American Hee Journal 



for a bee-keeper is just to take the 

 honey' that he has and mix it with rain- 

 water — about a pound to a gallon. You 

 can start it with yeast or with "mother," 

 and let it ferment in the old way. It 

 takes about a year. But a quick process 

 may be used. To get good, sharp vine- 

 gar you should take 2 pounds of honey 

 to a gallon of water. This vinegar will 

 keep. I think. 

 Ch.\ff Hives vs. Singi.f.-W.\ll Hives. 



"Are chaff hives better tlian the regu- 

 lar single-wall hives, the year around?" 



Mr. Taylor — I wouldn't have a chaff 

 hive at all. There is no advantage that 

 1 know of, and there are great disad- 

 \ antages in the bulkiness in handling the 

 hives. 



Mr. Whitney — For out-door wintering 

 there is nothing better. Made of thin 

 stuff they are as easily handled as the 

 dovetailed hive. There are many ad- 

 vantages, I think. I have used both, 

 and like the chaff better. 



\ViNTERi.\c Bees Outdoors or in a Re- 

 pository. 



"Is it better to winter bees in chaff 

 out-doors or in a special repository?" 



Mr. Taylor — In this locality it is better 

 to winter in a repository. It is a saving 

 of stores if you winter bees in the cellar. 



Mr. Wilcox — It is a saving of the life 

 of the bees. I don't winter them suc- 

 cessfully out-doors, but do in a special 

 repository. 



Mr. Whitney — I winter bees out-doors 

 successfully. Perhaps if I had a good 

 cellar I might use it. But it is a double- 

 walled chaff hive that I use. I have had 

 no trouble. As to stores, I don't know 

 whether they take more or not. Some 

 one says that they take less stores out- 

 side than they do inside. 



Mr. Taylor — I have experimented up- 

 on that point for several years. I weigh 

 my hives when I carry them in, and 

 when I put them out, and those that I 

 winter out-doors I weigh the same way. 

 There w'as quite a difference in the con- 

 sumption of stores in the colonies in the 

 cellar and outside. Bees wintered in the 

 cellar use an extremely small amount 

 of stores, sometimes only 3 pounds ; 

 from that to 8 or 9. There was one 

 time when they didn't winter very well, 

 that they used considerably more in the 

 cellar. As a rule, they don't use more 

 than half as much indoors as out. 



Mr. Whitney — Out-door wintering 

 gives the bees • an opportunity for a 

 flight. That is very favorable. Perhaps 

 that counteracts the larger amount of 

 honey used. 



(Concluded next month.) 



A Big Combination. 



We offer .The (iarden Magazine ($1.- 

 00;, Farm Journ.-d 2 yrs. (25 cts.), and 

 the American Bee Journal (75 cents) — 

 all three one year for only $1.50. This 

 is a fine opportunity to get ,3 good papers 

 for a very small sum. Address all or- 

 ders to the office of the American Bee 

 Journal, 118 W. Jackson, Chicago, 111. 



Apiarian Pictures 



We would be glad to have those who 

 can do so, send us pictures of bee- 

 yards, or of anything else that would be 

 of interest along the bee-keeping line. 



^ 



ocfor Millers d 



aiiia 



><>->^~'.^.:^\:^? 



Send Questions either to the office <if the Am 



DK. C. C. MILLER. Maren^*'. lU. 

 Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Bee Journal or to 



An Appeal to Questioners. 



It sometimes happens that a correspondent 

 asks a question relating to something appear- 

 ing in a previous number of the American Bee 

 Journal, but gives no hint as to where it may 

 be found. Either he thinks that I am an om- 

 niscient being who has in mind, like an open 

 pa^e, all that has ever appeared in print re- 

 lating to bees, or else he thinks it fine enter- 

 tainment for me to leaf over a hundred or 

 more pages to find what he is talking about. 

 It so happens that I am not omniscient, and 

 however entertaining it may be for me to go 

 on a still hunt for the thing he has in mind, 

 the limited amount of time at my disposal 

 hardly allows too much indulgence in that di- 

 rection. 



Just within a few days, one correspondent 

 asked a question referring to something in a 

 previous number of this Journal. It would 

 have cost him very little to have mentioned 

 the page, but it cost me no little time to 

 look over, and more or less read over, quite 

 a number of pages before finding what he re- 

 ferred to. 



Another correspondent had some questions 

 about a certain plan — let us call it the Jones 

 plan. Now I hadn't the slightest idea what 

 the Jones plan was, whether he had seen it 

 mentioned in the American Bee Journal or 

 some other bee-paper, or indeed whether it 

 had ever been mentioned in print. I might have 

 written him to inquire, but unfortunately he 

 failed to give his address. Although real names 

 are not often printed in this department, it 

 is probably the rule in almost all publishing 

 offices that a communication without real name 

 and address goes into the waste-basket. It 

 would have cost him little trouble to give 

 name and address, and still less to have given 

 the page he referred to. 



