June 23, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



443 



FIRE S MOKED U S OUT ! 8 



We got prett}- badly smoked in a fire in the power-house in which we're 

 located. Water damaged our stock-room to quite an extent. . . . But the insur- 

 ance companies made good on it ... .So we're going to give our customers the 

 benefit of it. 



400,000 SECTIONS SMOKED UP. 



They were all crated and the edges only were discolored. We'll let them 

 go for less than half while they last. Crates hold 500. We won't break a crate. 

 $2.25 a thousand ; SI. 15 a crate. Sections are l/z, lu, and 1% inches. 



Smokers of every sort slightly discolored by smoke — one-third off. 



A number of Extractors were smoked up. All they'll need is a good 

 scouring. They'll go for one-third off. 



Many Hives were smoked a little— they'll go for one-third off while 

 A thev last. Better write to=day. 



O MINNESOTA BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLY CO., Minneapolis, Minn. 



between bottom-bars and end-bars. The bottom-bar of the Miller 

 frame is in two parts, which lends itself to the plan of having founda- 

 tion with splints built down solid to the bottom-bar. If you know of 

 anj catalog that has thiek-top-bar staple-spaced frames with these 

 features, I should be much obliged if you will give me the name. 



Combs Built Crisscross— Introduclns Queens. 



1. I bought a colony of bees in a 10-frame Langstroth hive, with 

 the bottom-board nailed fast. I want to Italianize them, but I find 

 the combs built diagonally, so I cannot get the frames out. What is 

 the best way to proceed ! The colony cast a swarm just before I got 

 them. 



2. How would it do, in introducing a strange queen, to shake the 

 bees in front of the hive and let the new queen run in with the bees, 

 after cutting out all cells? Will it be safe? Kkntccky. 



Answers. — 1. Cut away the attachments of the combs to the 

 sides of the hive with a long-bladed knife. Likely you haven't such a 

 knife as it would require a blade 10 inches long. A hand-saw will do 

 very well. Now turn the hive upside down, dumping it up and down 

 if neiessary, and lift the hive off the now inverted frames. You can 

 then cut away at the frames to your heart's content. Possibly the 

 combs, at least some of them, are so nearly straight that by a little 

 cutting you can crowd them correctly into their frames. If the worl, 

 is done 21 days after the time the prime swarm was cast, there will be 

 no worker-brood in the way, and if the combs are too crooked it is 

 possible that the best thing may be to melt up the combs. 



2. If the colony has been queenless two or more days, and if honey 

 is coming in freely, it is pretty safe, but a little risky for a valuable 

 queen. 



*-*-*^ 



Keeping Last Year's Comb Honey. 



1. I have 40 shipping-cases filled with a tine quality of clover honey 

 of last year's production, left over. Please advise me what to do with 

 it? Shall I sell it it I can get .*2.40 per case, or would you advise me 

 to hold it over until the present season is ended > 



2. If the latter, how can I keep it from moth, or wax-worms' I 

 have a large box made of matched pine flooring that is very tightly 

 fitted together, so that moth cannot get into it. If kept in a dry shop 

 this summer in that box, would it be likely to sweat or spoil in any 

 way so long as so kept? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. It is a hard matter to advise without knowing your 

 market, especially your home market. The probability is that .*2.4'i 

 per case of 24 pounds will be better than to keep it over with the risk 

 of granulation. 



3. If it is entirely free from worms now, putting it where no moth 

 can enter will keep it safe on that score, and kept as you mention 

 there should be no harm befall it except granulation. If any worms 

 are present now, treat with bisulphide of carbon, or sulphur, anl 

 again' two or three weeks later, and if then confined where moths can 

 not enter, it should not be further troubled in that way. 



Perhaps a aueenless Colony. 



I have only 1 colony, and there is not a particle of honey Jio 

 single cell of brood in the hive. The bottom -board was nailed to i 

 hive, and I tore it off yesterday and found quite a number of wi 

 worms and a lot of refuse on the bottom-board. The comb seem- 



be all right, and there is a fair number of bees in the hive. About 15 

 days ago I placed an Alley queen and drone trap at the entrance of the 

 hive and caught quite a number of drones. Does a fertile queen come 

 out of the hive at other times than when the.v swarm ; You see that I 

 am thinking that I may have caught the queen in that trap. When 1 

 get the queen, would I better put the Ijees on foundation, or on the 

 combs in the old hive? The combs may be diseased, although they , 

 appear all right. Missouri. 



Answer. — The probability is that a colony is queenless if it has 

 no brood at this time of the year. If so, it is doomed unless it has 

 help. It may be, however, that a young queen is in the hive, and has 

 not yet begun to lay. If you can secure a piece of brood and give to 

 it, it will start queen-cells if no queen is in the hive. You can then 

 get a queen and give to it, if you think there is population enough to 

 be worth saving. Of course, food must be given if it can not gather 

 enough for its daily needs. 



A fertile queen does not leave the hive except when swarming. 

 Even if she did, there would still be sealed brood after only 15 days. 



The combs are very likely all right. 



Swarming Questions. 



1. In putting a hive on top of one where the bees died last winter, 

 will tiie bees swarm as soon as if in single hive? Will they store 

 honey in the lower hive if left that way? Will the queen lay in the 

 lower story, or will she always stay in the original brood-chamber' 



2. After the first swarm leaves the hive, and I desire no more 

 swarms from that hive, will I have to cut out all queen-cells, or must 

 I leave one ? 



3. Has the queen hatched and left her cell when the first swarm 



4. If a swarm issues now, will it cast a swarm this year, if the first 

 new swarm is hived on full sheets of foundation? Michigan. 



Answers.— 1. If the two stories are left, the bees will not swarm 

 so certainly or so soon as with only one story. If a story of combs is 

 put under a colony for the bees to take care of, the empty story is 

 usually taken away before storing begins, when working for comb 

 honey. If the two stories are left, the brood-nest will in most cases 

 be extended into the lower story before any brood is there. 



If working for extracted honey, you can put the queen in the 

 lower story at the beginning of the harvest, putting a queen-excluder 

 between the two stories, and there will be no swarming in the experi- 

 ence of some, but others say it is not a sure preventive. 



3. One must be left, or you will have a queenless colony. 



3. The young queen emerges from her cell a week or so after the 

 issuing of the first swarm. 



4. Generally not, although it sometimes happens, such a swarm 

 being called a " virgin " swarm. 



Please send us Names of Bee -Keepers who do not nov^ 

 g-et the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get them 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



