July 26, 1906 



(,41 



American Hee Journal 



dren, providing they were fed on other foods to balance the 

 candy rations. , 



Mr. Holtermann — I should like to ask Dr. Eaton whether 

 the fact that the bee invert- a very large proportion of that 

 honey, and, therefore, in that respect it is quite different 

 glucose, wouldn't it have a very marked difference, not in 

 the chemical value of the product as a food, but in its avail- 

 ability and liability to be digested? 



Dr. Eaton — As far as dextrin is concerned, I should 

 think that would be true; but I don't see any reason as far as 

 the dextrose is concerned, why the dextrose obtained by the 

 inversion of sucrose would be greatly different from dextrose 

 obtained from hydrolosis of the stock. 



Mr. Root — There is one question here, and it seems to 

 me we are getting to the pivot of an important matter. Dr. 

 Eaton is a chemist greatly interested in the study of bee- 

 keeping. We bee-keepers have said, and we have been 

 taught by certain authorities, that honey is much more easily 

 assimilated than ordinary pure candies. I want to ask 

 whether Dr. Eaton thinks that is correct; whether we have 

 been incorrect or whether we are right on that. 



Dr. Eaton — I believe I said in my paper that honey was 

 a partially predigested sugar. Sucrose is not. Honey is 

 properly and originally obtained from sucrose in the form of 

 nectar by inverting the sucrose. Now that is exactly what 

 nature does in the human stomach before it can assimilate 

 the food; and, therefore, honey is a partially pre-digested 

 food, and in that respect is superior to sucrose. 



Mr. Chantry — I just wanted to ask the Doctor if glucose 

 could be bought for 4 cents a pound, that we find in stores 

 all over the country, how much could be got for honey for 

 family use? What would be the relative value of that sugar 

 and good table honey? 



Dr. Eaton — You would pay a little more from a food- 

 value standpoint; but I don't think you want to estimate the 

 comparative value of honey and glucose in that way, because 

 the value of honey is not altogether its food-value, any more 

 than the value of the higher-priced candies. You pay 60 

 cents a pound for the best candies, which are no more nutri- 

 tious than sugar you can buy for 5 cents a pound. There is 

 a value to honey that is different from its feeding value, 

 and that is the value of taste; so that I would not want to 

 estimate the comparative value of honey and glucose alto- 

 gether on .a feeding-value basis alone. 



On motion of Mr. Kimmey, seconded, by Mr. Abbott, 

 the convention adjourned. 



(Continued next week.j 



Dodor Millar: 

 Question-Bar 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller. Mareneo, 111. 

 " Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Hiving United Swarms— Best Hive-Cover 



1. Two of my swarms united and clustered on the same 

 limb, and I put them into one hive with empty combs. Shortly 

 after, I noticed that they were killing each other ; and the 

 next day the hive was surrounded with dead bees which 

 were carried out of the hive by those left alive. What is 

 the cause of their killing each other? and how may I avoid it 

 in future? I have had this experience two or three times 

 this season. On one occasion, after hiving about half of the 

 bees remained clustered outside of the hive all night, and 

 thinking there was not sufficient room inside of the hive, 

 I put on a second story the next morning, and then shov- 

 eled the bees in the top. Soon after, the killing commenced, 

 and the live bees carried out dead bees all day. 



2. What hive-cover do you consider best for general use? 

 I bought the Excelsior cover, but today, after a heavy rain, 

 I found a pool of water on the enamel cloth under the 

 •cover. Does water usually work under the edges of this 



cover, or is it through some oversight of mine that the 

 water got there? As the gable cover has more slope, and 

 also an air-space, I have almost decided to order it with 

 my next lot of hives. What '1" you think of it for general 

 use ? New York. 



Answers.— 1. It is not usual for swarms to fight when 

 they unite, but it may "ccur when one is a prime swarm 

 and the other an after-swarm, one queen being a laying 

 queen and the other a virgin, and it is possible that it may 

 occur when both queens are of the same kind. Each queen 

 has its own faction, and they must settle their difference 

 with their lives. If you keep your queens clipped, then no 

 laying queen can go with a swarm to make trouble. Without 

 clipping vou may manage after C. W. Dayton's fashion, as 

 given on page 613. When the swarms have united for a 

 short time, you will find the queens balled. Take away the 

 queens, get the bees into a box or hive, and keep them impris- 

 oned there for 6 or 8 hours, and then open a crack so only 

 one or two bees can get out at a time, and each bee will find 

 its way peaceably to its own hive. 



2. No properly - constructed hive -cover should let the 

 water work under. There is better chance for a gable cover 

 to be made to shed rain, but it is sometimes inconvenient to 

 have a cover that is not entirely flat on top, especially if vou 

 sometimes want to pile another hive on top. As yet I have 

 found no cover more satisfactory than one made with two 

 layers of boards and covered with zinc or tin, the metal being 

 sure to be water-tight, and the two layers of board making 

 an air-space which is cooler for the bees in summer, and 

 warmer in winter. The objection is that such a cover costs 

 about 30 cents. 



How Sections Are Pilled— T Supers-Doollttle's Fix- 

 tures— Hive-Bottom-Catnip 



1. My sections 'are capped all over, except almost all 

 around the section is a row of empty cells partly filled. Is 

 this the way all sections are filled? I removed these and put 

 empty ones in their place, which they are now well ahead 

 in. Was this doing right, or should I have waited till all 

 were filled solid to the section's edges? This hive holds only 

 21 sections, and no more could be added till these were 

 removed. 



2. What is a T super? Looking up the catalogs I find 

 nothing except T tins in this line. What is their advantage 

 over the regular No. 1 super? 



3. What kind of hives, frames, and sections does G. M. 

 Doolittle use? As I understand, his super holds 44 sections. 



4. I have two colonies in 8-frame hives (June 16), frame 

 size, ii^xii^ inches, and these are about one-third full of 

 honey, and both work in supers. Does this show an unpro- 

 lific queen? 



5. What kind of hive-bottoms do you like best, Danzen- 



baker or reversible? 



6. Is catnip a honey-plant? Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— 1. It is the usual thing to have most of the 

 row of cells next the wood unsealed. It is generally consid- 

 ered a very desirable thing to have all these cells sealed, but 

 usuallv to' accomplish this requires more crowding than is 

 profitable. Some, however, claim that it is better to have a 

 row of emptv cells next to the wood, for then when a sec- 

 tion is cut out to put on the table it is not so dauby. But 

 the more sealing the better for the market in general. 



You were wise to give a fresh super without waiting for 

 all the outside row to be filled and sealed, but there's 

 something radically wrong that allows only 21 sections on a 

 hive at a time. That sort of thing will certainly cut out a 

 lot of vour harvest. Unless your sections are of the closed- 

 top kind, you ought to have been able to put a second super 

 under the first one, and this should have been done probably 

 when the first super was about half filled. It's a very poor 

 colony that would be satisfied with only 21 sections at a 

 time. In the heart of the harvest my colonies usually have 

 from 3 to 5 supers of 24 sections each. 



2. A T super is a plain box without top or bottom, 

 !:J-inch deeper than the height of the sections it is to con- 

 tain. On the bottom, at each end, is a plain strip of tin 

 to support one end of the sections in the end rows, and at 

 the proper places staples are driven into the bottom and 

 then bent so as to support the T tins inside. On page 19 

 of "Fortv Years Among the Bees," is a picture of a T super. 



