January 



American l^ae Journal 



should be lorifr enoueh to reach nearly to the 

 hive-ends, and cut to a point so as to serve 

 as a guide to keep from l<illine bees with 

 end-bars in lifting out the frames. What do 

 you think of this ? 



I am well pleased with your book, and am 

 findingmuch information I had notseen else- 

 where. You see. by the plans outlined, that 

 my aim is to save time, and get a frame that 

 can be handled with less danger of killing 

 bees. Can I do it ? 1 have been driving 

 staples in the bottom of end-bars, but this 

 takes time. It seems to me that the bottom- 

 bars could be made a little longer and cut 

 to a point at the factory with Utile if any ad- 

 ditional cost to the user. Oklahoma. 



.Answers.— I. It is difficult many times to 

 say how a thing will work until it is actually 

 tried. Your plan, however, looks original 

 and ingenious, and seems no slight improve- 

 ment over stringing wires through holes. It 

 is possible, however, that upon trial' you 

 may not like very well to have all parts of 

 the frame split. The bees sometimes seem 

 to think that the space in the split partis 

 not just as it should be. and gnaw it to make 

 it larger. At least that is the case with bot- 

 tom-bars. I don't know how it would be 

 with top-bars and end bars. 



You say you have found no fault with 

 wires so far. It is possible that there is no 

 fault in your case, but in some cases there 

 has been serious fault without its being no- 

 ticed, at least it was not thought to be a 

 {ault of the wiring. With horizontal wiring, 

 especially if the wire be left a little slack, 

 as some advise, as there is a tendency for 

 the foundation to sag. stretching the founda- 

 tion at the part near the top-bar. This 

 stretching may be so much that the cells will 

 not be used for some distance below the 

 top-bar. 



2. You are right in saying that you can 

 handle long top-bars cut to a point as well 

 as short top-bars with staples. The object 

 of the short top-bars, however, is not to 

 make handling easier, but to make less 

 troubl*^ with bee-glue. But there is no need 

 to have the short top-bars drop down. I 

 have just been out to the hives with a rule to 

 see how far a frame must be pushed angling 

 before it would drop down. I pushed the 

 frame close to one side of the hive; then, 

 keeping the one end close to the sids of the 

 hive I had to push the other end 4 inches be- 

 fore it would drop down. I think you will 

 never care to have your frames more angling 

 in the hive than that. My top-bars are I'/s 

 inches wide; a narrower top-bar would drop 

 more easily. , , , . , ^^ , 



3. I never tried lengthening bottom-bars 

 cut to a point, but I have tried staples on 

 the lower end of the end-bars to keep the 

 end-bars the proper distance from the end- 

 wall of the hive. This prevents killing bees. 

 but the advantage is more than balanced by 

 trouble in another direction. With these 

 staples at the lower end of the end-bars— 

 and it would be just as bad or worse with 

 projecting bottom-bars— the frames must be 

 lifted with such great care until they are en- 

 tirely out af the hive, that one can work 

 more rapidly without any kind of spacing 

 and still kill no bees. For if handled rap- 

 idly, the jarring against the end-wall will 

 alarm and irritate the bees, a thing to be 

 avoided, especially if queens are to be 

 found. 



Management for Increase 



1. Will the following plan do to follow May 

 20 to June 5 for increase f I thought of taking 

 the queen and a frame of brood and putting 

 it in a new hive on the old stand about May 

 20 to June 5. at ii a.m. to 2 p.m.. and then re- 

 move the old hive to a new stand and intro- 

 duce a layingqueen sent me by mail. Do you 

 think it advisable to do so. or would you ad- 

 vise a better plan ? , , , . 



2. I intend to fill up the balance of the hive 

 (with queen, brood-frame and bees that will 

 be on the frame) with full sheets of founda- 

 tion in an 8 or lo frame hive, no drawn comb 

 being used. Would you advise using the 

 starters instead of fullsheets of foundation^' 



New York. 



Answers.— I. The colony on the new stand 

 with the new queen would be in very pros- 

 perous condition, but the one on the old 

 stand is the one to which you will look for 

 surplus, and that does not have the very 

 best chance. You say you will leave on the 

 old stand the queen and one frame of brood. 

 If you do not take the adhering bees with 

 that frame of brood, you will have no bees 

 in the hive except the returning field-bees. 

