394 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 18, 1903. 



tasted just a little better had there been no crowding ? I 

 believe some persons, not having any self-interest to pre- 

 judice them either way, call alfalfa honey the best. Page 

 309. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the office ot the AmericiiQ Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Moving Bees a Long Distance. 



I have decided to move 150 colonies of bees some 500 miles. Will 

 jou please advise me as to the best way to prepare them for shipment? 

 They will go all the way by rail. Can they be moved all right now, or 

 would I better wait until the weather gets some cooler? They will go 

 In one car all the way. Alabama. 



Answer.— They may go all right now, having the car open enough 

 for ventilation, and the hives sufticiently ventilated, but it will be 

 safer to wait till cooler weather. If the frames are not of the fixed- 

 distance kind, they must be fastened so they cannot move in the hive. 

 The matter of ventilation is of the greatest importance, and just how 

 to provide that depends somewhat on the Icind used. The entire top 

 may be covered with wire-cloth, and if one hive is piled on another, 

 strips must be fastened on the lower hive so the air can get between. 

 The hives must be placed in the car so that the frames run parallel 

 with the railroad track. 



Queens Going Tlirougli Excluder-Zinc. 



I had five very strong colonies of bees. I put two frames of brood 

 with a queen in an S-frame hive with starters on six frames and queen- 

 excluder on the bottom hive. I left the old hive on lop, and every 

 queen went to the top, and they were large queens. Virginia. 



Answer. — For a time it was a somewhat unsettled matter as to 

 the right size of perforations in excluder-zinc, and some was made 

 with perforations too large. Possibly your excluder was faulty In 

 that direction. The perforations should not be larger than one-sixth 

 of an inch. 



Rlieumatism from Bee-Stings. 



lam just getting up from a bad spell of inflammatory rheuma- 

 tism. The doctors said I had a close call ever to get well. The pro- 

 fessional doctor of this country claims it was from bee-stings, saying 

 that when a bee stings, the poison never comes out, and when enough 

 of them sting It poisons the blood. But I have argued that it was 



from hard work and exposure, for I have worked very hard for the 

 last ten years trying to keep my work in good shape. Now, I will tell 

 you what I have to du, and you can see whether it is enough to cause 

 any man to Ijreak down. I have 300 colonies of bees, and have read 

 bee-books and bee-papers, trying to do my work in an up-to-date way. 

 I have also 15 acres of strawberries and 6 acres of blackberries and 

 raspberries, and 1.500 apple-trees. Do not understand me to say that I 

 do all this myself. Of course, there are lots of good hands, but so 

 many that do not do their work right that I have done too much my- 

 self. Of course, I did not wear a veil, and got thousands of stings, 

 but they did not seem to hurt me, and I have been in the bee-business 

 for a year. 



My bees are rolling in honey, and it keeps my wife and little girls 

 busy making foundation and putting on supers. 



I still think the "Old Reliable " is worth its weight in gold. 



Arkansas, 



Answer. — There have been many oases reported in which rheu- 

 matism has been cured by bee-stings, while others suilering from the 

 disease report no benefit from stings; but this is the first time I have 

 seen any report of rheumatism caused by bee-stings. I think your 

 doctor must be mistaken in the matter. With the work you have been 

 doing there is no need to charge your rheumatism to the bees; hard 

 work is all that is necessary, with no doubt some exposure mixed in. 



(Lueenless Colonies— Number of Bees in a Colony 

 Birds-Wild Bees. 



King- 



1. On page 331, in Question No. 1, about queenless colonies, I 

 guess I did not state plainly enough what I wanted to know. It was. 

 What made them queenless? At this early date of March the old 

 queen would not be likely to fly out, would she ; Or might it have 

 been supersedure? 



2. How many bees are estimated to be in a medium populous 

 colony? 



3. Do you consider that king-birds do any damage, and should 

 they be killed? 



4. I notice a number of different kinds of bees working on the 

 flowers here besides the honey-bee and bumble-bee. Do you think 

 any of these are very good honey-gatherers, and has anyone ever tried 

 to domesticate them? Some of them work on very small flowers that 

 honey-bees won't touch. 



I found some white clover in bloom here on May 19, and some 

 dandelion the middle of April. Miohioan. 



