680 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 28, 1905 



Cleaning Up Unfinished Sections, Etc. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS 



THAT colony of strenuous bees I wrote about early in the 

 season had corapletfd about 120 sections of honey at the 



end of our short white honey-flow. At that time I re- 

 moved all supers from the hive except the one next the brood- 

 chamber. This had a few partly-filled sections in it. And 

 thereby hangs a tale, or tall. Take your choice. The tale 

 (or tail) is as follows : 



When, a few days ago, I wanted some sections of sealed 

 honey to fill up the last case needed to iill up a crate for ship- 

 ment, I went to this super and thought I saw enough sealed 

 sections to fill the case. I put a Porter bee-escape under and 

 waited awhile for the bees to get out. When I went again the 

 bees were not out, but the honey was. The bees had found a 

 hole In one rear upper corner large enough for the passage of 

 one or two bees at a time, and they had traveled out and in, 

 and in and out, till they had put about all of the honey below. 

 My first thought was that 1 must be one of the fool bee-keep- 

 ers which Dr. Miller had occasion to mention not long ago. 

 But there had been no robbing of the super by bees that did 

 not belong to the hive. 



I had in the honey-house a large number of supers filled 

 with unfinished sections In all stages of development. I filled 

 a super with the sections nearest completion, and put It on the 

 hive with nothing between It and the brood-frames. Then I 

 lilled the robbed-out super with sections less complete, and 

 put it on above the bee-escape, the passage to which was 

 closed. A solid piece of board would have been just as good. 

 Then the bees went on with their robbing. The work goes on 

 so quietly that the other bees in the yard are not attracted. I 

 get one, and sometimes two, supers cleaned out every 24 

 hours. I have added supers of sections below the escape till 

 now there are three. The brood chamber was, of course, 

 filled in the early stages of the work, and the honey must now 

 of nece^slty go into the supers. 



Whether the sealing of the honey below the escape will 

 come up to expectations I can not at" present say, but as a 

 means of getting unfinished sections cleaned out for future 

 use, the experiment Is a howling success. This one colony has 

 cleaned out 12 or IS supers full already. 



Now don't all jump at once. If you do, somebody will get 

 his foot in It. The situation with me was like this : 



At the time when the early honey-tlow came to a prema- 

 ture end I had three supers on most of the hives run for comb 

 honey. Then I went to work and reduced the number to one 

 super on each hive. I left this one for the comfort of the 

 bees, and for them to fill with the fall flow. But I had a 

 large number of Incomplete sections on hand, which I knew I 

 could not get completed this season. They were very much 

 in the way. Attempts at robbing were frequent. I dared not 

 put them out when the weather was so warm, and the dearth 

 of honey in the Howers so great that the bees would not leave 

 the hives. Then a short time ago there was a sudden change. 

 The bees began to go freely to the fields, and gave but little 

 attention to things around home. This change has afforded 

 me an opportunity to dispose of my unfinished "sections In the 

 way Indicated. 



The foregoing is a sample of what the comb-honey pro- 

 ducer Is frequently called upon to do. At the prices which 

 have prevailed for (luite a while the work necessary to make 

 a salable product has been done at a loss. I have long had a 

 suspicion that bee-keepers generally are barking up a tree 

 that has a very small-sized 'coon hidden in Its foliage. But, 

 notwithstanding the unremunerativeness of his pursuit, the 

 pursuit is not likely to be abandoned. Hee-keeping is a part 

 of the world's work, and somebodv will be doing it. Those 

 who are in f,an not lightly get out— and there wIM be recruits. 

 When one's thoughts get to roaring beeward, the work of his 

 hands will Inevitably take the direction of the bee, just as. 

 when the thoughts of Tennyson got to "roaring seaward'" 

 his footsteps took the direction of the sea. 



