424 



December, 1916. 



American Bcc Joarnalj 



extracted honey. I eot alone many a year 

 without one: so can you. 



5. The bees will use them all right if left 

 Quite wet. Indeed with a vigorous Queen 

 the bees might empty the honey in the mid- 

 dle of the brood-chamber without its being 

 extracted; and this may be additional an- 

 swer to your third question. 



6. Yes. indeed; if left from year to year it 

 is likely to become worse and worse, one 

 trouble being that bees are thereby killed 

 in your manipulations, even if you care 

 nothing about the daubiness and stickiness. 



Keeping Bees— Colony 



1. Can bees be kept in a back yard about 

 100 feet square where there are plenty of 

 flowers and clover around ? 



2. What is a colony ? 



3. What is the best bee-pasture in this 

 State ? New York. 



Answers.— I. You should be able to keep 

 bees in the back lot without trouble, pro 

 vided care is taken to keep them from dis- 

 turbing the neighbors. 



2. A colony comprises the bees of a hive, 

 the combs, and the hive in which the bees 

 and combs are domiciled. 



3. White and alsike clover and buckwheat 

 are likely th;- best producers in your sec- 

 tion Basswood and sweet clover may also 

 figure. 



Using the "Coaxer" 



In referring to a " coaxer " described on 

 page 347, October. ioi6. what way. if at all. 

 could the use of same be combined with the 

 practice of giving early in the season a sec- 

 ond Ifull depth super to colonies in a for- 

 ward condition? It seems almost to me 

 that one would be compelled to choose be- 

 tween the two. one seeming in conflict with 

 the other. Pennsylvania. 



Answer.— It is possible that it might work 

 to put the " coaxer " under the second story 

 at the time of giving the second story, and 

 then when the harvest comes to take away 

 the second story, put on the section-super, 

 and put the " coaxer " over. 



Feed and Feeding — Wintering 



1. What is the best and safest food for 

 bees in winter besides honey ? 



2. Do you think outside wintering is the 

 best for bees if I give them protection ? 



3. What is the best way of feeding bees in 

 winter? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— I. Granulated sugar dissolved 

 in water, about half and half if fed early in 

 September, and about five sugar to two 

 water if fed after the middle of October. 



2. Hard to say. In general cellaring is 

 safer in Wisconsin, but there may be ex- 

 ceptions. Find out which way is most suc- 

 cessful with experienced beekeepers not 

 far from you. 



2. Give frames of sealed honey. 



Queen-Cell — Granulated Honey 



1. How old must a queen-cell be before 

 you can take the royal jelly to graft cells ? 



2. If a hive-body containing frames of 

 honey is left on top of a colony all winter, 

 will the bees move up into it ? 



3. Will comb honey that is produced this 

 season be granulated by the first of next 

 June ? Iowa. 



Answers.— I. You can take an unsealed 

 cell of any age. but you will get more jelly if 

 you take one nearly ready to seal. 



2. They may if all the honey is used up in 

 the lower story. 



3. Like enough; especially if not kept in 

 the best way. 



Comb or Extracted ?— Wiring Frames 



1. I have ten colonies of bees and want to 

 increase them nextyear.and lam undecided 



whether to go into the comb or extracted 

 honey business. I would like to have your 

 advice as to the profits in one over the 

 other. 



2. If I use full depth supers with full sheets 

 of medium brood foundation in metal spaced 

 Hoffman frames, will I have to wire the 

 foundation in both hive-bodies and supers ? 



Missouri. 



Answers.— I That's an exceedingly diffi- 

 cult question to answer. In general it may 

 be said that it requires less skill and expe- 

 rience to produce extracted honey than 

 comb. Also that generally more extracted 

 honey can be produced than comb. On the 

 other hand, the price of comb honey is 

 usually higher than that of extracted. Per- 

 haps it will not be out of the way to say 

 that in general 50 percent more extracted 

 than comb can be produced If that be the 

 case with you. and you can get two-thirds as 

 much for extracted as comb, then you will 

 do as well with one as the other. But if you 

 can produce more or less than two-thirds 

 as much comb as extracted, then you would 

 decide differently, as you also would if there 

 should be little difference in price. If you 

 will tell me how much of each you can pro- 

 duce per colony, and what price you can get 

 for each, then I can tell pretty well which 

 will be best for you. 



2. Yes, unless you support the foundation 

 with splints. 



Bee Eggs— Liquefying Honey 



1. Do bee-eggs freeze here in winter, and 

 at what degree should I keep the eggs in 

 cells ? 



2. Can you give me some information on 

 how to hatch bee-eggs in an incubator ? 



3. What is the best way to make good 

 honey out of granulated honey? 



4. Can you give me addresses of Belgian 

 beekeepers who have come to the United 

 States since igi4 ? Montana. 



