310 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of the valuable space above the 

 brood-chamber. One or two tiers of 

 sections can be used, as desired, in 

 the same Case, by coveriiis it with 

 burlap, or any kind of cloth. With 

 narrow top sections, it is very easy to 

 tell when the bees are at work in 

 them, or when they are full, by rais- 

 ing it. 



It can be used to great advantage 

 in out-door wintering,by leaving it on 

 the hive and placing your cloth in the 

 bottom and tilling with chaff or leaves, 

 which will make ventilation enough, 

 and absorb the moisture during con- 

 finement, thereby preventing diar- 

 rhoea in winter. I do not claim that 

 my Case is perfection itself, but I be- 

 lieve it to be practical, and in advance 

 of any Case I know of. 



Bluff ton, Iowa. 



[The Case is placed in the Museum 

 for the examination of visitors.— Ed.] 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Surplus Cases— Bee-Diarrhoea. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



I have tried very hard to make 

 some improvement upon my surplus 

 comb honey Case. I cannot do it. I 

 do not think that Mr. Dibbern has 

 done it." I do not think that he is 

 using my Case. I think my claims 

 would not be broad enough to call his 

 changes a Heddon Case. I have no 

 claim upon the tin T, 



I have never considered my Case 

 best adapted to separators, though its 

 solidity, cheapness, lightness and 

 simplicity are such that I am not at 

 all sure but that short separators go- 

 ing between the wood partitions of 

 the Case just as it is, would be bet- 

 ter, involving less complication taken 

 all in all, than the Case described by 

 Mr. Dibbern. 



I am glad that he is not so far " off " 

 as to throw away tlie invaluable bee- 

 space. Our bee-spaces, however, 

 never enlarge. 



I will now mention what I believe 

 two serious disadvantages with Mr. 

 D.'s plan. 1. As tiis rows of sections 

 are separated from each other at their 

 bottoms by the thickness of the T, 

 the same opening must exist at the 

 top, with nothing but glue to till it. 

 2. It always has been a fact, and will 

 soon be more fully appreciated, that 

 it is of great importance that we have, 

 and stick to a standard size of brood 

 frame and section. 



Practically we have their measure- 

 ments before us in the shape of stan- 

 dard Langstroth, and 4J.4;x-li4. 



Now, I cannot make a light, strong, 

 simplecasetosuitme ; that is of a neat 

 proper outside fit for the length of 

 the standard Langstrotli hive, and an 

 inside tit for any given number of i}^- 

 xi^ sections. If all the wood in my 

 divisions were in tlie end pieces, the 

 case would be no heavier, but not as 

 strong. 



Mr. D. says that many cannot dis- 

 pense with separators. By the way 

 they rose up at the last Northwestern 

 Convention in Chicago, it would seem 

 that many can and are dispensing 



with them. I do not believe that 

 many will wish to use them after 

 using the l}4 inch section in my 

 original Case. 



I have never had any trouble in 

 variation in size of sections. A sec- 

 tion would need lie exceedingly plump 

 to refuse to go between the partitions; 

 but I can readily see that -I such 

 plump sections might amount to a 

 misfit in Mr. IJibbern's style of Case. 



I do not think it advisable for us to 

 change our sizes of sections except in 

 width ; and this we do, keeping that 

 width always such that some whole 

 number of sections will measure one 

 foot. Tlie 2-inch section is to the 

 foot ; IM scant, 7 to the foot ; 1J|, 8 to 

 the foot. We can use all 3 sizes in 

 one case at a time ; and all 3 sizes fit 

 the shipping crates equally well. 



I have tried hard, and have come to 

 the conclusion that for a surplus case 

 without separators, the one I use can- 

 not be improved. If lam mistaken, 

 time and experience will show it. 



I wish to say to Mr. Shepherd, 

 with whom I well know how to sym- 

 pathize, tliat my apiary has suffered 

 with the ravages of that disease, more 

 radically thaif his of last winter ; and 

 that, too, when not one drop of fall 

 honey was in the hives, and the combs 

 being well tilled with rich, ripe bass- 

 wood honey, well sealed, in a large, 

 dry, warm cellar, and out-doors tlie 

 same way. I have also, at other 

 times, had excellent success when 

 wintering almost exclusively on honey 

 from the fall flowers he mentions. 



