Dec. 12, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



795 



FOLDED CHAl-F CUSHIONS. 



I can back up Mr. M. H. Hunt, page 668, that folded 

 chaff cushions are a better tit than sewed ones — and also 

 that mice make holes in the latter when piled to store dur- 

 ing- summer. I have used folded cushions mostly for man y 

 years. 



SCREEN PORTICOS FOR HIVES. 



So, with a big^ wire portico on the hivs, bees think they 

 can swarm, and sometimes try it and perish. Something 

 of a drawback on the screen portico for June perambula- 

 tions. I hardly think the loss of the colony would always 

 result from such attempt to swarm. I have all along- 

 thought the screen portico the best device for shutting up 

 bees. Didn't say much because top screens were so much 

 more popular — and because I don't perambulate, and there- 

 fore my own experience is very scanty. Glad to see Jacob 

 Alpaugh, of Ontario, thinking somewhat as I do. Page 669. 



SWARMS GOING INTO WRONG HIVES. 



•' Little danger of a returning swarm getting into the 

 wrong hive." Ah, that's where you miss it, Mr. J. B. Hall. 

 Swarms return to wrong hive not so much because they 

 make a mistake, as because they don't want to go home 

 after having launched forth from it. Page 669. 



S.-^FE INTRODUCTION OF QUEENS. 



The A. D. D. Wood method of introduction is mani- 

 festly easier than caging an entire frame. I think we can 

 accept it as nearly safe, seeing that he finds no failures. 

 Of course, downy bees just emerged will not hurt the queen 

 — and equally, of course, she will quit after awhile from 

 " acting up " and provoking assault, if she has no bee of her 

 own near her. I should not be surprised if this should turn 

 out the most valuable practical kink which has been 

 brought out for a good spell. Page 670. 



ALSATIANS AND THE EXTRACTOR. 



And so the Alsatians, at least some of them, think we 

 invented the extractor — probably because they imported a 

 good one from America. Page 676. 



ANCIENT TEMPLES EXEMPLIFIED IN COMB HONEY. 



Mr. Ansell's ornamental work in finished comb honey 

 is quite a triumph in its line. Some of the first great and 

 splendid temples that were built in the world were built in 

 that form. Perhaps he had that thought in mind when he 

 chose the form. Pages 673 and 676. 



THE HIVE-KICKERS. 



The hive-kickers seem to have had an inning at the 

 convention. We see, we see. Even kicking bee-hives is 

 all right if you do it in the right way — as Messrs. Kluck 

 and Coggshall doubtless do. I suppose kicking King 

 Edward in his palace would be all right, if you did it just 

 right. Page 678. 



I Questions and Answers. 



>« Rn^nfT^TtfTrTfTfT^ > 



CONDUCTED BY 



DH. O. O. BJILLEIt, Mareago, 111, 



(The Qaestions 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 



Reversible Brood-Frames. 



What dfi you tliink of the reversible brood-frames? How 

 sliDuld tliey he used? Do you think they are of any advaii- 

 ta^'i-? Which is the best style to use? I have not seen aiiy- 

 thiii;i said of them in the American Bee Journal. 



Nkw Jekskv. 



A.NSWKH. — If you will turn back far enough you will tind a 

 u-reat (leal said about reversible frames in the pages of the 

 American Hee Journal, as also in other journals. To day 

 tiii-y iiTv seldom mentioned. Quito a number of reversible 

 frames were in existence, and there were also revcrslbli' hives, 

 so that the frames could !"■ reversed in a wholesale manner 

 without opening the hives. 



It was believed tliat wlii^n there was hciney in tie- n|i|icr 



part of ,-1 hrooci-i-nnili, reversing would make the bees carry up 

 the honey into tlic super. While tliat result is genei-ally 

 acliii-ved liy reversing-, there is fouiul to be in the loiiu- run no 

 special gain. 



