May S, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



329 



Be Nothing^, Nothing !" — perfectly willing, and more than 

 willing, to renounce home and go any place. To do this 

 the hive itself is made into a rocking-horse sort of bumper, 

 and steadily bumped for at least more than a quarter hour 

 by the watch. Point 5 : Make sure that the queen and her 

 attendants are not hungry. (Their chance to take a bite is 

 going to be poor for a spell.) At this stage of the proceed- 

 ing the queen and her escort are run in. Point 6 : Continue 

 the bumping for half an hour actual time. (This is the 

 point which apiarists of the "Tom-tinker " build of mind 

 will leave out and spoil everything. Long ago suspected 

 that the queen is oft as much to blame as the bees for in- 

 troduction failures. This half hour is devoted to recon- 

 structing the mind of the queen ; and incidentally it gives 

 her as much of the odor of the hive as possible.) Point 7 : 

 Open the hive after dark. (Don't want any flurry — especially 

 not any robbers on the scene.) These are all the points Mr. 

 Poindexter gives, but I would venture to add another — an 

 old one. Point 8: Don't try to look in upon them for sev- 

 eral days. (Queen might run ; bees might take after her ; 

 ball might form — and fat all get in the fire at last.) As a 

 matter of preference I should prefer that the bees should 

 know that they were queenless for quite a number of hours 

 before the main operation — and that can usually be secured. 

 I incline to the opinion that the above is a valuable contri- 

 bution to our stock of lore. Only be careful that our hon- 

 orable Tom, as above, does not persuade us to accept an 

 arrangement that merely raps the hive without moving it. 

 Page 197. 



DR. bohrer's meal prescription. 



I see Dr. Bohrer, on page 199, has been getting up for 

 me a pretty big meal. Think I shall call in my friends to 

 help eat it — if I've got friends enough to eat such a pile. He 

 would fain help me sell the horse to myself, but seems to 

 think me a near relative of the man who wants to " eat the 

 horse and chase his rider." Most people only think of 

 sugar and honey as relishes, taken mainly to make a larger 

 quantity of something else move on. But you at least, Mr. 

 Bohrer, know that that is not the only way to eat them — 

 not the best way if they are to be eaten in abundance. Six 

 ounces of honey eaten by itself the last thing at a meal 

 admits of some previously taken food — and that some with 

 the idea of giving proper balance. Crackers balance well 

 to give non-fluidity ; and milk and nut-butter balance well 

 against the lack of nitrogen in honey. The amounts I 

 mention are naturally influenced by the fact that I take but 

 one meal a day — wouldn't sound so big if they were divided 

 by three. 



Of the spread he sets out pork is an abomination to me, 

 and was before I became an invalid. Cabbage is not far 

 behind, except that under strong social duress I used to eat 

 a little of it in fear of being called queer. Cheese I used to 

 eat, but not anymore. Coffee I don't drink — but like it well 

 enough — but at a table which affords, of the things which I 

 eat, not much else than bread and potato, I sometimes drink 

 it. Bread and coffee seem to fit together pretty well. I 

 beg the pardon of the younger readers for putting in so 

 much diet and digestion talk. A lot of us have got to the 

 point where how to head off indigestion is a problem of per- 

 sonal interest to us — and you youngsters will come to it by 

 and by. 



But where the Doctor struck in my point was that sugar 

 agrees a little better than honey does with my previously 

 taken potato and bread and milk. Not ready to give that 

 up yet. 



As to the bulk of his article, we will not undertake to 

 deny that he finds the filmy scales of wax doing mischief in 

 some diseased stomachs. But we incline to doubt pretty 

 strongly whether any great number of people are injured 

 by the wax in honey. Surely, scales so soft and thin don't 

 scrape any harder along our amidships than the bran-scales 

 of whole-wheat foods do. When the doctors advise us to 

 eat graham and whole-wheat preparations, we may eat comb 

 honey also, I take it. 



"The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon- 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Introducins Virgin Queens. 



