104 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 1, 1906 



' mean, if we test the life-terms of Italians beside blacks in 

 August, when the honey-flow is very poor, but not entirely 

 lacking, we may catch the Italians in nearly an average 

 state of activity, and the blacks in a semi-dormant condi- 

 tion. The result of this would be that the blacks would live 

 very much the longer just then, and the conclusions drawn 

 from the experiment would be enormously false. Page 882. 



Langstroth Hives and Others. 



Calling all frame hives after Langstroth (as Mr. Doo- 

 little seems to suggest on page 881) has pretty good logic to 

 support it, and is no more than justice to our grand old man 

 — but, but, Language has laws of its own which mostly will 

 conquer and enforce themselves in the end. The terms 

 " Langstroth frame " and "Langstroth hive " are pretty 

 well settled already, and are very unlikely to be changed 

 much. Our multitudinous frame-hives seem to range them- 

 selves mostly in three families — the Langstroths (which are 

 intermediate in character), the square-frame hives, and the 

 shallow-frame hives. If we make room for a fourth family 

 it will probably be the "barns" — hives with extra-big 

 frames, and plenty of them, but not altogether square. 



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Conducted by Moblet Pettit, Villa Nova, Oot. 



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Barrels for Honey 



A little discussion on honey -barrels at the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention last November suggested to me the 

 idea that some of the Canadian readers and others would be 

 interested in my experience. The kind almost universally 

 used in this country are emptied glucose barrels, obtained 

 from biscuit and confectionery factories. They are made 

 of comparatively soft wood, and contain from 600 to 700 

 pounds. The confectioners drain them, and sometimes 

 steam them out to get the last bit of contents, then store 

 them in basement, shed, or yard, ready for the buyer who 

 gets them at a comparatively low price, and assumes most 

 of the responsibility for their care. 



If storage is to be had at home, it is best to get them 

 there as soon as possible, and have them ready early for the 

 honey season. Bung plugs can be got at any well-ordered 

 planing mill at a merely nominal price. No one can afford 

 to make these with a pocket-knife while there are turning- 

 lathes in the land. 



Plug the bungs tightly to keep out dust, and see that 

 the barrel is in every other way ready for the honey. First 

 plug the air-hole which the factory-man made with a chisel 

 to let the glucose run freely from the bung. Be sure there 

 is not more than one air-hole, because if you do not find all 

 leaks before the honey is in the barrel you will afterward. 



Now for tightening the hoops. Having set the barrel 

 on end, remove the first hoop, and make it smooth inside by 

 flattening back with a hammer the points which were set 

 into the stave with a punch. I find a hoop that is smooth 

 inside is easy to drive, and never slips back enough to 

 bother. Replace this hoop and fix the others the same in 

 succession. 



For drivirg hoops we use a steel driver with straight 

 handle 10 inches long. It is made to fit the edge of a hoop 

 and hardened there, but just soft enough on the upper end 

 so a steel hammer will not batter it. The hammer weighs 

 Z l /2 pounds- An ordinary carpenter's hammer is entirely 

 too light for the job. I always wear a leather glove on the 

 left hand that holds the driver, then hammer the hoops till 

 they fairly "sing." I have never bursted a hoop yet, but 

 have done a great deal towards stopping leaks. Sometimes 

 by rough handling of empties, staves get cracked across 

 the middle ; a double thickness of cotton with a piece of 

 tin well tacked over such will remove danger of leakage. 



Barrels for honey should be as dry as possible, for in- 

 stead of taking moisture from the honey the staves give up 

 moisture to the honey and shrink, if possible. They should 

 therefore be stored in a dry place, and the hoops well driven. 

 I remember hearing N. E. France say once that there was 

 always a racket in his store-rooms on rainy days — the boys 

 were driving hoops on the barrels. On this account the 



hoops should be tested a few days after the barrels are filled. 

 I have had hoops that were tight before filling drive a half 

 inch or more. This is always worse where the barrels have 

 been left out in the weather. It is very injurious to them to 

 get wet. The staves swell, and, being held by the iron 

 hoops, something has to give so the cell-structure of the 

 wood is crushed and the elasticity is gone out of it. It is 

 very hard, after that, to keep them from leaking. 