 Even if you take the adhering bees with 

 that one brood, there will be young bees 

 enough for house-work, and some of the 

 field-bees will be obliged to turn to comb- 



building and nursing if the work is to pro- 

 ceed satisfactorily. Moreover, those old 

 bees will be dying off all the time. Remem- 

 ber that the average life of a worker, in the 

 busy season, is only about 6 weeks. But i6 

 days of the youngest of these lield-bees have 

 already been spent before they start a-field, 

 so that only 21) days of their lives are left. 

 These are the youngest, mind, and the 

 others will be dying off daily, so that before 

 any young bees shall emerge from the new 

 combs four-fifths of the entire force will be 

 gone. To remedy this, the thing to do is to 

 shake the bees from at least half of the 

 combs in the old hive into the hive on the 

 old stand. That will leave still plenty of 

 bees to care for the brood in the old hive. 



2. If you use only starters you will be sure 

 to have a good deal more drone-comb than 

 you want. ^___^ 



Roofing Paper for Hives in Winter 



Please discuss the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of roofing paper, such as " Ruber- 

 oid." as a wrapping for the winter protec- 

 tion of bees. Ohio. 



Answer.— I don't know enough about 

 "Ruberoid" to discuss it fully, yet if you 

 mean to use it to wrap about the hives in 

 winter, I should think it altogether too 

 heavy, if it is the same material that is used 

 for roofing. It has the advantage of dur- 

 ability, and for covering over the top is no 

 doubt excellent. But its heaviness, and es- 

 pecially its stiffness, would make it unfit to 

 wrap about a hive to be tied on. The lighter 

 tarred building paper is better for that, and 

 less expensive. But I am not speaking from 

 experience, as I winter bees in the cellar 

 where nothing of the kind is needed, and if 

 anyone can give fuller information I yield 

 the floor. 



Colors and Varieties of Bees 



Which are best. Golden Italian. Carniolan. 

 or Red Clover bees ? What color are Golden 

 Italian and Red Clover bees ? I don't know 

 which is better for brood, golden color like 

 the Cyprians, or the golden Italian. Are 

 the Red Clover. Golden Italian, and Italian, 

 different kinds? Japan. 



Answer.— Each kind of bees has its ad- 

 mirers, but probably the larger number pre- 

 fer the 3-banded. leather-colored Italians. 



Golden Italians are of the same color as 

 other Italians, only a larger number of their 

 bands are colored. It can hardly be said 

 that there is any distinct class of red-clover 

 bees. Any bees that work on red clover 

 may be called red-clover bees. But the trait 

 does not seem to be permanent, and no 

 matter how well a colony may work on red 

 clover, vou are not suie what the next gen- 

 eration will do. So you see a Red Clover 

 bee may be of any color that bees have. 



With regard to brood. I don't know which 

 rears the most, although the Carniolans are 

 reputed to be good brood-rearers. But it is 

 not always the most prolific that are most 

 profitable. 



Queen Terms Used by Queen-Breeders 



In the advertisements of queen-breeders, 

 the following terms are used which I do not 

 clearly understand: Tested. Untested. Se- 

 lect Tested. Select Untested Queens, and 

 Breeders. For the benefit of myself, and 

 possibly other "greenhorns." I wish you 

 would explain these technical terms, and 

 also why "breeders" are so much higher in 

 price than other queens. Tennessee. 



Answer.— A Tested queen is one whose 

 progeny shows she has mated with a drone 

 of her own race. In the case of an Italian 

 queen you will see that that will mean that 

 the worker progeny of the young queen 

 shows the 3 yellow bands. 



An Untested queen is usually one sold as 

 soon as she begins to lay. and so nothing is 

 yet known as to the appearance of her prog- 

 eny. An untested queen, of course, can be 

 sold at a less price than a tested one. and 

 that for two reasons. In the first place, it 

 saves the expense of keeping the queen 

 some 1 weeks, if she is sold as untested. In 

 the second place, if queens are kept until 

 tested, those which do not come up to the 

 test must be rejectedor sold at a lower price 

 as mismated. while all will be sold at the 

 same price if sold while untested. 



A Select queen, either tested or untested, 

 is one that is selected because it is unusally 

 good in appearance. However it may be 

 with a select tested queen, a selectuntested 

 queen has nothing but its looks to entitle it 

 to a higher price, for nothing can yet be told 



about the looks of its unborn progeny, to say 

 nothing about the performance of the same. 



A Breeder is one that is considerably bet- 

 ter than the average, and so of unusual 

 value to breed from. 



