March, 1912. 



American Hee Journal 



the reeular dovetailed super with part of 

 tlie space Hlled with comb-honey sections, 

 and produce both in the same super to yood 

 advantage ? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— I. The chief secret of getting 

 tlie impurltes out of wax lies in keeping it 

 liquid a long time so that the impuriiies 

 will settle toihe bottom, or. as it Is generally 

 expressed, letting it cool slowly. NIelt the 

 wax in a vessel of tin. or something else than 

 iron, liavjng some soft water with it. When 

 heated it may be allowed to cool in the same 

 vessel, or the wax may be poured into an- 

 other vessel The larger the body of wax 

 of course the longer it will be in cooling, and 

 so the better chance for the impurities to 

 settle. A considerable quantity of water 

 helps also to keep the whole body warm 

 longer. Cover over closely in any way you 

 like, and you may also wrap something 

 around the whole to retain the heat. If it 

 be set on a cook-stove at night with a slow 

 fire, and the fire allowed to die down, that 

 will help. All of these things, you will see. 

 are for the purpose of keeping the wax hot 

 as long as possible. When cold, of course 

 the dirt is to be scraped off the bottom of 

 the cake. 



2. Yes. some think this a desirable thing 

 to do. Just how much advantage there may 

 be in it depends upon your market. If you 

 can dispose of extracted honey to good ad- 

 vantage then the plan is advisable. If you 

 have no market lor extracted, and a good 

 market for comb, then the plan is not advis- 

 able. 



Hive-Ventilation in Outdoor Wintering 



What is the least ventilation that will 

 surticefora strong colony outdoors during 

 freezing weather ? 



The hive entrances of several of my colo- 

 nies became blocked with solid ice during a 

 very cold time suddenly following a day 

 during which the water and soft snow col- 

 lected upon the alighting- boards, and I 

 would use a lower chamber with additional 

 ventilation high up. if too large a hole is not 

 necessary. Virginia. 



Answer.— For a strong colony an entrance 

 8x/4, 4XJ2, or any other size equivalent to 2 

 square inches is little enough Your idea of 

 a lower story with an entrance high up is 

 good. You might do worse than to bore a 

 small hole in the front of your present hive, 

 half way between bottom and top. So long 

 as the entrance is clear to the botlom.no 

 matter what size, there is always some dan- 

 ger of its being closed if there comes a 

 damp snow to clog the entrance and then 

 freeze. I suspect you would be well pleased 

 with bottomb-boards 2 inches deep. They're 

 great in summer-lime used with a bottom- 

 rack to prevent building down, and in win- 

 ter you could close the lower part of the 

 entrance and have the opening nearly 2 

 inches from the bottom. That would meet 

 your difficulty, and also get rid of the dan- 

 ger of having the entrance clogged with 

 dead bees. 



Caging a Queen in Own Colony 



How long can a queen stand confinement 

 caged within her own colony without in- 

 jury? My experience in that line is not 

 sufficient, as I wish the information from 

 diDcriHt localities for the benefit of bee-men 

 under present conditions here. 



California. 



Answf.r.— I've had a largeexperience with 

 queens thus caged for 10 days, and it seemed 

 to do them no harm. Beyond that my ex- 

 perience is limited. In a few cases they 

 may have been caged ? weeks. Will others, 

 especially Californians. give us their ex- 

 perience ? 



Preventing Honey-Granutation 



1. I am surprised at the people in general 

 tiere in .San Francisco in regard to pure 

 honey. How hard it is to convince them 

 that honey will granulate from exiiosureto 

 the cold. Nine-tenths of the people do not 

 believe that they get pure honey; as they 

 are so accustomed to being humbugged they 

 expect itat every corner. I tell them the pure 

 food law does not allow any one to misbrand 

 or mislabel goods pure unless they are 

 really such. I have competitors telling 

 their customers their honey will not granu- 

 late, I think they use something to keep 

 their packages from granulating. Still they 

 label it " pure" honey. 



2. Can vinegar be used to advantage 

 without spoiling the flavor ? If so. how 

 much to the gallon P In the October Ameri- 



can Bee Journal, glycerine was mentioned 

 as an article to keep honey from granulating. 

