68 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Feb. 7, 1901. 



grace— confuses the bee. while the hexagon confuses both 

 bee and keeper. Page 20. 



OLD GRIMES AXI> PERFORATED METAL. 



Old Grimes again, eh? Well, well ! Poetry has no 

 power to fulfil itself, evidently. And isn"t he slandering 

 cur craft where he says that few of our extensive bee-keep- 

 ers use perforated metal ? May be he's right, tho. "Spects, 

 in that case, that the executors of our new pure-food law 

 will get around to their cases sooner or later, and treat them 

 to a jolly fine for putting honey on the market that is mixt 

 with larval food and juices — and three cheers for the pure- 

 food law I Page 20. 



\ duestioos and Answers« ! 



CONDUCTED 



r>H. C. O. AIILLER. Alareng-o, 111. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Feeding Bees in Winter. 



I have a lot of bees that will need feeding. I read of 

 bee-candy. Where can I get it ? and how is it fed to the 

 bees ? I have old-fashioned hives without sections. Would 

 it do to put the candy underneath, or how will it be best to 

 use it ? Subscriber. 



Answer.— It may be you can get bee-candy from deal- 

 ers in supplies, but each bee-keeper generally makes it for 

 himself, and you will find instructions for making in your 

 text-book. [See page 59 for directions for making the 

 " Good" candy. — Editor.] 



From what you say, your hives are probably box-hives, 

 and there is no chance to feed them above. If the weather 

 is such in your locality that bees are flying every few days, 

 it will be all right to put the candy underneath! Crowd it 

 close up to the combs, so the bees can crawl directly from 

 the combs upon the candy. Put the candy therein the 

 evening, and contract the entrance for a few days, so the 

 robbers will not trouble. If you are in a cold locality, 

 where bees may not be flying for some time, take vour bees 

 in the cellar (if they are not there already), turn' the bee- 

 hive upside down, and lay the candy on the combs. 



How Many Bees Die During Winter? Wintering in a 

 Warm Room. 



1. How many bees in a good colony will die during the 

 winter months, or before the flowers come in the spring ? 



2. I have two colonies in a room upstairs, which is 

 heatea from the kitchen stove. The bees were placed there 

 because their storehouse of honey wasnot suflicient to carry 

 them thru. Should they be kept in darkness, or have the 

 light? I have a glass box over them, so they can fly 

 around a little, and also carry out the dead bees. Some 

 think they will not winter in this way, but they seem to be 

 doing well, and are quite ambitious. New York. 



Answers.— 1. It is a hard thing to give a definite an- 

 swer. One colony may lose ten times as many as another, 

 the two sitting side by side. A given colony may lose ten 

 times as many bees underunfavorable conditions as it would 

 under the most favorable conditions. One colony may be 

 composed mainly of old bees whose '• span of life is nearly 

 run," another may have a large number of young bees. So 

 you see it's a hard matter to say how many will die, and it's 

 no great wonder that the books" don't try "to tell us. About 

 as near a definite answer as they could come would be to 

 say, " A whole lot." If I were forced to give some kind of 

 an answer, I think I should say at a guess that you ought 

 not to complain much if not more than half of them died, 

 and feel exceedingly thankful if only a fourth of the colony 

 died. 



2. Look here, my good friend, if that colony comes out 

 alive in the spring, you can be put in a glass case in a 

 museum and exhibited as the man that brought thru the 

 winter alive a colony of bees in a room well warmed and 



lighted, the bees having the opportunity to flj' within a 

 limited space when they had a disposition to do so. It is 

 true that some cases have been reported in which bees have 

 been successfully wintered in a warm room above ground, 

 but as a rule it is considered that in such a room kept dark 

 thruout the winter, a colonj- of bees will be found dead in 

 the spring, and if the room is light they will be deader yet. 

 It might be well for you to darken the room, give the bees 

 some honey or candy, and in two or three days later return 

 them to the cellar. 



Wintering Troubles. 



I wish you would tell me what to do with my bees. For 

 awhile the temperature was at 42 degrees, and one of my 

 colonies started to rear young drones and consumed their 

 honej-. They had a young queen which I could not get to 

 lay last fall. I fed them for a week, and it didn't do any 

 good, so I thought I would unite them in the spring, but as 

 they used up most of their honey I just took the cover off 

 and the bottom-board of another that had plenty of honey, 

 atid gave them a IHtle tobacco-smoke, but this did no good. 

 There was about two quarts of dead bees in a few days. I 

 don't know whether the smoke killed them, or whether they 

 killed each other. Then, the temperature went down to 35 

 degrees, and my bees were all quiet. But now it is down to 

 30 degrees, and they are making a little noise. 



Iowa. 



Answer. — Probably about all is done that can be done. 

 The colony that began rearing drones was most likely 

 queenless, or had a bad queen, being worthless in either 

 case, and was killed by the bees that had a good queen. 

 The bad colony is now dead, for which you need not greatly 

 mourn, and the other colony may be little the worse for the 

 scrimmage. 



Peed-Bags and Burlap for Packing. 



How will old feed-bags or burlap do for packing outside 

 cases, 5 or 6 inches larger than the hives? I have only 3 

 colonies this winter packt with burlap and with hay-chaff 

 in outside cases, and a super under the hive for a space be- 

 low. Maine. 



Answer. — They will make good packing, but look out 

 that the mice don't find it too comfortable a place for their 

 nests. 



Bees Troubled with Moth-Worms. 



What can I do to stop millers from getting into the 

 hives and destroying the whole colony ? I have had five 

 colonies to share the same fate. They seem like the com-, 

 mon little white millers, and then there are vrorms. some 

 an inch long. They are packt in like sardines in a box. 

 Father had bees for 50 years, but never had anything like 

 this. As he is not here to teach me about bees, I will have 

 to depend upon the books. New Jersey. 



Answer. — When worms spin their cocoons in a hive 

 and are packt like sardines in a bos, the case is pretty bad. 

 The first thing, however, that it is important for you to get 

 into your head, is that the worms are rather a result than a 

 cause of the trouble. In a strong colony of bees, the worms 

 never get much of a foothold, for the bees will keep them 

 cleaned out without any attention on j'our part. A weak 

 colony of black bees may allow the worms to get in, but if 

 the bees are Italian even a weak colony will keep the worms 

 at bay. You may give the bees some help by lifting out 

 the combs and picking out the worms with a wire-nail. 

 Aside from this about all you have to do is to see that no 

 colony becomes queenless or weak, and to try to have as 

 much Italian blood in your bees as possible. 



The Chicago Convention Picture is a fine one. It is 

 nearly 8x10 inches in size, mounted on heavy cardboard 

 10x12 inches. It is, we believe, the largest group of bee- 

 keepers ever taken in one picture. It is sent, postpaid, for 

 75 cents; or we can send the American Bee Journal one 

 year and the picture — both for $1.60. It would be a nice 

 picture to frame. We have not counted them, but think 

 there are nearly 200 bee-keepers shown. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work 

 ing for. Look at them. 



