228 



July, 1910. 



American T^ae Jonrnal 



bees to help themselves. They are protected 

 against rain, and may remain several days 

 until the bees have them thorouehly cleaned 

 out. If you pile them up on top of hives, 

 they will be cleaned up. but the bees are 

 likely to put some of the honey back into the 

 sections. Some one. I think, has reported 

 success by piling supers back of a hive, 

 allowing access by way of the bottom-board 

 without allowing other bees access. I never 

 tried it. I have tried putting them in front. 

 and it was a failure. It might work better 

 behind. 



Egg-Laying of the Queen-Bee 



Does a queen-bee lay eggs during the night? 

 If so. when does she rest ? Subscriber. 



Answer. --Shesurely does lay at night, and 

 there is a lot of work done at night in the 

 hive. I don't know when the queen rests, 

 and couldn't be sworn that she ever rests 

 during her busiest season. I've some idea, 

 however, that she takes short spells of rest- 

 ing at different times tlirough the day and 

 night. But I may be away off. and will be 

 glad to learn from any one who can teach me 

 better. 



A Beginner's Questions 



1. Do bees gather honey from dandelion 

 and strawberry blossoms ? 



2. I have 2 colonies of bees, and they are 

 cross. My neiglibor has a very quiet colony. 

 Is there any way the queen may be fertilized 

 by my neighbor's drones, if I should use a 

 drone-trap and kill all my drones ? 



3. What causes water to come out of the 

 bees during the early morning hour ? 



4. Could all the honey be taken from the 

 bees in the fall, and then feed them with 

 sugar candy? Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. I don't think bees get much 

 from strawberries, but they get a large 

 amount from dandelions. It comes rather 

 early for surplus, but is of immense value 

 for brood-rearing. 



2. If you suppress drones in your own api- 

 ary entirely, you may be sure that your vir- 

 gins will mate with drones from some neigh- 

 boring apiary. 



i. The vapor from the bees condenses on 

 the sides of the hive and runs down in drops. 



4. You can use the old-fashioned way of 

 mashing up the combs and straining the 

 honey through a cloth, or you can melt the 

 combs and take off the cake of wax when it 

 cools. 



Foundation Splints — Facing Hives — Killing Bees in 

 ^Buildings 



1. I received foundation splints and used 

 them as follows: Boiled them in beeswax, 

 and fastened them with a full sheet of foun- 

 dation to the top-bar by putting the splints 

 in the opening in the top-bar. Is that the 

 right way. or are they to be put on the foun- 

 dation starter and let them touch the bot- 

 tom-bar of the frame ? 



2. Last year r«y hives were very heavy in 

 the fall, and the past spring they did not 

 have weight to last them until blossoms 

 came, so i had to feed them and ^hey are 

 doing fine at present. Did they use all the 

 honey, or what was it that made the hives so 

 heavy ? 



3. Will it be all right to have the bee-hives 

 face to face ? 



4. I saw an article on page igs. advising to 

 set the new hive on the old stand, and the 

 old close to the new colony. Now if this is 

 done, suppose the queen is lost, or will not 

 come out. which I saw this year ;it came out, 

 but went in again), what will become of the 

 bees, and what would you do in a case of 

 that kind r 



5. There are a few swarms of bees in a 

 house, and one in the bank building, which 

 are very troublesome. The openings are 

 very small. How can they be killed ? 



Iowa. 



Answers.— I. Either way will do— or neith- 

 er. The object of the splint is not to fasten 

 the foundation either to the top-bar or bot- 

 tom-bar, but to keep it rigid so there will be 

 no sagging. The foundation must be fast- 

 ened to the top-bar independently of the 

 splints, and then 1 fasten the splints into the 

 foundation without paying any attention to 

 whether they touch at the top or the bottom. 

 or lie midway. But didn't you get with the 

 splints a printed slip of instruction telling 

 just how lo put them in ? 



