April, 1916. 



13n 



i^American Hee Jfournaljfj 



)>=TPtifr I 



On the whole, the convention was 

 honored as never before by the pres- 

 ence before them of the representative 

 men of the University, Agricultural 

 College and Agricultural Society, and 

 of their very evident effort to recognize 

 the Wisconsin State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation and the general bee-industry of 

 the State as an established factor in the 

 economic industries of Wisconsin. 



" Whv and how the State of Wiscon- 



sin shouldassist its beekeepers" — W. E. 

 Krause. 



Franklin Wilcox, of Mauston, was 

 recommended for the appointment of 

 judge of the Apiarian ICxhibit at the 

 State Fair. 



Officers for li)16: President, N. E. 

 France, Platteville ; vice-president, Mrs. 

 Wm. Haberman, Lodi ; secretary, Gus 

 Uittmer, Augusta ; treasurer, A. C. 

 Allen, Portage. Gus Dittmer, Sec. 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to tiie office of the American Pee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo, If.. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Section Starters 



1. Would you advise thin or extra thin 

 foundation for sections ? 



2. How many pounds of foundation will I 

 need for 800 sections ? 



3. What size do you cut the top starter ? 



4. What size the bottom starter ? 



5. Whatrisdo you have for cutting foun- 

 dation true ? Texas. 



Answers.— I. I use thin. The bees are 

 more apt to tear down extra thin, especially 

 if no honey is coming in for a few days. 



2, I think about 8 pounds. 



3, 3% inches wide, and 3'A deep. 



4. 3% by H. 



5. I have used different rigs. The one I use 

 mostly consists of a series of parallel bars 

 used as rulers by which to cut with a pocket 

 knife, fully described in "Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees." but the description would 

 take too much space here. 



Smoke Method 



I wrote to a friend to get a full description 

 of the smoii: w/.-Md./. which I never saw de- 

 scribed in the American Bee Journal since I 

 have read it My friend did not know it. In 

 your next issue would you have a descrip- 

 tion of the smoke method of introducing 

 queens; it would be of great service to me ? 



Montana 



Answer —You no doubt refer to the plan 

 of Arthur C. Miller, which he prefers to call 

 the distress plan, although it might not inap- 

 propriately be called the smoke-distress plan. 

 It has been given fully in this Journal, but I 

 now give it again in the words of Arthur C, 

 Miller himself, as given in a late number of 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture; 



" A queenless colony has the entrance to 

 its hive nearly closed, say all but an inch 

 Into this space a cloud of smoke is blown 

 until the bees roar; then this space is 

 quickly closed. In about a quarter of a 

 minute a queen is run in and the space re- 

 closed. In 10 minutes more the inch space 

 is opened and the bees allowed to ventilate 

 slowly. I'hat is the sum and substance of 

 the method. 



" Here are some of the qualifying condi- 

 tions: First, the hive must be smoke-tight. 

 Open corners, warped covers, cracked 

 floors, etc.. are conditions fatal to success 

 with this method. All possible chance of 

 ventilation must be prevented Second, the 

 smoke must be such as to create the great- 

 est distress and the least danger, and that 

 sort of smoke is the thick white choky kind. 

 Third, enough smoke must be driven in to 

 till the chamber so completely that no bee 

 will fail to feel it. Fourth, the smoke and 

 bees should be confined for 10 or 15 minutes, 



and then relief given slowly as by opening 

 only an inch of the entrance. If the whole 

 of the entrance is opened at once the bees 

 may pour out in a mass and sometimes the 

 queen with them. They soon quiet down, 

 even ivith only the inch outlet, and when 

 quiet the entrance may be fully opened." 



Clipping — Queens from tlie SoutI), Etc. 



1. Does it affect a queen in clipping her ? 



2. Is it advisable to buy queens from the 

 South ? Is the change too great as far north 

 as I am ? 



3. How can I transfer bees from hives 

 where combs are built crosswise? I have 

 four colonies and no extra hives. 



4. In crossing common bees with Italians, 

 is one good cell enough for every swarm 

 after removing the old queen ? 1 have one 

 Italian colony and three hybrids. 



Missouri. 

 Answers.— I. No. 



2. So far as I know queens from the South 

 do as well as from the North. 



3. Wait until the colony swarms, hive the 

 swarm in a proper hive, set it on the old 

 stand with the old hive close beside it. a 

 week later move the old hive to the oppo- 

 site side of the swarm, two weeks later still 

 break up the old hive, add the bees to the 

 swarm and melt up the old combs. 



