124 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



leaves something like a sweet potato 

 plant conic on at each joint. The 

 joints and leaves are about 6 inches 

 apart. It seems to grow best "ii low 

 lands, but will grow on high hill land. 

 It will run as far as 60 feel on wire 

 fences. I noticed one on a guy wire 

 to a telegraph pole that was at least 

 40 feet high. It begins blooming 

 about the first of July and blooms 

 until about the tenth of September. 

 However, the bees do not pay any at- 

 tention to it until about the latter 

 part of July or the first of August. 

 From then on, as long as the blos- 

 soms last, the bees hum after it. 

 There are one or two clusters at each 

 joint, something like basswood. The 

 blooms are small, white, and range 

 from IS to 250 in a cluster. The vine 

 is very small, about the size of a 

 baling wire, and about as tough. This 

 plant seems to do best dry years. The 

 honey is about the color of Colorado 

 alfalfa, but seldom seems to granu- 

 late, and has a very fine flavor. Noth- 

 ing equals it, in my opinion. The 

 seed pods begin forming in August 

 and stay green until in November. 

 The pods are almost like those of the 

 milkweed. The seeds are also. They 

 have a kind of cotton on one end. As 

 soon as the pods are dry they split 

 open and the seeds blow out and fly 

 for miles. I have seen them 200 feet 

 high. They remind me of cobwebs 

 late in October. 



Dr. Phillips, of Washington, D. C, 

 was here last May and I was telling 

 him about the plant. He said it pro- 

 duced carloads of honey in southern 

 Indiana. There was a cornfield here 

 of 1,200 acres and I don't think there 

 was a stalk that did not have a shoe- 

 string vine on it. Dr. Phillips said 

 they called it shoestring vine in Indi- 

 ana, but he did not know the botani- 

 cal name for it. I will enclose a 

 small seed pod and a piece of vine. 

 If you can figure out a name for it 

 please let me know, and if it is so 

 you can come over in August you can 

 then see just what the bees think of 

 it. You can smell the sweet odor for 

 half a mile when the wind is just 

 right. Brunswick, Mo. 



(Dr. L. H. Pammel identifies the 

 plant as Gcnolubus Laevis. It is com- 

 mon in Southern Illinois. Indiana and 

 Ohio, where it is a persistent and 

 troublesome weed. It also occurs in 

 a few localities in Southern Iowa. 

 We have numerous reports of this 

 plant as an important source of sur- 

 plus honey. — F. C. 1'.) 



More About Shoestring Vine 



This plant belongs to the milkweed 

 family and "Bluevine" is only a lo- 

 cal name for it. It grows rampant in 

 the river bottoms of Southern Indi- 

 ana, but does not seem to thrive on 

 upland or thin clay soils. 



It is my main -i.<>, foi a white 

 honey crop in the fall, and the honey 

 excels white clover in beauty and 

 taste. Mr. E. <<. Baldwin, of the U. S. 

 Department, has told me that some 

 of the beekeepers in the extreme 



i unties report a yield 

 from this vine of 80 pounds in two 

 weeks. I do not doubt this in the 



least. I jusl commenced taking this 



honey off today, October 2, 1918, and 

 it will average 60 pounds per colony 

 in three weeks. 



The plant is a pest in the corn- 

 fields, as there is no killing it out, 

 and the moment the cultivator stops 

 it begins to climb the cornstalks. It 

 has a string of miniature white flow- 

 ers all along the vine and keeps 

 blooming as it grows. I have seen it 

 run up the brace wires of the tele- 

 phone poles for IS feet. It begins 

 to bloom about August first and sel- 

 dom lasts more than three weeks. 

 S. H. BURTON, 

 Washington, Ind. 



Long Idea Hive with Supers 



YOUR discussion on "Deep vs. 

 Langstroth Frames," in the Feb- 

 ruary number of the American 

 Bee Journal, is very interesting, also 

 your comment on the story-and-a- 

 half hive. 



What you say of the Danzenbaker 

 hive is true, at least I have found it 

 so. A single Danzenbaker brood- 

 chamber is too small for even an or- 

 dinary queen, and I have been com- 

 pelled to provide two-story brood- 

 chambers for some that I have had. 



I found this brood-chamber with its 

 two sets of frames an unmitigated 

 nuisance, and do not intend to use 

 it next season. 



