April 9, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



233 



BXTKA COMBS I'OR WINTKK. 



It would be handy when one has extra combs of honey, 

 and bees to go in the cellar that have not honey ctioug-h, to 

 put on an upper story containing a heavy comb or two and 

 some empty ones. We have one good witness to the impor- 

 tant matter that they fail to find the honey and go up. P. H. 

 Davis, page 111. 



BEES CARRYIXG DOWN HONEY IN THE FALL. 



"Nothing succeeds like success." Mrs. Griffith, not 

 minding her 79 years, has succeeded so far in making her 

 bees carry down honey in the fall — has succeeded both with 

 sections and with light combs. Page 120. 



LONGEVITY OF DIFFERENT RACES OF BEES. 



Some experiment-station work on the longevity of dif- 

 ferent races of bees is much to be desired. Glad the Texas 

 station has an eye on so important a problem. Hope they 

 wi-11 not forget to compare inside the same race, the meanest 

 bees they can get with the best ones they can get. We need 

 proof that poor bees are shorter-lived than others. Page 

 131. 



CARNIOLAN-ITALIAN HYBRID BEES. 



As to the Carniolan-Italian hybrid, J. E. Chambers 

 seems to make an enthusiastic report — begin storing sur- 

 plus when the pure Italians have only got to breeding 

 fairly. This is Texas, we must remember. And as to 

 whether giving our bees a dash of Carniolan blood may not 

 make still worse our present worst evil — uncontrolled 

 swarming — as to that, he is not able to re-assure us much — 

 except he himself has got through two seasons without any 

 serious trouble. 



Finding bees over three miles from home by thousands, 

 and that, too, when no dearth prevailed, is a valuable ob- 

 servation. Only in the unusual case when one has bees un- 

 like all surrounding bees is it easy to tell exactly how far 

 bees go. Page 142. 



WISCONSIN BEE-KEEPERS THAT HELPED. 



So 180 bee-keepers out of 600 would help Mr. France in 

 his move on the legislature — to the small extent of answer- 

 ing his letter. Glad to hear that with some poking up they 

 afterward did much better than that. Page 149. 



BEES UNDER GLASS IN APRIL. 



Yes, Mr. Dadant, bees with royal abundance of pollen 

 and honey already in the hive, and put under glass in April, 

 ought to boom, and do extra-big things, as yours did. And 

 it is a wise suggestion of yours that glass over the bees 

 won't make the forage outside any more abundant. If they 

 are to depend on that alone, while having very scant store 

 within, 'twould hardly be worth while to "greenhouse " 'em 

 at all. Page 149. 



CAUSE OF SWARMING — REARING QUEENS. 



Stachelhausen is one whose opinion we respect ; and he 

 thinks swarming is caused by a multitude of young nurses 

 having prepared food in their stomachs and no young brood 

 to feed it to. That's the dominant idea, I guess. Perhaps 

 we shall have to expand it so as to take in as helpers in 

 lesser degree all the other discontents of prosperity. We 

 can note as a curiosity that the nurses don't get what they 

 are after, if that's what they swarm for. A number of days 

 must pass before there will be any young brood to feed in 

 the new homes. 



Sagacious remark. A queenless colony will rear some 

 sort of a queen even if the conditions are very bad ; but bees 

 over an excluder, where a good queen is below, unless the 

 conditions are somewhere near right they ziii// tio/reur ; and 

 this fact is some protection against worthless queens by 

 that method. Page ISO. 



Honey as a ' Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3 '2x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample for 2 cts.; 10 for 10 cts,; 25 

 for20cts.; SO for 35 cts.; 100 for 65 cts.; 250 for $1.50; 500 

 for $2.75 ; 1000 for SS. 00. If you wish your business card 

 printed at the bottom. of the front page, add 25 cts. to your 

 order. 



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Questions and Answers. 



->!rwT#'*eTr>r>fT^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. O. Atll^KBR, Marengo, m, 



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



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



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.] 