4. One good cell is just as good as a dozen. 



A Boy's Questions 



1. What kind of bees would you advise; 

 also beehives and where can they be 

 bought ? 



2. What kind of bee-stands? 



3. What direction should they face ? 



4. Should I have double-walled hives here 

 in northwest Arkansas ? 



5. How far apart should the stands be ? 



6. Should supers be painted ? 



7. What kind of paint should I use for the 

 hives ? 



8. What kind of alighting-boards should I 

 have ? 



9. How many beehives should I have on 

 one stand? 



10. What is the difference between the 

 tested and untested queens ? 



11. Are the Caucasian bees good; if so. 

 where can they be bought ? 



12. What kind of frames are best ? 



13 I am working very hard so as to make 

 enough money to take the American Bee 

 Journal. What would be the price for three 

 years of the back numbers ? 



14- What are nuclei bees ? 



15 How IS the best way to winter bees 

 out-of-doors ? 



16. Is Arkansas a good honey State ? 



17. How far apart should apiaries be 

 placed ? Arkansas. 



Answers.— 1. The general opinion is that 

 there is no better bee than the 3-banded 

 Italian, such as you already have, although 

 some 3-banders are better than others- The 



lo-frame dovetailed hive is most generally 

 favored, and the advertisements in the 

 American Bee Journal will tell you where 

 they can be obtained ? 



2. Cement stands are good. Common drain 

 tile may be used; also bricks. You may 

 also use two pieces of scantling. 



3. There is probably not much difference: 

 although it is not generally considered best 

 to have them face north. 



4. Probably not. 



5. Far enough so that there shall be a 

 space of three feet or so between any hive 

 and the hive on the next stand 



6. Paint makes them look better and last 

 longer, although some think it as well to 

 leave them unpainted. 



7. Probably nothing is better than the best 

 white paint. 



8. There is really no need of any alighting- 

 board other than the extension of the bot- 

 tom-board in front, although some like to 

 have a board with one end on the ground 

 slanting up to the entrance. 



9. Some have only one. but there is advan- 

 tage in having two standing so close as to be 

 almost touching. 



10. An untested queen is one which has 

 been laying more than one to 20 days: a 

 tested queen is one which has been laying 

 three weeks or more, so that it may be seen 

 by her worker progeny that she is purely 

 mated. 



11. They are not generally considered as 

 good as Italians, although some think them 

 better. Advertisements will show you 

 where to find them. 



12. You can hardly do better than to have 

 the frame most commonly in use. i7fSxgJ^ 

 inches, outside measure. 



13. You can get the back numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal for $1.00 a year. But I 

 strongly advise you to get jf r.r/ a good book . 

 such as Dadant's-Langstroth. If I couldn't 

 have both, I'd rather have the book than the 

 back numbers for five or even ten years. 



14. A nucleus is a small colony, perhaps 

 one with only bees enough to cover two or 

 three combs, and a bee in a nucleus is just 

 the same as any other bee. 



15. It would be too long a story to give all 

 the particulars of the different ways in 

 which bees are wintered outdoors, and this 

 you will get from your bee-book, this de- 

 partment being a sort of supplement to the 

 book, and not expected to tell again the 

 things to be found in any good book on bee- 

 keeping. But the main thing is to have the 

 hives sheltered as much as possible from 

 the winds, and to have some kind of pack- 

 ing to help keep the hives warm. 



16. Yes. 



17. Two miles at least, and more is better. 



Queen-Excluders for Extracting 



1. I would like to put a queen-excluder on 

 an empty hive above the brood-chamber for 

 extracting wit', the queen confined below. 

 If it happens that drones are left above, 

 what will they do ? 



2 I notice Mr. Byron Walker's plan of 

 using an upper entrance in connection with 

 an alighting-board so drones can go out 

 freely. I am pleased with the plan. Why 

 does he use two crates or supers at the bot- 

 tom ? I notice in " A B C of Bee Culture." 

 page 21Q. in Mr. Walker's picture, he uses 

 two supers at the bottom; that the second 

 hive contains full sheets and brood above 



Indiana. 



I. If left with no chance for exit, sooner 

 or later the drones will die, and their bodies 

 will be found on the excluder, not whole, 

 but in pieces, for the bees in their attempts 

 to drag them down tear them in pieces, 

 dragging down all pieces small enough, and 

 finally there will be nothing left of each 



