22 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 14, 



would be moths in it, that is, in summer. I Itnow it is very 

 discouraginf; when one has a nice lot of honey, to find in a 

 month or two it is badly damaged. I agree with Mr. Green, 

 that it is more liable to be damaged when there is pollen in the 

 sections; that possibly that is the only time; but I thinl{ I 

 have had it damaged when there was no pollen — at least that 

 I could discover. 



Dr. Miller — I believe I could take both sides of the ques- 

 tion. I have had many and many a section where there was 

 no pollen in it, good straight goods, full of honey, and at the 

 lower edge attacht to the bottom-bar of the section directly 

 would appear a little white dust, and after a little while the 

 worms would be seen there, and if left alone the honey would 

 be very badly damaged ; I had to brimstone it, and more than 

 once, too, or I would have suffered heavily if I had not done 

 it. While this discussion was going onj I was turning over in 

 my mind why it was, of late, I had so little trouble in that di- 

 rection ; I have used very little sulphur, and the damage by 

 worms has not amounted to anything for three or four years; 

 the last two years don't count at all, for I had no honey, but of 

 late certainly there has been a difference ; I suppose there is 

 very little black blood in my bees now, but there was 

 much before. How about your bees, Mr. Kennedy ? How 

 much black blood ? 



Mr. Kennedy — I should say about one-half, on the average. 



Dr. Miller — I think very likely that may be the difference, 

 for 1 know that formerly you could not have gotten me to al- 

 low a crop of honey to stand, without brimstoning it, unless 

 you paid me a good amount of money ; and I have some doubt 

 whether I will brimstone any more. 



A Member — I brimstone all of it in a room together, per- 

 haps as much as once in two or three weeks at first, so as to 

 make sure those hatching out would get the brimstone ; for of 

 course the egg would be left just as good as ever, but I believe 

 if you have bees that are mainly of Italian blood you will not 

 be troubled ; at least I suppose that has made the change in 

 mine. 



Dr. Miller — There is very much more danger cf worms in 

 combs where there is pollen, and I can tell you another thing 

 that makes danger : Let a dead bee be there, and you will find 

 very often that dead bee will be the nest of one or two worms, 

 and I have often seen the worm start where there was a dead 

 bee, or remain on the dead bee for a time, and then extend 

 through the section of honey ; I think that is a fact, although 

 I have never seen it mentioned. 



Mr. Stone — I would like to ask where the moth's eggs are 

 in the honey, after it is in the honey-house, if they were there 

 before the honey was put into the honey-house. For, when 

 my honey is once in the honey-house, I have never seen a 

 moth-miller around the honey at all, and I have never been 

 bothered with the honey-moth; it is my experience, when 

 moths get in there, they make an effort the first thing to get 

 outside, and they never seem to touch the honey or go near the 

 section-cases that have the honey in. 



CO.^rB HONEY MANAGEMENT — TIERING UP. 



QuES. 13 — Should bees be restricted to one super until well 

 filled, or should we tier up and leave them on the whole sea- 

 son ? 



Dr. Miller — How many would leave all the sections on un- 

 til the honey-flow ceases'? [One.] How many would say, 

 Take off sections as fast as the super is completed "? [Eleven.] 

 We have that pretty well settled, that the majority would not 

 want to leave them on the whole season- The first part of the 

 question, however, is not answered. Would you restrict bees 

 to one super until well filled '? Suppose I put on five supers 

 to start with, is that correct'? 



Mr. Ellis— My practice long ago was to let them get well 

 begun, in one super, about one-third to one-half, then imme- 

 diately raise it ; then if the upper one is not filled, (and colo- 

 nies differ in that respect) when they got the other third or 

 half done raise it, and put another under. It depends largely 

 upon the size of the colonies. The greatest success I had was 

 In the Charaplain valley, New York, when I had as many as 

 seven supers on at once. There were 30 pounds to the super, 

 making a capacity of 210 pounds. That is the most I ever had; 

 but It was an exception. 



Dr. Miller — That question involves the other question, as 

 to when supers shall be removed '? 



Mr. Ellis — My experience there was to remove as fast as 

 filled — filled and sealed clear down. 



Dr. Miller — Would you wait until every section is sealed 

 efore removing '? 



A Member — I could not do that In the last of the season. 



