634 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 1. 1903. 



necessary if you tier up. It you never use more than one super at a 

 time the opening at the bottom would be enough. 



2. There are many ways in which an association of bee-keepers is 

 helpful, so many that there is no room to give them here. The Na- 

 tional Association has helped to defend a number of bee-keepers who 

 ■would otherwise have been obliged to give up bee-keeping, and it has 

 helped to put down adulteration of honey. If it did nothing more, 

 that is sufficient to make it the right thing for every bee-keeper in the 

 land to send in his dollar to become a member. 



3. Rightly managed, it may work very well. 



4. No. 



Section-Cases Under the Hive, Etc. 



1. I notice in the Bee-Keepers' Review an e.'itract from your book, 

 " Forty Years Among the Bees," where you advocate placing the sec- 

 tion-cases under the hive. If pollen, travel-stains or propolis does not 

 bother too much this would be a good thing for northern Michigan 

 bee-keepers, as the cool nights are not conducive to comb-building. 



3. Which hive do you like best for comb-building, the Heddon or 

 the Danzenbaker? 



3. Have you ever tried the Boomhower, Doolittle, or the J. P 

 Moore strain of bees? Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. There must be some misunderstanding. I think I 

 never put supers of sections under the hive except to get the bees to 

 empty the honey out of them, and that was not satisfactory, because 

 the sections were badly dirtied. I should not think of putting sec- 

 tions under the hive to get the bees to store in them ; most of all dur- 

 ing cool nights. 



2. Probably comb-building would proceed about the same in each. 



3. I had some of the Doolittle golden, the most beautiful bees I 

 ever saw. 



Horse-Chestnut or Basswood ? 



Will it pay me to plant horse-chestnut trees for the benefit of my 

 bees? or would you advise basswood ? Minnesota. 



Answer. — Basswood, by all means. No other tree will give you so 

 much honey. A horse-chestnut stands at my door, and when in bloom 

 is visited by a good many bumble-bees, but by very few hive-bees. 



Cettins Bees Out of a Cupola. 



A swarm of bees have been in a cupola of a school-house near here 

 for four or five years. They are mostly black bees; they have an un- 

 limited amount of room, so that they never swarm, and there must be 

 a bushel of them. Some say there are 500 pounds of honey up 

 there. I have tried chloroform and sulphur on them, but can not kill 

 them. I have a small hole cut through the cupola, and can see all the 

 combs. What would you do under the circumstances to get the 

 honey? I dare not use Are or smoke up there. Is there not some 

 chemical stronger, more penetrating and suffocating? If so, what 

 would you recommend? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — It would be a good deal easier to tell just what to do if 

 one were right on the ground. Sulphur fumes ought to kill them, 

 and chloroform should, at least, lay them temporarily, but it may be 

 that you did not get the fames directly on the bees for a sufticiently 

 long time. Blown directly on the bees from a smoker, they ought to 

 prove effectual. Bisulphide of carbon is stronger, but it would be just 

 as hard to confine it to the bees in a large place. From what you say I 

 understand that what you want is to kill the bees, and then there is no 

 trouble about getting at the combs of honey. That being the case, 

 put on a bee-veil and go right at the combs as if no bees were there; 

 only have a smoker to drive the bees out of the way ; cut off the 

 combs, and brush the bees off. There ought not to be danger of fire 

 from a smoker carefully handled. 



Getting Ricli in the Bee-Business. 



Did you ever know any one to get rich in the bee-business? That 

 is, if he made it his entire business, with nothing else to occupy his 

 time? California. 



Answer. — Adam Grimm made enough from bees alone to start a 

 bank, and there are a few men living to-day who are making a good 

 deal from their bees. But, as a rule, if a man is living for money 

 alone, he will do well to go into some other than the bee-business. 



Preparing Bees for Shipping— Moving to a New Location. 



1. If I ship I will probably ship ilO hives; the hives are 9-frame 

 telescope, and we thought of putting an empty super on top, then a 

 piece of thick, coarse cotton-cloth, the same as we use at home, then 

 the cap, and nailing the cap on, and just as we are ready to load in 

 the oars to put a piece of wire-screen cloth over the entrance. Will 

 that be all right? Is that enough ventilation > 



2. Will it be necessary to extract any honey? If so, how much? 



3. How would you pack them? Would it be best to wad up 

 coarse hay to pack between the hives, to act as a buffer to keep off 

 the motion? But we expect to pack as solid as we can, anyway. 



