392 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 20, 1901. 



nice. When that capacity is gone the man has degenerated. 

 Pain is usually an evil thing ; but sometimes it is a good thing. 

 It would be "money in their pockets," and chips of salvation 

 in their souls, if certain persons could feel real pain in seeing 

 how their apiaries look. Very few of us fail to be influenced 

 in some degree by the idea of a future life ; and in the light 

 of that hope it is a shocking beastiality to allow ourselves to 

 lose our faculties. And it is a fool's flippancy to assume that 

 some power over beyond will set right again all those inner 

 qualities which we should have preserved and cultivated our- 

 selves. 



It is not likely that Prof. Cook intended to throw into 

 very great prominence the idea of surpassing our neighbors. 

 That should hardly be the leading thought. Do well, and 

 then you will surpass all that do ill. If you have many 

 wealthy and tasteful neighbors, presumably you can not sur- 

 pass them all. and the attempt to do so will make you an ill- 

 doer in the line of undue expense and neglect of things more 

 important. In so far as we can rightfully take pleasure in 

 being first, we may say, Blessed are those who don't live in 

 Kalamazoo — blessed are those who live in Valley-hack : 

 Much easier to be first in Valley-hack than in Kalamazoo. 

 Did you ever notice in railroad traveling how sordid- and 

 unattractive things look for miles and miles, even in regions 

 where you rather expected nice views? Well, my apiary and 

 garden is in the Valley-hack which faces car windows : and it 

 did me lots of good to hear of one of the car-hands remark- 

 ing, "This is the nicest place we pass on our route" — plots of 

 vegetables (and weeds) with beds of phlox between, and 

 hives of bees, half hidden by trees, for background. 



\ Questions and Answers. | 



CONDnCTKD BY 



DR. C. O. MILLER, Marengo, ni. 



tThe Qnestions 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 



Management for Increase and Honey. 



I have an apiary of 70 colonies, and would like to in- 

 crease them to 140 this season. I would also like to g-et as 

 much honey as possible at the same time (mostly extracted l. 

 I have enough brood-comb on hand to give each one almost 

 a complete hive of comb. I have also abundance of ex- 

 tractiug-combs, and a good many sections full of nice, 

 white comb. The surplus obtained in this locality is from 

 white clover, linden and goldenrod. The prospects for a 

 good flow from linden are excellent. Supposing- this to be 

 your own case, how would you proceed to obtain the best 

 results? ■ ■ Minnesota. 



Answer.— I don't know what will be the best way for 

 j'ou. What is best for one person may not be best for 

 another. What may be best for you in one place may not be 

 best in another. On the whole, probably the very best way 

 would be for you to study carefully all you can find in text- 

 books and bee-papers so as to be familiar with the whole 

 subject, and then block out your own plans. It may be 

 that your best plan will be to allow each colony to send out 

 one natural swarm, and prevent after-swarms' by the plan 

 given so many times in this department, which may again 

 be given here for the sake of the newcomers who will need 

 it about this time of the year : 



W^hen a swarm issues hive it and set the hive on the 

 old stand, setting the old hive close beside it. A week later 

 move the hive to a new stand. That will strengthen the 

 swarm, and it will so weaken the old colony that it will give 

 up all further thought of swarming. Of course, the swarm 

 is what will give the crop of honey, and if an excluder is 

 put between hive and super the super should be put on as 

 soon as the swarm is hived. If no excluder is used, then 

 the super should not be put on for a day or two for fear the 

 queen may go up into it. 



It is possible you may prefer to take matters into your 

 own hands, for left to themselves you are not sure that 

 every colony will decide to swarm. This plan may suit 

 you : Take from No. 1 all its brood-frames but one, brush- 

 ing all, or nearly all, the bees back into No. 1. Fill up No. 

 1 with empty brood-combs or frames of foundation. Put 

 the frames of brood in a hive we will call No. 3, and set No. 



3 in place of No. 2, removing No. 2 to a new stand. Do this 

 in the forenoon, unless you do it in the afternoon at a time 

 when large numbers of the bees are out for a play-spell. 

