422 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



receptacles. One has to teach them 

 everything. They are quite good- 

 natured, but if you want them to 

 work in a hurry, they show you a 

 different face. \\ e hope we may be 

 able to change this before long, by 

 getting our help from Porto Rico 

 and the United States. 



We are making our supers from 

 discarded gasoline boxes, but the 

 frames and wire nails we must se- 

 cure from abroad. In the Arinosa 

 apiary the honey needs extracting 

 but there is no house ready, for want 

 of lumber and of a carpenter. The 

 honey comes in abundantly, and we 

 have foundation, but no frames. So 

 we must extract to make room and 

 relieve the pressure. 



Our reward will come by and by, 

 when we may be able to get every- 

 thing in shape. 



In the Sanchez apiary, I strength- 

 ened a colony in December to such 

 an extent that it gave me a super full 

 in January. I am sending samples of 

 honey to the American Bee Journal, 

 as well as to Friend LeStourgeon, of 

 San Antonio, and to Mr. Youngblood, 

 of College Station, Texas. 



Even if we were able to extract all 

 the honey at present, we are not al- 

 lowed to ship it. So our crop cannot 

 be sold unless we are willing to close 

 it out to an English company that is 

 paying only about half price for it. 



I have found several abnormal con- 

 ditions which I propose to mention 

 in a future letter. I wish I had a 

 few brother beekeepers here to dis- 

 cuss those matters with them. 



H. BRENNER, 

 Sanchez, Republica Dominicana, 



July 7, 1918. 



(This letter was held back in the 

 hope of being able to give a critical 

 opinion of Friend Brenner's San Do- 

 mingo honey. But whether the cen- 

 sor tasted it himself and concluded 

 to keep it, or whether it was fed to 

 the fishes by some of the subs of our 

 good friends, the Huns, we have not 

 yet received it. — Editor.) 



A New Way to Make Candy for 

 Shipping Queens 



I am sending you two mailing 

 cages full of a bee candy of our own 

 special making. It is most fit for 

 mailing cages as well as for feeding 

 colonies. I dare say no other candy 

 can be compared with it. See how 

 fine the paste is. If you grind it be- 

 tween your fingers you will find no 

 granulation at all. The sugar is 

 quite incorporated into the honey 

 and forms with it an homogeneous 

 mass. It is composed exclusively of 

 sugar and honey. It may appear 

 rather hard at first, but if you strike 

 it a little with the tip of the finger 

 it will soon become soft and moist. 

 Moreover, its sterilization is quite 

 guaranteed, since, to make it, it is 

 necessary to reach the temperature 

 of 244 degrees F. I found this way 

 of making candy 3 years ago, and 

 wish to show it to you. 



Take 2 pounds of sugar and put 

 into a stew-pan with half a quart of 

 water. Put the stew-pan on a gas 

 burner and stir till the sugar is dis- 

 Make the liquid boil gently 

 till a thermometer steeped in it 



marks 234 degrees F., when you must 

 pour into the pan half a pound of 

 rather warm honey. If you wish to 

 have tile paste a little softer, add a 

 little more honey. Let the liquid 

 boil again without stirring till the 

 thermometer is up to 244 degrees F., 

 when the stew-pan is taken off the 

 gas burner and left unmoved till the 

 thermometer is down to 113 degrees 

 F. Then take a wooden spatula and 

 stir up the liquid (in the same direc- 

 tion) till it is transformed into a 

 straw-colored thick paste that pre- 



vents any more stirring. The next 

 day the candy is run through a com- 

 mon machine for mincing meat and 

 so brought to perfection. 



ENRICO PENNA, 

 Bologna, Italy. 

 (Our readers will remember that 

 Mr. Penna is the expert Italian 

 queen breeder whose apiaries were 

 visited by the editor in 1913, and of 

 whom mention is made in the issue 

 for January, 1915, of the American 

 Bee Journal. — Editor.) 



Dr. Millers ( M> Answers- 



J 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, Ilv 



He does not answer beekeeoine Questions dt mail 



Moving in Cold Weather 



I am going to move about 150 miles about 

 the first of DecemDer and want to ship a few 

 colonies of bees. They are in new 10-frame 

 hives with full sheets of foundation and wired 

 frames. How is the best way to fix them for 

 shilling, and is it all right to ship them in 

 cold weather? KANSAS. 



