THE AMERICAJSr BEE JOURNAL. 



IIY 



If you have not this faculty well de- 

 veloped, cultivate it, by assigning 

 everything in your apiary a place, and 

 keeping everything in its place. The 

 time lost in hunting " here, there and 

 everywhere" for what you need, will 

 amount to a great deal, more than 

 any one would suppose ; and it will 

 not only save time, but keep you from 

 getting in a bad humor, which gen- 

 erally follows one of those long 

 searches. The mother who teaches 

 her child to put things where it gets 

 them, does the child good, and saves 

 herself much trouble, in picking 

 things up after it. 



My bees are wintering well on the 

 summer stands. 



Covington, Ky., Feb. 14, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Moving Bees in Winter. 



K. M. DENHAM. 



when tbey had sufiScient stores, as the 

 thermometer here has not been below 

 zero. I gave my 12 colonies sugar- 

 syrup, made from the best grade of 

 coffee A sugar, suflScient to winter on, 

 and they are doing very well. I placed 

 8 of them in a clamp, and left the rest 

 on the summer stands. 



The future prospects for bee-keepers 

 here are, 1 think, good, as there is an 

 excellent crop of white clover on the 

 ground, and we usually have a good 

 crop of locust bloom, which comes in 

 shortly after fruit bloom. 



St. Clairsville, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Sections, Separators, Etc. 



F. C. BENEDICT. 



As some desire instructions about 

 moving bees, and having had a little 

 ' experience in the matter, I will tell 

 what 1 know about it. I purchased 

 two colonies of bees in box hives, of a 

 neighbor, in the winter, and desiring 

 to move them, when the snow was on, 

 I put into the sled bed an armful of 

 hay on which to set the hives. Some- 

 time before this, I had read Quinby's 

 " Mysteries of Bee-Keeping," in which 

 I found instructions on this point, and 

 I desired to follow him. He said, 

 when moving bees (in box hives), turn 

 the bottoms upward, and place a 

 sheet or something of that kind over 

 the hives, to keep the bees from fly- 

 ing. My neighbor was an old man, 

 and had kept bees (in box hives) many 

 years, and, of course, thought he knew 

 more about how to manage the thing 

 than I did ; consequently, he pushed 

 the hay to one side and set the bees 

 flat on the bottom of the sled bed, 

 bottom down. I suppose he thought 

 it would not be wholesome for the 

 bees, to turn their heads down. I said 

 nothing, however, but started home. 

 The road was quiet rough in places, 

 and the bees were considerably jolted, 

 drive as carefully as I could. I had 

 not gone far until I discovered that 

 some of the combs were broken ; this 

 was a swarm of the previous summer, 

 and the combs were tender and easily 

 broken, and before I got them home, 

 the combs were all broken otf, and 

 the whole " business " was lodged in 

 the bottom. The other hive, ueing 

 full of old combs, stood the jolting 

 without breaking. This cured me of 

 ever again hauling bees on a sled; 

 though, 1 believe, had Mr. Quinby's 

 instructions been followed, the combs 

 would not have been broken. 



Of course, moving bees in frame 

 hives is a ditferent thing, as the bot- 

 tom bar, if the combs are built down 

 to it, support them. I would always 

 haul bees, short distances, in a spring 

 wagon, and place the hives so that 

 the combs would stand crosswise 

 with the bed. I have moved bees this 

 way, in the honey season, without 

 damage. 



This winter, in this locality, has 

 been quite favorable one for bees, 



It is with interest that I read the 

 different articles on half-pound sec- 

 tions, separators and their use. It 

 seems to me that a novice or any one 

 who contemplates their use would be 

 so confused they would hardly know 

 whether there was a size known that 

 would hold the required amount. 

 Some talk about narrow sections and 

 straight combs, without separators. 

 Let us look into the brood chamber of 

 a good colony and see the combs. 

 Straight ! Yes, beautiful combs as I 

 ever saw ; take the same combs after 

 a good honey flow, and how are they V 

 Instead of being \}4 inches thick as 

 we would like them (and about the 

 thickness we find them when left to 

 their own ways), the bees have built 

 the top of this one a little thicker, con- 

 tracted the next, no two straight and 

 perfect. Why ! because there are no 

 separators to guide them, and they 

 will expand one and contract another. 