Dr. Miller — I would not be sure to <lo it in the first of the 

 season, either. The looks has a great deal to do with it. If 

 you want the honey very white, it should not be on a great 



while. The bees may finish up the very last cell before you 

 take it off, but very often you will have in the four corner ones 

 a few cells unsealed ; I don't want to wait for that, to take off 

 the super, and if necessary I return those four corner sections. 

 So as long as people demand the white sections of honey we 

 must be careful about leaving them on long. I was looking for 

 some one to say there would be a good deal of difference be- 

 tween the first and last of the season. When the first super 

 is one-third filled, in some cases I put a second super on, and 

 on that same colony, later in the season, I would not put any- 

 thing on, when it was about three-thirds filled. Your expec- 

 tation as to the harvest : Like a good many other things in 

 bee-keeping, you have to do a little guessing, and you can't al- 

 ways guess rightly. I have a good many times put on a sin- 

 gle super to begin with, and then I had too much on for the 

 whole season. 



Mr. Baldridge — This is to he considered somewhat in put- 

 ting on a number of supers: Would it not depend — whether 

 you waited for your supers to be entirely filled — upon whether 

 your sections are in wide frames, so you can remove them as 

 soon as filled '? 



. A Member — Remove section by section ? 



A Member — If the sections are filled completely, why not 

 remove them, and give them additional room, without adding 

 so many supers '? 



Dr. Miller — That you could do. It seems tome that if you 

 got five or six supers on, those first raised up would not be so 

 apt to be sealed as if there were fewer supers on ; that is, the 

 bees would not seal them so quickly, and consequently the 

 honey would not be so white as if they were sealed up quickly. 

 There is such a thing as getting too much room in supers. 



Mr. Green — I think Mr. Baldridge is quite right, when you 

 come to comb honey. I never saw any advantage in having 

 over three supers on at onetime, if those are properly lookt 

 after. Y'ou must not forget this, that sometimes when one 

 colony needs three to four supers, another colony right beside 

 it would be entirely satisfied with one super. 



Mr. Ellis — I want it understood that mine was partially an 

 experiment ; it was the only time I had more than four supers 

 on, but I shaded the hive, ventilated it — opened all the venti- 

 lators, kept them open, and as fast as supers were occupied 



I gave them more. It was an e.xception right through ; three 

 to four supers were the rule that season. 



PRICE OF COMB HONEY VS. EXRTACTED. 



QaES. 14 — How much per pound should consumers pay 

 for extracted honey of the same grade, when comb honey sells 

 to the consumers at 22 cents per pound '? 



Dr. Miller — The question is, at what price per pound for 

 extracted will you be willing to change from comb honey at 

 22 cents, to produce extracted honey ? I will call for a price'? 



A Member — 10 cents. 



Mr. Green — 11 cents. 



Mr. McCartney— 12M cents. 



Dr. Miller — Let us take the vote then, if there is no other 

 price named. How many say 10 cents for extracted honey, 

 when comb honey brings 22 cents ? [One.] How many say 



II cents'? [Four.] How many say 12'2 cents. [Four.] 



Mr. Baldridge — I will call your attention to the question. 

 What is the question ? 



Dr. Miller — " When comb honey sells to comsumers at 22 

 cents per pound, how much per pound should consumers pay 

 for extracted honey, of the same grade '?" In other words, 

 the question now is, What is that honey worth to mo on my 

 table? 



Mr. Ellis — The same price. 



Mr. York— The question is, what should consumers pay '? 



Mr. Cooloy — How many ounces should there bo in that 

 comb honey — would it be a full pound section '? 



Dr. Miller— Yes, in this case it's supposed that a section is 

 a pound, and it is 22 cents. 



Mr. Baldridge — The question is, no matter what the price 

 of comb honey, what should extracted be worth of the same 

 grade, or value to the consumer, without any reference to the 

 cost. 



Mr. Ellis — I want to suggest looks and appearance on the 

 table as a factor in the matter ; it makes two questions of it; 

 in one case, I want that to eat myself; in the other case, we are 

 going to have company at our house, and I want my table to 

 look nice. 



Mr. Grabbe — I don't think we can say what the consumer 

 should pay, ho decides that for himself; very often, he pays 

 something for looks, for style, not for actual, intrinsic value ; 

 we can't compel a man to pay for that; it is what he wants 

 that he pays for. 



A Member— I produce honey and I sell at the same price; 

 there are so many people who take extracted honey of the 



