April 20, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



247 



end-bar about 2^.^ inches from the bottom. Hold the frame up be- 

 fore you as it hangs in the hive, and on the side next you the two 

 nails will be at the left, while at the right they will be on the side 

 opposite. To hold the frame in proper place endwise, small staples 

 are used about the same as window-blind staples. The staple is 

 driven into the end-bar close under the top-bar. 



It is only right to say that I'm not sure whether the width of 

 these top-bars, l'^, with a space of 14-inch between them, is the 

 very best. The bees build more brace-combs between the top-bars 

 than are desirable. 



Some of my frames were made by the A. I. Root Co., and some 

 by the G. B. Lewis Co. I think neither of them make such frames, 

 only to order. 



-♦-•-» 



Moldy Combs Putting on Supers. 



My Italian bees in 8-frame dovetailed hives have wintered well 

 considering the cold weather we had here, being 20 degrees below 

 zero, and one spell was 30 degrees. If I had not had my bees packt 

 in winter-cases I would not have had a bee now. But the combs 

 which contain the honey toward the back part of the hive are 

 moldy and very damp. I saw water dropping off of them and ly- 

 ing on the bottom-board, and water standing in the empty cells at 

 the bottom of the comb. They have lots of honey yet. What is 

 the cause of the above conditions of mold and the combs sweating 

 so ? And is there anything I should do, or shall I let them go '. 

 Will they come out all right themselves ? 



The combs at the entrance of the hives are dry, and not moldy. 

 The bees seem to be flying finely, and are very vigorous, trying 

 their best to rob a colony of black bees. 



2 They have four brood-frames about full of honey, and the 

 other four about half full. Should I put on a super by the middle 

 of April ? West Virginia. 



Answers.— 1. Probably the entrances were hardly open 

 enough for sufficient ventilation. The parts farthest from the en- 

 trance would suffer most, the moisture settling there. The bees 

 will probably correct the trouble of their own accord. 



2. It is hardly wise to put on supers till a harvest comes from 

 which they can store, but if you find the queen is crowded for want 

 of room in which to lay, take out a full comb of honey and replace 

 with an empty comb. 



♦-•-♦ 



Taking Care of Combs of Honey. 



I have six hives that the bees froze in. I cleaned the bees out, 

 but the hives are full of honey. I want to keep them, as I have 

 made arrangements with a neighbor for swarms to put into them. 

 What will be the best way to do, to keep the moths out till used ? 

 Bees did very poorly here; 90 percent of those not stored are dead. 



Iowa. 



Answer. — A cool, dry cellar is a pretty good place, as in such 

 a place the worms will make very slow headway. If such a place 

 is not at hand, they may be kept above ground, being spaced well 

 apart, where moths and bees cannot reach them. Look at them 

 from time to time, and pick out with a wire-nail any worms that 

 get a start. They may be brimstoned. but it takes very heavy 

 brimstoning to affect worms in brood-combs. Probably the very 

 best way is to put a hive full of combs under a hive containing a 

 strong colony. 



■»—-* 



The Bee-Keepers' Association Enameled Cloth. 



1. Where can I obtain the proper iuformation in regard to 

 joining the Bee-Keepers' Association ? 



tZ: 2. Is it necessary to scrape the caps clean, providing they were 

 used the year before ? 



3. Do you advise the use of enameled cloth over the brood- 

 frames ? New York. 



Answers.— 1. Right here. You probably mean the United 

 States Bee Keepers' Association. Send a dollar to the General 

 Manager, Hon. Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa, and tell him you 

 want to join the Association. Or, send to the Secretary, Dr. A. B. 

 Mason, 3512 Monroe Street, Toledo, Ohio, or to the editor of this 

 paper. You can hardly do a wiser thing than to become a mem- 

 ber at once. 



2. If you mean hive-covers, I should say it was not necessary. 

 .3. That depends somewhat on how the hives are made. If the 



covers come within i^-ineh of the top-bars, nothing of the kind is 

 needed. If the covers don't fit down so close, then something in 

 the line of sheets or quilts is needed. Perhaps, however, heavy 

 sheeting is better than enameled cloth. 



A Quintet of Questions. 



