1 89 b. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



827 



^rr)or)% ^^ Bee-Papers 



BROWN SUGAR CANDY FOR WINTER. 



My bees were all wintered last year on stores of sugar 

 syrup. A few colonies had cakes of sugar candy besides. 

 Most of the candy was made of granulated sugar — the rest of 

 light brown sugar. The colonies that had the brown sugar 

 candy were the ones that came out ahead in the spring. Why 

 was this ? — Mrs. A. L. Hallenbeck, in Progressive. 



LTSOL FOR FOUL BROOD. 



Lysol has cured many colonies of foul brood by simply be- 

 ing fed to them, if we can believe the reports. It may cure 

 for the time being, but suppose there is old, infected honey 

 sealed up in the hive, and, later, this is unsealed and fed to 

 the brood, foul brood will be again developed unless my rea- 

 soning is greatly at fault. How is this, Lysol feeders ? — Edi- 

 torial, in Review. 



ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. 



That other Miller, in American Bee Journal, of October 

 24, quotes from Progressive what I had to say regarding at- 

 mospheric conditions in relation to nectar secretion, and then 

 asks : " Well, and suppose you do find out just the right con- 

 ditions for nectar yielding, what are you going to do about it? 

 What can you do to change the condition of the atmos- 

 phere?" I must confess I did not expect that question to be 

 thrown at me so soon, but I'll tell you. Doctor, if you will 

 promise not to tell any one else: I don't know. — S. E. Mil- 

 ler, in Progressive. 



SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE FIGURES. 



" According to American Bee Journal, page 573, France, 

 in 1898, produced 6,432, 6U7 pounds of honey, and 4,427,- 

 157 pounds of beeswax. Don't believe it. Something the 

 matter with those figures. My bees will not produce 4 pounds 

 of wax to each 6 pounds of honey ; and I decline to believe it 

 of the French bees." — Hasty, in Review. 



Another discrepancy is that the price of honey is 32 cents 

 a pound, and wax less than 20 cents. But the figures were 

 taken from the U. S. Government Repirt, which often gets 

 pretty well mixed up on figures as well as on some other 

 things. 



BEES GOOD-NATURED IN THE SHADE. 



Mr. Muth-Rasmussen once stated that bees are better-na- 

 tured in the shade, and his statement was poo-hooed. A 

 neighbor had an apiary that made the life of himself and fam- 

 ily a burden. They were the most vicious bees I ever saw, 

 and were a constant annoyance to me as well, so 1 bought 

 them. He had them nut in the shade of a row of apple-trees, 

 within a few feet of a public sidewalk, and in the shade they 

 are as gentle as any bees I have. Eastern apiarists should re- 

 member that conditions with us are entirely different from the 

 East. If they could stand their bees and themselves out in 

 the heat when the thermometer registers 112^ in the shade, 

 they'd soon find both the bees and themselves changing their 

 angelic dispositions. — E. H. SchaefHe, in Gleanings. 



NOT MUCH OF A FARMER. 



Dr. Miller may be a good writer, { and I spect he is ), but 

 he's a mighty poor farmer. He raises too much straw for the 

 grain. No, I mean, that is, I think there's too much qrain in 

 the straw. Pshaw! I mean— well, I guess I'll give it up t^iis 

 time. But I Mmow he ain't any farmer, no way. — Observer, in 

 Progressive. 



THE DADANTS AND LAEOE HIVES, 



The " Home of the Honey-bees" has again been favored 

 with a call from another prominent bee-keeper and supply- 

 man. This time it was C. P. Dadant, the foundation-maker, 

 of Hamilton, 111. Unlike some of our recent visitors he did 

 not call in the interest of his health to see Dr. Lewis, prepara- 

 tory to going onto the beef-diet cure. Oh, no ! he was the very 

 picture of health. Typhoid fever had left him (as it often 

 does its victims) several notches better in health. 



It will be remembered that the Dadants have been the pi- 

 oneers in the advocacy of large hives — not simply ten frame 

 Langstroth, but ten-frame Quinby— frames that are IHJ-^xll Ji 

 in. instead of the L. size, 17%x9!^ inches. When I asked C. P. 

 how they still stood on the hive question he replied that they 

 were of the same opinion still. They have tested the matter 

 over and over again on an extensive scale, with whole apiaries, 



only to find in every case that the large Quinby gave the best 

 results. They had no " ax to grind," as it made no difference 

 to them which style of hive or frame was adopted. 



