616 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 31, 1905 



not to pick tlie sting out with the thumb and fingers, for in 

 so doing the poison from the sac, attached to the sting, would 

 be squeezed into the wound ; but by using a knife or something 

 of that kind the sting could be gotten out without injecting 

 the poison into the flesh. This sounds pretty, but my experi- 

 ence is that while you are. working to get the knife, the con- 

 traction of the poison-sac would pump in far more poison than 

 the squeezing would do. The knife is better, if you have it 

 at hand at the instant wanted; but if not, don't wait. Get 

 the sting out at once in some way. 



My \vay is to rub it out by a drawing motion against the 

 clothing, if on the hands, and by a sliding motion of the hand 

 against the sting when on any other part of the body; and 

 if you are quick enough in these motions, the sting can be 

 generally gotten out so quickly that very little pain will be 

 felt. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Work in the Apiary for September 



BY C. P. DADANT 



The honey harvest ends this month. Those who produce 

 extracted honey must expect to extract all the crop before 

 the end of the month. If the honey is thick and ripe shortly 

 after it is harvested, as is usually the case with Spanish-needle 

 honey, it is not necessary to wait until the last of the crop, 

 which generally ends with the first frost, to harvest the honey. 

 If the hives have two or more supers, all may be taken except 

 those that are entirely unsealed and show evidence of being 

 freshly harvested. If we have only a few combs left on the 

 hives, at the end of the crop, the work of finishing the ex- 

 tracting will be short and but little chance will be given for 

 robbing. We usually leave the empty extracting combs on 

 the hives until October, as the bees protect them against the 

 moths during the last warm days, better than we could do 

 it ourselves. 



The producer of comb honey must remove all sealed sec- 

 tions as fast as possible after they are finished to avoid the 

 travel-stains by the bees. The fall blossoms and their yellow 

 pollen cause the bees to produce and spread over the combs a 

 quantity of coloring pigments which darken the white combs 

 promptly. Honey that is removed as soon as sealed will show 

 much whiter, even if it is of a deep color, if it is taken off 

 before the bees have had time to stain the white cappings, for 

 beeswax is always white when first produced. 



Of course, supers left on until October will be still more 

 stained, by the addition of traces of propolis all over the 

 combs, for just as soon as the harvest ends the bees begin 

 to prepare for cold weather by daubing the inside of the hive 

 with propolis and filling all the crevices with this sticky sub- 

 stance. Some localities are much worse for this production 

 of propolis than others. Trees of lowlands, willows, poplars 

 cottonwoods, etc., furnish an abundance of this which the bees' 

 seem to enjoy crowding into nooks and corners. 



Towards the last of the crop the bees would best be 

 crowded a little for room, for if too much space is given they 

 will be building additional new combs and scattering their 

 honey while it is best to have all the cells finished and 

 sealed if possible. Ihere is no longer any danger of swarming 

 by narrowing the available space to the minimum, in each 

 hive, and we make sure of much better results, securing more 

 finished sections. 



Likewise, if we are producing extracted honey, we will 

 find It well to crowd the bees a little for space, so they may 

 be compelled to put enough honey for winter in the brood- 

 combs. Colonies that have bred plentifully and spread throucrh 

 three or four supers are likely to find themselves with tSo 

 little honey in the brood-chamber for winter if we do not 

 conipel them to place some there. However, I would not wish 

 to be understood as giving this as a rule. In coo! seasons 

 pure Jtahan bees will, on the contrary, crowd their brood- 

 chamber too much, but hybrids or black bees are prone to 

 scatter their crop, and tliis matter must be watched before the 

 end of the harvest so as to compel them to fill tlieir brood- 

 combs sufficiently for winter. If too much honey has been 

 placed m the brood-combs, it is advisable to extract only that 

 which is unsealed, for unsealed honey is not very good for 

 \yinter, as it is apt to become watery much more readily than 

 that which is sealed. 