 I have much trouble in this matter with 

 most people who do not know or seem to 

 care about pure honey. They say I put too 

 much sugar in it! California. 



Answers.— I. If there is really adultera- 

 tion in the case, the pure-food authorities 

 might be set on their trail. But the federal 

 authorities have nothing to do in such a 

 case unless the goods in question are shipped 

 from one State into another. Adulterated 

 goods that do not go outside the State are 

 only subject to State laws. 



2. It is not advisable to try anything of the 

 kind. Even if it would act satisfactorily, 

 there would then be some ground to accuse 

 you with tampering with the purity of your 

 honey. Possess your soul in patience, and 

 in time you will come out ahead. Patiently 

 explain what granulation is. and some will 

 learn to prefer the granulated honey, while 

 others will, in response to your instruction, 

 learn to liquefy properly the candied article. 



An Unusual Queen Experience 



In the spring of loii I had an experience 

 with a queen in one of my hives that I can 

 not account for. The results were sostrange 

 that 1 would like to know if any up-to-date 

 bee-keeper ever had the same experience. 



Last March I put my bees on the summer 

 stands, and while taking them from the cel- 

 lar t noticed that one colony was very quiet, 

 so when a warm day came I opened the hive 

 and found that there were not over 40 or 50 

 bees with the queen. As there was plenty 

 of honey in the hive, and not having any use 

 for the queen. I closed it up. About 8 days 

 later I again opened it and found the queen 

 alone on a comb. Thinking that the bees 

 were in the field I waited a half hour, but as 

 none returned I closed up the hive-entrance 

 to prevent the other bees robbing, and left 

 her. 



About 10 days later, having use for the 

 combs. I opened the hive. You can imagine 

 how surprised 1 was when viewing the 

 combs to find the queen still there as quiet 

 as if the hive were full of bees. I did not 

 have the heart to kill her. and in the end I 

 went to a strong colony and took a frame 

 with all the bees and placed it in the new 

 hive with the lone queen. On the fourth 

 day I opened it, expecting that they had 

 killed the queen, or returned to their own 

 hive, but judge my surprise when I found 

 the queen all right with a small batch of 

 brood, which, by July, was as strong a col- 

 ony as the rest. Now. this may be a com- 

 mon thing to some of the older bee-keepers, 

 but I thought that a queen could not live 

 alone. Illinois. 



Answer.— You have had a unique experi- 

 ence. At least I never heard of such a case 

 before. To be sure, it is the usual thing 

 when a colony dies for the queen to be the 

 last to succumb, but to have the queen live 

 all alone as late as in .\pril for 10 days is 

 what you will probably never experience 

 again. 



Keeping Bees from Objectionable Places 



Referring to the editorial on "Salt and 

 Vinegar in Syrup," in the January issue of 

 the American Bee Journal, can you tell how 

 salt should be used to keep the bees from 

 such objectionable places as Pxlitor Herrod 

 mentions when no syrup is fed P I have no- 

 tired bees at such places at different times 

 during the summer months when the bees 

 were gathering their own stores, but. of 

 course, it would not be feasible to feed 

 syrup the year around for the sole purpose 

 of giving the bees salt. 



Perhaps you know of some other way of 

 keeping the bees from these places. If so. 

 any information you may give will be greatly 

 appreciated. New York. 



Answer.— The first question to be an- 

 swered is: What is the attraction for the 

 bees at these places which are objectionable 

 to bee-keepers ? If we know that, there is a 

 fair chance to offer a greater attraction 

 elsewhere. For a long time it was lienerally 

 held that salt is what the bees were after. 

 In that case the thing to do is to offer salty 

 water in an unobjectionable place. Latterly, 

 however, there is a growing belief that the 

 salt has little or nothing to do in the case, 

 but that warmth is the attraction. The bee 

 prefers warm water, and very likely prefers 

 to be in a warm, sheltered place while it is 

 loading up with water. That gives us our 

 cue. Give the bees water in a sheltered, 

 sunny place, where the water will be com- 



paratively warm, and as David Harum says. 

