November, 1910. 



American Hee Jonrnal j 



the colony here. So I ask you the question. 

 Do others do as well as you in your locality ? 

 Do they get 100 po jnds or more to the colony 

 in the best years ? 



2. Does a colony of bees store more honey 

 in sections if they are crosswise of the 

 lower combs? 



1. Do you think they will store more honey 

 in a T-super than in the Ideal or Danzen- 

 baker ? 



4. Do you still use the scale-board separa- 

 tor or fences ? 



5. What objections, if any. do you have to 

 the fence and Ideal super? 



(). 1 have not bred from my best queens 

 nor destroyed my poctrest queens, but tried 

 to extend the life to all. About how much 

 would I tiain by attending to this matter ? 



7. Do you want foundation or old comb 

 under the supers durini; the honey flow ? 



8. How do you like the Uoolittle plan 

 for iiruducintr honey, outlined in his book. 

 "A Year's Work in an Out-Apiary r" Have 

 you tried it ? My bees do not carry the 

 honey up into the sections, but cap it over 

 and leave it below. 



0. 1 have read your book. " Forty Years 

 Among the Bees." with great prolit. I think. 

 Do you now use all methods given in the 1006 

 edition ? 



10. Do you consider forced queen-rearing 

 (as used by those who transfer the larv;ei as 

 good as natural methods given by you in 

 your book? Are the queens as long-lived 

 and as prolific ? Ohio. 



Answers.— I. I do not know of others that 

 do as well, although there is no one else in 

 the vicinity that makes a specialty of bee- 

 keeping. 



;. No. 



3. No. 



4. 1 now use altogether the old. plain 

 wooden separators. 



5. Without mentioningany other objection, 

 the fences are more troublesome to clean, 

 and so are the plain sections that go with 

 them, for it is easier to mar the honey in a 

 plain section, and it topples over more easily 

 when standing. 



6. Hard to tell. If your bees are very good 

 it might make very little difference. If some 

 of them are very poor it might increase the 

 yield so to 100 percent. 



7. Old combs. Foundation would give 

 whiter sections, at least sometimes, but it 

 would cost more than it would come to. 



8. I have never followed it strictly, but it 

 looks all right. 



0. I dare not answer that offhand with a 

 monosyllable, for there is never a time that 

 I am not trying something new. sometimes 

 at considerable interference w-ith the honey 

 crop, but I don't now think of any serious 

 departure from what is laid down in that 

 edition. 



10. In the hands of skillful men I don't see 

 why just as good queens can not be reared by 

 the methods in vogueamongqueen-breeders. 

 but I don't see how they can be any better. 

 But I would lay stress upon having cells 

 started under favorable circumstances, with 

 a good yield of honey, and in a colony in the 

 humor for starting cells. No colony is too 

 strong or too good to rear queen-cells. 



Late Feeding for Winter — Early Spring Requeening 



1. I never had my colonies in belter condi- 

 tion than they were this season, running 

 over with bees and brood, but on account 

 of the dry season most of them will not have 

 enough stores to keep them over winter. 

 Quite a few colonies have about 2 pounds of 

 honey each. Do you think I can bring them 

 through by feeding them granulated sugar 

 syrup ? How many frames would it require 

 for each hive, and of what consistency 

 should I make it ? I would like to feed it all 

 at once. I have a good cellar, and they gen- 

 erally come out in tine condition, but I am 

 afraid that sugar will not take the place of 

 honey. I have some of the Alexander feed- 

 ers, but do not like them for fall use. 



2. I would like to requeen my b.-es as early 

 as possible next season. How can I do it ? 



3. Strange I had a few colonies of bees this 

 season with no better looking queens nor 

 stronger in bees and brood, which gathered 

 from 2 to 3 supers of honey. 



North Dakota. 

 Answers.— I. Undoubtedly you can bring 

 your bees through thewinter on sugar syrup. 

