206 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Tuiu 



has been scarcely a year that I have 

 not watched to see it the bees evei 

 gather honey from the corn tassel, 

 and during all of my beekeeping 1 

 failed to see bees gathering honey 

 from the tassel. 1 saw them one year 

 sucking at the loot of the leaf next 

 to the stalk. Wm. CRAIG, 



Aitkin, Minn. 



we moved here. We can't spare the 

 barn until we build at least as much 

 more capacity, and then it will he 

 arranged for extensions as needed. 

 N'on see we count on super capacity 

 for the whole crop, and when they 

 all conic home there has to he some 

 place to put them, besides carpenter- 

 shop, honey room, etc. 



MORLKY PETTIT. 



More About the Central Plant 



A WISCONSIN beekeeper asks 

 Morley Pettit, of Ontario, for 

 further information regarding 

 the central plant, as follows: (See 

 Mr. Petlit's articles in the April and 

 \1 a s . 1 y 1 8, issues.) 



"We are just starting some out- 

 yards. As we live in town, where 

 we have the buildings, power, light, 

 heat and gas, we expect to do all our 

 extracting in one central plant. In 

 one yard we have 100 colonies, and 

 to extract eight tons of honey, as we 

 did last season, it is a rather stiff 

 job to do by hand. We must bring 

 all the honey to town anyhow to 

 pack and ship, but some say not to 

 haul the combs on an auto truck for 

 fear of breaking them. Our season 

 lasts from April till the time frost 

 kills the goldenrod. Any further in- 

 formation about the central plant 

 will be appreciated." 



Replying to your favor of recent 

 date, do not know that I can add 

 much to what has been published in 

 the American Bee Journal under my 

 name with reference to extracting 

 equipment. From what I gather from 

 your letter your conditions are more 

 favorable for trucking supers home 

 to extract than' ours. We now have 

 four hundred colonies with three out- 

 yards. 3K>. 8/4 and 10J4 miles away. 

 More will be established this season, 

 and the beauty of it is we do not 

 need to care whether the new loca- 

 tions have bee-tight houses or houses 

 of any kind, for that matter. Our 

 road ire only fairly good, and with 

 lots of hills; yet for reasons which 

 develop as the system does, in addi- 

 tion to the ones which are manifest. 

 we would not think of decentralizing 

 again. 



Our frames are staple-spaced, but 

 spread in supers. We have no trou- 

 ble with breaking where the load is 

 sufficient to cause the springs to 



function properly Sometimes we 

 have to crowd combs together and 

 put in the extra comb to prevent 

 swinging. One point, all tob-bars are 

 reinforced by driving a nail down 

 from the top close to each end and 

 clinching to prevent splitting off the 

 lug. This has to he done before nail- 

 ing up the frames. Even without this 

 very little splitting occurs where the 

 driver is rea onablj careful. We 

 have a Ford truck and find it very 

 satisfactory for a load up to three 



ii and pounds li we had not the 



steep hills we would use a trailer in 

 ion. 

 Of com e ion will have to make up 

 for small buildings by having enough 

 space at home. Our building, put up 

 in 1917, is 24x4(1 ft, with uppei tor} 

 and attic. It was built with the in- 

 tention of tearing down the small 

 barn which was on the place when 



How Many Trips to Fill a Cell 



Page 01, February issue American 

 Bee Journal: "How many trips are 

 necessary for a bee to till a cell w it'll 

 honey ?" 



It would depend somewhat on 

 whether the cell was worker or drone 

 size, also the length of it. I dis- 

 tinctly remember when m\ father 

 kept bees in box hives with an inch 

 auger hole in the top, over which 

 were placed small boxes in which 

 the surplus honey would be stored 

 and when filled the honey cut out and 

 boxes returned and refilled and we 

 in this crude manner received some 

 very choice combs of honey. One of 

 these boxes, 12 inches in length, 6 

 inches high and 8 incher wide, was 

 tilled with one piece of comb running 

 lengthwise and filled with basswood 

 honey and nicely capped over by 

 black bees. Combs built thus would 

 require several trips at least for one 

 bee to fill a cell. As to 20,000 trips 

 being necessary to store a pound of 

 honey I very much doubt, unless 7.s 

 per cent of it was moisture to be 

 evaporated, and that would surely 

 mean some bees in a hive in which 

 _>() pounds or more were being stored 

 per day, and also a good many trips 

 for each field-worker. I would put 

 it about one-fourth of 20,000 trips, 

 waiving evaporation. If the cli- 

 mate of 5,000 empty bees is correct 

 per pound, my estimate has always 

 been that during a good honey-flow 

 a bee would at least carry her own 

 weight in nectar, and if anyone can 

 tell us what the evaporation would be 

 we would all be glad to know it, and 

 should it be 50 per cent, if my esti- 

 mate is correct, then we could cut 

 the 20,000 trips in half, which would 

 surely he nearer correct. 



