550 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 2, 



a finder over it so as to fasten the foundation, as it moves 

 around. 



When I first began bee-keepins, I bought four box-hive 

 colonies and transferred them to frame hives of my own malfe. 

 As I had for guides only Quinby and some French books, I 

 made my frames with heavy top-bars. It was late when I 



transferred, and most of the combs were crooked and full of 

 brood. In order to save the brood, I put in the crooked combs 

 without straightening them. This resulted in bulged combs 

 that had to be spaced accordingly in all sorts of distances. 



%.I0 



This afforded me an opportunity to study how the burr-combs 

 are started, and the influence of a heavy top-bar. 



When the top-bar is too narrow, the combs below are 

 necessarily wider (No. 9) ; then the bees extend them along 

 the top-bar (No. 10^ and finally above it (No. 11). If the 



'Tcqj/ 



top-bars are very thick, the comb extension may be slopt be- 

 fore reaching the top (No. 12), and not go any further. 



If thefR Is more than a bee-space between the supers and 

 brood-framoa, and the bees are lucking space, or cannot work 



in the supers on account of the weather being too cold, they 

 may start burr-combs independently from the combs below. 



If possible, only a bee-space should be left between the 

 frames, and I then think that if the spacing of the frames 

 were exact, and the combs all built in the center, there would 

 bo no burr-combs ; but an exact regularity is not always at- 

 tained, so I would advise a top-bar thick enough to prevent 

 the extension of comb from reaching above (No. 12). At any 

 rate, a top-bar less than K inch thick would not be stiff 

 enough; % is better on account of holding the side-bars 

 nailed at the ends. Knox Co., Tenn. 



8 



CONOnCTBD BY 



DR. O. O. JMiXtER, afAKBNGO, Iti. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direot.i 



■low to Class Sweet Clover Honey. 



1. How can I class my sweet clover honey ? Is it called 

 (irst-class ? Alfalfa honey is so very white, that everything 

 else looks dark by comparison. 



2. If honey is dark, but sealed over white, and looks very 

 nice, is it clast as white? Colorado. 



An.swers. — 1. I hardly know just what the standing of 

 sweet clover is, but I think it would be considered first-class. 

 Certainly it would so far as color is concerned, but testimony 

 is a little conflicting as to flavor. Some say there is nothing 

 finer in flavor, and others condemn it, but probably the bal- 

 ance of testimony would be in its favor. 



2. No, the honey must be white as well as the comb. 



Rendering Old Coinbx into Wax. 



What is the best way to render beeswax from old comb on 

 a small scale ? Ohio. 



Answer. — Probably nothing is better than a solar wax 

 extractor, and for a small quantity a very cheap affair can 

 be gotten up. A box covered over with a pane of glass, and 

 inside of this an old dripping-pan with one corner torn open, 

 and a dish underneath the dripping-pan to catch the melted 

 wax that runs off the dripping-pan, and you have a solar wax- 

 extractor. Of course the dripping-pan must be placed in a 

 slanting position so that the wax will flow toward the split 

 corner. The same dripping-pan may be used as a wax-ex- 

 tractor ai any time when the sun is not shining. Put It in the 

 oven of a cook-stove, leaving the oven door open, with the 

 split corner projecting out, and a dish set on the kitchen floor 

 to catch the melted wax. 



Bcc§ Working in the SnperD. 



1. ,Iuly 3, as the bees in one of my hives had commenced 

 to build comb on the top of the brood-frames, I put on a super 

 as per Instructions in the text-book. In one week they had 

 eight or nine sections full and sealed over, so I raised the 

 super and put an empty one under. They commenced to work 

 in it all right, and each week since I have expected to find It 

 half full, ready to put a third one under, but to-day (Aug. 14) 

 I tlnd only six sections capt over, and comb started in some of 

 the others. In the top super there are 14 sections flnisht, 

 and comb started in a good many of the others. Now, what I 

 want to And out is, should I take away the sections that have 



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