June 29, 1899. 



americafn bee journal 



407 



after swarming-, and it must be remembered that in the 

 natural order of things every laying- queen is superseded. 



2. It will work all right if you don't miss any cells. 



3. Kill them dead before ever they g-et alive. Shave off 

 'their heads in the brood form, or, better still, cut out the 



drone-comb and put patches of worker-comb in its place. 



4. I think basswood is valued as a honey-tree niucli 

 more than locust. Possibly if locust came as late as bass- 

 wood the case would be different. Locust is valuable for 

 building up, even if not a drop of surplus is ever gotten 

 from it. 



Colony Troubled with Wax-Worms. 



I have a colony of bees in a box-hive, and yesterday as 

 I was going thru my bee-yard I found quite a number of 

 young bees on the ground in front of the hive, and on the 

 bottom-board ; some of them were dead, and others were 

 alive ; I noticed the bees dragging them out. From what I 

 can get out of the American Bee Journal I think it is the 

 wax-worms that are making trouble with them. What is 

 the best thing for me to do ? Mo. 



Ans-vver. — If the trouble is from worms, you may do 

 some good by digging the worms out of their silken gal- 

 leries that they have spun. Take out a frame of brood, and 

 you will see the galleries of the worm running along the 

 surface of the comb. Take a wire-nail, dig out one end of 

 the gallery, then the other, and then tear it entirely out, 

 and you will dislodge the worm. Some say that if you 

 hammer on the frame witli something hard, like a knife- 

 handle, the worms will crawl out and drop to the ground. I 

 haven't had worms enough in my combs to try it. Neither 

 will you need pay any attention to worms if you have 

 strong colonies, especially if they are Italian. Even a weak 

 colony of Italians wiU keep the worms at bay without any 

 help on your part. 



Horses Near Bees — F. L. Thompson reports in the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper that V. Divinny, when working horses 

 near bees, makes a smudge to the windward, of any con- 

 venient material, especially dry horse-manure, that will 

 make abundance of smoke. Result, safety. 



The Amount of Wax from Old Brood-Combs is a thing 

 ofte:i inquired about. F. A. Gemmill says in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review that his averagfe yield of wax from a set of 

 eight Langstroth combs is three pounds. As he uses a 

 press of excellent power, the probabilitj- is that this is a higli 

 average ; but it is well to have something as a standard. 



Honey=Dew for Winter Stores. — After experiencing a 

 loss of 25 percent of his colonies in wintering, D. W. Heise 

 says in Canadian Bee Journal : "My first experience of 

 leaving honey-dew in the hives for winter stores has taught 

 me an object lesson, and I now promise never to do it 

 ag-ain." Mr. Heise, don't be rash ; sometimes it is easier to 

 make a promise than to keep it. 



Empty Combs Above or Under the Brood. Nest. — 



When an S-frame hive becomes crowded with brood. Dr. 

 Miller puts a story of empty combs under, so that the queen 

 may extend the brood-nest downward. If the empty combs 

 are put above, it cools off too much the brood-nest. But 

 Delos Wood says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that he gives 

 the empty combs above, because when the upper story is 

 filled with brood and honey his bees are likely to swarm, no 

 matter how much empty room below. In California there 

 may not be the same dangler from cool weather as in north- 

 ern Illinois. 



For Cure of Foul Brood, Henry W. Brice says in tlie 

 British Bee Journal : 



" No doubt disinfectants are most useful in modifying 

 the virulence of the disease under certain conditions, but 



the conclusion I am forced to is that this modifying power 

 takes place so long as the energy of the agent exists, and 

 on its exhaustion matters are not improved ; they have been 

 simply held in abeyance, unless a state of immunity super- 

 venes. To summarize the treatment, my advice, tho con- 

 taining little that is new, is : (a) get bees off combs and 

 destroy the latter at once by fire ; (b) keep bees confined for 

 24 hours (this will kill many of the badly diseased ones), 

 rehive them in a clean hive on starters only ; (c) re-queen or 

 give hatching queen-cell in 48 hours, /. e., before any eggs 

 are hatcht out that may have been laid ; (d) feed dailj' with 

 medicated syrup for two months at least ; (e) paint old hives 

 and supers used in connection with diseased bees as above 

 mentioned ; and (f ) consign to the flames without delay all 

 quilts, combs, frames, etc., removed from diseased colonies, 

 and do not leave infected matter about an apiary within 

 reach of bees." 