There will, most likely, be some comb honey found in the 

 markets when most of us are dead : but many of us In the 

 meantime will not realize much more for the work of produc- 

 ing it beyond the sati-faction of contemplating the beauty 

 and perfection of the p roduct. I think that Mr. Heddon's 

 idea Is quite correct, that more persons have been beguiled 

 Into the pursuit than Is for the welfare of the pursuit. I 

 thought when writing ilie next above sentence that I would 

 underscore the word "beguiled," but will leave that for the 

 reader to do or not, as ^ nits him. Decatur Co., Iowa. 



"^ 



Contention 

 Proceebings 



j^ 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Couveutlou, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



Why Not send in some new subscriptions for the Amer 

 ican Bee Journal ? Samples free for the asking. 



{Coutiuaed from page 665.J 

 REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 



Mr. Hutchinson — In all my experience with foul brood 

 I have never cut the combs out, as you speak of. I either 

 shake them on starters or full sheets of foundation, and 

 I never Iiad another case of foul brood come on. In other 

 words, I haven't found it necessary to make that second 

 shake. 



Mr. Smith — That is according to the rules that are laid 

 down by Mr. McEvoy. My experience has been the same 

 as Mr. Hutchinson's. 



Mr. Hutchinson — I wouldn't like to say it was never 

 necessary, but I say in my experience I have not found it 

 necessary. 



' Mr. Smith — I have not found any to develop the second 

 time, unless it was taken from other infected colonies. 



Mr. Kimmey — ^f rom your experience with infected brood, 

 is it your opinion that you would find after the first trans- 

 fer that that colony would be saved, whatever way it was 

 treated ? 



Mr. Smith — Oh, yes, where it is done in the early part of 

 the season ; and it depends a good deal on the fall flow ; but a 

 great many of them have done well. 



Mr. Kimmey — Would there be much loss in the first two 

 weeks ? 



Mr. Smith — I believe you can gain by making the change 

 and putting them on full sheets of foundation because the 

 bees draw it out and you have a full sheet of workers and 

 the queen will fill those new combs. They are not clogged 

 with honey or pollen ; and I have had a great many swerm 

 within four weeks after being transferred. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think there would be a great loss there 

 right along this line. You people ought to be pretty careful 

 when you go to work. We bee-keepers who are interested 

 financially, and have all our money in the business, do not 

 want to have the inspector come along that is careless in 

 regard to our financial welfare, as well as the bees. Now if it 

 is not absolutely necessary to allow those bees two weeks' 

 time before you cut out the combs, we don't want to have to do 

 it. In regard to this man asking if that colony is of any 

 value, it certainly is of value. 'The colonies in the spring 

 may show a little of that disease, and they want shaking 

 out and may gather hundreds of pounds of comb honey in 

 that season. And right there is where you people ought 

 to be a little careful. We ought to have scientific investiga- 

 tion; we ought to have some definite knowledge to go by. 

 and not be haphazard about it, and have a man come along 

 and say two or three days or two weeks, it doesn't matter. 

 We must understand what we are doing. It is a matter of 

 thousands of dollars of importance to us. 



Mr. Smith — I said two weeks. I said that is as long a 

 period as I have known parties to let their bees remain and 

 change them. But about four days is what I itell them. 

 Leave those in till they have exhausted the honey, about 

 four days, and then change them back onto other frames or 

 foundation. 



Mr. Wilcox — Wouldn't it be better to put them on empty 

 frames than foundation? 



Mr. Smith — I do, as a rule, but a great many men have 

 .starters of foundation in their frames, and they don't want to 

 take the starters out. 



Mr. Whitney — You said you found foul brood in this 

 region along the west part of the State, and along the In- 

 diana line. Do you conclude from that that foul brood is 

 prevalent along water courses, or in damp, low locations, 

 rather than dry? 



Mr. Smith — I can't say as to that. 



Mr. Whitney — It seems to me that it would be an index 

 if you found it in that locality and not in the dry ones. 



Mr. Smith — I found some counties along the Illinois 



