216 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHI>al. 



Mar. 24, 1904. 



bottom bars. Fortunately your old frames are deeper than 

 that, which makes your task easy. With a hot knife cut 

 the comb out of the frame, and cut off from the bottom just 

 enough to make a snug fit in the new frame. That leaves 

 you a space of perhaps 3;i inches at one end, which space 

 you will fill with the comb you cut off from the bottom, cut- 

 ting it down to fit. The cells of this last piece will not 

 hang in the same direction as they did before, but will work 

 well enough. 



3. Very likely there is nothing unusual about it. Still 

 there is a possibility of disease, and under the circumstances 

 it will be advisable for you to invest 25 cents in Dr. How- 

 ard's pamphlet, with which you can inform yourself better 

 than would be possible in this department. When the bees 

 get to flying daily, the trouble should cease, in which case 

 you have nothing to fear from contagion, but if disease is 

 there the trouble will continue. 



4. The closed-end frames are warmer for the bees in 

 winter, but more troublesome than the Hoffmans as to bee- 

 glue and killing bees. If you are much troubled with bee- 

 glue, you will likely vote either one a nuisance. 



5. Splints about 1-16 square run up and down, and prop- 

 erly used, as described in " Forty Years Among the Bees," 

 page 88, I very much prefer them to wiring. But you must 

 remember that I may be prejudiced in favor of my own in- 

 vention. Their special advantage is that they allow the 

 foundation to fill the frame enHrely, clear down to the 

 bottom-bar — a thing you can not do with wiring. 



My heart is warmed by your kind words in appreciation 

 of this department, but I don't like your saying you'll not 

 ask any more questions for a long time. People that ask 

 intelligent questions not always answered in the bee-books 

 are always welcome. 



Bees Storing Honey in Glass Jars. 



Have bees ever been induced to deposit comb honey, of 

 their own free will, in glass honey-jars ? If not, why not ? 



California. 

 Answ^er. — Yes, indeed ; lots of times. 



Distance Below Brood-Frames-Clipping Queens. 



1. What is the distance from the bottom of brood-frames 

 to bottom-board ? 



2. Would you advise clipping a queen's wings ? I am a 

 tenderfoot in the bee-business, and read everything I can, 

 but some say clip, and some say not, so I don't know which 

 is right. Illinois. 



Answers.—!. I find it very desirable to have a space 

 two inches deep at any time of the year when bees are not 

 likely to build comb. Many are satisfied with half of that, 

 but after trying it for years I wouldn't do with less. Dur- 

 ing harvest time a space from '2 to 1 inch is enough. 



2. The tendency is probably more and more toward 

 clipping. Try part each way, and see what you like best. 

 I think you will find that the clipped queens give you the 

 least trouble. 



Building Comb— Other Questions. 



1. Naturally speaking, do bees build as fast sidewise as 

 downwards, providing their hive is a cube 7 



2. Mr. Delos Wood, on page 109, says : " It is a fact ac- 

 cepted by our best bee-keepers that the size of the cell con- 

 trols the sex of the ^%%." That being the case, will aqueen 

 lay worker-eggs in drone-comb, no other being present 7 or, 

 if you move a drone-larva to a worker-comb, what will it 

 bring forth 7 



3. Do queens ever lay in old queen-cells, or in new ones 

 just started by the bees 7 



4. Does artificial swarming (by the " shook " plan) give 

 as good results in honey as to let them follow Nature's plan7 

 If not, about what is the loss in honey 7 



5. Of course, we all know that bees will enter another 

 hive and steal honey ; but have you any knowledge of bees 

 from a queenless colony stealing an egg or larva from an- 

 other colony and rearing themselves a queen from it. 



Texas. 

 Answers. — 1. If the hive be very large in proportion to 

 the cluster of bees, the bees will probably build faster 

 downward ; if the bees fairly fill a cubical hive, the building 

 will probably be about the same in both directions. 



2. The unmodified statement that the size of the cell 

 controls the sex of the egg is hardly a part of the Dzierzon 

 theory, and certainly Dzierzon can not be quoted to prove 

 that a queen never lays in a queen-cell. In the American 

 Bee Journal for 1861 — pardon me if I stop to say that I've 

 read and re-read that volume more than any other volume 

 of any bee-paper ever published — in that volume, page 5, 

 are given the thirteen propositions of the Dzierzon theory. 

 The second reads as follows : 



" In the normal condition of a colony, the queen is the 

 only perfect female present in the hive, and lays all the 

 eggs found therein. These eggs are male and female. 

 From the former proceed the drones ; from the latter, if 

 laid in wider, acorn- shaped, and vertically suspended, so- 

 called royal cells, lavishly supplied with a peculiar pabulum 

 or jelly, proceed the queens." 



Dzierzon's saying, in the connection in which it is 

 found, " if laid in .... royal cells," is proof that Dzierzon 

 believes that the queen lays in queen-cells, and there is 

 nothing in his theory antagonistic to that belief. 



Replying to your question, I never knew of more than 

 one case where the bees had nothing but drone-combs, and 

 they swarmed out rather than to try to keep house with 

 such furniture. But I have known more than one case in 

 which workers were reared in drone-comb. I think that in 

 every such case the bees thicken the outward extremity 

 of the cell wall so as to make the diameter at the mouth the 

 same as the diameter of a worker-cell. 



3. Probably in new ones, usually, although I see no 

 reason why an old one might not be used. 



4. Conditions vary, so that in some cases a shaken swarm 

 may give more than a natural swarm, and in other cases 

 less. Those who are successful with shaken swarms prob- 

 ably get more. 



5. No. 



Propolis— Pounds of Honey for a Pound of Beeswax— 

 Cellar-Wintering. 



1. What is propolis made of 7 (I call it bee-gum). 



2. How much, or how many pounds, of honey does it 

 take to make 1 pound of wax ? I was taught about 7 

 pounds ; now comes Mr. Dadant and says it takes 10 pounds. 



3. Why should the thermometer not go lower than 40 

 degrees in a cellar 7 



Part of my bees are in an out-cellar, where there is 

 no fire, and the thermometer stays at 30 or 32 ; the bees are 

 all right yet. When could I put in a bucket of live coals ? 



J. B. M. 



Answers. — l. Gathered from the buds of trees. You 

 will find it very abundant on Balm of Gilead and poplar. 



2. I don't know. For a long time it was considered 20. 

 Nowadays views vary greatly ; some have it as low as 3, 

 others 5, 7, up to 20. " You pays your money, you takes your 

 choice." 



3. In winter the bees keep the center of the cluster at 

 about SO degrees. The farther it goes down the more honey 

 they must use to keep up the heat. Better not go below 45. 



Shipping Bees on the Railroad. 



Is it practicable to transport bees in colonies by the 

 railroad cars, either as freight or by express, a distance of 

 from SO to 100 miles in the spring, say in the month of 

 April ? If so, what precautions should be observed to pro- 

 tect the honey from damage by bruising 7 



North Dakota. 



Answer. — Some railroads will not take less than a car- 

 load by freight. Expressage is very heavy, so that it might 

 be cheaper to sell and buy again. Your railroad agent can 

 tell you definitely about these things. If you have loose- 

 hanging frames, unless they are fastened securely by propo- 

 lis you must fasten them in place by laying a stick on top 

 of the frames at each end and driving in nails, or by some 

 other means. Fixed-distance or self-spacing frames need 

 no fastening. Place the hive in the car with the frames 

 running parallel with the railroad track, and fasten securely. 



Amerikanlsche Bienenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper's handbook of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00 ; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for $1.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. 



