ISO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb, is 



darker, and bands more narrow, with 

 characteristics of Carniolans, gentle to the 

 extreme, boil over when you open the hive; 

 and breeders — never had better; was no 

 time until these two nuclei were as strong- 

 as any in the lot. The only thing that pre- 

 vents their becoming popular in the hands 

 of novices, and apiarists having many col- 

 onies, is their swarming propensity; how- 

 ever, I must say I give them close attention, 

 and seem to catch them in the nick of time, 

 as they never swarmed for me. 



In the fall of 1901 I presented a friend of 

 mine with one of my fine Carniolans, be- 

 cause he was taken with their gentleness; 

 but last August he did away with them. 

 He said, " That colony swarmed only seven 

 times in less than three months," so it 

 seems I averted their swarming impulse, 

 and my friend failed to understand. 



My Carniolan Italians will always have 

 my closest attention. I find they winter 

 better, and breed up better in the spring. 



I helped strengthen my weaker colonies 

 with frames of brood and bees from them. 



I often thought if I could only combine 

 the good qualifications of these different 

 strains, I would have a race that might be 

 christened "Eureka" bees. 



Cincinnati, O. Fred W. Muth. 



DISPOSING OF UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



I have about 60 unfinished 1-lb. sections. 

 Some are half full of honey, and some are 

 nearly finished, but have no honey in them. 

 Now, what I wanted to do was to put those 

 that contained honey over my bees in the 

 spring so that the bees would carry this 

 old honey into the brood-chamber. In this 

 way I thought of saving the bees the trou- 

 ble of remaking the section. Would this be 

 practical? or would last year's honey be 

 dangerous to the bees or young brood? 



In case I couldn't use them as mentioned, 

 could I use them in mating queens as prac- 

 ticed by Swarthmore, page 19, Jan. 1? 



E. H. Lilian. 



Mascoutah, 111,, Jan. 20, 1903. 



[You could put the unfinished sections on 

 top of the brood nest in the spring; but they 

 should be covered with cushions or packing 

 material. The bees will be likely to go up 

 into the sections, and make that their brood- 

 nest, because that would be the warmest 

 part of the hive. The sections would be 

 badly soiled, and I would not, therefore, 

 recommend this manner of cleaning out the 

 unfinished sectiens. The better way would 

 be to stack them up in some hive outdoors; 

 contract the entrance down to just what one 

 bee can go through at a time. The first 

 few warm days you have, the bees will rob 

 out this hive; but be sure to keep the en- 

 trance down verj' small or else it will make 

 a big excitement in the bee-yard. The sec- 

 tions will be cleaned out without any soil- 

 ing, and without any great disturbance in 

 the yard. 



You might use them as recommended on 

 page 19 of our Jan. 1st issue.— Ed.] 



HOW TO render out WAX FROM PROPOLIS. 



Save up all the scrapings of sections, 

 frames, and other fixings, until the season 

 is over; then put the mess in an old tin 

 pail; pour water on until an inch or more 

 deep over the stuff; put it on the stove and 

 heat very nearly to boiling: stir frequently, 

 and the wax will come to the top, and the 

 propolis sink to the bottom. Set it off the 

 ^tove and let it cool until the wax hardens. 

 Lift it off, then warm up again until the 

 propolis is quite soft, when it can be poured 

 into some dish to form a cake so it will be 

 convenient to handle. Have the molding- 

 dish quite wet, or grease it a little, to keep 

 the stuff from sticking. Save your pail for 

 another season, as it will be very hard to 

 get it clean, as the stuff sticks very closely. 



Greene, la. G. R. Shirer. 



boiled honey FOR DYSPEPTICS. 



I can not use honey ordinarily unless it is 

 cooked — the fresher the honey, the more it 

 requires. Boiled till a dark amber, like 

 syrup, suits me best. I know many people 

 so constituted. Last year I fixed a lot for 

 a man who had denied himself all honey for 

 20 years. 



The best cure for the severe pain of honey 

 sickness is warm cow's milk — fresh from 

 the cow. C. L. 



I have 20 colonies of bees. The hive I use 

 takes 9 frames 12/-^X1034:. Is that large 

 enough for a brood-chamber? Is it advis- 

 able to raise three or four frames of brood 

 to the surplus-chamber before preparation 

 is made to swarm, placing perforated divi- 

 sion-boards between? I. D. Olver. 



Bobcaygle, Ont., Jan. 26. 



[A brood-chamber such as you have men- 

 tioned is large enough, or what would be 

 considered standard capacity, although not 

 standard in size. We would not advise 

 you to commence with an odd-sized frame 

 like this, for the reason that your supplies 

 would cost you a good deal more than stan- 

 dard goods. 



It is advisable to raise all the brood you 

 possibly can before the swarming season. 

 You can scarcely raise too much. — Ed.] 



I should like to know which is the better 

 pasture for bees — • crimson clover or sweet 

 clover. Is alfalfa better than either of 

 these? E. L. Blake. 



Grand Tower, 111., Dec. 20. 



[As between crimson and sweet clover, I 

 am of the opinion that the former, on an 

 equal area and under equal conditions, will 

 produce much more honey. But the fact is, 

 sweet clover, because it is so widely scat- 

 tered, and because there is so little of the 

 crimson, produces actually more honey. 

 Alfalfa I should consider best in a dry cli- 

 mate — altogether the best of the three; but 

 in a humid climate, or what is known as 

 the rain-belt, crimson or sweet clover would 

 produce more honey. — Ed.] 



