240 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



their wings are many times frayed. As 

 long as I remain at this distance from 

 the tree, these old bees come in in- 

 creasing numbers, but as I advance to- 

 wards the tree the bait begins to draw 

 the younger bees. 



Ata distance of half a mile from their 

 home, very young bees are decoyed, 

 downy, fuzzy fellows foolish and play- 

 ful in their actions. They run over the 

 box and down the sides, and many 

 times light on mj clothing or on the 



leaves near by. 



When such bees are attracted I may 

 be very sure that the bee tree is a very 

 good one, because it will have brood 

 probably in all stages and a good 

 working force. On the other hand, if 

 only old bees are drawn even when in 

 close proximity to the tree, I may be 

 very sure that the bees are either a 

 fresh swarm hanging on the limb or 

 domiciled in a tree, or else that they 

 are rather weak and queenless. 



BEE-tftiEPiNG <^ FbR Women 



Conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson, Mareneo, III. 



A Beginner 



I have eleven stands of bees in 

 single-wall standard eight-frame hives. 

 Only three of them had the brood 

 frames filled with foundation and 

 wired. On account of lack of funds 

 my order for supplies was late — as late 

 as this letter of inquiry to you — but I 

 will have ten frame standard hives 

 which I know how to assemble. By 

 the time your answer comes will it be 

 too late to transfer the bees from the 

 oldest hives into the new ones? Would 

 not that be the best thing to do? If I 

 find them full of moths what shall I 

 do? How can one detect the presence 

 of moth before they hatch? I under- 

 stand that if the colonies are strong 

 there will be no moths. 



The original start of these eleven 

 stands was a stray swarm. Last sum- 

 mer we got another stray swarm. I do 

 not know what kind they are but I 

 think not all the same. I know their 

 disposition is not the same. I think 

 none of them are Italian. When and 

 how could Italian queens be intro- 

 duced? 



Bee stings make me very ill yet I am 

 not afraid of bees. What does dead 

 young bees before a hive indicate? 



Hastings, 111. Nellie Gray. 



The case is by no means hopeless, 

 and fortunately there is time enough 

 to get things in better shape. In the 

 eight hives where there was no found- 

 ation, it's a safe guess that the combs 

 are built in all directions, so that it is 

 the same as if the bees were in box- 

 hives. 



Formerly the favorite time for trans- 

 ferring was in fruit-bloom, but nowa- 

 days the tendency is to wait until the 

 bees swarm. When they swarm, hive 

 them in the new hive furnished with 

 foundation, set it on the old stand, and 

 set the old hive close beside it. If now 

 theyare left to themselves a second 

 swarm is likely to issue in perhaps 

 eight days. This second swarm may 

 be hived in a new hive and set in place 

 of the old one, the old one being set 

 beside it. Then 21 days from the time 

 the first swarm issued, when all the 

 worker-brood will have emerged, you 

 can break up the old hive, add the bees 

 to one of the swarms, and melt up the 

 combs. 



When the bees are in a common 

 box-hive, you can chop the hive to 

 pieces, but in this case you want to 



save the hive and the frames. Turn 

 the hive upside down (of course you 

 will use smoke to keep the bees in sub- 

 jection,) and with a hand saw saw 

 down close to the wood on each side, 

 and also at each end if the combs are 

 attached at the ends of the hive. Now, 

 holding down on the frames, you can 

 lift oflf the hive, when the combs will 

 be at your disposal. 



It may be, however, that you do not 

 want to have the second swarm, pre- 

 ferring to keep the whole force of the 

 colony together. In that case, instead 

 of waiting for the second swarm, you 

 will, a week after the first swarm issues, 

 move the old hive to the other side of 

 the swarm, or, still better, set it on top 

 of the swarm. That will throw the 

 field force into the swarm, weakening 

 the old colony so that it will not swarm 

 again. Then 21 days after swarming 

 you can break up the old hive as be- 

 fore directed. 



With regard to moths, it is not like- 

 ly a great many are present unless 

 some colony is very weak. At any 

 rate there is nothing you can do until 

 the bees are in frame-hives, and then 

 there will be nothing to do. 