Answers.— I. I doubt if they ever do 

 freeze, partly because there are not likely 

 to be any eggs in the hive in winter, and if 

 there were the bees would keep them warm. 

 I suppose you could keep them for a little 

 while anywhere above freezing, but I can't 

 see that it is of any practical consequence. 



2. No; I never heard of bees' eggs being 

 hatched in an incubator, and very much 

 doubt if it can be done. 



3. Ifgoodhoneygranulates.it is still good 

 honey I suppose you mean how to make 

 it liquid. A good way to do that is to set the 

 vessel containing the honey in a larger 

 vessel on the stove, the larger vessel con- 

 taining hot water, with a little board or 

 something else under the honey-vessel, so 

 that it cannot rest directly on the bottom 

 of the larger vessel. 



4. I don't know of any. but possibly some 

 of them, seeing this, may respond. 



Honey — Is it Beneficial? 



I was just looking over an old paper, and 

 came across an article headed: "Honey 

 Aged Man's Friend." The article stated 

 that you were 84 years old and had used 

 honey very liberally all your life, and that 

 you used honey in your coffee. 



I expect to complete my course in medi- 

 cine soon, and am trying to get what is bene- 

 ficial in any medicine foods or drinks, and I 

 assure you that any suggestions that you 

 will be good enough to give me will be highly 

 appreciated and gratefully received. 



Can honey be used with any kind of foods, 

 and would it not be beneficial for ulcers of 

 the stomach and intestines ? Illinois. 



Answer.— Sugar in honey and fruits is 

 Nature's way of supplying that important 

 article of food; and the substitution of cane 

 sugar and beet sugar therefore— a substitu- 

 tion that has taken place not so many cen- 

 turies ago— has probably not greatly length- 

 ened human life. We are told that in the 



United States the consumption of sugar 

 averages more than 80 pounds forevery man. 

 woman, and child. This sugar must be in 

 verted before assimilation, and this inver- 

 sion is something of a tax upon the digestive 

 organs for those who consume the average 

 quantity of sugar. But many use more than 

 the average quantity, some of them very 

 much more, and for them the substitution 

 of honey for sugar might mean the saving of 

 health, possibly of life. 



Another item worth considering is the 

 presence in honey of minerals which, 

 although small in quantity, are important 

 for the proper sustenance of the body, be- 

 ing present in honey in the most available 

 form, and altogether lacking in sugar, 



I have not been a regular honey-eater all 

 my life— more's the pity. Like many others, 

 even among physicians, I was not fully 

 aware of the very wholesome character of 

 honey as compared with ordinary sugar. 

 But for a good many years I have used 

 honey as a daily article of diet, and I am 

 confident that it is partly owing to this fact 

 that I am almost entirely free from diges- 

 tive troubles, and at 85 enjoying life as much 

 as at 45— indeed I think more. 



To the question whether honey may be 

 used with any kind of foods it may be re- 

 plied that it may be used in general wher- 

 ever sugar is used. It may be used in any 

 kind of drink, hot or cold, care being taken 

 that the flavor of the honey shall suit the 

 individual taste, for there is no small differ- 

 ence in the flavors of different honeys, and 

 a good many might object to the darker and 

 stronger-flavored samples, especially in 

 drinks that are hot. Honey may be substi- 

 tuted for sugar in baking, due allowance 

 being made for the fact that honey contains 

 something like 20 percent of water, and so 

 using less liquid. 



I do not know whether honey has any spe- 

 cific effect upon ulcers of stomach or intes- 

 tines, but in a general way it should be 

 favorable as making less demand than 

 sugar upon the powers of the digestive 

 organs. 



Getting Bees Out of a Tree 



How can I get a swarm out of a bee-tree? 

 It is an old spruce about 18 inches through, 

 the cavity being about lu feet up. When is 

 the best time to get it ? Washington. 



Answer.— Each case of getting bees out 

 of a tree is something of a problem by itself, 

 and some gumption is needed. In this case 

 it would seem the first thing is to fell the 

 tree, and some judgment may be needed so 

 as to fell it with the least jarring. If on a 

 side-hill, it will be better to have it fall up- 

 hill. Perhaps other trees stand near, so its 

 fall can be partly broken. Then cutoff the 

 log close above and below where the bees 

 are, split it open, and the bees are at your 

 mercy. Use enough smoke to keep them in 

 subjection, although so much jarring may 

 make smoke unnecessary. Of course you 

 will now proceed just as your book directs 

 to proceed with a box-hive. 



I don't know enough about the climate in 

 your locality to say when is the best time to 

 operate. You might cut the tree almost any 

 time if you have warm spells so that bees 

 fly freely. Yet if you are not afraid some 

 one else will get ahead ofyou.it might be 

 well to wait until spring. 



Partnership Apiary 



I would like some information in regard 

 to beekeeping on shares. For example. A 

 has 40 colonies of average grade bees in i>i- 

 story hives, which are the offspring of one 



