July 4, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



425 



the woods ? The entrances both faced the same way, and 

 were close together. The new hive contained full frames 

 of comb with a little honey in some of them. 



Connecticut. 



Answer. — I don't know, but I'm afraid they went to 

 the woods. At any rate, without knowing anything about 

 the cases except that 100 large swarms after being hived 

 had deserted their hives, I should feel pretty safe in saying 

 that not more than one or two of them had gone back to the 

 hive from which they came. You ought to be able to tell 

 something about it by the appearance of the old colony. If 

 the swarm did not return to it, the scarcity of bees ought to 

 be easily noticed. The position of the hive had nothing to 

 do in the case, except that it would help to make the bees 

 desert if the hive stood in the hot sun. The chief factor in 

 inducing a swarm to desert its hive is heat. Be sure that 

 the hive is very open at the bottom, and for a day or so it is 

 well to have the cover a little open, and if the hive does not 

 stand in a shady place use some means to shade it, if noth- 

 ing better to cover it with an armful of long grass or hay, 

 anchored down with two or three sticks of stove-wood. 

 Some make a practice of giving to a swarm a frame of 

 brood. 



Self-Hiving Arrangements for Swarms. 



Can bees, when swarming, be transferred to a new hive 

 by closing the opening in the old and new hive so as to be 

 queen-tight, except a wire gauze connecting the two hives 

 through which the queen could pass into the new hive, and 

 the worker-bees to pass out and in as usual ? If this plan 

 would not work at all, please say what the objections would 



be. W.\SHINGTON. 



Answer. — Several different arrangements have been 

 gotten up on the principle you mention. I don't know 

 enough to tell you exactly as to the objections, but I think 

 none of them have given enough satisfaction to be con- 

 tinued. 



Are Bees Taxed in Wisconsin ' 



Are bees assessable for taxation in Wisconsin ? 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — I don't know. A lawyer, or an assessor, 

 ought to be able to tell you. There is no reason why they 

 should not be taxed as well as other property. 



Wants to Be a Big Bee-Keeper. 



I am a boy of 16, and I love to handle bees. I have an 

 apiary of six colonies, and would like to enlarge it to 75 or 

 100 by next spring. I can buy bees in this county at from 

 50 cents to $3.00 per colony in box-hives, and I think there 

 will be a boom in bee-keeping in this part of the country in 

 a couple of years, as the common red clover has gone out of 

 existence, and the famous alfalfa is taking its place. There 

 will be thousands of acres in alfalfa. My apiary is situated 

 on the banks of Big Pipe creek, and its fertile valley will 

 yield acres of alfalfa. The farmers can't get a stand of red 

 clover any more, and almost every farmer has a patch of 

 alfalfa started for seed, and in three years the Big Pipe 

 valley will be all alfalfa. Will the bees work on alfalfa in 

 this country ? How can I start a big apiary here ? I have 

 the bee-fever, and nothing will stop it but hundreds of colo- 

 nies of bees. Maryland. 



Answer. — Alfalfa is grown on a large scale in the 

 West, and many tons of alfalfa honey are secured, but I 

 have never known of its yielding honey anywhere east of 

 the Mississippi. To decide the matter for your locality, 

 wait till alfalfa has been in bloom a few days, then watch 

 to see whether bees are busily engaged upon it on bright, 

 hot days. 



If you want to run your six colonies up into the hun- 

 dreds, it will be advisable for you to gain a full knowledge 

 of the business by carefully studying one or all of the books 

 on bee-keeping you can get, and also gaining practical 

 knowledge by actual work with the bees. By studying a 

 good bee-book you will learn something about the principles 

 of bee-keeping that will allow you safely to take into your 

 own hands the matter of increase if you do not prefer in- 

 crease by natural swarming. If you want to increase from 

 six to 75 or 100 this year, it should be mainly by purchase. 

