August, I'jl'i 



} 



American "Bee Jonrnal 



ever, that a more favorable report has been 

 made by some one in Wisconsin or ?Cew 

 York. 



3. You will 'find no more complete list 

 than you will find in Dadant s l.angstroth or 

 Roofs ABC and X Y Z. 



liven then, in most places, he should have 

 enough ahead to be able to stand a year or 

 more of failure; for in most places a year of 

 failure of the honey-crop will sometimes 

 occur, and sometimes two or three such 

 years will come in a string. 



Value of Colony, Swarm, Etc. 



1. What could I afford to pay for a swarm 

 of bees hanging where they clustered if it 

 was the first that issued from the hive ' 



2. What would a good strong colony be 

 worth if it was in an old box-gum; or how 

 much if it was in a movable 8-frame hive ? 



3. How would it do to take 4 frames from 

 a strong colony, the 4 frames being covered 

 with bees and almost full of brood, but no 

 queen, put them in a hive, and place them 

 on a new stand ? Do you suppose that it 

 would do any good ? My bees aredoing fine. 



* Kentlckv. 



.Answers.— I. I don't know. So much de 

 pends. One swarm may have two or three 

 times as many bees as another, even when 

 both are prime swarms. In some places you 

 might get a swarm for a dollar from some 

 one who got little from bees, and in another 

 place an experienced bee-keeper might not 

 be willing to sell such a swarm for five times 

 as much. 



;. Again there would be great variation. A 

 colony in a movable-frame hive might be 

 worth in some places $7.00 or more, in other 

 places J5.00 or less. To a beginner, a colony 

 in a movable-frame hive might be worth S3. 00 

 or $4.00 more than one in a box-hive; to an 

 experienced bee keeper the difference 

 wouldn't be nearly so much, for he could 

 easily change to a movable-frame hive. 



3. It would do after a fashion, but you can- 

 not rear a queen of best quality in any such 

 slipshod way. 



Best Bees for Washington 



Owning an 80 acre tract of land in White 

 Salmon. Wash . which already has 20 acres 

 of bearing orchard, and balance of which is 

 being cleared, and will be put to orchard 

 and berries, with probably an abundant 

 range. I intend next spring to place thereon 

 a few colonies of bees. 



If you will kindly do so. I would appre- 

 ciate your advising me the best work on 

 bee-culture for a beginner, and also tell me 

 the breed of the bee best adapted to my 

 needs, and where it would be best for me 

 to secure them with which to start my ven ■ 

 ture. Minnesota. 



Answer.— Dadant's " Langstroth on the 

 Honey-Bee." and Root's "ABC and X Y Z 

 of Bee Culture" are standard works and 

 excellent. 



If you want the bees merely for the pur- 

 pose of fertilizing fruit blossoms, there is 

 probably little choice. For the production 

 of honey you can hardly do better than to 

 get Italians. A copy of the American Bee 

 Journal will give you a list of reliable names 

 from whom you can obtain bees, and out of 

 them you can choose the one located most 

 conveniently. It will be better to obtain 

 bees from as short distance as possible, on 

 account of the high express charges. 



A Living from Bees 



I have 37 colonies, and have had some ex- 

 perience in handling bees. Would you ad- 

 vise a man to enter the bee-business de- 

 pending upon obtaining honey— the profit to 

 make a living income r Ohio. 



Answer.— The number of men who make 

 their entire living from bees is very small. 

 Nearly all who engage in the business have 

 some other business in connection with it. 

 Unless a man has had experience with bees 

 so that he feels sure from that experience 

 ;hat he can make a permanent success at it. 

 it would not be advisable for him to think of 

 undertaking bee-keeping as a sole business. 



Returning Swarms — Good Queens 



1. I have, or did have, a very strong colony 

 from which I made a strong division. They 

 had been doing very good work in the super 

 until today, when they swarmed. Could the 

 swarm be hived back into the same hive if 

 the new queen or queen-cell was destroyed, 

 and would they continue to work in the 

 super ? 



2. Does it impair the quality of the queen 

 to clip her wing? 



3. What would you think of a queen that 

 fills every cell in most of the combs with 

 eggs, and in numerous places has eggs in 

 half-built cells, and in cells filled with bee- 

 bread ? 



4. Is such a queen the kind to have with a 

 strong colony in the honey season ? 



5. What should a person do with a colony 

 at wintering time that is so strong that it 

 would properly fill two hives, but only hav- 

 ing one queen? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. When the colony swarmed 

 there were a number of queen-cells in the 

 hive. If you destroy all of these and return 

 the swarm, in probably 4Q cases out of 50 the 

 bees will swarm out again within a very few 

 days. If you destroy the old queen and all 

 the cells but one. no swarm is likelv to 

 issue. Or. destroy the old queen and listen 

 each night with your ear to the hive for the 

 piping of the first young queen that emerges 

 from her cell, and the next morning destroy 

 (7//queen-cells in the hive. The young queen 

 will emerge from her cell and begin piping 

 a week or a little longer after the swarm 

 issues with the old queen. 



