234 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 9. 1903. 



pussy-willow. It seems to furnish a large amount of pollen for early 

 spring brood. But, March, oh ! she is unruly, (or snow is 10 inches 

 deep in the woods, so I took snow by the forelock and killed three deer 

 on it. 



I like the " old reliable " American Bee Journal, but some of the 

 veterans seem to be in conflict in their ideas, perhaps on account of 

 locality. Washington. 



Answers. — 1. The lack of increase might come from more than 

 one cause. It might be too poor a season for swarming, it might be 

 that the transferring was too late, or it might be just possible that 

 your bees are little given to swarming. 



2. You will do as well not to wait till fall. Perhaps as good a 

 plan as any is to wait till three weeks after the colony swarms. After 

 that time the worker-brood will be all hatched out, and you can either 

 transfer combs or melt them up. 



'S. Yes, wild bees are the same as tame bees, and if one does well 

 the other will. 



You don't need to send a stamp when you send a question. 



Rape as a Honey-Plant. 



Israpemuch of a honey-plant* Would it be of any use it sown in 

 grain? It is sown in grain to be used for pasture during the fall, and 

 I have understood that the bees work on it. I will seed down some 

 this spring to alsike clover. How would it do to sow rape with it J 

 and how much to the acre ? 



One of my neighbor bee-keepers, Martin Anderson, had the mis- 

 fortune to have his bees nearly all drowned while In the cellar. 



Minnesota. 



Answer. — I have never heard much about it in this country, but 

 in Germany rape is highly prized as a honey-plant, and sometimes bees 

 are hauled some distance to be in reach of rape-flelds. I doubt the 

 the advisability of sowing with grain, but have no positive knowledge 

 about it, and perhaps some one else may say if I am wrong. 



Moving and Purchasing Bees— Transferring— Danzen- 

 baker Hives— Sweet Clover. 



1. I have bought a few colonies of bees in box-hives. When is the 

 best time to take them homei 



2. In purchasing bees, if you had your choice of 30 colonies in 

 box-hives at $3.00 per colony, how would you proceed to select them ? 



3. I propose to transfer them to movable-frame hives. When is 

 the best time to do this? 



4. Would you advise using full sheets of foundation? 



5. Our climate is rather changeable. How do you think the Dan- 

 zenbaker hive would work by using 2 brood-nests one above the other, 

 and keep the colonies strong? How would it work to slip a super be- 

 tween them when about to swarm? 



6. Would you advise the use of Danzenbaker, or some other hive? 



7. How is the foundation fastened to the Danzenbaker frames * Is 

 it fastened the same as the Hoffman frames? 



8. How do you think sweet clover will do here in central Wiscon- 

 sin? Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. You can take them home at any time now. Better 

 now than later when the frames are full of brood and honey. 



2. Select those that seem to be the strongest in bees, and not too 

 light in honey, judging of the former by tipping the hives, and of the 

 latter by hefting them. In addition to this, if you can have those that 

 cast swarms last year you will be sure of young queens. 



3. In fruit-bloom is a good time, although it is perhaps still better 

 to transfer three weeks after swarming. 



4. Yes. 



5. The two brood-chambers would be all right if intelligently used, 

 but it is doubtful about the supers between. 



6. I should perfer the dovetailed; others might prefer the Danzen- 

 baker. 



7. Yes. 



8. Finely. 



♦-•-» 



Mating of Queens and Drones-Rearing Queens. 



I have several books on bee-culture, but none of them strikes the 

 principal point— they do not point out the way to mate Italian queens 

 to Italian drones in an apiary of blacks or other bees. I am sending 

 to .Italy for two queens, one to breed drones, the other queens; al- 

 though they should be from different sources. 1 may say I have been 

 looking lor a discussion of this question in the American Bee Journal, 

 but it has not turned up. I have 17 colonies and the larv;v> will be 

 transferred to artilicial cups and cells placed in a Doolittle nursery. 



1. Please say how queen -breeders mate queens purely while bees 

 of other " nationalities " are present? 



3. Can this be done without entrance-guards, as I have none? 



3. (Jueens are to be hatched in Doolittle nursery-cages, introduced 

 to nucleus 3-frame hives. 



4. Please give me the exact diameter across top of wax-cup pegs, 

 on which the cups are to be cast. I can make them, and they look 

 beautiful, but I fear mine is a little too large. 



5. Please tell me whether burlap is what we call " American oil- 

 doth?" England. 



