BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
One hour later the six men came together within half a mile of the hermit's house, and Sam May in the hermit's garb, led the single file of men on, up the mountain in the same path, followed by the fishing party the summer before. Now they, leave the path, and noislessly creep nearer to the hut, They reach the little opening in which the hut stands, and, secreted by a shelving rock and brush, lie in wait. They are within twenty feet of the door of the house. There is a glimmer in one of the windows. The hermit is at home, or someone is within. They waited a long time until they began to whisper about the chances of success. The Sheriff in a tone above a whisper was proceeding to give his opinion of " such doings" when the muzzle of a revolver was placed on the tip of his nose, with this remark: "Shut up!"
Hist! There's a movement at the door. It opens, and out comes the hermit. He closes the door carefully, and walks away, not with a limp, but briskly, like a young man who had important business to attend to. He passed within four feet of the prostate wacthers. As soon as he was out of hearing, Sam May sprung up, and, followed by the others, ran to the door of the house and knocked. The others stood with their backs to the house, and if the door should be opened they could not be seen. It was noticed that Sam knocked three times slowly and twice quickly. Some-one was coming, bolts were withdrawn, and the door opened an inch. Some-one inquired, "' Is that you?" "Yes," answered Sam in the falsetto key, "I forgot something." The door chain was unhitched, the door swung back and Sam and his followers, weapons in hand, rushed in.
(To be continued.) I am much pleased with the Magazine and want it another year.
Yours Resp't, H. J. Dart.
Ovid, N. Y.
**ful may be accomplished. At the risk of being accused of treason, I will say that the North American Bee-Keepers' Society, as now constituted, is little more than a sectional gathering of beekeepers, occurring annually in different parts of the country. If anyone doubts this, let him look over the list of members of any annual meeting and see what proportion of them have come from a distance of 500 miles. But do't be discouraged if, for a time, the mass are disinclined to move and declare the thing neither "desirable nor feasible."**
_Marenge, III._
**For the Bee-Keepers' Magazine.**
**Modern Bee Journalism.**
**Editor Bee-Keepers' Magazine :**
That the bee journals of this country are not all they might be is plainly evident to anyone who has the opportunity of reading the various papers and magazines now published. It is not the intention of this article to attack any particular periodical or any editor, but simply to draw attention to some of the geneal faults. Too much is heard from the novice and not enough from the more experienced members of the fraternity, be they amateurs or specialists. This may be from the inability of the publishers to pay a sufficient sum to secure the services of the experts, or it may be due to their consciously or unconsciously trying to make the paper take the place of a text book, rather than supplement it.
The "Question " departments, from which so much was expected, when they were first started, seem to be gradually decaying. The majority, but not There are but two bee papers published this side of the water that regularly give their readers able, dignified editorials. What care the public about the petty personal jealousies and troubles of the editors, which so many of them apparenty take pleasure in publishing. The readers pay for the best thoughts of the editors on the important matters of the day, and expect to get them.
**Is it to be wondered at that it is difficult for the papers to keep up their lists of subscribers, even at the low price at which they are all offered? If we could have a dignified, ably edited paper, containing the best thoughts of our best apicultural writers, it would easily command twice the price charged for any of the bee papers now published, and be sure of a large and steady list of readers. M.**
**No Success Introducing by the Flick Method.**
When I read of the "natural" plan of introducing a queen, it impressed me as it did your correspondent, J. V. Ashard, and I tried it. I had a hand-some yellow Italian queen that I had purchased from Mr. Vaughn in a nucleus. I wished to use her in a black stock next season, instead of the native queen, and to unite the bees in the nucleus with still another stock. I knew that the latter part of October was late, but one warm day I tried the new, or, as you say, "not new," 'natural" plan of introducing. I took the six combs with bees out of my chaff selective hive, put down an old door, and shook off the bees from their frames, _as directed_, then placed combs back in the hive. The bees were remarkably good-natured to me, considering the season, and soon started for entrance to hive. Having removed the black queen as I lifted the frames out, I secured my Italian queen and dropped her among the bees that were hurrying toward the entrance, and were farthest from same. She no sooner dropped among them than they pitched upon her, and in "thirty seconds she was so much out of condition that she did not look like the same queen. I concluded to try the cage next ; I pulled her out of the mass, caged her on comb, and put her in hive, set in the other three frames and closed up the hive. In my hurry I forgot her until she had been caged four days. I thought she would be of "same scent" by that time, so took comb out carefully and away from the hive. I then
In each colony three frames, well filled with honey, were left for winter stores, and in addition each colony was fed by inside feeder, with five pounds of California honey, before they were prepared for winter, which was in November. For this locality, and from experience of two previous years, we consider the above quite a good showing, and feel satisfied with the season just past. Our extracted honey is put very neatly in a glass pair, which is placed in a paper box, having a tape handle. We get twenty-five cents readily for pound packages, from grocers, and they retail at thirty-five cents. Enclosed find fifty cents for subscription to Magazine, for 1888. We gladly pay it, and consider that it is still cheap at that price. With best wishes for its continued success, Yours respectfully, F. E. Johnson.
