106 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 12. 1903. 



supersedure, will live 5 years. This is no guess-work, I 

 know it to do so. 



2. Last September I bought a nice, select queen. She 

 went to laying in a short time, and laid on until cold 

 weather knocked her out, and a few days ago I found her 

 lying in front-of the hive, dead, while there were but a few 

 other dead bees thrown out with her. Do you think she 

 could have died from starvation on account of the bees be- 

 ing unable to feed her during the cold snap we had a few 

 weeks ago ? 



3. How does Iowa rank as a honey-State ? 



4. What part of the State is considered best ? 



5. Would it be too cold for a West Virginia man ? 



6. Which is considered the better State for bees, Ohio 

 or West Virginia ? Wkst Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. I am not certain that I know enough 

 about it to give yQU a satisfactory answer. The " missing 

 link " spoken of by Dr. Gallup seems to be considered some- 

 thing like an umbilical cord. This last is the cord through 

 which circulation of blood is kept up between the parent 

 and the fetus in the womb, and how anything of that kind 

 can take place in a queen-cell is beyond my comprehension. 

 Mr. Doolittle seems to give the matter his endorsement, 

 which is no little in its favor, for Mr. Doolittle is usually 

 very careful in his statements. Scientific men remain in- 

 tensely silent with regard to it. I don't pretend to know 

 anything about it, and I may be mistaken in my guess, but 

 that guess is that nothing new has been observed at all, 

 and that the whole thing is nonsense. 



2. No, it would hardly be of starvation unless the whole 

 colony starved, for the queen is always one of the last in 

 the colony to starve to death. 



3. About average. 



4. No particular choice. 



5. Probably not. 



6. About the same. 



I have answered those last four questions, without be- 

 ing at all sure, and will be glad to have any one correct me 

 if I am wrong. 



Best Location for Bees— Drone-Comb. 



1. Which of two localities would you consider the better 

 for an out-apiary, one beside a very large cedar swamp, and 

 the other where wild berries grow fairly abundantly, and 

 where clover would be in reach in moderate quantity ? 



2. Can one "overdo" it in removing drone-comb dur- 

 ing the summer ? Would it be a mistake to take away all, 

 or nearly all ? Ontario. 



Answers. — 1. I think I'd take the berries and clover, 

 although I don't know much about cedar swamps. 



2. Don't worry about overdoing it. The best you can 

 do, there will- probably be all the drones reared that you will 

 need. But it would be a good plan to leave some drone- 

 comb in a few of your best colonies, trying to keep drone- 

 comb out of all others. It is just as important to have 

 drones of best stock as it is to have best queens. 



stand, being sure not to take the queen with it, allowing 

 the bees to rear a queen of their own, although it will be 

 very much better to give them a queen, or at least a sealed 

 queen-ceir. 



S. About the time bees are working well on white clover 

 will be a good time in your locality. It might be a better 

 plan at this time to give the second story, and to put an ex- 

 cluder between the two stories, being sure that the queen is 

 in the lower story ; then removing the upper story to a new 

 stand ten days or so later. 



Getting Increase and Not Honey. 



1. I have 3 colonies of bees, and they have their brood- 

 combs built so unevenly that it is almost impossible to 

 divide them. I wish to increase in colonies, and do not care 

 to produce honey at present. Would you advise me to put 

 new brood-frames with foundation starters in the lower 

 story, and place the brood-combs in the upper story ? 



2. Will the queen and the worker-bees start to rear in 

 the brood-chamber? 



3. Will the nurse-bees take care of the brood in the 

 upper story ? 



4. Can I do all this, and still increase the number of 

 colonies the same season ? 



5. When is the best time to make this change ? 



I have quite a number of basswood trees. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, that plan will work, although it 

 might be better to fill the frames below entirely with foun- 

 dation. 



2. Yes, after the brood-frames are entirely tilled in the 

 upper story the bees will build down below. 



3. There will be no trouble on that score. 



4. The plan proposed will hinder or prevent natural 

 swarming. But when the bees have fairly started in the 

 lower story, then you can set the upper story on a new 



A tialvanized-lron Honey-Tank. 



Will a tank made of galvanized iron do to put extracted 

 honey in to settle, skim, and then draw off into shipping 

 packages ? I want to let it remain in the tank only a short 

 time. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — I think it would work all right. 



Thickness of Top-Bars. 



Do you believe that a half-inch thick brood-frame top- 

 bar will tend to prevent the bees building burr-comb on 

 such frames, as well as the '^-inch top-bar? Which kind 

 do you use? Nebraska. 



Answer. — I do not believe that the J4-inch will prevent 

 burr-combs quite as well as the '4 • Mine are %, 



Making Hives Spacing Frames— Sweet Clover-Filfierts. 



1. I have some hives to make. How will it do to make 

 them about 13x14 inches, and 14 inches high, with the upper 

 story about 11 inches deep ? 



2. How far apart should the frames be placed, and what 

 kind of lumber should they be made of ? 



3. Will sweet clover bloom the same year it is planted ? 



4. How old do filberts have to be before they bloom ? 



Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. Bees will work in almost any kind of a 

 hive ; but it is not wise to make one of an odd size. 



2. Generally, frames are 1^ inches apart from center 

 to center, but some prefer 1 '2. There is no tetter lumber 

 for them than pine. 



3. It does not bloom till the second summer, then dies 

 the next winter, root and branch. 



4. I don't know anything about filbert trees ; if it is a 

 honey-plant perhaps some one can tell us about its bloom- 

 ing. 



— <-•-• 



Building a Bee-House in Texas. 



I am an amateur bee-keeper, and would like to put my 

 out-apiaries in houses for protection against theives. We 

 do not need any protection against the cold here, and such a 

 house, single-walled, for protection against thieves, can be 

 built at a cost of about Sl.OO per colony. 



Bees begin to get some honey here in April, but we get 

 no surplus until July, all from cotton. May is warm and 

 the bees barely make a living. June is about the hottest 

 month we have, and the bees get a good living and some- 

 times a little surplus. I know of no one that has kept bees 

 in a house in this State, so I ask for information. 



1. Would the bees store as much honey in such a house 

 as in the open ? 



2. Would they swarm less ? 



3. Would so much shade keep them from building up 

 sufficiently strong for the honey-flow in July? (Note the 

 weather conditions here.) 



4. What are the disadvantages of such a house ? 



Answers. — 1. I think they would. 



2. I don't know. That would depend a good deal on the 

 ventilation. If close, so the bees would be warmer than in 

 the open, they might swarm more. If thoroughly ventil- 

 ated, so the bees would be cooler than in the open, they 

 might swarm less. 



3. No, I don't believe the shade would prevent their 

 building up. 



4. I don't know anything about it from personal expe- 

 rience, but aside from the matter of expense I think you 

 might find the greatest objection would be that it would be 

 a hot place for you to work in. 



