AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



207 



let these supers remain until then. Any- 

 way, my experience is that bees never 

 store much from asters in the sections, 

 as by that time it is getting pretty cool, 

 and bees do not do much at comb-build- 

 ing here then, according to my experi- 

 ence. 



Again, I might say that none of these 

 partly-filled sections are very white and 

 nice, and I imagine the longer I leave 

 them on the hives, the darker they will 

 get. F. B. Efird. 



Winston, N. C, July 24, 1893. 



Friend Efird, you have struck on a 

 point in apiculture that I am not posted 

 on. When I used to produce comb 

 honey, I always extracted my unfinished 

 sections, and used it on the table, or sold 

 it. I then placed the crates back on the 

 hives late in the fall, and let the bees 

 clean them up nicely, then stored them 

 away for next year's use. Of course, 

 those that we so nearly full as to be a 

 loss to extract, I always sold at a few 

 cents less. But I am not posted, and 

 from hearsay and theory, I think you 

 had better try Dr. Miller's feeders, or 

 score your full combs in the brood-cham- 

 ber, a la Dr. Marshall and M. M. Bald- 

 ridge. The bees having no place to put 

 the honey below while they repair the 

 combs, they are forced to carry it up 

 into the sections. I never tried it, but I 

 believe I would not touch the brood- 

 combs. Will some brother bee-keeper, 

 with experience along this line, tell us 

 all about it? Jennie Atchley. 



Greatest Season in 20 Years. 



Mrs. Jennie Atchley : — Thinking 

 perhaps that you would be pleased to 

 hear from the bee-interests of our State 

 — the land flowing with " milk and 

 honey " this year — I concluded to write 

 you. I think I can truly say that this 

 has been one of the greatest honey sea- 

 sons, if not the greatest one, that I have 

 had in ray 20 years' experience as a bee- 

 keeper. 



To begin with, the spring up to the 

 first of May was the worst in years ; it 

 was cold and backward, and it was ut- 

 terly impossible to build up weak colo- 

 nies, but finally fruit-bloom came, with 

 fine weather, and the honey-flow came 

 also. The bees built up rapidly. I got 

 my first swarm on May 24:th. They 

 were then gathering more than they 

 were consuming. 



The flow continued without a day's 

 cessation until July 15th, or there- 

 abouts. The flow was not extra heavy 



at any one time, but was continuous. I 

 think there was from 55 to 60 days that 

 there was more honey gathered than was 

 consumed. I had at the commencement 

 of the flow 11 full colonies on nine and 

 ten frames, and 17 more or less weaker 

 (some only covering four frames), and 

 my surplus will be, when all is off, about 

 1,050 pounds in one-pound sections, and 

 from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of ex- 

 tracted, and the finest I ever saw, es- 

 pecially the honey in the sections. Not 

 an ounce of dark honey has been gath- 

 ered so far. 



Bees are practically doing nothing just 

 now, it being very dry. The clover is 

 all gone, but there are good prospects of 

 sufficient fall flow for winter stores, 

 though most of my hives are well filled 

 now. L. G. Reed. 



Kent, Ohio, July 26, 1893. 



The Different Kinds of Queens. 



Mrs. Atchley :— Please tell me the 

 meaning of " untested queens." Are 

 they merely virgins, or are they what 

 would be called "fertile queens" that 

 have not begun to lay ? A. Jackson. 



Fresno, Calif. 



Friend Jackson, untested queens are 

 those that have not been laying long 

 enough for their bees to hatch. Virgin 

 queens have never been mated, and are 

 worthless until fertilized, as they do not 

 lay any worker-eggs until they have 

 been mated. Tested queens are graded, 

 and as there are several kinds of tested 

 queens, I will enumerate them for the 

 benefit of some beginners that have 

 asked some questions regarding them. 



As soon as the workers begin to hatch, 

 and prove all Italian bees, the queen is 

 called " tested." When a queen is kept 

 long enough to test her workers as to 

 honey-gathering, gentleness, etc., she is 

 called " select tested ;" and then when 

 we get a queen that " shows up " all 

 right as above— nice bees, good for 

 honey, gentle and prolific, and dupli- 

 cates herself in her daughters — then I 

 call her a "select breeder," and classed 

 as one of the best queens. This is my 

 own "table," and may be improved 

 upon. Jennie Atchley. 



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 Journal. Then please call upon them 

 and get them to subscribe with you, and 

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