BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
There is still another method of treating foil broody colonies in which there is no shaking off of the bees; and it has always been a wonder to me that it has not come into more general use. The plan originated with Mr. M. M. Baldridge, of St. Charles, Illinois, and is called the Baldridge method. It is based upon the fact that when a bee leaves a hive naturally, in quest of honey, its sac is free from honey, and it might enter a healthy colony without infecting it with disease. Of course, when it returns with a load of newly gathered nectar, it is still in that harmless condition. Here is the method of management: Bore a hole in the front of the hive, just above the entrance, and near the side of the hive. Over this opening fasten a bee escape in such a position that bees can pass out of the hive through the escape, but can not return. Next cage the queen of the colony, laying the cage on top of the frames. The following morning go to some healthy colony and select a comb of sealed brood, either with or without the adhering bees, place it in an empty hive, filling out the hive with frames filled with foundation, and set the hive thus prepared upon the stand of the diseased colony, setting the latter to one side, so that the two hives will stand side by side, close together, and fronting in the same direction. Have the bee escape as near as possible to the entrance of the new hive that is on the old stand. It will be seen that all flying bees will return and enter the new hive on the old stand; and, as fast as the bees leave the old hive by means of the escape, they will return and join the newly formed colony upon the old stand, as it will be impossible for them to enter the old hive. At sundown of the first day after setting the old hive upon a new stand, open the hive carefully, take away the caged queen, being careful to take no bees with her, and let her run into the entrance of the new hive. All of this work of closing the entrance of the old hive, setting it upon a new stand, and removing the caged queen, should be done as carefully as possible, so as not to disturb the bees and induce them to fill themselves with honey. Nothing more need be done for about a month, by which time the brood will all have hatched, and the bees have left the hive and joined the new colony. The hive should be opened in some close room from which no bees can escape; and, should a few stragglers remain in the hive, they should be destroyed. The combs are now free from bees and healthy brood, and ready to be treated as seems best, while there is a healthy colony in the apiary where once stood the one diseased with foul brood.
When freed from bees and healthy brood, no matter what the method employed, the combs may be emptied of honey with the extractor, and then melted into wax. Of course, an extractor thus used must be most thoroughly cleansed before it is again used for extracting combs of honey from healthy colonies. For disinfecting the extractor I would use a strong solution of salicylic acid, pouring it on boiling hot from the spout of a tea kettle. The matter of cleaning the extractor is one about which one cannot be too thorough. Honey from such combs ought not to be placed upon the general market, as consumers are liable to throw out an empty package where neighboring bees will come and clean it up. Some beekeepers ship such honey to bakers where the heat used in baking will destroy any germs that may be in the honey. Thorough boiling of the honey will kill the germs and make it safe for use in feeding the bees, but before the honey is boiled it must be mixed with an equal quantity of water. Some advise boiling the hives, or burning them out on the inside by painting them over with kerosene and setting it on fire, but I have seen so many hives used without taking any such precautions, that I have come to doubt their necessity. Mr. McEvoy, Inspector of apiaries for Ontario, says that he has cured thousands of cases of foul brood without any such disinfecting, and considers it wholly unnecessary. Some have advocated the burning of the combs with no attempts at saving the honey and was. If only a few colonies are to be treated, this might be advisable, but the owner of a large apiary quite generally affected with foul brood, can well afford to take the necessary precautions whereby the honey and wax may be saved. Whoever undertakes such a job must remember, however, that eternal vigilance is the price of success. _Once drop_ of the infected honey secured by a robber bee, means disease once more in the hive to which it is carried. It has been suggested that the extracting, etc., be done down cellar. It is a cool place in which to work, and the bees can the more easily be kept out. Others have melted up the combs at night when no bees were flying. There is really no necessity of destroying the combs and the honey they contain. If a man can not, or will not, exercise sufficient care, it would certainly be better to burn them; but, if he has "gumption" enough to succeed as a bee-keeper, he can save the combs from destruction. It would be well, however, for all to bear in mind that one little "forget" may compel a repetition of the whole business.
