Aug. 1, 1911 



.r. E. C:kank, Middlebury, Vt. 



451 



European foul brood seems much more 

 prevalent in Western Vermont than had 

 been dreamed of. I have found it within 

 two miles of one of my yards. 



4?- 



You tgU us, Dr. Miller, that the term hon- 

 ey butter has been used to mean butter with 

 an ounce or more of honey worked into a 

 pound of butter, page 354. The reason you 

 give for so doing is that it makes the honey 

 taste better. May be; but isn't it a rather 

 expensive way to improve the taste of an 

 ounce of honey to add a pound of butter to 

 it? 



PERFORATED ZINC FOR FINDING QUEEN. 



Some time in the w inter I read in Glean- 

 ings of a basket or box made of perforated 

 zinc, to shake bees into for catching or find- 

 ing queens. Well, I made one with legs to 

 hold the basket a little above the ground, 

 and it is a great success. I wouldn't take 

 ten dollars for it if I couldn't make another. 

 How easy to shake a swarm into a basket 

 and let tlie bees through and find the queen! 



colonies during warm weather the bees will, 

 after a time, clean out the dead bees; but it 

 is a lot of work for them, and I have many 

 times placed such combs where the mice 

 could get on all sides of them, when they 

 soon learn to pull out the dead bees for the 

 choice morsel of the thorax. The mice are 

 not apt to gnaw the combs if they can get 

 on all sides of them. 



4?- 



ONE OBJECTION TO A HOT UNCAPPING- 

 KNIFE. 



O. B. Metcalfe, on page 274, May 1, gives 

 the best of reasons for using a hot uncap- 

 ping-knife; but there is one objection to the 

 hot uncapping-knife I have not seen men- 

 tioned, which is that the hot knife, as it 

 passes over the comb, leaves a very thin 

 film of wax where the cap])ings were, which, 

 of course, does not interfere with extracting, 

 but breaks vip and goes through the finest 

 sieve we can strain the honey through. 

 After treating the honey to a temperature 

 of, say, 150°, it rises to the top and so we 

 get rid of it. Still, it has annoyed us. 



PROTECTION FROM STINGS. 



Mr. Louis Scholl tells us, page 294, May 

 15, of the value of a good armor. I have for 

 many years used very little protection, but 

 find with some protection on I can do as 

 much work and laandle bees to better ad- 

 vantage. Somehow bees, when they can 

 not sting about the face, seem to give it up; 

 or, because there is less odor of poison in the 

 air, are less inclined to sting at all. 



THE HONEY CROP LIGHT IN VERMONT, AFT- 

 ER ALL. 



The honey crop in Vermont is likely to be 

 light. Clover is scarce. There was an un- 

 usually large amount on the ground last 

 fall, and it was covered by snow most of the 

 winter; but when the snow went off it seem- 

 ed to go like dew before the sun. What 

 killed it I am at a loss to know. Still, there 

 is some alsike and a little white in places, 

 and we hope to get some. 



MICE; HOW TO CON^^ERT THEM INTO 

 FRIENDS OF THE BEE-KEEPER. 



Wesley Foster tells us on page 857 of the 

 fondness of mice for the thorax of bees, and 

 the value of bees as bait for catching mice. 

 I have noticed this fondness of the mice for 

 this kind of diet; but, instead of using the 

 bees to catch the mice, I used the mice to 

 help the bees. Almost every winter we lose 

 more or less bees in cold weather, and find 

 in such hives some combs filled with dead 

 bees. If such combs are placed iii strong 



EIGHT vs. TEN FRAME HIVES. 



I was especially interested in the editorial, 

 jiage 261, 'Slay 1, on eight and ten frame 

 hives, for the conclusions are doubtless true. 

 It was a puzzle to me for a long time how 

 my neighbor, who gave her bees little care, 

 could get as much or more per hive than I 

 did, with half the feeding in the fall for win- 

 ter, and at last came to the conclusion that 

 it was owing to her using ten frames, while 

 I used only eight. I hate to admit it, but 

 it is true, it is not nearly so much trouble to 

 control swarming in such hives, or rather, 

 perhaps, I should say, swarming does not 

 begin so soon, nor are they so persistent. 

 A swarm in a small hive is like a machine 

 with a sinall balance-wheel. It has a jerky 

 motion, while one with a heavy balance- 

 wheel runs more steadily. One can get up 

 speed quicker with a light wheel; but before 

 he knows it, it is going too fast. Just so 

 with the bees. A swarm of a given size will 

 enter boxes sooner in the eight-frame hive; 

 but before they have accomplished much 

 they are most likely preparing to swarm, 

 and often before any surplus is stored. 

 Again, such hives require much more feed- 

 ing than those of ten frames. Two combs 

 solid with honey make a jDretty good asset, 

 either in fall or spring. A seven or eight 

 frame hive is better for wintering, especial- 

 ly out of doors, than a ten-frame; but it is 

 not difficult to reduce with a close-fitting 

 division-board. Only yesterday in looking 

 over a yard of bees I could not help noting 

 that my most forward colonies were on ten 

 frames. [That is just i)recisely what we 

 have noticed at our yards. — Ed.] 



