1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAE^ 



51 



without the side slit, fit the cell into the top end so the point 

 was ODly exposed, insert the sharpened pluR, and insert the 

 cage among the bees as above, and he had a perfect cell-pro- 

 tector. He used them for hatching-nurseries also. Now, if I 

 am not mistaken Jewell Davis derived or received hints from 

 me that enabled him to get up his queen-nursery ; at all 

 events, we corresponded on the subject, and he sent one of his 

 first ones to me. 



The old gentleman saved all his natural queen-cells in the 

 above manner, and then his hive being small at the top, a very 

 small quantity of bees would commence right, by giving them 

 a queen or a protected queen-cell. He had his queens ferti- 

 lized from those small nuclei. 



Then to build them up, he would draw out bees from any 

 populous colony, hunt up the queA and return her, sprinkle 

 the bees well with diluted honey, shake them down in front of 

 the nuclei, and the reinforcements would stay where he 

 wanted them to. 



Now you can readily see where I obtained my ideas of 

 rapid and safe increase. His hives and all his appliances were 

 primitive, but as effectual as the most approved appliances we 

 have now, with the exception of the movable combs, honey 

 extractor, etc. The fact is, I received my first real insight 

 into successful box-hive bee-keeping from Mr. Wellhausen, 

 even it I did not believe in the witches ! 



His method, or one of hijj methods, of introducing queens 

 was to drum out a sufficient quantity of bees, deprive them of 

 their queen, sprinkle with diluted honey, and then liberate a 

 queen among them, either a virgin or fertile one ; hive them 

 in an empty hive, and they have been accepted every time. I 

 do not remember ever making a failure by introducing in 

 the above manner. You understand they have neither comb 

 nor brood of any description. Then if sprinkled and com- 

 pletely gorged with sweets, there is every incentive for them 

 to behave themselves, and they do. 



By the way, the past summer I reared a fine batch of 

 queen-cells, and made nuclei consisting of two frames of brood 

 and the adhering bees, and inserted eight cells in the West 

 queen-cell protector on the tenth day, and I lost five out of 

 the eight. Too much cool metal about the cell, which caused 

 them to perish. With the milkweed cell-protector I could 

 have saved every one. Our nights here are quite cool. I have 

 lost some, where I introduced them in the center of strong 

 colonies early in the season. I do not say that I lost them by 

 bad handling of the cells, for I do know how to handle queen- 

 cells. 



Bees did remarkably well in the prairie country in Wis- 

 consin in an early day, but before I left all was under cultiva- 

 tion, and the white clover had not gotten into the pas- 

 tured land sufficiently to produce much, and the golden-rods 

 were killed out pretty effectually, so that bee-keeping was not 

 so profitable except in the vicinity of timber, and especially 

 where the linden was abundant. 



About the time I had tried Mr. Wellhausen's methods 

 pretty effectually, I searched the book-stores, both at Fond 

 •du Lac and Milwaukee, for bee-literature, and found "Quinby 

 on Bee-Keeping," and that was quite a help. Soon after a 

 Langstroth agent began selling the Langstroth hive and 

 rights, and that disgusted me pretty effectually. Don't fly in 

 a passion, and I will tell you the reason why. He introduced 

 a 7-inch deep, 10-frame hive, and never gave any instructions 

 about cellar-wintering, and the consequence was every colony 

 put into them perisht in wintering, and any person of corn- 

 men sense (as I said) ought to know better. The frame was 

 but a trifle over Inches in depth. 



When the agent came around to me and began to " ex- 

 platterate " on the advantage of his hive, I gave him a grand 

 blowing up, and plainly told him that bees could not winter 

 in such a shallow hive, and gave my reasons why. I Informed 

 him that the principle was grand, but that he was humbug- 

 ging people out. of their money and their bees. 



Orange Co., Calif. 



Use of the " Divider " in Producing Honey. 



BY S. T. PETTIT. 



Believing it might be interesting to the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal to know of the success the past season 

 of my system of taking comb honey, I send a brief account. 



The fact is, the gratifying success attending the new way 

 was simply a marvel to myself. My bees were very strong — 

 they were all that could be desired, with few exceptions, when 

 the flow began ; and of course I neglected nothing, everything 

 was done just at the right time and In the right way, accord- 

 ing to my judgment, and the work went on nobly, the filling 

 up and finishing satisfactory indeed, the quality and finishing 



up of the sections so far ahead of anything I could ever get 

 under the old way. 



