124 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 8, 19C6 



far, and I will take them out as early as they can have a 

 flight. 



1. What, in your opinion, was the nature of the source 

 of honey gathered from the red-oak timber ? 



2. What was the cause of the stores disappearing be- 

 tween feeding and putting into the cellar? 



3. Please offer any suggestion that you think would be 

 beneficial in getting my bees through the winter and spring, 

 as I wish to save them, if possible, as the prospect for a 

 good white clover crop the coming season is flattering. 



4. I have noticed that in your book and other writings 

 you advise throwing wood-separators away after they be- 

 come coated with propolis, it being cheaper to buy new ones 

 than to try to clean them. Now, I have never thrown one 

 away until it was worn out or broken, and I don't miss the 

 time it takes to clean them. I have a device of my own by 

 which I clean a hundred per hour easily, and I am not quite 

 certain but what bees enter a super more readily with sep- 

 arators that have been used, as it appears to be natural for 

 a bee to want to stick its nose around among fixtures that 

 have been used in a bee-hive. I shall not attempt to explain 

 my system, but if you feel interested I will make you an 

 •outfit and send it to you to try, and I think you will quit 

 discarding used separators, and throw your short-handled 

 hatchet at a stray dog. After a test, if you find any merit 

 in it, you can tell the folks about it. I find that to cut ex- 

 pense in small things is what helps to add materially to the 

 profit in bee-keeping. Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. It was the so-called honey-dew, probably 

 "the production of the aphis or plant-louse. 



2. It was probably nothing more than the unusual 

 amount of continued warm weather, allowing the bees to fly 

 without being able to gather anything, the continued ex- 

 ertion obliging them to draw heavily on their stores. It is 

 barely possible that the character of their stores may have 

 had something to do with it, too. 



3. There is probably nothing to be done better than you 

 are doing, for so long as they have the sugar syrup conve- 

 nient they will use that and let the honey-dew alone, and 

 honey-dew is very generally not the best stuff for bees to 

 winter on. 



4. I don't know that I have ever advised that every one 

 should throw away wood separators after having used them 

 only once, and, indeed, last year I used some myself that had 

 been used once, but were unusually clean. There are proba- 

 bly localities where there is so little bee-glue that a separa- 

 tor might not be very badly daubed with propolis after sev- 



eral years' use. Then there are other localities, especially 

 at certain times of the year, where a separator would be 

 unfit to use the second time without being cleaned. The 

 choice between cleaning separators and buying new is a 

 matter to be decided by the cost of cleaning as compared 

 with the cost of buying new. You are quite right, I think, 

 in believing that the bees would have at least a little pref- 

 erence for separators that had been once used. That's be- 

 cause of the bee-glue that's left on them, and the more 

 heavily coated the better, to suit their notions. But the 

 bee-keeper, rather than the bees, is to be considered in this 

 case, and for this purpose the cleaner the betfer. At least 

 for my own use I prefer them immaculately clean. 



So, unless they can be cleaned at a little less expense 

 than the cost of new separators, the new will be preferred. 

 Some are so situated that the time occupied in cleaning 

 might be worth little or nothing for any other purpose, and 

 such persons can make money by cleaning 100 separators 

 an hour. In my own case it would be cheaper to buy new, 

 especially as I have a preference for them, so it would hardly 

 be worth while for me to try your arrangement, but it will 

 be well worth while for you to publish your plan for the 

 benefit of those to whom it might be a real saving. 



How About North Pacing of Hives? 



Is a lawn sloping to the north a good location for bees? 

 The entrances to face the north, and no shade. Ohio. 



Answer. — You will probably find that it will not make 

 very much difference whether the slope and the aspect are 

 toward the north or the south during most of the year. 

