Nov. IS, 1906 



949 



American Ttee Journal 



space along the bottom of each frame 

 — between the upper side of the bottom- 

 bar and the bottom of each comb in 

 the hive — at least double the time is 

 required to dislodge the bees from their 

 combs that will be needed where every 

 comb complete^ fills the frame, and 

 every comb is a straight one and free 

 from holes. The only redeemable fea- 

 ture the reversible-comb craze of a 

 few years ago had, was that thus re- 

 versing was sure to fill every frame 

 full of comb. But this can be done 

 very easily by putting the combs in 

 an upper story during a good honey- 

 flow, when the bees will build them 

 down to the bottom-bar, after which 

 we are rid of this nuisance ; and, be- 

 sides, we gain 2 or 3 more rows of cells 

 in each frame in which brood can be 

 reared, so that this matter of an extra 

 amount of brood more than compen- 

 sates us for our trouble, to say nothing 

 about the advantage we gain when we 

 are ridding the combs of t>ees. 



Next we have the amount of honey 

 the frames contain to contend with 

 when shaking, for it is not nearly so 

 easy to shake a frame containing from 

 6 to 10 pounds of honey as it is one 

 having not more than from nothing to 

 2 pounds. But there is something to 

 help overcome this heavy part of the 

 matter, provided that the honey is 

 sealed over, for where such is the case, 

 all holes are almost sure to be filled, 

 and, best of all, there are no empty 

 cells for the bees to get a firm foothold 

 therein, so that they are more easily 

 dislodged, and that with less effort 

 than they are from nearly empty comb. 

 If they could hang as tenaciously to 

 combs of sealed honey as they can to 

 combs containing mostly empty cells, 

 the ridding of combs full of honey by 

 the shaking process would be out of 

 the question, and some other process 

 would have to be used. 



We now come to the time of the year 

 when we are to do this work. With a 

 good honey-flow on I have no trouble 

 with any variety of bees — no, not with 

 the most tenacious Italians ; but when 

 it comes fall, and the bees are in that 

 quiescent state into which they go pre- 

 paratory to their successful wintering, 

 then we have a different state of af- 

 fairs. Luckily, we do not want to dis- 

 turb the bees very much at this season 

 of the year, except for the uniting of 

 small colonies or something of that 

 kind, so that all of our work will allow, 

 if not require, that we cause the bees 

 to fill themselves with honey before we 

 are to perform our manipulations with 

 them. And when the bees are filled 

 with honey they will shake off the 

 combs at any time of the year just as 

 easily as they will during a bountiful 

 honey harvest in June or July. As all 

 know how to cause bees to fill them- 

 selves with honey, I will not stop to 

 tell about that here. 



With all colonies that adhere very 

 tenaciously to their combs, and at all 

 times when there is no honey coming 

 at the time when it is necessary to 

 shake the bees from their combs, they 

 are caused to fill themselves with 

 honey, when they will tumble off their 

 combs as easily as "tumbling off a 

 log," when the how of the matter of 

 shaking is understood, which is as fol- 

 lows : 



Place the projecting ends of the 

 frame on the ends of the two middle 

 fingers of each hand, and then with a 

 quick upward movement or toss, throw 

 the ends of the frame against the ball 

 of the hands, or that thick part at the 

 base of the thumb. As the frame 

 strikes the hand let the hands give a 

 sudden downward motion, which gives 

 a shock the bee is least expecting, and 

 as the frame strikes the fingers it is 

 again tossed back against the hand, 

 and so on till all, or nearly all, of the 

 bees are off. The principal is that the 

 bee is on her guard all the while to 

 keep from falling off downward, thus 

 holding on tenaciously with that intent 

 in view, so is not easily shaken off by 

 any downward motion, which is the 

 one generally given when the novice 

 undertakes to rid his combs of bees. 

 By a sudden stopping of the upward, 

 and a quick downward motion, the bees 

 are thrown off their guard and dis- 

 lodged from the comb in an upward 

 direction. 



In shaking bees from the combs I 

 find that nine out of every ten bee- 

 keepers which I see doing such work, 

 stand right in front of the entrance to- 

 the hive, with a swarm of bees behind 

 and all about them trying to reach 

 their entrance, or doorway, which is 

 blocked by the great, big body of the 

 one doing the shaking. Don't do that 

 way. It is not treating the bees with 

 politeness, to say the least ; and, be- 

 sides, were you to look on the ground 

 after you were through, you would find 

 hundreds of killed and maimed bees on 

 which your big feet had trod while you 

 were doing this operation. It is just 

 as easy to stand at the rear of the hive, 

 partly lean over toward the entrance, 

 when the shaken-off bees will fall right 

 in front of their door, and run in at 

 once without bother ; and if you will 

 listen to their merry hum as they go- 

 in, you will hear them saying, "Thank 

 you, Thank you. Thank you." 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Mare 



Sisters Should Talk Up" Honey 



Very interesting reading is that edi- 

 torial on page 893, about the disastrous 

 failure of the advertising campaign 

 that spent such an immense sum in 

 trying to make the fellow believe that 

 glucose was as good or better than 

 honey when sold under the name of 

 "Karo." Better worded advertise- 

 ments it would be hard to devise. 

 Skillful advertising writers were no 

 doubt well paid for the brains put into 

 them. No doubt thousands of the dear 

 public were deceived — for a time. 

 Knowing littleor nothing about honey, 

 only with the idea that it was a de- 

 licious luxury ministering not at all to 

 the health and strength of working 

 people, but something to be indulged 

 in merely by the rich, they were told 

 that here was something just as good 

 as honey that could be bought for the 

 same price they were in the habit of 

 paying for ordinary syrups. So when 

 told they could try this wonderful new 

 product at 10 cents a "try," why 

 shouldn't they try ? Try they no doubt 

 did in many cases, only to find the 

 thing a cheat, and then the collapse 

 came. 



Now comes the question, If a clear- 

 headed, money-making business con- 

 cern should think it worth while to 

 spend such vast sums of money to in- 

 troduce something that had so little to 

 maintain its deceptive advertisements, 

 is it not worth while to take equal 



pains to advertise something that 

 needs only the telling of the truth ? 



"What have the sisters to do in the 

 case?" Listen. Not all advertising 

 is printed matter. A vast amount of 

 advertising is done by talking. Rightly 

 or wrongly, we sisters have the reputa- 

 tion of doing the major part of the 

 talking that is done. Are we doing 

 our full share — are you doing your full 

 share — in talking up with none-bee- 

 keeping sisters the good qualities, the 

 benefits, the advantage from different 

 standpoints, of a daily use of our lus- 

 cious sweet ? Think it over. 



Poultry-Keeping for the Bee-Keeping 

 Sisters 



Not every one realizes the large sum 

 to which the chicken-and-egg business, 

 amounts in this country. And much 

 the greater part of that business is in 

 the hands of women. Many of the 

 sisters who keep bees might do more at 

 the chicken business than they do, and 

 by proper management it need not 

 conflict with the work of the bees. 

 Although not haviner the sisters in 

 view, here is what Victor D. Caneday 

 says about the combination of the two 

 lines of business in the American Bee- 

 Keeper : 



Bee-keeping is particularly adapted as an 

 adjunct to poultry farming, as the heaviest 

 part of the work among the bees comes at a 

 time when the poultry work is comparatively 

 light. On most practical poultry farms the 



