June 20, 1907 



I^Am^rican Bee Jonrnal j 



^^ii 



<'». <^tp 1 



I'll do as well by you now If you for- 

 ijive tlio an.swors 1 have iiiadc-. 



You don't need any special queen- 

 rearing oullit for 10 queens a year, nur 

 for 100. I'll tell you how you can rear 

 just as good ciueens as can be reared 

 from your stock, with no other outfit 

 than what every bee-keeper Is supposed 

 to have on hand : 



Take a frame out of the hive contain- 

 ing your best (|ueen, and put in itJ 

 place a frame with a starter an inch 

 or so deei). A week or so later you 

 will find the bees have filled the frame 

 % full, more i)r less, with new comb, 

 with larvjfc well advanced down to eggs 

 around the outside edge. Trim off that 

 outer edge that contains only eggs 

 leaving the larvie. It isn't easy to be 

 exact about this, and it isn't very par- 

 tiiular, only don't cut awav any of the 

 larvie; no harm if you leave some of 

 the eggs. Indeed it is not absolutely 

 necessary to cut off any of the comb; 

 only that outer margin is in the bees' 

 way. Now put your prepared comb ui 

 tlie middle of a strong colony from 

 which you have removed the queen, and 

 in 9 or 10 days cut out the celKs and 

 give them to nuclei. In about 2 weeks 

 later you ought to find most of them 

 changed into laying queens. You see 

 It isn t a very complicated matter, and 

 needs no special outfit. 



You note that I give no date as to 

 when you are to do these things I 

 can t, because it may be 3 weeks later 

 one year than another. But be sure 

 not to begin too early. In your locality 



'^J^u^;^'"''". '° ''*'='" '" March yon 

 wouldn t get one good queen out of 

 .0. Figure so as to give the brood to 

 the queenless colony when bees are 

 working prosperously in the fields. In 

 your locality that probably means that 

 the bees should not start to build 

 queen-cells until white clover begins to 



JhU'r.."^* " f^ """ ■'''*^'" ^"^ of course 

 the empty frame must be given to your 

 best colony a week or so earlier. 



Now if I've failed to answer just 

 ro'ts/agam."' '° ■^"°"-' <^°"'' ^-''^"^ 



Methods of Filling T-Supers 



th?"-^^^^ 905 (1906) is a discussion of 

 the T-super by you and Frank H 



^.""ni?'' t'?£'^/^^°'''"^ 'hat kind of 

 super. Like Mr. Drexel, I have blamed 

 the manufacturers for forcing and 

 keeping them out of the market, which 

 I be leve to be that the section-holder 

 can be got up a little cheaper, yet when 

 I send them a sample of mine, they get 

 them up for the same price. The kind 



str"o1f=-'^v'.'; f?"<^" "P ^^- Elvin Arm- 

 strong over J5 years ago. He got up 



t n^'",'"'? T-super which was spoken 

 well of at that time by the American 

 fh^t'^h"'"^^' ^°°" a"«'- that I learned 

 Ahr'.f in^'* *^°"'= °"' °f the business. 

 About 10 years ago, I wanted to get 

 tnTfi"°''? °^ those supers, and sint 

 to a firm for some T-supers, and att»r 

 an aggravating length of time the'y 

 sent me the section-holder, and I have 

 not forgiven them for it to this day I 

 "imr °" '^'""'^ the second 



<=tJ„„"^T """"^ ^ sample of the Arm- 

 strong to a firm m Minneapolis. That 

 mn"^. ''K^"^?'^ hands before I wanted 

 more but the pattern with the change 

 was lost, so next I sent to another Arm, 

 vpt Tr,®",^",",^*" *hey have the pattern 

 yet. In all the catalogs I have received 

 for years I looked for the Armstrong 

 T-super but in all I found the immut- 

 able section-holder, with ever and anon 

 words of some one that they don't lik.^ 

 tne T-super for some reasons which I 

 think do not exist in the Armstrong 

 super, ^nd I know some of the objec- 

 tions which you urge in yours do not 

 exist in mine. One of these is that 

 they are liable to fall to pieces if you 

 are not careful. Now, I don't care who 

 aoesn t use them, or who dislikes them, 

 but I have paid out $1.00 in expressage 

 besides losing 2 supers to get what I 

 wanted. I suppose you and Mr. Drexel 

 use the same kind of supers and both 

 bank on the short time it takes you to 

 fill them, but time has cut no figure 



with me, as I have but few bees and 

 plenty of time on my hand-s, but, ail 

 things considered. I don't think you 

 can distance me much. 



