September, lOio. 



American line Journal 



having little honey in them, on some 

 day when it is too cool for the bees to 

 lly freely, or when cold enough so 

 those that fly can easily enter their 

 hives, it can be done so as to save the 

 most of the bees, by placing 2 empty 

 hives top of the one the bees are to go 

 in, when, by lowering the frames down 

 in these hives, the bees can be shaken 

 off with scarcely one taking wing, as 

 they are confined by the walls of the 

 hive. 

 Borodino, N. V. 



Poor Wintering Basswood 

 Feeding Bees 



BY F. L. U.W. 



In the fall of 1908 1 put 81 colonies 

 into the cellar. They had their hives 

 well filled with fall honey of seemingly 

 good quality. Only a few had been fed 

 a few pounds of sugar syrup each. 

 With the exception of some colonies 

 having a little foul brood, they ap- 

 peared to be in fine condition. As I 

 had never had a serious loss during the 

 winter, I felt quite confident of good 

 results. Owing to having more bees 

 than usual, the cellar was given more 

 ventilation tlian formerly. All seemed 

 well until April. Owing to the back- 

 ward spring the bees were not taken 

 out until .April 2ti, 1909. The cellar 

 was thoroughly ventilated in advance, 

 but the bees flew out with a rush at the 

 first opportunity. For the first time in 

 T years they drifted. Four hives at the 

 south side of the yard got too many 

 bees. One hive had so many they 

 could not all get inside. 



The bees were taken from the cellar 

 in the forenoon, as usual. An exami- 

 nation showed some 10 colonies dead 

 from dysentery. I did not get time to 

 examine all of them that day, and did 

 not realize how badly off they were. 

 We had A days of snow and rain just 

 after this, so I did not overhaul them 

 all for a week or more. /After the first 

 flight many of the weak colonies clus- 

 tered on the middle combs, which were 

 empty. The cold spell caught them 

 there, and they starved with from 10 to 

 20 pounds of honey in the side combs. 

 A careful examination showed the 

 honey in nearly all the hives to be 

 more or less sour, and the great ma- 

 jority of colonies had dysentery to 

 some extent. They dwindled until I 

 had lost 47 of the original 81. 



Only once before had the bees had 

 to depend upon fall honey for winter 

 stores, and they had come through in 

 fine condition that time. But they 

 were confined only about 110 days then, 

 whereas they had no flight for 17.') days 

 the winter of 1908-9. I wish some 

 one would tell me what made that 

 honey sour, and how to foretell such a 

 disaster another time. It is unpleasant 

 to lose (iO percent of one's bees that 

 way. 



Basswood .\ Failure. 



1 bought a few colonies of bees and 

 bent all my energies to getting as many 

 colonies as possible ready for bass- 

 wood, which does not blossom here 

 until July l.'ith to 20th. I secured 500 

 pounds of clover honey, but the bass- 

 woods, although blossoming profusely. 



failed to yield any surplus for the sec- 

 ond time in 3 years. My average per 

 colony was thus only 12 pounds, or 

 practically nothing. My increase, made 

 artificially, did not do as well as usual. 

 There was no fall flow, and I had to 

 feed my 50 colonies 800 pounds of 

 sugar. 



Feedi.vg Sug.\r Syrup. 



In my first years of bee-keeping I 

 fed syrup made of equal parts sugar 

 and water, simply because I understood 

 that it was necessary to do so in order 

 to avoid granulation; that in case it 

 was made thicker it would then require 

 some acid mixed with it to prevent 

 granulation. As I had almost perfect 

 success in wintering my bees on this 

 thin syrup, I continued to feed in this 

 manner until the fall of 1007. That 

 season I fed 900 pounds of sugar to 61 

 colonies. The bees had stopped brood- 

 rearing a month earlier than usual that 

 fall, and the clusters were smaller than 

 common. The thin syrup was taken 

 from the feeders so slowly that much 

 of it soured, thus becoming unfit for 



winter stores. A few colonies were 

 lost from this cause during the follow- 

 ing winter. While some came through 

 as well as ever, yet the general average 

 was poor. 



I was tired lugging around so much 

 water while making and feeding the 

 thin syrup, and concluded it would be 

 better for me, as well as for the bees, 

 to make the syrup about 2 to 1, as is 

 now generally advised in the bee- 

 papers. The 800 pounds of sugar used 

 in 1909 was fed in this way. At the last 

 examination it showed no signs of 

 granulating in the combs. 