 For a day or two all the field-bees that go out from No. 2 to 

 forage will on their return enter No. 3. If you have made 

 no other provision for young queens. No. 3 will take the 

 matter in charge, and will start a number of queen-cells. 

 About a day after forming No. 3, take from No. 1 the frame 

 of brood that you left there, and give it to No. 3, of course, 

 giving No. 1 foundation or comb to replace it. (If you do- 

 not leave No. 1 this frame of brood, the bees may be dis- 

 couraged and desert the empty hive, and if you leave it 

 more than a day or so they may swarm.) In seven, eight, 

 or nine days after forming No. 3, take from it one more 

 than half its combs with the adhering bees, putting them 

 in a hive we will call No. 4, setting No. 4 on a new stand. 

 About a week later than this take from No. 2 frames of 

 brood, and give to No. 3 and No. 4 one. two, or three to 

 each, depending on the strength of the different numbers. 

 This will strengthen your newly-formed colonies, and it 

 will prevent No. 2 from swarming. Circumstances may 

 make it desirable to depart from these instructions, and 

 they are not given with the feeling that it will be right to 

 follow them in all cases. For if No. 2 should not be strong 

 enough to n>ake swarming feared, it might be better to take 

 no brood from it. trusting Nos. 3 and 4 to build up without 

 any help, and getting as much honey as possible from No. 2. 



Colonies Visited by Robber-Bees. 



The season here is excellent for honey. Bees are work- 

 ing early and late, but fail to get ahead — in fact, are losing^ 

 on account of robber-bees from a neighbor's. To make 

 sure, I closed my hives (two in number) yesterday, and the 

 robbers were thick ; being a different type of bees it is easy 

 to know where they are from. Will you kindly tell me how- 

 to destroy or get rid of them ? Also, what causes bees to 

 go robbing ? 



My bees have not swarmed this season, while the 

 robbers have swarmed twice, and are filling super after 

 super. We are told the owner feeds the bees to make them 

 rob. Subscriber. 



Answer. — Your neighbor could not start bees to rob- 

 bing yours by feeding his bees in his own yard. Putting- 

 feed in your yard would do more in that direction. Bees. 

 start to robbing when flowers are scarce for them to work 

 on, and when a weak or queenless colony is within reach, 

 especially if the hive of such colony is too open, so that the 

 bees can not defend themselves. Exposure of frames of 

 honey, as when hives are opened in a time of scarcity, will 

 help to start robbing. .\s has been said lately in this 

 department, if A's bees rob B's bees, B is the one to blame, 

 and not A. You have no more right to kill your neighbor's 

 bees that come to rob yours than you have to kill his cow 

 that passes by on the highway. The thing to do is to keep 

 your colonies so strong, or so closely shut in their hives, 

 that robbers get no chance for a start at them ; and. if rob- 

 bing does begin, resort to the plans mentioned in your text- 

 book, such as closing the entrance so as to allow only one 

 bee at a time to pass, and piling up against it wet grass or 

 hay ; seeing that a good queen is present, etc. 



Preventing Increase— Other Questioiis. 



1. How would it do, to prevent increase, when the bees 

 swarm get the queen and kill her, or take her away from 

 the swarm and return the bees to the original colony ? 



2. When the bees are smoked they fill themselves. 

 What do they do with that honey ? Do they retain or re- 

 deposit it where it came from ? 



3. Does it matter whether the bee-space is regular 

 between the lower frames and the sections above ? 



4. Will the bees work above when the spaces between 

 the frames and the sections are irregular, or partly closed 

 by misfit of the sections ? Mississippi. 



Answers. — 1. It will not do at all, if you stop at that. 

 It will do all right, if you follow up the matter in the right 

 way. If you return the swarm without the queen, in about 

 eight days the bees will be sure to swarm again with a 

 young queen, and perhaps two days later another swarm 

 will issue, and there may even be three or more swarms. 

 To prevent that you may do one of several ways. You may 

 return each swarm as fast as it issues, and when all the 

 queens have hatched out the swarming will cease. You 



