64 



February. 1915. 



American Hee Jonrnal 



allow the queen to dwindle and disappear 

 without an effort to supersedure? How do 

 you explain such occurrence ? Colorado. 



Answers.— I. " Things are not what they 

 seem;" at least not always. An established 

 beekeeper may not produce enough wax for 

 his own foundation, and again he may. If 

 he works for extracted honey, and has 

 reached the point where he makes no more 

 increase and needs no more combs, he may 

 have a surplus of wax from his cappings. 

 and probably will have. Even if he renews 

 his combs, the melted combs should furnish 

 wax for the new ones. Upon him the comb 

 honey man may depend for his wax. There 

 are always more or less beekeepers who use 

 little or no foundation, and such men are 

 likely to produce surplus wax by means of 

 the combs they melt up from the deceased 

 colonies. 



2. Your question is hardly a fair one. for it 

 sounds like saying that there is no objection 

 to feeding candy, while there is objection to 

 letting the bees have candied honey. The 

 fact is that there are good authorities who 

 deplore the feeding of sugar candy more 

 than the candying of honey. There is. how- 

 ever, not so much said against the feeding 

 of sugar candy, becase it is often a choice 

 between that and starvation, in which case 

 the feeding of candy is not a thing to be de- 

 plored. In the case of honey candying, it is 

 to be deplored because it is not so good as 

 liquid honey. It remains, however, to say 

 that it is quite possible that it is better to 

 feed candied honey than to feed sugar 

 candy, and that so good authorities as the 

 Dadants have practiced feeding candied 

 honey. Perhaps ye Editor will tell us about 

 it in a bracket. ISugar may be (/-i.t/,////:;!/ in 

 lumps like rock candy, in which case it is 

 of no use to the bees. But soft candy makes 

 good bee food. The same mai be said of 

 granulated honey. If the honey has granu- 

 lated in a way that there are hard, crusty 

 lumps in it, some of it maybe lost by the 

 bees, especially if they attempt to consume 

 it in dry weather. When the atmosphere is 

 loaded with moisture, much of this softens 

 so the bees can use it. But well ripened 

 honey which has a soft granulation will be 

 consumed to the last mite. We have very 

 often fed candied honey in the way sug- 

 gested by our correspondent.— C. P. D] 



1 I don't remember that I ever had such 

 an experience, and have no explanation 

 for it. 



that it is more difficult to introduce a queen 

 to a colony that has been ciueenless for 

 some time than to one from which the 

 queen has been recently removed. The 

 reason may be because of the age of the 

 bees, for it is the older bees that make 

 trouble when a new ruler is introduced. 



from a single trial. A different season or 

 different circumstances may give different 

 results. 



Qutstions from England 



I. I would like to know that part of Cali- 

 fornia where the largest apiaries are. as I 

 hope to be traveling over there before long. 

 I should like, if possible, to call on one or 



two. 



2. Is N'orth Carolina a good State for bee- 

 keeping, and. if so. what part ? 



3, Do bees have to be taken into a cellar 

 for winter ? England. 



Answers.— I. I think North < arolina aver- 

 ages fairly well in beekeeping, but cannot 

 give information as to different localities. 

 In no part of the State is it necessary to 

 cellar bees.— [Answer to the first question 

 is referred to our California correspondent 

 for reply. — I'.DiTOR.I 



Eight Frames Sufficient — Requeening 



1. Are eight Langstroth frames full of 

 honey enough to winter a strong colony of 

 bees out-of-doors ? I pack in leaves, three 

 in a shed. 6 inches of space between each 

 hive. 



2, Black queens are veryhard to find with- 

 out using an excluder. Would you recom 

 mend requeening by the Hand method de- 

 scribed in Gleanings in Bee Culture some 

 time ago? Iowa. 



