THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



37 



have the bees waste time iu replacing. 

 For box honey I would not scrape 

 unk'ss it interlered with putting the 

 sections in tlie clamp or wide frames. 

 I see no necessity of scraping il they 

 are already fitted in the clamp. 



3. I use sections that have white 

 comb and which has been extracted ; 

 and prefer a clamp full of such combs 

 above any other way of preparing the 

 sections. 



4. Have not been troubled with pol- 

 len ; haven't found a cell of it iu my 

 comb honey as I do not practise side 

 storage and therefore cannot answer 

 this part of the question. Should I 

 practise side storage without perforat- 

 ed metal I sh)uld expect pollen, brood 

 and many other vexations. 



Hartford, K. Y. 



ANSWERS BY IRA BARBKR. 



1. In answering query No. 5 will say 

 that I have had honey freeze and know 

 that it will injure it. It causes the 

 comb to crack in every direction, and 

 the marks are plainly seen by the wet 

 appearance of the capping. Comb 

 honey should not be kept in a temper- 

 ature below 50°, for it will cr ick long 

 before the temperature reaches tlie 

 treezing point. 



I would much rather prefer to have 

 one case of my honey exposed to cold 

 on the sidewalk for an exhibit, than to 

 have all kept in some dark corner of a 

 commission house where no one could 

 see it or know that honey was for sale 

 there. 



2. I do not use frames for sections, 

 but use a rack that holds thirty-three 

 one-pound sections. All sections not 

 finished the first season, when they are 

 used should be cleaned of bee-glue, 

 and when sections of comb honey are 

 used, the ends of the cells should be 

 shaved ofi' before they are put on the 

 hive, which leaves the comb as white 

 and clean as new, and such combs 

 are sooner accepted by the bees, as they 

 will at once commence to repair tiie 

 cells of the rough work that tlie knife 

 made in shaving them. A thin, sharp 

 knife should be used for this work. 



I am seldom troubled with pollen in 

 sections, for I do not contiact the 

 brood-nest; as a rule can get all the 

 honey in sections the bees do not re- 

 quire for winter without being put to 

 that trouble. 



Dekalb Junction, X. Y. 



ANSWERS BY A. K. MANUM. 



1. Yes. I have had cond) honey 

 freeze in my honey room only, but have 

 never noticed at what temperature it 

 would freeze. I have never noticed 

 any bad results from its freezing, ex- 

 cept that it cracked tlie comb, so that 

 when it thawed the honey would ooze 

 out, but I never could perceive tliat 

 the quality of the honey was injured 

 by freezing. I would prefer, however, 

 to have my honey all sold before spring. 



2. Yes. I am always very particular 

 to scrape all propolis froui frames that 

 are laid away for winter before using 

 them again iu the spring. It is much 

 pleasaiuer to handle clean frames than 

 those that are all covered with propo- 

 lis. 



3. Yes. All sections containing nice, 

 white, empty comb I use again; such 

 are 6t' great advantage to the bees if 

 given during a bountilul fiow of honey. 

 1 would not place them on the hives 

 when honey is coming in slowly. 



4. No, not that I noticed. 1 am never 

 troubled with pollen in sections. I be- 

 lieve that trouble comes largely from 

 mismanagement. 



Yes. Bees are more apt to store pol- 

 len in side se'ctions thau those placed 

 on top of the frames. 



Bristol, Vt. 



ANSWERS BY p. R. UUSSKLL. 



1. Comb honey is very much injured 

 in its appearance by freezing. Ai just 

 what temperature it will freeze I can 

 not Slate. But I think it safe to say 

 that comb honey should never be lelt 

 exposed many days in a room cold 

 enough to freeze water. Last winter 

 I had quite a numljer of cases of unfin- 

 ished sections stored away in a cold 

 room, and in the spring when I came 

 to examine them, i found tlieui iu a 

 bad state; the cappings were more or 

 less cracked and had a bluish cast, as 

 of mould, while the lioney in them was 

 entirely solid or candied. Several of 

 these sections were sold to paities 

 during the winter, and in nearly every 

 case coinplaiut was made that it was 

 not honey at all, and there was a 

 suspicion that I had fed the bees witli 

 some vile mixture. Honey gathered 

 iu this locality is quite sure to gran- 

 ulate, and I have had cans of ex- 

 tracted honey perfectly solid as early 

 as October, and last year all my comb 

 honey was solid belore mid-winter. In 

 the spring I cut it all out of the sec- 

 tions and dumped it into a tin boiler 



