April 2. 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



217 



consent to g^o without very easily, if the article is not 

 handy. This queer and u^ly fact should be figured on in 

 deciding as to the possibility of a Honey Exchange. Also, 

 this related fact that higher prices are not nearly so much 

 needed as the cultivation of the market clear from the bottom. 

 Doubts vrhether the proposed Exchange will cultivate or do 

 the opposite thing. A stream is not expected to rise higher 

 than its fountain ; and an organization formed of those who 

 extract their honey before it is really ripe will hardly refuse 

 to handle unripe honey. Page 103. 



BEE-KEEPING IN GERMANY. 



It is news that T. A. Heberly tells us about German bee- 

 keeping — that bees are not set abroad there, but kept in 

 bee-houses. Of course, he is correct, in part at least. We 

 have in time past heard much of migratory bee-keeping in 

 Germany. We can hardly infer that they pick up and 

 migrate house and all. Possibly Germany may be a big 

 place — so big that they have " locality " there. Page 104. 



WINTERING BEES UNDER EARTH. 



B. F. Schmidt says he winters bees under ground ; but 

 when we read more fully it appears that he puts the ground 

 over the bees instead of the bees under the ground — piles 

 tough, nicely cut sod around to make each hive a sort of 

 Esquimaux hut. This seems to be a novelty. Where winters 

 are not inclined to be wet, and tough sod is handy, I guess 

 it's a promising way — that is, for those who are devoted to 

 their bees and have but few. He makes plain dirt do for 

 part way up at the bottom of the hut. Page 108. 



FOUI, BROOD AND HICKORY SMOKE. 



Some of us incline to think that the foul brood which is 

 cured by hickory smoke can not be a very foul kind. " Save 

 your bacon " some other way — or rather, save your bacon 

 that way, and your bees some other way. Page 109. 



STATE OF VS^ASHINGTON A BIG STATE. 



And so Washington (State) is a big place also ; and the 

 east end of it can file a claim to the effect that usually it 

 gets no more rain than is needed. We hear. How exceed- 

 ingly easy it is for the most of us to use language which 

 reaches much farther than our observations reach. Page 110. 



CONDUCTED BY 



r>R. O. O. lUILLER, aiaroago, ni, 



[The Questions maj be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not aslc the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor.1 



Taking Good Care of ttie Brood. 



It is an easy thing to be careless in giving advice, and not the 

 easiest thing, even when one desires to be careful, always to advise in 

 such a careful way that no inexperienced person shall thereby be led 

 into error. Some words of mine, on page 139, calls forth the following 

 from Delos Wood ; 



" You say to pile brood over a wenl: colony 4, 5, or 6 sturies high. 

 Now, Doctor, you certainlj', with 40 years' experience, ought to know 

 it would take a rousing big colony to care for tj stories of brood above 

 Iheir own, and even with a strong force many eggs and young larvae 

 would perish. Tell ' Ohio,' if he shal<es all the bees oft. to put the 

 combs over a .itroii</ colony and make it a hoomrr. Or shake oil most 

 of the bees and let the old and new hive be. side by side, or the old one 

 just behind the new one for a few days, till the bees get well started 

 In the new hive; then destroy ciueen-cells and put the old hive on top 

 of the new with excluder between. This does away with the swiirm- 

 ing-fever, prevents increase, and keeps the colonies strong. 



" In this locality it, won't do to put brood over the shaken swarm 

 until they have begun to build comb and the queeu commences to lay. 

 If you do, the bees go to the brood and build cells, and leave the (lueen 

 to die. 



" Don't strengthen a weak colony from a strong one in the 

 spring. Make the weak one to help the strong one by giving brood 

 from it to the strong one. Then after the main honey-flow the weak 

 one may be allowed to build up strong for winter, or helped if need be 

 from the strong ones." 



It my advice should lead any one to pile six stories filled ivit.h 

 brood above a weak colony all " at one fell swoop," it would surt-ly be 

 a rather serious thing, so I am much obliged to Mr. Wood for falling 

 attention to the matter. I have Ijeen in the habit for years of piling 



up brood over weak colonies, giving first a single story, then adding 

 other stories a day or more later, and when giving the advice I failed 

 to think of that point. I'm afraid I'll never learn to be as careful as I 

 ought to be in such things. 



Mr. Wood understands my advice one story worse than it really is, 

 for I tepoke of piling up till the wlmle pile was .5 or stories high, 

 iiirhidinij the story the weak colony already occupied. 



