Aug. 10, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



503 



and splits in the scorchinj^'- sun and 6ry air, and tlie bees 

 have so much ventilation that they winter well, and the air 

 is so dry that 20 to 40 def,''rees more of cold can be endured 

 than in a moister climate. His plan, however, would be to 

 paint well to preserve the hive, then provide proper ventila- 

 tion. Doolittle, while admitting that in Colorado he might 

 paint, still thinks it would be better and cheaper to leave 

 hives unpainted, then protect by means of a shadeboard 

 covered with a sheet of 20x28 tin, allowing the air to pass 

 freelv between the cover of the hive and the shadeboard. 



Acid for Cleansing Beeswax. — It is generally known 

 that acid is used in cleansing wax from old combs, but de- 

 tails of the matter have not been very freely given. The 

 following specific information is given in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture : 



"The acid we use for refining beeswax is sulphuric — 

 the ordinary commercial article. It should be reduced in 

 water from SO to vSOO times. If the wax is then boiled in 

 this water, or heated by a steam-pipe, and then allowed to 

 stand for a few hours, it will turn to a bright lemon yellow. 

 The amount of acid to be used will have to be determined 

 by experiment. If you reduce it to one in a hundred, and 

 then keep reducing as long as you can get the clarifying 

 effect, you will get the proper solution." 



Large Hives in Canada. — J. Canuck, in Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture, advises that in trying large hives they shall 

 not be occupied bj' colonies with queens that have been 

 bred in little hives for generations. He is disgusted with 

 the statement of queen-breeders that good queens should fill 

 eight Langstroth frames with brood before the hone^'-fiow, 

 and says : 



" Why, Mr. Editor, at this date. May 9, I can show j-ou 

 lots of colonies in ' barns ' with 9 and 10 frames filled with 

 brood from one end to the other (frames considerably larger 

 than the Dadant-Ouinby,) and the hive boiling over with 

 bees, and we have had a very backward spring -first pollen 

 noticed April 18, and fruit-bloom just beginning to open. 

 As you are aware, our honey-flow does not start for nearly 

 a month, so you can see wliat, in my opinion, constitutes a 

 good queen." 



Large Hives — As bearing upon the large-small-hive 

 question, J. N. Harris gives an interesting contribution in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture. It seems that hives too large 

 are not desirable, 12-frame hives in his case being the happy 

 medium. His figures make an interesting studj'. He says : 



" I put into winter quarters 241 colonies in three apia- 

 ries, all in single-wall hives. They were wintered on the 

 summer stands with no other protection than chaflf in upper 

 stories, and tight-board fences about the yards. They were 

 in four sizes of hives on Langstroth frames : 



37 colonies in H-frame hives, winter loss, 8 



16 " in lt)-frame " " 



156 " in 12-frame " " 



32 *' in l6-frame ** " 13 



AVERAGE .^^MOUNT OF BROOD PER COLONY, APRIL 25. 



8-frame hives 3 frames of brood. 



111-frame " 3H " " " 



n-frame '* 5 " " " 



lo-frame " 2'j " " " 



" It will be seen by the figures that I had the best success 

 wintering in the 12-frame hive, which is my favorite size. 



"The most of the 8-frame and all of the 10-frame hives 

 were in the yard where the bees wintered best. I have al- 

 ways had fair success wintering in the 16-frame hive until 

 last winter. The previous winter I had 103 colonies all in 

 large hives, and lost but one colony." 



Bees Breeding in Winter. Dr. Mason said in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review that his bees bred in the cellar, and he be- 

 lieved they were stronger Jan. 21 than when put into the cel- 

 lar in November, and not a sign of disease. Mr. Theil- 

 mann, in the American Bee-Keeper, thinks this is the first 

 time any one has claimed that bees were stronger in Jan- 

 uary than in the preceding November, and hints that there 

 may be some mistake about it. His own experience is that 

 bees seldom breed in the cellar in December, and those 

 which commence breeding in the latter part of January are 

 pretty sure to have diarrhea before March 1. At one time 

 he had a remarkably good opportunity to learn the amount 

 of brood present in January', and relates the following : 



"About -Jan. 25, 1885, my bee-house, in which were 87 

 colonies, was burned. Altho the hives were saved, the bees, 

 with the exception of three colonies, were smothered with 



the smoke. Upon examination of the combs I found 48 col- 

 onies had more or less sealed brood or eggs ; five of them 

 had brood in five frames ; two had brood in four frames ; 17 

 had larva; and eggs ; 24 had eggs only. The remainder had 

 neither brood nor eggs. All the combs were nice and clean, 

 and there was no sign of disease. The temperature had 

 been about 40° most of the time before the house burned." 



It must be remembered, however, that bees wintered 

 out-doors begin breeding earlier than those in the cellar. 



Color of Honey. — Prof. Hunter's pamphlet gives photo- 

 graphs of six samples of honey in test-tubes. Beg'inning 

 with the lightest, they range in shade as follows : 1, alfalfa 

 and melon blooin ; 2, white clover ; 3, alfalfa ; 4, basswood : 

 5, sweet clover ; 6, knotweed. I suppose there's no little 

 variation in different localities as to the shades of honey. 

 Certainly I have always considered alfalfa lighter than 

 white clover, but .here it is darker. And is basswood usually 

 darker than white clover ? [The color of extracted honey 

 from the same source varies greatly in different localities, 

 and varies in the same locality in different years. Alfalfa, 

 as a rule, I think, is lighter in color than white clover ; 

 basswood is generally a little darker, but only slightly so. 

 Sweet clover is a little darker, on account of having some- 

 what of a greenish tinge. Knotwocd or sr.iarc-.YCcd ought 

 to be clast as amber, altho I have seen some samples that 

 were very light-colored. — Ed.] —Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



The Best Hive for Extracting. — J. M. Hambaugh was 

 for years a neighbor of the Dadants, and adopted their 

 style of hive with its large frame, so favorable in his opin- 

 ion for successful wintering. Having settled in California, 

 a change of conditions has allowed a change of preference, 

 and he says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture : 



"In starting anew here in California, with no winter- 

 ing problem to solve, in the adoption of a frame that meets 

 the requirements both of the bees and of the apiarist, I have 

 adopted the regular standard Langstroth, and a hive to ac- 

 commodate 10, and my reasons are : 



"1. Its convenience in handling, and being nearest 

 universal. 



"2. Its size is as large as we dare to combine the fea- 

 ture of surplus and brood. 



"3. Its best adaptation to combs when transferring. 



"4. A case of 10 combs filled with honey is sufficient 

 for the average man to lift, which is quite an item during 

 the extracting season." 



York's Honey Almanac is a neat little 32-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up with a view to create a demand for 

 honey among should-be consumers. Aside from the Alma- 

 nac pages, the forepart of the pamphlet was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

 a stamp ; 25 copies for 50 cents ; 50 for 70 cents ; 100 for 

 $1.25 ; 250 for $2.75 ; 500 for $4.50. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Langstroth on the Honey. Bee, revised by the Dadants, 

 is a standard, reliable and tlioroughly complete work on 

 bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is bound elegantly. 

 Every reader of the American Bee Journal should have a 

 copy of this book, as it answers hundreds of questions that 

 arise about bees. We mail it for SI. 25, or club it with the 

 Bee Journal for a j'ear — both for only $2.00. 



Please send us Names of Bee=Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. "Vou can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 



other matters. 



■*--*-•' 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song in sheet 

 music size, written bj' J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 

 of this song. 