2. I'robably there was in the liives all the 

 honey that you supposed. The peculiar sea- 

 son, whose like you never saw before, and 

 probably never will see again, accounted for 



the consumption of a phenomenally large 

 Quantity of honey this spring. Summer 

 weather came in early spring, filling the 

 hives with brood. Then came freezing 

 weather in which the bees could gather 

 nothing, but consumed enormous quantities 

 of honey to keep up the heat of the hive and 

 to support the brood. The experience 

 ought to emphasize the importance of the 

 advice so urgently insisted upon in the 

 American Bee Journal, in season and out of 

 season, that frames of sealed brood should 

 be provided for this summer soastobeon 

 hand next spring to give to anv needy col- 

 ony. Sugar may do for winter stores, but 

 will not take the place of honey in the 

 spring, when it must be used for brood- 

 rearing. 

 ^. Yes; some prefer that position. 



4. If there is no queen with the swarm, I 

 would expect it to return to the old hive, 

 just the same as it would if the mother col- 

 ony had been left on the old stand and the 

 swarm put on a distant stand. If the queen 

 has whole wings, such a thing does not often 

 occur. If she is clipped, she tumbles out on 

 the ground, and may get back into the old 

 hive. It is the business of the bee-keeper to 

 catch her and put her in with the swarm. 



5. Try putting in 4 or 5 tablespoonfuls of 

 carbon disulfide (called also bisulphide of 

 carbon.) It must be done at a time when all 

 the bees are in, some sort of crooked funnel 

 being arranged to make the liquid enter the 

 hole, and the hole promptly closed. Have 

 no light near, for fear of an explosion. 



Bee-Keeping in Florida— Starting With Bees 



I. In the April number of the American 

 Bee Journal you replied to Illinois' question 

 about that East Coast of Florida as a bee- 

 location that you do not know, lam on the 

 West Coast in the southern part of the 

 peninsula. Here we get honev from orange 

 and grape-fruit bloom, from pennyroyal and 

 from both the saw palmetto and the cabbage 

 palmetto. The first comes in February, the 

 next in March, the third in April and May, 

 and the last in July. In addition to that we 

 have some kind of flowers in bloom every 

 day in the year. I judge the bees can get 

 pollen every day. I haven't known this 

 country long enough to be able to say any- 

 thing about it from practical experience, but 

 I find the woods full of wild bees. There is 

 a good colony in an old cypress tree about 

 200 yards from where I am writing. I expect 

 to put it into a movable-frame hive shortly. 



1 have several other bee-trees located. No 

 one here uses modern hives. I will be the 

 pioneer. This is a frontier country. I en- 

 tered a homestead about 60 days ago within 



2 miles of this town, and must move on it 

 within 6 months. My idea is to pay expenses 

 with chickens, bees and truck while I de- 

 velop an orange grove. This is a first-class 

 country for each of these industries. Bees 

 can lly here the year around. There is 

 plenty of pasture for them at all seasons, I 

 think, but I am not sure of a honey-flow after 

 cabbage palmetto next month (July). I am 

 not able to get reliable information as to the 

 fall and winter flowers. My first trip to this 

 section was early last October. I saw no 

 bees then, for I was too busy looking at the 

 citrus fruits with which the groves were 

 so heavily loaded. However, I am almost 

 certain the fall bloom furnishes pollen, if 

 not honey. I used to be an expert with bees, 

 but for about 20 years I have been too busy 

 to work with them. Methods have largely 

 changed since that time. It seems almost a 

 new business to me. and that I must learn it 

 from the bottom up. Yet I think it will not 

 be too hard for one who loves to handle bees. 

 I would like to have loo colonies next season. 

 Shall I start this summer ? 



2. If I start this season, shall I work for 

 large increase or go slow ? I have plenty of 

 time to devote to the Inisiness now ? 



3. How fast will it be safe tobuild up when 

 one has no winter problem to face ? 



4. What is the best way to work for an in- 

 crease here ? 



5. The best honey-How is orange blossoms 

 in February. Would you stimulate brood- 

 rearing in January ? If so. how ? 



Fl.OUIDA. 