 Now, this will be found the same in 

 the surplus arrangement, and let the 

 section be so narrow that they must 

 make their combs less than IJ^ inches, 

 and greater will be the disappoint- 

 ment to those who shall use what 

 might well be called the wafer sec- 

 tions, without separators. Some of 

 the sections will be so thin they will 

 he of no value, while others will be 

 built into sections adjoining, making 

 it hardly possible to get them in mark- 

 etable shape. The only safe way 

 would be to carry them single-handed 

 and place them upon the consumers, 

 table. 



Some may think me taking a bold 

 stand, when I state that I hold, that no 

 one (I care not who) can manipulate 

 100 colonies of bees for comb honey, 

 and produce it in first-class market- 

 able order, whether it is to be glassed 

 or unglassed, without tlie use of sep- 

 arators of some kind. Some contend 

 that separators lessen the crop of sur- 

 plus, but it is only a delusion under 

 which some labor who are not up to 

 the times in producing comb honey 

 in perfect shape by the right use of 

 separators. I know of what I speak. 



A short time since I was upon the 

 market of one of our large cities, 

 where I saw tons of honey, and upon 

 the cases I saw the names of some of 

 our noted apiarists ; nearly all were 

 from the West, and produced without 

 separators, and put upon the market 



without glassing. All were leaking 

 more or less, some so badly that the 

 honey had run from top to bottom of 

 the piles and granulated in streams as 

 large as your finger. Why ! because 

 some of the combs were over thick,and 

 chafed in the cases. Now, had the pro- 

 ducers of that honey done their part, 

 as well as nature and the bees did 

 theirs, tliey might have realized 3 to 

 5 cts. per pound more for their pro- 

 duct. This would far more than pay 

 all expense of putting it upon the 

 market in first-class order, rather 

 than third or fourth class, as was some 

 of the above. 



Now, if we are to use half-pound 

 sections, why not let those who con- 

 template trying them make a section 

 that can be used to good advantage 

 with the surplus arrangement at 

 hand, and not be to the expense of 

 new racks, frames, etc. If we must 

 have different-sized fixtures for each 

 sized section, what a collection of un- 

 necessary traps will soon be on our 

 hands. After three years' experience 

 I find that a section, to hold ^o lb. of 

 honey, must contain 11% cubic inches, 

 whether one thickness or another. 

 Then adjust your section to your sur- 

 plus fixtures on hand. Have your 1 

 and 2-lb. sections the same height, so 

 that you can use the same width sep- 

 arator for both sizes. In short, have 

 just as few extra fixtures as possible, 

 for it increases the expense and takes 

 off the profits. I manipulate sections 

 in racks, and one-sized rack answers 

 for the 3-sized sections with only ex- 

 tra separators for half-pound sections ; 

 one sized shipping case for 1 and 2-lb. 

 sections. 



Perry Centre, N. y. 



For the American Bee JoumaU 



Wood Separators and Bee Glue. 



C. R. ISHAM. 



In the Bee Journal (page 95), Mr. 

 James Heddon, in an excellent article 

 on Surplus Cases, etc., makes the fol- 

 lowing request : " I wish Mr. Isham 

 would send me a sample of his wood 

 separators, and tell us, through the 

 Bee Journal, how he puts up with 

 or avoids the glue difficulty spoken of 

 above." I have sent Mr. Heddon a 

 sample, for practical experiment, and 

 the readers of the Bee Journal will 

 get the full benefit of his conclusions. 

 As to " gluing up the less than bee 

 spaces," I would say, as this space, 

 when tin is used, remains open until 

 closed with propolis by the bees ; that 

 it is not any more work to scrape off a 

 thick than a thin chunk of glue, con- 

 sequently I do not find much differ- 

 ence in cleaning the sections, whether 

 thick or thin separators have been 

 used. Those % inch in thickness (and 

 also, if desired thinner ones), can be 

 notched out so as to come down to the 

 bottom and yet let the bees pass up. 

 In my own arrangements I prefer to 

 have pieces cut from separator ma- 

 terial of just the proper size, they 

 being of same thickness (1-16 ot an 

 inch), to fill spaces at ends of the sec- 

 tions above the separators, for, when 

 the rack is filled and clamped, they 