In general, I should prefer piling the brood on weak rather than 

 strong colonies, especially in working for comb honey, for the strong 

 colonies do not need help, and such a mass of ijrood will make the 

 weak ones strong in a short time. 



I do not know what should make the difference, but I have in 

 many eases put the queen on foundation in a lower story with all the 

 brood in the upper story and an excluder between, when the queen 

 would go to laying within two or three days. I should not, however, 

 call that a shaken swarm at all. 



The advice to make the weak help the strong in spring rather 

 than to make the strong help the weak is in accord, I think, with 

 what I have always advised. C. C. Miller. 



Basswood Seedlings in Their Second Year. 



On page 1S3, .1. D. Gehring quotes me as saying concerning bass- 

 wood, " that seedling trees never live to the second year." Unless Mr. 

 Gehring can refer me to page and paragraph, I can hardly believe I 

 ever said anything so foolish as that. There are thousands upon 

 thousands of seedling basswoods that have lived many years beyond 

 their second year; in fact, I do not know that I ever saw a basswood 

 tree that was not a seedling, except a few that were dug as sprouts 

 coming up about a tree or a stump. 



What probably was thus misconstrued by Mr. Gehring, was my 

 saying that among the many seedlings coming up under the row of 

 trees in front of my house, none has ever lived to the second year. 

 If Mr. Gehring can tell us why this is so, I should be thankful. It 

 can hardly be the character of the soil, for the trees under which these 

 seedlings spring up each year are of luxuriant growth, and in the 

 woods, at the back part of the place where seedlings continue in 

 growth, the soil is much the same. There is, however, in the woods a 

 natural mulching of forest leaves, and it is possible that may make 

 the difference. C, C, Miller, 



Starters or Full Sheets-Clipping-Otlier Questions. 



1. Which do you consider the most economical, starters or full 

 sheets of foundation I I see there is a difference of opinion. 



2. Do you think it best to clip the queen's wing? 



3. Which is the best for this climate, to put bees in a dry cellar ot 

 put on their "overcoat?" 



4. How would a dead air-space all around the hive of 2 inches do 

 without any packing to make nests for mice? 



5. Will it injure a young queen to keep her laying in a small 

 nucleus for several days, then put her in a large colony? Some say 

 that it will, 



6. What do you think of the Swarthmore plan of rearing queens 

 and fertilizing them ? Is that not too much inbreeding? 



T, I want to Italianize a lot of hybrid colonies, and I want the 

 best kind of Italian strains, Idaho, 



Answers,— 1. I think that for most people there is sufficient 

 advantage to pay the extra cost of full sheets. 



2. It is most decidedly best for me, and the probability is that it 

 would be for you. ^ ■ -,;> ^ 



3. I don't know, but I thhil; the climate is mild enough in Idaho 

 to favor outdoor wintering. 



4. It will answer a very good purpose. Arthur C. Miller has re- 

 ported favorably on wrapping tarred paper about the hives and lying 

 with strings. 



5. I should not be afraid of it, 



6. So far as I understand it, drones not related to the queen can 

 be used by that plan, 



7. You can buy a queen for each colony, but it will be less expen- 

 sive to get one or two queens and then breed from these. 



Uniting and Feeding Bees. 



My 24 colonies of bees are in the cellar under the dining-room. 

 They are nice and drv, but I have not examined them nor molested 

 them at all, and as the weather is getting warm I am anxious to find 

 oat how they are off for stores, as I had a few light coloiyes. I wish 

 you would advise how to proceed. If I find them too light to pull 

 through would I better unite two or more later on and feed them, or 

 try to feed them in the cellar separately ? , ^ , . 



As I do not care for a very big increase in colonies, would it not 

 be as well to unite early in the spring? If I do that, how will I man- 

 age the queens! Nebraska, 



Answer —The weather seems unusually warm for the time of 

 year and there is little doubt that by the time this reaches you there 

 will be a day warm enough for bees to fly, when you can take them 

 out of the cellar, and then it will lie easier for you to tell which colo- 

 nies are dangerously light in stores, and supply their needs. Then if 

 you are afraid of cold weather afterward, you can return them to the 

 cellar. Feed those that need it, according to instructions in your text- 

 book and advice in this department. Do not unite colonies^because 

 light in stores, but if weak in bees it maybe advisable. Whatever 

 colonies are to be united may as well be united now as later. You 



