142 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. IS, 1906 



I had a very good market (Norfolk, Va.) near by, but 

 some bee-keeper has been shipping white clover honey at 10 

 cents per pound, and buckwheat at 7 cents, so that has low- 

 ered the price. (That same honey was retailed at 18 and 20 

 cents.) 



Enough — you have troubles of your own. 



Mrs. C. D. Mears. 



" When a woman will, she will, you may depend on't ; 

 And when she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't." 



Such perversity. I suspect you will go right on keep- 

 ing bees, and, yes, I predict you will make a success of it, 

 too. But don't get so busy that you forget to write, for we 

 do enjoy hearing from you. Be sure to report how you 

 come out with your plan of allowing the bees to swarm 

 once, and then doubling them up in the fall. 



Bees Going Into Top of Hive 



Dear Miss Wilson : — I think it was a case of misun- 

 derstanding on your part, and not a full description of my 

 meaning when you answered my question about the bees 

 going past the supers. 



I had trouble so in only one hive. You see, in the Hil- 

 ton hives (which mine are) the super is put inside the hive, 

 and in the case of one colony the super was hardly large 

 enough, leaving room for the bees to get in the top of the 

 hive. This colony was a little sulky because they were dis- 

 turbed during the swarming time, and the bees seemed to 

 think they were paying me back to fly in the entrance, 

 crawl up to the top of the frames, and come through this 

 little space and build comb to the roof of the hive. I stopped 

 the space in this colony, and as the others did not bother I 

 paid no attention to them. 



Now the question is, Would this space cause the bees to 

 "loaf" and not " tend to their 'nittin' " if they did not 

 come up to build comb to the roof ? I hope I have made my- 

 self plain this time, and I thank you for your courtesy. 



(Miss) Elsie A. Cutter. 



No, you need not be afraid in the least of this space 

 causing the bees to loaf. In fact, it might work a little in 

 the other direction. 



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Conducted by Morlet Pettit, Villa Nova, Ont. 



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Unusual Winter 



Temperatures ranging away above the average. Bee- 

 cellars at 60 degrees, and very noisy some days. Out-door 

 bees flying on these days as in May. Frost all out of the 

 ground ; bottom clear out of clay roads ; farmers plowing 

 and making maple syrup. This is the kind of January we 

 have had. Wonder what sort of summer will follow. The 

 only parallel seems to have been about 23 years ago, and is 

 said to have been followed by a good season. Clover has 

 heaved some in places, but I think not much damage is done 

 yet. 



— ^ — ■ 



The Bpantford Convention 



One of the most wide-awake conventions it has been my 

 privilege to attend was the District Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion held at Brantford, Jan. 24 to 26. There were no elec- 

 tions of officers or other routine business — just straight 

 " bee-talk " throughout the sessions. The program simply 

 showed subjects for discussion with no names attached, and 

 each session had a new chairman, who varied the order of 

 proceedings to suit his ideas. Besides the threadbare sub- 

 jects of winter and spring management, newer ones were 

 introduced, such as " Implements used in the apiary," re- 

 ferring to smoker, comb foundation, brushes, bee-escapes, 

 etc. Withal, there was a freshness and informality to the 

 discussions which made them both interesting and of prac- 

 tical value. 



Sugar Syrup for Winter Stores. 



At the Brantford Convention the consensus of opinion 

 was that sugar syrup is quite equal to honey for brood-rear- 

 ing, provided pollen is present in the hive. The objection 

 is that we should avoid even the appearance of evil, and the 

 better plan is to save combs of honey for all necessary feed- 

 ing. Where pollen is scarce in the hive, Jacob Alpaugh, R. 

 H. Smith and others, strongly recommended feeding pollen 

 substitutes, such as pea-meal flour (called " pea-brose "), 

 rye-flour, or any fine meal rich in protein. 



Spring Location of Apiary — Bee-Brushes. 



As to location of an apiary in the spring, Mr. Smith 

 objected to a tall spruce hedge, on the ground that while it 

 breaks the wind it also makes too much shade at a time 

 when the bees need sunshine to draw them out. 



A good idea brought out by R. F. Holtermann was, to 

 have bees in a valley. They get more early flights with 

 less loss from winds than in an exposed place. Then with 

 side-contraction-packed cover, and storm-door in the portico, 

 they come through the spring without extra protection. 



The bee-brush symposium brought out these prefer- 

 ences : 



H. G. Sibbald — A goose or turkey wing. 



Jas. Armstrong — Coggshall bee brush. 



Jacob Alpaugh — Feather. 



Wm. Couse — Whitewash brush. 



Lee Beaupre — Green cedar boughs. 



Edwin Trinder — Brush of hair. 



Mr. Feather, contrary to his name, prefers a paper- 

 hanger's tools ; the paper-hanger's brush for the bees, and 

 the wall-scraper for scraping hives and frames. 



R. F. Holtermann showed a brush he had from Ger- 

 many. It is made of hair, and so took the fancy of the 

 members that several expressed a desire to have them im- 

 ported. 



Points of a Good Bee-Smoker. 



The smoker discussion was one of the best I have heard 

 on that subject. In fact, the points of a good smoker are 

 seldom brought out at a convention. 



One smoker preferred by many has the bellows-boards 

 wider at the thick end of the bellows than at the hinge end. 

 This gives a less clumsy bellows, with practically the same 

 capacity as one that is wide all the way down. The small 

 tube extending half-way up from the " blow-hole " of the 

 bellows to the barrel is just slipped into it, and can be 

 drawn out and scraped with a penknife at any time. Jacob 

 Alpaugh would dispense with this tube entirely, and have 

 barrel and bellows a little closer together. All preferred a.n 

 outside spring on the bellows. 



Nozzles straight and crooked, long and short, were duly 

 discussed. Many prefer the short nozzle. 



Smoker-Fuel. 



R. F. Holtermann brought out the point that cedar-bark 

 smoke is liable to taint the honey if used in extracting. At 

 that time he uses small hardwood blocks. 



Jacob Alpaugh, R. H. Smith and others, recommend 

 coarse planer shavings. Mr. Alpaugh laid stress on prepar- 

 ing smoker-fuel ahead. He mixes coarse planer shavings 

 with rotten wood and bits of maple bark from the chip-pile. 

 This must be dampened before using. The dampening and 

 the maple bark are the important points. 



With real dry fuel, smokers " burn their own smoke." 

 The maple bark holds fire almost like anthracite. 



A good smoker lighter, says R. H. Smith, is saltpeter 

 rags. I happen to know that F. J. Miller uses these, too. 



Improving the Market for Honey. 



In the discussion on how to improve the market for 

 honey, H. G. Sibbald read a letter from one of the Toronto 

 dealers, showing to what extent the sale of horu&y can be 

 increased by bee-keepers and dealers "talking honey " to 

 their customers. 



Wm. Couse pointed out the opportunity which Ladies' 

 Institutes afford for a talk on the uses and food value of 

 honey. 



W. J. Craig mentioned Bulletin 146, June, Department 

 of Agriculture, as being a good thing for the sale of honey. 



Lee Beaupre spoke of peddling honey from house to 

 house, and showed the advantage of a label telling how to 

 liquefy and care for honey. 



F. P. Adams thought a great deal could be done by 

 magazine articles. 



Mr. Howard had sold 5000 pounds of honey right at 

 home, in a country place. 



