Gl.EANINGS IN BEE CUI/rUKE 



put in the combs of honey, cut out a circular piece 

 of honey in the middle of each comb about two 

 inches from the top-bar for a winter passage. They 

 will not fill them up during the winter. Now that 

 your combs and division-boards are in, properly 

 spaced off, fill on the outside of the division-boards 

 and inner walls of the hive with oat chaff. Now 

 comes the filling up. Just crowd these four combs 

 with bees until they squeeze out on the alighting- 

 board. Simply have them to fill the entire space. 

 Then lay a small stick, perhaps two, across the 

 frames, about three or four inches apart. Put on 

 your burlap. I will add on my own responsibility 

 three or four newspapers, thou your upper story or 

 half-story chaff cushion ; then the cover, and you 

 now have a hive of bees that will simply be a sure 

 thing. Father Root gave directions how to make the 

 chaff cushion (burlap) : " Cut it so as to have square 

 corners : make it so it will be a little larger than the 

 inside of the hive, so it will be about six inches 

 deep; then fill it with nice oat chaff; then crowd it 

 down fight all around the inside of the upper story 

 or half-story. 



I have been handling bees for about thirty years, 

 and in a cold country {until I came here), and I 

 always followed A. I. Root-s formula for wintering 

 bees, and yet have the first swarm to lose in winter- 

 injr. 



Well, in this country any old way will do; but 

 they require a whole lot nf honey, as they just go to 

 it all winter. 



Phoenix, Ariz., Nov. 10. L. M. Brown. 



Is it Advisable to Talie Out Full Combs of Stores 

 and Put in Frames of Foundation in I he Fall ? 



Mv ten-frame brood-chambers are full of honeJ^ 

 Would it be good policy for me to remove a few 

 frames of honey and replace them with frames of 

 wired foundation? If so, in what part of the hive 

 should I ppt them — middle, sides, or all on one side? 



In the fall, how late should feeding to encourage 

 brood-rearing be continued? 



When replacing poor combs by frames of wired 

 foundation in April, should they be put in the center 

 or side of the brood-chamber ? 



Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 13. L. S. Edison. 



[No, sir, 'e. If you have ten-frame brood-cham- 

 bers full of honey, do not disturb them. We can not 

 see what you would gain by removing a few frames 

 of honey and putting in their place frames of foun- 

 dation. If they are put in the center of the brood- 

 nest they will be almost worse than nothing unless 

 you feed enough syrup to cause the bees to draw 

 them out, fill, and cap them over. You will then be 

 right back where you started, and in the mean time 

 you will have exhausted the vitality of the bees not 

 a little by the procedure. 



When bees are needing stores, one can feed clear 

 up to and sometimes past the time when frosty nights 

 and freezing weather come on. But it is usually 

 advisable to feed earlier. We have fed after having 

 freezing spells, and have had excellent results in 

 wintering. In our locality we can feed as late as the 

 first of November, and sometimes it is necessary to 

 do it, as an earlier feed will start brood-rearing, 

 causing some of the syrup to be used up. — Ed.] 



Supplying an Artificial Substitute that will Fully 

 Take the Place of Natural Pollen for Brood- 

 rearing 



I am in need of some information regarding sup- 

 plying bees with pollen, and therefore am imposing 

 on your time as the most direct way of getting it. 



In your various experiments have you tried a 

 cooked nitrogenous feed as artificial pollen ? If so, 

 would you advise an equal mixture of wheat shorts 



or middlings, and cotton-seed meal mixed with honey 

 to make a jellylike mass ? Owing to our two dry 

 winters and the freeze last winter, there is a dearth 

 of lato pollen-producing plants this fall, and hardly 

 enough pollen in the combs to supply the brood-rear- 

 ing that usually goes on during the winter. About 

 the sa-ne condition prevailed last winter, and the bees 

 built up on orange bloom. For that reason there 

 was no surplus. 



Moreno, Cal. B. W. Brown. 



(You put up a hard question for us to answer. 

 While bees can be fed meal out in open pans at 

 certain seasons of the year, this kind of pollen does 

 not seem to give the results that the natural pollen 

 does from the flowers themselves. We never tried 

 cooking the nitrogenou.s feed. We have no idea 

 how it would work. V/e may be up against this 

 proposition in Florida when we move our bees there 

 this winter. Mr. A. B. Marchant, of Apalachicola, 

 thinks he has solved the problem of how to supply 

 the bees with an artificial substitute for pollen in the 

 hives so that the bees will rear brood when natural 

 l)ollen is not available. Perhaps he will tell us about 

 it. Should you discover any solution of the problem 

 w(> should be glad to have you let us know through 

 the columns of Glkanings. — En.l 



A Further Precaution to Observe when Shaking 

 for Foul Brood 



Wlipn reading R. F. Holtermann's article on 

 " Shaking Combs of a Diseased Colony," Oct. 15, 

 p. 726, a further method of " minimizing risk " 

 occurred to me. At the time of removing combs not 

 containing brood in preparation for shaking, cage 

 the queen in a cage which can be easily removed 

 from the hive without disturbing the bees. Next day 

 move the hive gently — so gently that the bees are 

 hardly aware that they are being moved, and in its 

 place put the hive prepared with frames and start- 

 ers. This should be done when the bees are flying 

 freely, and in a short time sufficient bees will have 

 collected to take care of the queen which should 

 now be given them. By evening most of the gather- 

 ers will have returned to the old stand, and the 

 young bees left can be rapidly shaken from the 

 combs without the use of any smoke. The second 

 shake can be carried out in the iisual way. Of 

 course, if preferred, the queen coiild be caught early 

 in the morning. By midday the bees, having got 

 over the excitement caused by the manipiilation, the 

 liives could be changed, and the young bees shaken 

 in the evening when other colonies had ceased flying 

 for the day. By this method the greater number of 

 old bees would transfer themselves without taking 

 any contaminated honey with them. 



B. Blackboiirn. 



Hno, Minster, Ramsgate, England, Nov. 5. 



Please advise what success building up colonies 

 on sweetened water, 1 to 9, would bring. It does 

 not seem to do well here. W. L. Whitney. 



Cranbrook, B. C, Can., Sept. 29. 



[ Sweetened water, or a syrup of only one part 

 sugar to nine parts of water, will do very well for 

 outdoor feeders during warm weather. Such a weak 

 syrup as this, however, must be taken up in a few 

 hours; otherwise it is quite liable to sour. A l-to-9 

 syrup can not be fed inside the hive unless the bees 

 can take it up inside of 24 hours or less. Something, 

 however, will depend upon the humidity of the atmos- 

 phere as well as the temperatiire. In your climate 

 we should think it very doubtful if you will be able 

 to use the l-to-9 syrup. You probably could not 

 use very satisfactorily in the hive any thing less 

 than three parts water to one of sugar. — Ed.] 



