698 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 29, 190 . 



Three men could take the same daily paper, if their conven- 

 ient hours for reading came differently, and exact hours 

 were pretty rigidly enforced. Twelve families, each with a 

 magazine for one week to re.-.d and pass on, looks a quite 

 seductive economy on paper ; but where the magazine would 

 actually be when it ought to be at No. 12, I am not so sure. 

 Worth trying. A grand, all-around, nation-wide fight 

 against individual selfishr<ess is needed. Not to be despaired 

 of, either, if the proper amount of revival enthusiasm should 

 get into it just right. And those manifestations of selfish- 

 ness, which are so old and matter-of-course as to be consid- 

 ered as if they were natural laws, are just the ones to attack 

 first. Anti-hog rivival first, and then conbination, eh? 

 Page 597. 



A SEDUCTIVE TEXAS WAY. 



J. E. Chambers' Texas way seems to be, first, get an 

 enormous colony of bees : second, brush it to prevent its 

 swarming naturally ; third, get a big lot of honey from it. 

 Seductive. He that is able to follow, let him follow. Page 

 598. 



GETTING DOWN I,OFTY SWARMS. 



It's a little hard to get rid of a semi-humorous feeling 

 toward the scheme of " shooting "lofty swarms down by the 

 smell of carbolic acid. We mustn't let our merriment de- 

 prive us of what may turn out to be a valuable addition to 

 our resources. First trial resulted in the swarm taking 

 wing and clustering on a lower place. 



The other experience Mr. Bartz gives us is also inter- 

 esting. Evidently a carbolized cloth can be made to serve 

 somewhat the turn of an assistant, driving the bees in one 

 direction while you with a smoker drive from another. A 

 few queens and some drones without any workers, and all 

 very badly frightened, might die in the course of a night 

 without it's being exactly a case of poisoning. How- 

 somever, at present we had better consider it a poisoning 

 case — and look a little out. Page 600. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

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



Moving to Sweet Clover-Drone-Laying Queen. 



1. By moving about 20 miles (od dirt road) I can get where there 

 is black, waxy land, and a world of sweel clover. Would it be best to 

 go there? 



3. Will an old queen ever get so she will lay only drone-eggs? 



Alabama. 



Answers. — 1. It might pay well to move 20 miles for the sake of 

 a better pasture; huw well would depend upon ho\T much better the 

 pasturage. A good way would be to try part of your colonies in each 

 place and compare results. 



2. Id many cases the contents of the spermatheca become ex- 

 hausted, which will be shown by part of the brood hatching out of 

 worker-cells as drones, tinally there being only drones. 



Feeding Bees with the Miller Feeder. 



1 have tried making the original Miller feeder as near as I could 

 from reading your book, but somehow I am not making a success in 

 using it. I£ I leave room for the feed to run under the side it runs too 

 fast down through the hive and out on to the ground ; or sometimes it 

 don't run at all. And if 1 leave room for the bees to come up over the 

 side, they go down into the feed and get stuck in the feed and drown. 

 1 wish you would give us a good description of the feeder, and how to 

 use it, in the American Bee Journal. I have your " Forty Years 

 Among the Bees," but 1 am too dull to understand just what is the 

 matter. Some of my bees — one colony — will not take feed when even 

 put in a dish over the brood-nest. What is the matter with them? 



Nebkaska. 



Answer. — There must have been something radically wrong in 

 the construction of your feeder to allow the feed to run down through 

 the hive, unless the feeder was lilled so full that it ran over. As I use 

 it, the feeder is hung in a common T super, just because 1 have plenty 

 of T supers on hand, but it may be put in a box of any convenient 

 size, the box being without top or bottom, and the inside of the box 

 being about an inch wider and longer than the outside width and 

 length of the feeder proper. 



For the ends of the feeder, and the two inside partitions, '.j-inoh 

 stuff is used, and '4 -inch stuff for the other parts. This thin stuff is 



less likely to split with age, I think, than heavier stuff. At any rate, 

 mine are a good many years old and all right yet, most of them. By 

 using small rfails about half an inch apart, this thin stuff can be nailed 

 together to make a very close joint. Suppose you use a T super for 

 the outside box, or have a box of the same dimensions, 17''8Xl2V in- 

 side measure, and 4' ^ inches deep, the material needed will be as fol- 

 lows: 



One bottom. ICsUxi^. 



