4IO 



December, 1909. 



American Vae Journal 



It was now getting tlie season of the 

 year when Mr. Green knew that honey 

 ought to be disposed of; and knowing 

 Ripe had all his honey sold, Green ac- 

 costed him one day saying, "I under- 

 stand your honey is all sold, Charlie. 

 Couldn't you help me to sell mine?" 



'■ Certainly, Dan ; bring over a sam- 

 ple and I'll see what I can do for you. 

 Mr. Gordon, the groceryman, asked me 

 if I couldn't bring him more honey 

 only the other day. Bring me the sam- 

 ple as I go down there tomorrow." 



"Sample, sample; confound the sam- 

 ple, anyway! I've made a fool of my- 

 self tins year, Charlie, and I might as 

 well own it now as later, for it will 

 come out if it has not already been dis- 

 covered. My honey was produced on 

 the new plan we talked about last win- 

 ter, for you likely know by this time 

 that I worked my bees on the one up- 

 per story, no-uncapping system, and 

 I'm done with it forever, and I guess 

 I'll never get rid of the balance I have 

 of this season's crop, for, to tell you 

 the truth, Charlie, it has stopped sell- 

 ing, and I do not know what to do, so 

 I asked you to help me out, and when 

 you asked me to bring the sample for 



you to sell from, I saw at a glance it 

 was all off. 'Twas this way; knowing 

 you had had such good luck selling 

 yours, Charlie, I thought you were the 

 person of all persons to help me sell 

 mine ; but I now see that it was not the 

 man, but the qiia/i/y of the honey that 

 did the selling. Surely. Charlie, I have 

 learned a lesson this year that I'll never 

 forget." 



Ripe consoled Green with the thought 

 that if he had always produced this 

 kind of honey he would not have 

 known any difference, for he was sure 

 that many a bee-keeper was producing 

 very poor extracted honey who had 

 never tasted a good article, and thus 

 was producing what he thought to be 

 the regular grade of honey, when he 

 might, by following a better plan, pro- 

 duce honey that would sell better and 

 bring a better price on the market — a 

 honey that would make customers for 

 the most magnificent sweet on earth 

 when properly produced, rather than 

 produce an article that would be a det- 

 riment to the fraternity— a trade-killer. 



Thus closes the season for one who 

 is poorer financially but very rich in 

 experience. 



Remus. Mich. 



'Beedoitv.J 

 jBoiled DowiO 



iJisiiilLcL l\>ul-liiooU> llives. 



The editor of Gleanings thinks too 

 much emphasis con not be placed on this 

 point. He says : 



While we know our friend, McEvoy, in 

 Canada, claims that the disinfection of a 

 hive is unnecessary, our own experience has 

 demonstrated that foul brood could be (and 

 has been) communicated by the hive alone. 

 We have had reports from Canada, also, as 

 well as elsewhere, showing the reappearance of 

 the disease when the hive itself was not dis- 

 infected. While, 99 times out of 100, merely 

 shaking on to foundation is perhaps sufficient, 

 yet if there is one case in a hundred where 

 disease is transmitted through the hive (and 

 we have ample proof that there is), all hives 

 should be disinfected. We are glad to note 

 that our government officials stand out square 

 and clear on this proposition. 



"' I'uikii 111 11. -.11 that they will iiave pollen 

 to start some brood in the spring. The frame 

 that has the pollen in will do for the seventh 

 frame. Six days is the longest I ever had 

 a colony to hang and stand the fast, and I 

 have yet to experience my first failure by this 

 plan. I have never found that starving bees 

 in October has any had effect on their winter- 

 ing well. Should I have the misfortune of 

 ever having foul brood in my yard again, 

 I will do all my curing in the fall by the 

 starvation plan. Mr. McEvoy's plan of put- 

 ting them on the combs at once is a sure 

 cure, but it must be understood that what Mr. 

 McEvoy means by sealed combs is combs 

 sealed to perfection — not one sigle cell is to 

 be left where they can unload their honey. 

 I have found it easier to starve the diseased 

 honey out of them than to get a lot of combs 

 built to perfection. 



McE\ven*s Foul Brood Treatment, 



It is a variation of the fall treatment 

 of McEvoy and Alpaiigh. It is thus 

 given by Mr. McEwcn, in the Canadian 

 Bee Journal : 



In the month of August, or early in Sep- 

 tember, pick out healthy colonies and put on 

 supers of foundation(or drawn comb preferred) 

 that has never had' brood in, and which are 

 perfectly dry. Feed sugar syrup till all is 

 capped. About the middle of October choose 

 an evening that is not too cool, so that the 

 bees can get safely into the hive. Take the 

 diseased combs and put them in a boiling vat. 

