906 



extra frames to help finish up some weak colonies 

 with winter stores. 



The first of November, when examining my hees 

 and putting them in winter cases on opening the 

 hive where the most prolific queen I had was (she 

 being one year old, and the only hybrid in my yard) 

 I found the bees had begun to ball the queen. I 

 blew some smoke on them, and scattered all, but two 

 bees refused to let her loose; and before I could get 

 them away from her one of the bees had stung her. 

 I then put the cover on the hive and placed the 

 queen on the light board in front of the hive. Just 

 as soon as I put her down the bees attacked her 

 with increased fury ; but by the use of the smoker I 

 helped her to get into the hive. Then in about thirty 

 minutes I opened the hive and found the queen well 

 balled on the bottom of the hive, and almost dead. 

 I then finished killing her and left them queenless 

 until the next day ; then I united them with another 

 colony, which was done with but little smoke and 

 no fighting. 



In both cases of uniting above referred to I put 

 the bees in a different hive from which either tolony 

 this larger space ? 



Dott, W. Va., Nov. 12. H. Ingram Cook. 



[As a rule it does not pay to attempt to make 

 increase in your locality as late as Sept. 1. Much 

 depends upon the weather and on the honey-flow; 

 but usually it is safer to let the colonies remain 

 strong. One rousing good colony stands a better 

 chance of wintering safely than two colonies only 

 medium in strength. Furthermore, unless a special 

 effort has been made to keep plenty of vigorous 

 drones in one or more colonies the joung queens are 

 likely to remain unmated. — Ed.] 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ferment, it then contains alcohol, and the alcohol is 

 converted to acetic acid by the cask process. This 

 same method of making vinegar can be used on a 

 smaller scale if one wishes. 



There will be no harm in storing honey vinegar 

 in the same cellar with bees or sealed cans of fruit. 



Making Honey Vinegar 



I have decided to make vinegar out of the sour 

 honey. I looked up the recipe in the A B C of Bee 

 Culture, but there are a few things that I don't 

 quite understand in regard to it. 



1. About how long does it usually take to make 

 good vinegar ? 



2. Could it be made now and left in the cellar 

 this winter, or would it be better to wait until next 

 summer and make it outside when it is wai-m ? 



3. If made now, would it be harmful to bees that 

 are being wintered in the same cellar with it, and 

 would it affect sealed jars of fruit? 



4. Will good syrup-barrels be good enough to put 

 it in? Should the whole head of the barrel be taken 

 out, or will it do just as well to leave the bung open 

 and cover with fine wire cloth or cheese-cloth? 



Hopkinton, Iowa, Oct. 27. A. R. Shearer. 



[The above was referred to Mr. E. M. Nichols, of 

 Lyonsville, Mass., who replies as follows : ] 



It will take from two to four years to make good 

 honey vinegar if one fills a barrel or ca«k with honey 

 properly reduced with water, and allows it to go 

 through the natural change to acetic acid, or vinegar. 



If you have a quantity of honey you wish to make 

 into vinegar, a better way for >ou to do is to place a 

 cask, capacity 45 to 50 gallons, in a warm room, 

 temperature 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit ; lay the 

 cask on its side with the bunghole up and coverea 

 with cheese-cloth. If the barrel stands on one end 

 with one head out, there would be a larger percent- 

 age of loss by evaporation. The cask should be filled 

 about half full of good vinegar, then add ten quarts 

 of fermented liquid once in about seven days. When 

 the cask is full, draw out about half of the contents 

 and continue the process. In preparing the sweet 

 liquid I prefer rain water to put with the honey, 

 and have the liquid about as sweet as for a sweet 

 drink; or one can determine this by either method 

 mentioned on page 592 in the ABC and X Y Z of 

 Bee Culture. When this liquid is first prepared it 

 contains a per cent of sugar; when it is allowed to 



Color of Drones from Mismated Bees 



On page 548 Mr. Albert Swanton asks if queens 

 mated by black or German drones don't produce 

 black bees and drones. Your answer is that a queen 

 mated with a black drone will give both bees and 

 drones, mixed blood. Now, I suppose you and Mr. 

 Swanton mean a pure Italian queen will. I have 

 always understood that the mating has nothing to do 

 with the drone offspring ; that is, if the queens were 

 pure Italians. All her drone brood would be pure 

 Italian, no matter what kind of drone she was mat- 

 ed with. If I am not correct, put me straight. 



DEEP SPACE UNDER FRAMES UNDESIRABLE. 



Again, page 517, your correspondent advises a 

 space of one inch or more between the floor and bot- 

 tom-bar. My experience has been that, if over % 

 inch is allowed, bees will build combs, and give a 

 lot of trouble. Again, what is to be gained by giving 

 this larger space. 



Hempstead, Tex., Aug. 12. G. T. Rawls. 



[Our answer, page .'>48, was, perhaps, not com- 

 plete. The orthodox ttaching is that the drones 

 from a pure Italian queen, even if she be mated to 

 a black or hybrid drone, will be pure also. A few, 

 however, take exception to the statement; but unless 

 we can get better proof to the contrary we shall 

 have to accept it as true. 



This question of a deep bee-space under the frames 

 h!nges somewhat on the locality and the strength 

 of the honey-flow. We use an inch space under our 

 frames — that is, between the bottoms of the bottom- 

 bars and the floor of the bottom-board; and it is rare 

 indeed that bees build comb in the space, and W3 

 have had some pretty strong honey-flows also. Tiie 

 great advantage of this extra space is the providing 

 of better ventilation; and better ventilation means 

 less swarming. Of course, one can have a deeper 

 entrant e with a % space under the frames; but the 

 ventilation will not be nearly as good by consider- 

 able. The tendency of the beekeeping world now is 

 toward a larger space between the bottom-bars and 

 bottom-board, and larger entrances, and mainly be- 

 cause of the reduction in the swarming; and while 

 it does not stop it, it discourages it. — Ed.] 



Raising Queens in Upper Stories 



I hav3 been reading again some of last year's 

 copies of Gleaninus, and came across an article by 

 G. J. Yoder on making up winter losses, May 1, 

 1912, page 281. Could you shed a little furth^v 

 light on the subject? I have raised a few queens in 

 this way, but have to remove them just before they 

 hatch, otherwise they simply disappear. On only 

 one occasion was I really successful in getting a 

 queen mated from an upper story, and in this case 

 an excluder was placed on the first story, and a 

 wire screen on the second. The queen mated from 

 the third story, and is now doing well. It seems 

 that an excluder on the first story is not sufficient, 

 even when the queen is raised in the third. Does 

 this raising of queens in supers lead to swarming, 

 especially if done in the swarming season? 



Fred E. White. 



North Vancouver, B. C, Sept. 19. 



[One can raise cells in the upper story of a strong 

 colony very easily ; but there are some important 

 requirements, even to do this. The upper story must 

 be separated from the lower one by means of an 

 excluder. There must be a light honey-flow, or a 

 feeder on the hives, for the bees must be kept in a 

 high state of prosperity. Moreover, bees will not 



