American liee Journal 



all llie field bees would return to the old 

 location at the time of the division. 



4, No; for taking away H frames of brood 

 would not have as njuch effect as taking 

 away 4- In some cases taking away 3 frames 

 of brood woald prevent swarming, espe- 

 cially in a poor season, but in a good season 

 it could not be relied on. At least that is 

 the way of it in my locality, and likely it 

 would be the same in Nebraska. You can- 

 not entirely rely upon taking aiyay brood to 

 prevent swarming unless you take away all 

 but one frame, and that is shake-swarming. 



Answkr.— Bees prefer to store honey 

 above their brood, and with room above you 

 could hardly expect them to store below- 

 Yet in a strong flow I have had tliem store in 

 a story below. But they will not store be- 

 low so soon as they will above. 



Natural Swarming — Moths 



1. What is the object in allmving natural 

 swarming f If the colony is strong, is it not 

 better to make it artificial in order not to 

 lose the swarm ? 



2. I transferred bees from a box to a frame 

 hive, and after five days found moth-worms 

 on tha inside of the hive. How did they get 

 there ? 'the hive w.is new. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— I. A person with no experi- 

 ence and little knowledge of bees may find 

 natural swarming easier than artificial. 

 There is no need to lose a natural swarm, 

 at least a prime swarm, if all laying queens 

 are clipped. Yet in general it is better for 

 most bee-keepers to avoid natural swarms— 

 if they canl 



2. The worms were in the combs in the old 

 hive, and you transferred combs, worms, 

 and all. If you transferred bees without 

 combs, I give it up. 



Surplus Combs Below Brood-Chamber 



With a full depth extracting super, would 

 it be any advantage to put the colony with 

 the queen i7^ovf the super with a honey- 

 board between? Would the bees store 

 honey in it at all ? I thought perhaps the 

 bees having to pass through the super to get 

 to the brood-chamber they might store some 

 honey earlier than otherwise. Idaho. 



Rearing Queens In Upper Story 



I am working my bees for extracted honey 

 exclusively, and use a i slory hive. Can I 

 requeen my apiary by rearing young queens 

 in tlie upper story by employing two queen- 

 excluding honey-boards, one over the brood- 

 nest and one under the top story in which 

 the new queen stays ? Of course, I must 

 bore a hole in the back of the super from 

 which the young queen can fly. W\\\ I get 

 rid of the nuisance of finding my young 

 queen killed, or at least gone when I take a 

 notion to hunt out the old queen and decapi- 

 tate her ? California. 



Answer,— Years ago I was delighted to 

 succeed in the way you outline, but of late 

 years failures have been the rule, so I have 

 given it up. I don't know what makes the 

 difference, unless it be that originally the 

 upper story with the young queen was more 

 isolated. The farther up the top story the 

 better. Indeed, the first time I had a queen 

 reared and laying in an upper story was an 

 accident, and there was not even an ex- 

 cluder in the case. I put 3 or 4 stories of 

 empty combs over a colony to have the bees 

 take care of the combs, and in order to 

 make the bees traverse the whole I put 

 some brood in the upper story — no excluder 

 anywhere. After some time I wassurprised 

 to find a young queen laying in the upper 

 story. The bees had reared her from the 

 brood, and it happened that there was a 

 leak under the cover through whfch she 

 could fly. In my later attempts there has 

 not been so great isolation, and it might be 

 worth while for me to trv again. At any rate 

 it is worth your while to try it. keeping in 

 mind to have your upper story high up. 



Fine Prospects in Vermont 



I set out 40 colonies of bees March 10. I 

 never saw bees in better shape than they 

 are this spring; those outdoors are in good 

 condition. I think that Vermont losses 

 will not be over ^^ percent. 



Clover is looking the best I have seen it in 

 years. We are looking for big things this 

 season. Minnott C. Young. 



Rutland, Vt., May n. 



Not Very Flattering for Iowa 



Conditions here in the bee-business are 

 about as bad as can be. I am not so badly 



off. as I fed early and late, but still there has 

 been dreadful spring dwindling, owing to 

 warm days and cold evenings and nights. 



I have a pretty general report from this 

 vicinity. Mr. .of D.. was here yester- 

 day, and confesses to a loss of 23 colonies 

 out of 25, "and dose hives vas shust fulled 

 of honey. Doctor." 



The prospects are good for a clover flow, 

 but, alas! where are the bees ? 



A. F. BONNEY. 



Buck Grove, Iowa, May 1.3. 



IPerhaps by the time these lines appear in 

 print, the bees will be booming, and the 

 Doctor will be anxious to recall his letter.— 

 Editor.] 



California Outlook Poor 



The season in southern California proves 

 still less promisingas time goes on. Oranges, 

 that most of us counted on for our surplus 

 this year, are almost all past blooming, and 

 the result is a great disappointment to most 

 of us. 1 will ship a car of nuclei the last of 

 this week to the alfalfa sweet-clover section 

 of Utah. I hope to get a crop there to make 

 up for the disappointment down here. 



Many ranges will hardly furnish enough 

 stores for the bees to winter on. One of the 

 best seasons I have seen in California fol- 

 lowed one of the poorest. So be an opti- 

 mist and hope for better things to come. 



Corona. Calif., May 23. L. L. Andrews. 



In Minnesota 



Bees are bringing in some honey, but it 

 has been so windy that they can hardly fly, 

 and very cold in the mornings so they can- 

 not fly early. Carl Zeh. 



Mankato. Minn . May 11. 



Getting Bees in Pound Cages 



I notice that there have been numerous 

 inquiries as to how to get bees in cages. The 

 best way I have found is to take a sheet of 

 heavy glazed paper about 3 feet square, and 

 shake the bees on it (laying the paper on 

 the ground . then pick up by the two sides 

 and give a quick jerk standing the cage on 

 end with end open), and you can pour them 

 in in less time than it takes to tell it. 



Mayhew. Miss. D. D, Stover, 



The Stanley Cage 



Noting the enquiry on page 170 of " Penn- 

 sylvania." relative to having young queens 

 killed in the openings of the Stanley cages, 

 I have found them only where they were 

 held over too long, in the upper stories or in 

 a shortage of honey, so that they will be 

 neglected. 



The cage referred to is the only one that 

 has come to my notice in which the bees 

 will properly incubate, care for, feed, and 

 hold over a virgin queen a limited length of 

 time. I have adopted the same principle on 

 my virgin shipping cages. The queen-rear- 



Bees Wintered Nicely Outdoors 



Our bees have wintered nicely out of- 

 doors. They did splendidly last year. I have 

 a friend in Beardstown who had just one 

 colony of bees last spring. His crop from 

 that one was between $30 and $3^. and one 

 super for his family. Now he has 2 colonies 

 to commence the season. Pretty good, isn't 

 it? H. O. Bader. 



Browning, III., May 13. 



Short Crop for the Pacific Coast 



There is poor prospect for honey in south- 

 ern California this year. 1 have talked with 

 a great many beekeepers from different 

 parts, and all are of the same opinion, a 

 very short crop; too dry; bees in poor con 

 dition, and no swarming along the coast to 

 amount to anything. Here they usually 

 swarm in March. MiLO Smith. 



Long Beach, Calif. 



One of the Winter Yards of L. L. Andrews, of California. 



