218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 8, 1906 



preventing increase by swarming: First, caging the queen; 

 second, removal of brood; third, removal of bees. Any or all 

 of these are open to objection, for the reason that they destroy 

 the very conditions toward the accomplishment of which our 

 whole effort has been directed. What Would you think of an 

 engineer who would pull the escape-valve wide open as soon 

 • as he had a working pressure of steam? And yet that is just 

 what mam of our bee-men are doing in principle. Rather let 

 us do as the engineer does; if he has surplus of steam he 

 puts on more machinery. and directs the force at his command 

 to some useful purpose. The swarm is our working power; 

 let us seek to use it as such; direct rather than destroy; con- 

 centrate rather than scatter. Keep them with the home colony 

 as long as we can, by giving large storage capacity, shade and 

 proper ventilation, and, when the swarm does come, hive it 

 back on the old stand, and give them all the bees, and see how 

 they will pile up the surplus. Use the brood to build up weak 

 colonies. 



The whole problem would be very simple if keeping down 

 increase was all of it, but all "increase of colonies at the 

 expense of the honey crop" is an axiom that cannot be 

 ignored, and to control the increase and keep the honey 

 coming in right along is a difficult matter. Taking away part 

 of the bees strikes at surplus. Taking away part of the 

 brood is only deferring the same result ; but when the honey 

 season is short, and would be over before this brood would 

 be added to the working force, it is correct in theory. Caging 

 or removing the queen cuts at surplus in two ways — by de- 

 moralizing the domestic arrangement of the colony, and" also 

 cutting off the working force later on. 



Some think they have solved the problem, but I am free 

 to confess that after trying all that seems to me plausible I 

 have found none I could recommend as a labor-saver or a 

 "sure thing." 



The keeper of a large apiary in Arizona said to me. "It 

 is not so much a question of keeping down increase as keeping 

 down the desire to swarm." 



In considering this question it was with me more of what 

 not to say than what to say. It is so large a subject, and one 

 of so much interest to all bee-men, that a whole dav of our 

 convention could be profitably spent in its consideration. Any 

 plan of control that lessens the working energy of the colony. 



or requires costly 

 C. A. Hatch. 



makes more work for the bee-keeper, 

 fixtures, is objectionable. 



Proper Retail and Wholesale Prices of Honey. 



Another important discussion followed the question. 

 "What should be the uniform retail price of extracted honey 

 to consumers in Wisconsin? and what should be the uniform 

 wholesale price to producers in this State?" It was brought 

 out that prices differed considerably in different locations, 

 some who sold to consumers in small packages obtaining as 

 much as 12 cents per pound for good, ripe extracted light or 

 dark honey. 



The result of the discussion showed that it would prob- 

 ably be a difficult matter to establish uniform prices over the 

 State, but it seems very clear to a lot of us that it is desirable 

 that honey should become a staple to a much greater extent 

 than it is. and that the difference between the wholesale and 

 retail prices should be small. It does not help the producers 

 much to have some man, who happens to be. a good salesman, 

 pay them about 5 cents per pound and sell to consumers for 

 12 to IS cents. It does not create a steady and reliable de- 

 mand for honey. People can not afford to use much honey 

 at those prices. It comes into competition with a lot of 

 things — sugar and syrups of various sorts — that are of a uni- 

 form price. These sugars are sold at a very small margin of 

 profit bv the retail storekeepers. What we want is retailers 

 who will pay the producer a fair price — say at least 8 cents — 

 and sell to consumers for a small margin. When this is done 

 we may look for an increase in honey consumption. Many 

 storekeepers will not handle honey at all. and some are afraid 

 to buy over 60 pounds at a time for fear of being over- 

 stocked. 



If we could establish uniform prices on our honey the 

 same as we have on sorghum molasses and on eggs, it would 

 be the greatest boon to producers of anything that could hap- 

 pen. There is doubtless some gain to be made by adopting 

 small tin packages and placing them in the retail stores. 



It was established in this discussion that bee-keepers 

 could have the same price for their dark honey that they got 

 for the fancy white, if they would ask it. and if it was good, 

 ripe honey. A great many people prefer amber or dark honey 

 to any other. It is all honey, and should be sold as such. 



(Continued next week.) 



Reports cmb 

 (Experiences 



Mild Weather— Frames 



We are having mild weather here, as the 

 temperature is generally rising and falling be- 

 tween 40 and 60 degrees, but the la6t two days 

 I have been lost to know whether it is sum- 

 mer or winter. The bees are roaring around 

 just as they do in June. I went to look at the 

 thermometer, which was in the coldest place, 

 and lo ! it was 70 degrees ! 



Well, 1 am sorry for Yon Yonson. I won- 

 der where he spent the night before he started 

 home from Chicago. It surely must have 

 been a dream; but, never mind, Yon, come 

 again. I have missed you very much, and 

 was glad to 6ee you back. 