1. I was amused by your direction 

 how to make a super-filler, page 140, of 

 "Forty Years Among the Bees." A queer 

 super-filler, thought I. Miss Wilson 

 page 247, is the super-flller, and your 

 super-filler Is the super. It seemed to 

 me as I read it, your super-filler was 

 filled, and its contents to be dumped 

 into the super. 



2. It seems from you and Mr. Drexel 

 you fill the super crosswise, while I fill 

 the other way, .and I think in the long 

 run I can do the work about as quieklv 

 as you. You fold the sections and stack 

 them on a boanl, you must take some 

 extra time to do that or you will have 

 a scatterment of them, and may have 

 occasionally anyway. I fold by a sec- 

 tion-press different from yours, but per- 

 haps no better, and I may pitch them 

 into a bushel basket and save time 

 over you. Sitting as Miss Wilson does, 

 having the starter put in, I can put it 

 into the super quicker than she can 

 stack the empty supers on a board. 

 Putting the far left-hand corner sec- 

 tion in and adjusting the tin to it. I 

 take the next, and so on until I have 

 the far side filled. Putting the sep- 

 arator in, I ran put the next row in 

 nearly as fast as I can pick them up 

 and lay them down. It appears that 

 you put the .separators in after you 

 have all the seetions in. How you ge;. 

 them in except one at a time, I don't 

 know, but perhaps you do. 



3. You claim that you have seen 

 every kind of a T-super but I feel sat- 

 isfied that you have never seen my kind 

 or you would never object to some 

 things, such as its falling to pieces. 

 The only %vay of getting it to pieces 

 is to tear it to pieces. I could turn it 

 either side up as I use starters only in 

 sections. 



As to section-holders, the only fault 

 I ever raised against them was that the 

 bees would glue them fast so that I 

 had to tear them to pieces to get them 

 out. I did not have them long enough 

 to warp. How those who used them 

 kept the bees from sticking them fast. 

 I don't know, and X don't care to know, ' 

 for I don't want them. 



I had a letter from Elvin Armstrong 

 last fall from Colorado, saying he had 

 improved his super and was going to 

 get several thousand of them cut out 

 by some factory and would come 'n 

 when he had sold his honey. He had 

 several thousand pounds. He said h» 

 would bring you and me a super, and 

 if you did not say it was the best, he 

 would be surprised. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. You are quite right 

 when you say "Miss Wilson is the 

 super-flller," and quite wrong when you 

 say, "your super-filler is the super." 

 The same word, as you well know, may 

 mean two different things. Looking iii 

 the dictionary. I find the definition of 

 the word "filler" in part as follows: 

 "One who or that which fills or is used 

 for filling. Specifically: (1) A funnel." 

 If a boy were filling a barrel with 

 water, using a funnel for the purpose, 

 you would say the boy is the filler, and 

 at the same time you would hardlv 

 dispute the dictionary that the funnel 

 is also a filler. So w-hile Miss Wilson 

 was the filler, was not the implement 

 "used for filling" also a filler? When 

 you say that my super-flller is a super, 

 you evidently misunderstand the whole 

 affair. Please turn to page 148 of the 

 book, and you will see that the super- 

 flller is not a .super at all — doesn't in 

 the least look like a super, as you will 

 see by the picture of a super-filler on 

 page 1S9. 