Answers. — 1. No, the old queen would not be likely to fly out 

 either late or early. I had an unusual number of colonies become 

 queenless this spring, and I don't know for certain why. Your colony 

 may have become queenless because of attempt at supersedure, as you 

 suggest, and some accident may have happened to the queen, but 

 there seem to be cases hardly to be accounted for in either way, and I 

 don't know how to account tor them. 



2. At a rough estimate, perhaps 30,000. 



3. The weight of testimony seems to be against them. 



4. I think they have none of them been domesticated, don't sup- 

 pose they can be, and don't suppose they would be of any value if 

 domesticated. When a boy, I tried domesticating bumble-bees, but 

 the amount of honey obtained didn't amount to anything, and I don't 

 suppose any of the others would do as well as bumble-bees. 



Catnip Seed Free I 



We have some of the seed of that fa- 

 mous honey-producing plant — Catnip. 

 It should be scattered in all waste- 

 places for the bees. Price, postpaid, 

 IS cents per ounce ; or 2 ounces mailed 

 FREE to a regular subscriber for send- 

 ing us one NEW subscriber to the Bee I 

 Journal for one year, with $1.00 ; or for 

 ^1.20 we will send the Bee Journal one 

 year and 2 ounces of Catnip seed to 

 any one. 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO. 



144 & 146 E. Erie St., - CHICAGO, ILL. 



DAIRYMEN ARE DELIGHTED 



leetthoe^who w<irk for ua. Cow keeperBHl«ayB 



e protitB. Kiwty work. We furoiBh capital. Send 

 enw for full line of HSmpIesand particular. 



OKAPER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago, Ills. 

 Mease mention Bee Journal vrhen writma 



Fourth of July 



rates via the Nickel Plate Road. One 

 fare for the round-trip, July 3d and 4th, 

 within 200 miles of starting point. Re- 

 turn limit July 6th. Chicago Ticket 

 Offices, 111 Adams St., and Auditorium 

 Annex. 'Phones Central 2057 and Har- 

 rison 2208. 12— 25A3t 



Weather Conditions Better. 



I had a fine swarm today, which I hived on 

 the old stand and gave the brood to growing 

 colonies. There is some sealed honey in one 

 super. The prospect here is fine. While 

 clover is everywhere. There is a decided 

 change for the better so far as the weather 

 conditions are concerned. K. B. McCain. 



Grundy Co., ill., June 8. 



Tlie Division-Board Feeder. 



I wintered my bees without loss. I have 

 had a number of swarms, something not 

 known here in May. I use the division-board 

 feeder, and when beginners ask what kind of 

 a feeder to use in the Bee Journal, I wonder 

 that they are not told that it is the best for 

 slow feeding — three pints to two quarts at a 

 time; use it at night, and there will be no 

 robbing. 



When I packed my bees last fall I found a 

 colony that cast a swarm in September and 

 had been robbed, but had a young queen. I 

 put in a division-board feeder, ran a tin tube 

 through the oats chafl: I use for packing on 

 top of the hives, down into feeder, and when 



Prize =Wlnnlno 



Daughters of Moore's famous long-tongued 

 red clover Italian Queen, which won the $25.00 

 prize offered by The A. I. Root Co. for the long- 

 est-tongued bees; and also daughters of other 

 famous long-tongued red-clover breeders whose 

 bees " iust roll in the honey," as Mr. Henry 

 Schmidt, of Hutto, Tex., puts it, now readj to 

 go by return mail. Untested Queens, $1,00 each; 

 six, J5.00; dozen, $9.00. Selected Untested, $1.25 

 each; six, $6.00; dozen, fU.OO. Safe arrival and 

 satisfaction guaranteed. Cirrular free. 

 J. P. MOORE. 



25Atf Lock Box |. MORGAN. KY. 



Please mention Bee Journal "wtien ■writinR 



If you want the Bee-Book 



That covers the whole Apicultural Field more 



completely than ativ other published, 



send $1.20 to 



Prof. A. J. Cook, Claremont, Cal., 

 "Bee=Keeper's Guide." 



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Please mention Bee Journal 

 when writing Advertisers. 



