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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 23, 191 PS 



is not kept up sufficiently by the young bees to care for the 

 honey broucrlit in by the old field-bees. 



Mr. Robinson stated that to show that honey does absorb 

 moisture if not taken care of by the bees, it could be done by 

 extracting thick honey one evening which would be hard to 

 extract. Some of the same combs of honey left in the ex- 

 tractiug-bouse over night, especially when the atmosphere is 

 cool and damp, will be found to be thin and watery the next 

 day, and can be extracted more easily. 



Mr. Laws has had no trouble with such honey except in 

 his baby nuclei, when green honey is given to them some- 

 times. That leaves the same condition as a weak colony 

 which is not able to thicken or ripen the honey properly. He 

 urges strongly that the bee-keepers let all green or unripe 

 honey remain on the hives, as they lose customers if they put 

 such souring honey on the market. 



(Continued next week.f 



.■if.. 

 ^»- 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



(Continued from page 794 J 

 WIRING BROOD-FRAMES WITH STARTERS. 



"Should brood-frames with starters be wired to prevent 

 breaking out of the comb?" 



Mr. Hutchinson — Unless the hives are to be moved or 

 shipped by express I don't think there is any necessity for 

 it, simply for use in your own apiary. If they are to be 

 shipped they need wiring. Possibly if you are going to pro- 

 duce extracted honey those wires would be of advantage, 

 especially when the combs are new. After they are old they 

 are not. 



Pres. York — Would the bees be apt to build the combs 

 properly over the wires when using only starters? 



Mr. Hutchinson — Yes, they will. 



Mr. Kimmey — My experience with bees has been limited 

 to the first swarm I had issue. I hived upon simple frames 

 with starters, and I never expressed nor move them any- 

 where except to carry them in the cellar, and three of those 

 frames broke down ; I don't know whether it was from 



my awkwardness, or weak combs, or what it was. It seems 

 to me that after that experience I would always wire the 

 frames. 



Mr. Meredith — In wiring frames of foundation I have 

 experienced the trouble of the bees gnawing in or around 

 the wire, and to do away with this trouble I use the brush 

 and slightly cover the wires with a little heated wax. 



Mr. Becker — In my experience I have never used any 

 wire. I always use half sheets of foundation for every brood- 

 frame, and I have never had any trouble with frames break- 

 ing down. 



Mr. Hoffman — I won't agree. If they do as I do they 

 will have no trouble. Hive on full sheets of foundation, 

 and put it in the hive, and then you want to wire. But 

 I try, as a rule, to get all the combs drawn before that 

 time. I out them in the top hives and have the bees draw 

 them out, and then I can put them anywhere and they are 

 all right. This wiring is a tedious undertaking for me. 



Mr. Horstmaiin — The comb will not break if properly 

 handled, so there will be no necessity for wiring for the 

 purpose of holding the combs. Take a frame and turn it 

 over, and they are going to work up into it, right up and 

 down ; they will never break. 



Mr. Colburn — I think it depends upon whether the 

 combs are fastened to all sides of Ib.e frames. I have had 

 quite a number of combs where the frames were fastened 

 securely, and I have done almost anything I wanted with 

 them, and yet they never fell out : and then I have had a 

 comb that was not fastened, and it simply tipped out by 

 raising the frame horizontally. 



Mr. Hoffman — Wiring foundation gives one so much 

 more work, and that is whv I am not so much in favor of 

 it ; by wiring you will get a straight comb, and true, and it 

 will not sag, either. 



Mr. Horstmann — The question asked is. Is it necessary 

 to wire frames with starters? I say it is not necessary, 

 but if yen want to take the frames out of the brood-chamber 

 to extract the honey it will be necessary to have it wired. 

 But answering the question as it is, I consider it is not 

 necessary, because I have handled the frames a great deal 

 and I have never had one break yet, not even bend. 



Mr. Hoffman — I don't understand by the question that 

 it means starters. I wouldn't wire them at all. 

 (Continued next week.) 



r 



\= 



®ur Bee^Kecpincj Sisters 



=\ 



=«=^ 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Steadfast Honey 



The nearest dream recedes, unrealized. 



