April. I9[f. 



American 'Ree Joornal 



5. The probability is that the grocer 

 got the larger part of that margin. 



6. No. I don't suppose i or 2 cents a 

 pound would allow a Chicago grocer to 

 make. a living. I am wondering a little 

 if you may not be mistaken about Chicago 

 grocers making only i or 2 cents on a 

 pound of butter. In Marengo they make 

 5. and Marengo is right in the heart of 

 the butter-making region, where the peo- 

 ple know just what the price is at the fac- 

 tories. It must be that rents and other 

 expenses are a good deal highher in Chi- 

 cago than in Marengo, and so a larger 

 margin should be allowed there. Pos- 

 sibly you might do a good deal better 

 to work up the market in your own lo 

 cality. Bee-keepers are somewhat inclined 

 to pile honey into the city markets when 

 in some cases they could do better right 

 at home. Considering that I have used 

 the commission men as a convenience for 

 my own benefit, I think they have treated 

 me pretty well. 



Beginners' Questions 



1. Is there any advantage in painting 

 the hives inside in case of moisture? 

 Would it be in any way more healthy for 

 the bees? 



2. I have 12 colonies and I want to in- 

 crease them. I have intended to Italian- 

 ize my bees, which are the common blacks, 

 but as we are beginners — for we bought 

 the colonies last fall, — we want to know if 

 it would be better to wait until next year 

 to introduce Italian queens. 



3. Our cellar is a large one, dry, and 

 has a ventilator connecting with the stove, 

 up to the chimney. The temperature 

 varies from 36 degrees in the coldest 

 weather, but most of the time from 38 

 to 40. Wiill such cellar winter our bees 

 all right? 



4. At such a temperature is it neces- 

 sarj- to have the cover on every hive ? 

 So far, we have adopted the same system 

 as the bee-keeper we bought our bees of, 

 and that is, every hive is set inside of a 

 wooden frame having one opening on each 

 side closed up with a wire screen. The 

 wav we stand the hives is about 2^ 

 inches over the platform on which they 

 stand. That bee-keeper kept his bees like 

 that for about 12 years. However, is not 

 that way contrary to the right system? 

 Would it be necessary to make a fire in 

 our cellar to keep a regular 38 to 40 de- 

 grees temperature? 



5. After queen-cells are taken out of 

 a hive, do we have to use them at once 

 for requeening? If not, how can we take 

 care of the sealed queen-cells? 



6. Is it just as profitable, and safer, to 

 let the bees swarm, or to increase our 

 colonies by the nucleus method? We 

 thought the first year we could come out 

 better with natural swarms. 



7. Is it not better to change all black 

 combs in every hive for full sheets of 

 foundation? If so, when is the right time 

 to make that change? Canada. 



Answers. — i. No, better leave the in- 

 side unpainted. 



2. You will probably do well to wait 

 till June before Italianizing. 



3. It is better that the cellar should be 

 kept as nearly as possible at 45 degrees. 

 So your cellar seems pretty cold. There 

 is, however, quite a difference in ther- 

 mometers, and your thermometer may not 

 be true, marking the temperature at 40 

 or less when it is really 4.?. You can 

 likely tell somethng about that by com- 

 paring different thermometers. 



4. There is nothing that succeeds like 

 success, and if your neighbor has been 

 uniformly successful in wintering, it will 

 be pretty safe to follow his example. I'm 

 not sure that I see the object of having 

 the hive inside of a frame, with wire- 



screen, unless it be to keep otit mice. If 

 your thermometer is reliable, and the cel- 

 lar is much of the time below 45, it would 

 be well to heat it up to 45. 



5. Use them just as soon as possible. 

 They may be kept a few hours away from 

 the bees if kept at the right temperature, 

 but they are better off to be in the care 

 of the bees. 



6. There is some difference of opinion 

 as to renewing combs. Across the ocean 

 some advise that they be not allowed to 

 be over 5 years old. I think few bee- 

 keepers in this country would agree with 

 that view. In my practise I have never 

 melted a comb merely because it was old 

 and have never seen any trouble from 

 the practise. 



Getting Increase — Weak Colonies — 

 Early Feeding 



1. If you had only 2 colonies of bees 

 and wantetd to increase to 5 or 6 more, 

 and keep within that number, and work 

 for the best crop of honey at the same 

 time, how would you do it? 



2. If you should find your bees weak in 

 numbers in the spring, what would be the 

 best way to strengthen them ? 



3. Can I use 2 hives or brood-cham- 

 bers and have honey stored in the top 

 one? If so. how would you arrange it? 



4. My hives are covered with grass and 

 leaves for winter. About what time should 

 I uncover them? 



5. My bees are out on all nice days and 

 will take up lots of sugar syrup. Do they 

 store it in the hives? 



6. Is there anything to be gained by 

 feeding bees until honey-gathering time, 

 or during February and March? 



Missouri. 



.'\ns\vers. — I. If I get your idea, you 

 want to increase 2 colonies to 5 or 6 

 more, or 7 or S colonies in all, and then 

 run them for honey without increase. 

