luiic. 1013. 



American IBee Journal 



So the bees may be divi'ded. nart put in one 

 hive and part in another, ana a queen given 

 to each. 



But it is better to prevent all after-swarms 

 in the way so often described. I-five the 

 prime swarm and set it on the old stand, 

 placint; tlie mother colony close beside it, 

 facing the same way; then a week later 

 move the mother colony to a new stand some 

 distance away. 



2. In this country it is almost the universal 

 custom for hives to be made with frames 

 running at right angles to the entrance, or. 

 as you call it, with the hives opening at 

 the end. In l*'.urope it is quite common to 

 have the frames run parallel to the entrance. 

 The latter is called the warm arrangement, 

 and the former the cold arrangement. With 

 the cold arrangement it looks as if the air 

 has the same chance at all the frames, and 

 so it is supposed that it is colder. The 

 probability is that the difference is not so 

 very great either way. At any rate, it is the 

 right thing for you to use the kind that does 

 the best with you. 



Does the Catalpa Blossom Yield Honey ? 



I wrote to an experienced bee-keeper in 

 New .Jersey, asking if he had had any suc- 

 cess in securing honey from the catalpa- 

 tree ? He replied thus: "So far as my ob- 

 servation extends. I can not recall a single 

 instance where bees were seen on catalpa 

 blossoms, and I have looked for them time 

 and time again in these monstrous flowers. 

 What a pity that they are as dry of nectar 

 as bleached sawdust!" 



Noting that the "A B C of Bee Culture" 

 classes thecatalpa-tree among honey-plants, 

 will you kindly let me know whether you 

 think my New Jersey correspondent is cor- 

 rect in his belief? Connf.cticut, 



Answer.— It is entirely possible that your 

 correspondent and the "A B C " are both 

 correct. Bees are discriminating in their 

 tastes, and have decided preferences. This 

 year dandelions were in bloom abundantly, 

 and scarcely a bee was to be seen on them. 

 A few days later bees were on them a-plenty. 

 1 suppose that at first they had fruit-bloom 

 enough to occupy them, and cared less for 

 dandelions. When fruit-bloom became 

 scarce dandelions had their full attention. 

 Strawberries have always been plenty on 

 my place— some years by the acre— so I had 

 good opportunity to observe them, and for 

 years I never saw a bee on them;- but after- 

 ward I did see bees on strawberry-bloom. 

 So it may easily be that your correspondent 

 never saw bees working on catalpa while 

 they have been seen elsewhere; and it may 

 also be that your New Jersey friend will yet 

 see catalpas humming with bees. 



Keeping Out-Apiaries — Clipping Queens Protect- 

 ing Combs 



1. Suppose you wanted to keep as many as 

 wo colonies of bees, but did not want to 

 bother with much work in out-apiaries, how 

 would this plan be: Have about 150 colo- 

 nies in your home yard, then in 2 or 3 out- 

 yards have 20 to 50 nuclei, or 10 colonies in 

 each, and increase to ab«ut 40 ? There would 

 then be no swarming and few trips. 



2. Would it be advisable to clip the wings 

 of golden untested queens before releasing 

 in queenless nuclei for fear the queens 

 might fly away ? 



\. If empty drawn combs remain in the 

 hives all summer, and the hives are clean, 

 is there danger of the combs becoming 

 moldy ? If such hives were not to be used, 

 would you close up the entrances to keep 

 out moths ? Illinois. 



Answers.— I. I don't understand lust what 

 the details are. but it seems you depend 

 upon the home apiary for honey crops, leav- 

 ing the out-apiaries to grow colonies from 

 nviclei. That will work all right for tfie out- 

 apiaries: but when you talk about 150 in the 

 home yard, it raises the question whether 

 you have pasturage for them. I suspect that 

 in most places in Illinois, in an average 

 year. 75 colonies will yield more surplus 

 than 150. Stop and iigure a little. Suppose 

 we have 75 colonies in a locality so good 

 that by using up all the honey within reach 

 they will give a surplus of 100 pounds per 

 colony. Instead of 75 colonies, make the 

 number 150, and see how we come out. It is 

 estimated that 200 pounds of honey is con- 

 sumed by a colony in a year for its own use. 

 When we had 75 colonies we got 100 pounds 

 of surplus beside the 200 pounds needed for 

 self-support of each colony. That made 300 

 pounds gathered by each colony, or 22.500 

 pounds in all. and that cleaned the field. 



