Mar. 10, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



185 



as where a hedfje surrounds it, or where builJinffs ure on the windy 

 sides, it matters little which way the hives face. Where hives stand 

 out in the open in a cold country with strong winds, there will be more 

 suffering if hives face toward prevailing winds, especially with larjre 

 entrances. In such a place it is well for the hives to have their baiks 

 to the wind, with entrances in spring closed all but about a square 

 inch, even though it might not do to have so small an entrance through 

 the winter. 



2. I don't believe it would pay. Better give up the idea of rearing 

 queens before the time when drones are plenty. If you want to con- 

 trol the matter of drones, instead of trying to do it early, do it late. 

 You can keep some drones of choice stock in a queenless colony after 

 drones are killed off. 



3. I don"t know. It 1 should make a guess, it would be till 6 or S 

 ■ weeks old. 



4. The day before their first flight would be a good time. It's 

 hard for you to tell just when that will be, and the next best thing will 

 be the next day after. After moving put boards in front of the en- 

 trances so as to bother the bees the next time they lly out. It might 

 also be' well to fasten the bees in the hives the tirst day you think it is 

 warm enough to tly, and let them fuss trying to get out for two or 

 three hours before opening the entrances. That will help to make 

 them mark the location. It you pound on the hives after imprisoning 

 them, that will make a shorter imprisonment necessary. But look out 

 for smothering them. 



< ■ » 



Kind of Hive and Honey to Begin With. 



1. Which would you recommend, an S-frame dovetailed hive, with 

 frames 17''',x9'f,, and heavy top-bar, or a 10-frame Danzenbaker hive ? 



2. At this time, which would you recommend to a beginner with 

 bees, producing comb honey, extracted, or bulk comb honey? 



Nebraska. 

 Answers. — 1. I prefer the dovetailed. 



3. That cannot be answered in a word. It depends on the locality, 

 the market, and the man. 



To Test Beeswax Adulteration. 



How can beeswax be analyze 



How can I tell it there is tallow 

 Illinois. 



Answer. — It there is tallow in it, it will have a greasy smell and a 

 greasy feeling. Root's " A B C of Bee-Culture " gives a specific grav- 

 ity test. Put a piece of beeswax that you know to be pure in a jar 

 partly filled with water, and add alcohol till the wax sinks just to the 

 bottom. Then put in your suspected sample, and if it does not sink to 

 the bottom you may pronounce it adulterated. 



Foundation Plan of Preventing Swarming. 



1. How did the foundation plan described in your book, " Forty 

 Years Among the Bees," work in 1903* 



2. Would you advise this plan in the production of comb honey, 

 where a moderate increase is wanted ? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Conditions and trying other things crowded out the 

 foundation plan tor preventing swarming, so that it wasn't tried in 

 1903. 



2. Good plan (fit works perfectly with yuu. So try it on not too 

 large a scale. 



Wintering Bees in a Glass Hive— Introducing Queen- 

 Cells. 



1. Would bees winter satisfactorily in a 10-trame Langstroth hive, 

 3 sides of which are glass, providing it was well packed in an outside 

 or winter-case! Or, to be exact, would they winter in an observatory 

 hive <jn the winter stand, if well protected? 



2. Can a brood-frame having a queen-cell be put in a queenless 

 colony and be accepted by a colony the same as it a queen-cell were 

 grafted on one of their own frames '. Connecticut. 



Answers. — 1. They ought to winter nearly if not as well as in an 

 ordinary hive. 



3. Just as well, and in some cases a little better; tor when a cell 

 is grafted in the befes sometimes seem to think there's something 

 wrong about it, and tear down the cell. 



Moving an Apiary— Stimulating Feeding. 



1. Can I move, as shown on the enclosed diagram, the whole dis- 

 tance at one move without losing some bees, by going back to the old 

 stand '. 



3. I am very much interested in bees, but I am so situated now, 

 that I cannot give them proper attention. I have some in box-hives. 

 Do you think I could get good results by boring holes in the top, and 

 placing supers above? 



4. I wish to feed my bees to stimulate breeding. Which is the 

 best to feed, sugar syrup, sugar candy, or molasses candy ? Or is 

 there any thing better? Tennessee. 