Answer — In the limited space allowed here 

 it is not possible to give the fullest instruc- 

 tion for shipping bees in hives. A very im- 

 portant thing is that they be not allowed to be 

 shunted about in the car. One way with a few 

 colonies is to nail onto the floor of the car 

 1-inch strips on each side of a hive. Place the 

 hive so that tl. : frames run parallel with the 

 railroad track. They will probably go all right 

 in cold weather, although there is some danger 

 of combs breaking in the severest weather. 



Distance Bees Fly 



1. How far will bees go for the honey crop? 



2. Will bees that are hived in June from a 

 swarm found out on a tree and put in a com- 

 mon -ox be likely to swarm this year? 



3. How am I to tell the kind of bees I 

 have? They are a brown bee, with black 

 heads; they seem to be a fine lot of workers. 



4. I robbed them this past week, but only 

 found one full comb. The others weie partly 

 filled and full of young bees. I took in all 

 aDOUl 'i pounds of comb honey, and left an 

 equal amount in the hive. Do you think it 

 will be necessary for me to feed them all win- 

 ter? N. MEXICO. 



Answers — 1. Under great stress they have 

 been known to go 5 miles or more, but for 

 profitable work they probably do not go more 

 than 2 miles, and some think not more than 

 a mile and a half. 



2. No; althojgh it is possible they may. 



3. If there is r.j yellow on them they are 

 probably the common black bee, sometimes 

 called German brown, or black bees. 



4. If you have taken 6 pounds of honey and 

 left only an equal amount, they certainly need 

 feeding. They should ha/; at least 30 pounds, 

 and in you climate 40 would be better. 



Foulbrood 



In the treatment for brood diseases we are 

 advised to sterilize hives, covers, bottoms, etc. 

 But what about the bee itself? It seems to 

 me that the bacillus could remain in the stom- 

 ach of the jee or on its feet or body. 1 have 

 treated hundreds of cases of disease and know 

 what is necessary to effect a cure. But the 

 above has never been clear to me. OHIO. 



Answer — It is true that some advise to 

 sterilize hives, covers and bottoms, but others 

 do not consider it necessary to sterilize either 

 of these. Bees do carry the disease in their 

 sacs or stomachs, but the treatment you use 

 makes them use up any diseased honey before 



they have brood to feed They are so neat 

 in their toilet that any germs are probably 

 kept cleaned off their bodies. 



Wintering 



I have a number of colonies and do not 

 know where it would be best to winter them. 

 Up-stairs it would be impossible, and in the 

 cellar it is too damp. I am planning on build- 

 ing a beehouse suitable for 30 or 40 colonies. 

 State in the T ournal which would be the best 

 plan in building it to keep the temperature 

 just right. WISCONSIN. 



Answer — It would hardly be advisable for 

 you to try to winter in a building above 

 ground. I would rather risk the damp cellar, 

 putting a stove in it to overcome the cold and 

 dampness. 



Supers for Sections — Italians 



1. Please let me know what size hives and 

 what kind of super you use for the production 

 of comb honey. 



2. Do you use a shallow extracting frame 

 on each side of the super? 



3. What kind of Italians do you have, 

 leather colored or goldens? 



KENTUCKY. 

 Answer — 1. I use 8-frame dovetailed hives, 

 because I have them; but if I were beginning 

 over again I would likely have larger hives. I 

 use T supers. 



2. I don't use extracting-combs in section- 

 supers, but it is likely a good plan. 



3. My bees are mostly 3-banded, leather- 

 colored, although I have some hybrids. 



Carbon — Stings 



In destroying beemoth and eggs, how is car- 

 bon disulfide to be used? 



I have discovered that swelling from bee- 

 sting can almost entirely be prevented by 

 pressing out the poison and painting with what 

 the physicians call "sealer" — a liquid court' 

 plaster. INDIANA. 



Answer. — Carbon disulfide may be used on 

 dry combs or combs containing honey, but not 

 on combs containing brood. Pile up the supers 

 containing the combs, and you will be more 

 sure of succesi if you do this inside of some 

 building, or else outside when there is no 

 wind. Also it is well to make a thin dough 

 with clay and water, to putty up the cracks 

 b< twi i n one super and another. Put an empty 

 super on top of the pile, and in this set a 

 saucer, into which you will pour 3 or more 

 tablcspoonfuls of the liquid, closing over the 

 cover quickly, and leaving it closed for 24 

 hours. Don't have any fire or light near if 

 you don't want to be blown up. 



Pressing out the poison should be helpful, 

 and if you get it all out the "sealer" ought 

 hardly to be necessary But unless you have 

 some special way of operating will you not 

 squeeze as much poison in as out? 