My appeal is that number of page be given 

 whenever any item in. print is referred to, and 

 also that name and address be given, although 

 the latter will not be published. 



C. C. Miller. 



Perhaps Swarmed Out — Feeding Bees 

 for Winter. 



I bought 9 colonies of bees in February 

 and April. I did not get them transferred 

 until May 12, on account of my bee-goods 

 being lost in freight one month. I was there- 

 fore out the best month in this locality and 

 this year for starting them. 



One of my colonies stored 30 to 40 pounds 

 of fine honey, but the others refused to work 

 in the supers at all. I examined all the colo- 

 nies September 2. About half of tlicm have 

 honey in the frames, and about lialf have 

 worked out only about 5 frames out of 10, 

 and have very little honey in the combs. All 

 have more or less young bees. I have 10 colo- 

 nies. I had 12, but the moths got 2 of them. 

 I bought s queens and introduced them about 

 August I. One of the colonies that died was 

 a July ist swarm, and the other was one of 

 my best at the start, but it swarmed and left 

 very few bees in the hive, and I think left no 

 queen. Is that possible? Advise me if you 

 know of anything to tell mc to do. These 

 arc my first bees, and I am anxious to bring 

 them through the winter. Shall I feed all su- 

 gar in the fall, or shall I try to feed the weak 

 ones in the brood-chamber when they go in for 

 winter? I will winter them out-doors. 



TennesskE. 



Answek. — It is possible that your colony 

 swarmed out and left no queen in the hive. 

 At anv rate, such cases have been reported. 



It doesn't matter so much how you feed, 

 so that you make sure that each colony has 

 plenty of sugar syrup for winter. As far south 

 as Kentucky von can feed pretty late, but 

 dnn't pnt ii ..IT too Inng. Itetfer get all the 



feeding done before the bees are ready for win- 

 ter quarters. If you have trouble about feed- 

 ing the weak ones, you can feed an extra 

 amount to the" strong ones, and then draw 

 from the strong ones sealed combs to give to 

 the weak ones. But are you sure you ought 

 to have any weak ones? Would it not be 

 better to unite until all are strong ? It is 

 better to unite two in the fall and have one 

 the following spring than to have both die in 

 the winter. 



Hive-Entrance the Long Way — Inver- 



tible Super — Foundation Splints — 



Jumbo Hive. 



1. What do you think of having the en 

 trance the long way of the hive, J^-inch high,, 

 during the honey-flow? Did you ever try it? 



2. Why wouldn't it be a good plan to have 

 the super so that you could turn it over? 

 Wouldn't we get better filled sections? 



3. Where can I get splints the same as 

 you use ? 



4. Have you used the Jumbo hive since the 

 time you mention in your book? 



Massachusetts. 

 Answers. — i. If you mean to have the entrance 

 the long way of the hive, and that the only 

 entrance. I shouldn't like it so well as to have 

 the entrance the usual way, because the latter 

 allows freer entrance of air. In Europe it is 

 quite conunon to have the entrance as you 

 describe. That's called the "warm arrange- 

 ment," and the frames running at right angles 

 to the entrance (the common way here) is 

 called the "cold arrangement." I never tried 

 the single entrance at the side, but have prac- 

 tised quite largely having the entrance on all 

 four sides. I like it much, but now have 

 only the one opening 2 inches deep, as being 

 in the long run more convenient. 



2. Supers have been made to use in that 

 way, but have never come into general use; 

 perhaps because the advantage did not pay 

 for the extra trouble. 



3. The A. I. Root Co., Medina, O., make 

 them, and perhaps you could get them from 

 any dealer in bee-supplies. 



4. No: I didn't care to give it further trial 

 after I found I could not rely on it to prevent 

 swarminj:. 



Caucasian Bees — Requeening — Rear- 

 ing Breeding Queens — Cutting 

 Cells to Prevent Swarming. 



the 



rs as the Italians ? 

 best time of the yea 



3. Will I have to kill the present queen 

 and drones, and cut out all the queen and 

 drone cells in the hive, before requeening? 



4. How long will a colony liave to be 

 queenlcss before introducing a new queen? 



5. Tell how to manage it to rear queens 

 for breeding purposes. 



6. When cutting out queen-cells to prevent 

 swarming, will it be necessary to cut out all 

 queen-cells or leave one to help out the old 

 queen ? 



7. How often will I have to look for queen- 

 cells? 



I am a beginner in the bee-business. 



NEnRASKA. 



Answers. — i. The Caucasians were heralded 

 as the most gentle of all bees. No doubt some 

 of them are; but others arc reported as being 

 no gentler than Italians. Not as nuich has 

 been said about their gatnering ability as their 

 gentleness, and it is hard to say just yet what 

 their status will be in that particular. They 

 are still more or less on trial. 



2. There is perhaps no better time than 

 during the honey harvest. Vet circumstances 



