1910 



GLKAXINGS IN BKK CL'LTl RE 



533 



noticed, with the old queen, of course, as she al- 

 ways conies out with the first swarm, unless, as be- 

 fore stated, she has died a short time before. 



I have been a bee-lceeper fifty years, and I know 

 of no sure sign when to look for the first swarm; 

 but I can tell positively when to expect any swarm 

 after the first. In seven or eight days after the first 

 has issued, I think not sooner than that, and it may 

 be nine days, and then if a second or third or more 

 are to issue you can always hear the young queens, 

 usually two or three days or nights before they 

 come out. The older they get before swarming, the 

 louder they pipe. I have often heard them several 

 feet away from the hive. "When I had only a few 

 swarms I was always listening for this signal of a 

 second swarm. There are often two or three piping 

 at once. Remember, it is only the uouno queens 

 that pipe, and nearly a week after the first swarm. 



Gaines, Pa., July 13. A. Dewey. 



The Sound of the Queen Made Only Before the 

 Issuing of the Second Swarm. 



When I was a boy in Scotland my father kept 

 bees in the old bee-skep. We always heard the 

 queen give a sound of " yeep-yeep," only before the 

 second swarm came out. I have kept bees in this 

 country for twenty years, and have heard them, I 

 don't know how often. As, a rule, if you listen the 

 seventh and eighth night after the first swarm is- 

 sues, and hear the sound, a second swarni will come 

 oflf the next day. If a third conies off you can hear 

 the same sound one or two days after the second. 



Sebring, O., July 18. W. F. Bahclay. 



How to Maintain a Drone-rearing Colony. 



In maintaining a drone colony for late queen- 

 rearing, is it necessary to take the queen away aft- 

 er she has filled the drone combs with eggs ? Must 

 they be kept aueenless? 



Batesville. Tex., July 10. R. I. Eeskine. 



[In the case mentioned a ciueen would not lay in 

 drone-cells unless the colony were fed or there was 

 a light honey-flow on. After there are eggs in 

 drone-cells the queen could be removed, and the 

 bees would continue the work of rearing drone 

 brood. A better way, however, and the one we 

 use, is to keep feeding our drone-rearing colonies. 

 These must be fed continuously; for to skip one day 

 would mean the destruction of a lot of valuable 

 drones. — Ed.] 



The Townsend Plan of Using Extracting-frames 



in Comb-honey Supers; the Advisability of 



Wiring Extracting-frames. 



In the June 1st issue, page 348, there is an illustra- 

 tion of Jay Smith's use of the Towsend plan in Dan- 

 zenbaker supers. Do yovi not think that the ex- 

 tracting-frames should be made with a vertical bar 

 in the middle, so that a third super-spring would 

 hold the fences in place? or would it be too much 

 bother in extracting? Would you advise equip- 

 ping all supers with these two extracting-frames, or 

 only the first super to be put on each colony ? 

 \\'ould it be advisable to wire the foundation into 

 these frames? 



Wellsville, X. Y., July 1. C. X. Francisco. 



[We would not advise the use of a vertical wood- 

 en brace in the middle of the extracting frame as 

 you describe. One objection to it is that It would 

 consume too much valuable space right in the cen- 

 ter of the brood-nest; and then we imagine it would 

 interfere somewhat with the work of the uncap- 

 ping-knife. 



We would not advi e equipping all supers with 

 extracting-frames on the Townsend plan nor any 

 other plan until you try a few to see whether you 

 like them. .Such supers are handy to have at the 

 beginning of a honey-flow. After the bees get 

 started to going above, it is not so necessary to 

 have the extracting-frames. 



We would wire all frames, whether shallow or 

 full-depth, if you desire to use them for extracting. 

 —Ed.] 



Italians More Immune to European Foul Brood. 



.My bees are diseased with European foul brood. 

 Two years ago I was troubled with the same dis- 

 ease. I shook them and requeened them with Ital- 

 ian queens, but they proved to be wrongly mated. 

