 easily injured and worn by beating 

 against the grass. When a bee's wings 

 are worn out, it is of no further use, 

 and is speedily lost, and dies. Keep 

 the apiary trimmed up. 



Milan, Ills. 



WINTERING. 



How to Prepare Bees for Suc- 

 cessful Wintering. 



Wrllttn tor the American Bee Journal 

 BY CHARLES F. MUTH. 



It appears that the subject of " Win- 

 tering," in ray " Practical Hints to 

 Bee-Keepers," does not quite cover the 

 ground. Allow me to publish a letter 

 on the subject, just mailed to a friend ; 