Answers.— 1. They don't; at least not always. For if it is desired 

 to keep a certain kind pure, they do not have any other kind in the 



apiary. But something may be done toward getting what you want 

 in this way: ' 



Put in the cellar the hives containing the drones and the yOung 

 queens. After it is too late in the day tor other drones to fly, take out 

 the cellared hives, and incite them to fly by feeding. You may be a 

 little more sure of this if the cellaring has continued two or three 

 days. You may also succeed by taking them out in the morning, so 

 as to get them to fly before other drones are out. 



2. For the foregoing no entrance-guards are needed. 



3. The nucleus hives will be all the more convenient to carry in 

 and out of the cellar, and perhaps you could have in these your drones 

 as well as queens. 



4. The numbers 3, 4, 5 will help you to remember the diameters of 

 the different kinds of cells: 3 queen-cells to the inch, 4 drone-cells, 

 and 5 worker-cells. But I doubt it is so important to have the queen- 

 cells of exact size as it is drone or worker. 



5. No, they are utterly different, American oil-cloth or enameled 

 cloth being impervious to water or air. and burlap being very open. 

 Perhaps you call burlap " gunny sacking." It is a coarse stuff made 

 of jute, flax, or manila, and is used for very coarse bags, for wrapping 

 around furniture to be shipped, etc. 



Success to you in your far-away English home. 



Alsike Clover— Shade-Trees. 



1. Does alsike clover produce honey the first season after seeding! 

 and does it continue alike each year? 



3. Would you advise shade-trees for bees as far north as this? 



3. Which is the best honey-producer, alsike clover or alfalfa? 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. I t/iink it yields little or no honey the same year it 

 starts from the seed, and does not live beyond the second year. If 

 wrong, I shall be glad to be corrected. 



3. As far north as W^isconsin bees will probably not be injured by 

 the shade of trees, and possibly they are the better for it. However 

 it may be for the bees, I should like it for the benefit of the bee-keeper. 



3. That depends upon what place you are talking about. In some 

 parts of the West alfalfa leads, but in Wisconsin an acre of alsike 

 will probably yield more honey than a hundred of alfalfa. 



Honey in Unfinished Sections Not Granulated. 



I have seen quite a lot lately in the Bee Journal about the honey 

 in unfinished sections candying, and as I have on hand about 150 of 

 them, that I intended feeding to my bees this spring, I took a look at 

 them to-day, expecting to find them all candied, but such was not the 

 case. The honey is just as clear as when I put them away, so I guess 

 the bees will have no trouble to clean them out this spring, as soon as 

 the weather is warm enough so I can give it to them. 



Now this seems strange, in the light of the experience of others, 

 and I cannot account for it unless the place where the sections are 

 kept has something to do with it. I keep them as I do my comb 

 honey, in a hall in the second story of my dwelling-house, where the 

 heat from the lower rooms goes ijp the stairway and keeps them warm. 

 Is there anything unusual in this? Nebraska. 



Answer.— Very unusual, and not unusual at all. It is unusual 

 for honey to be kept in so good a place, but not unusual for it to stay 

 clear when kept in a hot enough place. 



Cleome and Other Honey-Plants. 



What about artificial pasturage for bees! Is Cleome pungens 

 worth cultivating for the honey alone? Is the honey of good quality? 

 Is it light or dark, and how does it compare with white clover honey? 

 Please give the names of other plants that are good tor artificial pas- 

 ture in this locality and vicinity! 



I would be pleased to know it there are works on the above sub- 

 jects. I have a couple of acres to devote to artificial pasture just for 

 the honey if it is probable that success might come of it in any way. 



I am a beginner and will say that last spring I purchased eight 

 colonies of pure, or nearly pure, Italians; the first thing I did was to 

 lose four of my old queens, but with the four other queens and the 

 other four queehless colonies I succeeded in rearing 31, and all are in 

 good shape now — all that I have opened except one have lots of brood 

 in all stages. One hive has about six Langstroth frames, and the 

 others have two to three frames, of eggs and larv;v. We have consid- 

 erable white clover and sweet clover in this neighborhood. We have 

 quite a bit of marsh-pasture, and some of the yellow fiowers (coreop- 

 sis), making a good early spring and late fall pasture, especially the 

 yellow for fall. We also raise buckwheat here. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — Cleome pungens is not worth cultivating for honey 

 alone. I do not remember to have seen any statement as to the char- 

 acter of its honey, and I don't know whether any one ever secured 

 enough of it to tell just what it was like. 



There is probably no work published that treats particularly on 

 honey-plants, although the text-books on bee-culture give some in- 

 formation regarding them. It is not likely that you will find any 

 plant that will yield sufficient honey to make it profitable for you to 

 occupy land with it unless it yields a profit in some other way. Sweet 

 clover will probably come as near it as anythiugyou can find. If 

 stock in your locality have learned to eat sweet clover either green or 

 dry, it will pay to occupy good land with it. 



