150 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 11, 



tify their employees to handle comb honey as carefully as they 

 would eggs, and that the Secretary be instructed to send the 

 railroad officials a copy of this resolution. 



M. F. Cram, \ 

 H. L. Leonard, ]- Cum. 

 D. D. Howe, ) 

 The above risDlutlons were iUlmi adopted. 



LOCATING AN APIARY. 



The points to be considered in locating an apiary were dis- 

 cust by M. A. Everest, followed by others. Mr. Manum 

 thought that snow was beneficial, had walkt on the snow on 

 top of the hives and the bees came out in good condition in the 

 spring. 



Mr. Everest thought that bees should be moved to 

 new locations to prevent disease from oid and decaying bees. 



Mr. Manum did not think it necessary, but all that spoke 

 admitted it best to keep everything neat and clean about the 

 apiary. 



SEVERAL QUESTIONS. 



QuES. — " How to clean the pollen from old combs," was 

 then discust. Not many were troubled, but if they were they 

 would melt them into wax. 



QuES. — •' What about the origin of the honey-bee in this 

 country?" 



Ans. — It orignally came from Germany. (Will the editor 

 please tell when, where, and by whom, the first honey-bees 

 were brought to America?) (This editor is unable to answer. 

 Will some one who knows, kindly do so. — Editor.] 



QuE.s. — "Does spring feeding pay?" Mr. Manum re- 

 quested that it be tried at the Experiment Station, and it 

 probably will be again the coming season. 



The subject of foul brood was discust, but it was not 

 shown that there was any genuine foul brood in Vermont. 



It was voted to hold the next annual meeting in Burling- 

 ton, in January, 1898, the time to be set by the Executive 

 Committee. M. F. Cram, Sec. 



CONDUCTED BY 



T>^. V. O. ALLLLER, JUARENGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.! 



What to Do Willi UnliniKlit §eelioii$— Fine Wire 

 ill Section Foiindalion. 



1. I want to know what's best to do with unfinisht sec- 

 tions. All bee books and manuals, while giving long- 

 drawn instructions concerning matters of lesser importance to 

 the tyro, are studiously reticent on this point. Hooker, in his 

 '• Cuide," does go so far as to say that when the honey-flow 

 has ceast, the sections, though unfilled, must be taken off, or 

 the bees will carry the honey down into the hive. It is also 

 stated somewhere that they will carry iip honey to complete 

 them. But not a word of instruction does ho give as to what 

 is to be done with these unfinisht sections, nor does any other 

 author whose work I possess. In turning over files of the 

 American Bee Journal one finds here and there the advice 

 tendered to extract partially finisht sections, but no reason is 

 assigned for this wasteful treatment, and nowhere can I see 

 it recommended that, should another white or amber-colored 

 How be near at hand, they should be left ititact and replaced 

 (Mi the hives at the opening of this second flow for completion. 

 Is there any objection to doing this, that we are never so ad- 

 vised ? If so, will you kindly tell us what it is? And should 

 the partially capt ones be uncapt and the edges broken down 

 a bit when so replaced ? 



I have been wading through E. T. Abbott's series of arti- 

 cles on the production of comb honey, in the hope of finding 

 in them the information I seek, but no; all he says (see page 

 2oO, 1805), is : "One should manage to have as few empty 

 sections as possible" — (he might with equal wisdom have said 

 that one should manage to regulate the honey-How, or regu- 

 Ute the climatic conditions during the period of certain nec- 



tar-secreting flowers blossoming) ; " and," he continues, "un- 

 less those are in very fine condition, it will pay to throw them 

 away and put in fresh ones.'' Is it possible that such leading 

 lights of our industry should thus callously recommend us 

 to cut out say J.i-pound chunks of delicious comb honey from 

 unfinisht sections, and " throw them away?" He might have 

 added, as a warning, not to throw them about the apiary, as 

 it may set up robbing, but throw them preferably into the pig- 

 sty, to the chickens, or to the dogs, for thus they will be got- 

 ten rid of and not prove a source of danger. 



