Nov. 22, 1906 



%7 



American Itee Journal 



Conducted by Morley Pbttit, Villa Nova, Ont. 



Moving- to Buckwheat 



Mr. J. L. Byer, in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, has the same experience as 

 myself in the matter of moving weak 

 colonies to buckwheat. This year I 

 moved only the strongest, and consid- 

 ered that by leaving weaker colonies 

 at home I was just saving moving ex- 

 penses. He says : 



Although I have had but little experience 

 in moving bees to buckwheat, one thing I 

 have learned to my own satisfaction, that it 

 doesn't pay to move any but very strong col- 

 onies. For some reason or other the differ- 

 ence in results between strong and weak col- 

 onies is much more apparent than during the 

 clover flow. A year ago I moved a load 10 

 miles away. Half of the number were very 

 strong colonies, the other half fair nuclei. I 

 moved in the hope that they might till up for 

 winter. While the strong colonies stored 

 considerable surplus (the flow was very 

 light), the nuclei we're little better when 

 brought home than when they were moved 

 away. 



Don't Let the Bees "Slide " 



Don't forget that there is a winter 

 coining. 



Don't forget that it will soon be here. 



Don't forget that bees can not live 

 through the winter on beeswax and 

 air. 



Don't forget to see that they have 

 something more substantial. 



Don't forget to do it until December. 



Don't forget that the sooner you do 

 it the better it can be done. 



Don't think that because you have 

 only a few colonies of bees they do not 

 need attention. 



Don't think that, if they do need it, 

 any old time before Christmas will do 

 to fix them up. 



Don't think that you haven't time 

 just now. 



Don't think that you can't leave the 

 plowing or the roots for a few hours. 



Don't think that the bees have plenty 

 of honey for winter unless you know 

 they have — unless you have seen it, or 

 given it to them, or felt the weight 

 of it. 



Don't guess at it. Don't take 

 chances. 



Live bees are worth money ; dead 

 bees are not. Remember that bees are 

 living animals, and if they haven't 

 enough of the proper food to keep them 

 alive they will die. The fact that you 

 can give them their winter's supply of 

 food all at once (if they haven't already 

 got it for themselves) is no excuse for 

 not giving it to them at the proper 



time. Look them up. If they haven't 

 a laying queen and enough honey for 

 winter, see that they are " put right." 

 The sooner the better. Do it now. — E. 

 G. H., in Farmer's Advocate. 



Super Foundation 



E. E., in the Journal of Horticulture, 

 England, works out the time to use, 

 and not to use, foundation for comb- 

 building, very nicely. Incidentally he 

 introduces something with reference to 

 judging, not much practised in this 

 country ; that is, cutting the section of 

 honey to find the nature of the midrib. 

 It is also a strange idea to desire frag- 

 ile comb for extracting purposes. In 

 this country we even brace the founda- 

 tion with wires to make it strong for 

 the extractor. The bulk of his article 

 follows : 



Prior to the main flow, when there is only 

 a small income, full sheets of foundation will 

 be worked out as thin as natural comb; in 



fact, the difference is so slight that it can 

 hardly be detected. 



When, however, there is a glut of honey, 

 and also late in the season when the tempera- 

 ture is falling, the combs will show an ob- 

 jectionable herring bone in the center. In 

 the former case, it would appear that the bees 

 being gorged with honey, and secreting wax 

 abundantly, Deither have the time nor the 

 desire to utilize the wax given to them, their 

 greatest endeavor being to draw out the comb 

 and gather and store all the honey possible. 

 In the latter case, the reduction in tempera- 

 ture hardens the wax, and it is consequently 

 less plastic and more difficult to work. 



Combs worked out by bees prior to the 

 main flow will be found nearest to natural 

 comb, because with a small income they pro- 

 duce little wax, and have to make the be6t of 

 the foundation which is given them, the 

 thickened cell walls being drawn out thor- 

 oughly, and no thickenings. 



In judging comb honey in either sections or 

 frames, the judges, as a rule, make a point of 

 finding whether this herring bone is present 

 or not. By holding the combs to a strong light 

 it will show whether it is wrong, and when 

 this is found to be the case, a skewer or knife 

 will confirm the suspicion, and its merits are 

 discounted accordingly. In addition to avoid- 

 ing the objectionable midrib when for exhi- 

 bition, there is an economy in using only 

 strips of 1 inch to l'o inches of foundation in 

 shallow frames for extracting purposes, and 

 these may be obtained early in the season by 

 inducing the bees to build out the foundation 

 and removing the frames as completed. This 

 is best done when few bees are at home in the 

 middle of the day, and freshly fitted strips in 

 more bars given to them in readiness for an- 

 other day's work. 



Sections should be filled with nothing less 

 than full sheetsof foundation of the thinnest, 

 as unless this is done the bees will build 

 irregular cells, or what are called transition 

 cells, passing from these to all drone-based 

 cells for the remainder of the section, and the 

 different sizes of cells and irregularities do 

 not enhance their appearance. 



'«* 



Doctor MillerS 

 (luesfion-B<pc 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 ' Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Wire Nail Frame-Spacers— Plain or 

 Slat Separators-T-Tins 



The metal spacers that you use in the 

 brood-frames you say are nothing more nor 

 less than a common wire nail. That seems 

 to be just the thing when working for section 

 honey. 



1. Don't the nails that are near the bottom 

 end of the frame ever come out of place when 

 the frame is taken out and replaced again. 



2. In speaking about these frames on pages 

 84" and S48, you say that after using thou- 

 sands of these spacers for a number of years 

 you are more pleased with them than ever, 

 but that if you had it to do over again you 

 would try very hard to get the automatic 

 nails. Can you tell me where I can get them? 



3. What kind of separators do you like 

 best, plain or slat? 



4. How long are the T-tins used in an S- 



frame super* Would it be wise to order them 

 }jf of an inch shorter than the width of the 

 super? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. There isn't much chance for 

 such interference. When you put in a frame 

 there is always more than half an inch play, 

 or extra room, and then when all the frames 

 are in, the dummy is put in to fill up that 

 vacant space. Without the dummy there 

 would be trouble enough. 



2. I don't know of any place where you can 

 get them. They are on price-lists in Ger- 

 many, and I suppose if there were call enough 

 they might be had in this country. Nail- 

 makers will not make a special nail unless 100 

 pounds or so are wanted at a time, and no 

 one but a supply dealer would want so many. 

 You can do fairly well with a heavy galvan- 

 ized shingle-nail. 



3. I prefer the plain wood separator. 



4. Yes, to work well the T-tin must In- 



