April, 1908. 



American l^ee Journall 



Answer. — A swarm is more likely to settle 

 in the place where a previous swarm has set- 

 tled, but I have some doubt about balm at- 

 tracting a swarm. In Europe there have been 

 reports of success with some kind of lemon 

 leaves. I yield the floor to any oiic who can 

 report success or failure, although no amount 

 of such attraction would take the place of 

 clipping for me. 



Originated the " *Lyeing* Business." 



On page 89 you charge Miss Wilson with 

 being the originator of the "lying" business. 

 That is a grievous charge, and it is utterly 

 untrue. The originator of the lying business 

 was that fellow who, in the garden of Eden, 

 told our mother Eve that she should not surely 

 die if she ate of the fruit of the tree which 

 grew in the midst of the garden. You owe 

 Miss Wilson an abject apology. She may be 

 the originator of something that may be called 

 the iye-ing business, but to charge, or in- 

 sinuate, that Miss Wilson was the first of liars 

 is piling it up too high. Come down, Doctor, 

 and have the spelling of that word changed, 

 or be forever the scorn of bee-keepers. 



Edwin Bevins. 



I submit the case to ye editor, and throw 

 myself on the mercy of the court. C. C. M. 



[Yes, it should have been the lyeing busi- 

 ness, and not lying business. Dr. Aliller need 

 stand only half the court costs this time. Sec- 

 ond offense may be more costly. — Editor.] 



Increase and Improving Stock. 



I recently came into possession of 3 colo- 

 nies of bees, and am getting interested in 

 them. I want to increase and also improve 

 them by crossing with better stock. 



1. Wh^t stock would you advise me to use? 

 My bees are the common brown or black bees. 



2. One colony is in a box-hive, and 2 are 

 in King's patent. What do you think of this 

 hive, made with . double frames in body, and 

 honey bo.x, or super on top ? Is it not all 

 right where comb honey for the local trade is 

 the object? Tennessee. 



.\nswers. — 1. You will do well to get an 

 Italian queen. 



2. It will do well enough to have the 2 

 King hives, but if you think of enlarging the 

 business you better have hives with frames 



Using Disinfected Hives. 



A farmer had given me a lot of empty and 

 full hives in which the bees were affected with 

 foul brood. I killed the bees, melted the 

 combs, scraped the hives and frames last win- 

 ter, then dipped them in boiling water. Xow, 

 would they be safe to use the coming season, 

 or would they have to stand a year or more? 

 Washington. 



Answers. — Some say that hives may be used 

 without anything being done to them. Others 

 say ^ they should be burnt out. Dipping in 

 boiling water would probably make no differ- 

 ence, unless left 2 hours. It would be on the 

 safe side to burn them out. Put in a little 

 dry straw, touch a match to it, stir about with 

 a stick so all parts are scorched, then throw in 

 water. If you haven't straw, use a gill or so 

 of kerosene. 



Cockroaches and Bees. 



What can I do for roaches? They bother 

 the bees by getting in the brood-chanibers, on 

 sections, and all over the inside of the hive. 

 Tennessee. 



Answer. — I didn't suppose cockroaches would 

 do any particular harm in a hive where there 

 arc bees. You can poison them with some of 

 the special poisons sold for that purpose or 

 with any other poison, only you mustn't poison 

 the bees. Put the poison between little boards 

 only % inch apart, or in some vessel with a 

 J 8 inch entrance. 



Making Increase with Box-Hives — 

 Requeening — Carrying Hives. 



1. I wish to make increase with a strong 

 colony in an old box-hive. Would it do to 

 bore holes on the top of the hive, put on an 

 excluder, *.then follow the instructions on page 

 260 of "Forty Years Among the Bees" — in- 

 crease without nuclei? Could I repeat the 

 operation several times with the same box- 

 hive ? 



2. Are those expressions synonymous — "test- 



ed queen '* and " laying queen," " untested 

 queen" and "virgin queen?' 



