120 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



polls, etc., it is next to impossible to 

 scrape it ofl'. 



8. I have never had such an experi- 

 ence. The bees evaporate my extracted 

 honey as thoroughly as they do my 

 section comb honey before I exti'act 

 it, and I defy any body to detect any 

 loss of flavor. I have samples of honey 

 running back six or seven years, and 

 the flavor is as delicate to-day as when 

 taken from the hives. I have noticed, 

 however, that honey is more highly 

 flavored some years than others, and 

 the same thing occurs frequently in 

 the same season. 



9. I have never used any "wired" 

 foundation. When I use wires they 

 are first fastened in the frames and 

 afterwards passed into the foundation 

 by an experiment of my own inven- 

 tion a description of which would 

 take too much space for this place. 

 We use the putty-knife method to 

 fasten the thin foundation in the sec- 

 tions. It is not quite so fast as some 

 other plans, but it has this to com- 

 mend it; our " starters" and full sheets 

 never tumble down. 



Christiansburg, K>j. 



ANSWERS BY E. E. HASTY. 



1. At my locality the honey harvest 

 is usually late, commencing about June 

 10 ; and no very strenuous eflbrts are 

 needed to have a colony ready then, 

 unless the bees have wintered badly. I 

 winter on summer stands, two colonies 

 in a hive. Of course the non-resident 

 colony must be returned betimes to its 

 own stand. At this time each colony is 

 on four frames (or five), and the other 

 three are hanging in the comb closet. 

 One by one these frames of honey are 

 put in, until the colony has seven 

 frames. Breaking the cappings of the 

 honey when the frames are put in will 

 have some tendency to stimulate. My 

 surplus has to be stored from runs of 

 honey that ai'e quite small (one to 

 three pounds per day) and I think it 

 quite essential to keep the comb-space 

 in the lower story as small as will well 

 do, lest all the honey be used or stored 

 below. Early in the season I keep 

 things snug with cliaff'-packed dum- 

 mies. Later 1 fill tlie whole unused 

 space below with loafers (gridiron- 



shaped things of lath which prevent 

 comb-building, but give abundant room 

 for the bees to remain when otf duty, 

 without being forced outside). The 

 swarming fever is the gi'and plague 

 with me — and the main obstacle to 

 honey storing. I hope the prevention 

 of clustering outside helps somewhat 

 to restrain swarming; but cannot say 

 how much, if any. 



2. I suspect that the Langstroth 

 frame would be a little better of the 

 two. My regular apiary work is with 

 the Langstroth and Gallup frames — the 

 Gallup a trifle ahead for building up 

 purposes. 



3. The colony should be in good con- 

 dition, and tolerably strong in num- 

 bers. Watch the daily gathering of a 

 good colony on the scales ; and when 

 the honey comes in put on sections 

 over all colonies that are sufficiently 

 strong. I do not think I would wait 

 until the narrow space between frame- 

 ends and hive was being wedged up 

 with honey. I have entirely abandoned 

 side storing, and only put sections 

 above. 



4. I have not yet tried this " kink, " 

 and feel a little suspicious about it. 



5. If chaff" packing has got wet, 

 either by outside or inside moisture, 

 take it away before the rotting and 

 souring advance very far. Otherwise 

 leave it until it is in the way of manipu- 

 lation. The better way is to have the 

 packing mostly between double walls 

 of the hive itself, and to leave it there 

 always. 



6. An important advantage of hav- 

 ing the combs at right angles to the 

 entrance (in case long and shallow 

 frames are used) comes in wintering. 

 Bees form their winter cluster next the 

 entrance, and move slowly backward, 

 consuming the honey as they go. This 

 movement could not be so quietly 

 made in frames run the other way. 



7. Probably a suspicion that wire 

 netting might prove bothersome, by 

 ravelling or otliervvise, and present 

 loose ends of wire to perforate the 

 honey, prevents it being more gener- 

 ally tried. 



8. Perhaps slight chemical changes 

 have served to dissipate the aroma of 

 the extracted honey. 



9. I do not use wired foundation. 

 For filling sections I think the Parker 

 machine satisfactory. 



