26 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



way to control swarming-, and the woman who will invent a 

 satisfactory way to control granulation, they shall be king 

 and queen among we'uns. Page 759. 



GETTING FINK GRANULATION OF HONEV. 



If I understand Mr. Coggshall rightly on page 760, it is 

 a deft and valuable kink he is giving us. Honey well stir- 

 red just at the time it is beginning to granulate will have a 

 finer grain and seem nicer to the palate of the eater. I 

 think that's so. Presumably the stirring makes granulation 

 proceed so rapidly that the granules do not have time to get 

 big and coarse. 



Questions and Answers, i 



CONDUCTED BY 



US.. O. O. SHVLLER, Afarenero, ni. 



CThe QuestloDS may be mailed to the Bee Journal oflBce, or to Dr. Miller 



Swarms Deserting Hives. 



A neighbor of mine says that when he kept bees, and 

 was ready to hive a swarm, he would first wash the hive 

 thoroughly with salt water, and then hive the bees ; and said 

 he never had a swarm leave when he hived it in that way. 

 What do you think of it ? New York. 



Answer. — Washing out the hive with salt and water is 

 an excellent thing, if the hive is dirty. It might do just as 

 well without the salt. If the hive is clean, it may do as well 

 without any washing. The principal precaution against 

 having a swarm desert a hive is to see that the hive is well 

 shaded and ventilated. You can wash a hive in an ocean of 

 salt water, and if you set it in the hot sun with a small 

 entrance a swarm will desert it. 



Dr. Gallup's "Umbilical Cord," and Baron M.Lieawful. 



Please tell us what you think of Dr. Gallup's umbilical 

 cord, and of Baron M. Lieawful ? Inquirer. 



Answer. — Having never seen Dr. Gallup's umbilical 

 cord, I am hardly competent to give an opinion of it. 

 Neither can I say with any degree of certainty whether the 

 experiments of Baron M. Lieawful, as reported on page 

 829, would have precisely the same results in some other 

 locality. Indeed, I have some little doubt as to the entire 

 accuracy of some of the Baron's observations. A man who 

 could be so careless in the use of scientific terms as to write 

 ■'pupaskinna castoffica '' instead of "pupaskinna; castofficaj" 

 is not entirely free from suspicion as to errors in other re- 

 spects. He is also unpardonably careless in speaking of a 

 queen as being " full of years " after having had 299 lives 

 injected into her. She was full of lii'es — indeed, very full — 

 but in scientific parlance it will hardly do to consider lives 

 3.ad years as synonymous. I dislike very much to say any- 

 thing calculated to injure the Baron in any way, but I feel 

 called to utter a word of warning against accepting all that 

 he says with too implicit confidence vrithout having the 

 same things repeated by him or some other person in a dif- 

 ferent locality. 



Bees Gnawing Through Paraffine-Coated Material. 



1. I have read somewhere that bees will not gnaw 

 through any material coated with paraffine. I fancy it 

 would be an easy matter to coat the under surface of cush- 

 ions to be used for covering hives by giving the material a 

 free sprinkling with paraffine shavings and then going over 

 it with a hot smoothing iron. 



2. By the way, if a bee can make a hole through duck 

 and through building-paper, as it seems to me a bee can do, 

 how is it that it cannot break through the skin of a grape ? 



Ontario. 

 Answers.— 1. That bees will not gnaw through any 

 material coated with ^paraffiue, is a thing that in the lan- 



guage of the newspapers "needs confirmation." Atone 

 time I tried covering sheets with melted propolis to prevent 

 the bees gnawing them. Whether the bees would gnaw it I 

 never learned, for I did not make a success of distributing 

 the propolis. If I were still using sheets or cushions I 

 should at least try the paraffine. 



2. Conditions are difl'ereut. If a sheet of tin were lying 

 before you, you could easily take hold of it with one hand, 

 and lift it. Suppose that sheet made into a hollow sphere 

 twelve inches in diameter ; you will find yourself powerless 

 to lift it with one hand, because there is nothing you can 

 grasp. The bee is just as powerless to take hold of a grape as 

 you are to take hold of the polished sphere. It can, however, 

 easily get hold of the threads of duck or the particles of the 

 paper. But varnish the surfaces and the case is different. 

 I formerly used enameled sheets in quantity. I doubt that 

 a bee ever gnawed one unless the surface were first broken, 

 or unless it could get at the edge of the cloth. The only 

 question I should have about the paraffine would be whether 

 it would not be so soft as to yield, as the skin of a grape 

 will not. 



*-•-» 



Candy for Winter Feeding of Bees— Space Over Brood- 

 Frames— Width of Top-Bars. 



1. Which is better for winter feeding of bees wintering 

 out-doors, hard candy, or " Good" candy ? and how should 

 the " Good " candy be fed ? 



2. What do 3'ou consider the "exactly right "space over 

 the brood-frames ? 



3. What width of top-bars do you prefer' 1 '^ or 1 1-16 ? 

 or is there any practical difference ? I expect to make a 

 number of hives this winter, and want to get them right. 



Michigan. 

 Answers. — l. Feed " Good " candy in cakes laid over 

 the top-bars. 



2. One-fourth inch is probably about right. 



3. I am using I's-inches with good results. 



Wintering Bees Outdoors— Dividing for Increase. 



1. I have IS colonies of bees, and have made a place for 

 them on the south side of the building, and covered it with 

 straw. Will it do to leave the south side open, or shall I 

 close it ? Which will be best ? 



2. How about dividing bees in the spring instead of 

 letting them swarm ? I read in Prof. Cook's "Bee-Keepers' 

 Guide," to cut out a queen-cell and put it in the nucleus. 

 Why can't I take a whole frame with a queen-cell and put it 

 in the nucleus ? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Perhaps both. Close it partly, but leave 

 plenty of chance for the bees to fly whenever a warm day 

 comes. Better have it open entirely than to close it too 

 much. 



2. It may be all right to take a comb with a cell on it, 

 providing the cell is in the right place. But quite commonly 

 queen-cells are on the edges of the combs, and that would 

 not do so well, for there is danger that the cell may be 

 chilled. It should be centrally located, where it will be sure 

 to be kept warm by the bees. 



Making and Using an Observation Hive— Mice in the 

 Bee-Cellar. 



1. How can I make an observation hive, that is, the 

 exact size, the inside and outside measure ? 



2. When I have the observation hive ready, I will take 

 a frame with wired comb foundation, put that in the hive, 

 then I will hive a little swarm in it. Do you think this 

 swarm will stay there and begin to work ? You may say, 

 "Take a comb with bees from another hive and put in the 

 observation hive." But I do not want to do that. 



3. Do you think an observation hive with one frame, 

 full of bees, will winter all right ? or do they need feeding ? 

 If so, when shall I do that ? 



4. I have about 20 colonies of bees in the cellar, with 

 hive-entrances about "s of an inch wide, and the full length 

 of hive ; there are some mice in the cellar. Do you think 

 they will hurt the bees ? Would they destroy some colonies ? 

 or what do you think about ? Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. There is no one size. You can make it 

 any size you like, but the size should correspond with the 

 size of the frames used. If a single frame is used, the inside 



