536 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug-. 22, 1901. 



tion but that under the several points made above, the ordinance in 

 question is void and can not be enforced ; and it follows that the 

 defendant should be discharged. 



Frederick L. Butcher, 

 John A. Barhite, of Counsel. Attorney for defendiml. 



Rochester, N. Y. 



Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. O. SlILLER, Slareago, Ul, 



[The Qnestlons 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 



Late Transferring— Feeding for Winter. 



1. Would you advise me to transfer (by the " Heddon 

 short method ") those colonies in box-hives to dovetailed, 

 with full sheets of foundation ? 



2. If I should, and they failed to gather stores enough 

 for the vfinter, what should be done with them ? 



Nevada. 



Answers.— 1. It will probably be better to wait till 

 next year before transferring. 



2. If you transfer upon foundation, and the bees do not 

 gather enough for winter, the only thing is to feed. The 

 danger is that you will feed too late. Better feed in August 

 or early September, then if the bees do gather enough no 

 harm will be done. 



Transferring Bees. 



I have just transferred a colony of bees as described in 

 the catalog of the A. I. Root Co., and while the bees are 

 working well in the new hive, there seem to be a great 

 many hanging around the old box, going in and coming 

 out, with dead bees and larva?. Is this right ? The old box 

 is about 10 feet from the new hive. Mississippi. 



Answer. — As you say you have just transferred, I take 

 it that the second drive has not yet been made, in which 

 case it is all right that the bees left in the old hive should 

 be still at work there. As to their carrying out dead bees 

 and larvae, there may be something wrong and there may 

 not. A few dead bees and larva; do not signify. If many, 

 the danger is that you drummed out too close! not leaving 

 enough bees in the old hive to keep alive the larvK and 

 young bees just ready to emerge. But there is nothing to 

 be done for that now. Ten feet is rather too far to have the 

 old hive from the new one. One or two feet would be bet- 

 ter ; then when you make the second drive the bees would 

 more readily find the new hive than if their location were 

 ten feet away. 



Sowing Sweet Clover Seed. 



When is the best time to sow sweet clover for bees, in 

 the fall or spring ? Michigan. 



Answer. — I don't know. Sweet clover is a contrary sort 

 of thing. It seems to grow with no trouble under the most 

 adverse circumstances (as by the side of a hard road where 

 some effort is made to suppress it), and seems to fail where 

 it has the very best chance. One year I sowed a piece with 

 oats in the spring, the ground having excellent preparation. 

 A fine stand came up, although it did not make a strong 

 growth that summer. The next spring not a plant was left 

 to tell the tale. Every one winter-killed. I think the soft 

 ground was against it, allowing it to heave. Last spring I 

 sowed a few acres with oats, and it never came up ; at least ' 

 not more than two or three plants to the square rod, leaving 

 me $6.50 out for the trial. I'm inclined to believe that 

 either fall or spring will do ; only I think the ground ought 

 to be very solid. From what I have seen, I suspect that the 

 ideal thing would be to sow it in the fall on ground that is 

 not even plowed, allowing cattle or horses to run over it 

 and tramp it in. I don't believe many have made as bad a 

 failure with it as I have, and I wish some one would tell me 

 what was wrong. 



Caging the Queen During the Honey Season. 



1. If you wish to cage a queen in the honey season, do 

 you cage her in a fine wire cage, or in a cage made of queen- 

 excluding zinc ? 



2. If you had a queen that you could not use at the 

 time, if you put her in a wire cage, and then in a hive, 

 would the bees feed her 7 If so, what kind of wire should 

 be used ? 



3. If you had a young swarm, and only wanted what 

 honey you could get that season, would you cage the queen ? 

 If so, in what kind of wire? Smith Hill. 



Answers. — 1. In a wire cage. 



2. Generally they would feed her. You could give her a 

 supply of honey or candy, and then she would be independ- 

 ent. Put her in a cage of common wire-cloth about 12 

 meshes to the inch. 



3. I think in most cases I would not cage the queen. It 

 is possible, however, that if the honey harvest lasts not 

 more than three weeks, you would get more surplus by 

 caging the queen in common wire-cloth, or excluder zinc. 



Increase from Poor Honey-fiatherers. 



I read on page 451 about a colony that gave twice as 

 much surplus honey as the average does ; and if an 

 increase was made by swarming, it would be by the poorest 

 surplus gatherers. Do you think that a good colony could 

 not come from the poorer surplus gatherers ? I do, for I 

 bought a colony of bees where two small swarms clustered 

 together, which were hived in an eight-frame hive. The 

 colony got a good start last fall, but this spring it was 

 weak, I think, because their queen was old. My bees did 

 well this summer (for I think they have 50 pounds of 

 extracted white clbver honey), considering where I have 

 kept them. Michigan. 



Answer. — I'm not sure whether I get the drift of your 

 question, but I certainly should not expect as good results, 

 other things being equal, to breed from the queen of a col- 

 ony of poor gatherers, as to breed from the queen of a col- 

 ony of good gatherers. 



When to Buy Bees in Box-Hives, Etc. 



1. If I bought bees in box-hives (the old kind), could I 

 buy early next spring, and transfer to dovetailed hives 

 before swarming-time ? 



2. What month in the spring would you advise buying ? 



3. How much sealed honey should be in eight frames to 

 winter one colony? Give about the depth, as I am no 

 judge of pounds in frames, as I am a beginner. 



South Carolina. 

 Answers. — 1. Yes. 



2. If close by, say less than a mile, better buy before 

 the bees get to flying much. If more than a mile away, 

 then it doesn't matter if you do not buy till time of fruit- 

 bloom. That's safer than to name the month, for months 

 change. 



3. Three or four of the outside frames should be pretty 

 well filled with honey, and the others should have honey to 

 a depth of two or three inches. 



Hiving Swarms. 



1. I noticed in answer to Ben Avon, in Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture, page 239, about hiving bees on empty combs, 

 he puts four frames in the hive and then fills it with dum- 

 mies. What are dummies ? 



2. Do you put on the hives of prime swarms surplus 

 fixtures as soon as they are hived, with a honey-board be- 

 tween the brood and surplus ? Tennessee. 



Answeks. — 1. Take a board the size of your brood- 

 frame without top-bar, and nail on it a top-bar, and you 

 have a dummj-. I prefer a dummy half an inch shorter 

 than the brood-frame. In thickness it may be anywhere 

 from ^4 inch to an inch. If thin, it is better to have a cleat 

 on each end to prevent warping. 



2. When working for extracted honey it is advisable to 

 have an excluder over the brood-chamber, in which case the 

 surplus arrangements may be put on at time of hiving. In 

 working for comb honey with full-sized starters in sections, 



