February, 1909. 



American Vee Journal 



queens, and to get moro honey Oi:t of 

 your bees." 



"Aw, well, I will let the bees taki: care 

 of themselves." 



"All riRhl, good-bye." 



"Good-liye." 



A few days ago I was called to the 

 phone by 24 K. He said, "Mrs. Brown, 

 I forgot to |)nt on any sections, and the 

 top of the hive is solid with honey. I 

 can not gel the cover off. What shall I 

 do?" 



I said, "I don't know. Guess you will 

 have to let the bees alone. They will 

 take care of it. But say, I will look 

 over my year's numbers of the American 

 Bee Journal. I will surely find what to 

 do, for tliey tell everything about bees, 

 and how to care for them. Say, best 

 sell me those bees. I will care for them 

 next year. I will call up when I find 

 what to do. Good-bye." 



"Good-bye." Mrs. B. 



Uneasy Sister — Husband Taftlike in 

 Appeajpance. 



Dear Bee-Sisteks : — What shall I do? 

 John is getting very fat and portly, ex- 

 celling our future president Taft, caused 

 I think, from eating a generous supply 

 of my white clover honey each meal. I 

 am sure he does not groan and com- 

 plain over every little ill, as all men do, 

 since I have provided the honey for the 

 table, for John and the bees do not get 

 along. They seem to know they have 

 come out victorious, for they have put 

 him to flight often. 



Ohio Bee-Woman. 



Bottling Extracted Honey — After- 

 Swarms — Hive Crowded with Honey 

 — Entrances to Prevent Swarming. 



Dear Miss Wilson: — Kindly give me direc- 

 tions, as explicit as possible, in regard to bot- 

 tling extracted honey. 



1. Must the honey necessarily be heated? 

 To what degree? And what is the best method 

 when one has only a cooking-stove on which 

 to heat it? What sort of thermometer is used, 

 and is the temperature told by thrusting the 

 thermometer into the heating honey? What 

 is the object of heating the honey? Should 

 all extracted honey be heated before selling? 



2. September 30 a swarm issued from one 

 of my colonies. To prevent after-swarms, I 

 moved the old hive to a new stand. The next 

 day, when I examined the old hive I found 

 2 young queens on the same comb, and 2 

 others hatched out while I looked over the 

 frames. The hive was still brim full of bees, 

 few, apparently, having returned to the old 

 location. Afraid of swarms led by virgin 

 queens, as they always alight in inaccessible 

 places, I divided the colony into nuclei. Was 

 it necessary to do so? Would the young 

 queens have destroyed each other until only 

 one remained? I did not care for the in- 

 crease, but divided simply to prevent losing 

 the bees. Will moving the old hive to a new 

 stand always prevent after-swarms? 



3. This fall my colonies filled their lo-frame 

 brood-chamber full of honey, 10 frames of 

 solid honey. Is not that too much for them 

 to have, as it will not leave room for the 

 queen to lay? The last of February or the 

 first of March they will begin gathering again. 

 Brood-rearing has stopped now, but I am 

 afraid the queen will want room in which to 

 lay, and that the hives will not be full of 

 young bees for our early spring. They fly 

 almost every day in the year, so, of course, 

 they eat more than when the weather is se- 

 vere. 



4. What is the best way to provide more than 

 one entrance for the bees in the different 

 stories, to prevent swarming? 



"Louisiana." 



I. If honey is granulated, it is heated 

 for the purpose of bringing it to the 



liquid slate. If healed too much it is 

 ruined. It is better not to be heated be- 

 yond 160 degrees. Any ordinary ther- 

 mometer may be used to thrust into the 

 honey, a dairy thermometer being most 

 convenient. A thermometer, however, is 

 not very necessary. The thing to do, 

 where one has a small quantity to heat 

 on a cooking-stove, is to heat it so slow- 

 ly that there can be no danger of over- 

 heating. The vessel containing the 

 honey may be put inside a larger vessel 

 on the stove, the larger vessel (which 

 may be a dripping-pan, although it is 

 better to have something deeper) con- 

 taining some water and a bit of shingle 

 or something else so that the smaller 

 vessel shall not rest directly on the bot- 

 ■toni of the larger one. The honey may 

 be stirred from time to time, as without 

 this the central part will remain cool 

 while the outer part is quite warm. It 

 is safer to have the honey on the back 

 part of the stove, where the heat is not 

 great. A very safe plan is to set the 

 vessel of honey on the reservoir of the 

 stove, with no outside vessel, where it 

 may take several days to liquify. 



Generally, however, honey is not heat- 

 ed at all when being bottled, if it is not 

 granulated. Some, however, heat it, and 

 then seal it up, so that it may longer re- 

 main free from granulation. 