 " Do it fust." For bees are great creatures 

 of habit, and if you offer them water in a 

 desirable spot befoie they get in the habit 

 of going elsewhere it will be a great point 

 gained. 



Having chosen a desirable watering-place. 

 I know of no better way to give the water 

 than to give it in a pail. tub. or other vessel, 

 with a layer of cork-chips on the surface of 

 the water. Any grocer who gets grapes in 

 cold weather in kegs will have these cork- 

 chips to throw away, for they come as pack- 

 ing for the grapes. A layer something like 

 an inch thick or less will answer. They will 

 last for a whole season, but as the season 

 advances they \\\\\ become soaked so that it 

 will be well to renew them, or at least to 

 add some fresh chips. There must not be 

 so few chips that the bees will drown, nor 

 so many that the bees can not easily reach 

 the water. Some keep the water warm by 

 means of a lamp. 



If. however, the bees have already made a 

 start at some objectionable place, and that 

 place is known, it may be possible to drive 

 them from it by a sprinkling of a solution of 

 carbolic acid. 



If you think the bees want salt, then add 

 salt to the water you offer. 



Caucasians and Carniolans 



Is the Causcasian bee a bad one to swarm ? 

 Is the Adel bee a sort of Carniolan bee. and 

 can it be kept in an a-frame hive? What 

 kind of a cross would it be ? Is it true that 

 Carniolans are bad swarmers ? Illinois. 



Answer.— The Caucasians have not the 

 reputation of being great swarmers. but the 

 Carniolans have. There is no such race as 

 Adels. The word "Adel " is a German word 

 which Germans spell " Fdel." and the word 

 means noble or excellent. So any one may 

 call his bees .-Vdels. whether they are black 

 or yellow; only, of course, it will be a mis- 

 nomer if applied to poor bees. 



Fastening Foundation in Brood -Frames 



In using full sheets of foundation, even 

 "medium brood" happened to warp, and 

 after the combs were finished ihey showed 

 an uneven surface, although they were put 

 in true and straight and fastened on all 

 sides, except below, with melted wax. To 

 avoid this in the future my plan is to fasten 

 a ?2-inch strip in the middle of a Langstroth 

 frame, running from top to bottom of the 

 frame. The foundation comb then is cut 

 crosswise in two, and fastened the same way 

 as full sheets are. The combs being thus 

 supported in the middle would likely re- 

 main more even and would not sagas they 

 do when fastened in the usual way. 



My way of fastening foundation in brood- 

 frames is simple. I take a board larger than 

 the frame, and on this board I fasten an- 

 other board which goes inside the frame, 

 and thick enouijh to occupy half the space 

 of the frame. An empty frame is put on this 

 board and thus the foundation sheet will 

 come right in the middle of the frame. I 

 use a spoon to pour on the melted wax. 



Would you advise me to put a strip in 

 each frame as described above? Indiana. 



Answer.— Your scheme will work all right 

 if you do not object to the wooden strip in 

 the center of your frame. Some would pre- 

 fer to use'splints or wires. Another plan is 

 to paint the upper part of the foundation 

 with melted wax. 



Management of Increase. Etc. 



I. I want to increase my coUuiies without 

 natural swarming, when they are strong in 

 bees, and I want to have 7 or frames of 

 brood next May. I will try to build up with 

 my first colony, set the hive off the stand, 

 replacing a hive filled witli frames having 

 full sheets of foundation. Then I want to 

 find the queen of the colony just taken from 

 the stand, and take the frame of brood she 

 is on with all adhering bees, and put it in 

 the center of the new hive, having first 

 taken one or two frames of foundation to 

 make room for the easy introduction of the 

 frame of brood, bees and queen. I place a 

 queen-excluder over a new hive, and set the 

 old colony on top. I want to get queen-cells 

 reared in the top. Five days later I intend 

 to set the old lor top) hive on a new stand. 

 Will queen-cells be reared in the top? I 

 will feed them properly, when they will be 

 ready in countless numbers to enter the 

 field of sweets. 