_Brithwood Adiary, Parkville, L. I._
For the Bee-Keeper' Magazine.
Notes by the Way.
G. G. GROFF.
Honey was so scarce in parts of Central Pennsylvania the present summer that boys say the bumble-bees' nests were not worth whipping. The writer saw these bees repeatedly about his apiary, and some were bold enough to enter the hives, doubtless impelled to do so in search of food. This was especially true of the queen bumble-bees.
In a recent number of the New York _Independent_, October 13th, is a very interesting article on '' Honey Hunting in the West." The writer has evidently never been there. He tells how bees are now kept in straw hive, how they are fed in winter, and how '' wild '' bees may be tamed and made useful, as tame bees. It is all very wonderful to the modern bee-keeper.
The writer, recently, carelessly suffocated a colony in moving the same, not having left sufficient ventilation. When the wire gauze wastorn off the entrance, the bees near it rushed forth _in exactly the same manner as terror-stricken men would have done._ Indeed, it was
Cents a pound, but I refused to sell, and took my honey home, put it in two forty-five-gallon barrels, and put boiling hot rain water with it. When it cooled off I put some vinegar mother in each barrel, and this summer, I _sold ninety gallons of the best vinegar that was in the county, at sixteen cents per gallon._ I paid my tax with it. Please excuse poor writing. I should not make so many mistakes. Respectfully yours, Mrs. Ch. Pf. _D. Pa._ [No need of any excuses about the writing. Mrs. Ch. Pf., you have taught many a bee-keeper a valuable lesson. There will be only one queen in the two boxes.--E.D.]
**North American Bee-Keepers' Society.**
**The convention then listened to an interesting talk by Mr. A. I. Root, of Medina, O., about**
**Foul Broad, How Shall We Treat It?**
**Mr. Root said--As soon as foul brood appeared in 'our apiary, we began burning up the affected colonies. After we had burned about 40 colonies, we found that, in nearly every case, colonies adjoining the stand of a destroyed colony, soon showed signs of disease, and we began to cast about for some way of curing the disease. The first thing used was phenol, diluting it and applying it with a spraying attachment; first tearing off the cappings with a wire hair-brush, which does the work in such a manner that the healthy brood is uninjured. The odor drives the bees out of the hive, but they soon come back, and usually clean the foul brood out of the cells. This treatment does not always cure the disease, but there is this advantage. It prevents the spread of contagion to other colonies. I did advocate the burning of hives, but Mr. Cowan says that immersing them 40 seconds in boiling water destroys all germs. With chaff hives, the chaff must be removed, the hives boiled, and then refilled with new chaff.**
**Miss Dema Bennett--Is there any danger of communicating the disease by the way of foundation?**
**Mr. Root--The heat necessary to the manufacture of foundation would destroy the germs. With a small apiary, I believe I would burn up the "whole business" if I found it infested with foul brood.**
**J. A. Green--There is a disease something like foul brood, but not contagious ; the difference is that the larvae are brown and watery instead of ropy, as in genuine foul brood.**
**Dr. A. B. Mason--If a larvae is elastic and ropy, it is a certain indication of foul brood.**
**Prof. Cook--There are two or three points that need emphasis, viz : Wecannot depend upon the odor in detecting foil brood, while the elasticity or ropy mass is a sure test ; many men have cured foil brood, hence we can cure it, and need not burn things.
