38 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 19, 1899. 



keeping- up with the times, but make your experiments on a 

 small scale, so you may avoid disaster. Of course, we un- 

 derstand the animus — in most cases the manufacturers find 

 it necessary to get out some novelty, the same as tree-men. 

 charg-ing round prices and g-etting- rid of them as rapidly as 

 possible. 



A most careful consideration should be given to any 

 new appliance, in recognizing as a factor the increase in 

 cost and time necessary to handle the same ; and most bee- 

 keepers have other business, and give their time, which is 

 rusht in the spring, and is limited. If we could concentrate 

 upon one style of hive and section, the bee-keeper would 

 have solved a problem that has as yet found no solution. 



Ben Honnett. 



F. Rauchfuss — I have never been favorably imprest 

 with the plain section and fence. But I would not condemn 

 them until they have been tried. At the Omaha Exposition, 

 I thought the best filled and capt honey, so far as could be 

 judged from the outside of the cases, was a lot of three cases 

 of Minnesota honey, in plain sections. It is another ques- 

 tion whether there are advantages enough in these fixtures 

 to justif5- adopting them. 



Prof. Gillette — When plain sections and ordinary sec- 

 tions are stackt up separately, the plain sections take the 

 eye better. 



Mr. Adams — Don't we have to cater to the eye more 

 than to the palate ? 



Prof. Gillette— Yes. 



A. L,. Foster — I am starting in the bee-business in Col- 

 orado, and I want to start right, not change after starting. 



F. L. Thompson — Last season I had one-half of five 

 supers full of plain sections with fences, and the other half 

 of ordinary sections with plain separators. The plain sec- 

 tions did not prove superior to the others in the matter of 

 filling at the edges of the combs, except in one super, and 

 then it was but faintly apparent. On counting the number 

 of holes through the combs next to the wood, I found that 

 the plain sections averaged 2!'2 holes to the section, while the 

 ordinary sections averaged S'i holes. But this superiority 

 of the plain sections was about all on paper, because I did 

 not suspect it from the appearance alone, and onl)' found it 

 out by counting and computing. Of course, the combs were 

 plump in comparison to the width of the section. I found 

 they did not need separators in the shipping-case, as had 

 been supposed they would. As I did not use special cases, 

 but the ordinary ones, together with a follower and wedge, 

 I cannot speak of the difficulty of withdrawing them from 

 the case. 



Prof. Gillette — I also found a small difl'erence in favor 

 of the plain sections, in the matter of holes in the combs. I 

 have not the figures, but my recollection is, the percentage 

 was identical with that mentioned by the last speaker. 



S. M. Carlzen— Why does Mr. Honnett recommend the 

 8- frame hive to beginners ? My hives had IS frames of 

 brood in them. 



Mr. Honnett — I have 8-frame hives because I am 

 troubled with the rheumatism. 



Mr. Foster — I have a number of 8-frame hives, which I 

 will use, tiering up if neces.sary. My brother, Oliver Fos- 

 ter, who runs for extracted honey, has 10-frame hives, 

 which he tiers up sometimes five high, with brood in all of 

 them. 



H. Rauchfuss — Would you advise giving the queen 

 access to the extracting-supers ? I would not advise ex- 

 tracting from combs containing brood. There will be some 

 thin honey, because thin honey is placed next the brood. I 

 would confine the queen to one story, and use 10-frame 

 hives. 



F. Rauchfuss— The prevalence of 8-frame hives in Col- 

 orado is not due to the choice of the bee-keepers, but to that 

 of the manufacturers. The 8-frame hive is easy to manage. 

 Those who started manufacturing here advocated the 8- 

 frame hive. Being bee-keepers also, their judgment was 

 largely followed. Then Root's catalog advises beginners to 

 use the 8-frame hive. There are iriany who would be glad 

 to use the 10-frame, but they still continue buying the 8- 

 frame because they wish to avoid a change. If the matter 

 was left to bee-keepers, there would be an equal or greater 

 number of larger hives used. One can produce just as much 

 honey with the 8-frame hive, but it takes more labor, and 

 therefore costs more. 



(Continued next week.] 



The Premiums offered on page 30 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



CUNIJUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILI^BR, Marengo, III. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Granulation of Extracted Honey. 



A correspondent informs me that I am in error in say- 

 ing that all honey in the North will granulate when cold 

 weather comes, if it is pure extracted. He says that in Gage 

 Co., Neb., it is the exception and not the rule when extrac- 

 ted honey granulates before March. The honey is heart's- 

 ease, of good flavor, not weighing more than 12 pounds per 

 gallon. 



I am glad to make this correction, and wish others would 



make it known if there are other localities in the North 



where extracted honej- remains liquid. It is something new 



to me. C. C. MlLl,ER. 

 *-•-*• 



Moving Bees Long Distances. 



1. How many miles can bees be moved on a spring 

 wagon ? I expect to move about 200 miles or more in the 

 spring. Is it best to move them by freight or express ? 



2. Is there air enough for the bees through the hive- 

 entrance in moving ? MinnesoT.\. 



Answers. — 1. There is no limit to the distance bees can 

 be hauled on a wagon, providing you stop each daj- early 

 enoug-h for them to have a little flight before dark, closing- 

 them up after all have gone in. They could be placed on a 

 rack with the entrances facing outward, so they would not 

 need to be taken off the wagon. It might be better to ship 

 on the cars, especially if wagon-roads are rough, btit the 

 matter of cost must be considered. 



2. That depends on the size of entrance and the weather. 

 If cool weather, an ordinary entrance will be enough. If 

 the temperature is up to 70 degrees or more, it would be 

 better to have an entrance the full width of the hive and lyi 

 to 2 inches deep ; or, still better, wire-cloth covering the 

 whole of the hive. 



Worms Stripping Basswood Trees. 



The basswood and other trees of this locality for the 

 past two years have been stript of their leaves and blossoms 

 by a worm resembling the apple-tree worm. We have had 

 no honey from basswood in the past two years. Can you 

 tell me if this worm has come to stay ? If so, will it kill 

 the trees ? New Yokk. 



Answer. — I cannot speak with any degree of authority, 

 but give it as my opinion that the worm you speak of — if it 

 is the same one I've seen in this locality — will not bo a suffi- 

 ciently continuous stayer to do any permanent damage to 

 the trees. But I may be entirely wrong. 

 -*-•-* 



The Dadant Bottom Frame-Spacer. 



I wish to thank A. P. Raymond for his article on frame- 

 spacing, on page 738 (1898.) He mentioned a bottom-spacer 

 described in Langstroth Revised, but does not describe it, 

 and says some object to it because it is old. I would like it 

 fully explained. Ohio. 



Answer. — The bottom frame-spacer in Langstroth Re- 

 vised has no description given, only a picture of it. You 

 can make it somewhat after this fashion : Drive into a 

 board a row of nails as far apart as the distance you want 

 your frames spaced from center to center, that is, the nails 

 will be Ifs from each other if you desire to space your frames 

 1^8 inches from center to center. These nails are not to be 

 driven in tight, but left projecting enough to hold the wire. 

 A second row of nails is driven parallel to the first row, the 

 two rows being something like two inches apart. In this 

 second row, however, there are twice as many nails as in 

 the first row, and they are arranged differently. Opposite 

 the space between two nails in the first row are two^ nails 

 about as far apart as the width of your bottom-bar. q They 

 are just far enoug^h apart so that when the wire is] bent 



