Volume 2 — OUR EXTRACTOR

WINTERING ON SUMMER STANDS.

The question of wintering is always of interest and for that reason is always seasonable. In treating the question I do not expect to give any new points to experts, but many of the readers of this magazine are beginners, and are looking to this valuable journal for information on this as well as on all other apicultural matters. Many successful apiarists of large experience claim that all wintering should be done in cellars, or other special depositories; with these I have no quarrel, but never having wintered except on summer stands, I am unable to speak thereof from personal experience. One objection to this plan of wintering I can well imagine will force itself into the minds of a large majority, viz.: the expense required to fit up as it should be fitted, with regard to ventilation and temperature, such a special depository as is necessary in order to guarantee success and the objection of itself will probably prevent that majority from incurring the required expense.

For the benefit of the same majority I will give in detail the plan of wintering on summer stands, adopted by myself with perfect success, and which I have made use of for eighteen years or more, and that too on Langstroth frames, with single walled seventh-eight inch pine hives.

As theories in regard to matters connected with apiculture are of little consequence when compared with actual facts. I will not attempt to theorize now, but will detail the facts for the use of any who may desire to know them.

When the honey season ends, which with myself is about the 10th of September, I examine the condition of every colony, crowd each colony on to seven frames I intend they shall all be strong enough to cover fully that number and see that each frame is at least filled with sealed stores in its upper half the whole length. Later on when I get ready to back for winter I extract if necessary from those combs that are more than two-thirds filled with stores and combs throughout the brood chamber are equalized and placed in a position where the colony can at times get at them if desired. When the temperature falls so low that the colony begins to cluster closely I force the cluster to one side or other of the brood chamber, which can easily be done, by moving the frames on which the cluster is formed. Prior to this, however, I have stimulated the queen by feeding regularly each day a small amount of sugar syrup, and thus kept the colony rearing brood as long as possible.

After the cluster is forced to the side of the hive I place a “Hill’s Device,” or some substitute therefor, over the frames, and cover the bees with a light porous blanket. Burlap or cotton duck is as good as anything for this purpose. The “Hill’s Device” under the blanket forms a means of communication for the bees with every frame in the hive, and that too without danger of becoming chilled. As the hive in use is wide enough for ten frames I use one and a half inch division board in each side of the hive, which allows the seven frames to be spread apart a little more than desirable for summer use. After covering the frames in closely so that not a bee can show his head outside, I put on an upper story and fill it one-third full of forest leaves pressed lightly down, and use a cover with one and a half inch hole bored in each end for ventilation.

I give a large entrance, using a bridge about four inches wide for the bees to crawl under, which prevents the easy access of sudden draughts into the hive. The only other protection than that prescribed above, found in my apiary is a close osage hedge, six feet high on the north and west sides. With the above means of protection my bees have withstood the rigors of our eastern winters for years, with a temperature varying from 20 degrees above to 20 degrees below zero, and some seasons without a purifying flight from middle of November to middle of the following February. Many mornings with the thermometer below zero in January I have found a warm current of air being forced out from the entrance, so strong as to be perceptibly felt upon the back of the hand. I know not and care not whether others may agree with me or not, I state the facts as I find them, and have no hesitation whatever in advising every beginner to follow the methods outlined above.—J. E. P. in B. K. M., (Mass.)

SURPLUS HONEY.

Under the modern system of bee culture we obtain two kinds of honey, known as comb and extracted. Comb honey is brought before the consumer just as it was stored by the bees, while extracted honey is the pure honey emptied from the comb by means of the honey extractor. If not adulterated by middlemen both are equally healthful and nutritious.

Honey is not a luxury, but a necessary addition to our food, it being the pure sweet as secreted by the flowers from which it is gathered by the bees, being healthful and much safer than the poisonous confections sold under the name of “candy.”

Comb honey is preferred by many on account of its fine appearance. It must be placed in the market in good shape, indicating that it is intended for food and not simply as a luxury, a sweet morsel to be tasted by the children. Some of our writers on bee culture (but I am happy to say only a few) went wild some time ago advocating one-half pound frames. They argue that it can be sold at a higher price, but all bee-keepers know that forcing bees into such small combs greatly reduces the crop, and if such a course could be pursued by our bee men it would at once convey the idea that honey was only a substitute for candy or chewing gum. My advice to the bee-loving readers of this magazine is to let them severely alone in their craze. A season or two will abolish such small things. The man whose soul is so small and his ideas so contracted, and his business principles so mean as to place a half pound honey package upon the market for the purpose of extorting a half penny or so from his fellow man deserves to be classed with—you may draw your own comparison.

Anything smaller than a one pound section or frame is a loss to the producer as well as the consumer. A one pound comb makes a nice package, and such frames can be nicely crated and safely shipped.

