170 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



but you will need to watch closely or the 

 bees will start cells in places you will miss. 

 You will not need to fill a cell with royal 

 jelly; merely Tpick out the larva and put in 

 the other larva. It may be well for you to 

 prepare several cells, for fear the bees de- 

 stroy the larvae, then before the cells are 

 sealed destroy all but one of the accepted 

 cells. No swarming ought to result; and 

 the interim without a laying queen would 

 be increased about ten days. 



2. The opening all around gives better 

 ventilation than the opening in front, but it 

 is somewhat unpleasant to work at a hive 

 where the bees can come out at the side. 



3. Yes. only so small a space would in 

 many places be filled with glue, especially 

 late in the season. 



4. It will be all right if the colonies are 

 strong and the supers contain extracting 

 combs, but not if they contain sections. 



than a little one. I have seen it estimated 

 that a large tree would yield all a strong 

 colony could gather. I have my doubts. 



5. Yes; it often blooms when little else is 

 to be had. and is then of great value. 



Bees and Other Pursuits— Bees in Buildings— 

 Clover Seed 



1. What crops or rural pursuits fit in with 

 bee-culture without interfering with care of 

 bees ? 



2. When a second story of building is used 

 for bees can the colonies be set about the room as 

 when out of-itoors, only facing windows, or 

 must each have a separate outlet ? 



3. Is raising clover for seed a profitable 

 and sure crop? What kinds should be 

 sown, taking bees into the plan ? 



4. What kinds of annual bee-forage plants 

 are best which yield a crop of its own ? 



5 How best to construct an inlet through 

 building for bees ? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— I. Small fruits and poultry fit 

 in well with bees. 



2. Each colony must have its own outlet. 



3. In some places it is. in some places not. 



4. Sweet clover, alsike clover, and rasp- 

 berries are among the best. 



5. The simplest kind of a passage made 

 with plain boards. 



Miscellaneous 



1. Is there any profit to be madein a strong- 

 colony of bees in a box-hive at 50 cents per 

 colony, to unite with bees in patent hives ? 



2. Do you think beekeeping could be made 

 a success in this country, as we have some 

 white clover, goldenrod. white aster, black 

 locust. Spanish-needle, and some few other 

 nectar yielding flowers i" 



3. How much cheaper can a man produce 

 extracted honey than comb ? Kentucky. 



Answers.— I. I can hardly think of any 

 case in which a strong colony of bees in a 

 box-hive would not be a bargain at 50 cents, 

 no matter which way you would use it. 



2. Yes. indeed. I have no doubt you can 

 make it a fine success. 



3. Estimates vary. Some say you can pro- 

 duce twice as much extracted as comb with 

 the same outlay, some say very little more. 

 Generally, it is believed, that so percent 

 more can be produced. 



Division-Board — Linn Trees — Clover 



1. What is the use of the division-board in 

 the 8-frame hive ? 



2. Should it be put in the middle of the 

 hive ? 



3. Are the linn trees very good honey 

 trees ? 



4. How much honey will one tree yield ? 



5. Would sweet clover planted along the 

 roads and ditches be much of a benefit to 

 bees ? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. The principal use of the 

 dummy, sometimes called thedivision-board 

 is to make it easier to lift out the frames. 



2. It should be at one side of the hive, 

 although in hot weather it works all right in 

 the middle of the hive. 



3. The linden or linn is the same as the 

 basswood. one of the very best honey-trees 

 that grow. 



4. I don't know; a big ree yields more 



A Start With Nuclei 



1. How can I put a two frame nucleus with 

 a Queen into an empty hive ? 



2. Will it make a swarm large enough for a 

 hive ? 



3. Where can I get a book on bees that 

 would contain such information for the 

 above question ? 



4. Would bees shipped from southern 

 Texas do all right here? 



5. Would a 2 pound package of bees with a 

 queen be sufficient bees for an empty hive ? 



6. How should they be put in ? 



7. In running for comb honey, should each 

 frame have a starter ? Nebraska. 



Answers.— I. I simply lift the frames out 

 of the nucleus hive and set them in the hive. 

 A few bees are likely to remain in the nu- 

 cleus hive, and these you can brush in front 

 of the hive, or else set the nucleus hive in 

 front of the hive and let the bees run in. 



2 If the season is good enough, a 2-frame 

 nucleus started sufficiently early ought to 

 make a good colony for winter. In a poor 

 season, hardly. 



3. Send for prices on bee books to the 

 Bee Journal. That is an encouraging 

 question, for a man who has no book to 

 guide him is likely to make a lot of rather 

 expensive blunders in keeping bees. I am 

 not anxious to interfere with the circulation 

 of the American Bee Journal, but I would 

 not advise any one to subscribe for it in- 

 stead of buying a book. After the book, then 

 a good bee journal is a great help. 



4. Yes. 



Yes. if the season is good enough and long 

 enough. 



6. It doesn't matter how, so you get them 

 into the hive. You may jar them into the 

 hive, or you may set the package inside the 

 hive, trusting the bees to come out and 

 crawl upon the combs or frames, provided 

 you can furnish them a frame of brood, 

 which you may remove a day or two later if 

 you wish. 



