1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



299 



single hives, with the same spacing 

 as before. If the bees of No 5 enter 

 a wrong hive, it will most likely be 

 No. 2 or No. 8, because these are the 

 nearest hives that resemble No. 6 in 

 appearance, and the distance from No. 

 5 to either of these is 101 inches. So 

 the plan given by Dr. White is 68 per 

 cent safer than to have all in pairs. 

 Worth considering. 



There, I've said more than I in- 

 tended when I started in on that, but 

 perhaps it may be of enough import- 

 ance to print. Anyway, you mustn't 

 blame me if I talk a good deal today, 

 for I never was 89 years old before. 



AN OLD-TIME METHOD OF SHIP- 

 PING BEES 



Through the kindness of M. H. 

 Fairbanks, of Homer, N. Y., we are 

 able to reproduce the following ac- 

 count of the manner of shipping bees 

 to California in an early day. The 

 clipping is from an old copy of the 

 American Agriculturist. Although 

 the date had been cut off, it appar- 

 ently appeared in the days of Harbi- 

 son : 



Transporting Bees 



"Large shipments of bees have been 

 recently made to California, and the 

 demand for the Pacific Coast, as well 

 as down the Atlantic, and other dis- 

 tant points, is increasing. Several in- 

 quiries have been addressed to us for 

 information, as to the best mode of 

 preparing them for transportation, 

 when to be carried over the water, 

 and especially when to be subjected 

 to a change of climate in passing 

 through the tropics. We cannot bet- 

 ter answer these queries than to give 

 the accompanying illustration, which 

 we sketched from one of a lot of 

 hives passing through this city on its 

 way to California. The hive was of 

 the common box form, having draw- 

 ers at the top. A narrow strip of 

 board was nailed upon each of the 

 four corners, which projected down 

 about 6 inches below the bottom of 

 the hive, to form temporary legs. 

 Over the open bottom of the hive a 

 sheet of wire-cloth was nailed, its 

 edges being bent up, and tacked to 

 the edge all around. This formed an 

 open-work box, hanging down some 

 4 inches, or within 2 inches of the 

 bottom of the temporary legs. The 

 drawers were removed and wire-cloth 

 nailed over. This arrangement se- 

 cures free ventilation and access to 

 air and light, without allowing the 

 bees to escape. When carried on 

 land, the hives were turned upward, 

 but when taken on shipboard, they 

 were set in their natural position. 

 We learn that by this arrangement 

 there has been little loss among the 

 hundreds of swarms that have gone 

 to California during the past four 

 months." 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE 



By George B. Dickerson 

 I had an experience last summer 

 which perplexed me very much at 

 the time, and I have wondered many 

 times since if other beekeepers have 

 ever noticed a parallel case. 



Where I have my home the bee 

 range is pretty well crowded, so I 



keep only about a dozen stands there 

 and have a couple of outyards, one 

 about five miles and the other about 

 eight. 



Last May, in the S-mile apiary, I 

 ran onto a case of European foul- 

 brood. So I promptly killed the 

 queen, which, by the way, was small 

 and black, and proceeded to treat the 

 colony. After a few days, of course, 

 I removed the queen-cells and was 

 careful to get them all, too. After 

 several days I put in two ripe cells 

 from a choice golden Italian I had at 

 another apiary. I put in two be- 

 cause I had just two left, and no place 

 to put them. Along in June I looked 

 in the hive and found brood in all 

 stages and plenty of it, and a fine 

 looking golden queen. When I saw 

 the queen I stopped looking, closed 

 the hive and left it so until late in 

 August, when I decided to get all the 

 goldens out of that yard and replace 

 them with leather-colored. I took 

 the queen from this hive back home 

 and put her in a queen-mating nu- 

 cleus to keep until I should find use 

 for her elsewhere, and placed in the 

 hive a caged queen to be released by 

 the bees, as per regulation. 



On returning six days later the 

 queen in the cage was not released 

 and in fact they had tried to smother 

 her by sticking up the screen. Being 

 surprised, I started looking through 

 the brood-chamber and found brood 

 from eggs up. On the second frame 

 I took up was a fine large golden 

 queen which looked just like the 

 other one I had taken out. At first I 

 thought the queen had left the nu- 

 cleus and come back to her old home. 

 I had heard of such things, but had 

 never 'seen it, besides the distance 

 was too great I thought. Well, I 

 went over and looked and she was 

 right where I had left her, so I had 

 an extra queen. I can't see any 

 other way but they both came out of 

 the cells, mated and worked side by 

 side in the same hive for over two 

 months, which is, according to my 

 experience and observation, very 

 much against the nature of the 

 "beast." 



My hives are all numbered and 

 when I work a stand I make a no- 

 tation on the cover of the work and 

 date, which I copy in a small note 



book which I keep for that purpose, 

 before leaving the yard. As all the 

 records correspond in every detail 1 

 can't see any chance for an error on 

 my part. 



Someone else come along witli your 

 experience along these lines. 



Rl Cajon, Calif. 



Box used for shipping bees to the Pacific Coast 

 in the days of Harbison. 



TAKING GRANULATED HONEY 

 FROM BARRELS 



By C. P. Dadant 



"As Mr. Dadant has used barrels 

 for years, 1 would like to see an arti- 

 cle from him on how to get honey out 

 of the barrels when it is granulated. 

 Did you ever try to heat the barrel 

 to melt the honey?" 



New York. G. W. HAINES. 



Answer. No, I never tried to heat 

 the barrel. As wood is a non-conduc- 

 tor of heat, it might be a slow job. 



If you expect your honey to granu- 

 late in the barrels, it is best to have 

 them standing on end at the time of 

 granulation, though it is not indis- 

 pensable. If you have one end up, 

 whatever there may be of foam, of 

 impurities, particles of wax, etc., will 

 be at the top, and as the barrel is 

 never filled entirely, the head will not 

 touch the honey. It is a little more 

 difficult to remove when it touches 

 the granulated honey. 



Mark your barrel head and the 

 stave ends with a pencil or a crayon 

 in two places, so that you may be 

 able to replace the head in exactly 

 the same spot. Have a large gimlet 

 screwed into the center of the head 

 for a handle. Let the head be care- 

 fully cleaned, so no dirt will fall in. 

 Remove the hoops after having 

 marked them also with a crayon so 

 they may be replaced in exactly the 

 same position. When the last hoop 

 is taken off it may be necessary to 

 keep it at the top, to hold the staves 

 together. The lower hoops, of 

 course, are not touched. If the staves 

 do not separate from the honey, they 

 may be spread with a wooden luallet. 



When the head is lifted out, fasten 

 down one of the hoops to hold the 

 barrel together. 



To remove the honey, we use a 

 clean, new spade. We have found 

 nothing better. A spade will readily 

 cut out the hardest granulated honey. 



When the honey has all been re- 

 moved, put the head back by holding 

 it, with the help of the giinlet, in its 

 proper place, taking care to fit it ex- 

 actly where it was before, as the 

 crayon marks or pencil marks will in- 

 dicate. Then drive the hoops also in 

 exactly the same places. If the job is 

 done properly, the barrel will be as 

 good as ever to use for honey. We 

 have used some barrels many times 

 over. But when you do not take pre- 

 cautions to put the head back in ex- 

 actly the same position, the possible 

 irregularities in it may cause it to 

 leak, next time. 



Never soak a honey barrel with 

 water. Never put hot honey in a bar- 

 rel. If you want to put the honey 

 back in the same barrel, you should 

 allow it to cool after melting it. We 

 have often taken honey otit, melted 

 it and put it back in for shipment, 

 without the least trouble. 



