all muscles employed than does the upward stroke. These items become important in a hard day's work when the operator is taxed to the limit.

The use of hot water on the knife, and the "sawing motion," are both peculiar to the operator who cuts upward, and who necessarily employs little speed. I have not mentioned the waste of honey in hot water, the oil used in heating the knife, nor the extra time wasted in changing knives. All are items worth considering, but not of as much importance as others I have mentioned.

I find that beginners invariably cut upward when uncapping if left to themselves.

I suppose it seems more natural this way, because they can see the cutting edge of the knife. I always insist on my method being adopted for the first two days, and have yet to find one who would go back to the old up-cutting method afterward.

Some may think that the cold knife will not work in thick honey. Perhaps it may wrinkle and break the cappings somewhat, which does not signify much. The underlying surface of the cells will still be found in good shape if proper speed is used. Where honey becomes too thick to be uncapped with a cold knife it is also too thick to be extracted without heat.

I have viewed this question purely from the point of economy of oil, honey, time, and energy, and backed by years of experience in both methods of uncapping.

Any one who will lay aside present methods, and persist in uncapping downward for a few days will be convinced that the method is correct, both in theory and practice.

Springport, Mich., Nov. 16.

[This is the kind of testimony we like to get hold of, because it smacks of experience direct from the field.

We dare say that 99 out of a hundred of those who produce extracted honey use the upward stroke in uncapping. It does not always follow that the majority is right. We should like to have this subject thoroughly discussed.-ED.]

PROPER SHAPE FOR UNCAPPINGKNIVES.

A Valuable Article.

BY ELIAS FOX.

Referring to Dr. Miller's Straw, Nov. 1, I should like to ask why it is necessary to use a straight-handled tool in plain work, and one with offset handle or straight handle and curved blade to reach the depressions. The Bingham knife, with the offset shank as now made, successfully uncaps the entire comb with ease, no matter whether straight, curved, bulged, depressed, or full of holes. For straight smooth combs, the entire length of the blade comes in play; and for depressions, large or small, holes and zigzag corners, the rounded point perfectly fits them all. So, continue to give us the old reliable Bingham.

HONEY EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD.

In reply to the Straw on the same page, regarding the keeping qualities of honey, I should like

Two years ago I

to ask what the age limit is. had occasion to liquefy some buckwheat honey that had been kept in an open-top six-gallon stone jar for 18 years. So far as the appearance and flavor were concerned, I could detect nothing wrong. The honey seemed to have undergone no change since the day I put it in the jar, although it had been used down until there was only 15 lbs. left, and it was as dry as sugar.

COLONIES DO BEST IF THEY HAVE NO SHADE.

In regard to the article by J. C. Davis, page 1315, Nov. 1, I will say I have one yard inclosed by a seven-foot board fence, and the hives are arranged around the entire space close to the fence. A part of them, therefore, get practically no sun during the forenoon, and others none during the afternoon, except what little comes through the cracks. The space inside is filled with hives facing south, in rows running east and west. A few are partially shaded by two apple-trees, but the most of them have no shade whatever. There is no difference in the yield, other conditions being equal. My best colony in this home yard faces southwest, and during the honey-flow it has not a particle of shade before 6 P. M. Since I wrote the letter which was published in the Sept. 15th issue, page 1140, I have extracted 25 lbs. more from this hive, or a total of 450 lbs., and the bees have plenty for winter. For my part I don't want any shade, and I would not give a snap for even a shade-board.

COLONIES IN TREES HAVE PLENTY OF WINTER

STORES.

I cut twelve bee-trees this fall, and saved the bees, but I put two swarms together, thus making six of the twelve. This brings my bee-tree yard up to 21. The trees cut this fall, with one exception, had plenty of honey-one 60 lbs. ; two 75 lbs. each; one 100 lbs. The rest ran mostly from 25 to 40 lbs. I did not care especially to save the bees, but I can not take the honey and leave them in the woods to starve. I saved all the brood by piecing it into empty frames, and several frames were filled with honey by piecing in the same way, and supported by tying common twine around them. In two days the pieces are nicely fastened together, and the frames and strings removed.

I have never had any experience in handling bees before an audience; but in removing bees from the hollow log after securing the honey I reach in and take them out handful after handful, and very rarely get a sting. If I do, it is always my own fault.

Hillsboro, Wis.

[This matter of shade is something that depends on locality. In your climate it is conceivable that shade or sunshine would not make much difference as to the yield of honey. In other localities, reports seem to show that where there is too much shade colonies do not do as well, and, of course, furnish less honey than those colonies that are more out in the open. On the other hand, in hot climates shade is absolutely necessary. ED.]