 Put a sugar sack or anything that is large 

 enou'»n over the hive you intend to winter 

 them in, and put on the cover. Next day 

 raise the cloth to find where they are clus- 

 tered. Now look at those bees every day, 

 for they will starve if you neglect them too 

 long. As soon as you see a dozen or two 

 drop from the cluster, give them 6 or 7 

 combs of sealed honey. 



Go also to one of your healthy colonies, 

 and take out a frame that has a good supply 



Wax-Rendering Without a Wax- 

 Press. 



O. Mueller, in Praktischer Wegweiser, 

 thus gives his plan of rendering wax 

 that may be convenient for some who 

 have only a small quantity : 



"I save up all bad combs and scraps until 

 a convenient time in fall or winter. Then I 

 take a copper kettle such as is common in 

 every household (a vessel of any other ma- 

 terial would answer), fill it about a fourth 

 full of water and set it on the fire. While 

 the water is heating, I put in the pieces of 

 comb, which of course are directly melted. 

 After the whole mass is thoroughly stirred 

 up and well melted, 1 let the fire die out, leav- 

 ing the kettle on the stove to cool slowly. 

 In consideration for the women folks, evening 

 is the best time to operate. Next morning, 

 when all is cold, a somewhat dirty cake is 

 taken out of the vessel, a large portion of im- 

 purities being on the under side. With a 

 knife or spoon the under side of the cake 

 is scraped off, but not so closely as to take 

 any particles of wax. 



"Of course there will be left in the cake 

 more or less cocoons and other impurities. 



Next evening break up the cake and melt it 

 in the same way again. After the third or at 

 the most the fourth time of melting and 

 scraping, there will be left a nice cake of 

 clean wax. 



"It is of much importance that soft water 

 be used. If hard water must be used, add a 

 teaspoonful of sulphuric acid to each 10 quarts 

 of water." 



The Best Harness Dressing. 



Three ounces of turpentine and two 

 ounces of refined beeswax are dissolved 

 together over a slow fire. Then add one 

 ounce of ivory black and a dram of in- 

 digo, well pulverized and mixed togeth- 

 er. When the wax and turpentine are 

 dissolved, add the ivory black and in- 

 digo, and stir till cold. Apply very thin. 

 Wash afterward, and you will have a 

 beautiful polish. This blacking keeps 

 the leather soft. It is excellent for' 

 buggy-tops and harness. In England a 

 large amount of beeswax is used by the 

 makers of harness-dressing. The above 

 is the usual recipe. — Gleanings. 



Gray's Flour-iutroduction. 



For years it has been more or less the 

 practise in England to unite bees by 

 sprinkling them with flour. Now it is 

 used in introducing queens. Joseph 

 Gray, an Expert in Apiculture in Eng- 

 land, says in Gleanings; 



I can take a queen from a nucleus, remove 

 the old queen, and have the young queen all 

 right and laying within the hour. A traveled 

 queen or a virgin can be as easily and safely 

 introduced, even though the bees are all alert 

 to seize a leg or wing of the first robber 

 that dares intrude. 



To follow this plan of introducing I open 

 the hive, find the comb with the queen on, 

 and remove her. I then lay the comb flat 

 so that both hands are free, dust the bees on 

 the upper side of the comb with flour from a 

 flour-sifter, open the large door of the cage, 

 shake out the queen on to the comb, and dust 

 her with floor. If a flighty queen, I take the 

 precaution to dust her with floor before I open 

 the cage. 



If the queen has been removed the day 

 previous, there is no need of removing a 

 frame. I take off the cover, lay the cage 

 on the frames, door upward, and soon a crowd 

 of bees collects around the cage. I dust the 

 lot with flour, swing open the door, when — 

 out steps Her Majesty and attendants. cz>ery 

 one of which will be accepted — a sure proof 

 of the reliability of the method, for with 

 ordinary plans all attendants are usually de- 

 stroyed. ^^^^^^^^^^ 



Let- Alone Stimulation of Bees. 



Not an uncommon thing it is for be- 

 ginners to ask, **When shall I begin 

 stimulative feeding in spring?" evident- 

 ly taking it for granted that there can 

 be no question as to the propriety of 

 such feeding. Whatever may be advis- 

 able for veterans, feeding in spring for 

 the purpose of stimulating brood-rear- 

 ing is a safe thing for the beginner to let 

 alone. Indeed, there arc not a few of 

 the veterans who think they can do no 

 better than to crowd the brood-chamber 

 with honey the previous season, and then 

 let the bees severly alone the next spring, 

 except in locations where there comes 

 a dearth after brood-rearing has started, 

 rierc is what F. H. Cyrenius says in 

 Gleanings : 



During my 40 years* experience in trying 

 all plans of stimulation, I believe, all things 

 considered, abutidant store of sealed honey or 

 syruD give the best results. 



I will say right here, no doubt we can 

 increase their activity by daily feeding; but 

 after all it is an activity in the wrong direc- 

 tion. The bees are induced to fly in unfavor* 

 abl weather, and large numbers are lost. I 



