152 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 25, 1904. 



tion, there is nothing- very difficult, for you say nothing- 

 about the length of time of confinement. A colony might 

 go through all right -with the thermometer zero to 18 below 

 all winter long, if that colony could have a flight often 

 enough. 



3. Yes, it might make the difference between life and 

 death. A colony might in a long spell of cold have all the 

 stores within reach used up, and a spell warm enough to 

 reach out for more would save them. 



4. The effort is to have as small a variety of cases as 

 possible, so a case of a given size is made to take more than 

 one kind of sections. You can have shipping-cases made 

 any size you like, but it will cost a little more to have an 

 odd size made. 



Perhaps It Was Catalpa Honey. 



On page 42, in giving an answer to a question on honey 

 of a peculiar flavor, you asked for help. I have something 

 to offer on the subject, although it may not amount to any- 

 thing. I have never seen anything about catalpa honey in 

 print. Is it a common or uncommon thing ? It is very sel- 

 dom that catalpa yields honey here, but when it does it is 

 something like the description on page 42. Although I 

 would not call it purple in shade, still I would not know 

 what else to call it. 



Once before, in speaking of some honey you liked ex- 

 tremely well, I thought it might be catalpa honey. If I am 

 mistaken in thinking catalpa honey is almost unknown, I 

 will be glad to find out better. Missouri. 



Ans-wER. — I think you are quite right in thinking cat- 

 alpa honey is little known. Certainly it is " in this local- 

 ity," although there are very few catalpas here. I hardly 

 think enough honey has ever been obtained from it here to 

 be recognized. You will be doing a good thing if you watch 

 it down closely and tell us what you find out. 



Keeping Down Increase. 



As I am working for comb honey, how would it work to 

 set the hives close together in pairs, and when there are 

 queen-cells started, shake the bees of both colonies into one 

 empty hive, with 2-inch starters of foundation ; set the 

 " shook " swarm where the 2 hives stood, removing the lat- 

 ter to a new stand, and in 8 days shake the bees from one 

 of the hives that were shook before, leaving the other old 

 queen with the last shaken swarm? Or would it be better 

 to kill the old queen and let them rear a new one ? Would 

 any of the colonies so treated be likely to swarm ? I will be 

 so busy in swarming-time that I cannot devote the time to 

 them that I should. I do not care for much increase, but 

 want strong colonies. I am a beginner, and will be glad to 

 receive any advice you may give. Minnesota. 



Answer. — You would have a powerful colony from 

 uniting the two, but it is not certain that they would store 

 more than if shaken singly, especially if the season is very 

 long, for in about six weeks the united colony will be no 

 stronger than each separate colony would have been. If I 

 understand you correctly, you would unite the parent colo- 

 nies 8 days later, allowing them one of the old queens. 

 There would be much danger of their swarming. If allowed 

 to rear a young queen, they would not be likely to swarm ; 

 but remember, that if you actually shake the combs it means 

 injury or death to the young queens in the cells. 



Planting for Honey— Clipping Queens. 



This has been a hard winter on bees ; we are having 

 more snow than we have had for 16 years, at least that is 

 what they say. I don't know, as I am only 15 years old. 



I believe that half of the bees in Van Buren County will 

 be, or are, dead. I fed the bees of one of our neighbors last 

 week ; he had 9 colonies in the fall, and 6 of them have 

 starved already, and that is the way all around here. 



We have had a very poor year for honey. One of our 

 neighbors had 18 colonies, spring count, increased to 22, 

 and got the enormous amount of 200 pounds of comb honey, 

 and half his bees have starved to death now. 



I think this is a very poor place to keep bees. If a bee- 

 keeper gets 50 pounds of honey he thinks he has an excel- 

 lent crop. Fruit is about all that is grown here, and very 

 little clover, and that is mostly the red clover. What I am 

 after is to sow something- especially for bees. Catnip is a 



very good honey-plant. I could get all the seed I wanted, 

 but we have light, sandy soil here, and I read in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal that it does not do well in light soil. 



In one of the bee-books (I have " Bees and Honey " ) it 

 tells of a lot of different kinds of honey-plants. 



1. Where can I get the seed or plants of the cleome, 

 mammoth mignonette, motherwort, figwort, and others 7 



2. I want to set out some basswood, or linden, for honey, 

 but the basswood around here seems to be different from 

 your basswood. We hardly notice them blossom, and the bees 

 don't seem to work at it much. My father and mother came 

 from Germany, and they say that when the linden blossoms 

 there the tree is just white from top to bottom with bloom. 

 I can get what they call European linden from a nursery in 

 New York. Have you ever seen any ? If so, would you ad- 

 vise me to try them here ? 



3. How does the honey-locust compare with the linden 

 in yielding nectar? 



4. Do you think it is all right to use comb 4 or 5 years 

 old ? Wm. Baker, living 'i mile west, says that when the 

 bee hatches from the cell it leaves a thin skin in the inner 

 wall, which the bees do not clean out, and after a couple of 

 years the cells are shorter and the bees are smaller. I think 

 he is right, for if you take old comb you will find a lot of 

 very thin skins in the bottom of the cell. I have read noth- 

 ing in the bee books or papers about it. 



5. We bought some supers with sections and comb in 

 them, but the comb is one and two years old. Should we 

 give it to the bees again to store honey in ? It is just about 

 half built. 



6. Is there much use in clipping the queen's wings if I 

 divide the colony and keep the queen-cells out, and look 

 after them about every week 7 Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. From a seedsman or some dealer in bee- 

 supplies. 



2. Your lindens or basswoods are probably just the 

 same as here, and the probability is that they yield just as 

 much honey. Some years they don't do much. I don't 

 know for certain, but I doubt that the European would do 

 any better. If you have no sweet clover, you would do well 

 to sow some. Don't be discouraged about your locality. 

 I/Ots of bee-keepers don't average 50 pounds to the colony. 



3. Not nearly so good. 



4. That subject has been pretty well thrashed out in the 

 bee-papers, and you need not worry about old combs. One 

 European authority took the trouble to measure what old 

 and new cells contained, and he found no difference. I have 

 combs twice as old as you are, and I don't see that bees 

 reared in them are any smaller than those reared in new 

 combs. 



5. If kept in good condition I would use it. 



6. Yes, indeed ; after you have done all that, if your 

 queen is not clipped, some fine day when you're not looking 

 she'll fly away with a swarm. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3^x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy free ; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

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 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

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 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



Los Angeles Convention Report. — We find we have 

 left some complete sets of the American Bee Journal con- 

 taining the full report of the proceedings of the convention 

 of the National Bee-Keepers' Association, held at Los An- 

 geles, Calif., in August, 1903. There are 14 copies in a set. 

 in order to close them out quickly, we will send them, post- 

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 order at once if you want them. 



Maple Sugar and the Sugar Bush, by Prof. A. J. Cook ; 

 44 pages ; price, postpaid, 30 cents. This is by the same 

 author as " The Bee-Keepers' Guide," and is most valuable 

 to all who are interested in the product of our sugar-maples. 

 No one who makes maple sugar or syrup should be without 

 it. Order from the office of the American Bee Journal. 