\\ hen wc keep 150 colonies, and allow 2<n. 

 pounds to each for their own use. that will 

 require 150 times 2110 pounds, or 30,000 pounds. 

 But the held affords only 22. sou pounds, so 

 we will have no surplus, and will have to 

 feed 7.;oo pounds to keep the bees alive. I 

 don't know that it would turn out just that 

 way with you, but at least you "better look 

 a little out" 



2. Yes. 



3. No danger of mold unless you keep the 

 combs in a cellar or damp room. I've some 

 question whether you can close the hives 

 tight enough to keep out moths. They 

 squeeze through a very small crack. But if 

 the combs are in a close building the moths 

 are not likely to find them. 'Vet it is a pretty 

 safe guess that if colonies died on them the 

 worms are there already. In that case 

 whatever combs can not be put in the care 

 of the bees should be treated with sulphur 

 fumes, or. still better, with bisulfide of 

 carbon. 



Age of Worker When it First Goes Afield 



How many days from the time the worker 

 hatches until it goes to gather honey ? 



MiSSOfRI. 



Answer.— It is generally understood that 

 a worker goes afield when if. days old. But 

 the wise little creatures know how to adapt 

 themselves to circumstances without follow- 

 ing any rigid rule. One time I had a valuable 

 queen to introduce. Over a strong colony I 

 put an empty hive, with wire-cloth between 

 the two stories. In the empty hive I put 

 frames of sealed brood with young bees just 

 ready to hatch, but not a bee. 1 put in the 

 queen and closed up tight, so no bee could 

 get in or out. Five days later I gave a very 

 small entrance, and the bees flew. A little 

 later some of the bees returned with loads 

 of pollen. Those babies, only 5 days old, 

 were doing work that under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances they would not have done until 

 three times as old. So in the economy of 

 the hive, while it may be true that bees gen- 

 erally go afield when in days old. the likeli- 

 hood is that they accommodate themselves 

 to circumstances. If conditions are such 

 that there is an unusual need of nurses, 

 some of the bees may not go afield until con- 

 siderably more than 16 days old, and Tue 



Large Mortality of Bees, What Was the Cause ? 



Please give me your idea as to the cause of 

 my bees all dying this spring. I shall try to 

 explain the situation as fully as possible. 

 They were all placed in the cellar in No- 

 vember in the very best condition, with 

 plenty of stores and lots of bees: very 

 strong. The cellar is the same as it always 

 has been. I have wintered bees there for 

 the last 4 winters, not so very cold, but this 

 winter it did freeze the potatoes, but do not 

 think it was the cold, or the dampness, that 

 did the killing, as the cellar is perfectly dry. 

 I watched them, off and on, all winter, and 

 did not Idiscover anything wrong until the 

 mild spell of weather came, and all at once, 

 when I looked at them, lo and behold, the 

 cellar was strewn with dead bees, and the 

 entrances were all filled with dead bees, 

 and the odor from them was something ter- 

 rible I raked all the dead ones out that I 

 could, and put on new bottom-boards, and 

 as soon as there was enough snow gone so I 

 could find a clear place. I took them out of 

 the cellar, but not for a few weeks after I 

 had cleaned out the hives, as the weather 

 and snow would not allow it— we had a very 

 hard and long spring. 



But when they were set out I stayed at 

 home and watched them, and as soon as 

 they got warmed up enough in the sun to 

 move out, thev seemed to crawl right out of 

 the hive on the grass and away from the 

 hive, as if they were sick and wanted to get 

 away and die. and all of them did die but 

 one colony. I have just lost it, also. I think, 

 however, that it would have pulled through 

 if the weather had warmed up in time, al- 

 though there was only a handful of bees 

 when I set it out on the stand. 



I have an idea that it must be something 

 that they gathered for stores last fall that 

 killed them, as we had a very dry summer 

 here last year until the fall rain came, then 

 they pot considerable honey from weeds, 

 etc. It might have been what is called 

 honey-dew. I am anxious to learn what the 

 trouble was. and would be much please if 

 vou would give the cause. All those that 

 have been here in this neighborhood lost 

 their bees in exactly the same way. and my 

 neighbor had his in a cellar that never 



freezes, and is always about the same torn 

 perature, as they have a furnace. 



