July 27. 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



521 



Perhaps you will say, it the difference is so slight that it 

 can not be detected at the time the super comes to be finished, 

 it does not amount to anything. It does amount to some- 

 thing, though, in just this way : 



It is so exceedingly important that the bees make an early 

 start in the supers; that they form as early as possible the 

 habit of storing their honey there ; that for the first super at 

 least everything should be made as attractive as possible. 



The man who has a large apiary must have his sections 

 prepared In advance of the time they are needed, but if you 

 have not many bees do not be in too great a hurry to get the 

 sections filled. When they are ready for the bees, keep them 

 closed up as tightly as possible, away from tlie air, and espe- 

 cially the light. The action of the light and air is to bleach 

 and harden wax. In the early days of comb foundation, 

 bleached wax was used for surplus foundation until it was 

 found that it was not as good as the softer yellow wax. Foun- 

 dation that is left closely packed, as it comes from the factory, 

 will deteriorate but very little. 



That there is a difference in quality between fresh foun- 

 dation and that which has been exposed to the air is proved by 

 the fact that the paper separating the sheets of foundation is 

 often marked by an oily stain where it comes in contact with 

 the wax, while foundation that has been exposed to the air 



I for any length of time can not be made to stain paper by con- 

 tact. 



No, Mr. Doolittle, this matter of old foundation not being 

 as good as new, will not down. It will keep on its rounds 

 through th3 papers and on mortal lips, bobbing up its head 

 again and again until nearly all the bee-keeping world not 

 only thinks but knows it to be a fact. 



The foregoing applies to foundation that has never been 

 put into the hives. If the foundation has been left in the 

 hive some time, so that it has been propolized by the bees, the 

 case is even stronger. I have frequently seen or hpard the 

 statement in regard to putting sections on late in the fall, that 

 they were all the better for having been worked over a little 

 by the bees, even if they had not been drawn out any. No 

 greater mistake was ever made. 



When foundation is left on the hive at a time when the 

 bees are not inclined to draw it out, they are liable to cover it 

 with a varnish of propolis, after which they are very loath to 

 do anything with it. I have known such sections to go 

 through two good honey seasons untouched, though several 

 sets of other sections in the same super were promptly filled 

 and finished. The most profitable thing to do with founda- 

 tion in sections that the bees have begun to propolize is to cut 

 it out and melt it up. Mesa Co., Colo. 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



A Bereaved Sister— Motherwort 



A few weeks ago I sent you a copy of the 

 Crawford County Press, containing an ac- 

 count of the death of my husband, and forgot 

 to mark it with my honey stamp, so that you 

 would know that a bee-keeper had sent it. 



In the care of my husband all winter and 

 his recent death I bad almost forgotten that I 

 was a bee-keeper. After a very severe winter 

 and long, cold spring I found on -lune 1 that 

 I had lost 50 percent of my bees, and some of 

 those that were left were in a very poor con- 

 dition, but they are building up now. The 

 weather, and especially at night, is very 

 cool; to-day we are having a heavy rain. I 

 have taken oS no honey to date (June 29). 



Later. — To-day (.July 5) I took off my first 

 super of honey. It is very nice, but we need 

 a little sunshine. It has been pleasant to-day, 

 but I think it will rain before morning. Bass- 

 wood trees are budded and almost ready to 

 blossom. I hope for some honey from that 

 source. There is an abundance of white 

 clover, but there is a little too much rain for 

 the bees, as we have a shower almost every 

 afternoon. 



What is the name of the enclosed plant? It 

 begins to blossom in June and continues to 

 blossom till frost comes, and the bees work 

 on it incessantly. 



I am all alone with my bees now, and feel 

 too sad and lonely to write. I wish you a 

 pleasant and prosperous summer. 



Mrs. Paul Barrette. 



Crawford Co., Wis. 



Yes, I received the notice of your husband's 

 death, and was considerably puzzled over it. 

 Your letter makes all plain. I am sure the 

 sisters will all join with me in extending our 

 heartfelt sympathy in your affliction. That 

 sentence, " I am ail alone with my bees now, 

 and feel too sad and lonely to write," made 

 me feel that I would like in some way to let 

 you know that the sisters do care, and feel, 

 oh, so sorry for you. 



I think the enclosed plant is motherwort, 

 one of the mint family. 



Artificial Increase— Putting on a 

 Second Super 



1. In artificial swarming do you recommend 

 forming one or two colonies from the original 



one? A bee-keeper tells me his bees gather 

 little or no surplus honey if only one new col- 

 ony is formed. 