Of late, the bee-keepers in some parts of Colorado have been following a plan whereby a man may keep his apiary fairly free from foul brood, even though located in a foul brood district. It is well-known that shaking the bees of a foul brood colony into a clean hive, and allowing them to build a new set of combs, frees them from the infection; well, these Western men, just at swarming-time, treat _every colony_ in the apiary in this manner--make a wholesale sweep of the matter. As this is done at a season when the honey flow has commenced, and there will be no more robbing until the season is over, the apiary remains free of the disease for that season. It is simply forced swarming on a wholesale scale. The old hives are given new locations, and perhaps the combs of two or more colonies are put together upon one stand. Perhaps it ought to be mentioned that the combs are not shaken entirely free of bees, some being left to care for the unsealed brood; and caution is exercised that the work be not done too early in the season when there would be danger of chilled brood or from robbers. At the end of three weeks, the brood has all hatched, when the combs are shaken entirely free of bees, the latter, of course, going back into the hives and building new combs, thus establishing colonies that are free from the disease. The honey is then extracted from the old combs, and the latter rendered into wax. It is asserted that the wax will pay for the labor, while the new combs are built _at a brohl_. I believe that this plan can be successfully followed in the East as in the West; although, of course, the Western harvest is much longer than ours.
and complexity of modern bee-culture; imparting the idea that the bee business is quite a business--one that cannot be picked up and learned in a day by some Tom, Dick or Harry.
Anything that increases the consumption of honey is a benefit to the pursuit; and, as usually managed, these bee and honey shows call the attention of crowds of people to the excellence and deliciousness of honey as a food; and the producer and consumer are brought face to face. At a fair, people are abroad with a disposition for sight-seeing, investigation, and the purchase of novelties and nick-nacks; and, a fine display of honey, together with its sale in fancy packages, can not help benefiting the exhibitor as well as the pursuit. Honey to be sold at fairs ought to be put up in small packages. It may be difficult to put it up in packages so small as to be sold at five cents each, but I believe it has been done, while there is no difficulty in putting honey in packages that may be sold for 10 or 25 cents each. People at fairs don't wish to be burdened with heavy or bulky packages, and the honey must be put up in such shape that it can be eaten on the grounds, or else carried in the pocket or hand bag with no danger of leakage. I remember that, one year, at the Michigan State fair, Mr. H. D. Cutting sold nearly $40 worth of honey put up in pound and half-pound, square, glass bottles and in small glass pails. One year, at the Detroit Exposition, at least 1,500 pounds of "honey jumbles" were sold at a cent apiece, by three exhibitors in the bee and honey department. These "jumbles" are made with honey instead of sugar, and, for this reason, retain the desired amount of moisture for a long time. In selling them at a fair, a box of them is opened, placed on the counter, and tipped slightly outwards, so that visitors can easily look into it. The cakes are round, with a hole in the middle, and the upper side is of a golden yellow, with a sort of granular appearance that is very inviting. This side of the cakes is turned uppermost. Paper sacks are filled with cakes, putting five in a sack, and a neat placard announces: "Honey Jumbles; Made with Honey Instead of Sugar. Five in a Sack and Five Cents a Sack." Another thing that may be sold at an apiarian exhibit with even greater profit than the honey jumbles, is honey lemonade--if the weather is hot, if it isn't, there is no use of attempting its sale. Here is the way to make it: Into 12 quarts of water squeeze the juice of a dozen lemons, add two pounds of basswood honey and a teacupful of sugar. Basswood honey being of such a strong flavor, gives more of a honey flavor. Keep the lemonade cool with ice in some large vessel. I used a stone ware churn. Keep on the counter a glass pitcher filled with lemonade, putting in small pieces of ice, also a few slices of lemon. Then have a placard read: "Honey Lemonade: Most Delicious Drink on the Grounds: Only Five Cents a Glass." I have sold as high as $20 worth of this in one hot afternoon, and the profits are at least three-fourths. Such exhibitions and sales certainly do the pursuit of bee-keeping no harm, while they bring a profit to the exhibitor.
