American Bee Journal 



Sept. 13. 1906 



a very little thing makes a material 

 difference in using, and I shall be glad 

 to reply as to even the slightest trouble 

 in using these excellent supers. It may 

 help others as well as yourself. 

 Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



Clustered Swarms— Selling 

 Comb Honey by Weight 



BY GRANT STANLEY 



Comment was recently made on 

 'When Swarms Cluster Together," 

 and " Sections of Honey Can't Be Uni- 

 form in Weight." Replying to these 

 in the order named, I will give a kink 

 in regard to hiving several swarms of 

 bees when clustered together, that was 

 related some time ago by an old bee- 

 keeper with considerable experience, 

 and is said never to fail. Should it 

 prove what this bee-keeper claims for 

 it, it will far surpass the method em- 

 ployed by Mr. Dayton. 



For just as many swarms as have 

 clustered together, furnish a like num- 

 ber of hive-bodies supplied with empty 

 combs or foundation, and stack them 

 up one on top of auother, and set them 

 on a bottom-board. Now shake or hive 

 these several united swarms into this 

 immense hive, and it is said that each 

 swarm and queen will occupy a brood- 

 chamber, and they can then be set on 

 separate stands, or broken up as de- 

 sired. 



I had hoped to try this method before 

 giving it to the press, but circumstances 

 have not favored me in two seasons to 

 do it, and rather than keep it any 

 longer I deem it best to give it to the 



bee-keepers in the hope that some one 

 will try it and see how it will work out. 

 The colonies should be set on separate 

 stands or broken up as soon as they 

 have separated and occupied a brood- 

 chamber, or it will not be a success. 



The question of selling comb honey 

 by weight is one on which I have spent 

 considerable thought. I have also 

 read with keen interest the many arti- 

 cles of able writers on this subject, but 

 I believe comb honey can not be sold 

 by weight. Some bee-keepers have 

 advocated a larger section to be sure 

 we would get a pound of honey in it, 

 but with a larger section than now in 

 use the producer would be at a loss. It 

 is all very well to give the consumer 

 what he pays for, but with fairness to 

 ourselves we can't give any more, and 

 as our present size section holds a 

 pound of honey when well filled out, a 

 larger section would over-run a pound 

 more often than the even pound or un- 

 der it. 



The grocers in some parts of the 

 country tried to sell eggs by weight a 

 few years ago, but after a few trials 

 gave it up in disgust. At present the 

 purchaser pays as much for a dozpn 

 eggs of the Mediterranean breeds as 

 those of the Asiatics. Eggs and comb 

 honey are two distinct commodities 

 that can not be sold by weight with 

 any degree of fairness to both producer 

 and consumer, or it would likely have 

 been in vogue long ago. But as I have 

 said before, where one cares to take 

 the time, or time becomes heavy on 

 his hands, he can weigh each section 

 when preparing it for market and mark 

 on it the exact weight and the price. 



Nisbet, Pa. 



Our 

 'Bee- Keeps n 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



How Often to Requeen Colonies 



In an article on " Bee-Keeping as a 

 Specialty," by Miss F. E. Wheeler, in 

 Poultry Husbandry, after commending 

 the Government Bulletin on queen- 

 rearing by Dr. E. F. Phillips, Miss 

 Wheeler says : 



There are two or three points in which hie 

 judgment differs from some of our most re- 

 liable, practical bee-keepers. For instance, 

 he recommends requeening every year. I do 

 not think many apiarists do this so often. In 

 fact, when a queen proves exceptionally good, 

 I think she is retained several years. From 

 the fact that a queen must be about a year 

 and a half old before a thorough test of the 

 quality of her progeny is completed, it would 

 seem that the apiary is positively injured by 

 requeening every year, thus destroying the 

 most valuable, as well as the poorest, breed- 

 ing stock. 



It is certain, however, that the run-down 

 condition of many apiaries, and the light 



honey crops, are greatly due to negligence in 

 requeening, and that every second, or at the 

 most, every third year, our yards are improved 

 by requeening. and that every bee-keeper who 

 wishes and is working for success in its 

 highest sense, should realize the importance 

 of keeping up the standard of his queens, 

 making a careful study of the methods that 

 will produce, in his case, best results. 



There is opportunity for varying 

 shades of opinion with regard to the 

 matter of requeening. Something de- 

 pends upon the quality of the stock. If 

 a colony can be requeened with a queen 

 of better stock, and the requeening can 

 be done without interruption of brood- 

 rearing, then one can hardly requeen 

 too often. 



Something depends upon one's plan 

 of management. That excellent bee- 

 keeper, M. A. Gill, instead of rearing 

 his own queens, buys them bv the hun- 

 dred every year. In that case he de- 



pends upon the breeder from whom he 

 buys to keep up the standard of his 

 stock, and if his management involves 

 the introduction into each colony of a 

 queen of the current year — and that is 

 the management of some to prevent 

 swarming — then for him the right 

 thing is certainly to requeen every 

 year. 



For those with different manage- 

 ment, especially for those who are try- 

 ing constantly to improve their stock 

 by rearing queens or drones from their 

 best stock — and it should be remem- 

 bered that the selection of drones is 

 just as important as that of queens — 

 strong emphasis should be given to 

 the point made by Miss Wheeler, that 

 there can really be no proper selection 

 if no queen be allowed to live more 

 than a year, the best as well as the 

 poorest being sacrificed when a certain 

 age is attained. 



But it must not be left unsaid that a 

 large number of bee-keepers go still 

 farther than Miss Wheeler, when she 

 advises requeening " every second, or 

 at the most, every third year." Not 

 only do they not requeen every second 

 or third year, but they do not requeen 

 at all, leaving the matter entirely to 

 the bees themselves. Their argument 

 is that so long as a queen is doing 

 good work her age should not be a re- 

 proach against her; and that when 

 she begins to fail on account of age 

 the bees will be prompt to supersede 

 her. 



Some of those who leave the matter 

 of superseding to the bees themselves — 

 but by no means the majority of them — 

 make a practise of replacing a queen 

 whenever she shows herself inefficient 

 or in any way objectionable ; and this 

 may occur in the first as well as the 

 second year. If this practise be fol- 

 lowed, and if it be considered that in 

 general a queen will be superseded by 

 the bees as soon as 2 or 3 years old, it 

 may be a question whether there be 

 anything better for the majority of 

 bee-keepers. 



One argument of no small weight in 

 the case is, that it is a very much 

 easier thing to let the bees have charge 

 of the matter ; indeed so much easier 

 that one should feel sure of a consid- 

 erable gain to warrant the extra labor 

 involved in rearing and introducing so 

 many queens every year, or every 2 

 years. And that it is a profitable way, 

 at least under many circumstances, is 

 proven by the fact that it is followed 

 by such successful practitioners as 

 Messrs. Dadant, Doqlittle, Miller, 

 Hutchinson, and others. 



Two Sisters Hive a Swarm 



My Dear Miss Wilson : — I am not 

 a bee-keeper — only the wife of one — 

 and he is an enthusiast, gives the 

 American Bee Journal precedence over 

 all other reading matter, and always 

 turns to your and Dr. Miller's pages 

 first, and always learns something 

 from them. I, myself, am dreadfully 

 afraid of his dear pets ; I get about one 

 or two stings a year, causing much 

 swelling and inflammation, and gen- 

 erally a day's sickness ; nothing im- 

 mune in my case. 



But what I commenced to say is, that 



