March 2, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



167 



inches of comb space less — and I got so I did not expect as 

 much from these as from the larger hives. The brood-nest, 

 after allowing the usual space for honey and bee-bread, 

 seemed to be too small to breed up a normal colony. At 

 any rate they never averaged as much surplus as the larger 

 hives, and had to be watched more closely as to winter 

 stores, etc. 



Then, I have had some experience with larger hives. 

 I bought and used, one season, SO colonies in 12-frame 

 Langstroth hives. While they did not ()roduce quite as 

 much surplus honey as the 10-frame, they had more honey 

 in the brood-nest in the fall. They were cumbersome to 

 handle, and previous experience with large hives that I am 

 about to explain, had convinced me that the 10-frame size 

 was the right size for this location. While I do not consider 

 one season's experience with a certain hive as worth very 

 much, still I give it for what it is worth toward determin- 

 ing the proper size of hive to adopt. But what has convinced 

 me most, that the extremely large hive is not adapted to this 

 location, is a 16-years' experience with SO 10-frame Quinby 

 hives (except the last 6 years, when 2S of them were con- 

 tracted to 8-frames by the use of a division-board on each 

 side in place of the two outside combs). 



These Quinby hives, like most of my others, are chaff 

 hives, and all wintered with their full number of brood- 

 combs, as with my present system of producing honey I do 

 not handle any brood-combs of colonies that are in a normal 

 condition. My practice is to give the same amount of labor 

 to a larger number of colonies, or yards, rather than put a 

 great amount of work on a less number ; and since adopting 

 this practice I have made a very much better success, 

 financially, than with the old intense method. So you see, 

 all our colonies have to winter on the same number of combs 

 they have in summer. The results are, that bees in these 

 large 10-frame Quinby hives (1800 square inches of comb 

 space) do not winter and spring as well as those in the 

 smaller hives, and our short, early, white honey-fiow, com- 

 ing as it does mostly in June, is usually one-half over be- 

 fore these large hives are full of bees and honey, ready to 

 enter the upper stories. Thus the surplus honey is always 

 below the average in these hives. 



There is no question about these large hives breeding 

 large colonies. If one were further south, where bees win- 

 ter better, or, if our honey season were in July, the results 

 might be much better. One thing is certain, with my loca- 

 tion and management I can not afford to use this size of 

 hive. 



In conclusion, let me add : I have nothing at stake in 

 this hive controversy, only the largest grade of honey pro- 

 duced with the least amount of labor and expense. We earn 

 our bread and butter with the bees. 



Mecosta Co., Mich. 



# 



Something Further on Defining "Honey". 



BY S. T. PBTXIT. 



TO question No. 22 (see page 164) I would say further : I 

 am aware that, however desirable, it is all out of the 

 question to draw the reins so taut. Honey-dew occa- 

 sionally comes at all times, in warm weather, in season and 

 out of season ; sometimes when the honey-flow is off, and 

 again when the flow is on. So, in some cases, it is impos- 

 sible to keep the two articles separate. In such cases, if it 

 is fit for table use we must sell it for what it is worth. 



A few years ago, during white clover bloom, the clover 

 yield was light, but honey-dew was plentiful. It was of bad 

 flavor, but the color was good. The bees drew out the sec- 

 tion-combs and stored quite a lot of honey-dew with a little 

 clover ; but they refused to cap it, leaving the sections about 

 half full. Later on the basswood flow was fairly generous, 

 and the sections were filled and capped, and my crop turned 

 out pretty well, after all. Myself and others would have 

 felt it quite a hardship if the law forbade us to sell that 

 honey for what it was worth. So I conclude, in a commer- 

 cial sense, honey is " what bees gather from natural 

 sources". 



When working at Ottawa, the Canadian Capital, to 

 secure the passage of our Pure Honey Bill, I coined and 

 used that term, and I never have seen any reason to change 

 it, for, in a commercial sense, " Honey is what bees gather 

 from natural sources". 



Doubtless, we should keep the two articles — honey from 

 flowers and honey-dew — as separate, in all respects, as pos- 

 sible. I can not see how any good can come from calling 

 "honey-dew" "honey-dew honey". oThe term "honey- 



dew " is quite good enough for that article. I am not blind 

 to the facts that some honey-dew is very nice indeed ; but 

 such is the rare — very rare — ^exception, in the great major- 

 ity of cases. Elgin Co., Out. 



== =^=—=—= ^ 



(Dnv>Siskv 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



=J 



Bees Wintered in a Shed. 



I have 18 colonies of bees which I winter outdoors in a 

 bee-shed. On each hive I put a super filled with maple 

 leaves and packed well around them. When I put them 

 away they weighed 50 pounds and over, and each hive had 

 8 frames in it. 



1. Were 8 frames too many to leave in each hive over 

 winter ? 



2. Should I lessen that number when I put them on the 

 summer stands ? 



3. When should I put them on the summer stands ? 



4. Is this a good way to winter bees ? 



Lake Co., 111. Mrs. L. Antes. 



1. No. 



2. No, there's no good reason for having any less than 

 the full number of combs at any time of the year. Some 

 have favored the plan of having less than the full number 

 in winter, closing up what are left by means of a division- 

 board. But we are told that European scientists proved by 

 careful experiments that a comb was just as good as a 

 division-board. That hardly seems possible, but, at any 

 rate, the difference must be so little that it is best to leave 

 the full number of combs the year around. 



3. Better not disturb the packing any sooner than neces- 

 sary ; not till settled warm weather in May. And yet if 

 you wait as late as that there will be trouble in moving 

 them, for they will have marked their location in the shed, 

 and will go back in numbers to that place. If the distance 

 is not great that they are to be moved, you can overcome 

 the difiSculty by moving them a short distance each day ; if 

 that is not convenient, put them on the summer stands be- 

 fore they do much flying, perhaps the last of March or first 

 of April. 



4. If located so that strong winds can not blow into the 

 entrances, they ought to do well. 



A Wisconsin Foul-Brood Experience. 



In 1899 my husband, who has been a bee-keeper for 

 nearly 25 years, sold his bees, consisting of over 100 colo- 

 nies, and went to Southern California, returning in 1903 

 and purchasing the same bees, or their descendants, from 

 the man who bought them, a near neighbor, and a warm 

 personal friend, Joseph Mathews, who was about leaving 

 the neighborhood. The bees were in winter quarters at the 

 time of purchase, and Mr. M. informed us that they, with 

 the bees of several other apiaries in the vicinity, had been 

 troubled with foul brood, but that Inspector France had 

 been there and exterminated the disease, a fact which Mr. 

 M. undoubtedly believed ; but when the bees were taken 

 from winter quarters, some 15 or 20 out of about 100 colonies 

 were found to be badly diseased. 



Inspector France was immediately sent for, and prom- 

 ised to come. After several months he came, arriving late 

 at night and leaving early in the morning, saying it was 

 too late in the season to do anything, and advised us to wait 

 until spring. 



In the spring he came again, staying about the same 

 length of time, and giving a few instructions. In the 

 meanwhile we had been getting all possible information on 

 the subject, and proceeded to act accordingly. 



The combs from the diseased colonies were cooked, and 

 the hives cleansed, either by boiling or burning out, a near 

 neighbor bringing his diseased colonies to be treated also, 

 and the disease was apparently exterminated so far as the 

 two apiaries were concerned. 



Last fall 30 colonies were put into winter quarters, and 



