American ^ee Journal 



am rightly informed, is a very serious 

 one in England, where they are more 

 used. I feel sure that, if my sections 

 had a split with the wax showing 

 through on top an-d sides, it would re- 

 duce the price very much more than 50 

 cents a thousand. That one objection 

 gives the preference to the hot-wax 

 plan. 



"But compare either plan with bottom 

 starters- If a section is fastened se- 

 curely at top and bottom it must ship 

 safely, even if it does not touch either 

 side. The bottom starter as well as the 

 top starter is fastened just as securely 

 as by the hot-wax plan, for it is the hot- 

 wax plan. How about the sides? Well, 

 I do not think you could tell by the 

 looks of my sections whether the sides 

 had been hot-waxed or not ; so, as far as 

 safety in shipment and looks are con- 

 cerned, I believe hot-waxing a full sheet 

 has no advantage over the bottom start- 

 ers. The only question, then, is as to 

 comparative cost of labor in putting in. 

 You estimate the time for hot-waxing 

 at about 200 an hour. Possibly an ex- 

 pert might do better than that. But an 

 expert will put top and bottom start- 

 ers in 480 sections in an hour. A single 

 piece to fill the whole section must be 

 cut with great exactness. 



"A one-piece section is not always 

 exactly square until forced square in the 

 super. If foundation is hot-waxed in a 

 section that is a little out of true, and 

 it is then crowded square in the super, 

 there will be trouble. A variation of 

 ^^-inch or more in cutting top and bot- 

 tom starters will make no trouble, and 

 there will be no trouble with a section 

 somewhat out of true. 



"When the section comes into the 

 consumer's hands, if there is any prefer- 

 ence it will be in favor of the bottom 



starters, for the hot wax poured all 

 around ought to make it just a little 

 harder to cut the section clean from the 

 wood. 



"Against bottom starters it must be 

 said that more skill is needed in using 

 t'he hot plate, or an occasional top start- 

 er may drop before the bees can fasten 

 it, while any slouch can make it >>ecure 

 by daubing on enough wax with the 

 other plan. Your honor, we here rest 

 the case." 



Honey Cough Syi-up 



Honey and the juice of a lemon in 

 equal parts well stirred together, taken 

 a teaspoonful at a time will allay many a 

 troublesome cough. For more obstinate 

 ones, the addition of a teaspoonful of 

 glycerine stirred into the honey and 

 lemon-juice will be found helpful. 



To break a heavy cold, take once in 

 3 or 4 hours, a pint of hot water into 

 which has been stirred 2 big spoonfuls 

 of honey, the same of cream and as 

 much cayenne pepper as one can readily 

 take up on a dime. Abstain from any 

 other food for 24 hours. ^ American 

 Bee-Keeper. 



Stung by an "Angel" 



A little girl was being put to bed one 

 summer night and after she had said 

 her prayers her mother kissed her good- 

 night and said : 



"Now, go to sleep, dear. Don't be 

 afraid, for God's angels are watching 

 over you." 



In a short time, while the mother and 

 father were at tea. a small voice from 

 up-stairs was heard. 



"Mamma !" 



"Yes, little one; what is it?" 



"God's angels are buzzing around and 

 one's bitten me!" — Harper's Weekly. 



■tocfor MillGrSss^y 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Marengo, 111. 



Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Dead Worker in Queen-Cell. 



Replying to I. D. Pearce, page 144, I may 

 say that it quite frequently occurs that after 

 a young queen has left her cell the workers 

 fasten back again the cap she had left hang- 

 ing by a hinge, and in a number of such 

 cases I have found, as he did, a dead worker. 

 Whether ihey do it as a joke, or with malice 

 aforethouK'lit, this deponent sayeth not. 



C. C. M. 



Position of Bait-Section. 



If you had inst enough bait-sections to put 

 4 in each of tin- supers that are first placed 

 on the hives, in what part of the supers 

 would you place the bait sections? Iowa. 



Answer. — I don't know. If you had said 

 one or s, I could have said put one in the 

 center, and if you have four more put them 

 in the corners. You see there may be 2 points 

 in view in using oaits. The first is to get 

 bees to work as soon as possible, the second 

 to get them to finish evenly all sections in the 



super. The nearer the center you put your 

 baits, the sooner will they be occupied by the 

 bees; the farther from the center the more 

 even the work in getting all sections finished 

 at the same time. With 4 baits to the super, 

 work will be sooner begun by putting them 

 in the center, and the most even work by 

 putting tnem in the corners. On the whole, 

 perhaps it might he well to compromise a lit- 

 tle, putting baits in neither corners nor cen- 

 ter, but putting 2 on each side of the 4 cen- 

 tral sections. 