Answers.— I. Yes. less than eight frames; 

 six would do if well filled, 



2, As I don't know just where to look 

 "awhile back," I don't recall the exact 

 method of introduction, but as Mr. Hand is 

 an experienced beekeeper, the plan is 

 doubtless all right. 



Queen Introduction 



What difference, if any. is there about ac- 

 ceptance of a queen in a colony that has 

 been queenless for some time (no laying 

 worker), and in case ol increase by division 

 of a colony, as to queen given to the queen- 

 less iiart? Pknnsvlvania, 



.■\nswer.— Introduction would be quite a 

 bit more likely to be successful in the sec- 

 ond than the first case. It is generally found 



"Put Up" Plan 



Last year I tried the excluder plan in 

 treating colonies, but in two out of three 

 colonies so treated I found that the bees 

 started cells in the upper hives, but I cut 

 out all cells but one before I set the old 

 hive down and killed the old queen that is 

 if she was not a desirable one). All colo- 

 nies treated this way did not swarm that 

 season. I think it is a good plan. I shall try 

 the " put up" plan next season, and the de- 

 queening plan also. 



What would you say to this way of treat- 

 ing swarms that are "put up?" Give a 

 frame of young brood from my best queen 

 in the lower hive, and let the bees rear a 

 young queen from this frame of brood; of 

 course destroying all cells but one, then 

 after the young queen starts to laying, kill 

 the old queen in the upper hive before put- 

 ting the hive on its original stand. I will 

 kill the old queen if she is not desirable. (Of 

 course. I will save all cells from the best 

 queen if possible.) Subscriber. 



Answer.— I see no reason why the plan 

 should not work; but I have never tried ex- 

 actly that plan, and sometimes a plan that 

 looks all right will turn out all wrong be- 

 cause of some little kink we had not thought 

 of. The only way to be sure about any new 

 pl»n is to submit it to the bees for their ap- 

 proval. Even then we are not always sure 



Paclting Bees—Opening the Hive In Winter — 

 Uniting 



1. I have a colony of bees that I have left 

 outside with a box cover packed with 

 leaves. They have nothing over the brood 

 frames, but are wintering finely. Does it 

 hurt the bees much to open the hive in cold 

 weather ? 



2. Is it necessary to have a covering over 

 the brood-frame when it is packed to the 

 top and protected from the wind ? 



3. What is your best plan for uniting a. 

 weak colony with a stronger one ? 



Michigan. 



Answers.— I. Sometimes it does a great 

 deal of harm, even to the death of the col- 

 ony, to open a hive and disturb the bees 

 when it is too cold for them to fly. When it 

 is warm enough for them to fly it may do lit- 

 tle or no harm; but when very cold better 

 not disturb them unless there is danger of 

 starvation. 



2. That depends upon the kind of packing. 

 One object of the covering is to support the 

 packing, and if the packing be something 

 like chaff that would sift down among the 

 bees, then some kind of covering over the 

 frames is very Important. But If the pack- 

 ing be something In the nature of cloth or 

 old carpets, then it matters little. 



3. Generally there is nothing better than 

 the newspaper plan. r*ut a sheet of news- 

 paper over the top-bars of the strong colony 

 jnd set over it the hive containing the 

 weaker colony, with no chance for the bees 

 to get out of the upper hive until a hole is 

 gnawed in the paper. After a few days the 

 frames of brood in the upper story may be 

 moved Into the lower story. When bees are 

 not flying daily, there is little trouble In 

 uniting by merely placing the frames of 

 brood and bees from the weak colony beside 

 those of the stronger. 



Eight-Frame Hives for Extracting 



With regard to the query concerning 

 "Large Hives" in No. i of the American 

 Bee Journal. I will say that In mv opinion 

 and according to my experience. I take the 

 a-frame hive for an ideal hive for cx/ri7t ////£r. 

 With these hlve-bodles I can rive the bees 

 all the room they need as well as with the 



I. P, LUCAS' EXHIBIT AT KANSAS STATE KAIK 