Neither ought the social feature to be overlooked. Every bee-keeper attending the fair hunts up the "Bee and Honey Department," and only one who has been at an exhibition knows of the many new acquaintances thus formed, and the old ones that are renewed. It is well to have one day set apart as "Bee-Keepers' Day," giving the date in advance in all of the bee journals, then all bee-keepers will be present on the same day. When possible to do so, it is an excellent plan for two, or three, or more, exhibitors to club together and take a tent, or a portable house, each bringing his share of bedding, provisions and utensils, and live a la picnic during the fair. Some of the happiest hours of my life have been spent in going through just such experiences with boon companions.
I doubt very much if the exhibition of bees at fairs is any great advantage to the pursuit. The most that can be said in its favor is that they attract attention. There is certainly no necessity of exhibiting full colonies, unless it might be at some permanent exhibition that is to last several months, when the bees can be allowed to fly, a la house apiary, provided the apiarian department is on the second floor. A single-comb nucleus with a queen and a few drones and workers, together with brood in different stages of development, can be made to show more that is really interesting than can be shown with a full colony.
ment, canned fruit in the fruit department, and the wife and children have sent things to their respective departments. In addition to this, when making a "circuit" of the fairs, I used to write them up for the Country Gentleman, getting paid for the work. Fairs come in the fall, after the busy season is over with the bees, and if a man has the time, taste and ability for this kind of work, going from one State to another, as I have done, he can probably clear $10 a day for five or six weeks in the fall. It is scarcely worth while to prepare for the work, however, unless there is some expectation of following it for several years.
Just a few parting words to the beginner: If you make an exhibit at a fair, don't get excited. Keep cool and have patience. Many unpleasant things _may_occur, but don't worry over them; and, above all, don't let the loss of expected premiums so "sour" you as to spoil your own enjoyment and that of your comrades. When you leave home have everything in readiness, as nearly as possible, to put right up. Pack everything carefully, but in such a manner that it can be quickly and easily unpacked. I used to pack the square bottles of honey in boxes furnished with partitions of cellular board, _a la_ egg-erate, and, to pack the bottles it was only necessary to drop them into the openings, and nail down the cover. If the package does not indicate its contents, then mark it in some way. Never be compelled to open box after box in an exaggerating hunt for something that _must_ be had at once. And when fair is over, don't "go retay" to get off the grounds the next minute. I have known of men sitting up all night swearing, and swearing and fuming, because "their car didn't come," or something of that sort, and we all went out on the same train the next morning. At the close of a large fair, an immense amount of goods are on the grounds; they have been several days accumulating, and it is _impressible_ to move them all in an hour's time.
the tent except from 11:00 a, m. to 1:30 p. m. After the drones have learned the bounds of the tent they seem contented, and make a pretty school flying in the top of the tent. Mr. Davitte says that the management of the drones is the main feature of the problem; once they become quiet, and reconciled to fly in the top of the tent, the problem is solved. Nine times out of ten, the queen will not reach the top of the tent before receiving the most prompt and gushing attention. The queens are not turned into the tent until the drones appear well-satisfied with the bounds of the tent, and, when in that condition, Mr. Davitte believes 500 queens in a day might be mated in such a tent. One year he had about 100 queens mated in the tent. A queen would leave the mouth of the hive, and return in about five minutes, apparently mated, and, in three or four days, would be laying; and the progeny of all of the queens thus mated showed the same markings as the workers of the colonies from which the drones were taken.