Marketing Honey. — Some branches of production in 

 this State have become so thoroly organized that they prac- 

 tically control the markets in their particular lines. Simi- 

 lar results should obtain among the producers of honey. As 

 it is, a few local jobbers by concerted action are able to bear 

 the markets on this coast, and having- obtained control of 

 the most of the output, proceed to bull the markets in the 

 Eastern States. The result is that an article which brings 

 the producer from 6 to 7 cents, after having the profits of 

 the middleman and the tariff's of the transportation com- 

 panies added, costs the consumer anywhere from 15 to 25 

 cents. The producer and consumer must be brought closer 

 together. — H. M. Peters, in Pacific Rural Press. 



The New York Honey flarket. — Years ago J. E. Ci-ane 



sold most of his honey in tlie New York market, as he re- 

 lates in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, and at that time much of 

 the honey was in 4-pound boxes, but some in 2-pound single- 

 combs glast. On visiting the same market last winter he 

 didn't see a 4-pound box, and scarcely a 2-pound section. 

 The dealers said square sections had had their day, the de- 

 mand being for tall sections. A section 4x5 is preferred to 

 one3,^sx5. No importance is attacht to the matter of hav- 

 ing the row of cells next to the wood sealed. The general 

 preference is for g-last sections. A case holding 25 to 30 

 sections is preferred to a smaller one. In some cases sec- 

 tions are sold by the piece. Honey in plain sections was 

 scarcely to be found, having been pickt up by retail dealers. 



Artificial Increase.— W. W. Somerford tells in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture how he has increast from 7 to SO colo- 

 nies. The 7 colonies were in 2-story 10-frame dovetailed 

 hives, with about 10 frames of brood each, some of it in the 

 upper stories, each colonj' having plenty of honej'. The 

 queens were removed from the 7 colonies 11 days before di- 

 viding. One of the 7 colonies had hatching queens, and 

 from this colony "pulled queens" were taken for some of 

 the nuclei, the others receiving two to six queen-cells each. 

 Each nucleus had two to four combs well covered with bees, 

 and the entrances were closed with moss, grass, or green 

 leaves, so that the bees could gnaw their way out in the 

 course of two or three days. The seven nuclei, however, 

 which occupied the parent locations, did not have their en- 

 trances closed, and to these no brood was given, only a 

 bunch of queen-cells. When the queens were removed from 

 the parent colonies, the best of them were taken for use in 

 another apiary, the rest were killed. 



Production of Comb and Extracted Honey. — Here is 

 the plan of H. H. Hyde for producing both, as given in the 

 Progressive Bee-Keeper : Say an apiary of 50 colonies in 

 8-frame hives, nearly all two stories, having been left thus 

 from the previous year. Give the queen the run of both 

 stories, push breeding-, feeding if necessary. When the fast 

 flow comes, take away one story, and fill the remaining 

 story as much as possible with sealed brood, putting the 

 youngest brood at the outside. Put on sections filled with 

 foundation, aLso as many bait sections as are on hand. 

 Storing will continue above, and the hatching bees will 

 allow the queen plenty of room below, so swarming will be 

 limited. As the flow gives awaj'. the section-supers are 

 gradually replaced by extracting--supers, ready for the long, 

 slow flow. At the time the brood-combs (without bees) were 

 taken from the 30 colonies, they were tiered up on the re- 

 maining' 20 colonies, and these were kept for extracting. 

 The cotton-bloom, beginning- July 15, is extracted, and the 

 inferior broomweed honey is left for winter and spring. 