 I have been advised to requeenthem this year with 

 Italian queens, without shaking. Do you think 



this advisable? Do I run any or much risk in In- 

 troducing queens without shaking? and if I do 

 shake I am afraid my bees will not have gathered 

 enough material to furnish them their food through 

 the winter. Which do you consider the best strain 

 of Italian bees? We thought of choosing between 

 the golden and the long-tongued red-clover stock, 

 but do not know which is the better. 



Ithaca, X. Y., July 9. M. W. Van de Bogart. 



[It would be advisable for you to requeen If your 

 stock is hybrid or black. Experience shows, un- 

 questionably, that pure Italians will resist Europe- 

 an foul brood much better than hybrids or common 

 blacks. There is no need of shaking again if the 

 colonies are cured: but if the disease has reappear- 

 ed we would advise shaking and Italianizing. This 

 would be a good time of the year to do it; and 

 should there be a dearth of honey at the time of 

 shaking we would advise stimulative feeding at 

 night or toward night. The buckwheat flow which 

 is to follow ought to put your colonies in good con- 

 dition for winter. 



As between the golden and long-tongue red-clo- 

 ver strain, we do not know that there is any differ- 

 ence in the power to resist disease. Ordinarily we 

 would advise just standard leather-colored Italian 

 stock.— Ed.] 



How Long after t'lanting Basswoods will they Be- 

 gin to Yield Nectar in Quantities ? 



Kindly write us at once, giving prices, and state 

 when we can get basswood-trees, and also advise us 

 in regard to planting the same. How long before 

 we could expect a flow, and how many trees would 

 it take to furnish a surplus for 600 colonies? 



Brooksville, Ky., July 14. Wali.in A- Coklis. 



[It would take in the neighborhood of twenty-five 

 years for a grove of bas.swoods to yield nectar in 

 quantity large enough to take care of any consider- 

 able number of bees. We put out ten acres of bass- 

 woods nearly forty years ago, but this grove has 

 never amounted to any thing for the production of 

 honey. Basswoods, in order to do well, should 

 grow with other trees in a forest. Basswood-trees 

 when used for shade in city streets yield consider- 

 able nectar. The reason for this is probably the 

 fact that the soil is not u.sed up too much. It 

 would not pay you to put out the basswood grove, 

 if our experience is any criterion: but in about ten 

 years basswood shade-trees will begin to yield some 

 nectar. Trees five years old will yield a few blos- 

 soms: but a hundred acres of them would not sui>- 

 ply very much nectar to fifty or one hundred colo- 

 nies, let alone six hundred. — Ed.] 



Why the Buckwheat does Not Yield Honey. 



My bees (Carniolansi do not work at all upon my 

 buckwheat. I have made four different sowings at 

 intervals of two weeks, and the last sowing is now 

 in full bloom, and my bees have not worked upon 

 any of the sowings at all. A man living five miles 

 distant, who keeps native black bees, tells me that 

 one year he sowed buckwheat and his bees avoided 

 it entirely. 



Archey, Ark., July 11. A. W. Callam. 



[Buckwheat, while a heavy yielder of honey in 

 some localities and in some seasons, furnishes no 

 nectar in others. A good locality may furnish no 

 honey from buckwheat one year, and considerable 

 the following year. This is true of practically all 

 the honey-plants of any importance. 



Regarding buckwheat, there are a few localities 

 where the conditions of soil are such that it never 

 yields honey, or at most a very small quantity. — 

 Ed.] 



Combs Infested with Moth-worms. 



I have four or five frames of honey infested with 

 moth, and my hives are weak. Would it be safe to 

 feed? Can I destroy the moth by any means? 



Summerland, B. C., July 9. F. W. Bentley. 



[If you have combs Infested with moth-worms 

 you can take a knife and cut out the galleries, in- 

 cluding the ugly pests, and put the combs back in 

 the hive. You can then feed, when the bees will 

 repair the mutilated parts of the combs. You can 

 not destroy the moth-worms when they are in a 

 hive of live bees by the use of any drugs or process 

 of fumigation. To avoid trouble in the first place, 

 introduce Italian blood among your bees and you 

 will find there will be no further difficulty.- Ed.] 