There are a few localities in which 

 customers prefer to have the honey 

 granulated. Of course the honey must 

 be sufficiently liquid to run into the bot- 

 tles. 



2. If the bees of your mother colony 

 had any notion of sending out an after- 

 swarm, only one queen would have been 

 allowed to emerge, the others being held 

 prisoners in their cells until the first or 

 free young queen left with the swarm. 

 So the fact that you saw two queens on 

 the comb showed there was no intention 

 of further swarming. Even if the hive 

 seemed brim full of bees, you may be 

 sure that all the field-bees after the re- 

 moval went back to the old spot, and 

 the fact that no honey was coming into 

 the hive would discourage the bees 

 against further swarming, even if the 

 whole force remained. 



If the swarm and the old hive are on 

 practically the same stand, and a week 

 later the old hive is moved to a new 

 stand, you may generally count there 

 will be no more swarming; but in some 

 places there are exceptions. 



3. If you really mean that the 10 

 frames are literally tilled with honey, it 

 is just possible that the queen may be 

 crowded for room next spring. That 

 however, is a very unusual occurrence, 

 for when brood-rearing begins in spring 

 the consumption of honey is enormous. 

 Keep watch in spring, and if you find 

 every cell occupied either with brood or 

 honey, take out a frame of honey and 

 put an empty comb next the brood-nest. 



4. When running for comb honey it 

 will not do to have entrances to the dif- 

 ferent stories, although we sometimes 

 leave an opening under the first super 

 at the back of the hive. You, however, 

 probably refer to extracted honey. 

 Shove the second story forward enough 

 to leave a space of r4-inch at the back 

 end. Shove the third story back enough 

 to leave a like space at the front end. 

 Do so alternately with all the stories, 



and finally shove the cover forward or 

 back to leave a space on top. Strictly 

 speaking, these are not entrances but 

 ventilating spaces, for the bees seldom 

 use them as entrances. 



"My John" and the Bees. 



I send you a pen picture of my John, 

 who is so afraid of a honey-bee. Would 

 that I had a kodak, and I could have 

 sent you a very funny picture. 



One very warm morning in July, I 

 heard faint yells in the direction of the 

 apiary. Hastening out I saw legs be- 

 neath a quilt that was hanging on a line 

 near the apiary. Investigating closer, I 

 found it was my John who had taken 

 refuge under the quilt, as in a little tent. 

 Louder yells reached me. "Come quick I 

 The bees are after me!" 



I hastened out with broom in hand. 

 Vainly did I bang at those bees, often 

 banging the quilt, which only brought 

 forth more yells, such as, "Can't you 

 hit them?" "I am nearly smothering;" 

 and other words that would not look 

 well in print. 



At last I murdered all the bees that 

 were near, and John came out of his 

 tent and fanned himself. 



That evening he was sitting on the 

 porch. I heard yells again; also a loud 

 bumping. I ran out and John lay on 

 his back fighting a bee with his straw 

 hat, his elbows as they came down on 

 the porch floor making the loud bump- 

 ing. I went to his rescue and killed 

 another little bee. 



He stayed in the house after that. 

 Some way the bees don't care for John. 



Ima. 



"A Year's Work in an Out-Apiary" 



This is the title of a 60-page, paper- 

 bound book, 6xg inches in size, written 

 by G. M. Doolittle, of New York State, 

 who is so well known to our readers. It 

 tells how an average of 114H pounds of 

 comb honey per colony was secured in 

 a poor season. Mr. Doolittle's over 35- 

 years' experience in producing comb 

 honey gives the weight of authority to 

 what he says on the subject of bees and 

 bee-keeping. The book is sent postpaid 

 for 50 cents ; or with the American Bee 

 Journal one year — • both for $1.10. Send 

 all orders to the American Bee Journal, 

 118 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 111. 



Books for Bee-Keepers 



Every bee-keeper should have a bee- 

 book besides a bee-paper. On another 

 page will be found all the best books 

 offered — either at a price, postpaid, or as 

 a premium. If you can not earn them 

 as premiums for getting nevy subscrip- 

 tions, it will pay you well to purchase 

 one or more of them. You will find 

 them of great value. There are so many 

 things in the books that are needful to 

 know, and that of course could not be 

 told over and over again in the bee- 

 papers. If a bee-keeper can afford only 

 one, it would better be the book rath- 

 er than the paper. But now that the 

 American Bee Journal is only 75 cents 

 a year, of course, no bee-keeper, how- 

 ever limited his apiary may be, can af- 

 ford to be without its monthly visits. 



