50 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



tin speedily rises to nearly the same, and 

 the upper side to over 212°. lu contact 

 with this high temperature the honey re- 

 mains about as long as it can without boil- 

 ing. It then springs off, and gives place to 

 another film of the same, which in turn is 

 heated to about 210" and sent off. If the 

 whole contents of the can were fluid and 

 warm, regular currents might set in which 

 would modify things and prevent over-heat- 

 ing. But tlie bulk of the honey is solid and 

 cold and cannot flow back and forth. It is 

 plain that a considerable part of the honey 

 in a can (if not all of it) may be subjected 

 piece-meal to the temperature of 210°, while 

 the mass is not at any time much over blood- 

 warm. It is very unsafe to heat honey to 

 210°. There seems to be a very great ditt'er- 

 ence in the amount of heat different samples 

 of honey will stand. Some honey can be 

 boiled vigorously with but a moderate degree 

 of damage to its quality, while other sam- 

 ples are ruined without coming to a boil. I 

 am inclined to think that every can of honey 

 ought to go out to its destiny with a plainly 

 printed warning stuck upon it, and a very 

 emphatically worded one, too, ending up 

 with, ' Sample this honey before you heat it, 

 or I will not be responsible for its quality. 

 Billy Faibplay.' " 



Newly Settled Localities the Best for Bee- 

 Keeping. 



One time when I was visiting at Mr. Hed- 

 don's, he showed me some stereoscopic views 

 taken in Vermont in the vicinity of Mr. 

 Manum's apiary. It seemed as though the 

 whole country was mountains. " I tell you. 

 Hutch.," said Mr. Heddon, " that's the 

 place to keep bees. They canH ploiv up 

 your ponies.'''' 



This little incident came to my mind as I 

 read the following from "Rambler," in the 

 Ajyi. : — 



"From our observations upon the honey 

 resources of our country, it is evident that 

 there must be a radical change in methods, 

 or a change in bees to increase the yield, or 

 bee-keeping as a busmess will l)e among the 

 things of the past. This applies especially 

 to the Eastern states, or in localities either 

 east or west, where a high state of cultiva- 

 tion t-xists. Where the country is compara- 

 tively new, an abundance of wild flowers aid 

 in the general yield. Basswood, sumach and 

 millions of raspberries, of themselves, give 

 an excellent yield. But the destruction of 

 all these, and the substitution of fruit and 

 clover, makes the yield too unreliable for 

 the patience of the average American. We 

 discover in our rambles that good localities 

 where the yield has been 100 pounds, have 

 fallen to forty, and in some instances to 

 only an average of twenty pounds per col- 

 ony. Where our yields are so light we nat- 

 urally turn our eyes to a more certain field, 

 and just now the Alfalfa fields of the far 

 West have a charm for bee-keepers. For 

 what greater cliarnis can there be than a 



steady flow, an equitable climate, and a 

 ready sale. ? " 



" Rambler " then goes on to say that we 

 must either emigrate or else develope a bee 

 that can suck honey from the bottom of the 

 red clover tubes. I have no hope in thus 

 stretching the bees' tongues, but there is a 

 great deal of sense in the idea that, other 

 things being equal, a comijaratively newly 

 settled country is more reliable in furnish- 

 ing good crops of honey. This fact was rec- 

 ognized long ago, as there is an old German 

 adage that runs thus : — 



" Bells' dius dong, 

 Antl choral song, 

 Deter the bee 

 From industry : 

 But hoot of owl, 

 And ' wolf's long howl,' 

 Incite to moil 

 And steady toil." 



Hives with an Outer Case for Winter.— No 

 Packing at the Sides Until Spring. 



There seems to be a disposition at present 

 to " get up " a hive with an outer case for 

 use in winter. Bees in our Northern states 

 certainly need protection in winter and 

 spring, and, just as surely, we need to have 

 that protection out of the way in the working 

 season. Upon these ijoints, E. L. Pratt has 

 the following to say in the American Bee 

 Keeper: 



" Very few bee keepers seem to understand 

 the principle of wintering l>ees out of doors 

 successfully. I am decidedly in favor of 

 double wailed hives, but not as generally 

 made. I am not a Chaff hive man, never 

 was, and doubt if I ever will be. They are 

 too ponderous, too expensive and not what 

 is claimed for them. We want hives that 

 not only winter the bees but spring them 

 also, and this cannot always be said of a 

 Chaff hive. The Chautauqtia hive has the 

 correct principle, but I want a hive that I 

 can work single or double as I choose, there- 

 fore there is nothing that suits me so well as 

 a thin winter case with gable cover made to 

 telescope over the case, allowing about % of 

 an inch ventilation at each gable end. As 

 cold weather comes on, the outside cases can 

 be slipped on over the hives and they are 

 safe until Thanksgiving, when final prepa- 

 tions are usually made. There should be no 

 packing material used between brood cham- 

 ber and case until breeding commences in 

 the spring, as the heat generated by the 

 cluster is not sufficient to throw off the 

 moisture until then, and the sun does not 

 get a chance to dry and to warm up the hive 

 so thoroughly when packed at the sides as it 

 does with no iiacking. A good, thick cush- 

 ion made of cut hay or straw, large enough 

 to fit snugly inside the case, should be pro- 

 vided for each colony. Lay a section box, 

 or a small block of some kind, on the top- 

 bars where the bees are clustered the thick- 



