240 



tHE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



have on bu3ers. Others give the exact 

 figures at which they are making sales. 



We are advised to avoid consigning 

 honey to any except a strictly "commis- 

 sion man." If a merchant also buys 

 honey out and out he is inclined to give 

 honey that he has bought a "better show, ' ' 

 than that which has been consigned. 



A C.\UTION — DON't SHAKE OFF ALL OF 



THE BEES WHEN MAKING 



' 'SHOOK-SWARMS. ' ' 



After the article by Mr. Boardman, on 

 page 230, had been printed, there came to 

 hand the following: — 



In the last issue of Gleanings is an arti- 

 cle on the "shake-out plan;" and I notice 

 that the instruction is to shake out every 

 ^^^ from the old colony. I don't advise 

 this; on the contrary, I advise, by all 

 means, to leave bees enough to protect 

 the hive until the brood has time to hatch ; 

 and especially take this precaution, in 

 out-yards when there will be no one to 

 look after the bees. I had one very live- 

 ly case of robbing, in an out-yard, by 

 neglecting this precaution. I also close 

 down the entrance very close. Some- 

 times I have closed it entirely with what 

 I call a robber guard until the bees get a 

 littlp house cleaning done, and have re- 

 covered from their panic and confusion. 

 Respectfully 



H. R. Boardman. 



importance of good FOOD IN WINTER- 

 ING BEES. 



The safe wintering of bees is a subject 

 that still has an interest to Northern bee 

 keepers. Good food is not "the whole 

 thing," but it is the main thing. Upon 

 this point, Mr. C. P. Dadant contributed 

 to the American Bee Journal some experi- 

 ence that he had last year upon this point. 

 The season was very dry, and, except near 

 the low lands but little honey was gather- 

 ed in the fall. An unusual occurence was 

 the storing of honey dew, from plant lice, 



even as late as September. The result 

 was that manv of Mr. Dadant's bees went 

 into winter quarters on stores that were 

 largely honey dew. He knew of this, and 

 feared for the results, but decided to risk 

 it rather than go to the trouble of extract- 

 ing the honey dew and feeding other 

 stores. The beginning of winter was fa- 

 vorable. The bees had a flight every few 

 days and everything looked prosperous. 

 About the middle of January began a peri- 

 od of coniinement lasting several weeks. 

 Nearly every colony with the honey dew 

 suffered from diarrhea, some died out- 

 right, and then dwindling set in and con- 

 tinued until one-third of the colonies had 

 died, and those colonies that lived kept 

 running down until the beginning of fruit 

 bloom. Now comes the point: Those 

 bees that had harvested a crop of fall hon- 

 ey wintered as well as ever. 



Friend Dadant says that while it is per- 

 fectly clear that stores of honey dew 

 ought to be extracted and other food giv- 

 en, such conditions do not occur very oft- 

 en, and it is a mistake for a man to be 

 discouraged when they do come, as, with 

 the hives and combs, and a few good col- 

 onies to breed from., it is quick work to 

 repopulate the hives when warm weather 

 and a honey flow come to our aid. 



k'ii^»^u»^;'v» 



LEVER, VERSUS SCREW-POWER FOR 

 PRESSING OUT WAX. 



Whether pressure is needed to remove 

 all of the wax from the slumgum, is no 

 longer a question, but exactly the best 

 method of applying that pressure is, as 

 yet, unsolved. Screw-power is probably 

 as convenient as anj'thing, but it lacks 

 one quality possessed by the lever, with 

 a weight upon the long end, and that is 

 continuous pressure. To illustrate, we 

 can screw a screw down as far as we can, 

 yet, in a few minutes, some of the wax 

 has run out, making the cake of slumgum 

 occupy less space. The screw does not 

 follow up the shrinking of the cake. In 

 order to make the screw effective, we are 

 compelled to stand over it and turn it 



