238 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



from two and a half to three ounces. 

 There is likely to be a large trade 



in tins line in the near future if suf- 

 ficietvt effort is made to develop it. 

 Then there are those that want more 

 than enough for a meal for one per- 

 son, and a five-ounce, an eight-ounce 

 and a fifteen-ounce package arc 

 ni eded, that the whole family may 

 have not only a taste, hut a full meal 

 of it, with their bread. We put up 

 honey in three sizes of glass, and 

 three sizes of fiber, that can be sold 

 for a little less than a glass. Then 

 we have quarts in tin, and half gal- 

 lons and gallons, as well as five-gal- 

 lon cans, and have calls for honey 

 packed in all of them. 



By the way, one of the best meth- 

 ods of advertising is to put up under 

 your trademark only a nice grade of 

 table honey. There seems to be a 

 feeling in many places that honey 

 should be slightly amber and it may 

 often be advisable to mix a small 

 per cent of good-flavored amber with 

 a very white honey to reduce the 

 color a trifle, but care should be 

 taken that it is not carried too far, 

 and injure the quality and reputation 

 of the bottler. The reputation of a 

 beekeeper or a bottler is of much 

 greater value than all that can be 

 gained by reducing the standard of 

 your goods, when once you have a 

 reputation established. 



What shall we say of comb honey? 

 With sections costing nearly a cent 

 a piece, and a piece of foundation 

 large enough to nearly fill them, the 

 best part of another cent; then 

 with a carton to cover the comb an- 

 other cent is required. But this is 

 not the end. for we must have ship- 

 ping cases that add another cent to 

 each section, and a crate in which to 

 ship our cases costing not less than 

 half a cent more per section. The 

 greater amount of work required to 

 produce the comb honey, and greater 

 amount of labor to pack it. will 

 make it quite necessary that we se- 

 cure a much higher price for it than 

 for extracted honey to make it pay. 

 The law that compels us to weigh 

 individual sections and place the net 

 weight on each section or carton, 

 adds very much to the expense of 

 [lacking. But there are some advan- 

 tages in this, as it makes it possible 

 to pack all the sections of the same 

 weight in ;i given case. It is very 

 easy to see that the retail grocer will 

 prefer all his combs of the same 

 .nil] lie billing to paj ;i little 

 more when so packed. Again, there 



m who want every section to 

 look heavy ami will pay more for 

 fourteen or fifteen-ounce net section'. 

 than for lighter ones, while others 

 are not particular, and some retailers 



en willing to pay more per 

 pound for the light sections. Plain 

 sections weighing eleven ounces net 

 look very well if no heavy ones are 

 in the same ease to compare them 

 with, and sell very well. With the 

 present craze for pro. hieing extracted 

 honey. I believe the prii 

 honey is going to rule high for some 

 come, and pay well those who 

 are willing to produce, pack and mar- 

 ket it with care. 



Dr. Miller's ^Answers- 



«j 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. !lv 



He does not answer bee-lteeoin* Questions by mail. 



Outdoor Wintering 



A few days ago I talked with a beeman and 

 he told me he never packed his bees, but just 

 left them on the stands as they are in the 

 summer. He argued that when bees are kept 

 too warm in winter they use up their stores 

 and are without in the spring before time to 

 gather more. He says his bees are doing fine. 

 What do you think of this? ILLINOIS. 



Answer. — I don't know how far south you 

 are, but there are good authorities who say 

 that anywhere in Illinois the bees are better 

 off for protection. A strong colony may win 

 ter without it, but that doesn't prove that the 

 colony might not do better still with it. 



Queens — Italians, Etc. 



1. If the queen should be killed on her mat- 

 ing trip would the colony likely be queenless, 

 since this queen very likely destroyed all the 

 other queens before starting forth? 



2- If I have no bees in my apiary except 

 pure Italians and there are no neighbors' bees 

 within one mile, is it not certain that my 

 queens will become purely mated? 



::. Have you had experience with the various 

 strains of Italians, as three-banded, leather- 

 colored and goldens? fl so, which would you 

 advise for gentleness and industry? 



ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — -1. If swarm should issue, leav- 

 ing in the hive no queen or queen-cell, and 

 no young brood, the death of the queen would 

 be the doom of the colony. But you are not 

 at all warranted in saying "since tin- qui i n 

 very likely destroyed all the other queens be- 

 fore starting forth." That's just what she is 

 never allowed to do. When a prime swarm 

 issues, young queens are always left in their 

 cells, and .plenty of young brood from which 

 young queens may be reared. In the case ol 

 an afterswarm there is a virgin queen, and if 

 the workers don't allow her to destroy all her 

 royal sisters in their cradles she issues with 

 a swarm. If they allow her to kill them, 

 there will be no swarm. In brief, there is 

 never a swarm without a potential successor 

 to the queen. 



