1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



615 



and swarming prevented, if plenty of storing mom will do it, 

 but no other means will be triid to prevent swarming. 



Wlien a colony swarms they will be hived in one of my 

 small handy hives, ou eight empty frames, with starters in 

 them ; only the two outside frames will be filled with dummies. 

 This will reduce the hive to SwO inches of comb space. I will 

 hive on the starters only, provided I do not care to increase 

 my colonies, for I know I can get more comb honey by hiving 

 in an empty brood-chamber, but if I should conclude I wanted 

 to increase my colonies, I will fill the frames with full sheets 

 of worker foundation on horizontal wires, so the foundation 

 cannot stretch at the top and make drone-comb of it ; for, 

 with me, a large cell, however made, is sure to be filled with 

 male brood, if any, and I cannot afford to rear drones in my 

 small hives (they are equally unprofitable in large hives) ; but 

 whether I use empty frames, or frames of foundation, the 

 hive will be contracted to 800 inches of comb space. 



The new hive will be set where the parent colony stood, 

 the supers will be removed to it, the old colony placed on the 

 vacant end of the double stand, with its entrance turned in 

 the opposite direction, and the new swarm hived in the new 



Mr. B. Taylor, Forcstville, Minn. 



hive, which will then be given all the cases of prepared sec- 

 tions they can fill until the end of the basswood honey season, 

 near the end of July, when all the cases of sections will be 

 removed to the iron honey-house, where the cases will be set 

 on end with one inch of space between them, so the air can be 

 circulated through them freely. Here they will remain some 

 60 days at a high temperature and plenty of circulating air, 

 and the honey even in the uncapped cells will become so thick 

 as not to leak, even if left lying on its side. 



If I conclude to increase my colonies, the parent hive will 

 be removed to a new stand the sixth or seventh day from 

 swarming ; this will reinforce the new colony, and increase 

 the yield of surplus honey. 



After the honey is properly cured it will all be crated iu 

 one grade only, and be of such quality as to stand No. 1 in 

 any market. The crates will be made of light, clean, smooth 

 wood and paper, and will not leak, and they will be so light 

 that an empty 18-section crate will weigh but 2ii pounds. 



I have shipped honey prepired as above iu 200-pound 

 lots TOO miles, and with three railroad transfers, without 

 breaking a single comb ; but the big crop I am going to pro- 

 duce in 189(5, I will sell by my own personal exertion, in my 

 own local market, if possible. Past experience in this field 

 has been such as to make anything in that line seem possible, 

 for I have made peddling nice comb honey pay when every 

 store was crammed with it, and no seeming market at any 

 price. I expect to have to take a low price for honey in the 

 near future, at least whether the crop is large or small, but 

 I am going to deal directjy with consumers, and give them the 

 benefit of low prices. The sharks and speculators have cap- 

 lured all the public markets, have destroyed competition, and 

 inaugurated a system of telling the producers of food what 

 they will pay for things, and the consumers what they must 

 give for them. Brother bee-keepers, let us, where possible, 

 sell our goods in our home markets, direct to consumers. 



B. Taylor. 



Mr. Taylor's essay was then discussed as follows : 



Ira Barber — I should not believe that bees would be com- 

 fortable at 40^. 



Mr. Pettit — I think that temperature is all right. The 

 only thing in his method of wintering that I would change is 

 that I would raise the back end of the hive about three inches. 

 The temperature inside the hive is above 40°. I have experi- 

 mented much with different temperatures, and I believe that 

 40-- is about right. 



Ira Barber — Is your cellar dry or damp ? That has much 

 to do with it. 



Mr. Pettitt— Until last year it was damp. The air was 

 saturated with moisture. I can winter bees just as success- 

 fully in a wet atmosphere as in a dry one. When the air goes 

 into the hive it is warmed. 



Mr. Barber — With me the bees stop breeding early. No 

 honey is gathered after July. Those old bees winter just as 

 well as any. Bees that don't work don't lose their vitality. 

 Practically, they are young bees. 



R. A. Marrison — I don't consider that moisture has any 

 bearing on the wintering of bees, if the temperature is right. 

 If the bees are well protected, and the temperature about 45^ 

 to 50^, it doesn't matter about the moisture. 



Dr. Mason — It does make a difference with me, whether 

 the air is dry. My cellar is dry, and the temperature runs 

 from 45- to .503, and the bees are often hanging, on the out- 

 side of the hive. But they are contented and quiet. Others 

 say they want moisture; I don't. Some don't want the bees 

 to breed early in the cellar. I do. 



J. B. Hall — The bees that drop down on the damp cellar- 

 bottom will mold. Put sawdust on the cellar-bottom, and the 

 bees that drop down will dry up instead of molding. We leave 

 the tops sealed down, but give plenty of ventilation to the 

 hive. 



G. M. Doolittle — First of all, to produce a crop of honey 

 we need the man — one that will leave no stone unturned to 

 produce a crop of honey. He must understand the proper 

 kinks for briuging his bees up good and strong at the proper 

 time. 



Mr. Hall — First, we must have the flowers, then the man, 

 the bees, and last a hive. 



Mr. Pringle — First the flowers, then the bees. The bees 

 may store a good crop of honey in a tree. 



Mr. Doolittle — I once kept a section of honey three years, 

 and it improved as the time went by. Honey must be kept 

 dry and warm. 



Mr. Barber — It is all right to keep honey dry and warm, 

 but there is the trouble from the bee-moth's larvas. I put a 

 good, lively spider into each super, as I store them away, and 

 it will take good care of all the moths. 



R. McKnight — If honey is put into tight, well-made cases 

 it will keep even in a damp atmosphere. 



Dr. Mason — We have kept honey since the year before the 

 World's Fair, and kept it nicely. It was kept in a closet off 

 the sitting-room. 



Mr. McKnight — I object to the word " sweat " as applied 

 to comb honey. It does not sweat. It is the attraction and 

 condensation of water from the atmosphere. 

 (Continued on page 62S.) 



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