June 29, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



457 



free breath of heaven. But, no. They will go 

 their own way! They mean to escape through 

 the glass. For any length of time they have 

 been attacking the window, and defeat only 

 lends energy to the renewed attack. They 

 will not learn from experience. Within easy 

 reach, a few inches above, there is the open 

 window, and the free breath of heaven. But 

 they have set their obstinate minds to go their 

 way, and they will go no other. They will 

 perish in the attempt. Already there are 

 multitudes of their companions on the win- 

 dow-sill, who struggled and were defeated. 

 These living ones will not learn from the dead. 



Poor buzzing bees, beating out your beautiful 

 lives to no advantage, when the way to free- 

 dom is open, when you could be enjoying the 

 life that God has given you! Is not this a 

 pathetic picture of poor human bees who are 

 thirsting for religious light, seeking that which 

 is impossible in the way they seek it? The 

 picture of the world of today, of so many 

 splendid lives, is the picture of those im- 

 prisoned bees, seeking the right thing, bttt 

 seeking it in tlie wrong way, and in their 

 obstinacy preferring death rather than the 

 life which is theirs through the open win- 

 dow — Jesus Christ. — British Bee-Journal. 



Doctor ITtiUcr 5 Qucstion^^ox 



=\ 



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Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 Dr. Miller does twt answer Questions by mail. 



J^ 



Selllne Section Honey by Weight 



In advertising honey would it not be wis- 

 dom as well as strict justice to both the 

 honey-producer and the purchaser of honey, 

 to require the members of the League to sell 

 section honey by actual weight, instead of 

 selling less than Itj ounces, and e.^cacting full- 

 pound price tor the same? As tar as I know 

 the custom now is to sell section honey by the 

 section at full-pound prices, when both the 

 purchaser and salesman know that very many 

 sections tall short of a pound. This is driving 

 many people to the extremity of letting the 

 purchaser of honey severely alone. A num- 

 ber of people buy both chunk and extracted 

 honey from me because they say they get the 

 amount they pay for. Kansas. 



Answer. — It is far from the universal cus- 

 tom to sell sections by the piece. Much sec- 

 tion honey is sold at its exact weight. To 

 sell section honey by the piece, with a full 

 understanding on the part of the purchaser 

 that he is buying it by the piece with no ref- 

 erence to its weight, is all right. To sell a 

 section of honey with the understanding on 

 the part of the purchaser that he is getting a 

 pound when he is really getting less, Is all 

 wrong, even if the seller does not say in so 

 many words that the section does weigh 

 a pound. An honest seller would not allow 

 any such misunderstanding. It may be more 

 convenient to sell by the piece, but there is 

 more exact justice in selling by the pound. 



Putting on Supers— Bees Deserting 

 the Hive 



1. Several times in this Department you 

 have said that you have several supers on at 

 a time, and you thought that you would lose 

 by not using 2 or more. When do you put 

 the last ones on * I have tried using one at a 

 time, and also several at a time, and I can see 

 little difference. 



2. In the spring I had a colony leave the 

 hive when they had some honey and brood. 

 The next day they came back and I clipped 

 the queen's wing, but they left the following 

 day regardless of this. I don't think the 

 queen went with them, though I could not 

 find her. Do you think they were "crazy," 

 or what? There were no mice, moth, etc., to 

 bother them. 



3. I have been thinking of dividing some of 

 my colonies equally, putting 4 frames of 

 brood and bees with the queen 6n a new 

 stand, and letting those on the old stand rear 

 a new queen. Would the bees on the new 

 stand be likely to return to the old one? 



Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. When the first super is about 

 half filled, and the harvestcontinues, a second 

 is placed imder the first. Then I continue 

 giving fresh supers throughout the season 

 just as often as the one last given becomes 

 half filled. The empty super is put at the 

 bottom until toward the close of the season, 

 when it is not certain whether an additional 

 super is needed or not, and then the empty 



super is put on top, where the bees can use it 

 or not, as they like. The oldest super on the 

 hive is always kept next over the one last 

 given. Answering your question direct, you 

 will see that the last super will be given 

 toward the close of the harvest, which time 

 varies in different years. 



2. Bees sometimes have a craze for desert- 

 ing their hives in spring, leaving plenty of 

 brood and honey. I don't know why. Some- 

 times it looks as it the old bees had all died 

 off rapidly, leaving so much brood on hand 

 that the young bees remaining deserted on 

 account of discouragement. Clipping the 

 the queen has no effect in keeping bees in the 

 hive; it only prevents her from going with 

 them. 



3. Yes, you may count on all the fleld-bees 

 returning to the old location. 



Uniting Colonies 



I have tried, in a limited way, the plan of 

 temporarily uniting colonies with an excluder 

 between, and it does not work satisfactorily 

 for me. Inside of two weeks one or the other 

 of the queens will disappear. In one case the 

 lower colony was very strong, and the one 

 put on top was weak, with brood in only 2 

 frames, and the iiueen in the lower strong 

 colony was gone at the next examination. 

