November, 1912. 



^45 



American Hae Journal 



j^^^^^'i 



of the other. The hive is extra heavy and 

 must be full of honey. 



Now I want to take off the top story and 

 confine the bees to the lower one; but it is 

 possible tfie queen may be in the top part. 

 In that case what should I do. I am just a 

 beginner ? Iowa. 



.Answer. — Your problem is not a hard one. 

 only it would have been better if you had 

 acted earlier. It will be better if you can 

 operate on a day warm enouth for bees to 

 Hy. but a pretty cool day will do by taking 

 certain precautions. Lift off the upper 

 story and set it near the hive on an empty 

 story, or something of the kind so as not to 

 crush bees. Then set another empty story 

 on the hive so you can brush the bees into 

 it unless the day is so warm that bees will 

 not be chilled by falling on the ground. Now 

 brush the bees from each comb of the re- 

 moved upper storv into the hive on the 

 stand. 



As you lift each one out note whether 

 there is any brood in il. If there is, then 

 you must exchange it for one of the combs 

 in the lower story, for you must leave all 

 brood with the bees. Beside this you must 

 make sure that you leave with the bees the 

 equivalent of about 4 frames filled with 

 honey. 



Wintering With Empty Brootl-Nest and a Full 

 Super of Honey Above 



I have 50 colonies of bees with empty 

 brood-chambers. Can 1 winter them with a 

 full extracting super on top? What%vouid 

 you do? Virginia. 



Answer.— There is no reason why your 

 bees should not winter satisfactoi ily with 

 empty combs ii'. the brood-chamber and ex- 

 tracting combs filled with honey above, pro- 

 vided your extracting combs are of usual 

 size, so as to contain 25 pounds of honey or 

 more. They would probably ask nothing 

 better. 



Questions from a Subscriber in Soutli America 



1. Can you tell me whether J. J. Wilder's 

 apiary would be a good place for a youth to 

 learn practically all branches of apiary 

 work, and whether he would take a youth 

 and pay Iiitn wages from April to Septem- 

 ber ? Could you recommend any other man? 



My eldest son — just under iH— will leave 

 school next Easter and attend the Ontario 

 Agricultural College near Guelph. Canada. 

 The terms are from September to April, and 

 I should like to find a large apiary south of 

 latitude u degrees, where my son can go 

 from April to September and work for 

 wages, and where he could learn from actual 

 practice every branch of the business of 

 what he learns in theory at the college. I 

 want him south of latitude ^4 to learn what 

 will suit this climate, where we rarely ex- 

 perience frost at noon— never snow— and 

 where bees can get pollen almost every 

 month in the year in varying quantities. I 

 want him to master queen-breeding and the 

 improvement of bees; to learn all about 

 spring management, strengthening the colo- 

 niesfor honey-flows, working for comb and 

 extracted honey, and seeing large quantities 

 put up for market, etc. Similarly another 

 year from April to September I want him 

 in a large poultry farm south of latitude 34. 

 if I can find one. Can you help me ? 



2. Do any of the great apiarists like G. M. 

 Doolittle. Dr. C. C. Miller. E. W. Alexander 

 (deceased'. Wesley Foster. J. J. Wilder. 

 Louis Scholl and others make their income 

 absolutely from their apiaries? I have 

 read. " Keep piore bees." and that mixed 

 farming does not pay: " no one thing is done 

 well— each gets somewhat neglected." Then 

 1 have read strong advice not to depend up- 

 on one thing alone. Combine, for instance, 

 poultry and bees, or :■/(!■ trr.ct?. or add poul- 

 try to orchard work, and so on. 



3. I think my son ought to be able, in three 

 or four years, to make a profit of three or 

 four thousand dollars a year. Is this likely 

 with very little capital to start with ? Do 

 the majority get a living from something be- 

 sides the apiary? Do their writings for 

 journals add a lot ? Here we are near a city 

 of more than a million and a quarter inhabi- 

 tants. I work in an office in Buenos Ayres. 

 and live out here in Quilmes. and attend. 

 Saturday afternoons and a little on Sundays. 

 to a dozen hives. From 10 colonies I secured 

 (season before last: $i;o American money), 

 on comb and extracted honey. 



