December, 1918 



Gr. EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



747 



bees appear to be crowded so that the queen 

 needs more room for laying, the combs that 

 have been removed in the fall may then be 

 replaced. (2) It is usually easy to tell hon- 

 eydew from its rank flavor and also its 

 cloudy appearance. It is not desirable for 

 winter stores; and if there is any great quan- 

 tity of it, it should be removed and better 

 stores given. If there is only a small 

 amount, it might be well to feed 10 pounds 

 of good sugar syrup on top of this honey- 

 dew. If this is done the bees will proba- 

 bly not get down to the honeydew till next 

 spring, when they will be able to have plen- 

 ty of good flights, and the honeydew would 

 do them no harm. 



Question. — I should like to ask your opinion as 

 to the location of my bees. I have them at the 

 south end of a good honey-pasture which is good for 

 about two miles north. Three miles south of here 

 there is also good pasture. I was wondering if it 

 would not pay me to move my bees half way be- 

 tween. R. C. Carter. 



Florida. 



Answer. — Bees often go three or more 

 miles for nectar; and yet from your descrip- 

 tion we believe it would not pay you to 

 move between these two localities, for the 

 bees certainly do better if the pasturage is 

 very near than if it. is at a distance. Why 

 not divide your apiary and move jiart of it 

 into each of these two pastures? 



Question. — How is the State of Florida, and par- 

 ticularly the section 12 miles east of Tampa (high 

 pine land), " Dixie estates," for an apiary and the 

 raising of honey ? Is the honey from citrus-fruit 

 blossoms of good quality ? Do the bees work all 

 the year in that climate ? I should also be glad of 

 any other information you may care to give. 



New York City. A. Hutchinson. 



Answer. — The region 12 miles east of Tam- 

 pa is not particularly noted for the produc- 

 tion of honey. You will get honey, however, 

 from the citrus groves, and the honey is of 

 the very finest quality.' You will also secure 

 some from gallberry and saw-palmetto. If 

 the apiary in question is near some bay or 

 inlet, you will be able to get some mangrove 

 honey. We would advise apiaries not larger 

 than 25 or 30 colonies to the yard, putting 

 the yards four or five miles apart. Unless 

 there are hard roads or bays or inlets in the 

 vicinity, it would be difiicult to move bees, 

 as the sand is rather deep, making it hard 

 for an automobile to traverse. 



Question. — Please inform me whether the plan 

 of winter protection in the Rockies as illustrated in 

 the October Gleanings would be good to use in 

 Pennsylvania. J. R. Megargee. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — The plan of wintering given by 

 Wesley Foster could be practiced with profit 

 in your State, if a space intervenes between 

 the ground and the packing. If the packing 

 reaches clear from the hive to the ground, 

 it would absorb dampness and probably re- 

 sult in moldy combs. In Colorado the ground 

 is very dry, so that no harm is done by plac- 

 ing the packing on the ground as Mr. Foster 

 suggests. 



Question. — Would it be safe to feed bees combs 

 of honey that have been fumigated with bisulphide 

 of carbon to kill moths, if such combs have been 

 aired out several days after the carbon was used? 



Nebraska. C. W. Farington. 



Answer. — This honey would not injure 

 either bees or people. 



Question. — An apiary of 75 colonies is located in 

 the midst of a large fruit-tree section. How far 

 from the apiary can the orchardist expect as com- 

 plete pollination as he can within 80 rods of the 

 apiary ? A. B. Cook. 



California. 



Answer. — This would vary in different sea- 

 sons and different localities. In a climate 

 where the spring is often so cold that the 

 bees do not get a chance for flight except 

 only a few days during fruit bloom, you 

 can see that the conditions would be quite 

 different from those in your own locality. 

 Therefore, for a general answer, we would 

 say that at a greater distance than 80 rods 

 you could not expect as complete pollina- 

 tion as you could within that distance of 

 the apiary, altho during very warm weather 

 this would not hold. Here at Medina we 

 have known of some fruit trees only a few 

 rods apart. The one nearest the apiary 

 would be completely pollinated so that the 

 fruit was heavy on the tree, and great quan- 

 tities of it had to be picked in order that 

 the remaining fruit might mature, while only 

 a short distance from this tree were others 

 that were not pollinated nearly so well. We 

 have had reports, also, of orchards in which 

 the trees immediately surrounding the hives 

 would hang full of fruit, while those around 

 the edges would be in striking contrast. 



Question. — Please let me know what per cent of 

 queens introduced by the Miller smoke method are 

 accepted. Do you practice this method now ? If 

 so, do you always find the old queen first ? 



Kentucky. Claude W. Wilson. 



Answer. — We can not tell you what per 

 cent of the queens introduced by the Miller 

 smoke method are accepted, for it depends 

 so much upon weather conditions and the 

 honey flow. For best results the old queen 

 should be killed before introducing the new 

 one, altho many have reported introducing 

 without removing the old one. In such a 

 case you could not be certain that the new 

 queen would be accepted. Probably the 

 poorer of the two queens would be killed. 

 We are not using this method in our apiaries 

 at present, but are introducing with the 

 Miller cages and also with the Thompson 

 cage, which was described on page 463 of 

 Gleanings for August. Sometimes when we 

 are in a hurry we also introduce by simply 

 running a virgin in at the entrance. 



Question. — What is the noise one sometimes hears 

 when going thru a colony of bee.s — the noise a deep 

 bass note somewhat resembling the cooing of a 

 pigeon. I have been told by a very prominent bee- 

 keeper that it is the signal for the destruction of the 

 drones ; but I have heard it at almost all times. 



England. G. Barratt. 



Answer. — We do not know to what you 

 refer unless it be to the quahking of the 

 queens. 