B. T. Davenport--I, too, have had trouble from the kind of "dry" foil brood, as mentioned by Mr. Green. I fail to see why it should be called "dry" foil brood as it is watery, although the larvae does finally dry up. The larvae will break in two when there is an attempt at removal, but there is no ropiens nor elasticity. The trouble is greater with dark bees than with Italians. I have cured it by a change of queens,
The convention then adjourned until 7:30 P. M.
Evening session.
The convention was called to order at 7:30 P. M., by President Miller, when the Secretary read an essay from C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, Ills., entitled,
Comb Foundation, its Manufacture and Use.
The first requisite for a good article of comb foundation is, to get a pure article of bees wax. The making of foundation of wax mixed with parafine or with ceresine, has been tried several times, and has resulted in a loss to the manufacturer, as the bees detect the imposition more readily than men can. Besides, these artificial compounds melt at a lower degree than pure bees wax, and endanger the safety of the colony, when put in use. In this country, where the extremes of heat and cold are so marked, even pure bees wax, in naturally built combs, sometimes gives way under the heat and weight combined. It is by their lighter specific gravity that parafine and ceresine are most readily detected. Happily, however, these adaptations are very scarce. The most frequent adulteration of bees wax, that with tallow, is easily noticed by the dull and greasy appearance of the cakes. This wax should be carefully rejected.
J. A. Green--I used 1,5co sections one year; one-third were filled with new foundation, one-third with old foundation, and the remainder with partly drawn comb. Those with the new foundation were finished first, and those with old foundation were completed last.
A. I. Root--Has any one compared "starters" with full sections of foundation?
R. R. Murphy--I have, and the ones with starters only were last finished.
F. Wilcox--I use foundation in sections, and I cannot understand how Mr. Doolittle can secure and use natural comb, as he advocates.
H. R. Boardman--I wish those gentemen who have trouble in getting nice honey when using old combs, would tell us how they get their old combs.
J. A. Green--I take nice new combs, and the white fins that the bees build.
R. R. Murphy--I put on an upper story in the fall, and allow the bees to build comb in the frames, then extract the honey, and use the comb the next year.
Joshua Bull--I have used combs of the previous year's building and the bees commenced work in the sections first, and no one could see any difference in their appearance, when finished, from new combs built from foundation.
Miss Bennett--I have tried filling sections alternately with foundation and with comb, and both were worked out, filled and finished the same, and there was no difference in appearance.
James Heddon--I prefer foundation to drawn combs ; it is finished quicker and looks better.
President Miller--I have had bees fill and finish sections of comb before they even began work upon sections of foundation, but perhaps I ought to explain that they did not begin work at all that season upon foundation.
H. R. Boardman--Much of this confliction is the result of different management. I would like to say, however, that Mr. S. F. Newman, of Norwalk, O., told me that, had it not been for his stock of empty combs, he would not have had a pound of honey ; while, as it is, he has two or three thousand pounds of comb honey.
T. F. Bingham--If I could get plenty of nice, white combs I should use them in the sections.
A. I. Root--In using combs, the cells are deep, and the honey does not ripen so quickly as when the cells are filled as they are drawn.
H. R. Boardman--I am not in favor of using combs that are so old that they are black or discolored, and the sections soiled. But here is a point : Some of us have been hiving swarms upon empty frames ; this hiving is sometimes done when honey is coming in at the rate of 10 or 15 pounds per day, now if the sections are not filled with combs, where is this honey to be stored? Unless there is a place to store it, there is a loss.
W. Z. Hutchinson--The honey-flow is often slow at first, and the bees are reluctant to begin in the supers. As a consequence, the brood-nest is crowded with honey. Were combs used in the sections, the bees would begin storing honey in the sections sooner. This would relieve the pressure upon the brood nest, and large quantities of brood is the result. With me, the bees not only commence work in the supers when combs are used, but they finish the honey sooner, and it has an equally fine appearance. I fail to comprehend why some of these other gentlemen cannot succeed with empty combs.