I had all kinds of trouble with barrels like that last 

 summer. They had been left out in the weather a great 

 deal, and it seemed impossible to stop their leaking. The 

 trouble was next to the heads. I could not draw the ends of 

 the staves together till I hit upon a plan which, no doubt, a 

 cooper would have known beforehand. I drove the hoops 

 tight to see which cracks would not come together, marked 

 those, loosened up the hoops, and put dried flags, and some- 

 times cotton rags, in those cracks ; then drove the hoops 

 tight. Where barrels persisted in leaking, a hard cord was 

 driven into the crack with a hammer and blunt chisel. 



In my estimation, barrels of honey should be kept by 

 the producer in as hot and dry a place as they are likely to 

 get into after they leave his hands, and hoops all tested 

 with heavy hammer just before shipping, unless the honey 

 is granulated. 



M I » 



Various Weather Conditions in Canada 



We notice the revival in the American Bee Journal of the depart- 

 ment entitled " Canadian Beedom." This time it is being conducted 

 by our friend from Villa Nova, who is, by the way, I believe, the only 

 " M.P. 1 ' in our ranks. In a recent issue we find some complaint as to 

 weather conditions this fall in Ontario; no chance for bees to have a 

 cleansing flight before going into the cellar, etc. Surmise that friend 



P took his bees into the cellar a few days too soon if his locality 



was anything like in York County during the last few days of Novem- 

 ber, when bees here had a thorough flight. Since then the weather 

 has been quite mild most of the time, and the bees have had more 

 flights. These are possibly conducive to best wintering. However, 

 the chances are that they will be kept pretty quiet for the next two 

 months. — York Countt Bee-Keeper. 



[Weather here, and, we presume, at Villa Nova, while fine and 

 mild for the season, has not been warm enough for anything like a 

 general flight. This old Ontario does give a great variety of climate. 

 We have had scarcely any snow here so far this winter. Fifteen miles 

 north they are having good sleighing. — Editor.] — Canadian Bee 

 Journal. 



Thanks, Mr. Y. C. B.K. Of course, we should not over- 

 look the Hon. Nelson Monteith, M. P. P., bee-keeper, fruit- 

 grower, and Minister of Agriculture, though he has been 

 a member for a comparatively short time, whereas the Villa 

 Nova man has borne the title for about 30 years. 



As to weather, the last few days have broken all records, 

 I think. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Jan. 20, 21, 22, the 

 temperature ranged between SO and f 8 degrees, Fahr., with 

 south breeze and sunshine. The outdoor winterers are 

 having their innings this year. 



Prejudice Against Bees on Alfalfa 



" York County Bee Keeper," speaking of the cattlemen's 

 prejudice in Nevada against bees working on their alfalfa, 

 says, "Happily, at present anyway, we have nothing to fear 

 in Ontario from prejudice of this kind." 



Don't be too sure, Mr. "York County Bee-Keeper." I 

 could take you to a neighborhood in Norfolk county where 

 neighbors told a woman she would lose 200 bushels from 

 her yield of buckwheat by having bees work on it. When 

 the buckwheat was ripening, however, she was satisfied 

 with her crop. 



The prejudice against bees on some crops which they 

 actually benefit is alarming, and shows a wide field for mis- 

 sion work by Farmers' Institute speakers. 



Shallow vs. Deep Supers 



Wm. L. Cooper, in the Canadian Bee Journal, speaking 

 of shallow vs. deep supers, says in defense of the former : 



The deep super is far the best for general purposes, but the other 

 has its uses, and I claim for it the following advantages: 



1. It is best for a weak colony in a rapid flow. 



2. It is best for any colony in a very light flow. 



3. It is most useful to induce bees to work in sections. 



4. It is good to use in spring when a colony has about tilled the 

 lower story with brood and honey. If a full super be given at this 

 time the strain of keeping the double story warm at nights is very 

 severe. 