Two ends, 10' .xt'^x'... 



Two sides, UJx3\..xi4. 



Two partitions, 15x4', xU'. 



Two top pieces at ends, r3^x2x;^. 



Two top pieces at sides, 15x'2J^xjJ. 



The two partitions are inside, leaving a apace of about :'s inch 

 between the partirion and the side, the upper part of the partition 

 coming Hush with the upper part of the ends. That will leave a 

 space of '., inch under the partition for the feed to flow under — a space 

 too small lor a bee to pass through. The top pieces at the sides are 

 nailed on the partitions, and the other top pieces on the ends, the end 

 pieces on top supporting the feeder in the outside box or super. When 

 the feeder is hung in the super, it is well to nail it on by a single very 

 small nail at the middle of each side and each end. This will prevent 

 the top pieces from curling up. 



You will see that there is no place the bees can get to the feed 

 except in the ''s space at the side, and bees never drown in so narrow 

 a space. 



I don't know just why that colony will not take the feed; they 

 are i|uite capricious sometimes. 



Wants Lots of Increase— Foul Brood. 



My bees have not done very well this season ; I wish to increase as 

 much as posssble, and I am not particular about getting any honey 

 next year, but I do want a lot of bees. 



I have 2 colonies from which I have taken 200 pounds of extracted 

 honey, and 1 do not care if I have to feed a lot of sugar next year. To 

 how many colonies of bees can I multiply my 2 colonies? 



My bees had foul brood early last spring, and by following the 

 directions given in the books, I am glad to say I got rid of it very 

 easily. Illinois. 



Answer. — Your question is a hard one to answer. You will find 

 it easier to increase if you have a long flow of natural stores than to 

 depend on feeding ; still, it will help the incease if you feed whenever 

 the bees are not gathering anything, when it is warm enough for them 

 to fly freely. Starling with two, you may clobe the season with any- 

 where from 10 to 20, depending upon the season and your skill and ex- 

 perience. Just between you and me, let me whisper a word in your 

 ear: Don't try to increase too fast, especially late in the season. Bet- 

 ter have 10 strong colonies at the close of the season than twice as 

 many weaklings. 



Requeening Colonies-Color of Carniolans. 



I have 10 colonies of bees which have not been requeened from 

 any other stock of bees in the last 10 or 12 years, and would like to 

 secure a few good queens, but would like to know: 



1. How late in the season could I successfully introduce queens 

 into my stock? 



2. My colonies all have queens now, and would 1 better destroy 

 the queens in the colonies into which I wish to introduce new queens 

 before I order, or wait until I secure the new queens? 



3. What is the color of Carniolan bees? Kansas. 



Answers.— 1. Just as late as bees are flying, and perhaps later. 



2. Wait till you get the queens. 



a. Much the same as the blacks, with narrow, whitish bands. 



Peculiar Odor Around Hives-4x5 Sections-Comb or 

 Extracted Honey ?-ltalianizing. 



Last spring I purchased 5 hives and implements, known as a be- 

 ginner's outfit, and started in tbe bee-business. I bought 2 colonies of 

 black bees in common hives, and transferred them successfully to new 

 hives, and have at present 4 colonies. I did not gel much surplus 

 honey in sections; the transferring and subsequent new comb-building 

 seems to have given them a decided set-back, but I hope for a good 

 crop next year. Now, I want to ask a few (|uestions: 



1. For about a week I have noticed a peculiar moldy or musty 

 odor in the vicinity of my hives; it is noticeable S or 10 feet from the 

 hives. A Mr. Neilsen, Smiles west of me, noticed the same thing, also 

 another bee-keeper a few miles west of town. I cannot find anything 

 wrong in the hives; the bees seem to do well, and have stores and 

 brood in all stages from eggs to sealed brood. The bees are working 

 now on goklenrod and aster. Is it possible these tiowers are the 

 cause of this peculiar odor? 



2. What is the opinion of leading apiarists on the 4x5 section? 

 Some claim it to be the coming section. What do you think of the 

 Danzenbaker hive? 



'A. Would a 10-frame hive be better than an ^-frame for the South? 

 I want to make bee-culture a leading part of my work, and want to be 

 up-to-date and have the best, and therefore want to be posted on he 

 advantages or disadvantages of different styles of hives with Hoffman 

 self-spacing frames; supers hold 24 4I4X4I4 bee-way sections with 

 J separators. 