4. I would like youropinion or advice as to 

 the advisability of having all eggs in one 

 basket. It is looking far ahead, as my son 

 will not make a start here until after he 

 finishes at the Ontario Atricultural College 



in KJ15. Will you do me the favor of se ding 

 me copies of the rules of bee-keepers asso 

 ciations in different parts of America, to 

 help mc to form an association here, also 

 foul brood laws ? 



5 Mr. Doolittle. in his book. " A Year in an 

 Out-Apiary." speaks of turning his bottom- 

 boards deep side up in winter, shallow side 

 up, and narrow entrance in spring. I turn 

 deep side up in spring for ventilation, shal- 

 low side up in winter for warmth. 



BiENOs AvKEs. South America. 



Answers.— I. My impression is that Mr. 

 Wilder is a good man and a good bee-keeper 

 with whom there would be a fine chance for 

 the things you desire. As to the matter of 

 pay. you would learn that by private corres- 

 pondence. .As to poultry farms in the South. 

 I do not know of any. although there may be 

 a number. A small advertisement in a bee 

 journal or a poultry journal would no doubt 

 bring you information on that point. 



2. 1 cannot for certain tell about the names 

 you mention, but my impression is that each 

 of them gets practically all his income from 

 bee-keeping or something connected with it. 

 Opinions differ as to whether it is better to 

 "keep more bees" or to unite something 

 else with bee-keeping— and rightly. One 

 man may do better to stick to bees alone; 

 another may profitably unite with it seme 

 other line. 



3. 1 think you have set your mark pretty 

 high, and I doubt if it would be reached in 

 one case in a hundred. The great majority 

 of bee-keepers get only a part— inmost cases 

 only a small part— of their income from bees. 

 The circulation of a bee journal is compara- 

 tively limited, so that it cannot pay the 

 prices that periodicals of larger circulation 

 can pay. Indeed, most of the writing for bee 

 journals has for its pay the pleasure of help- 

 ing others. , 



4. It's rather a ticklish matter to give ad 

 vice about having "all ones eggs in one bas- 

 ket." but 1 would say don't start in at first 

 with only one basket, and don't throw away 

 the other baskels until you feel quite sure 

 you will not need them again. In most loca- 

 tions there are years of failure, and there 

 may be 2 or 3 such years in succession. 

 Plainly it would not be wise to depend upon 

 bees alone without having enough ahead to 

 tide over any possible yearsof failure. 



I thirk you will get the printed matter you 

 desire by writing to General Manager N. E. 

 France, of I'latteville, Wis. 



S It is quite likely that even in your local- 

 ity you would do better to have more room 

 below bottom-bars in winter, although there 

 is not the same chance for dead bees to be 

 in the way that there is in colder climates. 

 It would be better to have a deep space all 

 the year around, but in summer the bees 

 will build down if too much space is given. 

 If your bees do not build down, the deeper 

 the space in summer the better. 



-The Black Bees 



Number of Egss Laid by a Queen- 

 of Switzerland 



About that article in the .American Bee 

 Journal, page 308. ".Number of Eggs Laid by 

 a Queen. " from the Schweizerische Bienen- 

 zeitung. page 257. Now. as I am a Swiss, too. 

 and have kept bees for a number of years in 

 the old country. I may be able to tell some- 

 thing more. , .... 



It says in one place. Brood-rearing in his 

 best colonies began about Feb. 10. " This 

 was no doubt outdoors, where brood-rear- 

 ing begins earlier than in a cellar. Nobody 

 in Switzerland winters his bees in a cellar. 

 They are all kept in bee-houses or sheds. 

 And. further, those brown or black Swiss 

 bees do not as a rule breed up and have as 

 much brood as the Italians or Carniolans. 

 But one thing is sure, they never swarm half 

 as much as the Italians or Carniolans. and 

 this ensures them a good honey crop. Some 

 15 to 25 years ago there were bees imported 

 from Italy and Carniola by the thousand 

 every year, but soonour leading bee keepers 

 found out that these bees swarmed to ex- 

 cess, and started rearing their own queens. 



The honey season in Switzerland starts 

 with the first days of May. as soon as the 

 fruit bloom opens. This lasts almost through 

 the whole month. They figure on some 

 honey from the fruit trees every two years. 

