THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



679 



Dr. Stevenson: On a warm day, 

 ■when the bees are flying, take off the 

 sections one at a time ; those partly 

 lilled put in a l)ox all togetlier, and let 

 the bees clean the latter out when 

 honey is scarce. Tlie bees can gen- 

 erally be made to leave them by using 

 the smoker. 



James ileddon : My sections all 

 have open tops, and it is the easiest 

 thing in the world for me to drive 

 out the bees by using a little smoke 

 with a bellows smoker. 



I'res. Miller : My sections all have 

 closed tops, and I cannot get the bees 

 out as Mr. Ileddon does. 



The Use of Separators. 



John A. Williamson said he could 

 not dispense with the <ise of separa- 

 tors in raising comb honey. 



L. 11. Scudiler : Neither can I get 

 along without them. 



J. E. Hunter. I cannot; my wife 

 forbids it. 



J . C. Newman : I glass all my honey, 

 and I cannot get along without sepa- 

 rators. I use them made of very tliin 

 wood, which will not bend out of 

 place nor kink, and they cost but lit- 

 tle. I use a comb honey rack, and 

 have all my sections nicely sand pap- 

 ered. 



James Ileddon: I formerly did the 

 same thing, but those extremely white 

 sections formed a contrast with the 

 honey, and I found it a detriment. 

 Then they often got dirty and looked 

 worse than those that had not been 

 as white. 



ilrs. L. Harrison : I do not use 

 separators, starters, nor comb founda- 

 tion in my comb honey. 1 use a line 

 of wax simply, but I tind that the bees 

 sometimes not only build the comb 

 crooked, but actually build them cross- 

 wise of tlie section boxes. Then we 

 have to sell them at home. 



L. H. Scudder : I have to change 

 from two pound sections to one 

 pound, and as I have to purchase all 

 new separators, if I can get along 

 without tliem I want to do so, and 1 

 would like to know liow to do it. 



E. J. Oatman : I have always used 

 separators; there is nothing to be 

 gained but the expense of cost saved, 

 and as I have them already I see no 

 reason in desiring to do without them. 

 James Heddon : I have used sepa- 

 rators and discarded them, but 1 in- 

 tend to give them one more trial for 

 the purpose of finding out how much 

 it will cost me, in honey, to use them. 

 Dr. Stevenson found that,when tak- 

 ing the combs apart, sometimes they 

 were injured by being attached by 

 small pieces of comb, one to the 

 other— but usually they were quite 

 straight and so good as to allow him 

 to take the first premiums at fairs 

 over those who used separators. He 

 used no separators, but did use thin 

 foundation. 



Mrs. L. Harrison: Does not the in- 

 clination of the hives sometimes con- 

 trol the matter of building combs 

 straiglit. 1 do not use comb founda- 

 tion in comb honey. 



Dr. Stevenson : I discarded the use 

 of separators on account of the cost, 

 and the fact that bees lengthen the 

 cells in the spaces above and below. 



Peter Dahl : I do not use separa- 

 tors, and there are not two sections of 

 honey ni a hundred that I cannot use 

 and market. 



O. O. Poppleton : I use sections li 

 inches in width and do not need sepa- 

 rators. 



James Heddon : I use sections 4ix 

 4i, If inches in width, and narrow 

 tops. Can good one-piece sections be 

 made of tliat width, and willi the bee 

 opening at the top and bottom, of the 

 full length of the section and of i inch 

 in width. 



James Forncrook : I have made 

 one-piece sections in that way already; 

 they can be made any way that bee- 

 keepers want them. 



Mr. Carson said he had been suc- 

 cessful with one pound sections made 

 2 inches wide, and used them without 

 separators. 



He produced a case showing how he 

 used them, and to prove his assertion 

 that he could get good straight combs 

 without separators. 



The case was duly inspected by the 

 President, land pronounced very im- 

 perfect. Several combs had been con- 

 nected by pieces of comb, built be- 

 tween them, and many of the sections 

 were built so crooked that they could 

 not be packed for market without 

 touching one another. 



The Use of Comb Foundation. 



