408 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 27, 1901. 



the experience I have had to-day, and the lesson I've had 

 in practical bee-keeping-, I'm ashamed to confess that I 

 have never taken the American Bee Journal as a regular 

 subscriber. The fact is— and perhaps I ought to be 

 ashamed of that, too— I've never before felt, as I now do, 

 that I needed a bee-paper of any kind. My good old father 

 never took any, and he got along- very well with his bees — 

 that is, I always thought so before to-day." 



" You have done no worse in that," I replied, " than 

 hundreds of others are doing all the time, without ever feel- 

 ing a pang of guilt, or showing the least sign of repentance. 

 And most of them are otherwise good and sensible men and 

 women, too, Mr. Bond. The Missouri gentleman I told you 

 about was one of that class of bee-keepers. He sneered at 

 the very idea, when I asked him that same question I've 

 just put to you. But you know what he lost by being wise 

 in his oven conceit, if you haven't forgotten what I told 

 you about his bee-business transactions with me. Why, 

 Mr. Bond, that man actually laughed at me when I tried to 

 convince him, one day, that bees have eyes and could see 

 as well as he or I could. To prove that I was wrong he 

 stepped before the bee-entrance of one of his hives and said : 



" Now. don't you see how these bees run against me as 

 they go and come ? Would they do that if they could see 

 me?" he asked triumphantly. 



" Couldn't you convince him that he was wrong ? Or 

 didn't you want to?" Mr. Bond asked. 



" My friend," I replied, " I didn't even try to do that, 

 because I knew that a man who refused to take a bee-paper, 

 not because he couldn't afford it— that's often a valid ex- 

 cuse — but because bee-papers couldn't teach him anything, 

 was too far gone in conceit to be cured, either by argument 

 or actual demonstration. 



" No, Mr. Bond." I concluded, " it never pays to try to 

 get along successfully in the bee-business, on a large or on 

 a very small scale, without a bee-book to begin with, and a 

 bee-paper to continue on." 



(To be continued.] 



\ Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, Afareng-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.] 



Exchanging Old Colonies With Nuclei. 



I had a mind to form nuclei from a colony that swarmed 

 a week ago. Rather than to destroy queen-cells I thought 

 to form nuclei with them. Then to remove other hives and 

 place these nuclei in their places, but a friend told me if I 

 did, the returning bees would be likely to kill the bees and 

 destroy the queen-cells. Would that likely be the result ? 

 On going through it to-day I found one queen, but three or 

 four cells, and they all empty, so I could not have carried 

 out my project had I wished. It appears I got that idea 

 from Gleanings in Bee-Culture, but haven't it to refer 

 to now. Iowa. 



Answer. — Put a nucleus with a young queen in place of 

 a strong colony, and there is danger that the queen may be 

 killed, but I think it would not be likely that a queen-cell 

 would be disturbed by the returning bees. 



Effect of Too Many Stings May Have to Abandon 

 Bee-Keeping. 



I have been keeping bees three seasons, and had many 

 stings. The spring of 1900 I was troubled with burning 

 and itching for about two months. I thought no more 

 about it, but last March I received quite a lot of stings on 

 the head and face, and now I am troubled terribly with 

 itching, burning, and breaking out over the body as well. 

 The doctors here say it is some kind of poison. I am 65 

 years old. What is my trouble ? 



I visited relatives in east Virginia three years ago, 

 who have many bees. I had rheumatism badly, and they 

 assured me if I would get bees, and work with them, and 

 receive stings freely, the formic acid would certainly cure 



me ; and to my hope I do not have any rheumatism now. 

 I have frequently thought if Dr. Miller would caution be- 

 ginners against too much bee-poison, it would have bene- 

 fited me. 



Let me add that I at first rather encouraged stings. 

 Now I am seeking a remedy to eradicate the poison. I am 

 reasonably sure that tny blood is heavily charged with bee- 

 sting acid. I think Prof. Cook doesn't claim it to be formic 

 acid. Kentucky. 



Answer. — Your case is a very exceptional one, and it is 

 among the possibilities that you may never be able to work 

 with bees without suffering too much inconvenience. No 

 remedy, however, will be needed for the stings received in 

 the past. It is not supposed that the poison remains in the 

 system, and all you need to do is to avoid stings in the 

 future. It is also possible that in time you may become 

 habituated to the stings so as to be able to continue work- 

 ing with bees. It will certainly be well for the present to 

 take some care not to have too many stings, at least until 

 you find that no serious effects result. If you find no abate- 

 ment with time, but every sting bringing just as much suf- 

 fering as ever, then your only course is to give up bee- 

 keeping entirely. 



.*-•-# 



Management for Increase. 



As I am trying the Newman plan of increase it hardly 

 suits me, as he says to put the queen-cells on a new stand. 

 I wonder if that is what he meant, or is it a mistake in the 

 print ? He says remove the frame on which you find the 

 queen and three other frames of brood, and put into a new 

 hive on the old stand, removing the old hive to a new 

 stand, then put in a queen-cell 24 hours later. Don't you 

 think that would depopulate the old colony so there would 

 be danger of the cell getting chilled ? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — There might be some danger in the direction 

 you indicate. Do this : Put the queen with half the con- 

 tents of the hive on a nevr stand, and a day or two later let 

 the two hives swap places, giving a cell to the queenless 

 part. In that case, as you put the queen on the new stand, 

 enough bees for safety will remain with her, and by the 

 time you make the exchange some of the bees will have 

 marked the new location so as to return from the field to it, 

 and the part without the queen will have learned their 

 queenlessness by the time the exchange is made, so that 

 there will be no danger of their deserting the brood. 



Feed for Weak Colonies— Foul-Brood Question. 



1. Is there a good substitute for honey with which to 

 feed weak colonies? If so, what? 



2. In what way does foul brood manifest itself ? There 

 are young bees lying on the outside of some of my hives. 

 They are still white, and do not have their wings formed 

 yet. Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — 1. Granulated sugar with water, or a syrup 

 therefrom, is probably the best. In the spring, after bees 

 are flying daily, almost any sweet that bees will take can 

 be used. 



2. It is hardly the place to give here all about foul brood. 

 Consult your text-book on bees. But you need not fear foul 

 brood because young bees still white are lying outside the 

 hive. If there are only a few, it may be the work of wax- 

 worms. More likely, especially if there are many of them, 

 the trouble is starvation. In that case, you will find some 

 of the skins carried out with the insides sucked out. 



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

 the name 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 $1.00. 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 

 of this song. 



