June, 1916. 



207 



American Hee Journal 



follows: President, Mr. L, T. Floyd, 

 Central Norton; 1st Vice-President, 

 Mr. David Hiscoe, Fredericton ; 2d 

 Vice-I'resident, Mr. G. S. Peabody, 

 Woodstock; Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. 



H. B. Durost, Woodstock. 



The question of handling supplies 

 again this year was left for the Board 

 of Directors to settle. 



H. B. DuROST, Sec.-Treas. 



Dr.Miller*s ^ Answers^^ 



Send Questions either to tlie office of the American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo, II",. 



He does not answer bee-keeping Questions by mail. 



Aver8ge^Relurn Per Colony— Locition 



1. Wliat amount of money can one make 

 out of a colony of bees each year ? 



2. I would also like to have your opinion 

 as to a good location in Michigan 



Michigan. 



Answers — i. There is a strong temptation 

 to answer by saying. " I don't know. " but I 

 suppose the roughest kind of a guess would 

 suit you better than that. You see there are 

 so many factors to be considered: the sea- 

 son, the kind of bees, the locality, and the 

 mail, or at least part of them Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips estimates the average annual crop 

 at 25 to 30 sections, or 40 to 6o pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. Some probably don't do half 

 as well as that, while there are beekeepers 

 who would not feel satisfied if they could 

 not double it. As you are among those who 

 have literature upon the subject. I should 

 suesi that you would do better than the aver- 

 age, perhaps averaging 40 sections, and that 

 might bring you $).oo. Jb.oo, or $8. 00, according 

 as you would wholesale it at a low figure or 

 retail it by the section at a high figure. 



2. Most of the best locations in Michigan 

 are already fully occupied, which is as 

 much as saying they are no locations at all ; 

 the most important item in choosing a loca- 

 tion being to find one where there are few 

 or no beekeepers. From what little I know 

 about it. I should guess you would do well 

 to do a little prospecting in the northern 

 part, perhaps in the burnt districts where 

 fireweed and raspberries abound. 



Granulation of Comb Honey 



I am sending you under separate cover two 

 small pieces of comb honey marked sample 

 "A"and"B." Both of these samples are 

 cut from section comb honey, which was 

 represented to be white clover, and both, as 

 you will note, are of distinctly different 

 flavor. Sample "A " is from a New York 

 Stale producer, and considerable honey of 

 this tfavor was included in a shipment of 

 white clover and basswood. All sections 

 of the honey similar to sample " A " showed 

 a remarkable tendency to granulate; in fact, 

 it granulated last fall, about October or 

 November, while the basswood comb in this 

 shipment is still in good condition 



Would you kindly give your opinion as to 

 the source each of these samples have been 

 gathered from. Also state as far as you 

 know which of the eastern and western 

 comb honeys are the most apt to granulate, 

 and if there would be any way of telling 

 from looking at a comb of honey whether it 

 was of a kind that would granulate Quickly ? 



I have read your frequent remarks about 

 keeping comb honey at about 80 degrees 

 Fahr.. and at a uniform temperature, but 

 isn't it a fact that somesorts of comb honey 

 will granulate no matter how much care you 

 take of it ? What do you think is the cause 

 of this ? Is there something in one honey 

 not found in another, which will cause one 

 to granulate QUicklv and the other to keep 

 liquid a longtime? Would a chemical ana- 

 lysis of the comb honey reveal whether it 

 was of a quick granulating kind ? 



Have you ever kept comb honey in a super 

 over a colony of bees; if so. what about the 

 tendency of comb honey kept in this man- 



ner to granulate ? New York. 



Answer.— It was a surprise to find these 

 two samples of comb honey in such excel- 

 lent condition. A little square of honey 

 was wrapped in tissue paper, then in writ- 

 ing paper, then in manilla paper, and put 

 into a common pasteboard box. the whole 

 wrapped in manilla paper. There was 

 scarcely any leakage, and if honey would 

 always come through in such good condition 

 the problem of sending it by parcel post 

 would be solved 



I am not an expert at judging honey, but 

 my guess would be that sample "A" was 

 white-clover honey. Sample " B " might be 

 a mixture of white clover and something 

 else, or it might be without any white clover- 

 and from some source which I don't know. 

 It would, however, probably pass muster 

 generally as white clover. It is probably 

 not very often that you will find a section of 

 honey that is cff/^rA' of one kind of honey. 

 At a time when white clover is doing its 

 best, a little search will show you some bees 

 at work on other tlowers than white clover. 



I don't think there is any way by which 

 you can tell by looking whether a piece of 

 comb honey will granulate readily or not. 

 Of course, if you know that one section is of 

 alfalfa and another of sage, you will know 

 that one will granulate more readily than 

 the other; butthat is hardly what you mean. 

