92 



T^HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ground. This means confinement of from 

 four to five months, and bees reared the 

 previous season and confined for this 

 length of time live but a short time after 

 they are put out in the spring — but a few 

 days, comparatively speaking, of active 

 work and they are gone. Of course, they 

 last longer some seasons than they do in 

 others, according as the seasons vary. 



Here, in the spring, owing to reasons 

 that I do not fully understand, extra- 

 strong colonies in large hives seem to lose 

 a larger percent of old bees sooner than 

 do medium-strong colonies. One of the 

 principal reasons for this is, I believe, 

 owing to the fact that in the spring we 

 have many cold, sunshin)' days, when it 

 requires all the force of a medium-sized 

 colony to keep their brood warm. Extra- 

 strong colonies having a larger force than 

 is required for this purpose, more of them 

 fly out and wear themselves out sooner in 

 the chill air, roaming barren fields; and 

 when a strong colony in a large hive be- 

 comes reduced to normal size in the 

 spring, it is at a disadvantage so far as the 

 size of hive is concerned. 



Now, I do not wish it to be inferred 

 that I am in favor of weak colonies, for in 

 this locality one of the main factors of 

 success in the science of production of 

 honey is to have strong colonies at the 

 proper time; but in the production of 

 comb honey, at least, it is also a very im- 

 portant factor to have these strong colo- 

 nies in the right size of hive. 



Let us take two strong colonies of 

 equal strength at the beginning of the 

 white honev-flow — one in an 8-frame hive, 

 the combs of which are filled with brood 

 and stores. If the other is in say a 12- 

 frame hive, there will be, as a rule, two or 

 three empty combs; this means so much 

 less white section honey, for no 

 colony will do section work with unoccu- 

 pied comb in the brood-nest. 



But it is claimed by many that a colony 

 in a small hive is much more liable to 

 swarm. This is not however, usually the 

 case here, for of the two colonies I have 

 just described one is about as likely to 

 swarm as the other, but the one on 8 

 frames will swarm a few days sooner, the 

 other following suit as soon as, or very 

 shortly after, the empty comb in the brood- 

 nest is filled. That is, in a good season 

 with nothing done to prevent or discour- 

 age swarming, 12 frames of co'ub will 

 not prevent swarming, 16 sometimes will. 

 24 as a rule, prevent all desire to swarm 

 with any colony, provided they are also 

 given additional room if it is required. 

 But here it is a better season than we have 

 had for sometime when a colony on even 



16 frames will do much section work, 

 that is, with only the bees which are the 

 product of one queen. But I believe it is 

 a fact which has often been announced, 

 that a colony, no matter how strong, will 

 very seldom swarm in any season if it 

 has all the drawn empty comb in large 

 frames that it can occupy. But can this 

 means of preventing swarming be profit- 

 ably practiced in even the production 

 of extracted honey ? I believe not, in 

 my locality, unless the working forces of 

 two or more colonies are thrown into one. 



Honey Quotations. 



The following rales for grading honey were 

 adopted by the North American Bee - Keepers' 

 Association, at its Washington meeting, and, so 

 far as possible, quotations are made according 

 to these rules. 



Fancy.— \11 8ecti<ms to be well filled; com Is 

 straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached 

 to all four sides ; both wood and comb unsoiled 

 by travel-stain, or otherwise ; all the colls sealed 

 except the row of cells next the wood. 



No. 1.— All sections well filled, but combs un- 

 even or crooked, detached at the bottom, or 

 with but few cells ansea'ed ; both wood and 

 comb unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise. 



In addition to this the honey is to be classified 

 according to color, using the terms white, amber 

 and dark. That is, there will be " fancy white," 

 \jo. 1, dark.'' etc. 



KANSAS CITY.— We quote as follows : Fancy 

 white, 13; No. i white, 12; fancy amber, 11; No. i 

 amber, 10: white extracted 6; amber, 5; dark, 4^; 

 beeswax, 25. 



C. C. CIvEMONS CO., 



Jan. 24. 521 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo, 



CLEVELAND, O.— Demand for white Honey is 

 very sood, and market firm. We quote as fol- 

 ows: Fancy white, 13 to 14: No. i. white, 12 to 13; 

 Fancy amber, 10 to 11; No. i. amber, 9 to 10; Fancy 

 dark, 8 to 9; White, extracted, 7; Amber, 6; Dark, 



A. B. WILLIAMS & CO. 



Jan. 25. 80 & 82 Broadway, Cleveland, Ohio. 



BUFF.^LO. N. Y. —Absolutely fancy i-lb 

 combs are selling well at 12 and 13 cents; and 

 other grades dragging at 10 to 7 cents. Holiday 

 trade takes all attention from honey. Very lit- 

 tle extracted honey selling. Fancy beeswax 

 wanted at from 28 to 30 cents: if absolutely pure. 

 BATTERSON & CO. 



Dec. 20. 167 & 169 Scott St., Buffalo, N. Y. 



CHIC.'^GO, ILL.— The demand is fair, and sales 

 about equal to receipts. We quote as foUowg : 

 Fancy white, 13; No, i white, 11 to 12: amber, 10 

 to 11;' No. I aniber, 8 to 10, fancy dark, 9 to 10; 

 No. I dark, 7 to 8; white extracted, 6 to 7; amber, 

 5 to 6; dark, 5: beeswax, 27. 



R. A. BURNETT & Co., 



Jan. 21. 163 So. Water St., Chicago, 111. 



