.\'ii\ i:miiku, lii'Jii 



(1 h R A N 1 N (1 S 



B E K (! U L T II K K 



677 



HEADS OF GRAIN " OgfteJJQ pPlFFERENT FIELDS 



suits have been very satisfactory. Two 

 swarms came from one hivo, but not any 

 from tlio other six. This one hive was not 

 fitted witli a super above and below as early 

 as the others, not indeed until burr combs 

 appeared on toj) of the brood-frames. No 

 work was done by the bees in the shallow 

 frames, with a single exception; this was 

 filled with heavy drone-comb with a very 

 little honey. These combs instead of being 

 ]>arallel with the frames ran diagonally 

 with them. The^. total amount of honey 

 was very much greater than ever before. I 

 shall continue the same method next sea- 

 son. Robert Forsyth. 

 ClarenuHit, New Hampshire. 



a =io^c « t o 



Supersediire of Early in the spring I 

 Apparently found two queens in one 



Good Queen. liive. One had a wing 



clipped, and the other 

 not. Of course I thought (and I believe 

 correctly) that the one with wings had got 

 lost from another hive. So I hunted until 1 

 found a queenless hive and took the clipped 

 queen and introduced her into it. Soon af- 

 ter she had a supersedure cell started. 

 Thinking it proper, I left the queen-cell to 

 hatcli. A fine young queen came forth 

 and later began laying, and still the old 

 (jueen kei)t right on with her business. 



About Aug. 3 I raised the brood to a 

 third super and put the young queen in 

 the upper super with a queen-excluder be- 

 tween. In about three weeks, when I had 

 actually forgotten about it, I happened to 

 be overhauling the hive and found the 

 queen above, laying as nicely as you please. 

 and below I found the old queen laying 

 finely but with a virgin queen for com 

 pany. ]ieally I have a verv tender feel 

 ing for this cpieen and wish we might re 

 produce a breed like her. 



Crane, .Mont. Myron T'ickeriiig. 



[Quite likely the queen witli clipped 

 wings was being sujierseded at the time of 

 vour first oliservation in the spi-iiig. — 

 K.ntor.] 



a m^o^c a » 



Several Uses fropolis, altho not of 



For Propolis. great imjiortance. never 



theless has its jtlace in 

 the economy of the hive. Kspecially in the 

 box hive, or in the natural dwelling-])laces 

 of bees, it is an ideal material for closing 

 cracks, an<l lias the great advantage over 

 wax in that it does not shelter tl)e wax 

 moth. Morerfver, ]»ropolis is often used by 

 the bees to fasten the naturally bnilt 

 combs, which certainly is a proof that it 

 adds to the solidity of the comb. 



One winter I l)ouglit a box hive which 



had previously had a 2 V)y lli/.-inch space 



:icross the front. This the bees ha<l dosed 



iiuipletely with a solid sheet of pro[>olis. 



Later on in the spring they, apparently 

 wanted more ventilation, for they made 

 three holes in that propolis wall, as shown 

 in the illustration. 



On the whole, most beekeepers consider 

 propolis as a nuisance, and, indeed, little 

 use can be made of it. As grafting wax, 

 however, this material gave me quite satis- 

 factory results. Adding some tallow might 

 improve it for this pur])Ose. 



Propolis has also been used with success 

 in the treatment of corns. After taking 

 a warm footbath, some warm propolis is 

 placed oil tlie corn and coxcied with a 



Ijfps inaUc .1 i)roiK)lis \v:ill. 



small piece of cloth and left over night. 

 This has to be repeated several times till 

 the corn comes off. 



A propolis soap is offered for sale whiidi 

 is beneficial for the skin on account of the 

 medicinal properties of propolis. 



Sometimes propolis is also used as a 

 household remedy, and applied on ab- 

 scesses and ulcerous wounds. Even the 

 Roman writer Varii» reports that propolis 

 was often sold on the honey market in 

 ancient Rome at a higher price than honey, 

 on account of ils healing properties. 



Buenos Aires, Ernest Tschudin. 