 Heat water on the stove, and dissolve in it 

 best granulated sugar, being careful that it 

 is not in the least scorched, as burnt syrup 

 is death to bees in winter. Use 5 pounds or 

 pints of sugar for every 2 pints of water. To 

 prevent granulation some put in an even 

 teaspoonful of tartaric acid for each 20 

 pounds of sugar. For fall feeding, and espe- 



cially for feeding all at once, as you men- 

 tion, you will tind the Miller feeder excel- 

 lent. Let each colony have 20 pounds or 

 more of the syrup, deducting from that 

 amount for any honey they may already have 

 in the hive. 



2. One way is to buy queens and introduce, 

 the other is to rear >our own queens. In 

 the latter case do not make the mistake of 

 trying to rear queens too early. You are not 

 likely to rear queens worth anything except 

 during a flow of honey. In white-clover re- 

 gions it is generally well to wait till the flow 

 from clover, yet iti some places good queens 

 may be reared where there is a heavy flow 

 from fruit-bloom and dandelions. Your 

 question is so indetinite that I can not be 

 sure I have answered correctly, but if there 

 is any point concerning the matter that you 

 do not tind answered in your bee-book. I 

 shall be glad to have you ask further ques- 

 tions 



^. Close observation will generally show 

 such differences as you mention. One col- 

 ony may be overflowing with bees, and yet 

 not yield as much honey as another with a 

 smaller force. Your part is to watch for 

 such differences, and breed from the colo- 

 nies that give the best yields. 



" Untested " and " Tested " Queen 



■W'hat is meant by " untested queen ?" Also 

 " tested queen ?" Michigan. 



Answer.— The words "tested" and "un- 

 tested " when applied to queens have almost 

 universal reference to Italians. So a "tested" 

 queen is one which has been laying long 

 enough so that her worker progeny may be 

 seen, said progeny showing 3 yellow bands. 

 An untested queen is one which has been 

 laying so short a time that none of her 

 progeny has matured, and so there is no 

 telling with what kind of drone she has 

 mated, and there may or may not be more 

 or less black blood in her worker progeny. 



Winter Hive Packing or Covering — Knowing the 

 Several Kinds of Cells and Bees 



1. How should the winter covering {that is, 

 quilt or blanket) be arranged on top of the 

 frames? If placed directly on top will not 

 the bees glue it tight, and will it not prevent 

 an air-space ? 



2. Is the hive-cover placed directly on top 

 of the quilt, or is a super used between 

 them ? 



^. How can drone-eggs and larvae in cells 

 be distinguished from worker-cells ? 



Missouri. 



Answers.— I. In a cellar it doesn't matter. 

 For years my bees have had neither quilt 

 nor sheet, summer or winter. They are car- 

 ried into the cellar just as they were on the 

 summer stands. Outdoors some prefer 

 quilts or cushions, and some prefer sealed 

 covers; in the latter case plenty of warm 

 packing on top of the cover. If a quilt is 

 placed directly on the frames, the bees will, 

 as you suggest, seal it down. It doesn't 

 matter that this leaves no air-space, but the 

 trouble is that it allows no passage for the 

 bees to cross over from one frame to an- 

 other. To avoid this trouble a stick is 

 placed across the frames, or two small sticks 

 near together, so that no matter how much 

 sealing is done (here will always be a pas- 

 sage left. 



2. I think the majority of bee-keepers do 

 not have any super on in winter, although 

 some use a super containing a cushion or 

 other packing. 



3. An egg looks all the same, whether a 

 worker or a drone is to come from* it. So 

 does a larvce. except that the drone larva is 

 larger as it grows older. But under normal 

 conditions if you find an egg or a larva in a 

 cell % inch in diameter, you may know that 

 it will produce a drone; if you find it in a 

 cell one-fifth inch in diameter it will pro- 

 duce a worker. 



How AboutYour Advertising? 



Have you anything to sell? Any bees, 

 honey, hives, or anything else that you 

 think the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal might want to buy? If so, 

 why not offer it through our advertis- 

 ing columns? See rates in the first 

 column of the second page of every 

 number of the Bee Journal. We try to 

 keep our columns clean and free from 

 any dishonest advertising. 



