NOVEMBER 1, 1913 



777 



may say that, in our opinion, most beekeepers use 

 too much smoke. The point is, to use smoke to pre- 

 vent the bees from " boilina: up " or making an 

 attack. An experienced beekeeper knows just when 

 to use a little smoke to avoid a general uprising 

 It is far better to prevent than to try to stop a 

 vicious onslaught by the use of large volumes of 

 smoke afterward. 



It depends somewhat upon the bees in question ; 

 but when you go to a hive to open it, it is safe, as a 

 rule, to blow a very little smoke in at the entrance, 

 ,iust enough to overcome the tendency on the part of 

 the guard bees to rush out. Then, being as careful 

 as possible, pry up the cover just a crack, or pull 

 the quilt away slightly from one corner, as the case 

 may be, blowing in a little smoke at the same time 

 Theoretically, smoke will not go down ; but in actual 

 practice it can be blown down between the combs. 

 However, a great amount of smoking should be 

 avoided, as it is usually not necessary. As soon as 

 the bees have gone down somewhat from the top- 

 bars, you can proceed to loosen the frames and take 

 them out. Be sure to have the smoker handy, where 

 it can be used at an instant's notice, at the first in- 

 dication that the bees are resenting the intrusion. 



The best time to hunt for queens is during mid- 

 daj-, say from ten o'clock until two, or on warm days 

 from nine until three. Many of the bees will be out 

 of the hives then if a honey-flow is on, and it is not so 

 difficult to find the queen. Avoid opening hives early 

 in the morning or late in the evening, as the bees 

 are much more likely to be cross. 



It takes an experienced beekeeper usually to judge 

 a queen by appearance. You can tell a good deal by 

 the color and size, but the best way for you to judge 

 would be to observe the work of the queen. See 

 whether the eggs are in regular order, whether the 

 brood is largely worker brood, etc. A very old queen 

 may lay too large a proportion of drone eggs, or an 

 inferior queen will lay irregularly. — Ed.] 



Why no Egg- laying in the Fall ? 



The bees that I got during early fall were all right. 

 The queen did her duty by laying eggs enough to 

 satisfy me, but for two or three weeks there has been 

 no brood. Should I expect any at this time of the 

 year? Mrs. Susan E. Allen. 



Wheelerville, Pa., Oct. 10. 



[Under normal conditions the average queen in 

 the North three months or more old will stop laying 

 in the fall. Only young queens, thirty days or young- 

 er, will lay during the months of September and 

 October in northern States. The condition you find 

 is about normal with your bees. During cool weather 

 it is best for the queen not to lay, as the bees, in their 

 effort to take care of the brood, spread the cluster 

 too much, and this kills some bees, and at the same 

 time allows the brood to die. — Ed.] 



The Colony-odor Theory Doubted 



I have not been able to accept fully the colony- 

 odor theory that one reads of so much in bee litera- 

 ture. June 15, p. 419, Mr. Cargo says, " In one 

 case, bees in an upper brood-chamber left their hive 

 while it was set aside a few moments, and attempted 

 to return to their regular entrance below, and were 

 killed." I understand that these bees from the up- 

 per story, finding themselves separated from the rest 

 of the colony, took wing and returned to the entrance 

 of their own lower story, and there were received as 

 foes. Wliy did not their colony odor protect them? 



Two days ago I shook the bees of a hive which I 

 had " Alexandered," as they had destroyed the cell 

 I gave them, in front of the hive of their own moth- 

 er, hoping to have them help her colony store some 

 basswood honey. I had to leave them immediately 

 after shaking; but on visiting the hive the next day 

 I found the piece of burlap on which they were 



shaken covered with dead bees. Colony odor didn't 

 seem to cut any figure there. 



At other times I have shaken strange bees in 

 front of weak colonies, or colonies I wanted to 

 strengthen, and they were received kindly, despite 

 their strange odor(?). 



J. F. W. Ulrich. 



Hasbrouck Heights, N. J., June 23. 



Learning Bee Culture, Etc. 



I am a boy of 21 years, and have been raised on 

 a farm, and worked for my parents all my life. I 

 have been reading Gleanings for over a year. 

 Though I have never met you I feel as though you 

 are one of my friends. I have been interested in 

 bees for a long time ; but the bee fever has got worse 

 since I have been reading Gleanings. I got my 

 first bees a year ago last August, and now have four 

 colonies, and like to work with them better than any 

 thing else. But I feel there is so much to learn about 

 them before going in on a large scale that I am 

 bothered whether to keep on at home with the bees 

 or try to get a place to work in a large apiary under 

 an experienced beekeeper. The bees have been stor- 

 ing very heavily this fall, and it has been so warm 

 that some of the honey has been breaking down. 



Metropolis, 111., Oct. 13. Harry Rodenbbrg. 



[ My good friend, as you state it I advise you to 

 stay at home, study your ABC book and the jour- 

 nals, and from the yield of honey right here in the 

 middle of October you certainly must have a splen- 

 did place for keeping bees. I know a good many 

 would say, " Go and work in some big apiary;" and 

 that might be a very good thing ; but it would be a 

 considerable expense, and, as you state it, I am in- 

 clined to think you would get along faster right 

 where you are, providing your enthusiasm keeps up. 



With the start you already have, I feel sure you 

 can build up an apiary as fast as you have skill to 

 manage it. Quite a few who have purchased a fair- 

 sized apiary to start with, unless they have had much 

 experience, have made a failure. If you could visit 

 some beekeeper near you it would doubtless be of 

 great benefit ; but I think that in the end you will 

 gain by working for yourself in place of somebody 

 else. It is expensive to go away from home — that is, 

 to stay any length of time; and your bees and other 

 work would be likely to suffer also from your ab- 

 sence. — A. I. R.] 



Reversing the Entire Body in Order to Get Combs 

 Built Clear to the Bottom-board 



I notice that you seem to have spaces at the bot- 

 tom of the combs in your deep Hoffman frames ; and 

 as this causes some bother in finding queens, and 

 takes up valuable space I should like to ask whether 

 you have tried this remedy: 



Take one of your bee-escape boards and cut an 

 eight-inch round hole in the middle of it. Go to any 

 fairly strong hive during a good honey-flow. Remove 

 the supers and separator board; place your prepared 

 board on top of the brood-nest ; nail down, making 

 sure to wedge the frames so that they can not move. 

 Now turn the entire body upside down on the bot- 

 tom-board and you will have all your frames filled 

 out full in a few days. Try this once, and I am sure 

 you will like the plan. 



Shellman, Ga., Aug. 22. D. W. Howell. 



[The plan here spoken of has been used to quite 

 an extent. Along in the early 80's reversing was 

 thought to be the panacea for all the ills that con- 

 fronted the beekeeper. It was claimed that it could 

 be used to destroy queen-cells, which it did not; 

 that it would check swarming, which it also failed 

 to do; that it would force the honey from the brood- 

 nest into the supers. This it did accomplish to a con- 

 siderable extent. There is certainly one thing it did 

 do, and that was to get the combs built clear down 