HOT UNCAPPING-KNIVES PREFERRED; CUTTING DOWN EASIER THAN CUTTING UP.

I noticed an article on page 1126, Sept. 15, on the use of uncapping-knives. I have uncapped

with both hot and cold knives, and have worked in New York and California, and I say, give me a hot knife. A cold knife works in New York satisfactorily; but when I came to uncap sage honey I wanted a hot knife, for a hot knife cuts the cappings a great deal easier than a cold one.

I always have a whetstone on the uncappingtable, and sharpen my knife every morning, and several times during the day.

I never could make a success of uncapping by drawing my knife up. I always shove it down, making a clean smooth cut. The cappings will not stick to the comb back of the knife, but will roll into the uncapping-box without holding the frame leaning to one side. Always hold the frame perfectly straight up and down; and when you draw your knife back, cut off the patches of cappings not reached on the down stroke.

San Diego, Cal., Oct. 5. F. G. BOLLING. cold knife is deIs that true?—

[So this question of a hot or pendent on the kind of honey. ED.]

You will find inclosed a bulletin gotten out by the Imperial Valley Bee-keepers' Association, which is self-explanatory. This association meets on the last Tuesday of each month for the purpose of placing the honey of the members on the market, fixing the price, and for the transaction of any other business that may come up pertaining to the bee-keeping interests of its members.

I think Dr. Miller stands for protecting prior acquisition of territory. If so he will stand up and listen to a custom that the bee-men of Imperial Valley propose to follow. At the regular meeting in September the inclosed bulletin was ordered sent out by an almost unanimous vote. At the regular October meeting a motion was carried that the five last named on the information committee be made into an adjustment committee. Then there was a resolution adopted, and incorporated in the minutes of the association as follows:

Resolved, That the adjustment committee be instructed to accept all bees offered to them, and to use said bees in any manner, and as long as they are deemed necessary for the purpose of discouraging any person from placing or maintaining an apiary at any place where, in their judgment, said apiary might be detrimental to the interest of any bee-man who, by right of prior location, had the best right to said location.

After the adoption of the above resolution, on roll-call every member present except two offered 10 per cent of his bees for the purpose of carrying out the resolution. It looks very much as if any one coming into the valley and undertaking to override the custom here would get just what he deserves.

We want it distinctly understood that we will welcome and assist any who may come and respect our custom. There will be in time many good locations, but some will have to wait for them to become profit-producing.

El Centro, Cal., Oct. 29.

[Although it is not stated in so many words, it is inferred that the ten-per-cent contribution from the members is to be put in one or more lots, and that said lots are to be located right next to a yard of bees that is trespassing on another's territory, until the trespasser would be forced out and compelled to put his bees on territory not belonging to some one else. This would accomplish the result sought, and all would have to be good. The bulletin referred to is given below. -ED.]

To whom it may interest:

This article is written to meet the demands for facts and figures and reliable information about bee-keeping in Imperial Valley. which are being made in person and by letter to the Imperial Valley Bee-keepers' Association and its members.

The association has found it necessary to appoint a committee of six prominent bee-keepers, whose names and addresses appear below, for the purpose of giving information to non-residents who contemplate engaging in bee-keeping in Imperial Valley.

The committee has authorized the publication of this bulletin for the purpose of calling attention to a few facts which are well worth consideration.

1. The average yield per colony of extracted honey for 1908 has been about 100 pounds, or about half as much as the two preceding years.

2. During the fall and winter of 1907, 5000 stands of bees were shipped into Imperial Valley, and now with those previously located comprise about thirty apiaries ranging in size from 50 to 300 stands, and located all the way from one to three miles apart.

3. The second statement goes a long way toward explaining the first; for, while the shortage has been in part accounted for in various ways, the difference in the amount of honey obtained from different valley apiaries is easy traceable to the number of colonies kept in their respective neighborhoods.

4. The distance apart which apiaries may be run with profit in an alfalfa country depends altogether on the amount of alfalfa grown in proximity to the apiaries and the size of the apiaries. In Imperial Valley two to three miles is considered close enough. 5. The dairy or stock farmer is the valley bee-keeper's poorest neighbor, and the hay farmer his best.

6. The committee strongly advises all non-residents who contemplate engaging in bee-keeping in Imperial Valley to come first and see. Do not take any one's word for it. Come and see for yourself.