Carniolan Bees — Making Increase. 



r. I have 3 colonics of Italian bees. I 

 think the Carniolan bees are better, so I want 

 to get Carniolan queens, or a queen. Where can 

 I get them pure? 



2. I want to increase them so that they 

 will store more honey. Alsike blooms about 

 the third or fourth week in June. I think 

 if I put a board on top of a screen in the 

 center and a ij^-inch hole in each corner, cov- 

 ered with excluder zinc, and put the super on 



full of combs and one frame of honey, about 

 June 10, putting a Carniolan queen in the 

 super; then in 2 weeks take the colony away, 

 put the super in the colony's place, the old 

 bees will stay with the Carniolan queen and 

 build her up strong so that she may swarm 

 naturally in a couple of weeks. If this is a 

 good plan I will buy 3 queens; one for each 

 hive-super. 



3. Would a queen be all right to come so 

 far as from Texas or California 4o Ontario? 



Answers. — i. I don't know where is the 

 best place, but the advertisements in the bee- 

 papers ought by this time to inform you. 



2. I doubt if the plan will work out as satis- 

 factorily as you expect. If you mean to leave 

 the old queen below during the 2 weeks, there 

 is danger that the queen above might be treat- 

 ed unkindly. If vou mean to leave the colony 

 below queenless during the 2 weeks, you will 

 tind the queen above will not lay very heav* 

 ilv. and the whole force at the end of the 2 

 weeks will not be as strong as if you intro- 

 duced ttie queen in the usual way. In either 

 case, I understand you will take the old colony 

 away at the end of the 2 weeks, leaving the 

 new queen with the small force she will have 

 and the flying force that will join. You may 

 feel safe that she will not swarm in a couple 

 of weeks. Moreover, it will be strange if she 

 swarms before the next year. 



3. Yes, indeed; many queens have been all 

 right after crossing the ocean. 



Best Hive for Extracting — Red Clover 

 Bees. 



1. Would the Danzenbaker hive be a good 

 hive for extracting? 



2. If I used Danzenbaker frames and re- 

 versed them so that the comb would be at- 

 tached on all 4 sides, could I extract from 

 them without wiring? 



^. What hive would you suggest for one to 

 use for extracting? 



4. Is there such a thing as Red Clover bees? 



5. Are they better than Italians? 



Subscriber. 

 Answers. — i. Those who are partial to the 

 Danzenbaker hive generally use it for sections, 

 but it could also De used for extracting. 



2. Any frame may be used for extracting 

 without wiring if you are sufficiently careful 

 not to turn the extractor too fast while the 

 combs are new and tender. Also, if a comb is 

 very heavy with honey, extract partly the first 

 side, reverse and empty the second side, then 

 finish the first side. Combs were used for 

 extracting some time before wiring was known. 



3. Success may be had with any plain hive 

 containing frames of L,angstroth size, such as 

 the lo-frame dovetailed. 



4. Yes, there are strains of bees that do 

 better work on red clover than the general 

 run of bees. Unfortunately, the quality does 

 not seem always to be handed down to suc- 

 ceeding generations. 



c. Generally, it not always, they are Ital- 



Swarming Out zind Robbing. 



April 1 8 colony No. i swarmed. May i, 

 it swarmed again. it has a clipped queen. 

 After May i, it was pretty cool and cloudy 

 for several days, and I thought I would 

 better feed swarm No. 2 as they could not 

 gather any honey, etc. So I fed them, put- 

 ting feed inside on the bottom of the frames, 

 ihey did not have any comb drawn out, 

 and the next day they swarmed out of the 

 hive, but finally went back. Of course I 

 never clipped the young queen as i wanted to 

 wait until she was mated. "A B C of Bee- 

 Culture" advises to wait at least 25 days, I 

 think. Before they swarmed out, but on the 

 same day, I thought I noticed some robbing 

 going on, but could not tell for sure as I 

 never saw a bad case of robbing. But the 

 next morning I saw the bees in colony No. i 

 carrying out dead bees, and the ground was 

 covered with dead bees all around colony No. i, 

 but not very many were around the other 

 colonies. I have only 4 colonies — 3 red clover 

 stock, and one black or hybrid. 



I. Did swarm No. 2 swarm out with the 

 (|ueen when she went to mate, or what was 

 the trouble? Do you suppose they tried to 

 go into their old home and a battle was the 

 result, which was the cause of so many dead 

 bees in front of No. i ? When the first swarm 

 came out I hived them on the old stand, 

 and moved the old colony to one side and left 

 a ripe queen-cell for them to rear another queen 

 from. I am sure the dead bees were not 

 young ones, nor chilled brood caused by the 

 cool weather at the time I speak 01, be- 

 cause most of them were alive yet the next 

 morning. The bees had been gathering honey 



