February, 1909. 



American ^ee Journal 



with comb-l)uilding, just as if tlicy were 

 sure they would gather enough honey 

 to fill it all. 



The sections I used in those days of 

 black bees were 554 inches deep, and 

 with an intermittent flow here \vould be 

 an active starting of comb-l)uikling, and 

 a stopping of the same as many as from 

 3 to 5 times in building a comb down to 

 the bottom of the section. And, as every 

 period of activity caused some of the 

 cells to be lengthened, while at times of 

 Stopping others would be capped over 

 mucli shorter, this gave the surface of 

 the comb a "washboardy" appearance 

 which was quite detrimental when it 

 came to marketing the crop. At the 

 same time the blacks were thus building 

 combs and finishing them in the sections 

 in this way, the Italians would _ build 

 tlicir section combs right straight down 

 to the bottom, and cap them over as even 

 and nicely as in one of the best of sea- 

 sons. But in a really good season, there 

 the blacks would show their superiority 

 in this matter, for their section combs 

 would be as straight and smooth as a 

 board, while the cappings would stand 

 out away from the honey, so that the 

 face sides of these combs would be of 

 snowy whiteness, while the darker Ital- 

 ians would use so little wax in capping, 

 and plaster this right down on the honey, 

 apparently to save wa.x and space, that 

 the face sides of the combs in section 

 honey built by them would have a watery 

 appearance, this making it unattractive 

 to the purchaser through its appearing 

 like another and a darker grade of 

 honey. However, with the golden Ital- 

 ians we have something which cap their 

 honey very nearly as white as the blacks, 

 while they have all of the good qualities 

 of their darker sisters. 



As to standing our winters, nothing 

 need be said for either race south of 40 

 to 41 degrees north latitude, as any race 

 of bees should stand the winters that far 

 south ; and in the colder parts of the 

 United States and in southern Canada 

 there need be little trouble where cel- 

 lar-wintering is practiced. When it 

 comes to a confinement of 3 or 4 months 

 with the mercury down from the freez- 

 ing point to 30 to 50 degrees below zero, 

 with the bees wintering "out in the 

 open," there is little doubt but what the 

 black bees can exceed in hardiness their 

 more yellow sisters. However, here in 

 central New York, they stand our win- 

 ters remarkably well, where any one is 

 obliged to winter bees out on the sum- 

 mer stand. A little protection by way 

 of double walled or chaff hives seems to 

 carry them through equally well with 

 the blacks. 



As to the swarming of the two races. 

 I see very little difference, though I 

 think the black bees are much more 

 prone to cast many after-swarms. But 

 as nearly, if not quite all of our prac- 

 tical apiarists know how to control after- 

 swarming, this counts for very little. 



The main point in favor of the Italian 

 bees, as I see it, is their pliability under 

 the hand of good management. Of 

 course, all their other good qualities are 

 extremely valuable, but all of these must 

 take a back seat for the fact that they 

 are so pliable in the hands of the apiarist, 

 so that the maximum number of bees 

 can be brought on the stage of action 



just in the right time for the honey har- 

 vest, be that for clover, bas^wood, buck- 

 wheat, or fall flowers ; or at the right 

 time to secure the greatest amount of 

 nectar from any given flow that may be 

 one of the regular supplies for our sur- 

 plus, no matter what its time of bloom- 

 ing may be. 



I have said nothing about the Cyprians, 

 Carnolians, Holy Lands or Syrians, Cau- 

 casians, etc., because I consider none of 

 these, after giving all a fair trial, little 

 if any better than the blacks, taking all 

 things into consideration. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



No. 3. 



Bee- Keeping in Col- 

 orado 



nV E. C. AIKIN. 



Should late January have a warm spell 

 of 10 days to two weeks so that bees will 

 fly freely and clean house, most colonies, 

 and especially strong ones, will begin 

 breeding. I might say that such a warm 

 spell any time between Jan. to to March 

 r will start breeding whenever it comes. 

 And I consider it fortunate that we have 

 such a spell early enough that some bees 

 will be hatching by March I, and surely 

 by March 15. March and April are the 

 trying months, and it is a very impor- 

 tant thing to have young bees maturing, 

 else the colony usually becomes so few 

 in numbers that they cannot keep up 

 breeding heat, and so succumb. Hatching 

 bees by the last of February or early 

 March is usually equivalent to safe win- 

 tering. 