3. Should I like to reaueen No. 237. in in- 

 creasing after the method pages asS'^S^, what 

 would be the best time and the best way to 

 do so? 



4. May I be permitted to suggest an im- 

 provement on the device Fie. 8, page 29? I 

 would put the middle of the strap on the 

 breast, then pass it around under the arms, 

 and after it has been crossed, draw it over the 

 shoulders; thus the load would be not on the 

 neck but on the slioulders. Quebec. 



Answers. — i. Sure. You can repeat the 

 operation just as often as you can get enough 

 bees to go up and cover the combs well. Of 

 course, much depends upon the strength of the 

 box colony. 



2. No; she's a laying queen as soon as she 

 lays, but nut a tested queen till you can see 

 by her worker progeny that she is purely 

 mated ; an untested queen is a laying queen, 

 but has not been laying long enough to show 

 whether she is a tested queen; she's a virgin 

 queen before she has met the drone. 



3. Introduce the same as introducing any 

 queen in a provisioned cage. The most con- 

 venient time is when brood is changed. 



4. The suggestion looks good. 



Mold in Hives. 



I started to keep bees last summer, and had 

 S colonies tu winter over. Four of them are 

 alive this spring, and seem to be in good 

 condition, except that in 2 of the hives there 

 seems to be something on the combs. It looks 

 as if it might be mold. It seemed to come 

 mostly over the cells in which pollen was 

 stored. A few cells that were filled with honey 

 were covered also. The pollen seemed to get 

 thin and watery, and a bluish-white substance 

 formed over the cells. I wintered my bees in a 

 cellar. No fire was kept in the house all win- 

 ter. Towards the last of February, when the 

 snow began to thaw, some water came into the 

 cellar and was there for 2 or 3 weeks. Two 

 of the hives arc made of basswood and 2 of 

 pine. The basswood hives are the ones that 

 were affected. What ails the combs? Will.it 

 harm the bees? If so, what should be done? 

 Michigan. 



Answer. — Don't worry; it's mold. See an- 

 swer to Minnesota. 



Treating Foul Brood in Spring. 



I will be obliged to treat my bees for foul 

 brood this spring. How early in the spring 

 can bees be treated for foul brood? Or what 

 is more to the point: How early in the spring 

 may bees be depended upon to build comb 

 if honey, or honey and syrup, is fed? if I 

 could treat my bees early I would not lose 

 so much brood, and may have a crop next 

 summer; if left till fruit-bloom or later, I may 

 have to allow this brood to hatch, which I 

 very much dislike to do, because of the dan- 

 ger of spreading the disease again. Iowa. 



Answer. — Bees will build comb any time 

 when you can get them to take feed, if they 

 have no room to store it. 



Moldy Hives and Combs. 



1. After mold has entered the hive, does it 

 hurt the bees in any way? 



2. Is there any way of getting the mold out 

 of the hive? If so, how? 



3. How can I clean a comb that has both 

 moth and mold on it? Minnesota. 



Answers. — i. It doesn't seem to effect the 

 bees particularly; the worst thing is probably its 

 effect on the pollen. 



2. Fresh air and sunshine is the best cure 

 for it. In a strong colony it will disappear 

 as the weather warms up. 



3. Give such combs, one at a time, to a 

 strong colony. 



Bait-Sections — Packing Bees for 

 Winter. 



1. In putting bait-sections, or sections partly 

 filled with comb, into supers when you put 

 them on at the beginning of the season, 

 wouldn't the suner be filled better, that is, 

 wouldn't all of the sections be more likely 

 to be completed at the same time, if the 

 bait-sections were put at the outside of the 

 super? Wouldn't it be just as effective in 

 getting the bees to go up and begin storing 

 honey in the super? Any one might have one 

 bait-section in the middle and the rest on the 

 outside. 



