294 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 20, 1905. 



dear people, is to appeal to all rural people to withhold their 

 spraying operations for the few days of fruit-bloom, and, in 

 return for this most humble favor, we assure you that we 

 will reciprocate it with an increased amount of honey, 

 health and happiness for you all. Lycoming Co., Pa. 



# 



Bees Crowding to the Super Center 



BY S. T. PKTTIT. 



ON page 616 (1904), Mr. Hasty writes : 

 "S. T. Pettit will think I'm queer, but I doubt if he can 

 abate much the imlination of bees to crowd into the center of a 

 super. Even if he puts a thin septum below and makes all the bees go 

 up front, rear and sides, I should doubt still. Bees don't seem to re- 

 gard a thin septum if it is entirely xurroimiled witJi lees. They know 

 where the center of things below is, and, as a matter of preference, 

 prefer to be exactly over it." 



I want to say that I never used, nor suggested the use, 

 of thin septums, nor any other kind of septums for the use 

 as stated by Mr. Hasty. Those belong to the late Mr. 

 Golden. I use long wedges at the right time and condition 

 of the bees to enlarge the entrance, and also to cause many 

 of the bees to go up at the sides and toward the rear end of 

 the hive. 



He says : " They know where the center of things be- 

 low is, and as a matter of preference prefer to be exactly 

 over it." There may be something in that, but experience 

 says not much. Mr. Editor, if ever a bee crawls into one of 

 your ears, it is not because it prefers to get nearer the cen- 

 ter of your cogitating machinery, although a fortuitous ob- 

 server might think so. It is suffering from the cold, outside 

 air, and crawls to get warm. In that case don't injure that 

 little pet, even if it does emulate the roaring of a train of 

 cars. Just go into a warm room and in a short time it will 

 be against a window-pane. You see it is not all preference 

 for the center of things, but very largely conditions that 

 govern. 



Take a strong colony in a hive not too large. By some 

 means keep the super snug and warm, so that the tempera- 

 ture of the interior is right for comb-building ; and depend 

 upon it, in almost all cases in a good honey-flow, work will 

 begin nearly simultaneously in all parts of the super. They 

 don't seem to care much where the center is, if only the 

 heat is right day and night. 



In this connection I want to say that many bees con- 

 gregate where the field-bees go up. If they go up at the 

 center, the center will be congested ; if they go up at the 

 sides, the congestion will be abated, and they will have 

 elbow-room to work — a very necessary condition for rapid 

 work. So there is much — very much — in having them go 

 up right ; and also in having them provided with properly 

 made dividers at the sides of the super. I think that Mr. 

 Hasty and I are not so very far apart, after all, for farther 

 on he says, " In cool weather there would be a gain in 

 throwing more warmth into the outside sections." Exactly 

 so, and as in almost all localities there is " cool weather" 

 two or more nights in every week of the year, the argument 

 is conclusive, that there would be a gain in conserving and 

 distributing the heat from the time of giving sections. 



A divider like the Root fence, with two exceptions, will 

 give good results. First, the spaces between the slats 

 should be }{ inch ; and, second, they should be spaced 5/16 

 to }i inch from the super walls. In many cases the sections 

 will show ridges opposite the spaces, but I never had a cus- 

 tomer object to them on that account, nor would I. 



Bees can not acquiesce, cluster and feel free and easy 

 in a space only ; 6 of an inch. They never make that kind 



Honey as a Health-Food. — This is a 16-page honey- 

 pamphlet intended to help increase the demand for honey. 

 The first part of it contains a short article on " Honey as 

 Food ", written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It tells where to keep 

 honey, how to liquefy it, etc. The last part is devoted to 

 " Honey-Cooking Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey ". 

 It should be widely circulated by those selling honey. The 

 more the people are educated on the value and uses of honey 

 the more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample copy for a two-cent stamp ; SO 

 copies for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25 : 250 for $2.25 ; 500 for $4.00 ; 

 or 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free at the 

 bottom of the front page on all orders for 100 or more copies. 

