THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



397 



which is about 9x17. In its usual posi- 

 tion it is a shallow frame, and as such 

 well adapted to summer use ; placed 

 on its end it would give every ad- 

 vantage of tlie square frame for win- 

 ter use, and I hnd, upon trial, that 

 the same case will cover the frames 

 in these different positions. Will not 

 some of tlie abler writers for the Bee 

 Journal express their views upon 

 this point? 

 Kingston, N. Y., July 27, 1883. 



t(llUat and goxu. 



ANSWERS By 



James ffeddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Gettiug Pollen Out of Frames. 



Is there any way of getting the 

 pollen out of the combs 'i 

 Wliilby, Ont. Ira Orvis. 



Answer.— So far as I know, no 

 practical method of getting poUeu out 

 of combs, has yet been discovered. 



Ripening Honey, etc. 



Please answer the following through 

 the Bee Journal : 



1. Intending to buy several colonies 

 of bees of a neighbor, % mile distant, 

 how shall I move them to my place, at 

 this season, withont losing any ? 



2. Can extracted basswood honey, 

 which is a little green, be kept from 

 souring in a barrel, and if so, how ? 



3. How shall I clip queens' wings? 

 I find it a difficult task to clip them 

 with scissors. W. Fisher. 



Haulier, Ohio. 



Answers.— 1. Twice I liave moved 

 tny whole apiary about 10 to 15 rods, 

 and once ?4 of a mile. Select a cool, 

 rainy day, when bees are not flying. 

 Close up the hive and give them 

 thorough ventilation above. I give 

 the whole top of the hive a covering 

 with wire cloth or mosquito bar, and, 

 if the bees are any way strong, I place 

 the mosquito bar over a rim, over this 

 open top, several inches in height. 

 Smoke the bees thoroughly — move 

 them to the new stand, and let them 

 seta few hours, and, if tlie weather is 

 cool, say 10 to 20 hours, until they 

 quiet down, sprinkling them several 

 times with water during that time. 

 Let them out to fly just at sun down. 

 Smoke, and rap upon the hive before 

 you open it. Place a small board up 

 in front of the entrance of each hive, 

 so that each bee must come out cau- 

 tiously or bump its nose, which will 

 cause it to mark its new location. No 

 other bees should be left in tlie yard 

 from which you make your removal, 

 and the old yard should be cleared and 

 cleaned up from anything in the line 



of bee fixtures, and made to look as 

 different as possible. If a few should 

 return, they will cluster somewhere 

 about the old location, and can be 

 easily brought back. If there are col- 

 onies left after yon take yours away, 

 I would advise you not to move them 

 until winter. 



2. I have never extracted honey so 

 thin as to have it sour. Thin honey 

 should be kept in one gallon crocks, 

 having their tops exposed to the air. 

 I am not siwe that I know of anything 

 just exactly adapted to your case, but 

 perhapsa little salyclic acid dissolved 

 in the smallest amount of hot water 

 possible to dissolve it, and stirred into 

 the honey, would prevent souring. 



3. Afier stating that I am opposed 

 to clipping queens' wings for any pur- 

 pose whatever, I will say tliat the best 

 method I know of is to tangle them 

 up in a small mosquito bar sack, or 

 any sack made of similar material, 

 the meshes of which are just small 

 enough to prevent the queen passing 

 through. As soon as she becomes 

 tangled up her wings will stick through 

 the meshes. Any sharp scissors are 

 the best thing to clip them with. 



stiEPIif^MmQM 



W(j^%i^^Mi^^tm~' 



state Convention for Iowa. 



Bees have done well here this sea- 

 son. White clover is now over, and 

 we have a good crop of white honey. 

 I would like to say a few words to tlie 

 Iowa bee-keepers in regard to calling 

 a State convention on or about the 

 time of the State Fair at Des Moines. 

 The Iowa State Agricultural Society 

 offer $106.50 in premiums to the bee- 

 keepers of Iowa. Now let us have a 

 State convention organized this fall. 