Entrance-Guards and Swarmlns;. 



I have been thinking about be* entrance-fjuards to keep my bees 

 from swarming. If I have a guanl on a hive and the bees are swarm- 

 ing, and the queen can not get out, how many times will they swarm 

 and go back into the hive before they go to the woodsf or won't they 

 go to the woods at all '. What will become of the queen '. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — Bees don't always act alike, but the general rule would 

 be something like this: When the first queen-cell is sealed the bees 

 will swarm out, and no queen being with them they will return, for a 

 swarm will not go to the woods unless a queen is with them. A day 

 or two later they will swarm again, and the swarming may be repealed 

 several times in the next week or ten days. At the end of thai time 

 the first virgin queen will leave her cell, and the old queen will turn 

 up missing, being put out of business either by the workers or the 

 young queen. If the entrance-guard keeps the young queen from 

 taking her wedding-flight, she may, after a time, begin laying, but her 

 eggs will produce nothing but drones. 



Shallow Extractlng-Prames. 



1. Do shallow extracting-frames need wiring* 



3. Is it best to use foundation in shallow extracting brood-frames, 

 if so, how wide a strip J Ohio. 



Answek, — 1, Yes, if filled with foundation, unless the foundation 

 is heavy, 



2. If used for brood-rearing it is better to have them filled with 

 foundation. If only for extracting a starter half an inch deep may 

 do, the chief purpose being to get the combs started straight in the 

 middle of the frame, 



■*-*-^ 



Break-Joint Honey-Board— Paint for Hives. 



1. What is meant by break-joint honey-board; 



3. I would like to know whether any one has ever painted hives 

 with Avenarius Carbolineum instead of white paint' If so, did the 

 bees accept it r They say mice will not gnaw, or the ants bother, 

 hives painted with il, 



3, How does the new Danzenbaker bottom-board and cover strike 

 you ; And how do those that have used them like them? Iowa, 



Answers,—!, A break-joint honey-board is one made with slats 

 like a wood-zinc excluder with the zinc left out. Instead of having 

 the spaces between the slats correspond with the spaces between the 

 brood-frames, the spaces between the slats are directly over the cen- 

 ters of the top-bars, and that makes it called "break-joint," It has 

 been claimed that with this break-joint feature there were special 

 advantages of importance, but in my own experience I found no such 

 advantage. With thick top-bars and proper spacing I now dispense 

 with honey-boards altogether, 



2. I can say nothing about this from personal experience; per- 

 haps others can, 



3. The Danz, bottom-board, patterned after the Miller bottom- 

 board, is good. The new Danz. cover is ingenious, and the reversing 

 feature is° of value. If, upon trial, it proves never to warp or sep- 

 arate at the joints, it ought to be a material improvement over former 

 plain board covers, _ 



Transferring Bees— Combs a Solid Mass— Good Bee- 

 Country. 



1. I am just starting in the bee-business out here in westeru 

 Washington, I have 8 colonies, transferred them from box-hives 

 or took them from trees, all except one colony, but did not get any in- 

 crease from the 8 colonies. What was the reason ? 



2. In putting them into Langhtroth-Simplicity hives, I tied them 

 with strings, as recommended in '■ A B C of Bee Culture," That is 

 where I made the mistake, as the bees cut the strings, and now the 8 

 frames are one solid mass of combs, What shall I do with lhem< I 

 would like to have them in such a shape that I can manipulate them, 

 I have been thinking some of letting them alone until next fall, thea 

 put them on straight combs in new hives. How would that do « 



3 This seems to be a good country for wild bees. Is that an in- 

 dication of its being a good bee-country? Last year I went out into 

 an old logging work, and found three bee-trees in less than three 

 hours I found nine trees in tour days. I consider that good work 

 for a novice at bee-hunting. We had a lovely month of February, and 

 my bees gathered pollen for two weeks, off of what some people oa 



