596 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept, 15 



Heads of Grain 



from Different Fields 



A Bunch of Questions. 



1. Will buckwheat yield nectar in a dry year? or 

 when is it that it does not yield nectar? 



2. Would you deem it advisable to make nuclei at 

 this time of the year (Aug. D? 



3. Do you know any thing about which will fly 

 furthest in search of honey, of the following-named 

 bees? Italians, blacks, or Hanats. I see in your 

 July loth issue that a man in Texas claims that Ba- 

 nats are the only thing lor long-distance flying in 

 search of honey. What is your opinion of it? 



4. Would not a four-inch space of chaff in a chaff 

 hive be better for wintering bees outdoors here in 

 Northern Iowa than two or three inches? or will it 

 be injurious to have that much or a little more? 



5. I used two Doolittle division-board feeders last 

 fall and winter in a small colony, but the bees 

 would make no attempt to get the feed: and the 

 few that tried drowned in the syrup, which was 

 made as you have directed. Now, could you ex- 

 plain why they did not use them, and tell how to 

 prevent bees from drowning in the syrup when 

 they try to get it? 



6. Which hive, for all-around purposes, do you 

 consider the best of the following: Danzenbaker, 

 Massie, Heddon, or divisible or alternating? 



Swea City, la., Aug. 1. Albert Swanson. 



1. Buckwheat will not yield as much nectar in a 

 dry season as during a year when the conditions 

 are more favorable. The quantity of nectar seems 

 to depend more on the character of the soil and the 

 actual temperature of the day than upon any thing 

 else. In some sections of York State buckwheat 

 nearly always furnishes a good supply of honey: 

 but even then some years are better than others. 

 In our own particular locality buckwheat yields 

 only sparingly, although we always get a good crop 

 of grain. In Northern Michigan and in Canada the 

 plant seems to yield nearly as well as It does in 

 New York. 



2. We would not advise you to make nuclei at 

 this season of the year unless you have had much 

 experience as a bee-keeper. Better by far double 

 up your weak colonies preparatory to winter. 



3. We do not believe there is any difference In 

 any of the races mentioned as to length of flight. 

 The distance bees will fly depends largely on the 

 source of honey and the lay of the land. When 

 there is a heavy secretion of nectar, such as we 

 sometimes get from buckwheat or basswood, bees 

 will not go half as far as when the flow is light. 

 For example, bees may go two or three miles when 

 a moderate clover yield is on. When the yield is 

 heavy, as from basswood, they will fly no further 

 than is necessary to fill up quickly and return. In 

 certain sections of the buckwheat areas of New 

 York, bees will often fly five or six miles, especially 

 if the flight is across a valley and there is no under- 

 brush or trees in the way. We doubt if any bee- 

 keeper has a strain of Banats or any other race that 

 will fly further than other strains. It sometimes 

 happens, however, that an individual colony of 

 Italians, blacks, or some other race will fly further 

 for nectar than some other bees of the same race m 

 the same yard. 



4. Yes, four inches would be better than two in 

 Northern Iowa: but a hive with a four-inch space 

 between walls is cumbersome and expensive. When 

 a hive has to be made so large in order to keep the 

 colony warm during winter it is better to winter 

 indoors and use singe-walled hives, both as a mat- 

 ter of convenience and economy. Where it is cold 

 enough so that the temperature is, say, below the 

 freezing-point continuously all winter. It is better 

 to winter in some good warm repository, for the 

 saving in stores if for no other reason. 