7. Yes. and it is costly business to furnish 

 a starter only, for if the frames are not en- 

 tirely filled with foundation so much drone- 

 comb will be built that it will make you con- 

 siderably short on honey. 



Buying Bees by the Pound With a Queen — 

 Wintering, Etc. 



1. I subscribed for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal and a queen for J1.60. If I order a pound 

 of bees from Dadant & Sons, could the 

 queen from the Bee Journal be sent with 

 this pound of bees ? 



2. I have six drawn combs with some 

 sealed and some unsealed honey for the 

 other four frames. I shall use full sheets of 

 foundation for starters. Will one pound of 

 bees build up a strong colony on this ? 



3. I winter my bees outdoors, two colonies 

 in a box, with heavy roof paper all around 

 the box and six inches of leaves for packing 

 all around the hives, with one square inch 

 entrances. Is this the best wav to winter 

 bees outdoors / 



4. Today many bees are flying, and some 

 drop on the snow and die. Can this be pre- 

 vented ? 



5. I have four colonies and do not want to 

 increase. If a colony should swarm and I 

 hive the swarm in a new hive and put the 

 parent colony with it. would it be liable 

 to swarm again ? lowA. 



Answers.— I. Yes; and it's a very nice way 

 to get the queen, avoiding the risk of intro; 

 duction. 



2. That depends. If obtained about the 

 time of fruit-bloom, in an extra season, you 

 may have a strong colony for winter. If the 

 season should be very poor, it may need 

 feeding to get them ready. 



3. Your plan is good, and if your bees have 



wintered successfully in that way it is not 

 worth while to look for anything better. 



4. Toward spring some bees are always 

 dying off from old age. and it is possible that 

 only these aged bees are flying out. Some- 

 times, however, younger bees are lured out 

 by the bright sun when snow is on the 

 ground, and fall into it. You may prevent 

 this by shading the entrance with a board. 



5. If you unite the old colony with the 

 swarm, giving the brood also, they'll swarm. 

 If you give only the bees, without the brood, 

 they'll not swarm. 



How to Keep Queen Alive Without Bees 



I have been trying to find in Langstroth's 

 book or in American Bee Journal how to 

 keep , 'several .queens by themselves during 

 summer or over winter. I have lost several 

 colonies this winter of which the queens 

 were most important. I have also tried the 

 experiment, and expect to continue trying, 

 to keep queens between seasons in separate 

 apartments, and to give some occasionally 

 a needed rest to recuperate and increase 

 life and vitality. Can it be done, and how ? 



Answer.— If you are successful in your 

 experiments in keeping queens over winter 

 without having each queen kept in a colony 

 or nucleus of its own, you will be putting the 

 fraternity under obligation by making 

 known how it is done. The best I can offer 

 is to keep the queen in a nucleus in a hive 

 with a full colony, a bee-tight partition be- 

 tween the colony and the nucleus, or else 

 two or more nuclei in the same hive. 



In summer it is easier. A queen may be 

 kept in a provisioned cage with a dozen bees 

 in a warm place or over a colony for a num- 

 ber of days, perhaps two or three weeks. 

 Several queens may be kept in separate 

 cages in a queenless colony, and with more 

 or less success in or over supers of queen- 

 right colonies. When I have a valuable 

 queen whose life I wish to prolong. I prefer 

 to keep her in a nucleus where she may 

 continue laying lightly. 



Photos on Title Page — Swarming 



1. Whose picture is represented on the 

 left and whose on the right of the monogram 

 just above the opening page on bee topics of 

 the Bee Journal? 



2. Last summer I had a swarm that settled 

 close by on a tree. I removed the parent 

 colony to a new stand and inserted a new 

 one in place of it. as is the usual custom, 

 and hived the swarm. I then placed the 

 super above them which they had on before 

 they swarmed, and at the bottom they had 

 full sheets of foundation. Five minutes after 

 I could see the field bees going in as if noth- 

 ing had hapciened. The sweet clover was 

 just coming into bloom. -and this hive was 

 full of bees and the prospects fine. 



About three weeks after this I noticed 

 the bees all swarming out of the hive again; 

 they circled about for ten minutes and finally 

 lighted on that same tree. I presume they 

 were clustered in that tree about 15 minutes, 

 when all of a sudden I saw them returning 

 one by one to the hive, until the whole 

 swarm was back. That was a puzzle to me. 

 but I didn't molest them, as they began 

 working the same as ever. About three 

 weeks later I noticed they were taking it 

 easy while bees in other hives were carrying 

 heavy pollen morning and evening. 



I concluded something was wrong and 

 that wrong must have happened the day 

 they swarmed for the second time. In open- 

 ing the super I was astonished to see noth- 

 ing but drone cells bulging out. and on ex- 

 amining the brood-chamber there wasn't a 

 cell built in the foundation. Seeing it was 

 too late to give the brood to rear a queen, I 

 united them with one of the other colonies. 

 What became of the queen and why was the 

 brood-chamber left empty ? St Louis. 



Answers.— I. On the title page of the 

 American Bee Journal the man at the left is 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth. the inventor of the 

 movable-frame hive. At the right is Charles 

 Dadant. who did a great deal of good by in- 

 troducing and championing the movable- 

 frame hive in France, as well as by rearing 

 a son. C. P. Dadant. who has turned out to 