 There was no fighting among the bees, but 

 one queen seemed to be enough. 



In uniting no smoke was used. They were 

 simply set together and left to themselves. 

 Have I omitted anything that should have 

 been done to make the plan a success? 



It it would work, colonies could be equal- 

 ized very quickly by putting the lower one on 

 a new stand when separating. Ohio. 



Answer. — There does not appear to be 

 anything lacking in your practice. Accord- 

 ing to the descriptions given by those who 

 have been successful, all that is to be done is 

 to set one colony over the other, an excluder 

 between. Have others made a trial of the 

 plan? and, if so, will they please report? 



Putting on Supers— Swarming 



When is the best time to put supers on 

 hives? Do bees necessarily accumulate on 

 the outside of the hive before swarming? 



I have asked these questions before but re- 

 ceived no answer. Michigan. 



Answer. — The best time to put on supers 

 depends a little upon what you may desire. 

 If you are anxious tor increase through nat- 

 ural swarming, it may be best to delay put- 

 ting on supers till after the harvest is under 

 way, for crowding the brood-chamber with 

 honey will have its effect in starting the bees 

 into tlie notion of swarming. Indeed, it 

 would make a more sure thing of swarming it 

 no super should be given until after the bees 

 have actually swarmed. 



Generally, however, the desire is for honey 

 rather than swarms. In that case a super 

 should be given before there is any danger of 



crowding the brood-chamber with honey. A 

 little too soon is better than a little too late. 

 One way is to watch the flowers from which 

 the harvest is expected, and put on supers as 

 soon as they appear in quantity. In your 

 region white clover is probably the thing tor 

 you to watch Another way is to watch the 

 condition of tuo brood-chamber, and put on 

 supers when the brood-combs begin to be 

 crowded with honey. The old rule was to 

 give supers when white wax begins to be plas- 

 tered on the upper parts of the comb; a good 

 rule in most cases, but for those who prefer 

 not to have any swarming (even though it 

 may be a rare thing for the bees to respect 

 their wishes) it is better to have supers on 

 before the bees get so far as to secrete this 

 extra wax. 



I do not understand how it should be that 

 your questions have not been answered, un- 

 less there has been some failure on Uncle 

 Sam's part, and he is a very reliable old gen- 

 tleman. All questions received are answered 

 just as soon as possible. See " Send Ques- 

 tions on Time," page 404. See also " Putting 

 on Supers," pages 297 and 393. 



Jlcports anb 

 (fxpertenccs 



Bees Doing Little Work 



Bees are not doing much here just now. 

 The first crop of alfalfa is cut and the weather 

 is dry. They are killing drones, but I keep 

 mine stimulated to breed, so when alfalfa 

 comes again I hope they will begin work in 

 earnest. G. Bohrbe. 



Rice Co., Kans., June 14. 



Bees Wintered Poorly— Prospects 

 Good 



Bees did not winter well in this locality, 

 mostly because of lack of teed. We had very 

 little surplus honey last year, but there is a 

 fine prospect for this season. The pastures 

 are fairly white with clover now, and things 

 never looked more promising for a large 

 honey yield. I had 2 very large swarms on 

 June 6 and 14. John Stotts. 



Marion Co., Iowa, June 15. 



Progressive and Up-to-Date 



" Progress " and " Up-to-Date " seem to be 

 the watchwords of the " Old Reliable," ever 

 looking after the best interests of all con- 

 cerned. It must require considerable hus- 

 tling to get so much bee-information together 

 for each weekly edition, and as you have sub- 

 scribers in all stages of development, from 

 the beginner to the expert, so the information 

 necessarily must be varied. Extended articles 

 on one subject by the experts no doubt suit 

 the older heads, while we in the student class 

 require to iearn from the ground up. Success 

 in apiculture like any other business, does not 

 depend entirely upon one idea but upon a 

 combination of circumstances. 



A. BURKHOLDER. 



Wayne Co., Mich., June 6. 



An Old Bee-Keeper's Experience 



It Is my purpose to give an account of how 

 I caught the bee-fever. If in your imagina- 

 tion you will go back with me to the year 

 1832, when I "as 15 years old, living in Craw- 

 ford Co., Pa., it was then my grandfather 

 got me to work in the garden and watch his 

 bees, while he attended court. He provided 

 me with a ladder, a rope, a bell, and a straw 

 skep, with orders to get the " king " in the 

 skep should ibey swarm. 



Well, one clay while at dinner the boy called 

 out " Bees nwarming." 1 went to the yard, 

 found them alighting on a pine tree some lb 

 or 20 feet bi;,'h, and placed the skep on the 

 ground uudci them, sawed off the limb, let 

 them down bv tbe skep, and by the time I got 