The first indication of the presence 

 of the larvae of the moth will be the 

 silken galleries made by them on the 

 surface of the sealed brood. You are 

 right; a strong colony will keep the 

 moth at bay, and Italians are very 

 much better in that respect than 

 blacks or hybrids. 



Perhaps it may be as well not to in- 

 troduce Italian queens until near the 

 close of harvest, and you will receive 

 instructions for introduction from the 

 breeder who sends you the queen or 

 queens. 



It may be some comfort for you to 

 know that the more you are stung the 

 less the effect will be. 



If the dead young bees thrown out 

 are the skins of the larvae, it indicates 

 starvation. If fully developed young 

 bees are thrown out, it is likely the 

 work of the bee-moth, or, as they are 

 often called, wax-worms. Later in the 

 season it might be the massacre of the 

 drones. 



Three Sisters 



I feel quite set up by the attention 

 given to my question in regard to the 

 preventing of the tearing down of full 

 sheets of foundation when given to a 



swarm [page 131 April American Bee- 

 Journal, j The answer is so full and 

 satisfactory that at present I can think 

 of no more questions toask. 



I should have been more specific ; 

 the full sheets were fastened by the 

 kerf-and wedge plan pretty firmly. I 

 don't remember that any were pulled 

 out from behind the wedge but several 

 were torn away from the top-bar. 



The frames were wired and the 

 wires were embedded with a cold 

 wheel in a cool place at a cool time. 

 Your answer shows me what was the 

 main cause of the trouble. In some 

 instances the wires had separated from 

 the sheets, in others it had been 

 gnawed away. Medium brood-founda- 

 tion was used. Your answer is not 

 only helpful in telling me what to do 

 but satisfactory because convincing 

 me that it will not be necessary to 

 paint with wax, an undertaking I do 

 not fancy. 



We are three sisters who are trying 

 to support ourselves with poultry, bees 

 and a garden on a six acre place, halt 

 of it wooded, in a picturesque loca- 

 tion within nine miles of our country's 

 capital. My sisters attend to the 

 poultry and garden while I take care 

 of the bees. I do nearly all the work 

 myself, have a hive-lifter and a big 

 wheeled cart. I have sixty-one col- 

 onies now, wintering thirty of them 

 in large dual cases built according 

 to plans similar to those used by 

 Dr. Phillips. The others are pro- 

 tected with wrappings of tar paper, 

 cushions over supers and deep tele- 

 scope covers on top. Our honey flow 

 for the best honey begins early in May 

 with black locust, followed immediate- 

 ly by tulip, poplar and then clover 

 while tulip is still in bloom, if it is a 

 clover year which does not happen 

 every year. From these sources, when 

 the light honey is plentiful, we get a 

 natural blend of fine flavor and appear- 

 ance. But it is very important for the 

 best results to have colonies strong 

 rather early. My success in this re- 

 spect last season was not satisfactory, 

 so in spite of an unusually good honey 

 flow my harvest of the best quality was 

 but little over 2500 pounds. For this 

 reason I am trying heavier winter pro- 

 tection. 



I run for both comb and extracted 

 honey, principally the latter, sell at re- 

 tail, distributing by parcel post. I run 

 an advertisement once a week in a 

 Washington paper and have for-sale 

 signs on the highway which passes 

 near our home. Business is not very 

 brisk, sometimes discouragingly slow, 

 but 1 am gradually getting known. It 

 is only a few years that I have had so 



large an apiary. 



Hannah R. Sewall. 

 Forest Glen, Md. 



Women to the Front 



A thrill of pleasure was experienced 

 upon receiving a letter with the head- 

 ing, "Beechbank Apiary and Poultry 

 Yards," and at the upper left-hand cor- 

 ner, neatly printed, the three names : 



Hannah R. Sewall, 



Mary F. Sewall, 



Margaret L. Sewall. 



Unquestionably a firm composed ot 

 women; but a mother and daughter, 

 sisters, or what? Inquiry elicited the 

 interesting letter found in this depart- 



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