The month of September is also quite suitable for the 

 rep acing of queens tliat are too old or that have proven un- 

 prohfic. At this tinu queens may be purchased at lowest 

 prices, because breeiUis rear them more easily and more 



cheaply during the summer months than in the spring. We 

 have also had good opportunities to become acquainted with 

 the prolificness, or lack of prolificness, of different colonies, 

 and can take the same opportunity of replacing the queens 

 that are becoming too old and are losing. But I would warn 

 the novice to be very careful, for queens that have lost their 

 fecundity are often replaced by the bees themselves before we 

 are aware of it, and we run the risk of destroying a young 

 queen when we are thinking of replacing the old one. The 

 longer I keep bees, the less profitable I think the custom of 

 replacing queens that are supposed to have reached the term 

 of their usefulness. 



Small colonies, made by division, late swarms, etc., can 

 be helped very materially during this month by supplying them 

 with an occasional comb of sealed brood and honey. A weak 

 colony, helped twice — two weeks apart — with a comb of brood 

 each time, will often make a good colony for winter, and the 

 powerful colony from which this help has been taken will 

 hardly feel it. Hancock Co.. 111. 



=\ 



(£onr>entton 

 Proccebtngs 



J 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



(Coatiaaed from pa^e 601. J 



CASH FOR PROOF OF ADULTERATED COMB HONEI 



Mr. Becker — It is a fact that there are many people who 

 believe that there is adulteration both in comb and extracted 

 honey. I sell honey right here in Chicago, I have bought 

 it from Mr. York and from Mr. Dadant. I ship honey to 

 Chicago. They wouldn't under any consideration buy the 

 honey here in Chicago and believe that it actually was pure 

 honey. They have told me so, time and again. I have tested 

 the honey to-day that I shipped here ten years ago, and which 

 has been kept in an open jar. I told them that the honey 

 was too strong. They thought it was delicious. It was pure 

 honey. A few years ago we brought in honey and I told 

 some of the parties here that I would guarantee they would 

 get pure honey here in Chicago, and I told them where to 

 get it. They got some of it. They said, "Oh, that was not 

 pure honey ; that was not honey like you sent me." But it 

 was pure. We all know that there is no adulteration in comb 

 honey, but when it comes to extracted honey of course there 

 is sometimes adulteration. There are so many varieties of 

 honey : there is basswood, white clover, alfalfa, Spanish- 

 needle, heartsease, and other varieties of honey, and one 

 does not taste or look like the other, especially sweet clover 

 and basswood. You give them some of your honey and they 

 have been used to white clover or alfalfa, and they just de- 

 clare up and down, and you cannot make them believe that 

 it is not adulterated honey. I have sold honey in Springfield 

 for the last 20 years, and one traveler there accused me 

 two weeks ago of having a monopoly because he couldn't 

 sell any. I told him I was glad that I had the monopoly, 

 if I had it. But the only way I got that monopoly was by 

 selling them an article that I stood behind. I said, "If this 

 honey isn't pure, and if anybody does not like it, don't argue 

 with them, but tell them to bring it back and give them their 

 money back ; it is my honey and I will take it off your hands," 

 And to-day should I go to Springfield I am asked no ques- 

 tions as to its purity. I simply ask, "Do you need any 

 honey?" And they say, "Yes, two, three or four dozen, and 

 as high as a gross." I never buy on the Chicago market. 

 I don't send any honey here. I am right the other way : 

 I take it from Chicago and sell it at other places ; and I 

 sell it at home, and I will stand behind my honey, and 

 never sell anything but what I know is pure, genuine honey. 

 If you all do the same thing I think you will have no trouble 

 in selling your honey. 



Mr. Dadant — I wish to insist on the necessity of our 

 explaining the comb-honey story wherever we can. We must 

 do it. I have a better opportunity perhaps than any one 

 else of finding out whit the general public thinks of the 

 comb-honey story. When I travel I come across business 