2. It takes less time to pitch sec- 

 tions in a basket than to put them in 

 a straight pile. Y'ou are quite right in 

 that. But please note that it takes less 

 time to pick them oft the pile when 

 putting in foundation than it does to 

 pick them out of the basket, because 

 when they are piled they are always 

 standing the same side up, always in 

 the right position to go to the founda- 

 tion-fastener, hut in the basket they 

 are all sides up. and you must take 



time to put them In the right position. 

 Occasionally we may use the basket 

 method, but we think the other way 

 better In the longr run. We've tri -d 

 both ways; 1 wonder if you have. We've 

 also tried putting the sections into the 

 super your way, which. If 1 understand 

 correctly. Is to put the T-tlns in place 

 before all the sections are In, so that 

 most of the sections must be put in be- 

 tween the tins, and that takes ever 

 so mucl; more time than to slip each 

 tin under tne sections after the sectloni' 

 are In But to do this easily the super- 

 filler Is essential. 



3. If I ever claimed that I had seen 

 every kind „( T-suier ii was a wild 

 claim, certainly. There niav be a 

 ?^^S.m'"'''* that I have never heard 

 or. btui, I ve seen quite a few different 

 Supers. 



More About Texas Sumac. 



Keferring again to the kind of sumac 

 spoken of in my article on page 279, I will 

 say that I do not know enough of botany 

 to enable me to give a correct description 

 of this shrub: but it is a large, rather 

 bushy kind, seldom baving many branches 

 low down on the main body. The leaves 

 are oblong, pointed, smooth, dark green, 

 branching out from a common stem The 

 lierncs, when ripe, are a bright scarlet 

 color, and hang, or rather stand, on a 

 short, stiff bunch of stems. It begins to 

 open Its bloom about July 25, seldom vary- 

 ing more than a few days. The period of 

 bloom extends, as a rule, to the middle of 

 August. The flower buds form at the ex- 

 tremities of the season's growth of new 

 wood, and are often as large as a teacup. 

 They seem to be altogether composed of a 

 series of small petals, each containing a 

 nectar cup or gland. Bees alight on the 

 bunch and work over the entire flower It 

 IS a composite plant, yielding both pollen 

 and honey in great plenty. The pollen is 

 a fine creamy-yellow color, and during the 

 first few days of Its blooming season the 

 bees seem to gather an immense quantity 

 of It. but later they gather only honey 



I am sending some of the leaves and 

 berries. They taste very acid, but that is 

 not strange, for. as you know, all of this 

 species are tannic-acid plants. 



This Is about all that I am able to tell 

 about it. The natural habitat of this 

 shrub IS West Texas, though it extends to 

 a part of the Central Texas counties. I 

 have never met with it in Southwest Texas 

 though a few of this kind grew near my 

 old home in I!ee county. 



The honey from it is a very light yellow 

 or pale straw color, very thick and heavy, 

 and fine flavored. ' I had a sample at San 

 Antonio. It is. according to my experience 

 a most certain yielder. and it we had even 

 one more plant its equal bee-keeping would 

 be a very profitable business here. As it 

 i.s. we get nn averaee of .in pounds to the 

 strong colony, though I have managed to 

 siet :;io [j.iuiiiis from a few choice colonies 

 and I feel sure that I will be able to get 

 a heavy yield the coming season 



I have a new system by which I am able 

 to get the most powerful and efficient work- 

 ing force. This contemplates the use of 

 two queens in each hive, though not used 

 in the manner lately described by some 

 writers. My non-swarming board is used 

 for the purpose. As I stated, by Its use 

 last year I was enabled to get 210 pounds 

 from some few colonies. I think its possi- 

 bilities are very great along that line, but 

 L^i^x",?' trying to urge its use: I know 

 that I have a good thing for mv own use 

 at least j. e. Chambees. ' 



Concho Co., Tex. 



[The leaves sent differ greatly from those 



of the sumac common in the North, being 



only 11,4 inches in length and scarcely % 



In width. •' ™ 



By all means tell us about your plan of 



working two queens in the same colony 



KuiTon.J ■'' 



