Jan. 18, 1906 



1HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



53 



offer to the boys of the neighborhood, of 25 cents each, for 

 all the bumble-bees' nests they will bring him. These he 

 places in the fences around his red clover fields. Last sea- 

 son a neighbor who considered his chances for a crop of 

 red clover seed fully equal to Mr. Kelly's, and laughed at 

 the bumtle-bee idea, had an average yield of only about 

 half what Mr. Kelly obtained. 



As a rising bee-keeper, Mr. Kelly votes 8-frame hives 

 " no good;" He wants something larger. He believes in 

 doing things. By the way, he has " something up his 

 sleeve," which, if it works out as it promises, will be a boon 

 to both farmers and bee-keepers. In two or three years he 

 will have something definite to report. 



Spacing Frames and Frame-Spacing Devices 



After my experience with both loose-hanging and self- 

 spacing frames it is hard to understand how any one can 

 prefer the former, and only the old Indian's saying recon- 

 ciles me. He said if all men thought alike they would all 

 want his squaw. Many kinds of spacers I would not like. 

 The kind I have is very satisfactory, but can be improved. 

 A staple near each end of the top-bar on opposite sides, pro- 

 jecting just the right distance, exactly spaces the frames. 

 The great objection is the metal staple to catch an uncap- 

 ping-knife, and the difficulty of lifting a comb where the 

 others can not be crowded away from it. 



Mr. Alpaugh — one of our Canadian inventors — has ap- 

 parently overcome these difficulties with a spacer, which has 

 nearly all the advantages of loose-hanging frames without 

 their disadvantages. I quote from the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal : 



" The following engravings illustrate an arrangement 

 for spacing frames in hives and supers that practically does 

 away with the necessity of side staple, etc., the invention 

 of Mr. Jacob Alpaugh. The tin frame- rest is notched as in 

 No. 1, a bent wire (No. 3) is driven into the top-bar as in 

 No. 2, extending out far enough to give an end-space. The 



wire underneath the extension of the frame drops into the 

 notch in the frame-rest. The notch is shallow, and does 

 not bind nor hold the wire, so the frame can be easily re- 

 leased by a little side-pressure and pushed over to the next 

 notch. 



"This is but one of the many valuable inventions that 

 Mr. Alpaugh has given to the bee-keeping fraternity. We 

 are indebted to him for the Alpaugh swarmer ; the Alpaugh 

 solar wax-extractor, with double glass ; a 4-piece section- 

 press ; a brood-foundation fastener; and a 4-piece section- 

 fastener that has not been excelled for rapid and perfect 

 attachment, and all free of patents or encumbrances of any 

 kind." 



Please Send Us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not 



now get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them 

 sample copies. Then you can very likely afterward get 

 their subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable 

 premiums in nearly every number of this Journal. You 

 can aid much by sending in the names and addresses when 

 writing us on other matters. 



Honey as a Health-Food. — This is a 16-page honey- 

 pamphlet intended to help increase the demand for honey. 

 The first part of it contains a short article on "Honey as 

 Food,'" written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It tells where to keep 

 honey, how to liquefy it, etc. The last part is devoted to 

 "Honey-Cooking Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." 

 It should be widely circulated by those selling honey. The 

 more the people are educated on the value and uses of 

 honey, the more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy for a two-cent stamp; 50 



copies for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 for $4.00; 

 or 1,000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free at the 

 bottom of front page on all orders for 100 or more copies. 

 Send all orders to the office of the American Bee Journal. 



doctor filler's 

 Question -- *8ox 



=J 



Send questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 



or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



U^~ Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Candy for Winter-Feeding 



As some have been discussing the feeding of bees on 

 candy through the winter, I thought it would do no harm to 

 send a sample to get your idea as to its fitness for bees to 

 winter on that are very short of stores. I make it in cakes 

 and lay it over the frames, but in order to do this I have to 

 raise the cover about an inch, and block it up so the bees 

 may get around it. Would this be too much ventilation for 

 the bees? IoWA - 



Answer.— The candy will probably work all right, only 

 you must make sure the bees reach it. Raising the cover 

 an inch will do no harm in the cellar, but it won t do at all 

 outdoors unless you pack well in some way so as to keep all 

 warm. 



■4-—+ 



Adjustable Bottom-Board 



I enclose you rather a crude drawing describing the 

 bottom-board which I use. I would like you to " pick it to 

 pieces." I notice vou use a deep rim to afford a large en- 

 trance, but you have to slide a thin board under the frames 

 to prevent comb being built there. This bottom-board has 

 no rim, and the entrance is regulated by shoving the hive 

 back and forth on the board. The shoulder on the board 

 prevents rain from beating in under the hive, and the 

 frames are always just a bee-space from the board. 



Ontario. 



Answer.— If you've been using it for some time, you're 

 in better position to " pick it to pieces " than I am One 

 thing, however, makes me suspect that it has not been m 

 use very long. If I understand you correctly, there is just 

 a bee-space, or about a quarter of an inch between floor and 

 bottom-bars. If your bees are at all like mine, you will not 

 use a space of that kind more than one or two seasons be- 

 fore the bees will have the bottom-bars glued to the floor. 

 Would you not like a space of % inch better? You would 

 hardly find that the bees would build down in them. ^"?v- 

 ing the hive forward to give more entrance and ventilation 

 is old, and it is good, only if you shove it forward enough to 

 get the fullest ventilation the element of instability be- 

 comes objectionable. 



< ■ » ■ 



A Method of Making Increase 



1 Please give some plan that will work in increasing 

 better than the one I have, which is this : Say I have 10 

 colonies. Take half of the frames from the old colony, say 

 it is an 8-frame hive, and put them into a new hive and 

 give an untested queen, and put it on the stand where the 

 old colony stood, moving the old one to a new location, 

 leaving most of the bees in the parent colony, as most of 

 the field-bees will return to the old location, thus building 

 up the new-formed colony. Treating the 10 colonies in like 

 manner, making just double the number. Then add frames 

 of comb or foundation in the place of the ones taken out. 



2 Will colonies made thus, in a good season, store any 

 surplus? IoWA ' 



AnswerS.-I. The plan will work, only there is some 

 danger of swarming a little later. It will be safer to take 

 more frames away, either all or all but one. 



2. Yes, there ought to be good work in the hive left on 

 the old stand, and possibly some storing in the other, pro- 

 vided there is a late flow. 



