506 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wihiii and ^oxo. 



ANSWERS By 



James EeMon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



t^ It I understand correctly, this 

 department is not expected to occupy 

 very much of each number of the 

 Weekly. It is, in my judgment, in- 

 tended to be filled with these ques- 

 tions, that are of such a nature that 

 . Short answers may be full and com- 

 prehensive. There is an old adage 

 that makes the following new one 

 true. A moment may ask questions 

 that hours cannot answer. For in- 

 stance, "A Friend's"' first question is 

 exactly adapted to the department. 

 His second will do. 



Mr. Tongue's, in my opinion, is out 

 of place here. It would take a long 

 and comprehensive article for me to 

 reply to it satisfactorally to Mr. T., 

 and then some one else would call it 

 all moonshine. 



None but the author should 

 dictate the subject for articles. Arti- 

 cles to be of most value, should have 

 Borne inspiration about them. Inspir- 

 ation (excelerated circulation), will 

 not bear dictation. 



How is this, Mr. Editor, am I not 

 correct V You made this department, 

 and had it all before my eyes, in print, 

 before I dreamed of such a thing. 



J. H. 



[Mr. Heddon is quite correct. The 

 department was intended for terse 

 replies, of general interest, and not 

 for a special description of articles, 

 used by Mr. Heddon, or for captious 

 questions regarding any of his " hob- 

 bies," for every man has more or less 

 of them.— Ed.] 



Spaces Between Tiers of Sections. 



Will Mr Heddon please answer? 

 1. How much space do yon allow be- 

 tween the tiers of sectiens in your 

 case V 



2. About what per cent, of your sec- 

 tions can you get straight enough to 

 glass y 



A Friend. 



Answers.— 1. Scant % of an Inch. 



2. "Without separators, we can get 

 5-6 of our sections straight enough to 

 glass, if we glass them on the outside 

 of the wide pieces, a la Moore ; but if 

 on the outside of the narrow pieces, 

 and within the'wide side pieces, then 

 only a small portion, and were I bound 

 to glass my sections in this style 

 (prize), I should use separators. 



How to Successfully Winter Bees, 



Will Mr. Heddon please tell how to 

 winter bees successfully in the "What 

 and How." It will be a favor thank- 

 fully received. Please give modus 

 operandi in detail. L. N. Tongue. 



Hillsborough, Wis., Sept. 22, 1883. 



Answer.— While I appreciate the 

 fact that Mr. Tongue values my 

 knowledge of the wintering problem, 

 I wish to say that the best I can do for 

 him now, is to refer him to my illus- 

 trated article in one of the October 

 numbers of the Weekly for 1WS2. I 

 am now making some extensive ex- 

 periments in wintering, but of these 

 cannot report much yet. 



Sections and Cases. 



Will Mr. Heddon please answer the 

 following question in the Bee Jour- 

 nal : 



1. Is your section 2 inches wide or 

 1?4 inches V 



2. How is the Heddon section case 

 made i* 



3. Can the section be glassed as 

 easily as if separators were used V 



J. F. Sellers. 

 Reynolds, 111., Sept. 11, 1883. 



Ans WER.— 1 . We are this year exper- 

 imenting with sections l}4, l?i and 2 

 inches wide ; they please us just in 

 proportion to their width — preference 

 being for the narrowest. 



2. Our case is a shallow box, with 

 open top and bottom, i^i high, of the 

 length and breadth of the hive they 

 are to be used on, with partitions and 

 a tin strip on the bottom to support 

 the sections. The minutia is out of 

 place here, and you should not attempt 

 to make any number without a sam- 

 ple. 



3. The sections cannot be glassed as 

 readily as those built between separa- 

 tors. 



StlJCT/OXMROM 



"nuR'tEvuEnmox- 



Best Honey Season for Tears. 



We have not had time to take off 

 all our honey yet. There are at least 

 2.000 pounds yet in the hives. "We 

 have had the best season for honey 

 that we have had for some years. Bees 

 are now working briskly. Our bees 

 will be in splendid condition for win- 

 ter quarters- 



S. Valentine & Son. 



Hagerstown, Md., Sept. 28, 1883. 



Fall Honey in Texas. 



We have had a very good rain down 

 here, and grass has started up. The 

 bees are doing very little, working on 

 scattering wild flowers. 



M. C. Graneerry. 



Austin. Texas, Sept. 30, 1883. 



Good (Qualities in Bees. 



On page 480. I noticed the following 

 list of qualities which should be 

 sought in bees : 1. Good honey gath- 

 erers. 2. Ilard^ to winter. 3. Easy 

 to handle. 4. Yellow bands. Please 

 tell us of what value is the fourth re- 

 quisite to these perfect bees. It 

 seems to us that to the three first 

 qualities should be added, good comb 

 builders, and the instinct to protect 

 themselves from robbers, moths, etc. 

 There may be many other valuable 

 qualities, such as proliflcness, but we 

 can see no possible use of " yellow 

 bands," Had the writer said " iron 

 bands." we might have thought he 

 wanted them to keep the over-loaded 

 bees from bursting. If these " yellow 

 bands " are something of that kind, 

 we hope tlie phenomenon will be ex- 

 plained. .John King. 



Fowler. Ohio, Sept. 28, 1883. 



[The remarks about "iron bands" 

 are. of course, simply "irony " — noth- 

 ing more. 



Yellow bands merely add to the 

 beauty of the bees ; and, though this 

 is always a welcome feature, the 

 qualities named above, for comb 

 building, proliflcness, etc., are more 

 essential. — Ed.] 



Those Large Yields. 



Please ask. through the Bee Jour- 

 nal, of those giving large yields from 

 one colony, to give a description of 

 their hive, the surplus honej;. kind of 

 bees, if doubled in the spring, how 

 much, whether fed or not, if fed, when 

 and how much ; also the treatment 

 from Xov. 1, 1882, to the time of their 

 report. T. J. Tiffany. 



Brooklyn, Pa., Sept. SO, 1883. 



Asters as Honey Plants. 



I send a sample of one of our honey 

 plants, and would like for Prof. Cook 

 to give us the name of it through the 

 Bee Journal. It generally grows 

 about 4 feet high, and sometimes 6 

 feet. It has been in bloom ever since 

 Sept. 1, but it is about out now. The 

 bees have worked on it splendidly, 

 and stored a nice lot of honey, putting 

 them in fine condition foi' winter. 



A. E. XlSBET. 



Dobyville, Ark., Sept. 29, 1883. 



[It is one of the innumerable asters, 

 which are among our most excellent 

 honey plants. The honey is also of 

 excellent quality. — A. J. CooK.j 



Satisfied witli Honey Crop. 



I have just taken off the last honey 

 of the season, and put my bees into 

 winter quarters by putting a large 

 chaff cushion in my chaff hives, as I 

 remove my crates." It may seem a 

 little early, but ray experience is, that 

 it does not hurt them to have plenty 

 of time to arrange for their " long 

 winter nap." I found an unusual 

 amount of brood and honey in the 

 brood-chamber, for the time of year. 

 Our fall honey was cut short by the 

 drouth and early frosts, but my sea- 



