10 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 5. 1899. 



Bad Year I the worst for 50 years ! Most French bee- 

 keepers haven't enough honey to winter their bees, says 

 Le Rticher Beige. 



An Australian t1oney=Yield. — \V. J. reports in Austra- 

 lian Bee-Bulletin that from 80 colonies he got 11 tons of 

 honey and increast to 115 ;1275 pounds per colony and 43 per- 

 cent increase is not so bad. 



Utah Yield. — E. S. Lovesy reports in Gleanings the 

 highest he has heard of in Utah" the past season, as nearly 

 5!^ tons of honey from 31 colonies, increast to |82. That 

 average — 350 pounds per colony — in an off year is not bad. 



To Seal Bottles. — Take four parts rosin, four parts 

 pitch, and one part beeswax. Melt the wax, add the resins, 

 and when the whole is liquid, dip the bottle in to the neck, 

 take out and turn it around, holding the bottle horizontally, 

 so all parts will be equally covered. — Revue Eclectique. 



To Keep Honey Light in Wax-Extractor. — D. W. 



Heise (Canadian Bee Journal) is delighted at having learned 

 that when cappings are put in the wax-extractor he can 

 prevent the accompanying honey from becomings dark by 

 never allowing' the sun to strike the vessel -containing tlie 

 honey, and removing it just as soon as it has run down. 



Plain Sections, says M. L,. .Mai^i in American Bee- 

 Keeper, are filled and completed more uniformly than 

 others, and the honey in the outside rows will be more 

 securely attacht to the wood, hence a larger number will 

 grade fancy. A picture of eight sections from his apiary 

 shows the combs not so verv well finisht out to the wood. 



BuiIt=Out Combs vs. Foundation. — Allen Sharp, in 

 British Bee Journal, says that in his experience he finds 

 that bees prefer fresh foundation in sections to unfinisht 

 combs of the previous season, or those that have been a 

 long time on the hive. Some 'in this country agree with 

 him, while others take the reverse view, saying that bees 

 object to partly-built combs only when they are in bad con- 

 dition. 



Best Ventilation for Hives in Hot Climates, says W. 

 W. Somerford in tileanings, is that secured by raising the 

 cover 'i inch at one end, the flat cover being- best. "If 

 ventilated thus, hives with flat covers (even tho covers are 

 made of stuft' onlj' )4 inch thick) will be perfectly safe to sit 

 in any tropical sun, even when combs are full of honey in 

 the top story." Of course such ventilation would not work 

 well for comb honey. 



Right Strain of Bees for Comb Honey, says J. B. 

 Hall in the Canadian Bee Journal, must be great gatherers, 

 not afraid to leave the brood-nest to store, filling the combs 

 to the top-bar with brood, building combs without the use 

 of brace-combs, filling tlie sections to the wood all around, 

 and not afraid to cap it when full. Such bees can be kept, 

 and are kept, but "it requires constant culling to keep out 

 undesirable stock." 



Saltpeter Rags for Smoker Fuel — I take a two-gallon 

 crock (of course larger or smaller would do), and throw into 

 it a pound of saltpeter, then fill half full with water. Into 

 this I put pieces of rotten wood or cotton rags. The wood 

 must be allowed to soak for a day or so, but the rags may 

 be taken out at once, or they may be left a month. If you 

 use rotten wood for fuel, and wish to tell the .saltpeter wood 

 easily from the other, it's a good plan to throw a little red 

 aniline dye into the crock. An old milk-pan with holes in 

 the bottom, or an old colander, stands in the crock, and 

 some of the rags are put into that' to drain and dry. Next 

 time I come for saltpeter rags I take them out of the colan- 



der, put some out of the crock into the colander, and put 

 some new ones into the crock. If none are dry enough I 

 dry them in the sun or stove-oven. When I want to fire my 

 smoker I take a rag. perhaps a piece of an old shirt or dress, 

 the size of my hand (I don't mean the dress but the rag is 

 the size of my hand), touch a lighted match to it, roll it into 

 a little ball, and drop it into the smoker. Then, without 

 waiting to see whether it will burn or not, I fill up the 

 smoker with chips, planer-shavings, or what-not, with no 

 fear but there will be a good fire with very little puffing. — 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, in Gleanings. 