 Then, again, every two years we figure on 

 some honey dew from the pine trees. Some- 

 times the honey-dew starts in May and lasts 

 until the last days in July, but is heavy for 

 only * few days. , . , , 



Their best honey-plant, a certain kind of 

 clover, known as esparcet Sainfoin in 

 English, starts to bloom the first days in 

 June and lasts for about three weeks. But 

 this clover does not yield everywhere. In 



most places there is not enough to go all 

 around for a crop of honey. 



Then the first days of July they get their 

 second, or onr summer, honey from the 

 white clover and bear-claw. I'his generally 

 lasts until the lasts days of July. Then the 

 honey season is over. They never get honey 

 in August or September, as they do in this 

 country. 



If they get a good crop from the fruit trees 

 they do not expect a good crop in July: or 

 if they don't get any honey in May then July 

 will be a good month Some years they only 

 gel a little honey in June. Thus you may 

 see why there is such a big difference be- 

 tween your best colonies and Dr. Bruen- 

 nich's best colonies July 3o; and at the same 

 time you can see why they prefer the black 

 bees in Switzerland, bat only the Swiss 



Again, there is a big difference in the 

 black bees in northern Germany, where they 

 have their buckwheat fields in the fall. 

 Those blacks are more inclined to swarm 

 than either Italians or Carniolans. I am 

 trying those Swiss blacks in this country. 



Illinois. 



Answer.— Clearly Mr. Widmer knows what 

 he is talking about, if I may judge from for- 

 eign journals. I have written him to tell us 

 how his Swiss bees turn out. especially as 

 to swarming. You know the Swiss claim to 

 have bees nearly non-swarming. 



Narration of Failures With Combs Below the 

 Brood-Nest 



With reference to two questions which 

 you answered in the August American Bee 

 Journal. I am now in a position to tell what 

 really happened as the results of the experi- 

 ments. , ., , , , . i_ J 



First, as to putting a full depth hive-body 

 with drawn combs under the brood-cham- 

 ber I found no evidence that thequeen had 

 used the under combs. The bees did store 

 a considerable amount of honey in the un- 

 der body; in one case a full frame was 

 sealed I had 3 colonies fixed this way One 

 gave IQ completed sections and 4 filled, but 

 sealed on only one side, the remaining sec- 

 tions not being worked at all. only the foun- 

 dation was gnawed some. 



The second colony had two extracting 

 frames on each side, and sections in the 

 middle. The frames were filled and sealed, 

 while only five or six sections were com- 

 pleted, the others were in all stages. 1 his 

 colony stored the full frame below. 



The third colony had extracting frames 

 only, of which four or five were filled and 

 sealed, the others being in all stages. 



My deduction is. that while the full depth 

 under body may have prevented swarming, 

 yet the falling off in surplus must have been 

 considerable, and I would not practice that 

 arrangement again. 



The second question, as to putting a shal- 

 low extracting super with foundation and 

 excluder under the brood-chamber, putting 

 the queen also below during a honey-How to 

 get combs drawn and additional brood 

 reared. This was a dismal failure. Af)out 

 a week after this arrangement was niade. 1 

 chanced to pass the hive and discovered the 

 queen out on the ground with onlytw-oor 

 three bees queen clipped . I made haste to 

 put the colony in normal condition, and 

 found practically nothing done in the super 

 which it had been placed under. This col- 

 ony has been rather poor all the season; it 

 was a swarm with a virgin queen last season. 



You will see the outcome of these experi- 

 ments is pretty closely in accordance with 

 your answers to the questions. I am Pleased 

 to let you know what really happened. 1 he 

 knowledge acquired by personal experience 

 is what really "counts:" the real relation 

 of cause and effect is thus more clearly ap- 

 preciated and understood. New Jersey. 



Answer. -Your report is of value. We 

 like to report our successes, yet the report 

 of a failure may be more useful than the re- 

 port of a success, since it may save others 

 from the same failure. 



Your queens did not go down to lay in the 

 combs below. Sometimes they will, some- 

 times they will not. I don t know just what 

 rute they go by. but it may be something like 

 this- When combs are put under the brood- 

 chamber early in the season, when the bees 

 are doing more at brood-rearing than at stor- 

 ing, the queen is likely to go below; if a 

 good flow is on. the bees are likely to think 

 the added combs below are put there to 

 accommodate the honey-flow. 



Another lesson is. that if drawn combs 