I told him it must be somewhat encouraging to them to 

 note that, while they at first apparently stood alone, now a 

 change toward their views and practice seemed to be slowly 

 coming on. Yes, hesaid they long ago decided that time would 

 vindicate their position. 



In Prance the large Dadant-Quinby hive, among intelli- 

 gent bee-keepers, is almost the standard. 



The Dadants keep now only about 350 colonies. They 

 have kept as many as five and six hundred. Besides their 

 large foundation business, and the bees, they are extensive 

 growers of grapes. C. P. looks after their business interests 

 while the elder Dadant attends more strictly to bee-literature. 

 While he has not written much of late for the bee-journals of 

 this country, he is a constant contributor to the French jour- 

 nals ; and in that country, if I am correct, he is counted as the 

 highest authority. — Gleanings Editorial. 



FLAVOR OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Question. — What is the best plan to preserve the flavor of 

 extracted honey ? 



Answer. — To give extracted honey a fine flavor it must be 

 thoroughly ripened. While some have evaporators, both sun 

 and other, which they run extracted honey through or over, 

 that has been extracted in its thin or green state, till it is of 

 nice quality and consistency, as well as having an excellent 

 flavor ; yet, in my opinion, no honey has quite as nice flavor as 

 does that which has been left on the hive till the end of the 

 season, the bees having been allowed to ripen it till it is so 

 thick that it will almost stand alone after being taken from 

 the comb. Of course, it is more work to extract such honey ; 

 but by keeping it in a room whose temperature is nearly or 

 quite 100'', for four or five hours, it can be extracted very 

 nicely. When extracted, honey should be stored in tin or 

 earthen vessels, and kept in a dry, warm atmosphere that is 

 free from odors. Loosely cover, and let it stand in this warm, 

 dry store-room till all the air-globules have disappeared, the 

 scum that arises being skimmed off, when the honey can be put 

 into glass or tin vessels, ready for sale or family use, audit 

 will retain its fine flavor for years if kept in a proper place. — 

 G. M. Doolittle, in Gleanings. 



TWO COLONIES IN ONE HIVE. 



Mrs. A. L. Hallenbeck says in Progressive : " Last year I 

 put all the weak colonies two in a hive with division-boards 

 between them. Nearly all of them came out one colony in the 

 spring, managing in some way to get together. Would it not 

 have been just as well to unite them in the fall ?" 



Others have practiced the same thing, Mrs. H., and only 

 failed when a passage was left in the division-board. Make 

 this tight, and you're at least better off in the number of 

 queens. 



EIGHT-FRAME HIVE WORKED IN TWO STORIES. 



Now, in working for comb honey ( and I work almost ex- 

 clusively for that), I put a second hive-body, full of drawn- 

 combs, about May 1, on all strong colonies. That makes a 

 16-frame hive, and ( I have had no trouble about queens re- 

 fusing to go up into the upper story when crowded for room 

 below ) that gives all colonies a chance to buildup strong for 

 the honey-harvest, which begins here about June 10, from 

 white clover. At the beginning of the honey-harvest I take off 

 all those second stories. I fill up the under story, or hive 

 proper, with brood, of course being sure the queen is below ; 

 and if there is any more brood than will fill up the hive I 

 strengthen up weak colonies with it, or make increase. In this 

 way I confine my working force on eight frames ; and by put- 

 ting on the surplus-arrangements as soon as the second story 

 is taken off I always get my share of the honey, if there is any 

 to get. I do not want any larger hive than the eight-frame, 

 for comb honey, for eight frames give all the brood room I 

 want after putting on the surplus-arrangement ; and if I used 

 a larger hive I should have to use dummies ; and I do not like 

 to use them, for various reasons. I also find, when wintered 

 in the cellar, the above hive gives all the room necessary for 

 winter stores; and an eight-frame hive full of bees makes a 

 pretty strong colony, and the eight-frame hive is much handier 

 to lift in and out of a cellar. When bees are kept where the 

 person keeping them has too much other work to do to attend 

 to them properly, I think a large hive would be preferable ; 

 but for a practical bee-keeper who understands the proper 

 manipulation of bees, the eight-frame hive is about right here 

 — F. L. Murray, of Wisconsin, in Gleanings. 



