370 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 26, 1906 



place them directly over the remaining frames, and fill that space on 

 the side with chaff cushions, and al60 a cushion on the top, which 

 would bring it pretty near in shape like the old-style box-hive, in 

 which it is claimed bees wintered best, how would that do? 



Wisconsin. 

 Answers.— 1. I must confess I don't know what to advise. It 

 has been ihe general custom to paint hives white, but of late it has 

 been advised to have double-wall (not single-wall) hives painted black, 

 so as to get more heat from the wiDter sun. I don't understand why 

 your black hives should have fared worse than the white ones; but 

 facts are stubborn things, and I rather lean to the opinion that your 

 better plan is to paint white. 



2. I hardly think so. 



3. Yes. 



4. G. M. Doolittle is the man that knows all about willows, and 

 somewhere he has told us about the different kinds, but I don't re- 

 member where. If I remember correctly, some of them yield honey, 

 some pollen, and some both. Perhaps he will be kind enough to tell 

 us briefly again. 



5. I hardly think you would gain anything by it, but I don't feel 

 any too sure. I wish you would try the experiment and report the 

 result. 



Foul Brood 



I send under separate cover a sample of brood-comb. Please let 

 me know what it is, foul, chilled or black brood. I have seen foul 

 brood exhibited by Mr. N. E. France, but the smell got away from me, 

 so I can not tell what this is. This sample is taken from a culony that 

 died the past winter. If this is foul brocd, let me know when I 

 should cure it; also if I can use the frames when there is no foul 

 brood in other hives? Illinois. 



Answer. — I am not an expert in foul-brood matters, but there 

 can be little doubt that you have the real thing. Being a member of 

 the Northwestern Association, you are thereby a member of the Na- 

 tional, and so entitled to consult its General Manager N. E. France, of 

 Platteville, Wis., who is a foul-brood expert. He will probably not 

 advise you to undertake a cure until there is plenty for the bees afield. 

 In the meantime take every precaution not to let bees of healthy colo- 

 nies get at the combs left by any dead colony that had foul brood. 

 That would be to spread the disease. Hives that have had foul- 

 broody colonies may be used again, but don't think of using the 

 frames. The safe thing is to burn them. 



Using Combs With Honey from Dead Colonies 



I have a number of nice, straight combs wired in Langstroth 

 frames, that are considerably filled with honey. The honey in some 

 of them is partially candied; in others whollv granulated; and in 

 still others the honey is yet in a liquid state. These comb6 are from 

 colonies lost a year ago and two years ago. 



1. Would these be suitable to give to colonies for feeding young 

 bee6 this spring, or for use in hiving swarms or in forming nuclei.' 



2. Will the bees use the candied honey? 



3. How can these combs be cleared of the candied honey without 

 loss? 



4. Would it be advisable to strain out this honey and melt up the 

 combs? New York. 



Answers.— 1. Yes. 



2. Yes, but they may throw out some of the grains. 



3. Take a sprinkler and sprinkle water on each side of a comb be- 

 fore giving it to the bees, and that will help them use up the granules. 

 A few days later, if dry granules seem to be present, sprinkle again. 



4. No, it will be much better to save the combs in the manner in- 

 dicated in the previous answer. Indeed, if the combs are not sprin- 

 kled at all, and some of the grains thrown out, that will be better than 

 the mussy and wasteful plan of melting. 



Making Increase With Home-Made or Box Hives 



How can I get increase by dividing when I have only home-made- 

 hives, without any frames or anything in them? Minnesota. 



Answer. — I don't know of a satisfactory way belter than to drum 

 out a swarm. Possibly you might succeed in this way: In the 

 busiest time of day — preferably when the young bees are in the midst 

 of a play-spell — remove a hive from its stand and put an empty hive 

 in its place, having a caged queen in this hive. Break out a piece of 

 comb from 6ome hive to put in the empty hive, as an inducement for 

 the bees to stay, the bees entering the hive as they return from the 

 field. 



Although it is not very practicable to divide with box-hives, 

 there is a way by which you can make sure of other swarms after the 

 first swarm issues. It is simply to take the old colony, as often as it 

 swarms, and put it in place of another strong colony, always setting 

 the 6warm in the place of the old colony that has swarmed. 



Reports anb 

 (Experiences 



High or Low Hive-Entrance. 



I notice the question of a high-en- 

 trance with reference to bee-trees. I 

 have been a bee-hunter for 30 years, 

 ami must say it is not what t In-' bees' 

 will go into you need to worry about 

 but what they won't go in. 'When I 

 found bees in a tree that were obliged 

 to work below the entrance I got very 

 little honey, and of a poor quality and 

 below the bees was rotten wood, dead 

 bees, and other filth which would have 

 a bad effect on the bees. yet where 

 their work was above the entrance I 

 found things in a far better condition 

 bo I should favor a low entrance, with 

 plenty of ventilation. 



I have an apiary of 60 colonies. I 

 did not get any surplus in 1905. It was 

 the poorest season ever known in this 

 part of the state. Bees are wintering 

 in good shape so far. We put them in 

 the cellar. G. S. Blackmail, 



North Freedom. Wis., March S 



Entrance at Top of Brood-Chamber. 