Answers. — 1. It is a question of moving bees only a few rods, not 

 so safe a thing as moving a mile, yet if you can move them at a time 



when they have not had a flight for soiue days there ought not to be 

 much trouble. When you move them, bo sure not to leave any stands, 

 and if you can make some changes in the appearance of the old place 

 it will help, as it will not look so much like home to them. It will 

 also help if, after you have set them in the place, you set up a board 

 before each entrance so as to obstruct I he direct (light of the bees. 



2. Yes; the first bees I ever had were in half a barrel, and the first 

 honey I got was obtained liy boring holes through the top and setting 

 a box over. Allow pretty free passage ; 3-inch hole, or several smaller 

 ones. 



A Beginner's Question. 



I have 3 honey-combs. How will it do to get 3 queen-bees and put 

 them on the combs about the middle of April? I don't think the bees 

 will swarm here till after the first of June. Missouri. 



Answer. — I see no reason why it should not work all right; in- 

 deed I would feel very positive about it were it not for the tact that so 

 many times when I've decided a thing for the bees, they, instead of 

 relying upon my judgment and doing as I said, as intelligent bees 

 should do, have gone right ahead and done just the opposite. So, al- 

 though I may tell you what the bees simulil do, you'll have to refer the 

 matter to them to find out what they actually will do. 



Placing Hives— Wax-Worms and Spiders. 



1. How close can hives be placed without interfering with each 

 other? 



3. Will the wax-worms trouble combs after they (the combs) have 

 been thoroughly cleaned by the bees? 



3. Will the wax-worms trouble foundation after it has been put 

 in the frames and stored away for spring; 



4. Will spiders hurt comb foundation, or will they protect them 

 against the destructive wax-worm. 



You did not miss it far, when you answered my father's question 

 about dead brood, as we transferred our bees from some old hives 

 into some of our own make, and found a few worms. We make our 

 own dovetailed hives and supers, and can do it at a very little cost. 



Louisiana. 



Answers. — 1. It you want to occupy as little ground as possible, 

 put the hives in pairs. The two hives of a pair may sit facing the 

 same way, as close as you can put them without actually touching. 

 Then allow a space of two feet or more in the row between the pairs, 

 and then another row back to back against the hives of the first row. 

 That, as you will see, makes the hive in groups of tour. Any addi- 

 tional number of rows may be placed by having an alley way, between, 

 said alley being eight feet or more in width. 



3. Y'es, indeed. 



3. It would not in the North, and probably not with you. 



4. They will protect them from the moth, but not from worms if 

 the eggs of the moth are already there. 



Chilled Queen— Medium vs. Light Brood Foundation- 

 Brushed Swarms, Etc. 



1. Will a queen that was chilled coming through the mails be all 

 right next spring? 



3. Does medium brood foundation give enough more wax to the 

 bees to make it pay better than light brood foundation? 



3. In making a brushed swarm, how would it do to take away all 

 the brood but one comb of capped lirood, filling out the rest with 

 foundation? 



4. Will a young queen, reared July 20, be old enough next June 

 to have drones in the hive? 



5. What time do you put the super under the brood-chamber in 

 the spring for the queen to lay in ? or do you use a double brood- 

 chamber! 



6. In your text-book you give a plan of ventilating the upper 

 stories by shoving them forward and back, leaving a space at one end. 

 Does the rain not get in through the space? Manitoba, Can. 



Answers.— 1. Hardly; but it you want to breed from her you 

 may get good stock, even if she lays so poorly as to be of little value 

 for honey. 



3. It will probably be better economy to use the thinner founda- 

 tion if you can do so without having it sag. 



3. It will be all right ; indeed I have given several combs of sealed 

 brood satisfactorily, making sure there was no young brood. 



4. Yes. 



5. As soon as, or a little before, the first story is filled, I put under 

 it a second story of the same kind, reducing to one story ot brood 

 when sections are given. 



6. I suppose it does, but it never seems to do any harm, being at 

 the end. At any rate, the harm is overbalanced by the good. 



Cold Winter-Early Stimulative Feeding. 



Up to this date, the winter having been extremely and almost un- 

 heard-of-ly cold, my bees, which are on the summer stands in the loft 

 ot a barn, have not taken their usual noonday flight in January and 

 February. 



By referring to my notes of previous years, X see that the bees in 

 98 were out for the first time on Feb. 6; in 1899 they were out early 