I have gradually transferred my 

 bees to Langstroth frames, and I am 

 now building a number of the "Long 

 Idea" hives. These hives are de- 

 signed to hold thirty-three Lang- 

 stroth frames and are arranged to 

 take 10-frame hive-bodies as supers. 1 

 also intend to use these hive-bodies 

 as winter cases, packing the bees in 

 10-frame Demuth cases, then placing 

 them in groups of three, using three 

 of the long hive-bodies tiered up for 

 an outer case. I have planned to pro- 

 vide one cluster with an entrance in 

 the end case, facing east; the other 

 two entrances to be in the sides, fac- 

 ing south. 



I have decided upon the "Long 

 Idea" hive because it seemed to be 

 the only way to enlarge the brood- 

 chamber without abandoning the 

 frames I now have. 



As mine is only a side-line apiary, 

 I am not always at liberty to give my 

 bees the attention they require; such 

 as enlarging the brood-chamber, cut- 

 ting queen-cells, etc., tilings which 

 seem necessary when the standard 

 size brood-chamber is used. Do you 

 think that expanding the brood- 

 chamber laterally . as in the case of 

 llu "Long Idea" hive, w ill give n 

 suits equal to those obtained with 

 your Dadant-Quinby, or the Jumbo 

 br l-f raines ? 



1 should like to have you answet 

 this in the next issue of the Ameri- 

 can I!ce Journal. 



A. W. LEE, Tarry town, N. V. 



(Experiences vary, and some peo- 

 ple are pleased w il h things that i ith 

 ers dislike. I'.ul my personal experi- 

 ence with the "Long Idea" hives was 

 not satr- 1. n tory, thi iugh I am free to 

 say that I would rather use them 



than the narrow brood-chambers, 

 such as the M-fratne Langstroth. 



The main trouble which 1 found 

 with the long-idea lines is the ability 

 of the queen to travel all over it and 

 lay her eggs first at one end and then 

 at the other, tints changing the lo- 

 cation of the brood-combs. In this 

 way we may find brood in any part 

 of the hive at any time. When we 

 extract there is always trouble in 

 getting a sufficient number of combs 

 free from brood, although the hive 

 may be well stored with surplus. 



Another trouble is in removing the 

 honey for extracting. There is no 

 way to exclude the bees as we do 

 when we place a bee escape between 

 super and body. So the combs have 

 to be lifted out and the bees brushed 

 off. This always enhances robbing. 



For these reasons, we have discard- 

 ed the "Long Idea" hive from our 

 apiaries, after several years of trial. 

 — C. P. D.) 



(When used with supers as Mr. 

 Lee suggests, I would expect rather 

 satisfactory results from this ar- 

 rangement. The "Long Idea" hive dis- 

 cussed by the edhor was used with- 

 out a super, thus requiring that 

 frames be lifted from the body for 

 extracting. As Mr. Lee will use it, 

 there need not be much manipulation, 

 since there are only 21 frames in the 

 body. I have seen a similar plan 

 tried with 17 frames and two 8-frame 

 bodies side by side, for supers, with 

 good results. — F. C. P.) 



Marking Queens 



By D. Queen 



IN your January issue I observe an 

 inquiry in regard to marking 

 queens. Something like four 

 years ago I became interested in this 

 matter, but could find no informa- 

 tion as to the method or the means 

 to be used. I finally worked out the 

 details, which proved satisfactory 

 and practicable. 



The "paint" is simply shellac dis- 

 solved in grain alcohol — preferably 

 white shellac, although not essential. 

 The coloring matter may be orange 

 chrome, red lead, zinc white or any 

 non-corrosive pigment in dry pow- 

 dered form. Experience gained by 

 experiment will soon show how much 

 coloring pigment to mix with the 

 shellac, also how thick the shellac 

 should be. My outfit was made up of 

 two small vials holding, say one-half 

 ounce, and a small camel hair brush 

 about the size of the lead of a pencil 

 when it needs sharpening. These 

 vials were set into a bit of inch board 

 about 3 inches square. The brush 

 was set through the cork of the shel- 

 lac bottle a la mucilage, and dipped 

 into the shellac far enough to charge 

 the brush. 



I personally object to handling 

 queens, therefore my marking and 

 clipping is done while the queen is 

 upon the comb. 



If these operations are done early 

 in the day, while the air is rather 

 1, I find no difficulty. 



This autumn I pinched the head off 

 a marked queen, this being her third 

 season, and still going strong, but 

 not considered dependable for the 

 work of building up in the spring. 