 What say you, Iowa bee-keepers, 

 speak out and let us know what you 

 all think about it through the ISee 

 Journal. D. S. Burhank. 



Grundy Centre, Iowa, July 30, 1883. 



Uoo«l Honey Crop and Increase. 



Since I have adopted the chaff- 

 packing in winter, 1 have never lost 

 a colony, and I have no trouble with 

 the moth, nor with disease that some 

 speak of. Neither have I had any 

 spring dwindling, to amount to any 

 thing. La=.t year I had 140 colonies, 

 from which I obtained about 8,000 

 pounds of nice honey; a large propor- 

 tion of wliich I extracted. I sold it 

 all, readily, at l.") cents per pound. 

 This year I have realized from my 140 

 colonies, about 350 swarms, which I 

 have doubled up to about 160, which 

 now makes abiiut 350 colonies of bees 

 in good condition. My doubling up 

 process, I find, works well, for with 



two or three swarms to a hive, I could 

 tier up, with section cases, three or 

 four high, and as a result, I have on 

 many of my new colonies from 48 to 

 96 pounds of beautiful white clover 

 honey ; and up to this date I shall re- 

 ceive about 7,000 or 8,000 pounds, of 

 as nice honey as ever went into the 

 market, for which I shall realize, 

 probably, from 10 to 15 cents per 

 pound, and if there comes a fall sup- 

 ply of honey, I shall realize about as 

 much more. But we are in a honey 

 drouth now, and there is no telling 

 how long it will continue. 



Wm. a. Dusten. 



Bees in Texas. 



My bees are doing well. I extracted 

 last week, and found my bees rich for 

 llie time. On examination, to-day, I 

 Hnd that I can take another IjOOO 

 pounds of honey in ten days. The 

 strange part of this story is, that my 

 neighbors, with black bees, get no 

 honey. One man with 30 colonies of 

 black bees, living a mile distant, 

 has no lioney, and he did not have a 

 swarm this spring ; and for miles 

 around, there has not been a swarm 

 among the native black bees; every 

 one complaining of a bad year for 

 bees. I had 20 colonies in the spring, 

 and had 20 swarms. My bees are all 

 pure Italians, bred for their honey- 

 gathering qualities. I think the above 

 comparison is good evidence in favor 

 of Italian bees, in Texas. I believe 

 that my method of managing bees 

 will, in time, to a certain extent, im- 

 prove them, as the winters here are 

 so mild, no bees would die from cold, 

 only by starvation ; so, in the fall, I 

 dispense with colonies that did not 

 prove valuable during the honey sea- 

 son, by killing the queens and uniting 

 the bees with others and saving the 

 combs for swarms, the next spring. 

 Tlianks to you for the article on 

 " Sweet clover for the South," in the 

 Bee Journal last year. Your sug- 

 gestion caused me to give it a trial. 

 It is not old enough to bloom yet, but 

 I see tliat it is a success without a 

 dout)t. 1 shall plant several acres of 

 it this fall. 1»R. J. R. Reeve. 



Martiusburgh, Texas, July 24. 1883. 



Bee Pasturage. 



1. Would it not be an excellent plan 

 to turn a drove of pigs into the clover 

 pasture, letting them subsist wholly 

 on sweet clover until July, after 

 which it c:i« grow for the bees to 

 utilize V 



2. Would it be well to mix seven- 

 top turnip seed with buckwheat be- 

 fore sowing for the bees ? 



F. M. Cheney. 



[1. It would. 



2. Yes, for the •' turnip seed " would 

 come up in the fall, and in the follow- 

 ing spring yield nice bloom for the 

 bees. They get both honey and 

 pollen from it.— Ed.) 



Honey is of the Best (jnaUty. 



This has been the best year for 

 honey I have ever seen, and the honey 

 is of best quality. G. A. de Lono. 



Key West, Fla., July 20, 1883. 