Mr. Woodward is coming pretty 

 near to the mark on page 249. Ilis 

 final conclusion, however, will not do. 

 Wliile it is true that brood-rearing is 

 a friendly partner with bee-diarrhcea, 

 it cannot be looked upon as the first 

 cause, or more tlian one of the favor- 

 able conditions or aggravations, be- 

 cause many can testify to the disease 

 in radical form with no attempts at 

 breeding, present. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



For tbe American Bee Joumil 



Introducing Queens. 



D. K. ROSEBROUGH. 



A great many queens are lost when 

 introducing them ; but I have not lost 

 one of the 2o I introduced the past 

 year. My method is as follows : First 

 lind the queen you wish to supersede, 

 cage her, and place the cage above the 

 bees. It is better to have a one or 

 1*^ story hive. I then move the 

 quilt, put the cage with the wire 

 down, and leave it in that position 

 about one hour, by that time all the 

 bees will learn that their queen is 

 imprisoned. Now remove her, and 

 put the new queen in the same place, 

 leaving her until sundown, when she 

 may be liberated, after which the 

 woik is completed. 



The old way of caging: the queen 

 for 3 days, is a failure ; for in that 

 time the bees very often take up with 

 a drone-laying queen, and the new 

 queen is killed, and the colony about 

 ruined. 



Do the work in the morning, but if 

 you cannot readily find the queen, 



close the hive again and wait; do not 

 be in a hurry, for yon can keep the 

 new queen a week or more if neces- 

 sary. 



I would ask Prof. Cook why lie ob- 

 jects to the use of oil-cloth in the 

 place of a honey-board. I notice that 

 he condemns tlie use of it, but gives 

 no reason. I had concluded that it 

 was the best thing to use, but if any 

 thing else is better, I would like to 

 find it out. Others besides myself are 

 interested in this matter. 



Casey, III. 



For tbe American Bee JournaL. 



Winter Stores, Pollen, etc. 



H. V. TRAIN. 



Mr. A. A. Fradenburg. on page 76, 

 asks me to explain, 1. Why his bees 

 liad diarrhcea when fed on clover 

 lioney. I did not intend saying that 

 bees never would havediarrliwa while 

 eating clover honey ; but that clover 

 honey is less apt to sour than late 

 honey ; and hence, is safer for winter 

 food. There is no honey that will not 

 sour under certain conditions ; and 

 even sugar syrup will sour sometimes 

 and cause diarrhosa ; but it is less apt 

 to do so, if made thick, than fall 

 honey, and hence, is safer for winter 

 stores ; and the same is true of clover 

 honey. In question No. 2, he asks if 

 I ever knew of a colony to have the 

 diarrhoea when there was no pollen in 

 the hive. I answer no ; for the rea- 

 son that I never knew of such a col- 

 ony ; and it is very difficult to get a 

 colony in that condition. If we feed 

 pure sugar syrup at any time when 

 there is pollen in the fields, or its sub- 

 stitute to be had, the bees are sure to 

 store either the pollen or its substi- 

 tute, while storing t.he syrup. They 

 will do this for the reason that it is a 

 necessary article in their household 

 operations. 



Bees get a substitute for pollen from 

 various sources. My kind of meal 

 will do ; and they get it even from 

 sawdust. I have often seen them 

 loading their baskets from sawdust 

 heaps ; and, unless, we give them 

 combs which have never been in a 

 brood-chamber, there will surely be 

 some pollen in the combs. I have 

 never yet succeeded in getting a col- 

 ony into the cellar without some pol- 

 len, or its equivalent in the hive. 

 Others may have dune so, but unless 

 they have examined very carefully, I 

 should be inclined to doubt. 



Honey will sour in one colony when 

 it does iiot in another at its side, and 

 in the same temperature. In one, the 

 honey may be riper than in the other; 

 or there may be more bees in the 

 one than in the other, and hence, the 

 difference. 



Honey will not sour while covered 

 with bees, or as warm as the bees' 

 breath ; but when honey outside of the 

 cluster gets cold enough to condense 

 their breath, or ratlier the vapor 

 therein, it becomes wet, and if this 

 is long continued, the honey will sour. 



See Mr. Heddon's remark on page 

 74, under " Frost Proof House:" "But 

 when below (that is the temperature), 



