442 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 23, 1904. 



excluder to crawl through — and the sections will be decidedly 

 the whiter for it. Page 340. 



STOVE-PIPK SHELF FOR REWQUKFYING HONEY. 



Stove-pipe shelf as a place to reliquefy honey which is 

 in glass— says G. C. Greiner. Thanks for the idea. Some 

 might ask for a more wholesale method. Some people fire 

 their stoves in such a reckless manner as to get a pipe red- 

 hot, or nearly so, occasionally. I wonder whether there is 

 a possibility of cracking the glasses. Page 341. 



DOOUTTLE THE LEADER IN QUEEN-FINDING. 



So Doolittle finds the queen 24 times out of 25 in once 

 carefully looking over the combs. 'Spects some of us will 

 have to practice a bit before we can quite reach those 

 figures. Page 342. 



DRONES AND SWARMING. 



My afterthinker does get in bad order sometimes ; but, 

 dear Dr. Miller, your "logical inference " also seems to have 

 gotten in bad order one time. As to drones the night after 

 swarming, I was not carrying (at least was not trying to 

 carry) the idea that that was anything more than a minute 

 point. If we see that in some minute point weeds are bene- 

 ficial, it's not a logical inference that they ought therefore 

 to be allowed to cover several square rods of the garden. 

 Not logical to make ten dollars of concession to ten cents of 

 motive thereto. 



"When a swarm issues, a number of workers is de- 

 tailed," eh ? I incline to kick like a mule about any bees 

 being detailed to stay at home. Wholly fortuitous. The 

 home bees comprise a number of very variable sections. 

 Oft lots of them — sometimes only a few — get left by being 

 off in the fields. Oft lots of them — sometimes only a few — 

 feel as the Children of Israel did after they had chosen 

 Saul — and come back from the swarm. More or less of 

 them get all the excitement they want by running about on 

 the combs and every available place — if they can squeeze 

 into the super so many the more will be likely to stay. 

 Usually quite a large company have never flown yet. The 

 more part of these, but not all, essay a rather premature 

 flight with the swarm. Bees of a group that are particu- 

 larly interested in a particular queen-cell (I imagine) rally 

 around a little and finally settle down by staying at home. 

 And what other sections there maybe don't occur to me just 

 at this minute — but no section of details — kicks the mule. 

 Page 344. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 



] 



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

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



Swarming Experiences. 



1. This spring I commenced handling the bees to prevent swarm- 

 ing, so I handled every frame of 65 hives, cut out all queen-cells and 

 drone-brood. WI4s it the proper thing to do ? 



2. All went' well for awhile, 16 days I think, then I was busy and 

 could not go through them again ; my bees commenced to swarm, so I 

 watched them from 10 until 3 o'clock, and I put back every single 

 swarm. That worked well for a few days, when they commenced in 

 earnest one day. I was hiving a prime swarm and four more swarms 

 came out and all came over to that one. I gave them three hive- 

 bodies and one super. I examined them the third day and I set otf the 

 hive-body, as I thought there was plenty for one hive, set it down be- 

 side the bottom one. The next day they, left. What part of 5 swarms 

 went I could not say, but the rest stayed, and are working well. Is it 

 a common thing for bees to go together when swarming at the same 

 time! It is the case with mine this season. I have had a number of 

 instances where three swarms went together at one time. I divided 

 the three swarms and ga?e to the three hives where they came from. 

 All did well. Now I put two prime swarms together and put all after- 

 swarms back. 



S. I had 5 swarms to-day (May 30) — 4 prime and one after-swarm 

 which left with one of the prime swarms. I hived them in two hives 

 with supers on top. Is that the proper way to handle them, under 

 such circumstances; 



4. Here is another experience: Ihad 4 swarms that went together; 

 I hived one, and the second day I divided them. I thought after a day 

 one colony did not have a queen, so I went to one of the hives that 

 one of the swarms came out of, and found a queen-cell just ready to 

 be uncapped. I out it out and uncapped it, and a young queen popped 

 out. I gave her some honey, kept her over night, then gave her to 

 the swarm that had no queen. All is well with them. 



I had two after-swarms enter two other hives where the bees were 

 not in the swarming mood; they killed everyone of them. So it 

 seems that when they are in the swarming uiood they will mix up in 

 any shape. 



I suppose my bees are all blacks as I have never bought a queen. 

 Upon examination I found 2 queenless colonies which I mixed up 

 with new swarms. I cannot find a queen in the hive. Can you tell 

 me how to find them? 