 Sometimes your north slope will be the better one, and 

 sometimes the south. In cool days the southern exposure 

 will generally be better, and in the hottest days the north- 

 ern. In winter there will be days when soft snow is on the 

 ground and the sun shining brightly to entice the bees out 

 to a chilly tomb, and on such days the northern aspect will 

 be better. There will be other days in winter when the 

 weather and all conditions are favorable for a cleansing 

 flight, and then the southern slope will be better. That 

 cleansing flight is a matter of so much importance that on 

 the whole it may be better to have the southern slope for 

 wintering. This refers, of course, to locations far enough 

 north to make a winter flight an infrequent occurrence. If 

 your bees are wintered in the cellar, it will probably be a 

 toss up which way is better. 



The Bee-Hive Clock 



We have originated and had made specially 

 for our readers, a bronzed-metal Clock, called 

 "The Bee-Hive Clook." It is 10% inches 

 wide at the base, 9% inches high, and deep 

 enough at the base to stand firmly on a man- 

 tel or elsewhere. It is a beautiful piece of 

 work, and would be both ornamental and 

 very useful in any house, and particularly in 

 a bee-keeper's home. 



The Clock part itself is warranted for 3 

 years to keep good time. So it is no play- 

 thing, but a beautiful and needful article for 

 everyday use. 



Clocks like "The Bee-Hive Clock " usually 

 sell in the stores at from $4.00 to $5.00 each, 

 but having them made for us in quantities 

 enables us to offer ihem at $2.50 each by ex- 

 press, or with the American Bee Journal a 

 year— both for only $3 00. Either Clock or 

 Journal would make an ideal gift. 



How to get "The Bee-Hive Clock" 

 FREE 



Send us 5 New Subscribers to the 



Weekly American Bee Journal for one year, 

 at $1.00 each, and we will send you this beau- 

 tiful " Bee-Hive Clock " FREE (excepting 

 express charges). Or, send us 4 New Sub- 

 scribers (at $1.00 each) and 50 cents— $4.50 

 in all. Or, 3 New Subscribers (at $1.00 

 each) and $1.00— $4.00 in all. Or, S New 

 Subscribers (at $1.00 each) and $1.50— 

 $3.50 in all. 



Only $2.50. f.o.b. Chicago, by Express. 



Weight, with packing, about 4 pounds. 



What Dr. Miller Thinks of the 

 Bee Hive Clock 



Busily ticking away, in the room where I 

 am sitting, stands a genuine bee-keeper's 

 clock (please understand that the word "gen- 

 uine " belongs to the clock and not to the 

 bee-keeper) .Jor, as the legend upon the clock 

 has it, "The Bee-Hive Clock." I don't know 



A $4.00 CLOCK FOR $2.50 ... withthe 

 American Bee Journal B o Y th a for Only $3.00 



whether the idea of getting up such a clock 

 wa6 conceived in the brain of the Editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, or whether he got 

 it elsewhere, but the wonder is that such a 

 thing was not thought of long before. 



Setting aside all idea of its association with 

 the business of a bee-keeper, there is a pecu- 

 liar appropriateness in having the minutes 

 aud the hours " told off " in a case represent- 

 ing the home of the busy little workers. The 

 glance at the clock, with its ceaseless tick, 

 tick, tick, tick, can not fail to remind one 

 that the flying moments must be improved 

 now or be forever lost, and that suggestion is 

 reinforced by the thought of the never ceas- 

 ing activity of the little denizens of the hive, 

 always busy, busy, busy, working from morn 

 till night and from night till morn, working 

 unselfishly for the generations to come, and 

 literally dying in the harness. 



Let us be thankful that the form of theold- 

 fashioced straw hive or skep was adopted, and 

 not that of any modern affair, patented or 

 unpatented. The latter smacks of commer- 

 cialism, but the former of solid comfort, for 

 no other form of hive has ever been devised 

 that contributes so fully to the comfort and 

 welfare of a colony of bees as does the old- 

 fashioned straw-hive. It appeals, too, to one's 

 artistic sense as can no angular affair of more 

 modern times. As an emblem of industry, 

 artists have always U6ed — probably always 

 will use — the old straw skep. 



Thanks, Mr. Editor, for furnishing us a 

 time-keeper so appropriate for all, and espe- 

 cially for bee-keepers. C. C. Miller. 



Address aii orders to GEORGE W. YORK & CO., 334 Dearborn St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