2. Next fall I expect to put 3 shallow frames 

 of honey in the center of a super, having a 



d combs? Is it 

 ves almost air- 

 r must I fumi- 



supcr for each colony, then just before I pack 

 for winter I will put one of these supers on 

 each hive. For out-door wintering which is 

 best to do, to put the packing on each side 

 of tliose 3 frames of honey and then put the 

 winter-case over? or should I leave this space 

 empty, and place another super filled with 

 packing on top of all? Do you think it would 

 be necessary to pack on each side of frames 

 and then put another super of packing on 

 top? Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — r. Your views arc all right. Bees 

 will start soonest on a central bait; but if more 

 than one in a super put them in the corners, 

 or at least outside. 



2. Better fill all empty space beside the 

 honey, and then pack on top. 



Preventing Second Swarms. 



Suppose a colony of bees swarm and return 

 to the hive from which they came (the queen 

 having her wings clipped), how would you 

 treat such colony to prevent them from again 

 swarming? "Illinois. 



Answer. — The same as if the queen were not 

 clipped. See reply to Texas. 



Foul Brood and Wax-Worms. 



I wish information concerning foul brood and 

 wax- worms. I have had bees only about 6 

 months. I purchased 2 apiaries (45 colonies 

 in all) last fall, and the questions that I ask 

 pertain to beeless hives that were in that 

 condition about September 15, 1907, but did 

 not appear to have been that way all season. 

 No information could be obtained iToi^ the 

 owner, who was an aged man, and not well. 

 Some hives were just about half full of moth- 

 cocoons. 



1. Are good parts of comb all right for use 

 this season? 



2. How can I care for 

 sufficient to have them 

 tight, from cold weather 

 gate them just the samer 



3. Are supers containing sections with 

 foundation safe from the attacks of a moth if 

 piled so as to be almost fly-tight, or must I 

 fumigate these also? 



4. Just one hive suggested foul brood to 

 me. This had a sour, disagreeable odor. No 

 moth-cocoons were there at all. A great many 

 brood-cells had the capping raggedly gnawed, 

 and the skeleton-like skin of the larva lay at 

 the bottom of the cell. Other cells contained 

 something that appeared like a dark salve, or 

 the color of crude oil. Possibly this was dry 

 pollen, but it puzzled me. Is it your opinion 

 that this one colony perished from foul brood? 

 No matter what the cause, is it safest that 

 I destroy the combs? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. If the larva of the bee-moth 

 have destroyed only part of a comb, the rest 

 is all right to use. 



2. A comb that has been out through all the 

 freezing of winter without any bees on it will 

 be all right if kept in a place so close the 

 bee-moth cannot enter. If bees v/ere on it, 

 there will almost certainly be worms or eggs 

 in it. 



3. I have never known moth to attack these. 



4. Hard to be positive, but I don't believe 

 there's any foul brood in the case. If none 

 has been in the neighborhood, you might use 

 the combs, watching closely. 



Management for Prevention of 



Swarming. 



1. Your plan for preventing swarming, en 

 page 70, is surely a splendid one. Will this 

 plan work equally well, no matter how near 

 the colony is already to casting a swarm? 



2. Does it work after queen-cells arc start- 

 ed? Or, if there are already sealed queen- 

 cells, must these be destroyed when shaking 

 the bees? 



3. Is such a colony cured of the swarming 

 fever for the entire season, or must it some- 

 times be given this treatment twice to be on 

 the safe side? Please tell all you know about 

 this plan, as it will surely be thankfully re- 

 ceived by all readers of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



4. Why does Mr. Davenport not give away 

 his secret? 



5. How about the Alley queen-trap for pre- 

 venting the loss of swarms? How often is it 

 necessary to visit the yards if these traps are 

 used? and what treatment should be given 

 the colonies whose queens are in the traps if 

 no increase is desired. Texas. 



Answers.— 1. I have never tried the plan until 

 cells were started, and the nearer swarming the 

 better. In fact, it will work all right, I feel 