James Heddon -- There may be a difference in the combs built in different localities.
The convention then adjourned until Thursday at 9 A. M.
THE SECOND DAY.
MORING SESIGN.
The convention was called to order at 9 A. M., by President Miller, when Mr. T. F. Bingham, of Abronia, Mich., read an essay, entitled :
Production of Extracted Honey for Table Use.
The heading of my essay implies that extracted honey has other than table uses. Those uses, however, are not in this essay to be even alluded to. I am merely to diserate upon this shall not attempt argument on this _disputed_ question, I will humbly ask, who shall decide?
No one will deny that bees have a large stock of ''bee sense," and that among bees '' doctors never disagree!" Then, if the _bees_ do not regard honey as having _keeping qualities_ until it has been refined and gauged and sealed, why should bee-keepers? Assuming, then, that clover or other honey has been duly refined, gauged and sealed by the bees before extracting, and that we have just now placed it upon the table in a neat Muth two-pound bottle, just in time to cool before tea, need we hope for a better presentation for table use?
As I have now the honey upon the table, and have outlined the method of its production and presentation, it would seem that the leading query had been answered. But I wish to further intimate how, having obtained the best quality of honey of any class, whether buckwheat or other, it may be maintained in its pristine excellence?
If extracted late in the season, after the weather has become cool, it will keep perfectly sound in a clean pine barrel, bunged tightly, if stored in a cool place. The barrels should be stood on the end not having the bung, if designed to be kept long into the next season. By so doing the head having the bung may be easily removed, and one or two inches of the surface honey taken out.
The object of separating this surface honey from the honey below or deeper in the barrel is to avoid mixing that which has suffered by contact with the air, from that which has not. Upon opening the barrel, if any change has taken place, the surface will be found to be soft, perhaps foamy, Remove this soft honey until you find the solid honey below. Use the foam honey for vinegar ; melt the other in a water bath ; skim and put it in Mason jars, nicely sealed and placed in a cool place, the colder the better. Such honey will remain clear for a long time, and will be as fine as if just taken from the combs, as long as it may be desirable to keep it. If only such honey were offered to the public, the market would not be _overstocked_, and the _prices_ would be satisfactory.
T. F. Bingham.
After the reading of the above essay, it was discussed as follows :
J. A. Green --I prefer tin for use in storing honey, as barrels sometimes impart a flavor to the honey, and the honey cannot be liquified without first removing it.
R. F. Holtermann--I prefer the square tins with a wooden jacket.
A. B. Mason--I like the barrels. The honey can be easily and quickly removed by using a small-sized garden spade.
A. I. Root--I am not sure that barrels taint the honey, but I do know that it is never tainted by the use of tin.
Geo. E. Hilton--Second-hand lard- tins can be secured of grocers and bucthers for 15 cents each, and they are excellent for storing honey, and will even answer for shipment.
President Miller--Several years ago Mr. Doolittle mentioned wooden boxes, coated inside with wax, as a cheap package for shipping honey. The honey was put in just as it was beginning to granulate, and left until granulation was completed, when it was ready for shipment.
James Heddon--I tried that 16 years ago, but it is of no value. I produce honey by having it perfectly ripened in the hives. It is first stored in large settling tanks, then drawn off into the square, jacketed tin cans, each holding about 50 pounds. The opening of the cans are securely closed by screw caps with corks inside, and the honey is then stored in a cool place until the time comes for shipment. You may talk as much as you please, but the majority of customers prefer their extracted honey in a liquid state. I will now tell how I liquify it before shipment : One end of the cellar under my honey-house is partitioned off from the rest of the cellar. In this small space is a stove, and in connection with the stove is a coil of steam-pipe, which heats not only this small
The convention was called to order at 1:30, with President Miller in the chair.
Mr. Thomas G. Newman, of Chicago, Ill., then gave an address on
The Best Name for Extracted Honey.
It was unanimously voted that no more appropriate name for "extracted honey " can be selected than its present one.
