522 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 28, 1904. 



working well. I overhauled them and found a very small, 

 inferior queen, hardly as large as a small worker, with two 

 or three small patches of brood. I destroyed the queen and 

 ordered one ; on its arrival I arranged to introduce her, and 

 then discovered a large, nice-looking queen hidden in the 

 entrance of the hive. What would you say the trouble was 

 that those queens did not lay ? 



3. I had another colony that was a little weak. About 

 the first of May I discovered the bees had commenced to rob 

 it. I closed the hive and moved it into a new place, and 

 had no more trouble of this kind. Several times afterwards 

 I opened the hive and found a nice-looking queen with 

 one or two patches of brood, perhaps three or four inches 

 square ; I thought she would build up in time, but to-day 

 (July 2) I opened the hive again, and found the queen. All 

 the brood had hatched and no signs of eggs or brood. Do 

 you think the queen was injured at the time they attempted 

 to rob the hive, or what is the trouble ? 



4. If I should give them a frame of brood will they rear 

 a queen ? and should the old queen be destroyed before 

 giving the brood ? 



5. What would you do with such a colony ? 



Maine. 

 Answers. — 1. Answering your question in the most 

 general way, I should say to prevent after-swarming, so as 

 to keep the force of the colony together for super-work. Of 

 course, along with that should go the thousand and one 

 things that are taught in the books of instruction on bee- 

 keeping. If you have not one of these you are doing your- 

 self a wrong. .If there is any specific point in this connec- 

 tion upon which you desire further light, I shall be glad to 

 try again. 



2. Without knowing more particulars I can only guess 

 that the small amount of brood present was all sealed, that 

 the old queen had been absent for some time, and that the 

 young queen you found the last time had not yet begun 

 to lay. 



3. It would be nothing strange that the queen should 

 be injured in a robbing affray, but if there was present 

 only one or two patches of brood three or four inches square 

 shortly after the removal, it is likely the queen was poor in 

 spite of her good looks. 



4. The queen should be killed, and then the bees will 

 rear a queen from young brood given them. 



5. Do just what you have suggested, and in addition it 

 would be well to give with the frame of brood the adhering 

 bees, for they would be in better condition to feed the royal 

 larv* than bees that have had nothing to feed. Of course, 

 if you had a queen, or a sealed queen-cell to give, that 

 would be better. 



What is a Good Honey-Yield ?— Separators— Buck- 

 wheat— Price of Honey. 



This is a wonderful honey-year in Missouri. White 

 clover has been in bloom for-two months, and will reach 

 nearly three months of continued honey-flow. 



1. What number of pounds of honey is considered good 

 for one colony of bees to gather ? My No. 1 colony will 

 reach 1S6 pounds, with buckwheat just coming into bloom, 

 and there were only 3 pints of bees in this hive April 23. 



2. Do you approve of the separators in supers ? I do 

 not. I have two supers of honey before me now, just taken 

 off, one with and one without the division-boards, and I 

 find the bees have fastened the sections nearly all over to 

 the board ; and another thing, it is almost impossible to get 

 all the young drones out, some of them having been sealed 

 up inside, and I find it takes longer for the bees to fill up. I 

 prefer one big room for the sections. 



3. Is there any noticeable difference between the Italian 



and hybrid drones ? If there is, then some of my hybrid 

 drones are going in and out of the hive of Italians. 



4. I have two kinds of buckwheat, one the silverhuU 

 and the other the Japanese, and I am j^oing to time them, 

 and see which bloom lasts the longer. How can I harvest 

 and save the seed ? I have no horse, and have only one 

 acre, but it is very heavy. I want to put it up in sheaves, 

 if I can, and expect to have to flail it out. 



5. I am selling my comb honey at 15 cents per pound or 

 two pounds for 25 cents. Should I sell it for any less ? It 

 is fine, and I use all the best factory bee-supplies. 



6. Do bees have honey and pollen at the same time in 

 their load ? 



7. Do you not think it a good idea to leave the last su- 

 per filled this fall, on the hive, to make sure of not having 

 to feed for winter ? 



May you live long .' Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. That's a very hard question to answer. 

 An average yield in one place may be very different from 

 an average yield in another place. Perhaps it is not far 

 out of the way to say that an average yield for the whole 

 country may be about 35 pounds per colony. But that's 

 only a guess, and I'm not ready to defend it vigorously. 

 Certainly you ought not to feel sad over a yield of 156 

 pounds, with buckwheat to follow. 



2. I most certainly approve of separators for sections 

 that are to be packed for shipping. If the sections are in- 

 tended for home use, it is as well to have no separators. I 

 have no trouble with sections being built to separators, but 

 hives are level from side to side. Bottom starters help, too. 



3. Drones are very irregular in appearance, and you 

 may find in a hybrid colony drones just like those in a pure 

 colony. But it isn't anything strange if you find drones 

 from one hive going into another hive. 



4. It's no great trick to harvest it, I think, although 

 I've had no experience. It does not ripen any too evenly, 

 so you must not wait for all seed to ripen, but cut as soon 

 as the first is ripe. If possible, do all cutting and handling 

 in the morning when dew is on, so the seed will not shell 

 out. If I remember rightly, Pennsylvania farmers used to 

 tie it up, not in the same kind of bundles as wheat or rye, 

 but each bundle made a shock by itself, the butt-ends rest- 

 ing on the ground, and the bundle being tied close up to 

 the top. 



5. Each market is a law unto itself, but if you are re- 

 tailing at the price you name that certainly seems low 

 enough, if not too low. 



6. I think it is the common thing for bees to carry both 

 pollen and nectar at the same time. 



7. It's an excellent thing for the bees, but rather ex- 

 pensive. Better take off sections a little earlier, and have 

 some extra frames of sealed honey. If you want supers on 

 for the sake of wintering, let them be without sections. 



Thanks for your kind wish. My good wife takes such 

 excellent care of me that I'm not likely to be carried off in 

 the flower of my youth. 



A Rather Long Queen. 



Enclosed find a testimonial. Did you ever see a queen 

 two inches long ? Illinois. 



Answer. — No, I never saw a queen two inches long. 

 I marvel that any queen-breeder should have on his price- 

 list a testimonial saying that a queen ' measured fully two 

 inches long." After receiving your letter I spent some 

 time trying to measure a queen that v :is of good size. She 

 did not very kindly aid me in my que-t for knowledge, but 

 as nearly as I could tell by holding a ule over her during 

 the very short time she was willing t .-,tand still, I think 

 she was about seven-eighths of an inci long. 



