68 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fel. 4, 



kept, but the 20 colonies run for extracted honey required 

 more than any others in the whole yard. 



I was disappointed in the results of this experiment, as I 

 was in hopes the results would be in favor ef extracted honey, 

 and if instead of a long, steady yield there had been a short 

 profuse one, it might have been. I intend to try it on a larger 

 scale next season, for I believe I see where some mistakes 

 were made the past season. 



In regard to the amount of work required in the produc- 

 tion of the two kinds of honey, I was disappointed in this also, 

 for it seemed to me there was fully as much, if not more, as 

 well as less agreeable work, necessary with the set run for ex- 

 tracted honey. I was not, however, very well fixt to handle 

 extracted honey last season. But it appears that in this locality 

 their is one serious drawback to the use of shallow extracting- 

 frames : If queen-excluding honey-boards are not used, some 

 of these combs that were in supers, in which some brood was 

 reared, have a large amount of pollen in them, they cannot 

 very economically be used in the brood-chamber, and as their 

 Is a large amount of pollen gathered here in early spring and 

 in early fall, the bees will not use or remove it, if supers con- 

 taining the combs with it in are placed on the hives. 



Southern Minnesota. 



Use of Separators vs. Slotted Sections. 



BY C. V. DADANT. 



QuES. — " Messrs. Dadant & Son — Is not a closed-top sec- 

 tion, open on bottom only, the best section for me to use, when 

 using wood separators slotted on bottom only, thereby forming 

 24 compartments which will not allow a direct draft to pass 

 either up or sidewise, making it airtight on the top and sides, 

 which, of course, will be warmer for the bees to draw out the 

 comb foundation ? P.O." 



Ans. — When the separators are used, it is, of course, as 

 well to use closed top and side sections. Personally, however, 

 we are opposed to separators. The only advantage, that we 

 can see in these implements, is that they compel the bees to 

 build within the inside of the section, and that sections thus 

 built may be transferred from one box, or from one case to an- 

 ther, without any regard to the position they occupied ; so 

 none of them can bulge out and protrude so as to be scratcht 

 or bruised. This is indeed an advantage in shipping or in sel- 

 ling : but is this a sufficient compensation for the loss incurred 

 from the repugnance of the bees to work in so divided a super ? 



That bees dislike to work in small apartments, where they 

 cannot cluster in large numbers, is an averred fact. Mr. Oli- 

 ver Foster, we believe, was the first to give ns the reason of 

 this. Mr, Foster says, in substance, that bees, in a state of 

 nature, store honey for the winter months, and that it is nec- 

 essary that it should be placed where they may reach it with 

 ease in cold weather. Hence they place it above their brood- 

 nest. Their instinct teaches them that it is not safe for them 

 to have it divided into small apartments, because this compels 

 the cluster to divide when it becomes necessary to consume 

 the stores, and they become much more liable to suffer from 

 cold, or even from hunger, when the outside clusters have 

 consumed what is in their reach. Experiments have con- 

 vinced us that their is a positive loss from compelling the bees 

 to work in such divided receptacles. 



The use of separators has not been confined to supers 

 alone. They have been used in the body of the hive, and Mr. 

 Colvin, who was Mr. Langstroth's main agent, when the 

 movable-frame hive was first patented, had discovered that 

 the separators secured straight combs of uniform thickness. 

 But the devices proved unavailable in the brood-chamber, for 

 Die Hwnrinx donrtcd, in most cases, so Mr. Langstroth told the 

 writer, nitlicr tlian liuilil ill mirh divldcd-up broiid-clidmbcrs. 

 Is not this sufficient evidence that bees dislilje separators ? 



There is, however, quite a point in the warmth of the 

 compartments, where separators are used, and for this reason : 

 If we used separators, we would use tight-top and tight-side 

 sections. If we must put up with the nuisance, for a nuisance 

 they are, we must take advantage of what is good in them, 

 and there Is no doubt, when the nights are cool, that bees 

 work better in a warm compartment than in a cool one. They 

 will carefully avoid placing tlieir honey where there is the 

 least draft or escape of air. This is another evidence of the 

 correctness of Mr. Foster's argument, for it is evidently for 

 fear of the winter's cold, that they avoid placing the honey 

 where it might be unavailable. The experience of years 

 among the bees concurs in proving this correct. 



Our readers are aware that we are specialists in extracted 

 honey production. We use supers with frames of half-depth, 

 and these are placed directly over the brood-chamber, and are 



covered with an oilcloth and a straw mat; for we have long 

 ago discarded the honey-board. It sometimes happens that 

 the cloth becomes worn, and that the bees gnaw hole'J in it. 