ELIAS FOX, Wisconsin. 



(Our correspondent is mistaken ill 

 believing that a bee can carry her 

 own weight in honey or nectar, al- 

 though this statement has alreadj 

 been made by others. These are mere 

 i;urvso, but experiments have been 

 made which give actual facts. 

 1.' Abbe Collin, a careful experi- 

 menter of the middle of the past 

 century, reported that it takes 5.100 

 hies to weigh a pound in ordinary 

 conditions. When they were in the 

 swarm, filled with honey, it took 

 only 4,300, Bernard De 'Gelieu, previ- 

 ously had placed the extreme limits 

 ol the number of bees in a pound, 

 when full, at 3.640, and whin emptj 

 of honey at 5,460. This would indi- 

 cate tli.il the extreme limit of a bee's 

 capacity for honey is about half its 

 own weight. But the average is much 



less, according to the careful experi- 

 ments repoi I'd l>\ Professor I'.. I-'. 

 Koons in the A, B, C & X. Y. / of 

 Bee Culture. The conclusion ar- 



rived at in these experiments is that 

 10,000 bees may be able to carry a 

 pound of honey or nectar, hut that 

 the average number of bees or trips 

 required must be close to 20,000. The 

 Collin figures would bring the num- 

 ber nearer 25.000. 



Of course, in all this, the liquid 

 carried must he nectar. Its evapora- 

 tion after it reaches the hive is an- 

 other matter and has no influence on 

 the carrying power of a bee. — C. P. D. 



Interesting Plant Books 



We are in receipt of two very at- 

 tractive little books which will be 

 helpful to those interested in deter- 

 mining the identities of trees and 

 shrubs. Both are bound in flexible 

 leather, pocket size, which makes it 

 very convenient to carry them about. 

 One, entitled "Winter Botany." is 

 designed especially to enable I lid 

 students to identify trees and shrubs 

 during the winter months. This con- 

 tains 434 pages, and sells for $2.50. 

 The one designed for identification 

 during the summer months is en- 

 titled "Plant Material of Decorative 

 Gardening," and contains 204 pages, 

 and sells for $1. Either of these books 

 may be obtained from the author at 

 prices named, William Trelcase, Ur- 

 bana, 111. 



Beekeeping in Florida 



Beekeeping can be made very 

 profitable in the south, if the bees are 

 properly protected against their nat- 

 ural enemies. 



I find that if the bees are put in a 

 shady place they will do 100 per cent 

 better, in the way of producing. 



Ants will also try to eat the col- 

 ony, if not prevented, and especially 

 is this the case with light, or sandy 

 soils. 



To keep ants from the hives, place 

 a platform about 3 feet from the 

 ground, and thoroughly coat the -s 

 4s or lumber connecting it with the 

 ground, with thick coal tar. 



If no coal tar is available, see that 

 the legs of the posts are put in kero- 

 sene oil. and from time to time place 

 new oil, as the ants will often try to 

 bridge even the oil, after it has lain 

 in the can some time. 



Being above the ground, keeps the 

 hives cooler, and out of reach of 

 many a predatory animal, and if the 

 posts are well coated, from time to 

 time, or new oil h placed in the cans 

 under the posts, it will be found that 

 bees will seldom be molested. 



B. YORKSTONE HOGG. 



Yellow Jackets 



lii the last issue of the American 

 Bee loiirnal I loctor Miller, in regard 

 lo yellow jackets bothering bees, 



says: "1 can't help you much." I 

 find the yellow jackets can he easily 

 disposed of. I take llv traps made 

 out of wire-screenings, and bait them 

 with meat. In a few hours thev will 

 be full. I then drown the pests in a 

 pail of water and feed them to the 

 chickens, which .are verv fond 01 



them. ALFRED CARLING, 



California. 



