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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 22, 1903. 



too much to do in order to do some things in as good a manner as they 

 should be done. — Editor. I 



Three or Five Banded Bees. 



I want to Italianize all of my bees, and rear the most of the queens. 

 Which would you buy to start with, those with three or with five 

 bands? Missouri. 



Answer.— Hard to tell. The best of either kind is better than the 

 average of the other. Taking them as they average in general, very 

 likely you will do as well with three-banders. 



Spider-Plant, Blue Thistle and Alfalfa. 



1 notice in reading " A B C of Bee-Culture " that there is a plant 

 called spider-plant. Will it grow here? Where can I get some seed. 

 What time in the year should it be planted? 



Will the blue thistle grow here? Also alfalfa? Where can I get 

 it? I have tried and failed. North Carolina. 



Answers.— 1. The spider-plant will probably grow with you if 

 sown in the spring, but you will hardly find it worth the trouble. You 

 can get seed from the A. I. Root Co. 



Blue thistle will likely succeed with you, but not alfalfa. 



Keeping Bears Out of the Apiary. 



I intend to start an out-apiary at a place infested by bears. As 

 you have seen and spoken of Californiabee-keeperslately, perhaps you 

 could inform rae how they keep them out of the yards. Oregon. 



CZT Answer.— 1 don't remember to have seen any special means men- 

 tioned to prevent the encroachments of bears except in one case. If I 

 remember correctly, in that case the hives were up in a tree, and a 

 platform was built about the tree a few feet above the ground. Of 

 course, a bear could not pass the platform; but such a plan would 

 hardly be practicable on a large scale. It any of the constituency have 

 any means of prevention to offer, I yield the lloor. 



Cost of Bee-Supplies-Malling Queens-Starting with 

 Bees. 



Qgstroth hive, with 



1. What would be the expenses, per pound or per colony, for sup- 

 plies for an apiary of say 100 colonies, producing 45 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey or 30 pounds of comb honey per colony ? 



3. What is the average life of a dovetailed Langstrc 

 reasonable care? 



'i. Can queen-bees be shipped by mail with safety across the con- 

 tinent? Are they so shipped '. 



i. How many colonies would you advise a man to start with who 

 intends to devote his whole time to bee-keeping? California. 



Answers.—!. If the extracted honey is put in 60-pound cans, it 

 will cost for cans by the quantity about ;V of a cent for each pound of 

 honey. For comb honey, sections and fouadation will cost about a 

 cent a pound. 



2. Varies with climates and seasons. At a rough estimate, 35 years 



3. Yes. 



4. As a general rule, a man will do well to begin the first year 

 with 3 colonies, although special conditions might make it advisable 

 to vary greatly from that. 



Pence Separators or Solid Ones. 



Will the bees work better and quicker in sections with fence 

 separators than the old-style solid ones? Onio. 



Answer.— It will make no difference. 



Uniting Bees-Wintering Feeding Glucose. 



I had a small swarm of bees to issue, which I decided to unite 

 with a weak colony I had in myyapd. I raised the cover and blew 

 smoke over the frames and in at the hive-entrance of the weak col- 

 ony. I then shook the bees of the swarm off the limb in front of the 

 entrance. Tney entered the hive nicelv. but the bees of the weak 

 colony fought with such fury that they killed half of the bees of the 

 swarm in a few minutes. .Some of the bees of the swarm left the hive 

 and entered the hive of a strong colony that stood near, and were wel- 

 comed by the bees of the strony colony. 



1. Why did the bees of the weak colony fight those of the swarm? 

 And why were they welcomed by the bees of the strong colony? 



3. I notice yellow-jackets entering some of my hives. Do you 

 think they are doing mischief? The bees do not seem to notice them. 



3. I have been wintering my bees with a super filled with chaff 

 next to the brood-chamber. Is this a good practice? Should there be 

 a cloth placed over the brood-frames under the chaff super? 



4. Is glucose fit to feed bees for winter stores? \'iroinia. 

 Answers. — 1. I don't know, but I'll make something of a guess. 



