506 



and for extracting, a hive containing at 

 least 3,500 cubic inches of space, all in 

 one apartment. The idea is this: If 

 our bees and ourselves are always in 

 readiness for a yield of honey, and there 

 are but 4 or 5 days' yield in the whole 

 season, we can secure something even 

 then ; but if not in readiness, the 4 or 5 

 days will pass and we shall get nothing. 



Let it not be understood that any one 

 thinks that bees can store honey when 

 none is secreted in the flowers, let them 

 blossom ever so profusely ; but be it un- 

 derstood, that when there is a yield, if 

 only of short duration, good results can 

 be obtained by the diligent. 



Borodino, JS\ Y., October, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Paper Separators, Feeding Back,, etc. 



J. E. MOORE. 



Editor Journal: I suppose you 

 have concluded, from my delay, that the 

 bees have been " chewing their cud " on 

 the paper separators, mention of which 

 I made to you some time ago. Well, 

 when one has 150 colonies of bees to look 

 after, besides 25 nuclei, and does all the 

 work himself, there is not much spare 

 time on his hands, if the bees have the 

 care they should have. Besides, as you 

 will see bj samples, I have branched 

 this out on comb foundation. 



Well, I have thoroughly tested the 

 separators, as made like the sample, and 

 as the bees have not injured one of them, 

 I pronounce it a success. I commenced 

 experimenting with paper for separators 

 in 1871, but have never been able to 

 find anything that the bees would not 

 cut out, until I coated the paper with 

 shellac. The foundation is made on 

 lighter board, prepared in the same way. 

 I made a crude bath for dipping, and 

 having to dip at the side of the can to 

 avoid the lumps of wax, did not get the 

 paper coated the same thickness on both 

 sides. I drove to York (making a trip 

 of 44 miles), where, through the kind- 

 ness of Messrs. Rians& Van Eaton, the 

 foundation w;is made. I only succeeded 

 in getting one good sample on the wrap- 

 ping paper. As the machine does not 

 seem to injure the paper at the base of 

 the cell, I think this must be an im- 

 provement on wood as made by Ever- 

 hard. Mr. Rians thought it could lie 

 made better on a press machine than 

 with rolls. 



While glassing some honey the ques- 

 tion occurred to me, why not have the 

 comb built the full thickness of the sec- 

 tion, as, in using paper caps I have the 

 glass lap the edges of the box V So I 



soon put the thought into effect by cut- 

 ting down 12 boxes 5x6x2, to 5x5x2, and 

 fastened strips }£ inch thick on both 

 sides of the separators where they come 

 between the edges of the boxes, as 

 shown by the sample separator. 



You have the result in the sample 

 honey, and as the comb is ^ inch thick- 

 er, this 5x5x2 box glasses lip as much as 

 the 5x6x2 box, where separators are used 

 against the edges of the boxes. The 

 12 boxes glassed up 25 lbs. 



By this plan I get as much honey in 

 50 cubic inches as in 60 the old way, and 

 as it will take 143 more boxes 5x5x2 to 

 glass a ton of honey when separators 

 are used the usual way. The saving 

 would be the cost (less expense of caps) 

 of 143 boxes, glass, separators, founda- 

 tion, crates, hive room, and labor of 

 handling the same, also capping of the 

 combs by the bees ; this also gives the 

 consumer about }4 lb. more honey to the 

 box than any other method of glassing. 

 We thought we had our honey racks 

 about right last spring, but as we shall 

 hereafter use boxes no larger than 5x5x2, 

 we must fix the racks all over for next 

 season's use. A better plan to fix strips 

 on separators (than shown in sample) is 

 to outstrips % inch square, and slit them 



down to within }£ inch of one end with 

 a fine saw, so as to slip them on the sep- 

 arator clothes-pin fashion. 



We shall discard tin, and use paper 

 altogether for separators next season. 



With the exception of the 12 boxes 

 with separators, arranged so that the 

 combs would be built full thickness of 

 the box, the sample box before you be- 

 ing one of them, we have not fed back 

 only to boxes that were from % to not 

 quite sealed over. We made our colo- 

 nies this season on the nucleus plan, 

 and as a good many of them were with- 

 out laying queens just in basswood time, 

 we extracted about 200 lbs. from them 

 so as to give room for the queens. This 

 we fed back to finish out the boxes. 

 We fed to 6 hives, and had 425 boxes 

 sealed over. 



We were not fixed to feed when the 

 basswood flow of honey ceased, so that, 

 although the honey fed back was very 

 white, the color, as you will see by the 

 sample, is of a darker shade. 1 suppose 

 this is caused by honey stored from wild 

 flowers. As 1 kept noaccount of weight 

 of the boxes when returned to the hives, 

 or the amount fed, I could, of course, 

 give no opinion as to the profit of feed- 

 in?: back. 



If the apiarist feeds back honey pro- 

 duced in Ids own apiary, I see no objec- 