 Aside from'what you purchase, it will hardly be advisable 



for you to increase the six to more than 18, and 12 would be 

 better. Your increase of knowledge and experience should 

 keep pace with your increase in bees, if indeed it does not 

 outrun it, and unless you have had considerable experience 

 with bees it might be better not to increase this year, either 

 by purchase or otherwise, to more than 25 or 50. When you 

 have thoroughly studied your text-book there will be ques- 

 tions arising to trouble you, and it will be a pleasure to 

 help you out ^n this department. 



Any Nectar in Mullen? 



Is there any nectar in the mullen-bloom ? Iowa. 



Answer. — I don't know. I never saw a bee at work on 

 it, but it is not plenty where I live. 



Requeening by Hiving Swarms. 



I have some colonies of bees that are building up 

 slowly, the queens being probably old or inferior. If I re- 

 move the queens and in a day or two hive a new swarm in 

 with them, would you approve or disapprove of this plan 

 of requeening them ? If it meets your approval, would you 

 give them a first or second swarm ? Pennsylvani.a. 



Answer. — It would probably work all right. Unless 

 the colonies are very small it would be as well to use second 

 swarms. 



*-•-♦ 



The Gehring Bee-Veil. 



A correspondent writes in defense of the Gehring bee- 

 veil, referring to page 313, and says that he has used just 

 such a veil himself in the hottest days without inflicting 

 punishment on himself, and thinks it "the all-around best 

 for beginners." He says : 



" A beginner doesn't want a patent bee-veil, nor an expensive 

 one, nor one that is hard to make, bunglesome to wear, or easily torn 

 when worn among trees and bushes. A veil, the whole of which is 

 made of bobbinet or cape-lace, may do very well for a regular bee- 

 keeper who has clear sailing every day in his'well-kept apiary ; but it 

 will not do so well for a man or woman needing one only occasionally, 

 and then perhaps in climbing a tree after a swarm. Did you ever try 

 a Gehring bee-veil, Doctor '. If not, your criticism is not up to your 

 usual grade." 



I may say in reply, that I hardly see why a beginner 

 should not have the same kind of a veil as a regular bee- 

 keeper. The bobbinet veil I spoke of wearing is not pat- 

 ented, nor expensive, it is simpler to make than the 

 Gehring, and it is not bunglesome to wear. I suppose it is 

 more easily torn than cheese-cloth, but I have little trouble 

 with its tearing, even when climbing trees. I do not know 

 that there is likely to be clearer sailing in the apiary of the 

 beginner than in that of the veteran. The beginner in 

 bee-keeping is likely to have his place just as well kept as 

 one who has kept bees for years, and in either case I should 

 rather have a veil that requires care to prevent tearing, 

 than one that would be uncomfortably warm. 



No, I do not remember ever to have worn a veil of 

 cheese-cloth. Neither have I ever worn one made of woolen 

 flannel. But I know without wearing a woolen-flannel veil 

 that it would be warmer than one of cheese-cloth. Do you 

 really think I can not know that a cheese-cloth veil would 

 be warmer than one of open lace-work, without actually 

 wearing it ? For me the most open veil I have ever worn is 

 a punishment on a very hot day, and I doubt that I am 

 more sensitive in that respect than most persons. So I 

 should not advise the general use of cheese-cloth for bee- 

 veils, either for a beginner or a veteran. If any one is so 

 exceptionally constituted that he will feel no inconvenience 

 on the hottest days from a cheese-cloth veil, by all means 

 he should use the closer, firmer material. 



C. c. Miller. 



Why Not Help a Little— both your neighbor bee-keep- 

 ers and the old American Bee Journal — by sending to us the 

 names and addresses of such as you may know do not now 

 get this journal ? We will be glad to send them sample 

 copies, so that they may become acquainted with the paper^ 

 and subscribe for it, thus putting themselves in the line of 

 success with bees. Perhaps you can get them to subscribe, 

 send in their dollars, and secure for your trouble some of 

 the premiums we are constantly offering ,as rewards for 

 such effort. 