Spring management depends upon lo- 

 cality and general conditions ; what to 

 do will depend upon the strength of the 

 colony and the early flora, together with 

 temperature. Much of Colorado has 

 foul brood to contend with, and spring 

 is the time it does most of its spreading, 

 by the robbing or carrying of stores 

 from the diseased ones that have per- 

 ished in winter or are unable to mature 

 enough brood to keep up the death rate, 

 and so become a prey to robbers. Late 

 winter and early spring should be a 

 time of vigilance in foul-broody loca- 

 tions ; all dead or very weak colonies 

 should be looked after. 



SOME FACTS ABOUT FOUL BROOD NOT GENER- 

 ALLY KNOWN. 



I have just read in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal of some ideas advanced on this 

 subject at the Detroit convention, and 

 among others Mr. McEvoy's reply to 

 the query so often raised as to whether 

 it is not best to boil or otherw-ise disin- 

 fect the hives. He convulsed the audi- 

 ence by asking with fine sarcasm if it 

 would not also be wise to boil the bees! 

 Contagion is not carried except in the 

 honey where the bees are alone con- 

 sidered in its transmission, and this oc- 

 curs only by carrying stores from mfect- 

 ed colonies, and feeding those stores to 

 the brood where this honey is used. Bees 

 have been known to rob out foul colon- 

 ies in early winter, when there was no 

 breeding going on, and since the honey 

 so gathered was used for daily rations, 

 and all consumed before breeding began, 

 no disease resulted to colonies getting 

 the infected honey. It appears, then. 



that the principal thing to do to prevent 

 its spread is to prevent the robbing or 

 carrying of disease-infected stores and 

 feeding to brood. 



Regarding the use of hives and frames, 

 I u.se them right along without disin- 

 fecting them, even going so far as to 

 leave starters of the old comb in the 

 frames, provided there is neither any 

 honey nor dead matter from larvae in 

 said starter; and also use dry clean 

 coi'nbs from foul colonies. Neither do I 

 burn or disinfect the hive itself, other 

 than to scrape oflf propolis and all comb, 

 and sometimes set the hive up facing the 

 sun so it may get a good sun-scorching. 

 With bottom-boards I am a little more 

 careful, particularly if the colony which 

 was over it was exceedingly foul; if the 

 bottoms are not needed for a time, I 

 lay them out face up and let the sun 

 scorch them until I again visit the yard. 

 Very often I shake colonies right back 

 into their old hive, giving a set of new- 

 frames with starters. But I want to 

 warn every one that once a colony is 

 infected, even though it be with but one 

 or two cells at the start, that colony will 

 sooner or later succumb to the disease 

 though it may be from 18 months to 3 

 years in accomplishing its ruin. I do 

 not believe there is one colony in ten 

 thousand that ever survives or works a 

 self cure. So in late winter and early 

 spring and summer, is the time of all 

 times to spread foul brood, and this 

 should be watched more closely then. 



If colonies have plenty of stores and 

 a queen, there can be very little done to 

 help them until the colony has begun to 

 get enough young bees hatching, so that 

 more brood could be cared for. When 

 this time has arrived, no matter what 

 the date be, if there is nectar and pollen 

 being carried in, there is still prac- 

 tically nothing to do; but if no stores or 

 supplies are being gathered to stimulate 

 the colony to activity and strong breed- 

 ing, there is something that can be of 

 much help. You can break cappings on 

 store combs to make the workers load 

 sacks in picking up and replacing the 

 stores that will leak; this results in 

 better fed queens and nurses, and more 

 brood. The activity causes more heat, 

 which also helps. The same thing re- 

 sults if the brood-chamber be lifted and 

 turned end for end on the bottom, bring- 

 ing the honey-laden ends of the combs 

 next the entrance where the bees will 

 uncap and carry it back. Or one or two 

 combs may be reversed at a time and 

 others later. These manipulations ac- 

 complish little except when field supplies 

 are not being gathered, except that to re- 

 verse the hive or combs, putting the 

 brood to the back causes the filling the 

 combs from end to end, and will result 

 in a slight increase of breeding. 



LARGE HIVES BY DOUBLE STORYING. 



Many Colorado localities need large 

 hives for the best success ; in fact, I am 

 about convinced that almost any country 

 would be better with hives larger than 

 the S- frame Langstroth size. I notice 

 that the Texans are using large hives, as 

 well as many others all over the country, 

 and quite a number of our Colorado 

 apiarists are coming to use a 2-story 8- 

 frame hive. I think 12 frames, probably, 

 would be sufl^cient, but a 12-frame body 