After testing frames pretty well last sum- 

 mer, if I could have done so, I would have 

 exchanged the Langstroth-Hoffman frame for 

 one with : ' H or7-16iuch top-bar like the closed 

 end-bar frame. Those that I have fit 60 close 

 that propolis doesn't bother a bit. The top 

 and bottom bars are all right, but the Hoff- 

 man end-bar i6 just made for propolis, and 

 the V edge is the worst of all, for it is almost 

 impossible to keep it eiean. 



Bees have plenty of stores, the weather is 

 fair, and nothing to do. O. K. Rice. 



Grays River, Wash., Feb. 1. 



Bees Do Move Eggs— Changing 

 Queens 



Allow me to add my testimony to that of 

 Messrs. Alpaugh, Holtermann and Pettit, re- 

 garding the question of whether bees do move 

 eggs, in reply to the challenge of Mr. Diefen- 

 dorf, on page 165. I have seen 2 queen-cells 



reared on a comb that had been in the honey- 

 house all winter, and that was introduced op- 

 posite a comb of brood at the time of removal 

 of the queen. The bees had evidently re- 

 moved some of the eggs to enlarge some cells 

 for queens, and had seen fit to place two of 

 these in the opposite comb. It is true I saw 

 this only once, and I may live never to see it 

 again ; but it is conclusive proof to my mind 

 that bees do move eggs, though not often. 



You may count me, also, with Mr. Doo- 

 little, among those who do not think it right 

 or profitable to change queens every year, or 

 even every other year. The older I get the 

 less need of it I see. C. P. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Handling Hives, Not Frames 



I have received the following from a Cana- 

 dian reader: "On page 54 of the American 

 Bee Journal, you say: 'I want a divisible 

 brood-chamber, etc' Again, 'as I want to 

 handle hives, and not frames.' Please ex- 

 plain through the Journal, as a little reflec- 

 tion should show you that not one person in 

 ten thousand can understand the statements." 



In saying " I want to handle hives and not 

 frames," I supposed that most bee-keepers 

 knew that the deeper the frame the more 

 bulging combs they would have, while with a 

 very shallow frame, like the shallow extract- 

 ing-frame, even a careless hand would have 

 very few bulging combs. 



Now suppose you wanted to take off 20 or 

 30 supers filled with those straight, shallow 

 frames. All you have to do is to pick up a 

 super, frames and all, and jounce them a few 

 times about as hard as they will stand on an 

 empty box with the edges sharp and the bot- 

 tom out, and you have the bees all out ready 

 to extract without any brushing or handling 

 of combs. ■ 



Now for operation N'o. 2— Increase: Should 

 you wish to make two new swarms besides the 

 prime, or parent colony, all you have to do is 



to hive the prime swarm on the old stand and 

 separate the two halves of the old colony, 

 putting each half on a new 6tand, and they 

 won't swarm again even if they have a dozen 

 queen-cells. 



Operation No. 3. — Putting on supers: To 

 get bees to enter a super with a divisible 

 brood-chamber, all you have to do is to put 

 the bottom half of the brood-chamber on top 

 of the top half, then the super on top of all, 

 and that puts the brood up close to the super 

 and sends the bees above to store. 



Operation No. 4: Contraction is accom- 

 plished by simply removing the lower half of 

 the brood-chamber about 48 hours after hiv- 

 ing the prime swarm, and putting on more 

 supers above the excluder. 



It will be seen in each of these opera- 

 tions I handle hives, not frames ; and, further- 

 more, with a shallow frame like this, you can 

 see every queen-cell from the bottom without 

 taking it apart. Geo. B. Whitcomb. 



Foster, Oreg. 



Rendering Combs into Beeswax 



Use a 50-gallon caldron kettle and a large- 

 size metal wash-tub, into the bottom of which 

 drill 20 or more '.,-ineh holes. Then make a 

 cover to fit into the top of the tub, like a hub, 

 with a l 1 ,-inch hole through it — 4 spokes and 

 a rim made out of a barrel-hoop. Cover the 

 wheel with fine wire except the hole in the 

 center. Now make a stirring-shaft to go in 

 the tub under the cover with 4 arms to ex- 

 tend above the cover 18 or 20 inches, and long 

 enough to rest on the bottom of the tub, with 

 the arms long enough to reach almost to the 

 sides of the tub. Then you are ready to fill 

 the tub with comb. 



Set the stirring-post in the tub, fill around 

 the arms with comb, and fill the tub full to 

 the cover. Pack it as hard as you can, then 

 put on the cover, pushing it down hard on 

 the comb. Put a stick through the handles 

 of the tub over the circular cover; that will 

 hold the cover in the tub. Now set the tub 