Comb honey should be removed from the hive as soon as all the cells are sealed over. If left to remain it becomes darker by the bees passing over it. When taken from the hive it should be placed in a dark room until sold or shipped to market. Some writers advise smoking it with sulphur to kill the wax worm. I never found this necessary, as I never have found worms on my comb honey. Honey should be nicely graded, and the finest shipped or sold in separate lots. My frames hold two pound each, of these I place six in a crate having glass at each end showing quality of honey. These crates suit the retail as well as the wholesale dealers and consumers generally buy a whole crate—12 to 13 pounds. Many of my customers in adjoining towns buy from three to six crates. Unfinished or partly sealed combs can be emptied with the extractor and put away for next season.

Extracted honey should be placed in nice, clean, attractive packages. For home trade self-sealing jars do very well. For shipping, kegs are found to be the best.

Just here I would give a word of warning. Do not extract before your honey is sealed, if you do it is not ripe and too thin and will sour, thus spoiling your reputation as a honey producer. Don’t be too eager to obtain a large quantity, let the quality be good and you will have no trouble to find plenty of buyers. It is only the poor, unripe article that cannot be sold, and which gives some of our writers in the bee papers so much trouble to find a way to dispose of their honey.

(Penna.)

H. H. Flack.

EXPOSE YOUR HIVES TO THE SUN.

In a village in Germany, where the number of bees kept was regulated by law, a bad season had proved that the place was overstocked, from the great weakness of all the colonies in the neighborhood. There was but one exception, that of an old man who was generally set down as being no wiser than his neighbors. The honey harvest came round, and when he had stored away double the quantity that any of the rest had saved, he called his friends and neighbors together, took them into his garden, and said: “If you had been more charitable in your opinions, I would have told you my secret before,” and he pointed to the facing of his hives—one degree more to the east than was generally adopted. The sun came upon his hives an hour or two sooner by the movement, and his bees were up and stirring, and had secured a large share of the morning’s honey before his neighbors’ bees had roused themselves for the day.

SNOW AND OUTDOOR WINTERING.

The heavy fall of snow which we have just had is very favorable for outdoor wintering, and we would advise our readers not to shovel it away from the hives, but if you have time put a little more on with a snow shovel. We would much rather have ten feet of snow over hives than none at all.

A friend of ours once told us how he had made a great mistake by digging away the snow from some of his hives, but at the same time learned a valuable lesson. His apiary was situated in somewhat of a valley, and one morning after a heavy fall of snow which had been considerably drifted, he looked out and was dismayed to see his entire apiary buried beneath the fleecy flakes. One portion, however, was much worse than the other—that at the north end being buried in some places ten feet deep. The south end was not so bad, and so he determined to clear what he could and leave the rest to perish, as he supposed. After considerable shoveling he got about 25 colonies pretty well cleared off, and by dint of hard work managed to keep them clear till spring. When warm weather came these 25 colonies were flying in and out, while the snow was still lying upon the other portion. Thinking the latter were dead he paid no attention to them till quite late in the spring, when the tops of some of them began to show above the snow, and what was his surprise and delight to discover every colony in splendid condition, some of them filled with brood, and all ready for a good season’s work, while at the same time they had not consumed nearly so much stores as those he kept clear of snow! Upon investigation he discovered that the heat from the bees had melted spaces about the hives varying in size from a square foot to a square yard, and the air from the hives became purified by contact with the snow, while at the same time the temperature was kept so even and was so little affected by the cold breezes of winter that very little stores were consumed.

The method of purifying air is one which is taken advantage of by some of our native animals. We have often amused ourselves by watching the otter who will stay underneath the ice for hours together engaged in fishing, and when finding it necessary to breathe will place his nose against the ice, expel the air from his lungs when it forms a bubble between ice and water, and then inhale it again.—C. B. J. (Canada.)

STRAWBERRIES IN OCTOBER.

(From Western Garden, Oct. ’91.

To-day’s mail brings a fine specimen plant of the New Wonder Strawberry from J. B. Alexander, of Hartford City, Ind. It is a strong plant, and the peculiarity about it is that it has three ripe and fourteen green berries on it, besides quite a number of blossoms. Our readers should try a few plants of this wonder. See Golden Rule Nursery “ad.” elsewhere.

Some women cannot keep bees, any more than some men; but many can, and to their great profit. Often a farmer’s wife or daughter welcomes an occupation for the sake of its novelty, something to break up the routine of cooking, washing and sewing; and bee-keeping, even if it brings only a few pounds of honey for the table, is undertaken and carried through with pleasure and delight.—Ex.

Let it be remembered, says Julia Allyn, that the more bees there are on farms the greater will be the product of the farms; for the bees distribute pollen and fertilize flowers more thoroughly than they can be fertilized otherwise.