iS50 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



177 



--ays, "Not a bee went back to the old 

 location." 



Instead of moving; the extractor to 

 out-apiari<'s and hauling the honey home 

 in barrels or cans, R. C. Aikin hauls 

 home the full combs of honey and ex- 

 tracts them at home, where he has 

 everything fixed for the work, substan- 

 tial and handy. We have for several 

 years practiced the same method and 

 have done so exclusively this season, 

 with satisfactory results, the only differ-' 

 ence being that in our case a boat is 

 employed while Mr. Aikin uses a team. 

 Mr. Aikin uses a pan of hot water in 

 which his uncapping knife isoccasionally 

 dipped, and kept when not in use, while 

 extracting. Mr. Doolittle thinks this 

 is unnecessary where the Bingham 

 knife is used. Ordinarily we think it is 

 as Mr. Doolittle says; but in handling 

 very thick honey, such as we sometimes 

 do in the South, a frequent bath of hot, 

 or even cold, water greatly facilitates 

 the work with a Bingham knife. 



From The American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Doolittle has tried enameled cloth for winter 

 covering, and in no case where it was used did the 

 bees come out in so good a condition as those over 

 which an absorbent was used. Here is a "littl-' 

 kink," by the same writer, which will be interest 

 ing to those who rear queens by the Doolittle 

 method: "Take off one or two of the cell-cups a 

 half day before the bees would seal up the larvse 

 in them, and if you should not wish to use the 

 royal jelly they contain, within a few days to two 

 weeks, take out the larvae, stir the jelly up as you 

 did the first, when you will hold the mouth of the 

 cell near a lamp or a stove till the wax at the end 

 becomes soft, when you will wet the thumb and 

 forefinger and press the end down tight, thus seal- 

 ing it up tight as if in a glass can. In this way the 

 jelly can be preserved for some little time, but 

 after two or three weeks it will dry down and 

 change so it is not acceptable to the bees. 



"Robbers in the Apiary — Vv'hat About Them? " 

 is a subject discussed in an article of over 1500 

 words, by C. Davenport, which he devotes chiefly 

 to telling of the fear of robber bees which 

 haunted his earlier bee-keeping days, and to how he 

 has found, later, that there was really nothing to 

 fear. While he does not advise others to do as he 

 does, he explains at length his own dangerous 

 methods of working, by opening hives and scatter- 

 ing honey about carelessly when no honey is com- 

 ing in from the field. His only trouble with robbers 

 has been when setting colonies out of the cellar in 

 the spring; then, if not all set out at the same 

 time, those first out have pounced upon those 

 following later. This, he says, may be easily 

 avoided by smoking in the entrance of the first 

 ot out. 



The editor thinks we should "be thankful that 

 attention is nowadays so strongly directed to the 

 matter ot good queens rather than handsome 

 ones." So say we; and let the attentien continue 

 until perfection is evolved. 



Charles Smail tells ho* to fasten foundation in 

 sections with a hammer. He fiist rubs the wood 

 with a piece oi beeswax, places the edge of foun- 

 dation over the waxed part, taps it on with a wet 

 hammer, rubs the edge and the job is done. He 

 says, " vVith a little practice you can fold and 

 fasten foundation in more sections than in any 

 other way, and do it right " We have not the 

 honor of this contributor's acquaintance, but it is 

 evident that he does not produce comb-honey for a 

 living. 



In response to the inquiry of a correspondent. 

 Prof Cook says the olive is a nectar-yielding tree: 

 and that all showy and fragrant flowers bear nec- 

 tar. Concluding, he reminds us that, "In planting 

 orchards, the fruit-growers should mix varieties, 

 and not plant in solid blocks. As most fruit trees 

 require cross-pollination, and as the honey-bee is 

 the great agent in this work, every orchardist 

 should see to it that there is a goodly number of 

 colonies of bees near his orchard." 



John R. Schmidt speaks in tlie highest terms of 

 yellow sweet clover as a honey plant, and says: 

 "Every one should introduce this clover in his 

 neighborhood, if it is not already there, and he will 

 have a plant that never fails (as I know of) to 

 yield nectar, and undoubtedly will have the best 

 and most reliable honey-plapt in existence." 

 Dutch clover, as a honey-plant, did not prove a 

 success with him. 



Mr. Doolittle contributes an excellent article on 

 the question of Robbing Among Bees. He sug- 

 gests that "the first thing to be done by way of 

 preventing robbing is to take every precaution 

 against the possibility of robbing occurring," and 

 says, "Right here is where the beginner is the 

 most likely to err." 



From The Canadian Bee Journal. 



The editor says the poor-price difficulty originat- 

 ed not with the bee-keepers who depend upon the 

 business for a livelihood, but with those who make 

 it a side-line and who retail their little in the local 

 market at whatever price they can get for it. He 

 admonishes producers to keep up quality, not only 

 in talking "honey," but in practice, and to act in 

 unity through their local association, in maintaii- 

 ing better prices for the crop now coming in. 



D. W. Heise's bees were confined during the past 

 winter four and a half months without a cleansing 

 flight, and all, with one exception, came through 

 (on the summer stands) in good condition. The 

 one exception was due to starvation, yet this 

 colony had in the hive on October 15th, not less 

 than forty-six pounds of honey, all of which was 

 consumed when examined on April 15th. Mr. 

 Heise therefore regards the thirty pounds, ordina- 

 rily accepted as an ample supply for winter, 

 insufficient. 



