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QUESTION.— 

 Intanding to 

 do a little 

 trading in 

 buying up honey 

 and retailing, mostly 

 thru the mails in a 

 small way, I should 

 be very much oblig- 

 ed if you would give 

 some information in 

 Gleanings as to the definition of the teirm " hoard- 

 ing " as to law. Even if one puts a fair and con- 

 servative price on his goods, he can not expect to 

 sell at once, but will have to keep part on hand, 

 maybe for a few months. Formerly wa sold thru 

 the mails, and were sold out about March. I be- 

 lieve that a man who distributes honey thru the 

 mails is more of a benefactor to the people than any- 

 thing else, because there are many places where 

 honey is not produced, and consequently is high. 

 But even in carrying on a very small business I 

 wish to be found inside the limits of the law. 



Wisconsin. G. A. Lunde. 



Answer. — We ourselves are not familiar 

 with the term "hoarding," as to law. In 

 any case, whatever it is, it would not pre- 

 vent you from retailing honey by mail — that 

 is, retailing honey by parcel post in tin pack- 

 ages. We say ' ' tin ' ' because it would never 

 do to send out honey by mail in glass. The 

 packages should not weigh over two or three 

 pounds, and should be self-sealing so there 

 would be no danger of honey leaking. E. D. 

 Townsend of North Star, Mich., and other 

 beekeepers, have sent honey in a small way 

 by mail. It is usually not practicable to go 

 beyond the first zone. It is hardly wise to 

 rely upon the tin package alone. You would 

 have to put it up in perhaps two or three 

 to a box — something that would be strong 

 and would prevent the package from being 

 broken. A tin package alone might get 

 jammed or punched in such a way as to 

 cause a leak. 



Question. — Will you please explain how to intro- 

 duce by the honey method. John C. Laing. 



Canada. 



Answer. — The queen may be caught by the 

 wings or by the shoulders and quickly im- 

 mersed in the honey, and then poured with 

 the honey down between the frames. The 

 introduction should be made at night or else 

 the entrance made small. When introducing 

 in this way, the honey should not be so cold 

 as to chill the queen; also there should be 

 plenty of honey used, at least half a cupful, 

 and the thicker the honey is, the better. It 

 would probably be a good plan to tip the 

 hive back a little bit, so there will be no 

 danger of the honey running out at the en- 

 trance and thus starting robbing. 



Question. — Do bees see in the dark, or how do 

 they find their way about in the hive? 



New York. G. H. Parker. 



Answer. — Bees probably find their way 

 about their hive in tlic dark by means of 

 their sense of touch, which is located in their 

 antennae, and also by the sense of smell, the 

 location of which is not definitely known. 



Questions. — (1) In the May issue of Gleanings, 

 page 275, is a paragraph headed "Increase — Pre- 

 vented or Made." I do not understand the last half 

 of that paragraph. What is the object in tearing 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIiTURE 



GLEANED by ASKING 



1 



E. R. Root 



TU 



July, 1918 



down capped 

 queen-cells in the 

 upper story after 

 the excluder has 

 been placed b e - 

 tween ? Why not 

 leiave a queen-cell 

 to hatch, that 

 queen to be the 

 queen of the new 

 colony? (2) Why 

 leave the hive for eight days before moving to the 

 new stand? (3) Do bees use queen-cells a second 

 time or do they make new cells each time they wish 

 to rear a new queen? Geo. S. Hall. 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — (1) If a capped cell were left 

 while there were still eggs and young larvae 

 present, the bees would straightway begin 

 more queen-cells, and would shortly swarm 

 out with a young virgin providing there was 

 an upper entrance, or that the queen was 

 able to pass thru the escape. If the virgin 

 were shut up in the upper chamber, and not 

 allowed to mate, of course she would be 

 worthless. Still, if one desires to raise a 

 queen in the ui')per story, it may be done by 

 tearing down all capped cells, placing a sec- 

 ond queen-excluder under the upper hive of 

 brood, making an upper entrance, and, at 

 the end of a week, leaving one capped cell, 

 so that, when the queen hatches she may be 

 mated from the upper hive. (2) The work 

 of the colony should be interrupted as little 

 as possible. If the upper story of brood is 

 left eight days before removing, the original 

 colony will be much stronger, as the number 

 of bees will be increased each day; also there 

 will be less danger of chilling the brood; for 

 if not moved for eight days, by that time 

 all the brood will be sealed, and therefore 

 more easily kept warm. (3) Bees do not use 

 old queen-cells a second time, but build anew 

 every time they wish to raise a new queen. 

 Generally, after the queen hatches, the old 

 useless queen-cells are soon torn down. 



Question. — Early in the spring my colony swarm- 

 ed out and settled in a tree. I replaced the old hive 

 with a new one and hived the bees. The next morn- 

 ing they again swarmed, and this time left for parts 

 unknown. There seemed to be nothing wrong with 

 their hive. What was the trouble? 



Oklahoma. Chas. W. Schlosser. 



Answer. — You neglected to tell how the 

 new hive was fitted up. If, inside the hive, 

 there had been some old comb and a frame 

 containing eggs and young larvae, the colony 

 would probably have stayed all right. With- 

 out doubt they had a queen with wings, and 

 after entering the hive and finding it not 

 satisfactory to them, they decided to swarm 

 out and go to a different location. A little 

 young larvae will often make the colony con- 

 tented with its new hive. 



Question. — My colony has a young queen, and the 

 hive is heavy with honey. I have put on a super, 

 but the bees will not go into it. Instead they are 

 filling their brood-combs with honey. The queen 

 doe.s not seem to be laying much, and there is very 

 little brood, altho the bees are bringing in quantities 

 of iiollen. Will you please explain my trouble? 



Washington. Warren A. Worden. 



Answer. — We fear that your brood-cham- 

 ber is honey-bound, that is, that there is 

 not enough room left for the qujeen to lay. 



