136 



IRE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



The W. T. Falconer M'fg Co., 

 Gentlemen: Enclosed find post office 

 order for $8.00 for goods. My fifty 

 Chautauqua hives are full of bees, 

 and they are just booming. You will 

 remember that I ordered ten and then 

 forty afterwards. I do not have hives 

 enough to hold single swarms so I 

 double them, but I will need fifty 

 more next season. Last season my 

 best hive gave me 1 50 lbs. surplus. 

 My average was GO lbs to the hive. 

 I expect to do better than that this 

 season. Two swarms which were put 

 in one. hive July 1st gave me 60 lbs. 

 in three weeks in the upper story, and 

 the lower story full. 



In my opinion there is no better 

 hive for comb honey than the Chau- 

 tauqua, and when wintering on sum- 

 mer stands they are just the thing. 



I contract the brood next to six 

 frames and leave them so summer and 

 winter. 1 use a division board on 

 each side of the frames, and outside 

 of these two frames, one on each side 

 with eight sections; sixteen sections 

 in lower story. I have tried it that 

 way for three years and am well sat- 

 isfied with the arrangement. My 

 folks tell me that 1 have the bee fever 

 badly, and that makes me think that 

 I had better draw this to a close. 



Yours truly, W. W. BoOROM. 



Farmer, N. ¥., Aug. 1, 2892. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper, Dear 



Sir: I have just received a super con- 

 taining twenty-four pounds of honey, 

 the comb of which is very white but 

 the honey is of the color of raspber- 

 ries. They made it during the past 

 four weeks. I never saw anything 

 like it before and do not know what 



to call it or how to account for it. It 

 may be a common thing, if so would 

 like to know from what it is taken. It 

 has a delicious flavor and looks very 

 inviting. Yours, &c. , 



E. J. Beech. 



Warren, Pa., Aug. 23, 1892. 



[ AYe do not know that we have ever 

 heard of a similar instance. The 

 honey gathered from raspberry bloom 

 is often of a pinkish color. 



The comb made by the black bees 

 is always white no matter what ma} r 

 be the color of the honey. In your 

 letter you would infer that the honey 

 was of a decided reddish hue. If any 

 of our readers have ever known of a 

 similar instance would be glad to 

 hear from them.] — Ed. 



THE USE AND ABUSE OF SMOKE IN HAND- 

 LING BEES. — SOME EXCELLENT HINTS. 



In the first place, why do we use 

 smoke? If we open a hive quietly and 

 blow in under the edge of the enamel- 

 ed cloth a blast of cold smoke clown 

 will go all of the bees pell mell before 

 it. But suppose, before we get the 

 cover off, it slips from our grasp and 

 gives the hive one or two sharp 

 knocks? This sets all the sentinels on 

 the alert, and the moment the corner 

 of the covering is raised the bees will 

 come out from under it as if shot from 

 a pop gun, and in less than a second 

 will be seen with bowed backs pegging 

 away at our trouser legs. An ordinary 

 blast of smoke may confuse a few but 

 the most of them will go straight 

 through it, and the few will turn back 



