198 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



to have a "drone hive" made by 

 taking^ combs of drone brood from 

 colonies from which we would wish 

 to breed, and placing them in a hive 

 without a queen, but bees enough 

 to take care of them. It is also 

 obvious that queens mated now are 

 more certain to meet the drones 

 we desire than those flj'ing earlier. 

 AUiston, Ont., Can. 



ABUSES 

 THROUGH EXTRACTOR 

 AND OTHERWISE. 



By a. J. Goodwin, M. D. 



These abuses, I believe, are 

 mostly confined to apiaries wherein 

 the colonies are restricted to but a 

 single super or those having none. 

 In the latter case the abuse is often 

 double in character and caused 



1 . By emptying the brood combs 

 as fast as filled during a honey flow 

 rendering the colony first discon- 

 certed, alarmed, then gorged and 

 stupefied thereby, for that day at 

 least if not longer, thus upsetting 

 all their interior plans for the fut- 

 ure. At the next week's visit the 

 same is repeated and soon through 

 the season of surplus, and often, 3'es, 

 sadly too often, perish by the score 

 in more than one apiary and prac- 

 tically ruining as many more for 

 the next season's work (as was the 

 case with several here last season) 

 by being drained about the cessa- 

 tion of the honey flow ; the bee- 

 keeper ( ?) hoping that somehow 

 thej^ might pick up enough to carry 

 tliem through until spring. 



its train of evils ; then swarming out 

 and absconding, the survivors have 

 grown now beautifully less by 

 winter time. Then comes dysen- 

 tery and ends the existence of many 

 a once promising colony ; the moth 

 using up the combs, the wreck is 

 complete. 



2. The fluid obtained in the man- 

 ner alluded to above is not honey 

 unless it is either sealed or in con- 

 dition for sealing in the hive, but 

 it is raw nectar and carries within 

 itself the elements of its own des- 

 truction if removed from the hive 

 before being cured. It is in all 

 grades from limpid, sappy nectar 

 up to a condition nearing that of 

 capped honey and will not keep as 

 true sealed honey will when ex- 

 tracted. True, the labor of un- 

 capping and double-turning the 

 crank is saved to the apiculturist, 

 one of whom told me that to allow 

 uncappjng was to lose one-third of 

 my crop. I replied, that one-third 

 was but water and must be evapo- 

 rated, and I am a believer that no 

 evaporated article can equal honey 

 cured and sealed in the hive either 

 as to taste or keeping ; and, further 

 yet, that heavy swarms with the 

 proper facilities given can do the 

 work at much less cost than I can 

 at least with all the sun, wind, 

 stoves, tanks, etc., combined and 

 produce a better article and an ar- 

 ticle that will stay put when put. 



Now where we extract uncapped 

 honey in the hone}'^ season in a 

 climate like ours, warm and moist, 

 to excess, you dare not bring such 

 honey (?) tightly and roll it away 



