1917 



AMERICAN BFF JOURNAL 



63 



A few days later a swarm of bees was found 

 inllie boxes. The renter took care of the 

 bees and built tlieni up. Somt time later he 

 casually let drop a remark to the former 

 renter, tellink' him of his boxes and that he 

 could have them as soon as the bees were 

 transferred. The former renter claimed 

 both the bees and the boxes. To whom do 

 the bees legally beloni; ? 



2 How sweet is honey? Some say it is 

 twice as sweet as sugar. Is this not a mis- 

 take ? Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. I am not a lawyer, but I'll 

 tell you how the thing looks to me. Call the 

 first renter A, and the second B. If A had 

 taken away all his hives when he left the 

 place, and B had caught the swarm in liis 

 own hive, there would hardly be any ques- 

 tion as to B being the owner of the swarm. 

 The only difference in the actual case is 

 that A'shive was used for a time. and A might 

 claim rent for the hive during the time the 

 swarm was in it. Also B might claim rent 

 for the ground occupied by A's hives. 



2. I have made considerable effort to learn 

 just how honey compares with sugar as to 

 sweetness, but never succeeded. Something 

 was given in that direction by the authori- 

 ties at Washington, D. C. but if I remember 

 correctly it was not definite. But I think a 



pound of honey will do no more sweetening 

 than a pound of sugar, if as much. 



Miscellaneous 



1. Would it not be a good thing for the 

 National Beekeepers' Association to have a 

 warehouse where beekeepers could send 

 their product, such as honey, beeswax, etc.. 

 to be sold. Also where they could buy sup- 

 plies say about 5 percent above cost? The 

 warehouse should be centrally located near 

 water and railroad, so as to reduce the cost 

 of sending. 



2. How much do bee papers pay for a word 

 or line for articles? 



3. When sending bees from the South to 

 the North in early spring, say about April i, 

 why not get a comb of pollen and put it in a 

 strong colony ? There are train loads of 

 pollen going to waste every spring in the 

 foothills in northern California. 



Observer. 



Answers.— I. Yes. something of this kind 

 has been discussed many times, but nothing 

 has ever come of it. Possibly something 

 may yet. 



2. I don't know; generally, I think, they 

 have more than they can publish without 

 paying anything, but some writers are paid 

 at varying prices 



3. Apparently you think the lack of pollen 

 in the North is responsible for the lack of 

 bees, There's plenty of pollen here. 



Wintering in a Dry Cellar 



J. I wish to winter my bees in the cellar, 

 which is very dry, and holds temperature 

 from 40 to 4? degrees. Do you advise remov- 

 ing the covers and raising the hives in front 

 of those that are on shallow bottom-boards ? 



2. The cellar is large, but the part I want 

 to put them in is 10x15 feet. How many can 

 I put in that space for best results ? 



3 One of my colonies cast a swarm and a 

 virgin queen accompanied the swarm along 

 with the old queen. Was that unusual ? 



Illinois. 



Answers.— I. If you raise the hives in front 

 it will be hardly necessary to remove the 

 covers. 



2. If the air in the cellar is not changed too 

 slowly. 125 to 150 colonies ought to do well in 

 it. Instead of having the temperature 40 to 

 45 degrees, it would be better to have it 40 

 to So degrees. 



3. Yes. it is quite unusual. 



Stamping Section Boxes 



Do you know a way of printing honey sec- 

 tion boxes without the stamping-ink running 

 together? Illinois. 



Answer— Any good stamping-ink or print- 

 ing-ink ought to work all right. It requires 



a little practice not to have your stamp too 

 wet witli Ink nor too dry. When you strike 

 your stamp upon the ink-pad. if it is too wet 

 with ink. have a piece of cloth upon which 

 to strike your stamp once or more so there 

 will not be enough ink on the section to run 

 together. Then you may be able to stamp 

 several sections before the impression upon 

 the section is too faint, when you must 

 strike your stamp again upon the pad. A 

 good deal depends upon having the ink-pad 

 iust wet enough. If you have it just right, 

 neither too much nor too little ink upon it, 

 you may be able to work straightalong strik- 

 ing pad and section alternately 



New Hive Stand and Bottom-Board 



Attached are photographs of a hive stand 

 and bottom-board combined I would like 

 to have you pass judgment on it. The left 

 hand hive shows the hive on the stand with 

 bottom-board in place. 