 But that "work for the best crop of honey 

 at the same time" sounds as if you want- 

 ed to get the best crop of honey that can 

 be got, and at the same time make the 

 increase. Frankly, I don't know of any 

 way by which you can do that. So often 

 it is the case that beginners have an idea 

 there is some secret by which increase 

 may be made without at all interfering 

 with the honey crop. That can only hap- 

 pen in some place where there is a big 

 flow late in the season, besides the ear- 

 lier flow, so that when a colony swarms 

 both the swarm and the mother colony 

 can store a good lot of surplus. Where 

 I Jive, and most likely where you live, 

 more honey can be obtained if the bees 

 never take it into their heads to swarm 

 at all. 



If you are a beginner, perhaps natural 

 swarming will answer for your increase. 

 As you probably want to increase pretty 

 rapidly at first, when a colony swarms, 

 leave the old colony on ihe old stand and 

 as each swarm issues set it on a new 

 stand. In that way you will likely have 

 6 colonies at the end of the first season, 

 and likely not so very much honey. It 

 would be nothing so very strange, if the 

 season sliould be good, if you should have 

 your 7 or 8 colonies at the end of the first 

 season. By the time of the second year 

 you will likely be so well informed upon 

 the subject that you can tell better than 

 I what will be your best way to get crops 

 of honey without increase. I say, how- 

 ever, that one way is to kill the queen 

 and return the swarm when a colony 

 swarms, then a week later begin listening 

 for the piping of the young queen by plac- 

 ing your ear against the hive. Likely 

 you may hear her about 8 days after 

 swarming. Whenever you do hear her, 

 go to the hive the next morning and de- 

 stroy all the queen-cells. That will leave 

 only the one queen in the hive, and there 

 will be no more swarming. It may be 



that the bees may not think of sending 

 out a second swarm, although that will be 

 very unlikely. In that case you will hear 

 no piping, and if you will look in the 

 hive after the gth or tenth day you will 

 likely find the cells torn down Ijy the 

 bees. You may then know that they have 

 no thought of further swarming. 



2. If I found a colony very weak in 

 early spring, I wouldn't try to strengthen 

 it. I would unite it with a stronger colo- 

 ny, or else I would wait till other colo- 

 nies were so strong that they had at least 

 6 frames of brood each, and then I would 

 swap its frame of brood for one from an- 

 other colony. The frame taken from the 

 weak colony would likely not be very well 

 filled with sealed brood, and the one given 

 should be well filled. Afterward more 

 brood could be added, when the sealed 

 brood had pretty well hatched out. 



3. Yes, put a queen-excluder between 

 the two stories. Or, you can do without 

 the excluder if you have sections in the 

 second story. 



4. It will be well to leave it on till the 

 weather is quite wanm, or until the har- 

 vest begins. 



5. Yes. if they get more syrup than 

 they use for their daily needs, they will 

 store it in their combs. 



6. Yes, there is big gain if there is 

 danger of starving; but if they have 

 abundance of stores let them alone. An 

 exceplion to this takes place in some parts 

 like Colorado, where a dearth lasts so 

 long early in the season that breeding 

 stops altogether. In such a case feed, 

 even if abundance of honey is in the 

 hive. But I don't think you will meet 

 such a condition. 



Transferring Bees 



I. Suppose I should transfer my bees 

 in spring when the cherry trees are in 

 full bloom, a la Heddon, by shaking 

 them in front of a new hive, but instead 

 of leaving the old hive next to the new 

 hive, have the entrance in another direc- 

 tion for 3 -weeks, and then shake again 

 and take the old hive away after shaking. 

 How would it work to put the old hive, 

 after the first shaking, on top of the new 

 hive with an excluder between, and have 

 the upper hive-entrance closed tight, so 

 that when the broiod from the upper 

 hive is better, the young bees are bound 

 to go down to the new hive ? After the 

 brood in the upper hive (say in 3 weeks) 

 is hatched, I would remove the upper 

 hive and put a super in its place, and take 

 the hive away. Now I don't know whether 

 I should close the entrance of the upper 

 hive entirely, or whether I should leave 

 room for one bee to pass out and have 

 the upper hive free in another direction. 

 Before I would take the upper hive down, 

 I would slip a bee-escape hoard between 

 the 2 hives so all the bees could go down, 

 but not back again. The queen or cells 

 of the upper hive I would find and would 

 use them afterward. This would be 

 something like the Demaree plan, but the 

 Demaree plan doesn't say whether the 

 entrance in the upper hive should be 

 closed or ndt, which is what I would like 

 to know. 



2. Now Suppose I succeeded in trans- 

 ferring the bees into the new hives, and 

 after a while (say when wbite clover is 

 in full bloom), I would like to in- 

 crease, would it be safe to take the frames 

 with brood, and the queen and adhering 

 bees, and put them into a new hive, fill- 

 ing both with frames of foundation, and 

 put the hive with the queen on a new 

 stand, and afler 8 days change the hives 

 so that the weaker one would get the 

 field-bees from the old hive so it can get 

 stronger? Do you think this would de- 

 crease the amount of comb honey for the 

 season? Or do you think it would be 

 more profitable to wait for a natural 



