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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 28 1905 



■with a pound of sugar somewhat overdrawn? 

 Is it a " fact " lliat a pound of sugar makes 3 

 pounds of feeding eyrup and 2 pounds when 

 :5tored and thickened? It is onlyot late years 

 1.hat it is advised to use sugar and water equal 

 parts for feeding, and then only when the 

 teeding is done early. Does any one ever 

 -feed two parts water to one of sugar? For late 

 feeding, so that the syrup shall be something 

 Hike the consistency of honey. Root's "ABC 

 of Bee Culture" gives a gallon of water to 20 

 pounds of sugar. Counting 8 pounds to the 

 gallon of water, that would make 38 pounds 

 of syrup from 20 pounds of sugar. So instead 

 of a pound of sugar making 2 pounds of 

 stored syrup, as claimed, making an increase 

 of 100 percent, the increase would be only 40 

 percent— quite a different thing. But in 

 actual practice it would fall much below 40 

 percent. For in the act of storing, a goodly 

 portion is consumed by the bees for their own 

 sustenance, and a notable portion for making 



the wax ; for of course only comb honey can 

 be under consideration at 1.5 cents a pound. 

 Indeed, the difference between the amount 

 fed and the amount of the finished product, 

 whether extracted honey be used to feed for 

 section honey, or whether sugar syrup be used 

 to fill combs for feeding, according to reports 

 made, seems to be greater than can well be 

 accounted for. Some of the feed seems to go, 

 without one's knowing where it goes. 



This is not said with any intention to en- 

 courage or to excuse sugar-feeding, but rather 

 to show any one dishonestly inclined that 

 there is not in trying to make honey out of 

 sugar the bonanza he might suppose. 



Ridding Hives of Ants 



W. C. H. says this in the British Bee Jour- 

 nal: 



" I tie a little greasy cloth around each leg 

 ot the hive-stand, and have no trouble with 

 ants." 



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irttscellaneous Hetps 3tcm5 



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Mr. Chas. Mondeng, of the Mondeng 

 Mfg. Co., Minneapolis, Minn., dropped in to 

 see us last week. He is making a trip among 

 some of theleading bee-supply manufacturers. 

 He reports a fair business the past season. 

 Mr. Mondeng is an expert machinist and in- 

 ventor. He will be heard from later on. 



Apiary ol' W. D. Ball. — When sending 

 the photograph of his apiary, Mr. Ball wrote 

 thus: 



I enclose a photograph of my apiary of 1.3 

 ■colonies, located in a central portion of a 

 busy city of 50,000 inhabitants. The shrub- 

 bery shown in front ot the hives is mostly 

 sweet pea vines, with a few tomato plants. 

 The hives face west, and the shrubbery hides 

 •the hives at the lower end. 



The strong sun was too much for my eyes, 

 which accounts for the squinting look of my 

 face. W. D. Ball. 



St. Joseph Co., Ind. 



Apiary of S. G. Kilgore.— When for- 

 warding the pictures shown on the first page, 

 Mr. Kilgore had this to say ; 



Editor Yokk:— I send somekodack views, 

 and as 1 am a novice in the photograph busi- 

 ness, they are nothing extra. 



No. 1 is a partial view of my apiary of 40 

 colonies after I had taken off about half the 

 supers. I have been keeping bees about 15 

 years, and produce only comb honey. I try 

 to keep down increase to one prime swarm to 

 ■each colony, as from to to 50 colonies is all I 

 am able to take care of, being a cripple with 

 rheumatism, and have poor health. This 

 liusiuess gives me plenty of fresh air and sun- 

 shine, and I delight to work with bees. 



I sell only fancy and No. 1 comb honey, and 

 find a ready sale for all I have, at 17 and 18 

 cents per pound. I stamp my name, address 

 and telephone number on each section I sell. 

 I have never yet prodjc^.-d enough to supply 

 all my home trade. 1 sell from 13 to 50 

 pounds to each family for winter use, and let 

 them keep it in nice, clean shipping-cases. 

 When I call for an empty case I leave a full 

 one in its place. 



No. 2 is some of my No. 1 honey, with my- 

 self at the left with a be. veil on. The honey 

 is in i)^rA)4 plain and bue-way sections. This 

 year's production will Lib?.") percent of a full 

 •crop. 



No. 3 is one of my dovetailed hives with 5 



supers on; also a Dibbern queen-trap. This 

 colony gave me over 100 pounds of No. 1 

 comb honey, and it has a remarkably thrifty 

 queen. 



I requeen my apiary about every two years, 

 and buy all queens from a practical breeder. 

 I think it is cheaper to buy queens of a re- 

 liable breeder than to go to the trouble of 

 rearing them. I clip all queens, and my way 

 ot introducing them is as follows: 



I place each new queen, when it arrives, on 

 top of the frames of the colony to which I 

 wish to introduce it. I leave it there for two 

 days, so the new queen will acquire the scent 

 of the colony. At the end of two days I open 

 the hive, when the old queen is generally 

 found clinging to the cage, for she will always 

 hunt up a rival queen to give battle, but the 

 old queen and bees can not harm the new 

 queen inside the cage. I remove the old 

 queen, and at the same time expose the plug 

 of candy in the cage, and then close the hive, 

 and the job is done. I never lose a queen by 

 this method, and it saves hunting all over the 

 hive to find the old queen. 