 .Alfalfa granulates very readily, and sage 

 very slowly. I don't know why. Also, a 

 sample of honey will sometimes granulate 

 more readily than another of the same kind 

 of honey. I don't know what makes the dif- 

 ference, and I doubt whether chemical ana- 

 lysis would show which one would granu- 

 late first. I have an idea that a sample that 

 is throughly ripened will be more slow about 

 granulating. At any rate I've had white- 

 clover honey keep three yearsor more with- 

 out granulating, and I know no reason for it 

 except that it was kept in an attic where it 

 got very hot in summer. 



I never kept a superof honey over a colony 

 of bees in winter; but I have, of course, had 

 frames of it in the brood-chamber, where it 

 keeps well. 



Moldy Comb 



When I removed my bees from the cellar 

 this spring several of the combs were cov- 

 ered with a light green mold This comb 

 was put into the frames last summer in 

 comb foundation. Will the bees fix this 

 moldy comb all right or will it have to be 

 replaced with comb foundation ? 



Michigan. 



Answer— The bees will clean them up 

 all right. You will no doubt find that in the 

 brood-nest itself there will be no mold, and 

 as the broodnest expands the bees will 

 clean up each cell before using it. Some 

 colonies may die in winter, and you may 

 think of using for swarms the moldy combs 



left. That would not be wise, for the bees 

 of a swarm are more particular about their 

 combs than are the bees of an established 

 colony. But you can have such combs 

 cleaned up in advance Fill them into a 

 hive-body and set this hive-body under the 

 hive of a strong colony. The combs will be 

 nicely cleaned up by the time you will want 

 them for a swarm. 



Bees Thin Honey 



1. Do bees store water in combs ? 



2 Do they work over their honey, thinning 

 It with water in the spring? Vermont. 



Answers— 1. I don't think they do. 



2. I think they do. 



A Beginner 



1. How can I save a swarm of bees after 

 they have clustered in a 45 or 50 foot tree ? 



2 Is the honey ripe when it is all sealed 

 or how long should it stay in the super after 

 sealed until it is ready to be taken out and 

 how is the best way to get it ? 



3. \yould a honey-board be a great help ? 

 4 Can a person smoke bees too much ? 



5. Would it be any advantage or disadvan- 

 tage if the super was glass on each side ex- 

 cept one inch all around the out edge? 

 Would it be too light or too warm for them 

 if shaded well ? 



6. Should bees be transferred when apple 

 trees are in bloom ? 



, 7. How can I keep my bees from swarm- 

 ing if there is no entrance guard on the hive? 

 8. I caught a swarm of bees last spring. 

 Will they swarm this year, and did they get 

 the old or young queen ? Kentucky. 



Answers — i. Climb up and get the swarm 

 in a basket; then climb down with it or 

 lower it with a rope. Likely you can't do 

 that if it is out at the tipend of a limb. 

 Maybe you can throw a stone over the limb, 

 with a tight cord tied to the stone, so that 

 the stone will bring down to you the end of 

 the cord. Then you can tie a rope to the 

 end of the light cordandpull it down. Then, 

 the rope being aero s the limb, you having 

 hold of both ends of the rope, shake the 

 limb like sixty. If your hive is sitting on the 

 ground where the bees fall, maybe they'll 

 enter it. Now. seeing it's you. I'll tell you 

 something a good deal easier. Cutoff the 

 queen's wings on one side, and then if the 

 swarm settles on a high tree, don't bother 

 your head about it. but find and cage the 

 queen; set the old hive off its stand, and set 

 the empty hive in its place, with the caged 

 queen at the entrance; then when the 

 swarm comes down, as it surely will, free 

 the queen after the swarm begins to enter 

 the hive. 



2. There may be rare times when honey is 

 sealed before it is ripe enough, but you are 

 safe in counting that it is ready to take off 

 when it is sealed. I can't give you special 

 instructions about taking it off without 

 knowing in just what shape it is on the hive, 

 the kind of super, etc. 



3 By a honey-board I suppose you mean a 

 queen-excluder. Nearly all who produce 

 extracted honey consider an excluder im- 

 portant; for section honey it is not needed 

 if you have your sections >//fi/ with worker- 

 comb foundation. 



4. Yes. indeed. Don't smoke them more 

 than enough to keep them from flying at you. 



s. It would be a needless expense, and I 

 don't think the bees would like it so well. 



6. There is perhaps no better time if you 

 use the old-fashioned way of cutting out the 

 combs of brood and fastening them in the 

 frames. Belter wait until the bees swarm; 

 hive the swarm and set it in place of the old 

 hive, with the old hive close beside it; then 

 three weeks later cut out the combs. 



One way is to kill the old queen when you 

 find queen-cells in the hive, and when they 



