Aug-. IS. 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



519 



the numerous queen-breeders that then sprung- up all over 

 the country, and hence many were led to experiment to g^et 

 queens mated within the hive, or in some other enclosure 

 where they could meet only selected drones. A number of 

 persons claimed that they liad succeeded in getting queens 

 mated within the hive, and also in a tent with just such 

 drones as they selected. But the more reliable apiarian 

 teachers did not come forward to endorse these claims, and 

 the general bee-keeping public were slow to believe that 

 the thing had ever been done. As the Italians increased in 

 the country, and the blacks decreased in proportion, there 

 was not so much danger of queens mating with black 

 drones, and as to prevent this was then the only object of 

 seeking fertilization in confinement, the subject was not con- 

 sidered of so much importance. Although Mr. King claimed 

 success with his tent, he said as far back as 1.S72, that he 

 would not use his tent the nest year, as the place where he 

 intended to rear queens had but a few colonies of black 

 bees in the neighborhood, and these few he intended to 

 Italianize, and he would not consider it necessary to take 

 his tent with him. 



Thus the matter has been suffered to lie dormant these 

 many years, until Mr. Hutchinson heard of Mr. Davette 

 and his tent, and published an account of it a few months 

 ago. It is now considered that the Italian bee itself, and 

 probably all other races of bees, can be improved in their 

 honey-getting qualities, and in their dispositions, by select 

 breeding ; and it is claimed that much has already been 

 done in improvement of the Italians by selection of queens 

 only, and it is believed that much greater improvements 

 could be made if the drones could be selected also. Hence 

 the new interest now found in this old subject of fertilizing 

 queens in confinement with select drones. It is to be hoped 

 that the thing will be fully and fairly tested, and all doubt 

 removed from the possibility, or else the whole thing con- 

 demned as impracticable. 



Mr. R. M. Argo was another intelligent Kentuckj' bee- 

 keeper, who sometimes gave us the benefit of his knowledge 

 through the columns of the American Bee Journal ; but I 

 have not seen his name or that of any of the others in the 

 papers lately, and I don't know how many of them are 

 still alive. 



(The End). 



I Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



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



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. MiUei 



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



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor.1 



Requeening an Apiary Now. 



Would it be of any use to requeen my colonies at this 

 time ? Would they produce any more honey ? Some of the 

 old colonies are loafing around in a listless manner, while 

 the new swarms are working full tiine ? Penx. 



Answer.— It depends upon circumstances. If you 

 requeen with better stock it would be a good thing. It is 

 very advisable for you to keep a close record of the work of 

 your colonies, and try to have queens in all the colonies 

 from those that have done the best work. 



tietting Bees Into the Sections— Uniting Colonies, Etc. 



1. How late in the summer do bees build comb? Is 

 there any particular time for them to cease building ? 



2. I took some honey from some of mycolonies in June, 

 and they have not replaced the comb or rebuilt anything. 

 What is the reason ? 



3. My bees don't seem to take to the supers that have 

 one-pound sections in them, where they had starters, etc. 

 Would it be any inducement to remove everything above 

 the brood-chamber but the super with the one-pound sec- 

 tions ? or would a super of shallow frames filled with honey 

 and merely left on the hive till wanted for use, cause the 

 bees to go into the pound sections to work, giving them 

 that much more to cover and care for? 



4. Would it be a practical and successful way of uni- 



ting two weak colonies, each having a queen, to put one 

 hive over the other, placing a piece of wire netting between 

 for a day or night, and then let them regulate which queen 

 they shall retain ? 



5. Is there any way of telling when a colony has lost 

 its queen and is growing weak, without going into the hive 

 to examine ? 



6. Can the presence of the moth-worms be known with- 

 out opening the hive to examine for them ? 



Mississii'Pi. 

 Answers. — 1. The most of the building is done during 

 harvest-time, but there is no particular time for them to 

 begin or quit. They will build comb whenever needed, in 

 rare cases even in quite cool weather. 



2. The probability is that no honey was coming in, and 

 they felt no necessity for filling the vacancy. 



3. What you say in the previous question makes it 

 probable that no honey was coming in, in which case they 

 would not do anything in sections. If there was a super 

 of shallow frames on top, those frames being partly filled 

 with honey, the bees would not so readily enter the sections 

 unless they got more honey than they could easily store in 

 the shallow frames. In the same way, if a super of sec- 

 tions partly filled were on the hive, they would not touch 

 another super of empty sections But if you remove the 

 super of shallow frames, the bees will begin on the empty 

 sections sooner than if the frames had not previously been 

 there, alwavs providing any honey is coming in. 



4. It will be likely to work all right, but you will be 

 safer against fighting if you remove one of the queens a 

 day or two in advance. There must be an entrance to both 

 upper and lower hives. 



5. Not for certain. 



6. Not certainly. If you see worms dragged out, you 

 will know, but you don't always see that. 



Late Wax-Secretion and Laying— Killing Drones. 



1. How late in the fall can bees make wax ? 



2. How late does the queen lay eggs ? 



3. Is it profitable to kill the drones now, when we want 

 no more swarms ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Very late if it is necessary, although 

 there is generally' no occasion for it. I think bees might be 

 forced to secrete wax in the middle of winter. 



2. The time varies greatly. A queen may stop laying 

 in September, or she may continue till frost. Much de- 

 pends upon the yield of nectar. Sometimes queens continue 

 to lay although no brood is reared. It is a more common 

 thing than is generally supposed, to find eggs and sealed 

 brood in the hive, but no unsealed brood. The queen keeps 

 on laying, but the bees do not take care of the eggs : per- 

 haps eat them. My place is in the region that suffered so 

 terribly from the July drouth, and brood-rearing was almost 

 entirely suspended, although the queens continued to lay. 

 In some hives were found neither sealed nor unsealed brood, 

 although eggs were always present. If I had been a better 

 bee-keeper, I suppose I would have fed to keep up brood- 

 rearing (I did later on), but I had never had such an experi- 

 ence before, and was expecting a change every day. 



3. Yes. 



A Beginner's Bunch of auestions. 



1. I use the s-frame hive. I have only eight colonies of 

 bees, having bought five last spring, all Italians. I had 

 two hybrid colonies. Now there are four hybrids. Is there 

 any way to keep them from mixing or becoming hybrids ? 



2. Can I breed them back and make them all Italians 

 again ? If so, how ? 



3. I haven't had any swarms issue yet. They are all 

 strong, and working well. What is the cause of their not 

 swarming ? 



4. What is the best time of day to " rob " the bees ? 



5. I would like to increase my colonies to IS or 20. As 

 they will not swarm, what and how shall I do ? Is it too 

 late now to transfer ? The cotton-bloom here is our main 

 honey crop. 



6. What is the best way to catch the queen and handle 

 her without hurting her? 



7. How many colonies can one man attend to ? 



8. How much honey is it expected that a strong colony 

 will store in one season ? Tex.\s. 



Answers. — 1. So long as there are black or hybrid bees 

 within two or three miles of you, the likelihood is that most 