It would be gratifying to me, and profitable to all who try 

 my way, if they would follow instructions carefully. This 

 year I used a large numbei of dividers with ^8 -inch holes, and 

 they workt all right ; no bulging of the combs and no burr- 

 combs. The bees can just walk right through those ■!'R-inch 

 holes leisurely and easily, and that is the way they move when 

 building combs. Of course, the holes must be pretty close to- 

 gether — there are 122 in each divider, as I make them now. 



Here is a point I must call attention to, that is, if it be 

 necessary to use followers to fill up space, there m!(.sf be ?io 

 passage-ways for the hccs outside the followers; the bees must 

 be kept, and obliged to do their coming, right against the 

 divider. 



I have thought a good deal about it, and can hardly tell 

 why I would like to have the space outside the divider, that 

 is, the space between the divider ar.d super wall or follower, 

 if one be used a little more than a quarter inch. Very likely 

 you will say, "Let well enough alone." Good advice, I agree, 

 but for all that I shall test the matter pretty largely, all being 

 well, the next season, with a five-sixteenth inch space. 



Ontario, Canada. 



Leveling Down Unfiuisht Sections. 



We received this question some time ago, which we re- 

 ferred to the bee-keepers named for reply, and their answers 

 follow : 



Mr. Editor: — Two or three of the men replying on page 

 734 (1897) say they would use unfiuisht sections with cells 

 full depth, providing they are clean and white, but the others 

 all want them leveled down. According to some there is great 

 advantage in using such sections, the bees being thereby 

 saved time and labor. But I don't want to spoil my sections 

 by using too deep cells. On the other hand, I don't want to 

 lose any advantage by cutting down more than is necessary. 

 Will you kindly ask Messrs. Dooliltle and Larrabee to tell us 

 why they would cut the cells down to \4 inch in depth, provid- 

 ing they are white and clean ? 



It would also help decide what to do if Messrs. Brown, 

 Dibbern, Demaree and McEvoy would tell us why it is neces- 

 sary to have the cells less than )4 inch in depth. 



Learner. 



MR. M'EVOy'S answer. 



I get a finer quality of honey, and more fancy finisht sec- 

 tions. Wm. McEvoy. 

 Ontario, Canada. 



MR. brown's answer. 



In reply to "Learner's" inquiry for more light on Query 

 No. 63, I would say that my experience with cells full depth, 

 or deeper than half inch, gives a somewhat tougher comb of 

 honey ; that is, when said combs are kept over from one sea- 

 son to another before being filled. Also, in my limited ex- 

 perience it has seemed that the honey stored in sections hav- 

 ing full-depth cells was not as thick and of as nice quality as 

 the same honey in sections that the combs were reduced to ^ 

 to % inch in depth, or those built from foundation starters. 

 Partially drawn combs are very good for " bait sections ;" that 

 is, to get a start made in the supers ; but farther than this I 

 should only class them as of no more value than full sheets of 

 foundation of the weight of about 8 square feet to the pound. 



Volusia Co., Fla. A. F. Brown. 



, MR. DOOLITTLE'S ANSWER. 



As far as I know there is only one reason for the comb- 

 leveler, and that is to get rid of the thick edges to the cells 

 (which generally are of a dingy-colored wax), so that the bees 

 will lengthen out the cells with new wax the next year, thus 

 completing the combs so that they will look equal to those 

 built out entirely new from the foundation. Comb honey sells 

 from looks, and If the old comb which Is carried over winter 

 is allowed to remain full-depth cells, then the bees simply fill 

 them with honey and use the heavy rim of old wax to cap the 

 cells with, thus giving the honey a dingy or inferior look. The 

 leveler is used to remedy this, and the less comb that is melted 

 away, only that we may accomplish our purpose, the better. 

 As I use sections whose combs are only 1% thick, it Is neces- 

 sary to level them down to about one Inch to accomplish what 

 I wish. If I used 2-inch sections then I should leave the 

 combs after levlllng about l>-2 Inches. I think this will make 

 the matter plain to " Learner." O. M. Doolittle. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