7. The information committee is composed of six of the leading bee-men of the valley, and represent different sections, Their duties are as follows:

To impart accurate information regarding the bee business, by letter or interview, to all who ask; to tell and show prospective locators where apiaries are now located, also of unoccupied locations, if there are any, in their neighborhood; to inform prospective locators of the rule or custom adopted unanimously by the stockholders of the Imperial Valley Bee-keepers' Association in open meeting, September 29, 1908, and which is as follows:

That in the future it shall be the rule or custom among beemen of Imperial Valley not to locate apiaries closer together than two or three miles (according to pasturage and size of apiaries), and that all stockholders of the association shall observe this custom and give their moral support to remedy cases of violation.

7. All prospective locators should call on or correspond with any or all of the committee.

J. W. George, Imperial, Cal.

J. B. Whitaker, El Centro, Cal.
Thos. Phillips, Silsbee, Cal.

L. Davis, Brawley, Cal.
A. Bland, Holtville, Cal.
H. Perkins, Calexico, Cal.

Imperial, Cal., Oct. 29.

Committee.

HEADS OF GRAIN

FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS

POLLEN DROPPED AT HIVE ENTRANCE; LEAKY DOOLITTLE FEEDERS.

I should like to have you explain what makes the bees drop little loaves of bee-bread, at the front of the hive, to a seemingly wasteful extent. The bees in one of my hives do that, and they make a queer noise when out on the front of the hive-a kind of click-clack.

I bought some of the Doolittle division-board feeders, but can not make them hold the syrup. If you can tell me how to fix them I shall be very grateful. MRS, C. M. CLARK.

Hayward, Cal., Nov. 17.

[More or less of pollen is dropped at the entrance when bees are flying, more especially in the spring. The amount lost in this way is comparatively small. If you look in your hives at such times you will see that there is no lack of pollen in the combs. If any thing, there will be too much of it.

Doolittle feeders, if kept in a dry place, are likely to leak by reason of shrinkage. The trouble can be corrected by pouring about a gill of hot paraffine or wax into the feeder and rolling it around in such a way that the hot liquid will spread over the cracks; but in doing this, don't spread it all over, for then the bees can't climb out.-ED.]

ANTS AND OTHER "VERMIN" IN OLD MEXICO.

I find this is one of the greatest bee-fields. I see numbers of the natives have as many as 100 boxes, or hives. The hives as they construct them are boxes 3 feet long, both ends open, lying on a frame. The ants are so destructive that they master the bees even when the hives stand in water-basins. My object in writing this is to address Mr. A. I. Root. I have been reading after you for some time; and as this climate is very similar to that of your Florida home, the various pests are probably the same. The greatest plague here is the ant. They are very numerous. They are laying claims to the banana, the pineapple, potatoes, yuccas, and almost every thing else. Now, Mr. Root, can you advise me what to do to check this work of destruction in my truck-patch? The next pest is the gopher. If I could master these two pests I think I could succeed. My home is on the great Tamiahua Lake no apiary closer than four miles Please advise me as to a remedy for the above, and also as to using your system of hives in place of the native system here.

Tamiahua, Mexico.

J. A. CAMPBELL.

[My good friend, we had the same trouble on the island; but when Mr. Shumard had about 200 laying hens right in the dooryard and all around the apiary, not an ant troubled his hives.

Little chickens and big went for the ants just as soon as the nest was stirred up anywhere in the garden or apiary, until the ants decided that that was not a healthy locality for them. Finally the women-folks complained so much about having so many chickens around that Mr. Shumard

fenced them off to another part of the island, and then the trouble with the ants began. He placed all his hives on benches with the legs standing in basins of water, as you suggest. But this was a good deal of trouble, for leaves and trash would get into the water, and the ants would get across. By putting some kerosene on the water it prevented the evaporation and repelled the ants better than pure water alone; but so long as he kept the chickens away, there was a constant warfare. Every little while the ants would find a hive unprotected, and sometimes they would almost ruin a good strong colony just over night. I do not know of any thing that succeeds so well as a lot of chickens.

I can not answer your question about gophers; but my impression is that a continual warfare with traps and guns, such as we have to wage on skunks, coons, rats, and mice, is the only remedy. A good dog trained to the business will take care of the most of such pests.-A. I. R.]

COMBS CONTAINING OLD POLLEN; HOW TO CLEAN UP OLD COMBS.

Will you kindly answer the following questions for me, which I could not locate in the index of the A B C book?

1. Is a comb pretty well filled with pollen a hindrance or a detriment to the brood-chamber? Sometimes we find such combs, and it appears that they are avoided, and the pollen is never cleaned out of them. What would you advise doing with such combs?