I have always produced extracted 

 honey exclusively, and sold it all in my 

 home county. In the past year of fail- 

 ure I found it advisable to buy honey 

 abroad, and supply my customers as 

 usual. By pushing my sales more than 

 ever before, I have managed to make 

 the balance come on the right side of 

 the ledger. 



I am hoping for better things the 

 coming season. 



Detroit, Minn. 



Dr. Miller's Question-Box 



Send Questions eitlier to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dk. C. C. Miller, Makengo, III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Rearing Queens 



I am trying to rear a few ciueens now; the 

 cells are very small but have plenty of space. 

 Does the size of the cell have any effect on 

 the queen reared in it, as to quality and pro- 

 lificnessP Will they be good queens ? 



Akkans.\s. 



Answer.— Generally speaking, a queen 

 reared in a large cell is to be preferred: yet 

 sometimes a good queen is reared in a 

 small cell and a poor queen in a large cell. 



Colors oi Honey 



I would like to know the cause of dark 

 honey. Illinois. 



Answer.— The color of honey depends 

 upon the source from which the bees obtain 

 the nectar. From buckwheat they get 

 honey that is very dark, from Hreweed that 

 which is very light, and varying shades from 

 other plants. Sometimes there is a differ- 

 ence in the shade of the same kind of honey 

 obtained in different regions or on different 

 soils. Some alfalfa honey is a shade darker 

 than the lightest to be found elsewhere. 



Bees and Milkweed Pollen 



What is the malti-r with my bees ? I have 

 II colonies, and the\- are in a bustle all the 

 time, carrying off bees that are deformed, 

 their feet being very forked so they can't do 

 anything at all. Indiana. 



Answer.— Your bees have been working 

 on milkweed, and the pollen-masses are 

 sticking to their feet. If you watch, you will 

 see bees sticking to the blossoms of the 

 milkweed and having difficulty to break 

 loose. A few bees are lost by it. but per- 

 iiaps the bees get enough nectar frcjm the 

 blossoms of the milkweed to nay for the loss. 



Rendering Comb into Beeswax 



I bought . I lot of hives full of empty comb 

 which I want to render into beeswax. I 

 don't know how much water to use when 

 melting the combs. Kindly give me direc- 

 tions for doing this kind of work. t^Hio. 



Answer. Thi- amount of water used will 

 depend upon the plan you use. as described 

 in your bee-book: only you will not be likely 

 to make any mistake in using too mucli 

 water, but there may be danger of using too 

 little. 



Queen's Eggs Fail to Produce Queens 



I received a queen-bee ordered in May. 

 iQio. She seems to be all riglit except that I 

 can't rear any queens from her I have 

 taken frames from her and given them to a 

 colonies. They all started.! or a queen-cells, 

 and the cells were all gone two or more 

 weeks ago. but all 3 are still queenless. All 

 the brood seems to hatch all right: no 

 drones to speak of. What is the matter ? 



Illinois. 



Answer.— There is no trouble with the 

 queen or the brood: the trouble seems to 

 come afterward. It maybe that the young 

 queens have been lost on their wedding- 

 flight, the severe droutii (if you have a severe 

 drouth as in other parts of the State mak- 

 ing the loss of young queens a common 

 thing. If you have continued to have young 

 queens reared, the probability is that ihe fall 

 flow likely to be on now will make you more 

 successful. 



Method of Increase 



I have been reading >our "Forty Years 

 Among the Bees." I would like to know 

 your opinion on this method of increasing 

 when there is practically no swarming. As 

 the colonies supersetle their queens divide 

 each colony into 2 or i, giving each division 

 2 sealed cells, i frame of eggs and larva, and 

 I or 2 of honey. CuB.^. 



Answer,— A good plan. Sometimes very 

 few cells are found at superseding, but one 

 cell will be enough for each division If you 

 divide into 3 parts, the hive that is on the 

 old stand win need oidy one frame of brood 

 as it will have all the tield-beesi. and the re- 

 maining brood can be divided between the 

 other two. It will be well to fasten the bees 

 for a couple of days in the hives that are 

 not on the old stand, managing to have a 

 small entrance stuffed with green grass or 

 leaves, and then if you forget to open it the 

 bees will open it themselves. 



Colony With Many Drones 



1 have a colony of Italian bees that are 

 rearing youTig bees quite fast, and the body 

 of the liive is fidl of honey. What puzzles 

 me is the fact that thev have so many drones 

 and no apparent use for them whatever. Our 

 bees are just barely making a living, there is 

 no possible chance for any swarming, and 

 they have a good youngqueenof this spring's 

 rearing. Wliv do they keep the drones? 

 The bees did quite well here through part 



