Sept. 14, 1899. 



AMERICAiN BEE JOURNAL 



583 



bees will build comb in the space, and that will be in the 

 way of handling- the frames. 



2. Perhaps the majority space their frames IJ'g from 

 center to center, sltho some prefer I'i. There should be 

 about the same space between the outside top-bar and the 

 side of the hive that there is between the top-bars. 



3. Perhaps somewhere from S to 7 pounds. 



4. It depends upon the kind used whether self-spacinp 

 frames are all right. The worst frames as to propolis that 

 I ever used were self-spacing, and those that gave the least 

 trouble were also self-spacing. If the spacing depends upon 

 having a large part of the frames come in contact with each 

 other, then there will be trouble with propolis in a region 

 where propolis is plenty. The least trouble is with frames 

 that have very small points of contact, as when common 

 nails "are used for spacers. 



5. Yes, probably most loose-hanging frames have no 

 spacing strip. But you can hardly have anything like 

 exact spacing at the bottom if the frames hang entirely free. 



Keeping a Caged Queen. — Editor Hutchinson, of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review, saj's she may be left for days laid at 

 the entrance of any populous colony during the working 

 season, and the bees cluster over the cage and care for the 

 queen just the same as tho she were inside the hive. 



Wood versus Wire. — In the Australian Bee-Bulletin 

 the question is askt whether splints of wood have been tried 

 in place of wiring, and with what results. One man says 

 he has used the wood with much satisfaction, another in- 

 tends to try it, the remainder have no experience, and one 

 of them thinks it " best for poor bee keepers to keep on well 

 beaten tracks." 



Automatically Reversible Honey=Extractors, Editor 

 Hutchinson, of the Bee-Keepers' Review, found used by 

 several Wisconsin bee-keepers, but they ignored the auto- 

 matic feature, stopping themachine and reversing by hand. 

 The reversing in motion results in a shock which may in- 

 jure new combs, and it is hard on the muscles of the opera- 

 tor. The Cowan reversible, as now made with a brake, he 

 thinks the most desirable extractor on the market. 



For Safe Handling in Shipping, Editor Hutchinson, of 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review, says he saw the following printed 

 in enormous letters and pasted on the tops of crates : 



"DO NOT TIP OR TURN OVER. 



THIS IS THE TOP OF THE CRATE, NOT THE BOTTOrvl. IF H.\XI)- 



I.En ROUGHLY THERE WII.I, BE n.\M.\GES 



CL.MMKD FOR BREAKAGE." 



Mr. Hutchinson thinks something like this on crates of 

 honey itiighl be heeded by freight-handlers. PossibU'. 

 however, it might be heeded as much if a little more in the 

 way of a request, and not so much in the way of a threat. 



Source of Honey=Dew.— John Handel, while admitting 

 that it is possible that " plants under certain atmospheric 

 conditions exude a sweet juice from the surface of their 

 leaves," says that under very careful observation he has 

 never seen anything- of the kind, and gives the following as 

 a reason why observers, otherwise careful, have been mis- 

 led : The spray as ejected by the aphides is so fine that a 

 slight breeze will carry it quite a distance. It sticks to any 

 thing with which it comes in contact, and absorbs moisture 

 to such an extent that a small particle will spread over a 

 large surface, and still leave a film when it dries. A single 

 drop may start near the top of a tree, and drip from leaf to 

 leaf, while wet, and leave a gloss on each loaf. — Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review. 



Safe Introduction of Queens. G. M. Doolitile gives in 

 the American Bee Keeper a plan he has followed many 

 years with very rarely a failure, which, altho it has been 

 given before, will bear repetition : Take a piece of wire- 

 cloth^S inches long and 5 wide. Cut an inch square out of 



each corner, and bend up at right angles the sides and ends. 

