October, 1907. 



American ^ee Journal 



were 3 years old. He put into the same 

 cage 2 queens that had been laying only 

 a few days, and they showed fight. Pos- 

 sibly success might be obtained with any 

 2 queens, if, instead of being put in the 

 same cage, they were put into 2 differ- 

 ent cages and imprisoned in the same 

 hive. Certainly there could be no fight- 

 ing during the time of imprisonment 

 m the cages, and at the end of that 

 time they might be ready to be good to 

 each other. 



Attachment of Sections to Separa- 

 tors 



For some reason it sometimes happens 

 that a little bridge of wax is built be- 

 tween the separator and the sealed sur- 

 face of a section. This is more likely 

 to be the case if there is some crowd- 

 ing for room, which favors bar-combs in 

 general. Once in a while a colony seems 

 to have a special tendency in that di- 

 rection, many of the sections in each of 

 Its supers being thus fastened to the sep- 

 arators, and it is not a bad plan, at the 

 first convenient opportunity, to replace 

 the queen of such a colony with a queen 

 of better tendencies. 

 _ When this trouble exists, and the sec- 

 tions are taken out with no special care, 

 the capping is sure to be pulled awayi 

 resulting in a "bleeding" section. To 

 avoid this, before the sections are taken 

 Olit of the super, cut through the bridge 

 with a sharp knife having a thin blade 

 Still better, cut through with a heated 

 blade which melts the wax. 



Extracting-Conibs on Till Close of 

 Season 



Years ago the Dadants stood pretty 

 much alone in the practise of leaving 

 extractmg-combs on the hives till the 

 close of the season. With the idea 

 that more honey could thereby be ob- 

 tamed, in many cases honev was thrown 

 out of the comb when little or none of 

 It was sealed. Some claimed it could 

 be ripened out of the hive as well as in 

 Whether that be correct or not, the 

 tact was that it was not well-ripened in 

 most cases, and the amount of unripe 

 s^ff thrown upon the market had an 

 effect from which extracted honey suf- 

 fers till the present. It seems to be con- 

 ceded now that there is no real ?nin 

 m the amount obtained by extracn'nt^ 

 before sealing; only loss in the quality 

 of the honey. Even if it were just as 

 well to extract one time as another, the 

 matter of convenience should incline 

 toward waiting till the rush of work at 

 the bees :s over. Artificial heat can 

 make the combs even warmer than when 

 just taken from the hives. 



Comb Honey by Express 



We have received he following in re- 

 gard to shipping comb-honey by ex- 

 press : 



Editor American Bee Journal: — 



Ought we not to do something to 

 make express companv employes handle 

 honey more carefully? If the sections 

 are in regular shipping-cases, with glass 

 fronts and hand-holes, why should 

 honey arrive in a great big mess? I 

 shipped a lot to New York, and 23 



percent was smashed. Everybody knows, 

 of course, with what keen sense of re- 

 sponsibility and most delicate feeling our 

 trunks are dumped from the express- 

 car on the truck I Why such a fragile 

 article as honey should not be handled 

 carefully, I really do not understand. 



Let us be up and doing, to bring some 

 pressure to bear upon the head men of 

 the express companies, so that they will 

 instruct their employes to exercise the 

 proper care in handling other people's 

 property. To patronize a concern, pay 

 for transporting charges, and then have 

 one's goods damaged and smashed, is an 

 outrage. C. T. Ohlinger. 



Angelica, N. Y. 



This, of course, is a serious matter to 

 bee-keepers who wish to send comb 

 honey by express. But it is a difficult 

 matter to ship comb honey safely if it is 

 not properly protected or packed. It 

 would seem that if the express com- 

 panies accept comb honey, they ought to 

 be held responsible for any damage to 

 it while in their hands. 



This is a matter that the Committee 

 on Freight-Rates, of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, might well con- 

 sider. Why not have it brought up at 

 the Harrisburg convention, Oct. 30 and 

 31? ■ 



Two Queens or Moj-e in One Colony 



A few months ago, the somewhat 

 .startling announcement was made in 

 Gleanings that E. W. Alexander had 

 succeeded in having in the same colony, 

 not separated by excluder zinc, but with 

 free access to each other, 2 or more 

 laying queens. Mr. Alexander has at 

 last made known the plan by which he 

 succeeds in accomplishing this, which 

 plan will be found on another page of 

 this number. A hasty reading may 

 make it seem to some that a good deal 

 of time and labor is involved in the 

 proceeding, but a careful study will 

 make this appear a good deal less. 



