454 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 29, 1905 



honey was taken from the outside, next the side of the hive, 

 and the cappings of the honey broken by passing a knife over 

 them flatwise, and bearing down on it quite strongly while 

 doing so. This prepared frame was set in the center of the 

 brood-nest, giving the bees great stimulus in removing the 

 honey and storing it around about the brood. 



On May 24 there was brood in the whole 9 frames, 7 of 

 them being full all except the upper corners, the brood com- 

 ing clear out to the wood of the frames on all four sides. At 

 that time the brood-nest was reversed again, which practically 

 filled the 9 frames with brood S days later. Also at this time 

 of reversing the brood-nest, 2 frames having some honey in 

 them were set in the space for the side sections, as this hive 

 was calculated for sections at the side as well as on top. 

 These frames of honey insured the colony against running 

 short of stores to feed the brood, as well as to give room for 

 bees, so that the hive should not become overcrowded so as to 

 bring on the swarming fever. A week later 2 frames of the 

 oldest brood were taken from the brood-nest and 2 frames with 

 some honey in them, with the cappings broken, were set in 

 their places, while the place for side sections, opposite from 

 that having the 2 combs of honey put in the week before, 

 was opened so it could be used. One of the frames of brood 

 was placed in one side next the brood-chamber, and the other 

 on the other side, while the 2 frames of honey were used by 

 placing one on each side of these, so that I now had 13 frames 

 in that hive, 11 of which would soon be solid with brood, or 

 very nearly so. 



At this time the sections were put over the brood-cham- 

 ber, so that the bees had all the room tliat was necessary to 

 spread out in to ward off the swarming fever. 



When the colony was well at work in the sections the 4 

 frames in the side-section apartments were taken out and 

 their places filled with sections. And this was all the manipu- 

 lation used for the brood-chamber, or for the brood-frames in 

 the hive. The rest of the work consisted in taking off the 

 filled sections and putting empty sections in as needed. 



From the above it will be seen that this colony giving the 

 309 pounds of section honey had its frames of brood-comb 

 manipulated only 6 times, as against Dr. Miller's 9 times with 

 his colony. This colony did not swarm, no increase was made 

 from it, nor was it helped in any way, except as given above. 

 That same year, two other colonies worked in the same 

 way, gave each 306 and 295 pounds of section honey, while 

 very many gave from 200 pounds up to the three above given. 

 That same year a colony worked for extracted honey gave 566 

 pounds. This colony was worked very similar to the above, 

 till it got its brood-chamber full of bees and brood, when it 

 was set over into a hive 4 feet long, and holding 32 frames. 

 This colony gave the remarkable yield of 22 pounds of honey 

 a day. Or, to tell it just as it was, the yield was 66 pounds in 

 3 days, or an average of 22 pounds a day. This colony was 

 not manipulated at all after it was in the long hive, only to 

 extract the honey. In fact, after any colony has gone into 

 the active storing of honey, I have never been able to see 

 where any manipulation can help any. 



As I look at it, only that manipulation which has an 

 '" eye " toward the securing of the maximum number of bees 

 on hand just in time for the main honey harvest, counts any^ 

 thing toward the successful production of honey. And, as Dr. 

 Miller says, " There's a big lot in that." Let me repeat it 

 again like this, "THERE'S A BIG LOT IN THAT." And 

 this I would say right face to face with Mr. Hutchinson, 

 Townsend, and others, were I where I had the opportunity to 

 talk to them thus. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



PS. — Lest I be misunderstood, allow me to say that I 

 consider the " shook " method of preventing swarming far 

 ahead of the cutting olT of queen-cells. And as the larger 

 part of Dr. Miller's manipulation was used to prevent swarm- 

 ing. I own that, outside of this, he used less manipulation 

 than I did. G. M. I). 



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.; KiO for $1.25 : 250 for $2.25 ; 500 for $4.00 ; 

 or 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed /r^e at the 

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

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



(£onr>entton 

 Proccebtngs 



=\ 



=/ 



Papers Read at the Minnesota Convention 



Held at Minneapolis Dec. 7 and 8, 1904 



LATE FEEDING OF BEES 



At our annual meetings there is some person who wants 

 some light on the subject of feeding. It is to be inferred here 

 when such person comes to put his bees into winter quarters, 

 or brings them in from the out-yards, that, to his astonish- 

 ment, some colonies are light in winter stores. How to sup- 

 ply them is what he wants to know. 



The year that W. Z. Hutchinson was with us feeding was 

 discussed. Mr. Hutchinson told how he did late feeding. 



Th,e fall of 1902 f made my first attempt at late feeding, 

 using the Miller feeder. I had 4 "nukes" that contained 

 late-reared queens, and were light in feed. Being desirous of 

 saving the queens, I iried Mr. Hutchinson's plan. I prepared 

 the feeders as follows : 



Place the feeder upon a separate bottom-board, with a 

 comb-honey super rim for the hive to rest on. If you haven't 

 the rims you can make them ; have them 5 inches deep. Heat 

 the honey hot, 140 or 150 degrees ; pour into the feeder what 

 you need, and place a float in each compartment of the 

 feeder ; take the hive off the bottom-board it stands on and 

 place it on the prepared board. Be careful not to disturb the 

 bees before transferring, so that they will remain clustered 

 and not be on the bottom-board. After placing them on the 

 feeder, I usually raise one end of the hive a little and let it 

 drop, so as to rouse them up and get them to work at once. 



These " nukes " came through the winter in good shape, 

 and 2 of them were in an out-yard of 50 colonies that gave me 

 a crop of 8000 pounds of extracted honey last season. 



The fall of 1903 I fed some 25 colonies the last of Novem- 

 ber and the forepart of December. They did well, with two 

 or three exceptions. The past fall I have fed quite a number. 

 This point I noticed, that unless the honey was hot— 140 or 

 150 degrees — the bees did not take up the feed readily. 



I usually wait about a day and a half, then I raise the 

 hive up from the feeder by placing under each end strips 

 about 2 inches square, and leave them for another day. 

 Usually by that time the bees will he clustered on the frames, 

 leaving the feeder clear of bees. Then transfer them to the 

 bottom-boards. 



I do the feeding in the cellar, as the weather is too cold 

 to do feeding outside. A. D. Shepard. 



Pierce Co., Wis. 



SIZE OF HIVE RELATIVE TO THE HONEY-FLOW 



During the time in which I have kept bees (about 10 

 years) I have been trying to figure out the size of hive best 

 adapted to my locality. In doing this I have naturally come 

 to some conclusions which might hold good in localities where 

 the honey-llow is entirely different from that in my locality. 



In the first place, this is the flow as I get it year after 

 year: Dandelion and fruit-bloom just enough to keep up a 

 fair amount of brood-rearing, but not enough to boom the col- 

 onies. White clover enough to boom the whole apiary, but 

 not enough for surplus. Basswood in unlimited rjuantities ; 

 nothing afterward, not even enough to lay up stores to win- 

 ter on. 



Now, what kind of a hive would a bee-keeper of experi- 

 ence choose to lit into these conditions if he knew of them to 

 begin with (which I did not) ? Would he use the same appli- 

 ances as he did in a clover country, or buckwheat country, or 

 an alfalfa country ? If he did, he would not be conducting 

 his business intelligently. Good business men do not go into 

 new ventures or new localities to start industries of any kind 

 without figuring out the last detail. No more should the bee- 

 keeper ! 



Now I think there are a few general principles which 

 should govern a man choosing a size of hive, two of which I 

 shall now mention. 



First, you can not produce comb honey with a short but 

 profuse flow, as in my locality. 



Second, the shorter and more profuse the flow of honey 