I have been rearing cells and then put them in cages, and have 

 tried putting them both in queenless hives, and hives over excluders, 

 and for some reasons over 50 percent (if the virgins die from lack of 

 attention by the bees. Can you help me out? Roots advise introduc- 

 ing virgins queens to the nuclei, and I want to know how successfully 

 to get the cells hatched and in the shape of virgins? Texas. 



Answer.— I must confess your question puzzles me. I have never 

 found any difficulty in having queenless bees give proper attention to 

 virgin queens iu cages so long as none was allowed to be free in the 

 hive. But you can make a sure thing of it by provisioning the cages 

 in which the cells are enclosed, and these can even be put in the same 

 story with a laying ciueen. 



Motti-Balls— Transferring— Shading Hives. 



1. Will moth-balls keep out moths? and will they injure the bees 

 and honey. If they will not do, what is the best thing to keep moths 

 out? 



2. Do you think it would pay to transfer from box-hives to those 

 with frames? If so, when is the best time to do it? and would there 

 beany natural swarms? 



3. When is the best time to hive bees from a bee-tree? and how is 

 the best way to do it ? 



4. Will it cause the bees to rob it they are fed sugar syrup in the 

 open air, away from the hives? 



5. Is it absolutely necessary to have hives shaded in summer' and 

 will the heat melt down the combs, as some talk as it it did? 



Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. Probably they would not keep out moths unless so 

 strong as to be offensive to the bees. Tne best thing to keep out moths 

 is to have strong colonies, and even a weak colony will do good work 

 at defending itself if the bees are Italians. 



2. Yes, if you intend to take advantage of the movable feature. If 

 you don't intend to handle the frames there is no advantage in hav- 

 ing them, as they are no better for the bees. Transfer 21 days after 

 the prime swarm. That will not interfere with the swarming. 



8. If you want to get the bees to working in hives as soon as pos- 

 sible, chop down the trees during fruit-bloom, split open, and trans- 

 fer the same as transferring from a box-hive. If you want to get the 

 most honey and don't care for the bees, take them immediately at the 

 close of the honey harvest. 



4. Not likely, unless some foolish thing is done about the hives. 



5. I have had combs melt down in hives so densely shaded that 

 the sun never shone on them all day long, because there was too little 

 chance for the air to get at them, and I think 1 never had such a 

 thing happen where a hive stood out in the open sun with a full sweep 

 for every breeze. But in some places the sun may be too hot to do 

 without some kind of shade. 



auestions on Bees and Other Subjects. 



1. Which strain of Italians is better, goUen or leather-colored » 

 HowareAdels? . . , ,. j 



2. I am mailing you to-day a cage containing bees. What kind 



3. I also enclose a bee in a pill-box. What is the matter with her 

 wings ? I often find them on the ground in this condition, unable to 

 fly. 



4. Does it pay to make your own loundation? 

 h. Does it pay to make your own hives? 



(j. What causes bees to carry hrood out of the hive? The brood I 

 refer to was white, odorless, and full-sized, with the eyes just begin- 

 ning to color. 



r. Which is the better, the Hoffman or staple-spaced frame? Do 

 the bees propolize the Hoffman more than they do the staple-spaced 

 frames? 



8. What is a jouncer? 



9. Will all other clover grow whcro alfalfa does? 



10. Do sunflowers yield honey to an^• great extent? 



11. Are Italians any larger in size tlian blacks or hybrids? 



Texas. 



Answers. 1. Some goldens are better than some leather-colored, 



and vice versa. Prehaps as a whole the leather-colored are better. I 

 have had no experience with Adels. 



2. If they are all from the same colony I should judge they are 

 hybrids. ^ , , . 



•A. Seems to be a case of nou-.li'V.i'>pment; perhaps lacking vita - 

 Ity to become fully developed. 



4. Not in this country, althouirh iliousands of bee-keepers n-ake 

 their own in Europe. A good many « .nl into it in this country ■» hen 