The heaven we chase 



Like the June bee 



Before the schoolboy 



Invites the race: 



Stoops to an easy clover — 

 Dips — evades — teases— deploys : 



Then to the royal elouds 



Lifts her light pinnace 



Heedless of the boy, 

 Staring, bewildered, at the mocking sky. 



Homesick for steadfast honey. 



Ah I the bee tlies not 

 That brews that rare variety. 



—Emily Dickinson. 



Cleaning Out Unflnlshed Sections 



I wonder why our bees are so contrary 

 about emptying out sections. We tirst tried 

 putting on the supers of sections with an 

 empty super between the supers of honey to 

 be emptied and the brood-combs. They 

 seemed to be perfectly satisfied with the ar- 

 rangement, and let the honey remain where 

 it was— at least the most of it. Next we tried 

 putting a piece of burlap between, turning 

 back a small corner of the Imrlap just so a 

 bee or two could pass at a time. We confi- 

 dently expected to And those sections beauti- 

 fully emptied when we next visited them, but 



not a bit of it; those bees said, "No, the honey 

 is all right where it is." 



Next we tried putting the super of honey to 

 be emptied in front of the hive with a small 

 passage-way connecting it with the hive. Did 

 they empty them? Not they. 



Then some one, I have forgotten who, just 

 now, said that it the super of sections to be 

 emptied was put on a colony and when full of 

 bees taken off and carried a short distance 

 and covered so as to allow only a few bees to 

 pass at a time, the bees would protect it 

 against robbers and carry the honey to their 

 own hive. Well, we tried it with justabout 

 the same degree of success. Thosts sections 

 were emptied, but not by the bees of any par- 

 ticular colony. The booty seemed free to all. 



Then came Mr. Bevins, on page 6S0, telling 

 how he accidentally struct? on such a tine way 

 of getting his bees to empty his sections. 



So, after supers were taken off, a super of 

 unfinished sections was put on No. 33, and it 

 was promptly occupied by the bees. It was 

 then raised up, and a board put between the 

 super and the hive, a small opening allowing 

 a passage from the super into the open air, 

 but there was no communication between the 

 hive and the super. That super stayed there 

 days, and the days extended into weeks, and 

 the honey stayed, too. The unsealed honey 

 was emptied, but not the sealed. At night 

 the bees generally deserted the super (but not 

 always), returning next day ; but there was no 

 appearance of robbing by other bees. No. 9 

 was also tried, but with no better results. 



What is the matter with our bees, pray, that 

 we can not induce them to do it when others 

 do* Will Mr. Bevins or any one else tell us J 



Bees Ready for Cellaring 



Our bees have not baen put into the cellar 

 yet, and to-day (Nov. 10) they are having a 

 good Hight. We have had 1 or 3 pretty cold 

 days, the thermometer standing as 32 degrees 

 above zero in the morning, hut it has never 

 stayed cold long at a time. The colonies have 

 been weighed and are unusually heavy. They 

 seem to be in fine condition for their winter's 

 nap. 



Bee-Dress for Women 



I send you a photo of my apiary and its at- 

 tendant. This is not intended to compete for 

 a prize, but to show that women can work 

 with as much ease and convenience as men if 

 they haven't too much false modesty. 



Of course, the men do not know what a 

 task it is to do outdoor work in skirts. If 

 you wish to know, just try it and see the dif- 

 ference. You are just as liable to be the cen- 

 ter of attraction until the strangeness wears 

 away. The hands in the field will stop to look 

 at you and smile, which will likely make you 

 angry, as you are all tangled up in yoijr 

 skirts, and bees stinging you, and no pockets 

 to put your tools in. Then you try to arise 

 from the position you are in, and are com- 

 pelled to untangle yourself. Gentlemen, try 

 the skirts once, and see if you do not think 

 my plan is all right. 



But you know we Western women are quite 

 independent. We can vote, break bronchos, 

 round up cattle, and climb mountains; but 

 you Easterners must not class us with the In- 



