70 



.AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



Jan. 30, 3 902 



next day lift the cake of wax off the honey, when you have 

 botli wax and honey in shape to use. 



2. '"Could these cappings be pressed in a cheese-press? 

 If not, why not?" 



I am not enough acquainted with a cheese-press to 

 answer intelligently; but my judgment would be that the 

 result would not be satisfactory : and that when the press 

 was used for cheese again there would be some "tall talk" 

 about that "nasty, sticky press." Rather than do that, I would 

 rinse the cappings in water, and use the water for making 

 vinegar. 



UNCAPPING M.^CHINES. 



3. "Do you know how Arthur C. ^Miller's uncapping 

 machine is made?" 



No, I do not know. If there is no secret about it, will 

 Mr. Miller tell as about this matter through tnese columns ? 



PLACING COMBS IN THE EXTR.\CT0R. 



4. "Would a honey-extractor work if the combs were 

 placed with the top-bar toward the center shaft and the bot- 

 tom-bar out toward the side of the can? If not, why not?" 



If I am correct, the honey-e.xtractor works on the prin- 

 ciple, that, when set in motion, the centrifugal force is 

 greater than the atmosoheric pressure on the honey in the 

 cells, and this causes the honey to leave the cells, or fly from 

 the cells, out and away, from the center, the same as water 

 leaves a rapidly -turning grindstone and flies off and away 

 from the stone. With the combs placed as our questioner 

 suggests, the centrifugal force Avould cause the honey to 

 press against the sides of the cells, rather than out at the 

 open ends, and hence little or no headway could be made 

 toward accomplishing the desired results. I should be pleased 

 to hear from others in this matter. .A.s the cells in honey- 

 comb generally incline sli.ghtlv upward, it would appear that 

 better results could be secured, if any, by turning the top-bar 

 toward the can and the bottom-bar toward the central shaft : 

 but I do not think there is anything practical in the idea, 

 anyway, 



VENTILATI.NG HIVES — CELLAR WINTERING. 



5. "How should hives be ventilated while in the cel- 

 lar? That is, at the top and entrance. Can they be stacked 

 up as described in the Root catalog and not have the bees 

 pile out all over the cellar and the one stacking them up?" 



I use the Dr. Miller bottom-board and like it very mucli. 

 This bottom-board has a bee-space on one side — the side 



UIVE U0TTOM-E0.4UI1 ISEIl 1;V IDl. >]H.LEH. 



used during the working season — and a two-inch space on 

 the other, which answers for a stand during the summer, 

 and a place for the bees to cluster in during winter, when the 

 board is "winter side" up : that is, where the cluster is 

 large enough to hang below the combs, the cluster hangs 

 down in this space. This space also allows all dead bees 

 to fall below the combs, and gives all the ventilation nec- 

 essary without further provision, during the time they are in 

 the cellar. It also keeps the bees from falling off the 

 combs, or cetting out over yourself and the cellar-bottom, 

 while putting in and taking out, as a small board closes 

 the hive up tight while carrying in and out of the cellar. 

 But, if the hives are reasonably handled, and the proper 

 amount of care used, not to arouse the bees, as is best under 



all circumstances, very few bees will leave the hive in putting 

 in and piling up in the cellar. 



While at the Auburn, N, .Y., bee institute, a Mr. Mills 

 gave us something new, which was that he made rims of 

 J^-inch lumber of the size of the hive, and ij4 inches deep, 

 on one side of which he tacked the common wire-cloth, such 

 as is used in caging and shipping queens and bees. On 

 warm days, just before time to put the bees into the cellar, 

 he tacked one of these rims at both top and bottom of each 

 hive, the wire-cloth side being out from the hive, and a 

 small entrance, bein,g readily closable, provided in the bottom 

 rim. for the use of the bees, should they have more days 

 of flight before putting in. When putting in, this entrance 

 was closed, and a piece of carpet was placed on top of the 

 wire-cloth at the top, when the hives were piled up, rims 

 all on, and no chance for a single bee to escape during all 

 the winter, the same way Mr. Root pictures in his catalog. 



Being told that this was contrary to all old practices, 

 and asked if he had no trouble with the bees trying to get 

 out, he said he was quite positive that he had less loss, and 

 stronger colonies in the spring, in this way than in any 

 other ; while he avoided all loss of bees from flying out, 

 and the disagreeableness of dead bees on the cellar-bottom. 

 If my life is spared, I shall try this plan in a limited way 

 next winter, as the dead bees on the cellar-bottom are always 

 a nuisance. 



PASSAGE-WAYS THROUGH COMBS. 



6. "Which do you prefer, all things considered, holes 

 through the combs, or a bee-space over the frames for winter- 

 ing?" 



I thoroughly tried the holes through the combs a score 

 of years ago, and proved them of little if any advantagCj 

 while they were a very great nuisance to make, and after 

 being made, were a still greater nuisance in having the bees 

 fill them up the next year with cells of the drone size, so that 

 each hive having such combs sent forth hundreds of drones 

 above what I desired, so I gave the thing up as something 

 not worthy of practice. My hives are so constructed that 

 there is always a bee-space over the frames, and with the 

 Mills plan, this space is one and one-half inches for the 

 bees to pile up in, if they so desire. 



CHOOSING A LOCATION FOR BEE-KEEPING. 



/. "If you were single, at liberty to go where you wished, 

 and intended to make bee-keeping your life work, what State 

 would you choose, all things considered?" 



.According to the question, I would hunt out some good, 

 unoccupied place in New York or Vermont, were Iwney-pro- 

 duction to be my life work. Undoubtedly there are other 

 States which would give a more agreeable climate, and might 

 give a larger yield of honey, but the honey-resources of these 

 States are immense, in favored localities, while their near- 

 ness to the great markets of Boston, Philadelphia and New- 

 York, which (with Chicago), govern the markets of the 

 United States, makes a market facilitv unequaled by any 

 other State giving an average good yield. 



THE LONG-IDEAL HIVE FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



8. "Is not the long-ideal hive the best hive for the 

 production of extracted honey?" 



It might be. were it best to extract every three or four 

 days during the honey-flow, but as such a course is of ques- 

 tionable wisdom, the hive that allows of tiering-up while 

 the honey is ripening, lias the advantage, as I now see it. 

 If there are others who think differently, I should be pleased 

 to hear from them. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



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