It would be premature to say just 

 how successful others will be in carry- 

 ing out the plan until it has been thor- 

 oughly tried. For such trial many will 

 still have opportunity this fall. Of 

 course, all uniting of weak colonies 

 should have been done before this, but 

 equally, of course, some colonies are 

 likely still to be left that are not as 

 strong as might be desired. One or 

 more weaklings may have been left 

 merely for the chance of wintering over 

 their queens. If 2 such queens can be 

 induced to live peaceably together, the 

 chances of wintering over will be in- 

 creased by the union of the colonies. 



Let it be urged that whoever tries 

 the plan should follow strictly the in- 

 structions given by Mr. Alexander. A 

 slight deviation in a single particular, 

 even if it seem of no consequence, may 

 bring failure. Let it be noted that al- 

 though it is only incidentally mentioned, 

 the first step in the process — removing 

 the queen and brood, and putting the 

 bees in the bo.x — is taken in the morn- 

 ing, giving from that time until sun- 

 down for the distress of the queenless 

 bees to reach its climax. 



If it turns out that Mr. Alexander's 

 plan can be generally carried out with 



success, it is hard to estimate its im- 

 portance. If nothing more could be 

 gained than the wintering over of one 

 or more e.xtra queens in a colony, that 

 alone would be an immense step in ad- 

 vance. But Mr. Alexander claims an- 

 other advantage that many will esti- 

 mate still more highly. He says he has 

 never had a colony with 2 or more 

 laying queens prepare to swarm. While 

 some might -not value this, there are 

 others who would gladly double to- 

 gether every pair of colonies in the 

 spring if they might be safe from all 

 anxiety about swarming. 



Producing Best Extracted Honey 



In the Bee-Keepers' Review for Au- 

 gust there is quite a little about produc- 

 ing well-ripened honey. On receipt of 

 that copy, Mr. R. A. Burnett, who is 

 perhaps the oldest honey dealer in Chi- 

 cago, wrote us the following comment : 



Editor York : — The first two articles 

 in the Bee-Keepers' Review of August 

 make the blood in the writer circulate 

 with the freedom of youth. Just to 

 think that the wise editor has reached 

 the autumn of life before he knew what 

 he describes in these words: 



"It is then perfectly ripened and all 

 sealed over, and has a body and flavor of 

 which I never dreamed until I put this 

 method into practice." 



What practice? you may ask. It is 

 that of letting the bees complete their 

 sacrifice in ripening the honey in their 

 homes. 



Mr. Townsend has proved for himself 

 that more honey than he can produce, of 

 a perfect quality, is needed to supply 

 those who once get a taste of such as 

 he describes. The writer has main- 

 tained for many years that the greatest 

 enemy of the bee-keepers is the bee- 

 keeper who offers unripe honey for 

 sale. If honey-producers will heed the 

 prayer of Mr. E. D. Townsend. uttered 

 in the last sentence of his article above 

 mentioned, it will bring them money, 

 and blessings. R. A. Burnett. 



Chicago, August 28th. 



The particular statement to which Mr. 

 Burnett refers is contained in tins from 

 Editor Hutchinson himself: 



"In the frontispiece this month I am 

 showing you a view of the Morey apiary. 

 No honey has yet been taken off, but 

 you can see that we are to get a fair 

 crop, and by the time these lines greet 

 the eyes of my readers, much of the 

 extracting will have been done. You 

 see, we have plenty of supers and combs 

 or sheets of foundation, and vhcn a 

 colony is in need of more room it is 

 given, but all of the honey is left on 

 until the end of the season. It is then 

 perfectly ripened and all sealed over, and 

 has a body and flavor of which I never 

 dreamed until I put this method into 

 practice. The honey will be taken off 

 with bee-escapes, and then warmed up 

 artificially before it is extracted. One 

 end of the honey-house is partitioned 

 off, making a room 5x12 and six feet 

 high. By means of an oil stove we can 

 bring the temperature in this room up 

 to no degrees, if we wish, and 05 is 

 high enough. Honey warmed up arti- 