An<ithi'r advantage was that reversing caused the bees to 

 build theii' eoinl)s down to the bottom-bars — rather up to the 

 l)0ttom-l)ars. Either because that point could he gained in 

 some other way. or because it costs more than it comes to, we 

 hear nothing nowadays about reversingfor the sake of getting 

 frami's tilled out. 



But the gri'at thing that gave reversible frames and hives 

 a real boom was the belief that by their \ise we had a sure 

 means of preventing swarming. It was claimed that when a 

 queen-cell was turned upside down the bees would not con- 

 tinue it to completion. Then all that was necessary to do was 

 to reverse often i-nough and no queen-cells would be sealed, 

 therefore no swarming. Like many other things in bee-keeji- 

 ing, it worked better on paper than in actual practice: and it 

 is doubtful that you canfind any one to-day who practu-es or 

 advocates reversing as a preventive of swarming. So it is 

 hardly worth your while to try reversible frames. 



Buckwheat Sweet Clover, Etc. 



1. Will buckwheat honey make suitable stores for winter- 

 ing bees? , 



2. About how many colonies could be profitably kept 

 where they would have a range of ten acres of sweet clover, 

 and some outside pasturage, the ten acres to be the main 

 pasture. 



3. Would it pay to sow sweet clover for honey alone, 

 where land would cost to rent $2.50 per acre ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. At onetime it was said that buckwheat 

 toney was bad for winter stores, but later observations seem 

 to show that it is all right. 



2. I don't know. One of the hardest things to find out 

 about is the amount of nectar that can be obtained from a 

 given area. If I should make a guess in the case, I should say 

 that ten acres thoroughly covered with sweet clover might 

 give profitable employment to 20 colonies of bees, but I'll not 

 quarrel with any one who says it ought to be three times as 

 large or three times as small. 



3. I don't believe it will pay to rent land at $2.50 an acre 

 to sow with any crop for the sake of the honey alone. But I 

 may be mistaken about sweet clover. I do believe, however, 

 that by taking a crop of hay from it once each year it might 

 be made to pay, tlie honey being so much e.Ktra. 



Hive-Entrance in Winter— Keeping Combs of Honey, etc. 



1. In looking over the "A B C of Bee-Culture," it advi.ses 

 leaving full width of the hive open for winter. I have mine 

 reduced to %\'2. T want to know if that is right. 



2. I took off a shallow extracting super of 9 frames full 

 of uncapped honey. I really don't know what to do with it. 

 I suppose it will sour before spring. I have one colony in a 

 liive tiered up (2-story dovetailed hives), or rather a Danz. 

 hive on the bottom and a dovetailed on top, witli 9 brood- 

 frames in each, both full of honey. 



3. 1 had two others in 2-story dovetailed hives and I put 

 a bee-escapi^ between them, intending to take them oft' the 

 next day, but other things called me away, and when I wont 

 back in a we<'k the honey was uncapped and gone. The bees 

 got under the hive-cover and cleaned it up. What do you 

 think of bee-escapes? 



4. I don't think there can be any queen in the brood-nest, 

 as I have not seen any so far. although there is every evidence 

 that there is a i|U<'en there. Iiut I don't know how to find her. 



Tennksskk. 



Answers. — 1. Very likely it will be better to have the en- 

 trance open full-width. 



2. The sealed honey in care of the bees will probably be 

 all right. The combs of unsealed honey will keep all right if 

 you can put them in a place where it is warm and dry. If 

 that is not convenient, let them be for a day or two in the 

 hottest place you can put them (of course not hot enough to 

 melt the comb), then put them wlierever it is convenient, so It 

 is not in the cellar ; if you fiiul the honey seems to be getting 

 thin, give it another roasting. As soon as bees begin to tly in 

 spring it can bo put in their care. 



3. I5ee-escapes are highly valued by a great many, but of 

 course^ it will not do to allow bees access from the outside to 

 any honey placed over escape.'. Neither will It work well to 

 leav(! honey over escapes If thieves understand the situation 