The hive on the right shown is on its stand 



cold and I had to take them in without the 

 flight. The hives were full of frost so I 

 raised the front ends of one-half of the 

 hives, i^nd the duck-cloth on the front ends 

 of the rest. I kept a coal fire a while to dry 

 out the frost, and in the coldest weather 

 when the thermometer went down near 40 

 degrees in the room. They seemed to be 

 doing well until about the middleof the win- 

 ter, when they began coming out and drop- 

 ping on the floor and dying. I lost 24 colonies 

 last year and the remainder were about one- 

 half strong and the rest quite weak. 



What was the trouble ? A good many of 

 the combs were moldy, and some of the 

 colonies seemed to have diarrhea and others 

 not. The room is banked up as high as the 

 walls with straw about a foot thick. I think 

 putting them in with frost in the hives is 

 responsible for some of the trouble, but not 

 all. 



This year they had a good flight on Dec. 9. 

 and were carried in two days later in good 

 condition. I now have only 47 left. I have 

 not raised any hives or duck covering yet, 

 and would be glad to have you advise me. 

 Do you think the 6-inch outlet in the chim- 

 ney about three feet below the ceiling was 

 too large or the 3 inch intake pipes too 

 many? I kept one and sometimes two 



A CUMBINAI ION BOTTOM-BOARD WHICH CAN BE SLID Tu THE FRONT 



with bottom board drawn out, which makes 

 it easy to clean. It slides in grooves on the 

 hive stand, and when in place it is bee tight 

 at the back, but by sliding it back a little it 

 will give ventilation when needed. 



Kansas. 



Answer. — Beekeepers are an inventive 

 lot, and many a one invents something that 

 he likes, and yet other beekeepers do not 

 care for, I am a little afraid your inven- 

 tion is one of that sort. If you leave the 

 movable board drawn out in harvest, the 

 bees will build down. Drawing it out makes 

 it convenient, as you say, for cleaning, but 

 you can have that advantage more easily 

 and cheaply by following the plan more in 

 use in Europe than in this country, which is 

 tosliplin a piece of pasteboard or roofing 

 paper. 



Cellar Wintering 



I have been having trouble with cellar 

 wintering. My cellar is about 15 feet square, 

 cemented on the bottom and sides. I have a 

 coal stove in a small room adjoining with a 

 ti-inch thimble opening into the bee-room 

 for ventilation upward, also three ^ inch tin 

 conductor tubes coming through ihe walls 

 and extending nearly to the floor on two 

 sides of the room 



Two years ago I had about 60 hives in this 

 cellar with the front ends of the hives raised 

 two or three inches by an entrance block. I 

 had no fire and left all ventilators open. 

 I lost 13 or II colonies 



A year ago I had about the same number 

 and left them out in order to let them get a 

 late flight, but the weather turned quite 



closed in the coldest weather with a coal fire 

 burning slowly in the back room and the 

 door open between. New York. 



Answer.— Without any fire, the likelihood 

 is that your cellar was too cold two years 

 ago. A year ago you say you took them in 

 after they had endured more or less confine- 

 ment without a fly, and no doubt their intes- 

 tines were somewhat distended when taken 

 in, and that was worse than if they had been 

 confined in the cellar for a longer time. The 

 moldiness of the combs seems to indicate 

 lack of ventilation, and your closing part of 

 the ventilation in the coldest weather may 

 have made matters worse. 



You seem to have made a good start for 

 this winter, and I would advise that you 

 keep up abundant ventilation, both of the 

 hives and the cellar, and then try to keep 

 the temperature up to about 50 degrees. 

 There is. however, a good deal of variation 

 in thermometers, and you should try to find 

 out whether vour thermometer marks so de- 

 grees when the temperature is really only 40 

 or 45. 



Transferring—Extracted Honey— Number of Colo- 

 nies in United States, Eto. 



I. In transferring bees from box-hives to 

 movable-framehives.it is explained in the 

 Bee Primer that you must lift the body 

 from the bottom board and set it upside 

 down and then place the forcing box on the 

 hive. etc. Now suppose your box-hive has 

 the bottom nailed to the hive-body, so you 

 can't invert it. Could I not take the cove 



