MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

218 DR. MILLER Sopen, onl}' close enough so they will hold the cases, the object beingnot so much to cover the cases as to prevent rough handling.If cases ?re shipped without being in carriers, railroad hands arethe car inlikely to throw them as so many bricks, putting them inany sort of position. Years ago I shipped some cases loose in acar, to go a pretty long distance, and when they were transferredto another car some of the cases were on their sides, and, ofcourse, badly smashed sections of honey was the result. A carrieris generally made to contain eight 24-section cases, or sixteen12-section cases, and provided with handles. Being so heavy, theyare necessarily handled with less roughness than would be theloose cases. Load in car so sections run parallel with the rails.If sections are sent in cases, unprotected, they take a higherfreight rate than if packed properly with a layer of straw on thebottom.Shook Swarming.—Q. What do you call "shook swarming?"A. "Shook swarming" is bad English that has, I am sorry tosay, grown into quite common use in place of "shaken swarms,"or "shake-swarming." Perhaps a more appropriate name wouldbe one used in Germany, "anticipatory- swarming." (See Shakeswarming.)Smartweed.—Q. Will honey gathered from smartweed bestrong in taste like pepper? Last year the honey gathered in thefall was so strong after being swallowed that it would burn thethroat for two or three liours. Smartweed was plentiful.A. The general run of what is called smartweed honey willnot smart your mouth at all. But the plant from whicli it isgathered hardly ought to be called smartweed, for if you chewthe leaves it will not smart your mouth any more than to chewso much lettuce. It also goes by the name of heartsease—thebetter name, the botanical name being Persicaria. Persicariapunctatum is the real smartweed, and if you chew a leaf of thatyou'll wish you had let it alone. I don't know about the honeyfrom this, whether it is acrid or not, but it is possible.Smoke.—Q. When is tlte best time to blow smoke in at the entrancewhen opening a hive, on a cloudy day, or sunshiny day, orboth ?A. The time to blow smoke into the entrance is just beforeyou take off the cover, no matter what kind of a day.Q. How long can you keep the hive open when handling beeswithout smoke? When they come to the top of the frames doyou smoke them back?