March 2, 190S. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



169 



a cover that has projections below the under surface at the ends, un- 

 less the cover is made enough longer to make up for the cleats. In 

 any case I prefer i cover entirely flat on the underside. Quicker to 

 handle in putting on. 



2. Most certainly. 



3. I don't know how to refine propolis. I have separated propolis 

 and wax by putting it in a dripping-pan in the oven and pouring off 

 the wax ; but it doesn't make a perfect job. One would think it would 

 work to boil in water. Boiling water doesn't seem to hurt the aroma 

 of propolis. 



4. Yes, the frame next the follower or dummy is just the same as 

 all the rest with staples— no, not staples but nails — on one end of the 

 frame next the dummj', and there's plenty of room for the dummy. I 

 suspect you have lO.-frame hives made too narrow to take a dummy, as 

 a good many are made. That's an invention of the — well, I don't 

 know whose notion it is; but something ought to happen to him for 

 getting up a thing so difficult to use. Rather than to use self-spacing 

 frames without a dummy, I'd go back to loose-hanging frames, and 

 I'd feel very sad to give up self-spacing frames. If I had a 10-frame 

 hive too narrow to admit a dummy ensily, I think I'd use only 3 

 frames and a dummy. 



5. Sorry to say I don't find a record of cost of bottom-boards ; 

 perhaps about 20 cents each. To scrape such supers and separators 

 I'd give $1.50 a day, and I don't know how many would be done in a 

 day. 



* » > 



Preventing Afterswarms. 



After the first swarm is out, and as soon as I can hear a queen 

 pipe the seventh or eighth day, is it safe then to destroy all queen-cells. 

 and will the colony have a queen hatched! I don't want my bees 

 to swarm more than once. Minnesota. 



Answer. — Yes, it is entirely safe to destroy all queen-cells as 

 soon as you hear piping, and you may then be reasonably certain that 

 swarming for that colony is all over for the year. 



Miller Frame— Deep Hive-Bottom— Latham Hive, Etc. 



I kept bees 15 or 20 years ago in the original Langstroth hive, 

 with single bottom nailed to the hive. I am 66 years of age, live in 

 Will Co., 111., and will start anew, keeping just a few colonies to em- 

 ploy my time partly, produce enough honey for my family, and a lit- 

 tle to give away to my friends. 



As I have not studied bee-keeping the last 30 years. In reading 

 the American Bee Journal I find so many new things that I do not 

 understand. One is the double bottom-board, as you describe it on 

 page 89. Is this double bottom fastened to the hive, or does the hive 

 simply rest on it loose! What is the object of it being double when it 

 is open on the end? It can not be for a dead-air space beneath the 

 hive. I would like a direct answer to the following questions: 



1. In what respects does the Miller frame differ from the Lang- 

 stroth frame and the staple-spaced frame ; 



2. Dummy frames— their construction and use. 



3. The double bottom-board mentioned on page 89 — its benefits 

 over the single bottom. 



4. Your opinion of the Latham hive (or comb honey as described 

 on pages 31 and 37 — also as to the crosswise, closed-ends-to-bottom 

 frames. Illinois. 



Answers.— 1. The Miller frame is only one form of the Lang- 

 stroth frame. It differs from most other frames in that top, bottom, 

 and end-bars are all the same width, 1',, and the frames are spaced 

 apart by means of four heavy 1 '4-inch wire-nails with heads about 

 3-16 of an inch across, the nails being driven in so as to project }£ 

 inch. It is easy to drive them in the exact depth by having a hard- 

 wood stick '4 -inch thick held close beside the nail when it is driven. 

 A nail is driven into each end of the top-bar on opposite sides about 

 J^ inch from the top, and I'.j inches from the extreme end; and into 

 each end-bar a like nail is driven 2'4 inches from the lower end. Hold 

 up the frame before you, and the two nails on the right end of the 

 frame will be on the side of the frame from you, and at the left end on 

 the side toward you. 



3. Take a top-bar and nail on a board so that the length of the 

 board is the same as the length of a frame, and the depth of top-bar 

 and all the same as the depth of frame, top-bar and all. That's your 

 dummy. It may be an inch thick, or anything less down to J^ inch. 

 It is used to fill up any space desired, and especially at one side of a 

 hive. If no dummy is in the hive it is hard work to get out the first 

 frame if the frames are self-spacing or fixed-distance frames. If there 

 is a space filled with a dummy at one side, it is easy to take out the 

 dummy, and then easy to take out any desired frame. 



3. I think you will not find a doiible bottom-board mentioned on 

 page 89, only a deep one. The advantage of that 2-inch space under 

 the bottom-bars is that in winter there is no danger of its being 

 clogged with dead bees, and in the cellar it allows full ventiUtion. 



4. I do not think I should like it. Frames running parallel to 

 the entrance hare been in common use in Europe, but they seem to be 

 now favoring what is called the " cold arrangement ", as commonly 

 used in this country. The " warm arrangement " is a step backward. 



When to Put Bees Out of the Cellar. 



I have 5 colonies of bees in the cellar wintering on sugar syrup. 

 The mercury ranges from 30 to 3B degrees above zero. How early will 

 it do to put them out? I want to feed them a little each day and start 

 brood-rearing as early as possible. Connecticut. 



Answer. — Don't bring them out to stay out till red or soft maples 

 are in bloom, and not then unless it hasquite the appearance of settled 

 weather. If, however, you areanxious to do so, they could be brought 

 out on a warm day in the first part of March for a flight, and then 

 taken back in the evening. 



If you had asked whether it was desirable to start bees brood- 

 rearing as early as possible, I should have advised not to be in too 

 much of a hurry; but as you haven't asked I'll say nothing about it. 



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