5. Bees will very often refu.se to take food out of a 

 feeder after cold weather sets in, or during cool 

 nights. If the colony is strong enough to keep up 

 the internal temperature of the hive, it will take 

 up the feed without hesitation. You probably fed 

 when it was too cool. In a Doolittle feeder waxed 

 all over inside it is advisable to use some sort of 

 float. A stick a little less in length and width than 



the inside of the feeder will answer very well. At 

 one time Doolittle feeders were made by paraffin- 

 ing or waxing the whole Inside. This made the in- 

 side surface so smooth that the bees could not 

 readily climb out, and hence they drowned. The 

 practice now is to nail the feeders up very careful- 

 ly, and wax only the joints. Half a pint of melted 

 paraffine is poured into the feeder, taking care not 

 to wax the sides or ends — only the corners or inter- 

 sections where the pieces come together. When 

 the feeder is waxed in this way, no float is needed. 

 6. The choice of a hive will depend a good deal on 

 general conditions and the man. The Massie and 

 the Danzenbaker hives are much alike, and have 

 about the same depth of brood-chamber. The Hed- 

 don and the divisible hives are practically one and 

 the same thing. Not knowing the locality, the 

 market, and the man we could not advise which 

 hive to select. — Ed.] 



Claiming Damages from Foul Brood. 



1 sold bees and comb March 1, 1910, to , after 



the bees were looked over and found to be healthy. 

 I wanted him to look over the combs also, but this 

 he did not do except in the case of one or two hives, 

 and then took them; but now his bees all have foul 

 brood. He says I deceived him, and has now put 

 the matter in the hands of an attorney, claiming 

 S500 damages. The combs were healthy when he got 

 them, I am sure. 1 am not a member of the Na- 

 tional. Can I become a member yet? I know 1 am 

 not guilty: but foul brood started among his bees, 

 as it is very bad there. Can he force me to pay 

 through the process of law? Can I not get some 

 testimony that bees or combs may be healthy, and 

 yet become foul a month later? After having bees 

 five months he was well satisfied, but now is trying 

 to make me pay, now that some of his bees are 

 foul. About May 1st he wrote me to look the bees 

 over again. I went there, and he had several 

 combs of nice-looking young brood and new pollen; 

 but by mistake he had taken the pollen for foul 

 brood. All this young brood died, of course. Can 

 it be that this looks like foul brood? Z. 



[Without knowing more of the particulars we are 

 unable to give you very definite advice. A good 

 deal will depend upon what sort of contract you 

 had: and if there Is no contract in writing, wheth- 

 er there were any one person, aside from the con- 

 tracting parties, who could testify to the condition 

 of these bees. 



One thing that will be In your favor is the fact 



that foul brood is very prevalent in and about ; 



and it would not be at all surprising that, if you 

 sold healthy bees, they would develop foul brood 

 in the loc;>lity where they were placed. The best 

 thing for you to do is to make general inquiry as to 

 whether foul brood was already present before j ou 

 sold your bees. If you can show that there were 

 diseased bees within half a mile, we will say, or 

 even a mile, of bees that were sold, prior to the sale, 

 the party could hardly claim that you sold him 

 diseased bees, or at least he could not make out a 

 case, in our judgment. 



Then it is possible that his bees do not have foul 

 brood at all. What he has may be nothing but 

 dead brood. We think it would be advisable for 

 you to call in your State foul-brood inspector. Let 

 him inspect the bees and also give you a report of 



the condition of bees in and about prior to the 



time of sale. The report that the foul-brood inspec- 

 tor gives you will have a strong bearing on the case. 



You can join the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion at any time: but the ; ational has a rule that 

 it can furnish no assistance in a financial way to 

 one who has been sued for damages prior to hii> ap- 

 plication for membership. But the National, we 

 are sure, would be willing to render you advice. To 

 that end we would refer you to General Manager 

 N. E. France, Platteville. Wis.— Ed.] 



Is it Practicable to Space Closed-end Frames Wid- 

 er Apart for the Production of Extracted 

 Honey? 



It requires rather more work than I care to do to 

 produce comb honey, or at least entirely, and I am 

 making arrangements to begin next season produc- 

 ing largely extracted: and as I have only the Dan- 

 zenbaker hives, and have ordered more, I wish to 

 know how I am to space eight frames to take the 

 place of ten in my supers, for I have eighty of them 