2. I have kept my queens clipped for many 

 a year, and never could discover that it hurt 

 them a particle. 



3. That is iust what every good queen 

 should do. except laying in a cell containing 

 pollen. When you find eggs in a pollen-cell 

 you may generally count that laying workers 

 are present, although it is possible that oc- 

 casionally an otherwise good queen may do 

 such a foolish thing. 



4. Yes. she ought to be all right for that. 



5. If the bees cannot be contained in one 

 story, let them winter in two. The prob- 

 ability, however, is that when winter comes 

 the bees will not find themselves uncomfort- 

 ably crowded in a single story. 



Southern Queens in the North — Leather-Colored 

 Italians — Distance Queens Mate 



1. Would it do to send to Texas, or other 

 warm countries, for queens? Would they 

 stand the cold up here in New York State 

 and be hardy ? 



2. Would the golden or leather-colored 

 Italians be the best ■ 



3 Do you think queens would mate with 

 drones a mile away ? There is a big woods 

 between us. New York. 



Answers.— I. So far as I know, queens 

 from the South do just as well as those 

 reared farther north, and just as hardy. 



2. There is variation in both, but the 

 leather-colored, as a whole, are generally 

 preferred. 



3. Yes. a distance greater than that would 

 not prevent meeting. 



eral. it may be said that nearly everywher 

 there is more or less nasturage for bees, 

 and the chances are a little better in the 

 newer than in the older regions, because in 

 the older regions the territory is pretty 

 well occupied with bees, especially where 

 pasturage is better than the average. Possi- 

 bly you could get satisfatory information by 

 writing to any one who has given you infor- 

 mation in any way about these unoccupied 

 lands. You would likely get some informa- 

 tion by applying to the Government oflSces. 

 Nothing, however, would be better than to 

 visit and see for yourself something about 

 the honey-plants to be found. This thing of 

 finding good locations for bees is a trouble- 

 some matter, for just as soon as a good loca- 

 tion is found It is likely to be occupied. 



Honey-Vinegar 



I am told that good vinegar can be made 

 from honey or cappings. Will vou give how 

 much hotiey or cappings to each gallon of 

 water, and how to proceed to make it. 



Illinois. 



Answers.— I think the most I know about 

 making vinegar is what I have learned about 

 how it is done by Dadant a: Sons, and as 

 they are experts at it. I will ask them to give 

 you the information at first hand. 



I Use one to one and one-half pounds of 

 honey to each gallon of water. Dissolve the 

 honey as much as possible and place in a 

 barrel with the bung removed so as to give 

 as much air as possible. The warmer the 

 place it is stored the better, as this will 

 hasten fermentation. 



If you use capping washings for making 

 vinegar, a good way to test if the water is 

 sweet enough, is by the use of an egg. If 

 the egg floats on the surface of the liquid 

 then it is about right. 



To hasten fermentation you may also add 

 a little vinegar mother if you have it. to your 

 sweetened water. Full instructions may be 

 found in most bee-books.— Editor.] 



I 



Homestead Lands for Bees 



Is thereany homestead lands in the United 

 States that would be good territory for an 

 apiary? Iowa. 



Answer.— I am not well informed as to 

 homestead lands, and I hardly know to 

 whom to refer you for information. In gen- 



Changing Stock- Keeping Honey 



1. I have 77 colonies of black bees, and use 

 the lo-frame hive for comb honey. I wish to 

 change my stock. What kind of bees will 

 be best ? 



2. How is the best way to make the 

 change ? 



3. Is rearing queens the cheapest? How 

 is the best way to rear them ? 



4. Will comb honey keep in a glass case. 

 800 pounds or more stacked close together? 



Georgia. 

 Answers.— I. Each different race of bees 

 has its advocates, but probably by far the 

 greatei number of bee-keepers prefer Ital- 

 ians, so you cannot be far out of the way in 

 adopting them. 



2. The quickest way would be to buy a 

 new queen for each of your colonies. The 

 cheaperway. and the way generally adopted, 

 is to buy one or more queens of good stock, 

 and rear your own queens. You can get a 

 tested queen and rear from her, or you can 

 get 3. 4. or more untested queens, and rear 

 from them. 



3. How to rear ihe best queens is not a 

 matter that can be answered in a few words. 

 Indeed, a whole book has been written 

 about it. "Doolittle's Queen-Rearing." and 

 although the book is excellent it has hardly 

 exhausted the subject. To make a success 

 at queen-rearing one should have as a foun- 

 dation a pretty good knowledge of the gen- 

 eral principles of bee-culture, such as can 

 be found in our excellent works on bee- 

 keeping. If you have not one of these 

 already, it will pay you ten times over to get 

 one at once. Even after you have made a 

 thorough study of such a book, with the 



