Dec. 21, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



807 



CONDUCTED BY 



UR. C. O. AIII^LER. Marengo, III. 



White Coating on Coml) Honey. 



I have been keeping bees for two years, and have lots to 

 learn yet. I notice now that my comb honey has a white 

 coating on the surface, that is, on the capping. Is it mold 

 or anything that would be injurious to the health of one 

 eating it ? Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — I'm in the same boat with you in having lots 

 to learn yet, and I suspect we'll keep company for some 

 years to come. But I've learned not to have any fear of 

 that whitish substance that comes upon the surface of comb 

 honey. It looks a little like mold, and possibly is somewhat 

 in that line, but it doesn't seem to affect the taste, and I 

 never knew it to hurt the honey for the use of either man 

 or bee. 



Management of Swarms. 



I practice natural swarming, hiving the swarm back on 

 the old stand, moving the parent colony to a new location, 

 and sometimes give the swarm part of the brood from the 

 parent colony, sometimes not. The reason for giving part 

 of the brood is to keep the colony strong until they have 

 time to rear tield-workers. Do you think giving part of the 

 brood is a good plan ? What age brood, and how much, 

 would you use ? Kansas. 



Answer. — Now look here, don't you think it's a little 

 rough in you to ask me how a thing will turn out in which 

 you have had direct experience yourself ? Instead of your 

 asking me, I ought to ask you about it, for you've had more 

 experience than I in that line. Practice is better than 

 theory, and my opinion would be largely theoretical. But 

 if you'll promise to tell how you come out, I'll agree to do 

 my best at theorizing. You promise, do you ? AH right, 

 then here's what I think : 



In this region, and in any region where the bulk of the 

 surplus is gained in a comparatively short time somewhat 

 early in the season, a colony that will be content to store 

 honey without ever thinking of swarming at all is the one 

 that gives the best yields. Swarming divides the forces, 

 and that is just the thing we don't want. When a colony 

 swarms, if you give it back all its brood, that will leave it 

 stronger for the future than if you give it no brood. But if 

 you give back its brood it will keep on swarming, so that 

 will not do. The question is, how much can you give back 

 without having it swarm ? Perhaps you can tell something 

 about that from your past experience. Try two or three 

 frames, and if they don't offer to swarm you can try more 

 with the next swarm. Take off queen-cells from the frames 

 you give. The older the brood the sooner the help gained, 

 so it will be well to give combs consisting as much as pos- 

 sible of sealed brood. In actual practice this may not turn 

 out to be as good as it looks on paper, so watch closely and 

 report results. 



About Wintering Bees. 



I have had bees for 4 years, and have not been success- 

 ful with them. When I examine them in the spring, the 

 comb is moldy at the bottom, and has lots of dead bees. It 

 takes them till about July 1 to recruit up again. I put into 

 winter quarters last fall 29 colonies, and came out with 28 

 in the spring, and there were so few bees that they dwindled 

 down to almost nothing in the spring, which caused me to 

 double up all I could, and left me, with the increase, only 

 26 colonies at this time, and they are good and strong, with 

 plenty of stores. 



I go a good deal by the bee-books and bee-papers, and 

 my own judgment, according to my locality. I wintered 

 them last winter against a hillside, in a shed three sides 



under the ground. The south side was a double wall with 

 dirt between the walls, and about a foot apart. I kept an 

 oil stove in it the coldest spells, and aimed to keep it at about 

 45 degrees. My hive bottom-boards were on tight, with the 

 entrance space wide open. My hives are the improved 

 Langstroth with loose bottoms, with an inch block under 

 each corner. 



I have changed my house so it is good and dry, and can 

 not freeze, with an underground spout 36 feet long and 6 

 inches square, with a couple of elbows and a 6-inch pipe 

 overhead, and 18 inches of fine, dry manure mixt with a 

 little dry earth. If I don't have success in wintering this 

 time, I will have to give up, which I don't like to do, as I 

 have many fixtures, and would like to try to make a success 

 of bee-keeping, as I am the only man this side of Fargo 

 that has bees, that I know of now. North D.\kot.a. 



Answer. — Unless there is a chimney of some kind di- 

 rectly over the blaze to carry off the smoke and foul gases, 

 an oil-stove should never be allowed in a place where bees 

 are confined. The impurities contaminating the air may 

 be worse than the cold. 



With good stores in a dry place at about 45 degrees, 



there ought to be no such trouble as you mention, unless 



the entrances of the hives become clogged, or unless the 



fumes of the oil-stove make trouble. With an inch block 



under each corner it seems there ought to be no trouble 



about clogging, still it may be well to keep the matter in 



mind and make sure that there is abundant space for the 



air to get into the hive. One place, however, you say the 



bottoms were on tight, and it is quite possible the entrances 



were clogged. 



*-•-*. 



Extractors and Extracting-Frames. 



1. Does the Cowan extractor take combs of different 

 sizes ? 



2. Would you advise using the full-depth Langstroth 

 frames, or the shallow estracting-frames, for extracting? 



3. Should the shallow extracting-frame be wired ? 



South Carolin.a. 

 Answers. — 1. The Cowan extractor is made with pock- 

 ets of different sizes : for Langstroth frames, comb-pockets 

 9J8 inches ; another with pockets for frames not more than 

 11 inches deep ; another for frames not more than 12 inches 

 deep : and another for larger frames. Of course, any of 

 these would take frames of smaller size. 



2. The Dadants and others who produce extracted honey 

 in large quantities think it desirable to have shallow frames 

 for extracting. Other advantages more than balance the 

 advantage the larger frames have in being- used sometimes 

 in the brood-chamber. 



3. They are stronger when wired ; an especial advan- 

 tag-e while new. 



York's Honey Calendar for 1900 is a 16-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up to create a demand for honey among 

 should-be consumers. The forepart was written bj' Dr. 

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

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 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 

 free ; 25 copies for 30 cents ; 50 for 50 cents ; 100 for 90 

 cents ; 250 for $2.00 ; 500 for $3.50. For 25 cents extra we 

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

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the new bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written bj' Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us ofie new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



.*-•-►. 



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. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