You will see that there is chance for a 

 good deal of looseness in the whole business, 

 especially as good looks and good behavior 

 do not always go together. "Handsome is 

 that handsome does" 



Temperature in Russia and America — Bee-Diseases 



1. I would like to know what part of the 

 United States is equal as to temperature to 

 center of Russia. Here we have, in winter, 

 from zero to 3o degrees below zero (Reaumur 

 thermometer'. Most of the time it is be- 

 tween 10 and 25 degrees below zero. From 

 October to April the earth is covered with 

 snow, which usually thaws in April. In 

 summer we have hot days, as hot as 30 de- 

 grees. Reaumur, but usually it is from 15 to 

 2; degrees. We take the bees out of the 

 bee- house between the isthand 30th of April, 

 when there is frequently yet some snow; 

 and take them in between the 15th and 30th 

 of October, as in October the nights are 

 cold, sometimes as cold as 15 degrees below 

 zero. As you see, the bees are in the bee- 

 house 6 months, but often they have no 

 flight yet in September, as the temperature 

 is no higher than 2 or 3 degrees. As I sub- 

 scribe for the American Bee Journal, it 

 would be very useful for me to know what 

 part of the United States is in the same cli- 

 matic conditions for bees as we are here. 

 But do not forget that wehave the Reaumur 

 thermometer. Perhaps you would explain 

 the difference between it and the thermom- 

 eter you use in America. 



2. The last two years we have had some 

 dead brood, which very much resembles . 

 foul brood, as it is described in the books, 

 only when a stick is put into a dead larva it 

 does not make a ropy string an inch long, as 



I have read it will do. We took all possible 

 precaution against contagion, even to de- 

 stroying the sick colonies. Of course, if we 

 knew it was not foul brood we should not 

 have thought of destroying. And we have 

 no means of knowing for sure. I read in the 

 American bee-papers that one can send a 

 sample of sick brood somewhere and be in- 

 formed if it is foul brood. Do you think if I 

 sent a sample from Russia I would get an 

 answer ? Or do they answer only in America? 



Russia. 

 Answers.— I. It is very unfortunate that 

 Russia and America do not have thermom- 

 eters of the same kind. The Fahrenheit 

 thermometer— the one in use here— takes 

 for its zero point the temperature made by 

 a mixture of snow and ice (I think I have 

 read that at one time it was believed that 

 was as cold as anything could get to be), and 

 then divides the scale between that and the 

 temperatureof boiling water into 212 degrees. 

 That makes thetemperature at which water 

 freezes at 32 degrees, and the temperature 

 of boiling water 212 degrees. According to 

 your thermometer (the Reaumur) water 

 freezes at zero, and boils at 80 degrees. 

 That seems more sensible, at least at the 

 lower end. But the Centigrade is more sen- 

 sible than either, for, according to that, 

 water freezes at zero and boils at 100 de- 

 grees. While the Centigrade shows 100 de- 

 grees between the freezing and the boiling 

 points of water, the Fahrenheit shows 180. 

 and the Reaumur shows 80. To change 

 Fahrenheit reading to Reaumur, subtract 32 

 from the Fahrenheit reading, then multiply 

 by 4 and divide by 0. To change from R. to 

 F.. multiply by '). divide by 4. and add 32. 



You have in winter from zero to 30 de- 

 grees below zero. R. (from 32 above zero to 

 35^ below zero. F.). Most of the time it is 

 between 10 and 25 degrees below zero, R. (be- 

 tween 9ii above zero and 24 degrees below 

 zero, F). In summer you have it as hot as 

 30 R. (wii F). but usually it is from 15 to 25 R. 

 (from 67 to 88 F.) In October the nights are 

 sometimes as cold as 15 below zero. R. (2 be- 

 low zero. F). Now that we have tempera- 

 tures before us in both Russia and English. 

 I must say that I don't know where you could 

 find a corresponding temperature in this 

 country. Nijni Novgorod, where you are. is 

 in latitude 55 degrees north. That would 

 take us away up into Canada, some 6 de- 

 grees above the principal boundary line of 

 the United States, and like enough you 

 would have to go somewhere up there to 

 find something like your climate. 



2 I don't know just what is and what is not 

 allowed by our Government, but Dr. Phillips 

 and his coadjutors are a very nice lot— we 

 are quite proud of them— and unless there 

 is something in the way to prevent, I feel 