After this there followed essays by J. H. Masten, of Hartford, N. Y., and S. M. Doolittle, which we will present
# a subsequent issue of this Magazine.
The Chapman Honey Plant.
Prof. Cook--I should like to know the feeling in regard to whether it is advisable to try to induce the government to add the Chapman honey-plant
to the list of seeds that it sends out free.
M. M. Baldridge--I do not favor planting anything for honey alone.
A. I. Root--If the Chapman honey-plant were like Alsike clover, or buck-wheat, it might be well for the government to add it to its list. I believe that there is no plant that it will be profitable to cultivate for honey alone.
James Heddon-- Unless a plant would spread and take care of itself, I would not fuss with it.
Upon an expression (not a vote) being taken, it was found that the members were equally divided upon the subject, and the matter was dropped.
The President then appointed the following Committee on Exhibits : H. R. Boardman, East Townsend, O.; R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich., and Geo. Thompson, Geneva, Ill.
The following discussion then took place on the topic,
How to Ship Honey,
In reply to a question, Mr. R. A. Burnett said that honey ought always to be sent by freight. When honey is sent by express the rapid handling breaks out the combs ; he had never been able to collect any damages from an express company, while he had
done so from a railroad company. A difference in size of crates and packages is desirable. As a rule, single-tier cases are better, and about ten small cases are sold to one large case.
James Heddon-- The commission houses are dirty places for keeping honey. The honey is soiled in bringing it in on a day ; then the dust and rolling out and in of boxes, barrels, then-coops, etc., still further soils the cases.
The only clean honey I saw in your store to-day, Mr. Burnett, was some sent there by Mr. Hutchinson, and he had paper wrapped around it when shipped.
R. A. Burnett--Yes; and he requested me to remove it upon its arrival.
(To be Continued.)
When honey comes in drones will be retained until late in the season. You may be without a queen. In that case they will not kill the drones.--H. D. Cutting.
An increased honey-flow, after a long spell of dearth of nectar, is often attended with a development of drones, particularly if the queens are old.--I. P. H. Brown.
Your bees are either queenless, and have a fertile worker, or they have an exhausted queen, that is an old one that can lay but few fertile eggs.--Frank A. Eaton.
I could not give a very correct reason, especially as I am not aware of your location. If I knew your latitude I might give a reasonable _guess_. Otherwise, I cannot.--A. L. Swinson. I can't tell from the data given. There may be some laying queens. Fertile or laying workers may be present, or there may be a great excess of drone comb. "Bees do act funny "sometimes.--J. E. Pond.
If it is only a few swarms that are thus affected, I should say, because they are queenless, or have poor queens that the bees are trying to replace. But, if it is a general thing all over the apiary, it is because your honey yield has been such that the bees have not felt hard times enough to expel the drones. On the first heavy frost and s:oppage of the honey-flow, you will find your drones will disappear, except in queenless stocks. When the stocks have been strong all the season through, it is no unusual thing to have swarms issue in buckwheat time.--Will L. Kellogg.
**Question No. 33.--Ist.** Bees wintering in cellar need feed. How and what would you feed?
2d. Bees wintering in summer stands need feed. How and what would you feed? Ed.
1. The so-called "good candy" on tops of frames.
2. I should not have them in such a fix, but should use the "good candy" also.--J. E. Pond.
I would feed them in the same way, whether in the cellar or out. First with frames of sealed honey, if I had them, if not, a syrup made of coffee A sugar in some good feeder, of which there are many.--Frank A. Eaton.
Knead pulverized sugar into extracted honey until you get nearly a dry mass, which press into cakes, and lay under the quilt above the cluster. Place some between the frames. Repeat and increase quantity as the case requires.--J. P. H. Brown.
1. If you have comb honey to spare lay it on top of the frames under the quilt. The good candy is an excellent winter feed, as you can take granulated sugar and water, boil until it will just begin to boil up on your fingers when dipped in cold water, stir until it will grain, then place it on plates and when cool place it on top of frame and you will be all right as far as feed is concerned.
2. Same as above, don't try to feed liquid feed in winter.--M. D. Cutting.