Minnesota. 

 Answer— I don't know. That's really the 

 best answer I have on hand to Ht the case. 

 Yet you might prefer to have me do some 

 guessing, and it may be some comfort to you 

 to find that I don't know so much more than 

 you. According to reports the mortality 

 among bees was so general last winter that 

 the cause or causes must have been some- 

 what general. The season was poor. One 

 result of that was that little or no early 

 honey was left in the hive for winter stores. 

 In a good season all available space in the 

 brood-chamber will be filled with honey be- 

 fore any goes in the supers, and so it hap- 

 pens that a good part of the winter stores, 

 in a good season, will consist of early honey. 

 Bees have their preference, and I suppose 

 always take the best that is going. In a good 

 season they have no trouble in finding honey 

 of the best quality, and pay little or no at- 

 tention to honey-dew or other inferior 

 stores that may be had for winter. When 

 nothingelse is to be had, they will gather 

 unwholesome stores rather than lie idle. 

 The failure of pasturage had for one result 

 that brood-rearing stopped early, and so 

 the bees were mostly old, ready to succumb 

 to hardships. The winter was cold. and. 

 what is worse, it was long continued cold. 

 Some of these things, and possibly all, may 

 have had something to do with your case. 

 Bad food, with unusual cold, is a bad combina- 

 tion for ('/*/ bees. 



Introducing Queens— What Size Extractor lo Get 



1. Please tell me how to introduce a queen. 

 1 am a beginner. 



2. I am thinking of buying an extractor. 

 What kind would you advise me to get? 

 How about the Novice 4-franie non-reversi- 

 ble extractor ? Is the Cowan rapid-rever- 

 sible any better ? Is the 4-frame too big, or 

 not? Does the reversing help any ? 



New York. 



Answers.— I. To tell all the ways by which 

 queens have been introduced would be a 

 long story. And when you have the whole 

 story it will have a postscript saying, that by 

 any and every form of queen-introduction in 

 common use there is an element of chance, 

 and you must expect to lose a certain per- 

 centage. "There is a plan that is absolutely 

 safe, but it doesn't come under the head of 

 the plans "in common use." for unless a 

 very valuable queen is in question it may be 

 better to take a less troublesome plan and 

 take the risk. 



Anyhow, here is the safe plan. Put into a 

 hive combs of brood mostly sealed. It will 

 be better if it is all sealed, and you may 

 have such combs by getting ready in ad- 

 vance. Put the combs in an upper story 

 over a strong colony, with an excluder be- 

 tween the two stories— the queen in the 

 lower story. Of course, you can have any 

 number, from two combs up to a hiveful, 

 only the more you have the stronger your 

 colony will be. In about 8 days all the brood 

 will be sealed. Then brush off CTjcry bee 

 from these combs and put them in a sep- 

 arate hive, put in the queen, and close it up 

 bee-tight. Unless you feel sure the weather 

 will be warm enough for the next few days, 

 so that the temperature will not go below 

 about 70 degrees, day or night, you must 

 take the hive into some room that will not 

 go below 70 degrees. Or, you may put it over 

 a strong colony, over wire-cloth, so that the 

 heat will come up. but no bees. In 5 or 6 

 days you may set the hive on its intended 

 stand, allowing an entrance large enough for 

 only a bee or two at a time, enlarging the en- 

 trance in a few days as needed. Thus, you 

 see. there are never any strange bees to en- 

 danger the queen, for no bee present has 

 ever known any other queen. 



Perhaps by far the greater number of 

 queens is introduced by means of the intro- 

 ducing cage provisioned with queen-candy. 

 The bees eat away the candy in the tube, 

 taking a day or less for it. sometimes a good 

 deal more, and when the candy is eaten out. 

 the queen walksquietly out of the cage upon 

 the combs as if she belonged there. 



The general practice is to remove the 

 old queen at the time of putting in the new 

 caged queen. I think I have had a little bet- 

 ter success by removing the old queen a day 

 or two in advance. 



Bees are less likely to disturb the new 

 queen when honey is coming in freely, and 

 if that is not the case, it is well to feed. If 

 the hive contains no very old bees, there is 

 less risk than otherwise. So. if you want to 

 take extra precaution, do this: Set the hive 

 off its stand and put an empty hive in its 

 place. Take one frame of brood with ad- 



