178 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



I 



Septembe: 



firmly over the top makes one of the 

 very best kind of strainers and as a 

 great quantity of honey can be poured 

 in at the same time, this feature will 

 be appreciated when straining honey 

 of proper consistency. 



I prefer to draw the honej^ cold 

 from the tank into the bottles, placing 

 them in a vessel of hot water about 

 three dozen at a time. I set the pan 

 on an ordinary gasoline stove and put 

 in water enough to bring it well up 

 around the neck of the bottles when 

 the full number are in place. I do not 

 put anything in the pan for the bot- 

 tles to set on — just set them right 

 down in the water with nothing be- 

 tween them and the blue flame be- 

 neath, but the bottom of the pan and 

 what little water that works itself 

 under the bottom of the jar. I do not 

 remember of having broken but one 

 jar in this way, and I consider it whol- 

 ly unnecessary to provide a false bot- 

 tom for the jars to set on. I leave 

 them in the slightly boiling water 

 about twenty-five or thirty minutes, 

 when they are removed to a nearby 

 table and another lot of jars takes 

 their place. I seal the jars as quickly 

 as possible, set them aside tem- 

 poraril}' and then draw off another 

 batch of honey from Uie tank. I do 

 not label any till the honey has cool- 

 ed, for the labels stick better when 

 put on cold jars. In this way one can 

 work quite rapidly and avoid the dan- 

 ger of impairing the color of honey b}^ 

 unduly heating it. 



Wheelersburg, Ohio, August 7, 1905. 



A CONVENIENT COLONY 

 RECORD 



m 



the front means "moth," ''weak 

 "watch closely," etc. If placed nea| 

 middle of right side, it signifie 

 "small colony," "progressing," an 

 near back of right side, means "larg 

 colony," "liable to swarm," "needin 

 room," etc. The middle is for quee 

 record, so rock near front tells me "N 

 queen;" on middle signifies th; 

 queen cell is capped and if near bac 

 sh(iws me that hive has a j'ouii 

 queen, not clipped. 



Left third of hive refers to ti 

 honey: as, near front nieans colon 

 has no honey and I must supply thei 

 with a frame or two soon, or fee 

 them; but if on middle, its a bett< 

 sign, for that says, "they have pleni 

 for brood raising and present wants 

 but if rock "is near back of left side, 

 know the extractor is the best remec 

 for its crowded condition. Nothir 

 on hive simply means "OK.'^ 



I go through the whole yard two t 

 three times a year and then put the; 

 signs on, and as the evils or bad co: 

 ditions are cured by future oper 

 tions, the marks are thrown off, ; 

 that most of the time Iiives are i 

 clear. I have had from seventy-five 

 one hundred colonies for the la 

 three years, yet have had but s 

 swanns in that time. Dividin 



doubling clipped queens and sectic 

 honey is my way. Have created 

 home demand for all the honey I c; 

 get here. 



Key West, Florida, July 17, 1905. 



sus- 



WAX ADULTERATION 

 PECTED. 



By F. W. Hunt. 



EDITOR AMERICAN BEE- 

 KEEPER: Having used a way 

 of hive marking for several years, that 

 I never saw in print, thought you 

 would like to know of it, to add to your 

 list of systems. I use the Danz hive 

 and covers, and as the covers are in 

 three parts, it allow.= me to divide the 

 top, right side for *-he colony, center 

 for the queen, and left side for honey 

 conditions, so this gives me three sig- 

 nals for each. 



Take the right side: a stone, shell, 

 block or any handy thing placed near 



I 



By J. E. Johnson. 

 WAS ASTONISHED to see c 

 page 157 of last American Be 

 Keeper a very strange stateme: 

 by Mr. F. Greiner, viz.: "Comb hone 

 with artificial foundation as a bai 

 should be branded as a fraud, unle; 

 the box be branded as comb built 

 foundation." 



My, My! and here I have been, f( 

 about twenty-two years, getting a< 

 vice through the bee journals that 

 should use full sheets in section 

 This has been advocated by nearly a 

 our good knights of the smoker an 

 bee veil; and our good old frien 

 Doctor Miller, in whom there is 

 guile, very strongly recommends bot 