A weak colony, as well as a strong one, may resent the intrusion of 



strangers, the ease being worse it the weak colony has a laying queen 

 and the intruding swarm has a virgin. The manner of their entrance 

 has something to do with their reception. When the swarm attempted 

 to enter the hive of the weak colony, the bees probably marched in 

 with a bold air, as who should say, " We have as good a right here as 

 you, and we're coming in ; " and the bees of the colony said, " We'll 

 see about that." But the bees that went to the neighboring strong 

 colony went as supplicants, and stood at the entrance fanning, as if 

 to say, "Please let us in, we've lost our home, but if you'll let us in 

 we'll work all the rest of our lives for you, just as if born here." 



3. They're probably after honey, and are not likely to get off scot- 

 free for long. 



3. It's all right if the chaff doesn't sift down among the brood- 

 combs ; the cloth will prevent that. 



4. No, no; glucose is not a fit thing to teed bees at any time or 

 under any circumstances. 



"Rosemary Cure" for Foul Brood. 



During the past year I have seen several articles in the American 

 Bee Journal concerning the " rosemary cure" for foul brood. Is it a 

 sure cure for the scourge? Do the fumes of it do the work? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — I don't know, but I have no faith in it. 



Shallow Fxtracting-Frames— Cause of Balling Queens. 



1. Do you use the shallow extracting frames, or don't you pro- 

 duce any extracted honey? 



3. What do you think of frames 5Je inches deep for extracting? 



3. On page 536,1 notice an article which seems to explain the 

 mystery of queenless colonies in the spring. Rough handling or jar- 

 ring, he said, in early spring would cause the queen to be balled or 

 killed. May this not bean explanation, or do you think there is any- 

 thing in the idea? Michigan. 



Answers. — 1. I work only for comb honey. 



3. The shallow frames are probably quite a little better for ex- 

 tracting; but the advantage is offset to some extent by the fact that 

 frames can not be used interchangeably in either story. Yet the ad- 

 vantage of having clean frames that are used only for extracting turns 

 the scales with some in favor of the shallow frames. 



2. I have never supposed that loss of queens in my case could be 

 traced to rough handling, but it is possible that there is more in it 

 than I have supposed. 



Using Foul-Broody Hives. 



Is it safe to use hives which have had foul brood in them? These 

 hives had foul brood in them three years ago; they were tht>roughly 

 cleaned and left on the stands ever since. How long is it known to 

 stay in the frames in hives after it has once been there? 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — Time can hardly be considered a factor in the problem, 

 for foul-brood spores are very long-lived, lasting, no one knows, how 

 long, but good authorities say that /livex which have contained foul 

 brood can be used at any time without disinfecting. 



Foul Brood Inspector- Introducing Queens. 



1. Is there a foul brood inspector for Indiana? I had lots of dead 

 brood in my hives last spring, and I do not know whether it is foul 

 brood or chilled brood, or some thing else. I introduced several 

 queens in May, and had to shake the bees from the combs to find the 

 old queens, and may have chilled the brood while doing so. 



I am a beginner, and my bees are blacks. I had 17 colonies and 

 wanted to Italianize them, and bought 7 Italian queens; they are all 

 dead but one. 



2. How soon after introducing a queen is it safe to open the hive 

 to see if she is all right? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. I know of no foul brood inspector in Indiana. 



3. It is a little safer not to disturb the colony for three or four 



days. 



Transferring Bees— Comb Honey or Extracted' 



This has been a poor season for bees. I am trying to improve my 

 stock all through. I have almost a non-swarming strain of bees, as I 

 had only 4 swarms out of 35 colonies, and my bees have always stored 

 honey. I have had from 50 to 305 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections, but this year I have not had so muoh. 



My hives are going down, and I will have to put the bees in new 

 hives. I use the. "^ frame dovetail live, but my old hives are home-made; 

 I bought them as they are, and the combs are so crooked and jammed 

 up I can not get into the brood. 



1. Would it be best to transfer in the spring, or wait until swarm- 

 ing-time and shake them and put a wire-cloth between the new and 

 the old hives until the brood all hatches out, and then melt up the old 

 combs? 



3. Which would pay the best, to run for comb or extracted honey? 

 We get 10 cents for comb and from 6 10 8 cents for extracted, and the 