When Mr. Davitte starts his queen cells, he places his colonies with selected drones around the tent, and allows them to fly in the tent a short time in the middle of each day, as has been explained, and, by the time the queens are old enough to be mated, the drones have become tamed, and so accustomed to their surroundings, or under control, so to speak, that, to quote from Mr. Davitte, "It would interest a bee-keeper to take his place inside the tent at noon, and see the ladies meet the gentlemen, who, Barkis-like are 'willin.' I have seen the mating take place before the queen could reach the top of the tent. Before they separate, the queen and drone fall nearly to the ground, and the queen goes directly to her home that she left not three minutes before."
As I look at the matter, the principal trouble with experiments in this line is that the drones have not been brought under control. When a drone has been accustomed to soar away in the blue ether for miles and miles, he is not going to be shut up in a 30-foot tent and be contented. For a long time, at least, he is going to spend most of his time in trying to get out. As I have already said, he is in no mood to pay his addresses to a queen. Catch two wild birds at mating time, and shut them up in a cage. Do you suppose that they would mate? Canaries have been kept in captivity for many years. They are hatched and grow up in a cage. They know no other freedom or life; and they mate in a cage. Mr. Davitte had his drones flying for days in his tent before any queens were released in the tent. Perhaps many of those drones had never flown in the outside air--knew nothing of it. Having flown several days in the tent they became accustomed to that kind of flight, were
Here is an idea, however, that is thoroughly practical, one that can be put in practice by any bee-keeper: By the use of full sheets of comb foundation, or otherwise, keep the brood nests practically free from drone comb; then, in two or three, or half a dozen colonies (the number depending upon the size of the apiary) having very choice queens, allow an _abundance_ of drone comb. The result will be that the air will be filled with drones from choice stock, and the majority of the queens will mate with these drones.
**solid cake after it has cooled. A weight of some kind, like a big stone, or some bricks, must be laid upon the sack to hold it at the bottom of the boiler while the wax is cooling, otherwise the sack will be embedded in the wax when it is cooled. This plan may be employed upon a large scale, even to the extent of using a large kettle out of doors, and the use of the sacks may be dispensed with by making a sort of pair or basket out of fine wire cloth, setting it down in the melted wax, inside the kettle, and then dipping off the wax with a dipper, by dipping inside the wire cloth basket, the wire cloth straining out the coarser impurities. This method of rendering wax by the use of boiling water will probably get out as much of the wax as it is possible to secure without the use of pressure upon the residue, or "slum gun." as it is called. Old combs are largely made up of cocoons--more cocoons than wax--and they absorb and retain the melted wax, much as a sponge will hold water, and pressure is the only thing that will cause them to give up the golden treasure.**
**Another plan particularly feasible for melting cappings, new combs, or scraps that are nearly pure wax, is by the use of the solar wax extractor, which is simply a shallow box painted black inside and out, and furnished with a false bottom of sheet iron a few inches above the real bottom, a cover of glass completing the arrangement. The box is placed in a slanting position, facing the sun, and the refuse combs, etc., placed upon the false bottom of iron, or in a sort of basket arranged at the upper end for the reception of the cappings, scraps, etc. The direct rays of the sun, aided, sometimes, by thereflected rays from the cover, to which is fastened a sheet of bright tin, melt the wax, and it runs down to the lower end of the metal shute where it drops off into a vessel set there to catch it. A small solar wax extractor standing in an apiary is an excellent thing, as into it may be thrown all scraps of comb that would otherwise be thrown away, or perhaps be thrown into a box or barrel to stand around until destroyed by the bee moth's larvae.
All of these plans of rendering wax fall short of perfection, however, as too much wax is left in the residue. Pressure of some sort must be used, or a large part of the wax is lost. For making small, or ordinary quantities of wax, what is called the German wax press answers the purpose quite well. This is a tall can made of heavy sheet-metal, with a false bottom securely fastened to the sides a few inches above the real bottom of the can, together with a screw and follower above to bring pressure to bear upon the mass of combs after the wax has been thoroughly melted by the steam that arises from the water that has been placed below, previous to setting the can upon a stove. For holding the combs, a wire cloth basket is used and a piece of cheese cloth is placed inside the basket before putting in the combs. The melted wax drips down upon a false bottom and runs out through a spout that passes out through the side of the can. The use of pressure while the slum gum is still surrounded by live steam secures nearly all of the wax; and the greatest objection to the use of the German press is its limited capacity--it is too slow a process if much work is to be done.