 At the approach of cool weather we invariably notice that at 

 all places where the cloth is missing, where the heat can 

 easily escape through the porous straw mat into the cap, the 

 bees have removed the honey. Is not this plain ? 



Our advice, therefore would be: Avoid using separators, 

 if possible ; and in that case let your sections make as nearly 

 a complete single apartment as possible ; but, if you must use 

 separators, use closed-top sections, so as to derive, at least, 

 from your separators, all the benefit there is in them. 



Hancock Co., III. 



A Canadian Bee-Keeper's Visit to California. 



Writlru for iind read at the Spring (ISOd) -Meethuj of the Ja>s 

 Anydes Couidy, Calif., Jiee-Keeper^^ Assodatioti. 



BY F. A. GEMMILL. 



Many times since my return home from my short but 

 greatly-enjoyed visit to your beautiful country, I have been 

 requested to write an article giving a synopsis of what I saw, 

 of what I appreciated most, and what, above all things, would 

 be the most likely to induce me to forsake my native land, to 

 take up my residence in your much-lauded "glorious climate 

 of California." 



Now, it appears to me that my duty is to first present you 

 with such an expression, in honor of the favors you conferred 

 upon me, in so generously electing me an honorary member of 

 your important organization, and the kind treatment you ac- 

 corded me while with you, and which quite a number of your 

 members, and many others as well, still continue to bestow 

 upon me, even since my departure from among you. 



There were many things that I observed whilst sojourn- 

 ing in your midst, some differing greatly from what in my past 

 life I had been accustomed to, but nothing that I could not 

 readily adapt myself to. Therefore any comments on such are 

 not at all necessary, as your people appeared to be good citi- 

 zens, owing, in part, no doubt, to your good schools and good 

 government, but principally to the fact that a goodly number 

 of good Canadians are residents of your good State ; and, last- 

 ly, that some of your best apiarists are, or rather, once were, 

 good, practical Canadian honey-producers ! If this is a trifle 

 hard to assimilate, kindly assist it with a little of your good 

 sage or alfalfa honey, and all will be well. 



But, jesting aside, I want to tell you that I appreciate 

 your climate above everything else — (except yourselves), as I 

 found it to be the very essence ot what I had long hoped for, 

 but which I scarcely ever expected to enjoy, even for a short 

 time ; but that short period has only created the desire for the 

 continuance of it. It appeared ditJicult for me to realize that 

 in the short space of five days, I could be transported, in mid- 

 winter, frcm an atmosphere ranging at from 15 to 25 degrees 

 below zero, with roads almost impassab!.' from snow-drifts, 

 and trains daily delayed for hours, from the same cause ; and 

 find myself ensconced in the bosom of sunshine and summer, 

 with a temperature averaging from ti5 to 85 degrees in the 

 shade, and to have the privilege of plucking ripe oranges from 

 the trees, (this being considered the iwiiic of many a tender- 

 foot's desire), which were growing like the fruits of our own 

 country in mid-summer. This, to me, was indeed the source 

 of great delight, but not more so than to perceive your great 

 facilities for producing tons of No. 1 honey, with as little 

 labor as in almost any other country in the world. This, too, 

 seemed more like a dream than a reality ; and sensations of a 

 very pleasant character often thrilled me, when I thought that 

 bees could in winter " work for nothing and board themselves" 

 — I never before thought that they could, until I went to Cal- 

 ifornia ; and that, in fact, the bees required no care, from the 

 time the honey crop was harvested until the following season ; 

 while we in Canada and the Northern States had much labor 

 in feeding every fall, and otherwise preparing them for their 

 winter nap, whether wintered in the cellar or out-of-doors, 

 with no opportunity of seeing the insects disporting them- 

 selves for ;_i or 4 months, except, possibly, one or two cleansing 

 flights with those wintered on the summer stands ; they being 

 the balance of the time in such a semi-torpid or hibernating 

 state, almost akin to death itself ; and, if wintered In the cel- 

 lar, and one desired a glimpse of the inmates, he had to visit 

 the repository and be contented with a peep under the hive, 

 to see them clustering underneath the combs; yet for fear I 

 may in the near future feel like censuring myself for saying 

 so much in favor of California, I will, like a discreet individual, 

 just add that wo do sometimes get a good crop of good 

 honey oven in Canada, which I presume is because Canada is 