James He Idon : Modern bee cult- 

 ure is very modern. It gropes daily. A 

 book, written on the most progressive 

 ideas and methods of management, 

 is soon behind the times. Tlie ink is 

 hardly dry, before some of it needs to 

 be re- written, with newer thoughts 

 and views. The use of comb founda- 

 tion is a growing subject ; we want 

 the best article and the best methods 

 of using it. I believe that the found- 

 ation made on the Given press is the 

 best that is now made, because the 

 side walls are soft and can easily be 

 drawn out, while the bases of the cells 

 only are thin and hard pressed. The 

 bees will manipulate it much more 

 readily than any other I have ever 

 used. The Mn, used in sections, 

 should be the full size of the sections, 

 leaving i inch space, each side, and I 

 of an inch at the bottom. I would not 

 use the best natural comb in sections 

 if I could get soft foundation ; the 

 bees will use the latter so much more 

 readily. 



Mr. Heddon here exhibited a super 

 of his one pound sections, and showed 

 the manner of its use on the liive. 



H. D. Burrell : I find that comb 

 foundation that has been made some- 

 time is just as readily received by the 

 bees as that just made. 



O. O. Poppleton had used it very 

 extensively, and found that the bees 

 would draw out the side walls of the 

 cells in 48 hours or less. 



Pres. Miller : I find that comb 

 foundation, when piled together, will 

 keep mucli better than when exposed 

 to tlie atmosphere. 



Adjourned to 1:30 p. m. 



AFTEUNOON SESSION. 



Pres. Miller called the Convention 

 to order at 1 :30 p. m., and announced 



that the next topic for discussion was 



Wintering Bees. 



James Ileddon : The objection to 

 cellar wintering is the expense. The 

 cellar should have a plenty of pure air, 

 with the temperature never below 

 freezing, and the bees should be fed on 

 pure sugar syrup. Pollen is the bane ; 

 it floats in the honey, and causes dys- 

 entery. Sugar syrup is best for win- 

 ter food for bees. 



J. E. Hunter : I do not believe that 

 bees get enough iwUen in the honey to 

 do harm, but 1 have no doubt that pol- 

 len stored in the comb is often the 

 cause of dysentery. 



E. J. Oatman : Our loss of .50 per 

 cent, of our bees, in 1880, was due to 

 dysentery. I do not believe that bees 

 should have pollen in winter. 



James Heddon : My bees stored 

 lots of pollen this fall, and I feared 

 the result, bi:t tlie weather has been 

 so pleasant that breeding has used it 

 up, and I have no fears now of success 

 in wintering my bees. 



L. H. Scudder : How do you pre- 

 vent the beesfrom storing pollen while 

 you are feeding them with sugar 

 syrup V 



James Heddon : Bees will not 

 gather pollen, because they are fed 

 syrup. With ray feeders, holding 2}4 

 lbs. each, I can give them enough for 

 winter in 48 hours, and during this 

 short time no pollen is gathered. 



L. H. Scudder : The trouble is that 

 the labor of extracting the honey in 

 the fall and the cost and labor of feed- 

 ing sugar syrup, will be more than the 

 worth of the bees. 



A. A. Rice : I would like to know 

 how to prepare the sugar syrup. 



James Heddon : Not knowing just 

 when the honey season will close, we 

 often get belated in feeding, in which 

 case I prepare my feed as follows : 4 

 lbs. of water, 10 lbs. of granulated or 

 confectioner's A sugar, and a piece of 

 tartaric acid of about the size of a 

 pea ; bring to the point of boiling, and 

 boil for a few moments. When luke- 

 warm it is ready to feed. 



E. J. Oatman : In the normal con- 

 dition, when bees are wintered on the 

 summer stands, the bees will not come 

 out except when the weather is favor- 

 able. I have been asked why I have 

 changed my plan of wintering from 

 the cellar to that of packing in chaff 

 on the summer stands, when we were 

 so successful with wintering in cellar. 

 In reply I would say that it was not 

 because we were not successful, with 

 that method, but because we had no 

 good cellars in some of our apiaries. 

 We now winter on the tenement plan 

 —by putting clusters of 4 hives of 

 bees together, two facing east and two 

 facing west, and pack each four with 

 chaff. It costs but 10 cents more to 

 thus prepare 4, than it would to pack 

 one. 



Pres. :Miner: But why did you 

 change the manner of your wintering 

 bees in your home apiary, where you 

 had a good cellar ? Is it not more ex- 

 pense to pack tliem in chaff than to 

 carry the bees into the cellar V 



E. J. Oatman : Yes ; but I think it 

 safer to do so. 

 Pres. Miller : Wliy V 