3. Will you kindly explain how the second 

 super of a Langstroth Simplicity hive is fitted 

 on the first? Regular size 434x4(4' sections 

 are an inch or more higher than the top of 

 super No. 1, and a groove j*!,' inch from bot- 

 tom of super No. 3 admits tin supports for 

 the section-holder. 



Now, I am at a loss to know how proper 

 spacing can be given. Miss Wisconsin. 



1. The bee-keeper is right that increase, 

 either natural or artificial, is at the expense 

 of the honey-crop, it that is his meaning. But 

 your asking whether the increase should be 

 one, or two, from each colony, and saying in 

 close connection with that that little surplus 

 is obtained "if only one" new colony is 

 formed, sounds as though he meant that 

 there would be more surplus if two new colo- 

 nies were made. That can hardly be correct 

 anywhere in Wisconsin. It could be true 

 only where a long, heavy fiow came late in 



the season. In your State, and with your 

 harvests, you will probably find that a colony 

 will give its greatest yield if it happens to be 

 one of that accommodating sort that directs 

 all its energies to the amassing of stores, not 

 bothering its head about sending out any 

 emigrants to populate some other hive or 

 hollow tree. In actual practice most bee- 

 keepers try to limit increase to a single new 

 colony formed from each old one, while some 

 limit the increase to one from each two old 

 ones. In this locality we try to limit to less 

 than that, but we have a time of it. You may 

 be assured that making an increase of two 

 from each colony will not give you more sur- 

 plus than an increase of one. 



3. Ignorance of the exact construction of 

 the supers of the Improved Langstroth-Sim- 

 plicity hive makes it difficult to answer. It 

 looks just a little as though your second super 

 were made different from the first, and it can 

 hardly be that such is the proper thing. If 

 the tops of sections are an inch higher than 

 top of super No. 1, and bottoms of sections 

 only 3jj of an inch higher than bottom of 

 super in No. 2, there's plainly a misfit. It 

 looks as if by some means there should be 

 more than ''« of an inch, and you should raise 

 the supports up more than an inch from the 

 bottom, so that the bottom of super No. 3 

 should telescope down over the sections in 

 No. 1, and still leave a space of V inch be- 

 tween the two sets of sections. In anv case, 

 all supers should be perfectly interchange- 

 able, and so should all be alike. 



/T 



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Vi\i\ :^asty 5 (Iftcrtl?0U(3{^t5 



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The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hastt, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



=/ 



MENDING A LEAKT WOODEN TANK. 



That a wooden tank otherwise leaky can be 

 made perfectly tight by covering it internally 

 first with manila paper and then with hot 

 paraffin (as per page 436) is a good thing to 

 remember. I do not feel like praising the 

 arrangement very highly, however. I fear 

 the first time it gets empty more or less of the 

 paper will get knocked off. Have a tank that 

 is permanently ti^'lit, even if it does cost quite 

 a bit more. 



CHEMISTS ANl' UONET DEFINITIONS. 



Quite willing am 

 the chemists — wh. 

 province and try 1 

 have stood for a;;- 

 be getting on thin 

 should put oil of ^' 

 adulteration, and .1 

 it in it is not an 



I to see Mr. Dunlop go for 

 u they get outside their 

 ' upset definitions which 

 5. Still, perhaps he may 

 i.e at one point. If man 

 rlic in milk it would be an 

 bad one. If the cow puts 

 adulteration — perhaps. If 



man puts filthy water in milk it is an abomin- 

 able adulteration ; but if he puts it in flmt 

 rumdnij il thrmigli the cow, how then? The 

 practical distinction is getting pretty slender. 

 Poisonous, disgusting and uneatable honeys 

 are to be avoided, and proceeded against all 

 the same whether we put them in the same 

 class with adulterated honeys or in a class by 

 themselves. Shifting the skunk from one 

 classification to another — we need not resist 

 that with any idea that it is going to deodorize 

 him. Page 437. 



DOniSLISU WEAK COLONIKS IN SPRING. 



I have an apiary that often ranges above a 

 hundred colonies, and yet I want to thank 

 Allen Latham for his article on the weak col- 

 ony in spring — from the small apiary's point 

 of view. Most of us, I reckon, do not find 

 doubling up in spring a very satisfactory 

 operation. But shaking the little forlorn 

 remnant into a hole in the ground and cover- 