Answers.— I. Better make something of a 

 start this season; even if you have only a 

 few colonies, and then buy more next 

 spring. 



2. As you want a rather large number next 

 year, it might be well for you to work mainly 

 for increase this year. Only look out that as 

 the season advances each new colony be 

 made strong enough so that there is no dan- 

 ger of your being caught in the fall with a 

 number of weaklings that will not pull 

 through the winter. 



3. I am a little shaky about dates in you 

 locality, and am afraid it is now rather late 

 to do the most increasing. I hardly dare to 

 risk any figures in the case, and it would 

 really be of no practical value to you if I 

 could tell you exactly how many colonies 

 you could have in the fall for each 10 you 

 have now. unless it would be to know how 

 many hives to have ready. But it will be no 

 great harm if you have a few extra hives left 

 over. I can do no better than to repeat the 

 advice that each new colony you make 

 should be so strong at the time it is made 

 that there will be no question about its be- 

 ing safe for winter. For example, suppose 

 that well along in the season each of your 

 colonies has 6 frames of brood, and you 

 divide each one into two parts having 3 

 frames of brood each. Very likely you 

 would lose most of them before spring, even 

 in your mild climate. But you might be en- 

 tirely safe to take a frame of brood and bees 

 from each, and put 5 or 6 of these frames in 

 each new hive. Earlier in the season a good 

 ru e would be not to reduce any of your old 

 colonies to less than 4 frames of brood by 

 drawing from them, and to let each new one 

 have 4 brood at the start. 



4. The answer to this question is indicated 

 in the previous answer. Yet there are 

 many ways in which increase might be made, 

 and your profit will lie in reading up the 

 books and getting well informed on general 

 principles, and then you can tell better the 

 plan of increase that will suit vou. If I may 

 be pardoned for that much advertising I 

 may say that " Forty Years Among the Bees" 

 is perhaps more full than any other bee- 

 book in the matter of artificial increase. 



5. Very likely you will come off just as well 

 not to do anything at stimulative feeding. If 

 the queen keeps as much brood in the hive 

 as the bees can cover, no amount of feeding 

 will increase the amount of brood, and in 

 some cases it may lessen it. Only when 

 there comes such a time of dearth that 

 brood-rearing ceases, then it mav be well to 

 feed so that the queen will imt st^'D huiiit'. 





parts a..^ I 

 perience$ | 



Good Honey Prospects 



I hived the first swarm for the season yes- 

 terday. May 27. My 32 colonies wintered all 

 right, only one dying. White clover and 

 alsike are just beginning to blossom. The 

 prospects for a honey crop are good. 



^ , ,,, .. A. A. Al'GENSTEIN. 



Dakota. III., May 28. 



Heavy Loss in Bees 



Our bees are just commencing to do well 

 on white clover. The months of April and 

 May were too cold for bees to build up 

 Over 50 percent of the bees died in this 

 vicinity, due principally to honey-dew. 

 Swarming has not commenced here yet 



iKev.) J. W. Stine. 



Sperry. Iowa. June 10. 



Bees Rolling in the Honey 



Honey is rolling in now; but up to Junes, 

 bees were at the starvation point. This con- 

 dition was not due to the lack of blossoms, 

 but the weather was such that bees could 

 not be out. Yet it was hardly safe to feed 

 anything but honey, for fear of getting some 

 of it in the section-boxes. H. G. Ouirin. 



Bellevue. Ohio. June 25. 



Fine Honey Harvest 



Our honey harvesl is on. and it is fine so 

 far. The colony on scales gained 56 pounds 

 in Q days, and might have done belter if the 

 bees had had more room, for they were 

 honey-bound. We then put on the third 

 story, and the 2 succeeding davs the gain 

 was 12 pounds each day. and the other days 

 7 and 8 pounds. 



This is the best year since 1003. when the 

 highest yield for one day for the colony on 

 scales was 18 pounds. 



We are needing rain badly, and yet we 

 have never seen white clover look better. 



Clarinda. Iowa, June 27, J, L, Strong, 