2. Combs that have dead larvæ in them (larvæ sealed and otherwise, that were suffocated through an error), how would you have them cleaned up? Will combs with decaying brood like these, when introduced into other colonies, be likely to bring about any disease?

3. Will bees clean up combs, or, rather, clean bees out of them, in which it appears they starved while wintering?

Elizabeth, N. J., July 15. T. E. DIENER.

[1. It depends somewhat upon conditions whether a comb of pollen is detrimental in the brood-chamber. Usually a comb containing a little pollen should be placed there, if it is not there already, in order to get the bees to storing it in the cells in the brood-nest rather than in the supers. Since the pollen is used so rapidly in brood-rearing, it should be as near the brood as possible. In the case of old combs, where the pollen has become too old, probably the best way is to mutilate the combs considerably by scratching the cells with some sharp-pointed tool. The cells should be scratched nearly down to the mid-rib; and when such a comb is given back to the bees they will clean out the pollen and patch it up so that it looks to be as good as any other comb.

2. If you were sure that the larvæ had not died of some disease it would be safe enough to give the combs to some other colony, one at a time, to clean out; but we do not think this advice is safe enough to send out broadcast without a word of caution, for sometimes there might be disease existing, although there were practically no indications of it. We would advise you to be very careful, therefore; and before you distribute all the combs, if you are not absolutely sure,

it

To clean the strainer, put a bee-escape board with the escape left out over a colony; then put on an empty hive-body and set the strainer over night. It will be cleaned in fine shape by morning.

In lighting a smoker some are bothered by the match going out dropped in the cup. I take enough soft wood to cover the grate and then drop in a lighted match. I then add some hard wood, leaving the cover open while I adjust my veil. With this plan, the bellows should not be touched. I can't remember having it fail. I can see that greasy waste should light quick, but I have never tried it, as, in the country, wood is easier to get. IRVING KENYON.

Camillus, N. Y., Sept. 28.

BEET SUGAR FOR FEEDING BEES IN SWEDEN.

Referring to Dr. Miller's request about sugar, I will say that here in Sweden beet sugar is produced to meet the needs of the country, and little or no cane sugar is imported. We have thus no sugar to feed our bees but beet, and the bees do well on this. I feed every autumn about 1000 pounds to 60 or 70 colonies. I pay about 8 cents a pound for sugar, and get about 17 cents for extracted honey. J. ENCLUND. Kulla, Hjelstaby, Sweden, Nov. 13.

SHALLOW SUPERS PREFERRED.

I notice in your editorial, page 1244, Oct 15, that you are trying and recommending the shallow extracting-supers. After using thousands of the deep supers in extracting in Southern and Central California I think I can get better results from the shallow super. I use a plain frame 5% deep.

I start my comb-honey hives, in the spring, with a shallow extracting-super, as we have a light flow before the main honey-flow in this part of California. I can also grade my honey better, for I believe in ripe honey.

G. W. MOORE. Paicines, Cal., Nov. 3. [The shallow extracting-supers are very handy for getting bees into the habit of going above with their surplus; then after the season is well on, comb-honey supers can be substituted. This plan gives us both comb and extracted honey.-ED.]

STRAINER I-LUGS

CABBAGE

PALMETTO YIELDS HONEY THAT SOURS QUICKLY; SAW PALMETTO HONEY EXGELLENT.

Cabbage palmetto honey sealed, and unsealed, will foam as though fermentation were in pro gress; that taken from the combs unsealed will ferment enough to deprive it of all honey flavor, but the sealed only foams. Thin and acrid, and amber in color, it will flow bubbling from the cells behind the knife, and it is not a rare thing to see gas bubbles under the cappings of the sealed cells. Whether the colonies are strong or weak, it is always the same, when the bees work on the cabbage trees, as the common palm tree of Florida is called. The name comes from the fact that the bud in the head at the top of the tree is eaten in lieu of cabbage.

The saw palmetto bloom is decidedly different in the nectar it yields. Saw palmetto honey, even unsealed, may be called a good honey; and it is, too. When ripened it is a honey that makes a name for itself when enough care is taken by the producer to have it unmixed with other nec

tars.

I write from personal experience on the east coast of Florida, on the 28th paralell of latitude. L. K. SMITH.

CONDITIONS IN OKLAHOMA.