On page 38() of Vol. XXXII this matter of uncompleted 

 sections is made, I see, a "Question-Box" query. But the 

 replies do not suit the conditions I have supposed to exist, as 

 they assume that absence of a honey-How whereby they 

 might be completed for another/uH ye(tr\ whereas, what I am 

 desirous of knowing is, whether, if the interval betwixt the 

 flows is only say six weeks, these half-Hnisht sections cannot 

 be returned to the hives. There may be a slight difference in 

 flavor, and even in tint of the two honey's ; but what of that? 

 better that than to follow Mr. Abbott's advice, and " throw 

 them away ". 



2, What do you think of the new German foundation mill, 

 made partly of cement, and costing only 8'2 cents? It is men- 

 tioned in the Australian Bee-Bulletin for Dec. 28. 



o. What would you think of the plan of having very fine 

 wire in sections to hold the foundation in place ? Instructions 

 could bo printed on the outside, directing consumers how to 

 draw out the wires so as to leave the comb unharmed. 



South Africa. 



Answers. — 1. Very much has been written on the sub- 

 ject of the best thing to do with unfinisht sections, and the 

 question has been answered more than once in these columns, 

 but just as you put the matter it is practically a new question, 

 one that I don't remember to have seen askt before. Your 

 question is as to what shall be done with sections not com- 

 pleted in case there shall be a further honey-flow the same sea- 

 son. I think I should know pretty well what to do with them 

 — at least I know what I have done with them — but I feel a. 

 little shaky as to giving a satisfactory answer to meet all 

 cases. But I'll try. I have known times when the white 

 honey-flow stopt all of a sudden, and then started up again a 

 a few days later. In that case, if the sections had been left in 

 the supers, the supers were put right back on the hives again 

 without any change whatever, and all seemed to be well. 



But suppose the white honey season is over for good, and 

 somewhere from one to six weeks later another flow of darker 

 honey comes. All sections were taken off at the time the white 

 honey stopt, and they were in all stages between foundation 

 untoucht and sections fully completed. In this case the ele- 

 ment of granulation does not come, simply the matter of 

 darker. Of course, there's no question as to what to do with 

 completed sections, they stay off, and equally of course the un- 

 toucht foundation goes back on just as though it had never 

 been on. Some of the sections are very nearly completed, all 

 the cells filled and a very few unsealed. Very likely they 

 may as well stay off, for the gain in putting them back will 

 hardly pay for the trouble. Next come the sections which 

 have 25 to 50 cells not entirely built out. If you put them 

 back on, the cells will be completed and fliled out with the 

 dark honey. The question is: Which is better, the section 

 with unfinisht cells, or the one entirely completed but having 

 a few cells of dark honey ? You must find the answer to that 

 question yourself. In some cases the honey will be only a 

 little darker, and it will be better to have the sections finisht. 

 Your customers may not object to dark honey, and may object 

 seriously to having unfinisht or uncapt cells, and vice versa. 

 You must be governed by the circumstances. 



Suppose the second harvest is ol^ very dark honey, and 

 you decide that it will not do to return such sections as we 

 have been talking about, that are well on toward completion. 

 They will be left off, untoucht foundai m will bo returned, 

 and there will be a dividing line somewhere between. Just 

 where that dividing line shall be drawn depends upon the 

 circumstances I have mentioned, the character of the honey 

 and the character of your market. But somewhere there will 

 be a line, and it will fall pretty well up toward sections of full 

 weight. Almost surely, (unless the dark honey is too bad for 

 table use) it will fall among the sections that are more than 

 half weight. For a section only half tilled is not so generally 

 desired as one completed but of darker color. 



All this is on the supposition that it is deemed best to 

 have all surplus honey in sections. In many cases that will 

 not be deemed best. It will be considered better to get all the 

 light honey in sections, letting the dark honey be extracted or 

 saved in combs for the bees to tise in the fall or following 

 spring. 



In returning the sections there Is no neel to uncap or 