Extracting the melted wax from the slum gum by means of centrifugal force, the same as syrup is thrown from the sugar in a sugar refinery, or water from clothes when dried in a laundry, has been tried enough to enable us to say that something may be hoped for in this direction.
For making large quantities of wax, probably the most practical plan is that of melting up the couplings or combs in a boiler or large kettle, dipping off the was from the top, and putting the slum gum through a powerful press. It is difficult to say exactly who first utilized screw-power for pressing the wax out of slum gum, but I think C, A, Hatch, of Richland Center, Wisconsin, was the first to bring the matter prominently before the public. He was followed by Mr, F, A, Gemmill, of London, Ontario, Canada. One form of press is, I believe, now called the Hatch-Gemmill press. Of course, such presses may vary in detail, and I think the best form that I have ever seen was illustrated and described in the Bee-Keepers' Review by Mr, E, D, Townsend. Here is his description of the press and we he would d use it.
## Appendix A"Procure two pieces of tough oak 3 x 4 inches, by 24 inches long. (See Fig. 1.) Twenty inches from center to center, at equal distances from each end, bore 34-inch holes through the 3-inch way of both pieces. These holes are for the 34 rods to pass through to form the main uprights. Then in the center of one wooden piece, parallel with the other holes, bore a 1\({}^{\circ}\)s-inch hole. This is for the bench-screw to work through. From a 34-inch iron rod, have a blacksmith cut two pieces 20 inches long, and one 30 inches long. The two, 20-inch pieces are to have threads cut for a distance of 5\({}^{\circ}\)2 inches on both ends; and each piece is to be furnished with four burrs and four washers. To assemble the machine, turn a burr clear on at each end of each rod. Next put on a washer, on each end, and slip the ends of the rods through the holes in the ends of the wooden pieces; then put a washer on over the projecting end of each rod, over this a burr, and adjust the parallel, 3 x 4 pieces a scant 13 inches apart.
When the 78-inch bottom, or table, is on, there will be 12 inches space, in the clear, between the top of the press-table, and the under side of No. 1. The screw is the same as a carpenter uses in his work-bench vise. Mine is 16 inches in length, and 11-16 in diameter. The burr for the screw to work in is let into the under side of No. 1, and held in place by a 3 x 12-inch steel plate, 4-inch thick, with a 11-16-inch hole in the center for the screw to work through. Reference to the accompanying engraving will show the bolts that hold this plate in position. Instead of having round holes in the ends of the plate, for the bolts to pass through, they are made in the form of slots that extend crosswise of the plates. There should also be another plate on top, only the slots in the ends ought to extend the other way--lengthwise. This arrangement allows of any adjustment of the screw so that it will stand perpendicularly. The strain here is something enormous, and everything must be made solid.
The frame can be made to suit one's fancy; mine is of 2 x 4, well-braced, 24 inches high, the top 24 x 26 inches, the long way parallel with the 3 x 4 piece. Don't forget to brace it well with a 38 rod from the table to No. 1. (See cut.)
The 30-inch, 34-inch rod is for a lever for turning the screw. The lever that comes with the screw is not sufficient.
No. 5 is a pan of galvanized iron, five inches deep, and 18 inches square, with one side left open and formed into a spout to carry off the wax.
There are two racks (No. 2), each 16 inches square, made of one-inch, square pieces of pine, spaced 38 of an inch apart, and related at each end.
**The follower (No. 3) is of the same size, and is made of two thicknesses of \(\,\)?$-inch boards, with the grain running in opposite directions. In the center of the follower, on top, is a 3 x 5-inch steel plate, with an indentation in the top for the screw to work in.** Two screws fasten this plate to the follower.
**The form (No. 4) is 15 inches square, and five inches deep.**