I have read nearly every thing in the ABC book, and have seen several copies of your journal; and in all of this reading I have not seen the word Oklahoma in print-not even in the advertising columns. This, together with the fact that my neighbors tell me that honey bees can not be raised here, is very discouraging to a beginner. They tell me that bees have been tried repeatedly here; and in Harper Co., Kan., just north of us, every trial was a failure. It is said that the high winds blow the bees so that they can't get back; that the open winters induce the bees to fly al

most every day, and that the sudden changes catch them away from home and freeze them. Over against these discouraging reports I may say I have just put the third super on a new hive, having two partly capped. I have taken out 15 sections of fine honey, all capped over.

Nashville, Okla., Sept. 29. G. E. LEMON.

[We should be glad to hear from any of our readers in Oklahoma who can tell whether the above conditions are serious. The trouble may have been with those who kept the bees.-ED.]

WINTER CONDITIONS NEAR PORTLAND, OREGON. In the back yard of a neighbor I saw to-day a bunch of sweet clover blooming as freely as could be expected in the summer. We have had a very mild winter here, however. Our coldest weather so far has been 29 degrees. It is a peculiar fact that here in the Willamette Valley tender plants may often freeze stiff; and yet if they thaw out slowly under clouds and in a damp atmosphere, they are seldom injured. Only when they thaw with a severe east wind or warm sunshine are they killed. Roses, carnations, and some other plants and shrubs are still blooming.

DOUBLING UP COLONIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSERVING THE HEAT FOR WINTER.

I thought I saw great things in this for successfully wintering bees here. I argued that two persons can generate more heat than one, and therefore require less covering than one. So I argued that two colonies would keep warmer doubled up than single, and that brood-rearing would begin much earlier in the spring than otherwise, and so the colonies 'would come out strong much earlier than otherwise. So in November I doubled up six single colonies with a queen-excluder between them, and left them so until the last of December, when on examination I found that in two of these double colonies the bees in the lower colony had gone above and left their queen below to die, supposedly, for we did not find her, though we did not examine the upper colony to see if she might have squeezed through the excluder. Concluding that it was unsafe to leave the two other colonies together I hastily separated them so as not to lose another queen. Some one in California wrote recently that he had splendid success wintering in this way. It seems strange that I had failure. Portland, Ore., Jan. 29.

P. J. GREEN.

IS HONEY TAINTED BY GALVANIZED IRON?

Will galvanized iron taint or injure the flavor of honey? I can buy a new galvanized-iron tank cheap to put honey in to hold it until prices get better. DAN A. KEller.

Hallendale, Fla., Oct. 29.

[Where there is a relatively large amount of galvanized iron to the honey (like a little in the bottom of an extractor), the honey will take on a bad brackish flavor if allowed to stand for a month. Such honey would be slightly poisonous, and, of course, unfit for use. It might cause sickness if eaten. But if the tank has a capacity of 30 gallons or more, and is kept full of honey, no harm results. In California it

is the universal custom to store honey in large galvanized-iron tanks, and we never hear of any trouble or tainting of the flavor. Some of these big tanks hold 30 to 40 barrels, but even from these big tanks an inch or so of honey should not be allowed to stand for any length of time. It should be drawn off at once.-ED.]

PRESSING HONEY FROM CAPPINGS.

After uncapping the combs in a box with a screen bottom I allow the cappings to drain until I am ready to press. When time suits me I lift out the cappings in balls pressed as tight as I can conveniently roll them.

The press is a simple one, of home manufacture. It suits my purpose very well, and costs but little. To make such a press, build rim of 11⁄2-inch pine, 12 inches square and 7 deep, inside measurements, and bind it on the outside with hoop iron. Rib the sides on the inside with 8 in. strips placed % in. apart vertically. Then make a bottom and top of 3% X1-inch strips placed on edge % inch apart, and run a 4-inch iron rod through the ends and middle to hold them from turning over. This ribbing allows the honey to run out all around as it is pressed. There should be a sheet of tin underneath to convey the honey to the pail.

Now place the rim over the bottom and put in the cappings wrapped in cheese-cloth, with a 4-inch-mesh screen above and below. Now place the whole thing on a board foundation. Put board followers on top, small enough to fit inside the rim. Put two pieces of 2X6 hard wood, one above and one below, with a carpenter's iron bench-screw at each end. By tightening the screws at intervals the honey is squeezed out.

The tin underneath should project out far enough in front to clear the bench, and the whole press should be tilted forward so that the honey will run freely.

After the pressing I remove the cake from the press and place it in a sun extractor, or on a flat shallow dish in a moderately warm oven in such a manner that whatever honey is left will run off with wax when melted. JOHN BAILEY. Bracebridge, Ont.