4. We thought of going somewhere in eastern Washington, per- 



haps near Sunnyside, where the winters will not be severe, and it 

 would be a good place to keep bees exclusively, tor my four years in 

 the army have told on me, and I can not stand cold winters. What 

 part of the country do you think would be best? Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. I'm not sure about the ventilation. If your hive- 

 entrances are as large as mine, 12 by 2 inches, it would be all right. 

 With an entrance as shallow as some, '■>„ of an inch, it would not do 

 so well. Something depends upon how close the cap fits. If that fits 

 tight, so that no air can pass upward, then a small entrance will not 

 be sufficient for ventilation. You might cut a hole in the side of each 

 cap and cover it with wire-cloth. 



3. If the combs are old and tough, or if they are well wired, there 

 will be no need of extracting; otherwise it might be well to extract 

 the lower half of combs heavily filled. 



3. Hay packed in will be well, looking out that it does not inter- 

 fere too much with the ventilation. 



4. I have no knowledge of that country as to bee-pasturage. 



Arranging Hives for Certain Space. 



My apiary is situated west of my dwelling about 60 feet; it is 30 

 feet wide by 100 feet north and south, with evergreen trees west of 

 the yard. 



What would be the most convenient way to arrange the hives so 

 as to put 100 colonies in that space? or is there room enough? I 

 have them in rows north and south, facing the east, but had thought 

 of changing them and facing the south. How close could they be ar- 

 ranged and do well, and have room to work back of the hives? 



Illinois. 



Answer. — The best way I know of to give plenty of room between 

 the hives and yet get them on a small space of ground, is to have them 

 in groups of four, as given in " Forty Years Among the Bees," pages 

 95, 96. As I understand it, your ground is longest north and south ; so 

 let a row run north and south facing east, two hives close together 

 side by side, then a space, and then another pair, and so on. Then 

 another row, back to back, close up against this row, will face west. 

 That will make a double row on each side of the yard, with perhaps 15 

 feet between the two double rows, and with more space than is needed 

 between the hives to work at the side of each hive; for 1 hardly think 

 you will want to work at the etid of a hive. 



Packing for Winter-Lnpainted Hives. 



1. When using outer cases and packing with some material for 

 wintering, has sawdust been tried as packing? 



2. If so, is it a success? 



3. If not a good material, what are some of the objections? 



4. Does a bee live long after it has stung and left the sting? 



5. In answer to one of my former questions, you said you prefer- 

 red unpainted hives, because you thought the bees better off in them, 

 but you did not like the looks of them. Now, in what way do you 

 think the bees better off in the unpainted hives? 



6. If in unpainted hives they would produce more honey, ought 

 not looks to be of secondary importance ? Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. Y'es. 

 3. Not in all cases. 



3. Some complain of dampness. 



4. I don't know just how long, but a considerable time. The in- 

 jury does not seem alike in all cases. If my memory serves me, some 

 one made the experiment of confining bees that had lost their slings 

 with others uninjured, and there seemed no very great difference in the 

 length of time the bees lived. 



5. I don't know positively about the matter, but I think the hives 

 have a better chance to dry out without the paint, and in a very 

 limited experience I found that bees did not winter in a cellar so well 

 in painted hives. Of course, it is possible that the paint was not at 

 fault. Another objection is the cost, which might not be an objection 

 if one were sure that one would not want to change hives within 25 

 years. But I found I made a mistake when I did not paint wooden 



0. That depends. An amateur with a few hives on a well-kept 

 lawn should keep hives neatly painted. A large apiary kept for the 

 money that's in it, is another matter. 



Sour Honey— Keeping Honey-Swarming— Out-Door 

 Wintering. 



1. Herewith I send a sample of extracted honey which has lost its 

 flavor; I have 150 pounds like it. It has been kept in a tank with a 

 board over it. Do you think it soured because of insufficient ventila- 

 tion? 



3. 1 had a little comb honey in cases which had the same taste. Is 

 it regular sour honey, or do the bees work in something to give it this 

 taste ? 



3. How is the best way to keep comb and extracted honey? Can 

 it be kept in a shop without fire ordinarily in this climate? This year 

 has been cold and wet. 



4. There is a locality, a few miles from here, where there are acres 

 and acres of goldenrod, lots of heartsease, toueh-me-not, and consid- 

 erable buckwheat is raised; clover and basswood are nothing extra. 

 Is there any practical way of keeping the bees from building up to 

 swarm in June or July, and getting them up to their best about Aug. 



