May 30, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



345 



I Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER. 21/areng-o, 111. 



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



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



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Perhaps in a Starving Condition. 



I have wintered my bees all right, but I have noticed 

 for several mornings that the full grown young bees come 

 out until the ground in front of the hives is covered with 

 them ; and they won't go back to the hive, but crawl around 

 until they die away. These bees must either come out at 

 night or very early in the morning. Illinois. 



Ansvvkk. — It is possible your bees are in a starving con- 

 dition. If you find no stores in the hive, feed at once. 

 Sometimes a colony swarms out in spring because short of 

 stores or for some other reason, and if the queen does not 

 go with them they return to the hive leaving the young 

 bees crawling about on the ground. The most you can do 

 is to see that they have stores, and keep the hive as warm 

 as possible by shutting up any cracks and allowing entrance 

 for only a few bees at a time. 



Carrying Queen-Cells a Distance. 



Can queen-cells one or two days before hatching be 

 taken three or four miles if left on the comb ? Have j'ou 

 ever tried this ? Illinois. 



Answer. — Yes, I have tried it successfully a number of 

 times. I have taken to an out-apiary a queenless colony 

 with a good queen-cell on each frame, put each frame with 

 its adhering bees in an empty hive as a starter for a 

 nucleus, and obtained good queens thereby. I suppose, 

 however, you mean to take the queen-cell without bees. 

 That I have also done occasionally with success. The cell 

 should be well advanced, and must be kept warm and not 

 subjected to severe jarring. Pack in cotton in a little box, 

 and carry the box in the vest pocket or some pocket close to 

 the body so it will not chill. 



Poisoning a Neiglibor's Bees a Crime. 



1. When I cook and prepare poison like Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, etc., for my plants and shrubs on my own property, 

 and my neighbor's bees come and eat it, and are killed 

 thereby, can I get into trouble for it ? 



2. When my neighbor's bees come and rob mine, kill 

 them and take their honey, and I in a chemical way kill the 

 robber-bees on my own property, is there anything wrong 

 in it when I thus protect my property ? Illinois. 



Answeks. — 1. The man that cooks poison that his 

 neighbor's bees may get is cooking trouble for himself, 

 most decidedly. The idea that a man can do wrong to 

 others just because on his own property is a pernicious 

 mistake. If a man comes on ray property that I don't want 

 there, he has no business there, and I may order him off ; 

 but if I shoot him because he doesn't go I'm sure to get 

 into trouble. Still tuore have I no right to destroy my 

 neighbor's bees when they come on my property, for bees 

 have a right wherever they can fly, and if I put poison 

 where they will take it I am responsible. There is, how- 

 ever, no danger in spraying plants and shrubs unless they 

 are in bloom, and an intelligent man will understand that 

 it is of no use but a harm to the plants to spray at that 

 time. When not in bloom, there is no danger to the bees, 

 because the bees visit the plants only when in bloom. < )f 

 course if the poison were sweetened the bees would visit 

 them any time, but the sweetening would be of no use to 

 the plants, and a man that would sweeten the poison for 

 the sake of poisoning the bees ought to suffer the full pen- 

 alty of the law. 



2. Most assuredly there would be great wrong in it. If 

 your bees come to rob my bees, it is not your business to 

 keep them away, but it is my business to manage ray bees 

 so that no other bees will rob them. If I leave honey stand- 



ing around so as to start robbing, then I am to blame and 

 have done a wrong to myself and to you. If I have weak 

 or queenless colonies, I must protect them or unite them, 

 so robbers will not trouble them. Set it down as a fixed 

 principle that if I allow your bees to rob mine, I am the 

 one to blame, and it is a damage to you to get your bees in 

 the way of robbing, and if I then try to poison your bees I 

 am stooping to so mean a thing that the law ought to 

 handle me pretty roughly. 



Extracting Propolis. 



I have quite an amount of propolis scrapings on hand. 

 What is the best way to extract or melt it ? 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — I suppose your object is to get the beeswax 

 out of it. I'm not sure I know the best way. I once took 

 a dripping-pan filled with it, put it in the oven of the cook- 

 stove, and when all was heated for some time poured or 

 dipped ofi the wax. Possibly if water was added before 

 heating, the wax would rise to the surface and the propolis 

 sink to the bottom. Then when cold it would be easy to 

 lift off the wax. 



Simpson Honey-Plant in Kansas. 



Would the Simpson honey-plant do any good in this 

 dry climate ? The cleome does well here. K.\NS.4S. 



Answer. — Very likely it will grow well enough, but it 

 would be worth while to sow it in waste places only. It is 

 probably not held by any one now that it would pay to 

 occupy tillable land with it. 



Management for Increase. 



I have six colonies of bees which I want to increase to 

 nine, and not allow them to swarm. Three are black and 

 three are Italians, and I want to increase the Italians. My 

 plan is this : Drive the bees with their queen from the 

 Italian hives to new hives with full sheets of foundation, 

 and place on the old stand, and place the old hive in the 

 place of one of the black colonies, removing the colony of 

 black bees to a new place. Do you think this is a good plan 

 for dividing ? Do you think it will keep them from swarm- 

 ing ? ' Minnesota. 



Answer. — Yes, the plan will work. The change should 

 not be made late in the day, lest so few bees enter the hive 

 of brood that it be chilled. Do it early in the day, or still 

 better at the time the bees are out for a play-spell. It 

 would, of course, be better if you could give a queen or 

 queen-cell to the queenless hive, for only field-bees are 

 there, and they are not the best to rear a queen. If moved, 

 however, at time of play-spell, there will be some young 

 bees. If done early in the season (and it would not do to 

 wait late for fear of swarming) there is danger that the 

 removed black colony will soon become strong again and 

 swarm. It will help to prevent this if at the time of 

 removal you shake off into the queenless hive all the bees 

 from three or four frames. If you leave them to rear their 

 own queen, these young bees will be an advantage in that 

 regard. I'^ut there may be danger of swarming from the 

 queenless hive when the cells mature, so you might cut 

 out all cells but one. 



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

 the narae 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 Sl.OO. 



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 SI. 60. It would be a nice 

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

 there are nearly 200 bee-keepers shown. 