 That makes an open box 6 i^iclies long, 3 inches wide, and 

 an inch deep. Unravel the wires a little more than half 

 way down. Remove the queen to be superseded, shake the 

 bees from the comb on which she was, place the new queen 

 upon it where there is hatching brood and honey, press the 

 veires of the cage into the comb till the unraveled part 

 strikes the surface, put the comb in the hive, and leave -'4.'- 

 inch between it and the next comb, so the bees can travel 

 all over the cage. In a day or two — or as soon thereafter as 

 the queen has laid some eggs — quietly lift off the cage, and 

 all will be well. 



Temperature for Brood = Rearing. — In Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture G. M. Doolittle gives an interesting account of ex- 

 periments made with a thermometer to ascertain the proper 

 temperature for brood-rearing. On a cool nig-ht in May, 

 when ice as thick as a window-pane formed on water, he 

 found the lowest point reacht in the brood-nest was 92°. 

 Repeated experiments with strong and weak colonies never 

 showed a lovrer temperature of the brood-nest, while some 

 of the stronger colonies gave a temperature of 95° on nights 

 in which there was some frost. On the hottest days he 

 found a self-registering thermometer showed 98° as the 

 highest point reacht. So he concludes that whatever favors 

 holding the temperature somewhere from 92° to 98° is 

 favorable to brood-rearing. To this end he likes a chaff- 

 packt hive with a metal roof, all painted dark. The hive is 

 allowed to stand in the sun to get its full benefit till steady 

 warm weather with large population, when a shade-board 

 protects against the hot sun. 



Sections Sealed Next the Wood have been considered 

 desirable, and in grading comb honey such sections have 

 taken a higher place. Lately, however, the idea has been 

 advanced that a section is preferable which has no honey 

 in the cells next the wood, not having the dauby appear- 

 ance of one with honey leaking all around when cut out. A 

 Stray Straw in Gleanings in Bee-Culture says : 



"Tastes differ. Mr. Niver and other New Yorkers like 

 to see on a plate a .section of honey that is nice and dry, be- 

 cause no cells are filled next the wood. To me it looks far 

 more luscious if the cut cells show, and it is surrounded by 

 some of its own rich gravy." 



To which Editor Root replies : " When Mr. Niver pre- 

 sented his view I was inclined to think he was right ; and 

 now you have presented your notion, I have fiopt again. 

 There is no denying the fact that a chunk of dripping crys- 

 tal honey has a sort of lusciousness about it that makes 

 one's mouth water. A chunk of comb swimming in its own 

 crystal sweetness reminds one strongly of the good old days 

 gone by, and of how our fathers and grandfathers used to 

 di.sh ou-t honey in great chunks smeared ' in its own rich 

 gravy.' " 



Giving Swarms to Nuclei. — The critic of the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review. Hon. R. L. Taylor, refers to page 371 of this 

 journal, where "Doolittle criticises Dr. Miller sharply," 

 commends the response of the latter, but says he failed to 

 reply to one point, " the method of hiving swarms with nu- 

 clei." Mr. Doolittle gives as the only safe way, the advice 

 to set the nucleus on the stand of the swarming colony, 

 smoke its bees, and as the swarm liegins to return without 

 its queen, which has been removed, shake the nucleus 12 to 

 18 inches in front, letting them run in with the swarm. 

 Without this precaution the bees of the nucleus would, ire 

 nine cases out of ten, kill the bees of the swarm as fast as 

 they came back. Mr. Taylor is surprised at this, having 

 never found it necessary during swarming time to use any 

 such care. Recently he has had considerable experience 

 directly upon this point. For certain purposes he had 

 formed a number of nuclei with virgin queens, and says : 



"The hope of surplus having past, and bees in the 

 shape of swarms being superabundant, I have dumpt many 

 in front of these small colonies, without ceremony, and let 

 them run in. In no case was there any quarreling. In all 

 my experience in such cases I have onlj- deemed it neces- 

 sary that the invading bees should be in considerable num- 

 bers and without a queen ; and if of a prime swarm, that the 

 queen of the nucleus should be fertile." 



Then he hints that " locality " may have something to 

 do with the case. It might be well if Dr. Miller would 

 break silence on this point long enough to tell us whether 

 he has had direct experience upon it, and if so, whether his 

 " locality " is like that of the New York or the Michigan 

 man. 



