Jan. 14, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



27 



hard to guess the trouble. But, as the weaker ones with half the 

 honey are apparently wintering without much loss, I don't know what 

 to tliink. The bees are Italians, and the frames are unusually full of 

 honey. Jly guess is that the combs are so full that the bees have not 

 room to cluster rightly. Please give what you think is the trouble, 

 and also whether it would be a help or detriment to contract the en- 

 trance down to about an inch. Iowa. 



AsswEHs.— 1. I'm ashamed that you should have had the oppor- 

 tunity to ask such a question, for it should have been told in the book 

 without being asked. As you say, four sections make 17 inches in 

 length, and a little extra length is needed in the super, so it is 17-'h 

 long, inside measure, and I'.i', outside measure. That's shorter than 

 the hive; ami a strip of wood is laid on the hive at one end, or else the 

 strip is nailed on the super. The latter is the better way, only my 

 wagon-box is of such size that the supers pack in it better without 

 any strip nailed on. I thank you for calling attention to the omission. 



2. I don't know what the trouble is — possibly nothing. For the 

 stronger a colony is the more bees there are to die off. Still, a quart 

 of dead bees before the close of December seems like a pretty heavy 

 mortality. Combs too full of honey may be the cause, i/ there is not 

 room for the bees to cluster below the bottom-bars. With a bottom- 

 board two inches deep, it is doubtful that the combs can be too full, 

 for in that ease the bees have plenty of room to cluster below the 

 frame: but if there is only half an inch or so below the bottom-bars, 

 and the frames are solid full of honey, the bees will be obliged to 

 spread up into the spaces, and with sealed combs between the layers 

 of bees it would be hard for them to keep up the heat. After all, it is 

 a rare thing that you will find the combs so full of honey that there 

 will not be a plenty of empty cells in the lower parts of the combs. 



Distlnsuishlnsf Pure Honey from Adulterated. 



Is there any way by which I can tell adulterated honey from pure 

 honey? All the honey I sell is stamped " Pure Honey," and I see 

 honey in the market which I think is not pure. Michigan. 



Answer. — I don't know of any way by which you can certainly 

 tell without having the honey analyzed. But if it is adulterated with 

 glucose, you may readily distinguish the glucose taste after you have 

 become acquainted with it, especially the disagreeable after-taste. 



Plans to Prevent Increase— Outside Feeding of Bees. 



I wish to run my apiary without increase. I would rather dimin- 

 ish, and have several plans in mind. 



1. When a swarm issues, if I cage or kill the queen and run the 

 swarm back will it be likely to swarm again that year, if I destroy 

 queen-cells in time* 



2. If I cage the queen and insert her between the combs will the 

 outside bees feed her ? It so, and I keep her caged until I hear the 

 young queen piping, then destroy the young queen and all queen- 

 cells, will they be likely to swarm again i 



3. If I unite I have a lot of brood-combs which are hard to keep 

 until swarming-time unless left on the hive. Suppose I destroy one 

 queen in uniting and set the queenless colony on top of the other, 

 with a queen-excluding-board between. Then, when the swarm issues 



from any hive I take this upper hive olT and set it on a bottom-board 

 and put it in place of the swarming colony. Will the colony be 

 likely to swarm again, if I destroy iiueun-cells at the proper time! 



4. I have a few hives packed oiitof-doors. If there should come 

 warm spells through the winter that tjees could lly out, would it be an 

 advantage, or an injury, to set honey outside for feed; They may be 

 short if they consume more than in the cells. Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. Yes if you kill all cells but one you will likely end 

 swarming for the season. 



2. They will be sure to feed her, and it may, and it may not, end 

 swarming. Localities differ, and it is worth while for you to make 

 the experiment, for it may work all right with you. 



3. Likely not. 



4. If short of stores it would bean advantage, provided you do 

 not start robbing. 



Preventing Other Bees from Robbing. 



Is there any way to keep other bees from robbing mine! 



Minnesota. 