A Good Report 



When living in Elgin. III.. I had 5 colonies 

 (spring count), increased to 10. and sold $66 

 worth of honey, which was not so bad; and, 

 besides, wo had all we wanted, and some for 

 our neighbors, too. I attended to them out- 

 side of business hours. I have kept bees 

 for .s years, and with all their faults I like 

 them, and will try keeping them out here. 



A. J. VOLSTORFF. 



West Fork, S. Dak., Oct. 24. 



Poor Season With the Bees 



This has been a poor season here, about 20 

 percent less crop than iuoq. The fall flow 

 from asters is very light, owing to dry, 

 windy weather. Fully 20 percent of my bees 

 are now being fed sugar syrup for winter. 

 However, we Virginians always hope for 

 better times in the future, so we are looking 

 forward to next year and hoping for a good 

 crop. John .S. CoE. 



Winchester. Va.. Oct. 24. 



Not a Pound of Honey 



This has been an "off" year in the bee- 

 business, surely. I have not secured one 

 pound of honey, although there has been 

 heavy bloom on many honey-producing 

 plants. There is a light flow from asters 

 just now. but I do not expect any surplus 

 honey. I had to feed almost all season to 

 keep the bees from starving. More than 

 half of the bees in this locality died in the 

 spring. April and May being very cold and 

 wet months. But we are keeping all our 

 colonies in good shape, hoping for a good 

 season next year. Grant Li'ZAder. 



Pennsboro. W. Va., Sept, 26. 



A Beginner's Interesting Experiences 



I started in the bee-business just last year, 

 beginning by buying 15 colonies, all in 8- 

 frame hives. As soon as people found out I 

 was buying bees, they came to me from all 

 over the country to try to sell to me. I gave 

 for the first $1.25 per colony, with comb- 

 honey supers. 6 of which were full of honey; 

 then I bought 14 at $1 so per colony with 

 empty supers. A neighbor had 44 in frame 

 hives, and 20 empty or moth-eaten hives, all 

 furnished with comb-honey supers, which I 

 got for $55. A saloon keeper had 10 colonies 

 out 10 miles in the country which he wanted 

 to get rid of. and which I got for $1.00 each. 

 These had both comb and extracting supers 

 on, and all filled from top to bottom; the 

 frames were not wired, but were started 

 and straight. I also bought 18 colonies in 

 box and frame hives for $15. This is all the 

 buying I did. , . , ^ ,, j 



I increased to 150 colonies last fall, and 

 sold $654.75 worth of honey and beeswax. 



Oh. yes! I bought some from a man who 

 started in the bee-business, but a flood came 

 on and drowned all his bees. I got his empty 

 hives and supers (some of which never had 

 had a bee in)— 55 extracting supers. ?8 comb- 

 honey supers, and 37 hives all nailed and 

 painted, for $20. This was a big help tome, 

 when swarming time came, which is in 

 April. 



I did my first extracting July 4th. or 

 started that day. Not being an expert. I 

 took off only 20 gallons of honey from 7 su- 

 pers, but the next day I did better, rhere 

 were only 2 colonies of bees which had comb 

 honey on that I kept track of. One gathered, 

 up to Aug, 1st. 130 pounds, and the other 124. 

 But I had to move them, and so lost track of 

 the 2 colonies. I don't know what they gath- 

 ered after that, but they brought in honey 

 up to Nov. 15th. I did the last extracting 

 Nov. i8th. and called it good enough. 



■J'his year the bees started to work Feb. 

 I5th. on almond blossoms, and I thought I 

 was going to have a bumper of a honey crop. 

 I made hives and supers all winter to be 

 ready for a big run. The bees did fine up to 

 April 20th. Some of the comb-honey hives 

 had on 3 supers, and the bees working in all. 

 but not all filled. Then the bees began to 

 hang out in great bunches on the front of 