Are Drones from a Drone-Layer Virile? — Australian 

 Yankee, in Australian Bee-Bulletin, thinks he has proved 

 that they are. He had blacks, and there were no Italians 

 within 20 miles. He got some Italian brood and reared late 

 in the fall a queen that never produced a worker, but thou- 

 sands of drones, worker-brood from other colonies being 

 constantly added. Many of his young black queens pro- 

 duced progeny with yellow bands, showing that they had 

 mated with the vellow drones from the drone-laver. 



Uniting Colonies.— J. O. Grimsley, who conducts the 

 " Department of Bees and Honey " in the Ruralist, is 

 charmed with Doolittle's plan of uniting colonies. He 

 varied from it by not caging the queen, and thinks it not 

 necessary to cage her. To unite, he had two colonies with 

 four combs each. 8-frame hives. He took queen from hive 

 A, then put in A the combs, bees and all, from B. alterna- 

 ing the frames. No hive being left on the stand of B. the 

 returning- bees heard the call and joined the united colony, 

 or else made their home wtih some near-bv colonv. 



Which Way Sliould Combs in the Hive Run?— G. M. 



Doolittle discusses the matter in Gleanings. In a state of 

 nature bees build their combs in all directions. In this 

 country most bee-keepers have the frames in the hive with 

 one end toward the entrance. This allows the hive to be 

 tipt forward so water can run out of the entrance. If frames 

 hung crosswise, the combs would not hang true in the 

 frames. There is better chance for ventilation in hot 

 weather if frames run toward the entrance. Bees returning 

 from the field can more readily get to anj' part of the brood- 

 chamber. 



Cleaning Hives Annually. — F. L. Thompson sa^-s in 

 the Prog^ressive Bee-Keeper that for some years he has been 

 inclined to think it time fooled awa}-, laboriously to scrape 

 all hives every spring ; but he has swung completely around 

 in his views since coming in charg-e of an apiary that had 

 been run on the let-alone plan. It was such a terrible job 

 to g-et all in good working order, that he will hereafter 

 scrape clean each spring every hive. That gives chance 

 for clipping queens and thoroughly inspecting everything 

 at one opening early in the season ; then in the swarming 

 season he doesn't dread to open a hive on account of bur- 

 combs, franies glued down, etc., but everything- works 

 easily and smoothly. 



Doolittle's Box-Plan of Uniting a number of weak 

 colonies is given in the American Bee-Keeper. For two or 

 three small colonies make a box that will hold 12 quarts ; 

 for larger colonies, one that will hold at least 20 quarts. 

 One side must be of wire-cloth nailed on. The other side 

 should consist of wire-cloth nailed to a light frame, so it 

 can be easily removed. A funnel is put in a hole in the top 

 of the box. Blow a little smoke into the first hive, and 

 pound on the top with the fist, then treat in like manner the 

 others in succession. In five minutes from pounding the 

 first hive, the bees will be filled with honey. Shake the 

 bees into the funnel, caging the queen when found. A 

 cloth in the funnel when not in use keeps the bees in. 

 Bump the box down so as to shake the bees on the bottom, 

 remove the funnel and cover the hole. Mix the bees thor- 

 oughly by shaking and tumbling the box. Bump it down 

 again and drop into the hole a caged queen, having the 

 cage suspended by a wire hookt over the top of the outside 

 of box. Have candy enough in the cage so bees will liber- 

 ate the queen in four to six hours. Put box in cellar or 

 other cool, dark place. Next morning — if the bees were put 

 in box in the evening, or in the evening if the bees were 

 put in the box in the morning — take off the movable side 

 and emptj- the bees like a swarm in front of tlieir destined 

 hive. 