It is claimed that an entrance at the 

 top of the brood-chamber has the effect 

 of increasing the yield of honey. This 

 may lie true. An old fellow, while 

 looking over my hives in 1S72, said. If 

 you'd bore a lot of holes just iimb-i 

 your top boxes, you'd get a lot more 

 honey." I was one of the know-all- 

 about-bees fellows, and it went out at 

 the other ear. But I don't know so 

 much as I used to, and now suspect 

 there is something in it. But why? 

 Mr. Hasty, on page 214, has his guess, 

 and here is mine: It's in the relief of 

 the ventilators. Excessive labor is at 

 the expense of strength and life. It 



takes a large force .a hoes ami a g I 



deal of hard work to force a continu- 

 ous stream of air. night ami day, from 

 i bottom entrance up through the 

 whole circuit of hives and supers, and 



out again at the bottom. You see, they 

 must overcome gravity both ways. Let 

 them use those little wings to carry 

 them from the hive to the clover blos- 

 soms. Possibly, too, the air may be a 

 little drier at night at 14 inches from 

 the ground than at 4 inches. Ripening, 

 you know. 



.My guess does not look big enough 

 all by itself, and if Mr. Hasty is not 

 afraid of getting into bad company, we 

 will just combine and "take the whole 

 cheese." E. W. Diefendorf. 



New Lebanon, Mo. 



Rendering Beeswax in a Small May. 



I take a wash-tub 2 feet in diameter, 

 with a %-inch hole close to the bottom 

 and a long plug to stop it up; then 

 raise the tub a few inches from the 

 ground. Bring the wax and slumgum 

 to the boiling point, cover the tub with 

 wire window-screening with a frame 

 around it; then dip the. wax and boil- 

 ing water on the framed screen, and 

 the hot water carries the wax through. 

 I repeat this three times, using 5 gal- 

 lons of water to 1 of slumgum. When 

 I ho tuli is nearly full, draw the water 

 i. t'f near the bottom. F. M. Wagner. 



Quincy. 111.. March 29. 



Favors the Full-Weight Section. 



I have read with interest the arti- 

 cled of Dr. Bohrer. L. V. Ricketts, and 

 others, advocating a full-weight sec- 

 tion. I endorse all they have said 

 against the use of light-weight sec- 

 tions. 



I si. that .Mr. Ricketts thinks (page 

 I'".!' i that because Mr. Hasty won't join 

 his procession he will have to go alone. 

 It seems that he doesn't consider Dr. 

 Bohrer. myself, and the others, who 

 sec ihis matter in the same light he 

 'lies, "good company." Pray, can't we 

 then set up a little company of our 

 own — a kind of a side-show, so to 



speak" 



I think I was the first one publicly 

 to condemn the use of light-weight 

 sections. In my book, published in 

 1903, page 53, I sounded the alarm on 

 this subject. But when Mr. Ricketts 

 proposes to adopt a section 1% inches 

 thick, I emphatically object. There 

 an- to., mans objections to combs over 



1% inches thick to adopt the thick 

 ones he proposes. Why not make our 

 sections i'iX.ixl^s? Such a section 

 will hold (average) a full pound. 



I know he will say that such a sec- 

 tion cannot well be used in the hives 

 now in use. Then change the hives. 

 "Two wrongs do not make one right." 

 No use to go on to all eternity with 

 wrong size hives and sections simply 

 to accommodate the "standards" that 

 are now in use. Make them over. Re- 

 model them to suit up-to-date condi- 

 tions, and let all future hives be made 

 right. Yes, "right will win." 



T. K. Massie. 



Tophet. W. Ya. 



Brood-Rearing in "Winter. 



On page 179 it speaks of brood- 

 rearing in winter. This year Jan. 20 

 was very warm; in fact, it was 70 de- 

 grees, the thermometer hanging on the 

 north side of the bouse. As the bees 

 were flying freely we examined, several 

 hives and found considerable brood in 

 all of them, and some of the stronger 

 ones had as much as half of the comb 

 full, with a few cells in the center that 

 had hatched out, so those eggs surely 

 were laid the last days of December. 



Last year we had a very cold winter, 

 with a warm spell about the first of 

 February. In examining the bees to 

 see how they were getting along, I 

 found considerable brood, some of it 

 capped over, showing that the eggs 

 were laid in the bitter cold weather of 

 the month before. 



My bees are wintered on the sum- 

 mer stands, and while I have been a 

 bee-keeper only' a few years. I have 

 never lost a colony of bees from any 

 cause. Wintering holds no terrors for 

 us, and this is how we do it: 



We put some extra hive-bodies on 

 the strongest colonies, with full sheets 

 of comb foundation, and when these 

 an- capped over, take them off and 

 save them for late or weak colonies 

 that have not stored enough to winter 



on. Last year we saved som lbs 



of clover honey, and the bees on them 

 are doing better than those wintering 

 on fall honey. We put an empty super 

 on with a Hill device over the frames, 

 and a heavy burlap blanket over that. 

 i ml a cushion as large as the super 