5. My apiary is on a bluff 60 feet high, where the wind blows 

 strong every afternoon. Would it be better to set them down on the 

 low land? California. 



Answers. — 1. Hardly; continuous cutting out of cells will not 

 prevent swarming, and it does little good to cut out drone-comb unless 

 you patch the holes with worker-comb, for the bees are likely to fill 

 the holes with drone comb again. 



2. Yes, it is quite common for two or more swarms to unite. Some 

 have had as many as half a dozen unite in one immense cluster, or go 

 into the same hive. 



3. If I understand you correctly, the after-swarm united with one 

 of the prime swarms and absconded ; then you hived the remaining 

 three swarms in two hives with supers on top. Making two colonies 

 of the three would give you strong forces for surplus work, making it 

 a good thing if you didn't want the increase; putting on supers at 

 once was a good thing because giving abundance of room, which Is 

 quite important when a swarm is first hived. But there is one objec- 

 tion to giving a super when a swarm is first hived, unless a queen-ex- 

 cluder is used; the queen may go up and establish the brood-nest 

 in the super. It is not a bad plan to put an empty hive body under a 

 newly-hived swarm to give it extra room, taking it away after two or 

 three days. 



4. After a little experience you will probably not have much 

 difficulty in finding a queen by looking over the frames. Use as little 

 smoke as possible, for there isn't much hope of finding a queen after 

 you have set the bees to running by using too much smoke. She will 

 generally be found on the brood. Take the frame, or the two frames, 

 nearest you out of the hive, and look over the other frames in succes- 

 sion. As you lift out each frame, glance at the exposed side of the 

 next frame in the hive. Then look at the farther side of the frame in 

 your hand, then the near side, and so on. If you don't find the queen 

 after looking over the combs once or twice, better close the hive and 

 try it half an hour later, or some other time. You may screen out the 

 queen liy making the bees pass through excluder-zinc. 



.5. I don't know. If it's hot on the low land, and you find no 

 harm that the wind does, may be it's all right on the hlufi. If the 

 wind is so strong as to beat down the bees, that makes the bluff ob- 

 jectionable, and in any case it is easier for a bee with a heavy load to 

 make the lower place. 



Play-Spell of Young Bees— Colorado vs. Other Places— 

 Carno-ltalian Cross. 



1. On a warm afternoon the bees crowd around the entrance of 

 the hive, almost clogging it full. Some of the bees crawl up the front 

 of the hive, take wing and fly back to the entrance of the hive and go 

 in. Some of them crawl up the front of the hive and fly away. A 

 few take wing from the entrance and after circling back and forth in 

 front of the hive fly away. Why is this? 



2. Do you think there is any difference between a dry climate, like 

 Colorado, or a wet Eastern climate, for bees? 



8. How is a cross between Carniolan and Italian bees for honey? 



Colorado. 



Answers. — 1. The young bees are taking their play-spell and at 

 the same time marking their location. You will notice that at first 

 they fly with their heads toward the hive. 



2. Yes, there is a difference ; but either one may be a good or a 

 poor location for bees. 



3. 1 kno%v nothing about them from experience, but some speak 

 of them highly. 



Extractor for Unfinished Sections. 



I read in the American Bee Journal, some time last winter, of 

 some one who had invented an extractor for unfinished sections. 

 Please tell me how or where I can get one. I have mislaid the Jour- 

 nal that had the article in. Illinois. 



Answer. — There is probably no extractor made for extracting sec- 

 tions alone, although any extractor can be used for that purpose. 

 Make a wire basket or pocket, using coarse wire, and put the sections 

 in. Possibly you may obtain from supply-dealers such a basket ready- 

 made. 



-^-^-^ 



All Thick-Top-Bar Staple-Spaced Frames Not Miller 

 Frames. 



On page 173, John P. Coburn says; "Don't all supply-dealers 

 advertise thiek-top-bar staple spaced brood-frames? Are they not 

 practically Miller frames? The only difference is that Miller uses a 

 nail instead of a staple." 



I thmk, Mr. Coburn, you will find an essential difference between 

 the two frames. Nails could be used instead nf staples in any of the 

 staple-spaced frames, but it wouldn't make them .Miller frames. The 

 Miller frame has top-bar, end-bars, and bottuiji-bar all of the same 

 width, 1 ", inches. I know of no frame listed that has this feature, 

 andl count it of some importance. It prevents the building of comb 