2. Not half of them are likely to be purely 

 mated. 



3. You seem to class threc-banded as sep- 

 arate from leather-colored. Pure leathi r-col 

 ored Italians are three-banded, and three- 

 ! andi d may oi maj nut lie leathei colored. As 

 a rule I should prefer leather-colored three- 

 band< ■! Italians to any others. 



Propolis, Supers, Etc. 



i. Whal \- it that ,,<■- s ii i to i tii l. so tight 



. mi the hive - 

 :.'. When a swarm comes out il is with the 

 old queen, i^ u old bees that come out, oi is 



it young bees that come out with thi 



8 is it a gi ""1 plan t<> put on hive supers 

 with full sheet foundation soon after new 

 pul in hive? 

 J. Is il much trouble to use liee i 

 and will all the bees go down from super into 

 ■ lambei s, a-- it i- •, laimed they do? 

 How much is saved in the way of comb- 

 foundation by extracting? 



6. It' bees were put in a goods box that 

 would ho , i swarm be- 



I would there be 

 ban one queen in it about the time 

 it was full ? 



7. Is the honey in brood-chamber over super 

 full of honey enough for the bees in a colony 

 to winter on? 



8. Do the bees in the super winter in the 



super, or do they all go into brood chamber to 

 winter? TEXAS. 



Answers.— 1. It is propolis, or bee-glue, 

 mostly gathered from trees, but also from old 

 hives in which there are no bees. 



2. The bees of a swarm are of all ages, from 

 the oldest to those that are barely able to fly. 



3. Unless an excluder is used, no super 

 should be given until the queen has made a 

 start at laying in the brood-chamber, lest the 

 queen begin laying in the super. 



4. It is no great trouble to use them, but 

 you cannot count on their always getting out 

 all the bees promptly. Yet those who use 

 them are quite generally satisfied with them. 



5. Nothing the first year; but after the first 

 year you save all the foundation used in sec- 

 tions. 



6. Occasionally they might swarm, but they 

 would have a new queen every two to four 

 years, whether they swarmed or not. 



7. Yes, and there might be enough without 

 the super. 



8 Generally they winter in the brood-cham- 

 ber, but some, or even all, may be in the super. 



Queen-Cells 



On page 189, in the book "One Thousand 

 Answers to Bee Questions, "How to Rear 

 Queens on a Small Scale: "When the colony 

 swarms, hive the swarm on a new stand, leav- 

 ing the mother colony strong. About a week 

 after the issue of the swarm go to the hive 

 each evening and listen for the piping of the 

 young queen. After you hear her, go the 

 next morning and cut out all the cells." Now, 

 it stops before it tells what to do with the 

 cells that he has cut out. Please tell me how 

 to proceed with the work. Will these queen- 

 cells be found in the mother colony or the 

 swarm that came out? NEBRASKA. 



Answer.— After the cells are cut out they 

 are generally put in the nuclei, although they 

 may also be used in full colonies. To tell all 

 about rearing queens would exceed the limits 

 of this department and make a book of itself. 

 Indeed, an excellent book has been written on 

 the subject by Frank C. Pellet, which you will 

 do well to get. 



The queen-cells will be found in the parent 



Foulbrood — Transferring 



1. 1 am sending to you a sample <>i some 



comb and brood that 1 have taken oul ol a 

 hive. I would like to know if those cells, that 

 are sunken are foulbrood. You will notice 

 that some of. the brood is good. I bought 

 /arm al a sale last tall and they were 



in a common guilds box. 1 have now placed 



them mi ., in frame hive with full sheets ol 

 foundation. The swarm is very small anil 

 nol much honey; have been feeding all spring. 

 Il ii i^ foulbrood, what would you advise to 

 do li it i ii o1 foulbrood, would you advise 



reqUl ening, and when ? 



2. I have another swarm in a 10-frame hive 

 that is extra st mn^. They have a verj pro 

 line queen. They have at leasl om third a\ 

 each frame full of brood. I am thinking of 

 lakine, one or two frames from them with 

 bi 1 and giving to a weak colony, and re- 

 placing with full foundation sheets. What 1 

 want to know is when I lake out the frames 

 of brood, should 1 leave what bees cluster on 

 thi frame and put all in with the weak colony? 

 i n should I brush off the bees and put in only 

 the brood? 



:>. I have a swarm in an 8-frame hive that I 

 bought. They had no foundation sheets and 

 the combs are not straight with the frames. 

 I am able only to take out one frame. They 