Answer. — Sure. Keep your colonies so strong they can defend 

 themselves. Don't allow queenless colonies. Don't expose honey to 

 start robbing. Don't open hives unnecessarily when no honey is 

 coming in. You see, it's a matter of " don'ting" rather than doing, 

 for if the colonies are queen-right and strong there is no danger of 

 their being robbed unless there is some fool thing done on the part of 

 bee-keeper. But remember that if you have more than one colony 

 there is just as much danger of robbing from your own bees as from 

 other people's bees. 



« » » 



Trouble wltti Bottom-Starters. 



1. I have tried your method of tilling sections with foundation, 

 but could not make the bottom piece stand upright. It would droop 

 over, and lay down Hat like a cabbage-plant under a hot sun. What 

 do you do to make it stand upright! 



2. How would it do to cut foundation in a triangular form, like a 

 saw-tooth, fasten the wide edge of the foundation to the upper side of 

 the section clear across, and let the lower point of the foundation 

 rest on the bottom of the section ' Kansas. 



Answers. — 1. Nothing is done to make the bottom starters stand 

 up straight, and there is no trouble on that score. The starters are 

 only *s of an inch deep ; they are put in with a Daisy fastener, the 

 bottom starter put in before the top starter, and the sections immedi- 

 ately turned over to fasten the top starter in. The work is usually 

 done in cool or cold weather. If done in hot weather it might not 

 work so well. Neither would it work so well, probably, with any- 

 thing like the Parker fastener. I don't know how would be the best 

 way with a Parker, but it might be something like this: Have the 

 foundation pretty warm, and put in quite a number of bottom starters 

 before putting in the top starters, setting each section upside down 

 as fast as the bottom starters are put in, so they would cool off In 

 place. 



2. If you allow the foundation to touch the bottom, even at a sin- 

 gle point, you will probably find that the starter will stretch suffi- 

 ciently to make it sag to one side. 



To We«.ltK 



The farmer who is making the most 



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is making the most of modern equiii- 



ment. In this he'll find 



Stromberg- Carlson 

 Telephones 



ilircct wires to wealth. The reasons 

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 F-4 "Telephone Facts for Farmers," 



sent free. Address nearest olttce. 

 Strombrrg - Carlson Tel. 

 RooheMter, N. Y.— ChJcBKo, III 



Please Meutlon Bee Journal 

 when writing advertisers. 



t 



FROM MANY FIELDS 



3 



A Very Good Honey Crop. 



Not having a report of the honey crop from 

 around here, I will write one. We had a very 

 good crop this year. I had 8 colonies, spring 

 count, and got MK) pounds of extrated honey, 

 and about 200 pounds of comb honey in one- 

 pound sections. I increased to 13 colonies. 



There was quite a lot of swarming this sea- 

 son before it was expected. .Jas. Kane. 



Dubuque Co., Iowa, Dee. 14. 



Oklahoma as a Bee-Country. 



I have just returned, after a 30-days' visit, 

 from Oklahoma Territory. While there I 

 visited the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege, and Government Experimental Station, 

 and am under many obligations to the profes- 

 sors and officers in charge for many courtesies 

 shown me. 



I was told that Oklahoma was not a good 

 bee-country. The professor of entomology 

 informs me they abandoned experiments in 

 bee-culture, yet there is a bee-keeper in Kip- 

 ley who has a large apiary, Ripley is near the 

 Cimarron river, and bottom land is the only 

 place where alfalfa does well. I think Okla- 

 homa may be a good fruit country, although 



100 ^ HATCHES 



tf. S. Send for a copy and read the proof. ' It is free. 

 Buckeye Incubator Co., Box SS, Sprinsfleld, O. 



We Sell Root's Goods in Michigan 



Let OS quote yon prices on Sections, Hives, 

 Foundation, etc., as we can save you time and 

 freight. Four percent off for cash orders in 

 December. M. H. HUNT & SON. 



Bell Branch, Wayne Co., Mich. 



EVEN THE WIRE. 



and mode of cotistruction, are very different. Pace 

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FOR HIS 



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'■I DiKoanU to the Trade. 