 Send all orders to the office of the American Bee Journal. 



of spaces for themselves ; they can not, in such cramped 

 quarters, glide into the contented comb-building mood ; nor 

 is there room for a cluster to keep up the necessary heat for 

 comb-building. 



I can not conceive that it is fair and just to say that 

 such dividers are practically as good as those that are prop- 

 erly made and spaced. I prefer those with holes, but slatted 

 dividers, properly spaced, give good results. Here we are 

 again, right in front of the manufacturer's view-point. 



Ontario, Canada. 



# 



Branch Houses and Bee-Supply Prices 



BY F. GREINKR. 



AT the Harrisburg (Pa.) meeting Mr. Selser should have 

 included several other bee-supply manufacturers who 

 also have established branch houses when he said the 

 Root Company have brought the bee-supply business to the 

 door of the bee-keeper, and that they are real benefactors 

 to the bee-keepers. Mr. S., however, conceded that the 

 establishment of such branch houses was costing the bee- 

 keepers some money, as it had raised prices on the supplies. 

 This is undoubtedly true, and we deplore it. It seems, as 

 far as the bee-keeper is concerned, all the branch houses 

 with their increased cost of supplies are superfluous. 



Why can not the bee-keeper have sufficient forethought 

 and provide himself with supplies at an early date ? There 

 is no need of his waiting till sections and hives are wanted 

 before ordering. I have been in the bee-business about 30 

 years, and I have never been obliged to buy supplies during 

 the hurry of the season, and if all bee-keepers ordered 

 everything during the winter there would be no need of 

 branch houses and consequent higher prices. 



Some years ago, toward the close of the honey season, 

 one of the Western manufacturers advertised " cheap sec- 

 tions." They were seconds, and the price asked was $2 00 

 per 1000. I laid in a supply for an emergency. I do not ex- 

 pect to make use of these sections until perchance one of 

 those extra-good honey seasons comes along when even 

 fence-posts will secrete honey ! There is not a great deal 

 of money tied up, and I need not worry that my supply of 

 sections will run out. If bee-keepers will watch the adver- 

 tisements in the bee-papers they may find equally good 

 chances. 



DISINFECTION FOR INSPECTORS. 



Great importance should be attached to what Dr. Hayes 

 said at the Harrisburg meeting in regard to sterilizing or 

 disinfecting the clothing of the operator after handling 

 foul-broody bees ; also disinfecting his tools, etc. He says 

 " the bacillus [and spores in particular] can be carried in 

 many ways heretofore not thought of." It is my opinion 

 that foul-brood inspectors should exercise a great deal of 

 care in this respect, and I should make a vigorous protest if 

 a foul-brood inspector, coming from a diseased yard, should 

 want to enter my premises until I was satisfied that his 

 clothing and tools used had been subjected to salicylic acid 

 fumes, or something similarly effective. I know others — 

 some having had the experience — who are fully as anxious 

 as I am in regard to the matter. It is a very serious matter, 

 my good friends and foul-brood inspectors, to be " pep- 

 pered " with the disease. Frank Benton claims to know 

 of foul-brood inspectors giving the disease to other yards. 

 Dr. Hayes says it may be carried under the finger-nails. 



It is often stated that black brood first developed in 

 colonies imported into New York State from a Southern 

 State. If this is true, why is it the disease has not been 

 discovered so far in a State in the South ? 



AMOUNT OF BEES IN A BABY NOCLEUS. 



Mr. Pratt's statement in regard to queen-rearing, made 

 at the Harrisburg meeting, interested me greatly. He said : 

 " Twenty-five bees are a sufficient company for a queen in 

 a baby nucleus. Fifty bees will do better. More than a 

 teacupful is a decided disadvantage." 



The above statements are made from the queen-breed- 

 er's standpoint, and in so far are undoubtedly true ; but 

 what does the queen say 7 It is not so clear to the honey- 

 producer and purchaser of queens why more than a teacup- 

 ful of bees should be disadvantageous. " Twenty-five bees 

 may do ; 50 do better; a teacupful perhaps still better." 

 And there seems to be the limit. I can not see the reason 

 why. I am net a professional queen-breeder. 



Ontario Co., N. Y. 



