

>^!i-^/N AMERICA J^ 



42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MARCH 13, 1902, 



No, 11, 



^ Editdrial. ^ i 



Too Much Theory is the complaint 

 i]ciitor lluteliinson lias liad from some of his 

 readers, t'hililrea don't always know what's 

 good for them, Mr. Hutchinson. Americans 

 are nothing;: if not practical. A man may be 

 a good eiitfineer without knowing just how a 

 locomotive is built; but he will be a better 

 one if he knows just how the different parts 

 of his machine are put together. 



Comb Honey in Barrels. — G. A. Dead- 

 man, in the Canadian Bee .Tournal, gives as 

 one arguhient in favor of shipping comb 

 honey in barrels the saving of freight. Honey 

 In barrels goes as second-class freight, and as 

 the classification does not specify extracted 

 honey, he ships comb honey at second-class 

 rates, the only way in which he can get so 

 low rates, as will be seen by the following 

 table : 



Honey in glass, packed in cases 1st class 



Honey in cans, not boxed 1st " 



Honey in cans, boxed or crated 2d " 



Honey in kegs or barrels 3d •' 



Honey in comb, boxed, owner's risk. .1st " 



Consumption of Stores, says M. Bellot 

 in Revue Int., in well-protected colonies, is 

 sometimes not more than one kilogram (2.2 

 pounds) for the months of November, Decem- 

 ber and January ; but as soon as the bees are 

 in activity, or even simply in movement, the 

 consumption increases in an incredible de- 

 gree. The effect of activity upon the amount 

 of stores consumed is strikingly shown in the 

 many swarms that he ships. For a swarm of 

 nearly 4 pounds he calculates a consumption 

 of irtoSO ounces the first day, and a little 

 less upon succeeding days. A swarm of 4i.> 

 pounds during a journey of 11 days consumed 

 somewhat more than 2^.1 pounds of honey. 

 During the latter part of the journey the bees 

 became accustomed to the disturbance, and 

 quieted down so as to consume less. 



Waste of Time at ConTentions re- 

 ceives some vigorous handling from F. L. 

 Thompson, in the Progressive Bee-Keeper. He 

 says: 



When I get up to talk I feel like a dull and 

 rusty augur boring into tough wood. So 

 when I listen to the false starts, the twice or. 

 thrice told phrases and the indecisive expres- 

 sions that ther.iselves make repetition neces- 

 sary. I feel that we are all about in the same 

 box anyway — if I think about it at all. But 

 what does make me feel as if little ants were 



crawling all over me, is for ani-1 easy talker 

 — one who (•(/// siiy just what he wants to — to 

 get up and delilierately ramble all over crea- 

 tion, just as if he were in a corner grocery. 



Also that when bee-keepers "drive many 

 miles to a convention, or pay railroad fare 

 and hotel bills, tlii^y have a right to expect 

 that the limited time of the convention itself 

 (not speaking of the intermissions which can 

 be spent socially it desired,) shall be devoted 

 to that which conventions alone can give; and 

 that anything else, no matter how valuable, 

 which can as well l)e procured in other ways, 

 shall be rigorously excluded. The presiding 

 olHcer should consider it one of his chief 

 duties to keep the discussion business-like to 

 the point." 



■♦ 



Ijarge Ventihition for Bee-Cellars is 



advocated in (ileanings in Bee-Culture by 

 T. F. Bingham. Instead of a 3-inch ventilator- 

 flue, 16 inches is better. He says: 



My first winter's experience with a three- 

 inch ventilator-flue in my cellar demonstrated 

 conclusively its insufficiency. My hives, like 

 Mr. Doolittle's. became charged with water; 

 and, while not painted, they do not fail to 

 show that they have been five months in a 

 warm, damp atmosphere. A hundred colo- 

 nies of bees consuming 400 pounds of honey 

 per month ' would liberate not less than 35 to 

 40 pounds of water per week. Just suppose 

 two pails of water to be thrown into an air- 

 tight cellar once every Sunday for five months, 

 said cellar to be at a temperature of 40 to .50 

 degrees. 



