228 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1920 



of excess food goes to rear drones and queens. 

 This, you will see, agrees with your saying, 

 "first conies the lack of larvae to receive the 

 larval food." Altho there is nothing new 

 about it, not much has been said about it on 

 this side of the water. 



Question. — I tried to make some candy for my 

 bees by the recipe in the December Gleanings, and 

 am ashamed to say I read the directions wrong and 

 used a tablespoonful of tartaric acid to twenty 

 pounds of sugar instead of V^ teaspoonful to that 

 amount a.s directed. Will this extra amount of the 

 acid injure the bees? Chas. A. Ford. 



Virginia. 



Answer. — Altho we have never used as 

 much tartaric acid as that, we really do not 

 think that it would cause any trouble, ex- 

 cept that it might make the candy a little 

 too soft. For this reason we would prefer 

 to use a harder candy early in the spring, 

 and then when it gets a little warmer use 

 the soft candy, feeding on the bottom-board, 

 at the back of the hive. Early in the spring 

 the bees would probably not take it from 

 the bottom-board, since it would be too cool 

 there; and we do not consider that it would 

 be safe to place it over the tops of the 

 frames, for there would be danger that it 

 might become soft and run down over the 

 bees and brood, killing the brood and possi- 

 bly stopping up the entrance and smothering 

 the colony. When feeding a soft candy on 

 the bottom-board as we suggest, the hive 

 should be tilted slightly backward so there 

 will be no danger of the entrance 's becom- 

 ing closed. In the next candy that you 

 make we advise that you use only one-third 

 of a teaspoon of tartaric acid for 10 pounds 

 of the candy. Eecent experiments have con- 

 vinced us that this is a better .proportion 

 than that given in the December Gleanings. 



Question. — A recent issue of the Reading Eagle 

 tells of the plight of a fellow beekeeper, Louis 

 Hermann of Sinking StDrings, Pa. A few of his 

 neighbors made a complaint to the mayor because 

 Mr. Hermann's bees, when flying in cold weather, 

 lighted on neighboring washings and soiled the 

 clothing, leaving small yellow spots. Can the court 

 decide that Mr. Hermann must remove his bees to 

 another location ? I live in the suburbs and keep 

 10 colonies for pollenizing my 300 fruit trees. Last 

 summer several complained that my bees damaged 

 their peaches, but they agreed with me that they 

 had more peaches last year than they ever had be- 

 fore. I therefore claim my bees are no nuisance. 

 If my bees prove profitable, I had intended to in- 

 crease, but do not carei to if there is a likelihood 

 of my being compelled to get rid of them for damag- 

 ing fruit or soiling clothing. 



Pennsylvania. Andrew "M. Seibert. 



Answer. — There have been many in- 

 stances in which suit has been brought 

 against some beekeeper whose bees have 

 troubled his neighbors. In such cases the 

 beekeeper usually wins the suit. We don't 

 think anyone should be deterred from keep- 

 ing bees simply because of the possibility of 

 a neighbor's complaining. If the beekeeper 

 will take reasonable precautions he can usu- 

 ally avoid any such trouble. The fruitmen 

 in your locality will, doubtless, within a short 

 time become convinced that your bees are 



really a help to them; and, as for the other 

 instance you mention, if the bees have had 

 no flight for some time, and then the wea- 

 ther turns warm on wash day, it would be 

 a good policy for the beekeeper to caution 

 the near neighbors, advising them not to 

 hang out the wash during the warm hours of 

 that particular day when the bees are flying. 

 If he explains that this sort of thing occurs 

 only at rare intervals, and that he is very 

 sorry that it has been on wash day, we be- 

 lieve he will find his neighbors quite reason- 

 able. We have known of many beekeepers 

 who kept colonies in town for years and 

 yet continued on the best of terms with 

 their neighbors. In general, we may 



say that most of the trouble with neighbors 

 may be foreseen and avoided. 



Question. — Do you think May 1 would be too 

 early to order package bees '! 



Wisconsin. E. K. Chappey. 



Answer. — The bees should be ordered as 

 early as possible, and May 1 is none too soon 

 to receive them. Altho it is not necessary 

 to give them brood, yet a little brood helps 

 them wonderfully in building up. If you 

 could get the bees by the middle of April, or 

 a little later, we believe you will be able 

 to build them up in time for your clover 

 flow. 



ANSWER BY E. R. ROOT. 



Question. — From what you say in Gleanings I 

 understand that combs with foundation splints wiU 

 not do for extracting-combs. I didn't know that, 

 and so have been using them for extracting. Will 

 you kindly tell us how you found out they cannot 

 be used in that way? C. C. Miller. 



Illinois. 



Answer. — I can readily understand why 

 .you have no trouble with your frames hav- 

 ing splints for hand-extracting. You have 

 a hand-driven two-frame extractor, and at 

 your age, you would not be handling the 

 combs very roughly. I had in mind combs 

 handled by a power extractor, running at 

 a high rate of speed, and speed that breaks 

 many combs that are fully wired. While 

 your splints pass thru the bottom-bar, I do 

 not think they have any other attachment 

 to the frame itself. You can see how it 

 would not be possible to use a splinted 

 frame where power extractors are in use 

 operated by careless and indifferent help. 

 My objection to splints has been that while 

 they provide against vertical sagging they 

 do not hold the combs in the frames as se- 

 ■ curely as wires; but, for your purpose, they 

 would be just as good and better. I have 

 seen many combs broken in large extracting- 

 yards, even when they were well wired. A 

 splinted comb would stand little show in 

 such cases. Power machines are built to 

 stand a much higher speed than is possible 

 to get out of a hand-driven machine. Bee- 

 keepers who run large yards run their combs 

 to almost the breaking point. For that 

 reason they want wires fastened to the 

 frames. I know of no large extracted-honey 

 producer who uses wood spHnts. [See page 

 210 of this issue where Dr. Miller has the 

 last word. — Editor.] 