According to your request, I had an article 

 of a column published in our county news- 

 paper, in regard to so-called manufactured 

 comb honey, and the offer of $1000 reward. If 

 every bee-keeper would enligbien the people 

 with an article in his county paper there 

 would soon be a big demand for honey, and 

 at good prices. 8. G. Kilgore. 



Conrads' ImproTed Bee-Smoker.— 



Wald. C. Conrads, of Comal Co., Tex., writes 

 as follows about his double-end lighting 

 smoker ; 



I have noticed in the American Bee Journal 

 (pages Sri and tUrt) that other bee-keepers 

 also feel the need of a smoker that opens at 

 both ends. I send herewith a photograph of 

 my improved smoker. Here is wbat I claim 

 for it ; 



It gives the advantage ot filling from either 

 end, and one can always light it from the 

 breech, while it can be refilled from the muz- 

 zle, which brings down the fire again to the 

 breech, so necessary to prevent the smoker 

 from throwing out sparks. After having re- 

 filled the smoker several times from the muz- 

 zle, ashes having accumulated, all that Is 

 necessary to do is to open the breech, which 

 will then allow the ashes to fall out, yet leav- 

 ing back enough fire to refill the smoker 

 again from the muzzle after having replaced 

 the breech. 



All that is needed is a nozzle from a Cornell 

 smoker; remove the snout from the Vesuvius 

 smoker so that you may put on the Corneil 



snout, and you have a smoker possessing the 

 features of both smokers combined in one. 

 Waldo C. Conrads. 



Not Candidates for Re-election. — 



We have received the following notices, with 

 the request that they be published in these 

 columns: 



Please say in the American Bee Journal 

 that I am most positively not to be considered 

 as a candidate for re-election as Director. 



C. C. Miller. 



McHenry Co., 111., Sept. 16. 



Editor York;— Won't you kindly say 

 through the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal that I am not a candidate for re- 

 election to the office ot Director of the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association ? I most sin- 

 cerely thank the members of that organiza- 

 tion for the honor they have conferred upon 

 me in the past, and wishing them every suc- 

 cess and prosperity for the future, 1 doff my 

 hat and make my exit. J. M. Hambaugh. 



San Diego Co., Calif., Sept. 13. 



Both Dr. Miller and Mr. Hambaugh deserve 

 the gratitude of bee-keepers everywhere for 

 their many years ot faithful devotion to the 

 interests of bee-keeping, as directed through 

 the National Association. While their loss 

 as directors will be felt, still it is hardly fair 

 to impose on a few good men the work ot the 

 National Association when there are others 

 who need to be trained in the service. And 

 those others will never be trained unless they 

 are given the opportunity of gaining experi- 

 ence. 



All honor to the loyal and true men who 

 have given so freely and unselfishly of their 

 time and wisdom for the progress and ad- 

 vancement of practical apiculture! And all 

 hail to the new and eager-to-do-and-to-dare 

 ones who are willing and able to grapple 

 with the duties and problems that confront 

 the industry of bee-keeping today ! 



" The Honey-Money Stories." — This 

 is a 64-page-and-cover booklet, SpX^'S/'s inches 

 in size, printed on enameled paper, entitled, 

 ■'The Honey-Money Stories." The cover has 

 a picture of a section of comb honey, 3}.,' 

 inches square, the comb being in gold-bronze, 

 which gives it a very attractive appearance. 

 Then on the gold-bronze comb are printed 

 these wards: "From Honey to Health, and 

 from Health to Money." 



It is edited by Earl M. Pratt, and contains 

 a variety of short, bright stories interspersed 

 with facts and interesting items about honey 

 audits use. Tbe manufactured comb honey 

 misrepresentation is contradicted in two 

 items, each occupying a full page, but in dif- 

 ferent parte ot the booklet. It has in all 31 

 halftone illustrations, nearly all ot them being 

 ot apiaries or apiarian scenes. It also con- 

 tains 3 bee-songs, namely, " The Hum ot the 

 Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom," " Buckwheat 

 Cakes and Honey," and an entirely new one, 

 called, "The Bee-l'Ceeper's Lullaby." This 

 last song has not been published before. The 

 songs alone ought to be worth more than the 

 price of the whole thing. 



It is a booklet that should by placed in the 

 hands ot everybody not familiar with the 

 food value of honey, for its main object is to 

 interest people in honey as a daily table arti- 

 cle. It is thought that it will be just the 

 thing to sell on railroad passenger trains, on 

 news stands, etc. The stories and items are 

 all so short and helpful, and the pictures so 

 beautiful, that it likely will be kept by any 

 one who is so fortunate as to get a copy ot it. 

 Its postpaid price is only 25 cents, but the 

 health-value ot its contents would run up into 

 dollars. We mail 5 copies for $1.00, or club 

 it with the American Bee Journal — both for 

 SI 10. It would be very nice for a gift to a 

 friend. Send us a six months' new subscrip- 

 tion for the American Bee Journal with 50 

 cents, and we will mail you a copy of " The 

 Honey-Money Stories '' free as a premium. 



