Mar. 31, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



251 



you can brush into the hive the bees from each comb as fast us you 

 l&ke it out. 



•J. Vou cannot prevent liurr-comlis entirely, but you will get along 

 with a minimum if you will avoid too large spaces wherever hurr- 

 combs are likely to be built — don't have spaces more than ^4 inch. 



Feeding Unfinished Sections— Black vs. Italians 

 Transferrins. 



1. I have lots of unfinished sections left over from last \ car. 

 Should my bees get short of stores how would it do to put a super of 

 unfinished sections on each hive* 



2. Should the sections be left on when the honey-flow begins, or 

 will the bees darken them so that they will be unsalable i 



3. Do black bees winter better, enter supers more readily, and 

 live longer than Italian bees'. 



4. I want to transfer some bees during fruit-bloom. Can I get 

 ' queens at that time} Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. It will do well. 



2. Although they might not darken them very much, it will bo 

 better to take them off as soon as emptied. But it is well to remember 

 that many think it is not a good thing to use sections that have been 

 kept over winter with honey in them, said honey having candied. 



3. I don't know that there have been any exhaustive experiments 

 thit would afford a positive answer to your question. 



4. You may do so by sending South. 



Keeping Bees from Swarming. 



I have 5 colonies of Italian bees, 5 blacks, and 4 hybrids. I want 

 to keep the hybrids from swarming. Please give the best plan. 



Virginia. 



Answer. — Here's one way. As sQon as time for swarming, take 

 from hybrids all but one brood and give to Italians. That will pre- 

 vent swarming of hybrids, and hurry up the swarming of the Italians. 

 When the first Italian swarms, hive the swarm on the old stand, and 

 put the mother colony on the stand of the strongest black, removing 

 the black to a new stand. Do this with each of the Italian swarms in 

 succession. Each of the Italians will almost surely send out a second 

 swarm, and these second swarms can be strengthened with brood from 

 the blacks. That gives you 1.5 Italians, and if you want to Italianize 

 the blacks you can start nuclei from them and give cells from the 

 Italians that have swarmed. 



Moles or Mice Dead at Hive-Entrance— Stores Used In 

 Winter. 



1. Feb. 2 being warm, I took the guards from my hives to allow 

 the bees to clean their hive-i. Feb. 3 was still warm, and I left them 

 off at night. The next day was very cold and stormy, and I put them 

 back. About Feb. 8 came a warm day ; the 9th or 10th I happened to 

 be passing and noticed 4 dead moles, about the size of house-mice, in 

 a guard, with a few dead bees in their fur. What killed them? 



2. I did not have room in my bee-house for one colony, so I left 

 them out, wrapped in tarred paper, solid all around, top and bottom, 

 open at the front. Now, in examining my bees the other day, those 



in tarred paper did not use half, and I should say not a quarter as 

 much honey as the others. I looked at 6 last week ; one had lots of 

 sealed brood and the rest none, so far as I could see. The one in tar- 

 red paper had none. MissouBl. 



Answers. ^1. The bees probably stung them to death; but I 

 wonder whether they were not short-tailed field-mice instead of moles. 



2. One swallow doesn't make a summer, and it is possible that it 

 just happened that the one hive in the tarred paper did the best for 

 some other reason. It is quite possilile, however, that the difference 

 was owing to the tarred paper. It will be well worth while to try the 

 thing on a larger scale next winter, and, it you do, please be sure to 

 report, whether the result be favorable or unfavorable. 



Thanks for your kind invitation. 



Transferring from Box-Hlves-Sorgtium Molasses for 

 Stimulative Feeding. 



1. I have some bees in box-hives, and I wish to transfer them into 

 good hives this spring. What time would you consider the best for 

 doing it! Is there any danger of robber-bees then; 



2. Would it be wise to feed sorghum molasses to stimulate brood- 

 rearing? If so, what method of feeding would you use! Would there 

 be any objection to feeding in a vessel that all would have access to? 

 I am working for comb honey. Illinois. 



Answers.— 1. Wait till the bees swarm, and transfer three weeks 

 after the time of swarming. At that lime there will be no brood in 

 the way, unless it be a little drone-brood. The danger from robber- 

 bees at that time is not likely to be great. 



2. Yes, if there are not enough bees all about you so that you 

 would have to feed all your neighbors' bees, you can feed right out in 

 the open, which is really more like gathering from the fields than 

 when you feed in the hive. But if there is plenty of honey in the 

 hives, you may not do as much good by feeding as you expect. 



Put-I3p Plan for Swarmlng-Hive-Ventllatlon. 



I hope to try some of the plans you give in your book. With re- 

 gard to the " put-up plan," page 163 — 



1. Would it not answer to put up the queen as soon as queen cells 

 with larvie in them were seen, instead of waiting and watching for 

 swarms? 



2. When you put down the queen again is there no danger of her 

 being balled i 



3. In the " foundation treatment " plan, page 186, will it not be 

 necessary to destroy queen-cells also at the end of the week or 10 days 

 when the old hive is put back on the stand again? 



4. Do you think the ventilation you speak of, page 191, would be 

 necessary here where the summers, particularly at night, are cool, not 

 over So degrees for a top figure, and not often so high as that! 



British Columbia. 

 Answers.— 1. Yes, it works well, although 1 have not had as much 

 experience with that plan as with waiting for the bees to swarm. 



2. I do not recall that she was ever balled, to my knowledge. 



3. It is safer to do so, and the man that wrote the book ought to 

 have known enough to say so. 



4. Try it for extracted honey, and I don't believe you'll find too 

 much ventilation. It isn't often here that we have nights above 85 



Texas Queens. 



3 and 5 banded Qoldens 



from a reliable breeder. 

 You all know him-DAHIEl 

 WURTH— theQueenbpecial- 

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 turn Hail. I aqi here to 

 stay, and thank my many 

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 their liberal patronage in 

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DANIEL WURTH, Karnes Gitu, Tex. 



3D61 Please mention the Bee Journal 



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TDtf HIQH HILL, iMontg. Co., MO. 



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FROM MANY FIELDS 



1 



Fine Weather for Bees. 



We are having fine bee- weather here. Until 

 the last of December we had no snow whatever, 

 but from that time up to the middle of Feb- 

 ruary it snowed frequently. We are now hav- 

 ing warm, thawin;,' weather. 



George S. Graffam. 



Penobscot Co., Maine, Feb. 23. 



Think the Bees are All Right. 



Although it was very wet the first part of 

 the season of 1'.I03, we never had so long a 

 now from white rlover before. From 75 colo- 

 nies, spring count, I got 4000 pounds of sec- 

 tion honey, mostly white clover, and increased 

 to 160 colonies, which number was reduced to 

 150 through robbing. 



We practice cellar-wintering here, very suc- 

 cessfully. Although the thermometer ranged 

 from .'^0 to 45 degrees below zero all winter, 

 yet I think most of my bees are coming 

 through all right ; they are, however, begin- 

 ning to get a little uneasy. 



My father has l<ept bees for the last 30 years. 



'-^ -^ ^^^^^ 



i DAVENPORT, t 



1 ir\\A/A — r 



•lOWA- 



Send TPur orders for everything^ in 

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 the city nearest to you. Save Fremht 

 and pet prompt service. We are head- 

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 SMOKERS, EXTRACTORS, ETC., ETC. 

 LOUIS HANSSEN'S SONS, 

 213-215 W. 2d Street, Davenport, Iowa. 



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Let us quote you prices on Sections, Hives, 

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