1. I use shallow Hoffman frames (.o'^y deep) for extracting. 

 Would you advise me to get a Cowan extractor with baskets large 

 enough to hold two of these frames in each basket ? How would 

 the No. 17 two-frame Cowan do ? 



2. Is it necessary or advisable to use a dummy or follower in 

 the extracting-super when using Hoffman frames, as above 

 described ? 



3. In hiving a swarm, which is the better plan (a) to have all 

 the frames filled with foundation, (b) partly foundation and part 



drawn-out combs, (c) or partly foundation and part y.2 or 1 inch 

 starters alternately placed in the hive ? Authorities seem to differ 

 on these points. 



4. Which is the best foundation to use in shallow frames, me- 

 dium brood, light brood, or thin super ? Should I use full sheets 

 or starters ? Will it be necessary or advisable to wire shallow 

 frames 5-'^ deep ? 



5. I can get good, strong colonies of Italian bees at $7.00 or 

 $8 00 each ; 1st swarms, at $3.00 each ; 'ind swarms, at $1. SO each. 

 Which would be the cheapest to buy considering the fact that in- 

 crease of colonies is most desired ? The full colonies would be in 

 their own hives. For the swarms I would have to provide hives, 

 frames, etc., buying bees only. Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. I don't know, and I'd be obliged if some one who 

 has had experience with such shallow frames would answer. I 

 should think the No. 17 you mention would work all right if it 

 doesn't take too careful work to get the two combs in the same 

 basket. 



3. It is advisable to use a dummy with any kind of a self-spac- 

 ing frame. Otherwise you can't easily get out the first frame. 



3. You are right in saying authorities differ, so you can't ex- 

 pect me to do more than to give my own preference, which would 

 be, first, full combs; second, full sheets of foundation. If I had to 

 use part starters, I'd use them by themselves, and not alternately. 



4. Light brood with one horizontal wire will probably work all 

 right. 



5. That's a hard one. If you'll tell how much the old colonies 

 will swarm, it will be easier to answer; also what time you 

 can get the first and second swarms. If they come early enough, 

 I'd risk the second swarms. Take an average season, and perhaps 

 the first swarms will be best. 



Sections with Starters Left Over. 



I have been watching the Bee Journal for some time to see if I 

 could use my pound sections that were in the supers last year with 

 the starters in, or whether I have to throw them all away. I have 

 about 1,700 of them that are not drawn at all, but are just as when 

 put in the sections last year. New York. 



Answer. — By all means use all the sections you have left over 

 that are nice and clean. 



'Adel" Bees Zinc for Solar Extractor. 



1. On page 150, New Jersey asks, " What are yellow-banded 

 Adel bees ?" You say you never saw any of them ? Aren't you 

 mistaken ? Frank Benton says, " /SV/..-^ queens of any well-estab- 

 lisbt race or variety may properly be called Adel queens." See 

 Vol. XXXIV, No. 25, American Bee Journal, page 783. 



2. Would a sheet of zinc be suitable for making a solar wax- 

 extractor ? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. The word "adel" is a German word meaning 

 " nobility." Mr. Benton is right in saying that such a word might 

 have been applied in a general sense to any strain of bees of good 

 quality, just as any good strain of bees might be called " honey- 

 getters." But if you should develop a particular strain of bees 

 and call them " honey-getters," beekeepers would be likely to re- 

 spect that title as belonging to your strain of bees, especially if 

 you used the name in some foreign language. So when Mr. Alley 

 uses that name for a particular strain, I see no reason why his 

 title to that name should not be respected. Instead of being a 

 strain of Italians, Mr. Alley says they are from Carniolans. In a 

 late letter he says: " Don't you remember what F. Benton said in 

 Gleanings about the two kinds of bees in Carniola ? Well, he said 

 this: ■ I never yet saw an apiary in Carniola that contained all 

 steel-gray bees; many of the bees are yellow-banded.' The Ad'l 

 bees I have were bred up from the yellow strain. Ad'l means, or 

 rather signifies, superior, and as the natives consider the yellow 

 bees superior to the dark bees, they call them Ad'l bees." 



2. I'm not sure just how you would mean to use the zinc, but I 

 see no reason why sheet-zinc might not be used for any part of a 

 solar wax-extractor except the glass part. Very likely you mean 

 the perforated part, and for that it ought to work all right. 



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