November, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



731 



is the law in regard to this? I do not buy and 

 sell honey but want to sell only honey producod 

 by my own bees which are in another statj. 

 Kentucky. Mrs. Bessie Gildea. 



Answer. — It is only by a town or city or- 

 dinance that you can be prevented from 

 peddling honey. Most towns and cities hav- 

 ing such ordinances permit local producers 

 to sell their products without a license. It 

 will be well to take this up with the town 

 attorney, explaining that you desire to sell 

 your own produce iu the town, and ask if a 

 license is necessary under the circumstances. 

 Ventilation for Bee Cellar. 



Question. — Please tell me how to make a venti- 

 lator in my bee cellar. It is 9x9x6. 



Ohio. Vincent Vlk. 



Answer.— The usual plan is to make a 

 wooden flue, eight or ten inches square, by 

 nailing four boards together to form a rec 

 tangular tube. This tube extends from near 

 the cellar floor out through the roof of the 

 building above the cellar. Such a ventilator 

 should be arranged so it can be closed dur- 

 ing the coldest weather to prevent cooling 

 off the cellar too much. 



Granulation in Comb Honey. 



Question. — How long will section honey keep 

 without granulating? A. N. Hilliard. 



Colorado. 



Answer. — This depends upon two things: 

 (1) the source and character of the honey 

 itself, and (2) the care it receives after 

 being taken from the hives. Some comb 

 honey granulates soon after it is stored, 

 while honey, from other sources does not 

 granulate within the first year. Alfalfa 

 honey granulates more readily than clover 

 honey, while sage honey and tupelo honey 

 remain liquid almost indefinitely Usually 

 that which is stored rapidly during the 

 height of the honey flow has less tendency to 

 granulate than that stored slowly near the 

 close of the season. Granulation is hastened 

 by cold weather and fluctuating tempera- 

 tures, but can be retarded by keeping the 

 honey in a warm room at a constant tem- 

 perature. 



Wintering Bees in a Shed. 



Question. — Can bees be wintered successfully by 

 carrying them into a shed and leaving them there 

 during the cold weather? Geo. A. Harper. 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — No. The only advantage of the 

 shed over leaving the bees out in the open 

 would be whatever protection from the wind 

 the shed might afford, and the bees would 

 be denied the benefit of the winter sun shin- 

 ing on the hives on clear days. It will be 

 much better either to put the bees into a 

 good cellar in which the temperature does 

 not go below 45°F., or pack the hives well 

 in winter cases unless you are using double- 

 wnlled hives, and provide a good windbreak 

 if the bees are not already located in a 

 sheltered spot. 



American Foul Brood in Comb Poundation. 



Question. — Can American foul brood be trans- 

 mitted in comb foundation made from wax obtained 

 by rendering diseased combs ? I have one colony 

 which contracted American foul brood in combs 

 built from foundation this year, while no dis- 



ease can be found in the old combs in the same 

 hive. Arthur F. Sauer. 



Indiana. 



Answer. — Apparently American foul brood 

 is never transmitted in this way. In many 

 cases, combs from diseased colonies have 

 been rendered and the wax used in making 

 foundation which was given to the bees 

 immediately without any evidence of disease 

 ever being transmitted in this way. Foun- 

 dation has been shipped for years into Porto 

 Rico and other regions where no American 

 foul brood exists, without the development 

 of the disease there. In your case no doubt 

 the disease was carried in from a diseased 

 colony in the neighborhood. The fact that 

 it appeared first on a comb recently drawn 

 from foundation means simply that the in 

 fection happened to be fed to larvae in 

 that comb first instead of in one of the old 

 combs. 



Effect of Heating Honey on Vitamines. 



Question. — How can granulated honey be 

 liquefied without destroying the vitamines ? 



Rhode Island. S. H. Draper. 



Answer. — In heating granulated honey to 

 liquefy it, no doubt some of the vitamines 

 are destroyed; but, if the honey is not kept 

 hot for too long and is not heated above 

 150°F., the destruction of vitamines is prob- 

 ably very small. 



Saving Queen from Diseased Colo/iy. 



Question. — Is there any way, this late in the sea- 

 son, that I can save a good Italian queen which 

 is in a colony afflicted with American foul brood ? 



Ohio. C. L. Greene. 



Answer. — If the colony has not been weak- 

 ened too much by the disease, you can save 

 not only the queen but the bees as well, by 

 shaking them from their combs and giving 

 them combs filled with honey taken from a 

 healthy colony. Solid combs of honey from 

 an extracting-super are excellent for this 

 purpose. If the colony is quite small, two 

 or three combs of honey will be enough. The 

 hive should then be reduced to fit the colony, 

 the vacant space being filled with chaff- 

 cushion division-boards or a tight-fitting 

 division-board with packing material be- 

 hind it. If combs of honey are not avail- 

 able the bees can be given a cake of hard 

 candy and confined to their hives for a 

 few days, then given empty combs known 

 to be free from disease and fed sugar syrup 

 for their winter stores. You could also save 

 this queen by killing the queen of another 

 colony and introducing the more valuable 

 queen, but it is difficult to find queens after 

 brood-rearing has ceased. It is possible to 

 change queens in this way in colonies in the 

 cellar in midwinter, but this is not pleasant 



work. 



Storing Extracting-Combs for Winter. 



Question. — What is the '^est way to store empty 

 extracting-combs during the winter to keep out 

 the wax moth. Ray H. Courtney. 



Iowa. 



Answer.- — Simply pile up the supers of 

 extracting-eombs in tight piles in the honey 

 house so the mice can not get in. Exposing 

 the combs to freezing temperatures for a 

 few days will destrov the moth larvae- 



