1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



H. Rauchfuss — Some horses died from eating grass near 

 the smelters here. I believe our loss In bees was caused that 

 way; not directly by the smoke, but because moisture 

 absorbed poison from it and deposited it on the blossoms. It 

 is just when we have a moist spring. It kills all ages, and 

 only the weak and queenless colonies get through. 



HONEY AS A FOOD AND MEDICINE. 



QuES. — Is honey recommended as a healthy food? and, 

 if so, for any particular disease? 



Mr. Adams — For all pulmonary diseases and all diseases 

 of nerves. 



Mr. Rhodes — Some of our friends who had Bright's dis- 

 ease could eat no sweet but honey. It was also good for 

 stomach troubles, because honey is already partially digested. 

 This ought be embodied in advertisements of honey. 



Pres. Aikin — I have been troubled for years with an acid 

 condition of the stomach. Most sweets that I eat start fer- 

 mentation. But I can eat honey when I could not eat sugar. 



Pres. Aikin was askt to explain his new hive, which he 

 did as follows : 



Hive Explanation by the President. 



I shall use the fence or cleated separator in the super 

 with plain sections. With this separator the bees do not 

 lengthen those cells which are above and below the ordiuary 



the eighth day (full 8 days) every cell of the brood in the sec- 

 tion from which the queen is excluded is sealed. It takes 

 about two minutes to find which part of the queen is in. The 

 part with the queen is then set on a new stand, after remov- 

 ing the queen-cells. The other part is hopelessly queenless. I 

 then either immediately slip in a cell in a protector, or wait 

 not more than two days for the cell, or put in a virgin queen 

 just hatcht (not a laying queen, or they may swarm). Then 

 all the brood hatches by the time the queen is ready to lay. 

 The colony is in the same condition as a colony which has 

 swarmed. If increase is not wanted, I set the parts together 

 after the honey-flow and let the queens fight it out. By this 

 method but few colonies become queenless. 



The frame-; are spaced 1 and -t,/12 inches. Propolis will 

 increase this a little. I know from practice that 1 4/12 inches 

 will work all right, if the combs are true, and do away with 

 burr-combs. Burr-combs have two chief causes, improper 

 spacing and a crowded condition ; they are caused also by the 

 sudden stopping of the flow while wax is being secreted. 

 (Wax-secretion is neither voluntary nor strictly involuntary. I 

 hold that we do not lose nearly so much by bees being obliged 

 to build their own comb as is generally accepted.) 



A new brood-comb with sealed worker-brood is % inch 

 thick. An old comb is one inch. I have my top and bottom 

 bars exactly the width of the thickness of sealed comb, so that 

 I can see every part of the surface when they are built down 



The Bcc-Siipply Factory of The A. I. Root Cumpany—One of Our Advertisers. 



separator. Never make the cleat the full thickness of a bee- 

 space, 1-4 inch. I think i4 inch is thick enough, tho the Root 

 Co. are making them 2/l2 of an inch. 



I have been favorably imprest with the Heddon princi- 

 ples. I don't think a shallow frame is any better. I don't 

 think it is quite as good as a deep one. No general size of 

 hive is better, all things considered, than that which takes 

 the American frame, which is square. Its defect is, it has not 

 enough surface on which to place the surplus receptacle. I 

 have used it almost constantly for 20 years. I cannot say 

 positively, but I think that bees will build up faster in con- 

 tinuous large frames. But we must sometimes sacrifice ad- 

 vantages to convenience. 



My frame, as you see it here, is of the Quinby style, •"> 

 inches deep and 16 inches long. Hitherto we have always 

 adapted the surplus apartment to the brood-chamber. I be- 

 lieve in adapting the brood-chamber to the surplus fixtures. I 

 believe in tall sections. So my frame is as deep as one sec- 

 tion, and as long as four sections. The brood-chamber is 16 

 inches long and 15 inches wide, making a large super sur- 

 face (32 sections). It consists of two or more shallow stories, 

 or hive sections. When three sections are used it approaches 

 the cube, being 15% inches deep, making an almost ideal 

 form of hive. 



It is easiest to handle bees when a little honey Is coming 

 in. Eight days before the main flow I go around and put an 

 excluder between the sections or apartments of each hive. On 



to the bottom-bar ; and when the parts are alternated the 

 combs will be solid. I have for seven years used frames 13 

 inches long and 6 inches deep. The top-bars do not need to 

 be Ji inch deep. That is just for strength. 



A section of my hive is a super, a brood-chamber, or an 

 extracting-super, at will. An inset or empty space back of 

 the end-bars gives room for the ends of the separators, when 

 it is a section super, and also for a Z"*haped piece of tin to 

 support the frames, when a brood-chamber or extracting- 

 super. Little tin shoulders on the lower ends of the separator- 

 deals take the place of T tins. Separators without cleats are 

 used for Ihe extractiug-combs. Deep-cell foundation is still 

 uncertain, but we know the value of bait-combs, and in this 

 hive two extracling-combs, one at each side of the super, 

 serve as bait-combs. It is comprest on all sides by ordinary 

 stove-bolts, with the burrs inside, moving In slots, so that the 

 last separator may be inserted Thehive^ is^ not so expensive 

 as the Hidden hive. 



[ cover my sections with an" inner cleated cover'wlth a 

 bee-space. The wax in sections is sometimes brought almost 

 to the melting point beneath single board covers. " 



R. C. Aikin. 



FIRST DAY— Evening Session. 



BEST HIVE FOR THE AVERAQK FARMER. 



F. Rauchfuss — What hive Is best for the average farmer 