Size of Hives for Idaho. — From the 

 report of the Idaho convention given in the 

 Kocky Mountain Bee Journal, the following 

 is taken : 



Pennington Bros, found that the average 

 good queen could occupy 13 frames before the 

 honey-flow. On these large hives comb-honey 

 supers holding 40 4x5 sections are used, with 

 shallow extracting combs when running for 

 extracted honey. They found that such a 

 colony would fill 40 sections as quickly as an 

 S-frame colony would fill 24 sections. 



Mrs. Paul preferred the 8-frame hive for 

 comb honey. 



E. F. Atwater gave the bees 10, 16 or 20 

 frames before the flow and then contracted to 

 S or 10 frames when the flow began, with a 

 preference for 8 frames. 



AVax-Presses and Solar Extractors. 



— Wax-presses have come prominently to the 

 front lately, but K. C. Alkin thinks there is 

 still use for the solar wax-extractor. It seems 

 to be a great waste to depend on the solar for 

 old combs, and when it has done its best on 

 any combs there is still paying work for the 

 press, but Mr. Aikin, in Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture, expresses his view as to the further need 

 of the solar in these words: 



A press is a necessity and a money-saver. 



You will now say, if we must have a press, 

 why build a solar '. I will tell you. There is 

 scarcely a bit of comb, burr-comb, cappings, 

 or whatever you want to melt, but has in it 

 more or less honey. If you put these through 



the water pr'ocess in either bag or press, you 

 lose this honey. The .«aving in hcjney that 

 can be used in feeding or in vinegar-making, 

 and even for table use, will soon pay for sev- 

 eral solars. It also saves time and loss in 

 other ways, and the first run of wax that Is 

 gotten by the solar is brighter and nicer than 

 can be had by the wet process. One who has 

 never used a s<jhir will have little idea how 

 much honey can be aceummulnted by means of 

 the solar — just that much saved. The slum- 

 gum taken from the solar can be worked by 

 the press later at your convenience. 



To this Editor Root replies: 



I myself believe, and have so stated, that 

 the solar wax-extractor has its place. I be- 

 lieve that nearly all refuse, so tar as possible, 

 should be put through it first, because the 

 wax that the sun renders out is of a superior 

 i|uality. But the slumgum from the solar 

 and ijUl combs should be put through the 

 wax-press. A bee-keeper who thinks he can 

 get along without a press of some kind is 

 probably throwing away gold dollars by the 

 handful. All refuse from the sun machines 

 should be by all means saved. 



Inij)ortance of Even Temperature 



in bee-cellars is urged by R. F. Holtermann 

 in Gleanings in Bee-Culture. Even the varia- 

 tion of one degree causes a change in the- 

 position of the bees, and this activity is detri- 

 mental to the best wintering. One particular 

 colony has been closely observed, and of this 

 he says : 



At 40 degrees the cluster contracts suffi- 

 ciently to draw all the bees above the bottom- 

 boards, and out of sight when you cast your 

 eye through the opening made between the 

 bottom-board and body by blocking up the 

 brood-chamber three-eighths of an inch. At 

 41 a few bees appear below the bottom-bar; 

 at 42, still more. This condition has pre- 

 vailed all winter. That cellar, I believe, has 

 not varied 4 degrees all winter, and it affords 

 a beautiful object-lesson. Variations in tem- 

 perature cause, as per above (contraction and 

 expansion of the cluster), activity; and to 

 husband vitality and stores, this is not desir- 

 able. 



^ 



Acid in Wax-Reflning. — An important 

 correction is nuide in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, 

 saying that instead of 5 to 25 percent, there 

 should be only about 1 percent as much acid 

 as water. Editor Root says : 



It is our daily practice in refining the com- 

 mercial product as we buy it, to use half a 

 gallon of raw acid to two barrels (60 gallons) 

 of water. This would be less than 1 percent 

 of acid to water. If the wax is very dark we 

 make a slight increase. Very "light wax 

 would require less than halt a gallon. In re- 

 fining commercial wax anywhere from K to 

 I'.j percent of acid may be used; but in the 

 handling of old, dark combs, especially slum- 

 gum, it will be necessary to increase the 

 amount to perhaps 2 percent; but in that 

 case it would be better to render the wax 

 again in clean water so as to get out the 

 slight traces of acid or acid smell. The \ or 

 one percent solution of acid never leaves any 

 trace, so far as we can discover, in the wax. 



