1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



927 



before putting it into the tank; then after 

 standing some time the top of the tank was 

 carefully skimmed. But on reheating the 

 honey in jars filled from this tank, a number 

 of specks of comb made their appearance on 

 top of nearly every jar. The trouble was 

 with the thick Colorado honey. Not being a 

 very large producer of extracted honey, the 

 tank was some time in being filled. As hon- 

 ey was poured in at intervals, the minute 

 specks on top were carried down into the 

 honey, which was too thick to allow them 

 all to get back to the top. If the honey had 

 not been strained I think there would have 

 been many more of them. 



CLOSING UP THE SEASON. 

 As the honey season draws to a close, the 

 question of how much more room to give to 

 bees becomes an important one. They may 

 not finish a whole super, and unfinished sec- 

 tions are an expensive nuisance. C. M. Foss 

 solves the difficulty by simply leaving out 

 the two outer rows of sections, placing a 

 division-board next to the inner rows. The 

 bees have free access to spaces on each side; 

 but as the sections are supplied with full 

 sheets of foundation, and there is nothing 

 of the kind outside, they very seldom build 

 any comb there, though they sometimes con- 

 gregate there in considerable numbers. I 

 do not like to give empty sections too near 

 the end of the season, preferring to finish 

 the season with extracting-combs. When 

 I give sections at such a time, though, I gen- 

 erally place one or more rows of finished 

 or nearly finished sections on each side of the 

 super. The honey selected for this purpose 

 is such as would grade only No. 2, so it will 

 be little damaged by being on the hive a lit- 

 tle longer, especially in the outside rows of 

 the super. 



NUCLEI FOR MATING QUEENS. 



My first trial of the small " Swarthmore" 

 nuclei for queen-mating was not very suc- 

 cessful, only one laying queen being secured 

 from a lot of seven. On the second trial I 

 got ten queens from eleven nuclei, and since 

 then I have had about as good success as 

 from ordinary nuclei. I used the plan out- 

 lined by W. H. Laws in the March Revieiv, 

 my mating-boxes holding one frame 5|X8i. 

 Two of these frames just fit inside of one of 

 my brood-frames, so that they can be used 

 in an ordinary brood-chamber with very lit- 

 tle trouble at any time it is desired. I did 

 not give brood to any of them and no feeding 

 was done, though there was a light flow of 

 honey all the time. Each comb was supplied 

 with what I supposed was plenty of honey 

 under the circumstances; but in many cases 

 it proved not enough, as it was consumed at 

 a surprising rate. In some cases it was 

 quietly robbed out, being carried back to the 

 old home. I found it desirable to confine 

 the bees to the mating-box for two or three 

 days before releasing them, and it was ap- 

 parently of advantage to have the queen 

 several days old before she was released. 



PROPOLIS. 



Judging from the references to it in the 

 bee-journals, one would suppose it to be the 

 common belief that propolis is a substance 

 of uniform source, composition, and charac- 

 ter. As a matter of fact, since propolis is 

 gathered, and not secreted Hke beeswax, it 

 varies widely in its qualities, almost as much 

 so as honey, according to the source from 

 which it is gathered. If we will bear this 

 fact in mind we shall avoid much misunder- 

 standing. 



As an illustration, the editor of the Re- 

 vieiv announced some time ago that lava 

 soap would remove propolis from the hands. 

 One of the largest dealers in bee-keepers' 

 supplies, on the authority of this, advei'tised 

 this soap in his catalog. Important, if true. 

 But lava soap unaided will not remove the 

 brand of propolis that my bees gather. On 

 the other hand, there are localities less than 

 fifteen miles away where the propolis can be 

 readily washed from the hands with any 

 good soap and hot water. 



I usually get it off my hands by soaping 

 them well, then pouring on a little aqua am- 

 monia, which, in connection with the soap, 

 takes it off readily. 



Another good way, not quite so pleasant, 

 but easier on the skin, is to rub the hands 

 with kerosene, then use soap. You may not 

 need these things, or they may not work 

 v/ith you. If they do not, remember that 

 there is more in "locality" than some 

 people are willing to admit. 



What ever became of all the devices for 

 cleaning the propolis off from sections by 

 machinery that occupied so much space in 

 the bee-journals several years ago ? Most 

 of them would probably be of some use in 

 jDutting an extra polish on sections when the 

 propolis was cold and brittle, but they were 

 of no use when it was soft and sticky, and a 

 very little honey on the outside of the sec- 

 tion soon put them out of commission. 



Now we have a scheme for cleaning the 

 propolis off from sections by rubbing them 

 on a piece of coarse wire cloth stretched 

 tightly over a strong frame. Perhaps I 

 ought not to condemn the plan without hav- 

 ing tried it, but I am afraid it would be of 

 little use unless the propolis is cold and brit- 

 tle. In this country, at least, most of the 

 sections must be cleaned before the propolis 

 is in really good condition to scrape. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



To my mind, one of the most mischievous 

 doctrines that have ever been brought out 

 in a bee-journal is that which argues that 

 there is little danger of overstocking a lo- 

 cality with bees, and that one might as well 

 keep four or five hundred colonies in a place 

 as a fourth that number. It is true that 

 there are localities where this would be good 

 advice; but for one that would be helped by 

 following such advice, I believe there are a 

 hundred who would be harmed. And the 

 worst of it is, those who are harmed most 

 may not he able to help themselves at all in 

 the matter, but are at the mercy of those 



