Maroh, 1914. 



101 



American Hee Journal 



average of 266 sections per colony. Then be 

 sure to keeo tab of what each colony yields, 

 so as 10 breed from the best afterward. 

 There may be some question whether yon 

 are warranted in departinc from the usual 

 plan of having packing in winter; but if you 

 have had previous success in that way, it 

 may be all risht to keep on. Anyhow, a good 

 llight in the last of January promises well 

 for Kooil winterinsr. 



You want your bees to do the t'ivt /'rs/ in 

 the way of honey production, and say you 

 will want new hives for about so percent in- 

 crease. You can't increase as much as that 

 without interfering with the honey crop, un- 

 less you are sure of a heavy late flow. Y'ou 

 have two supers or more per hive with gen- 

 erous starters in sections. Oh. you stingy 

 fellow! Asking the bees to store a big lot. 

 and then giving them so little room to'store 

 it in. I wouldn't want less than (1 or 7 supers 

 for each colony, all tilled ready to put on the 

 hive. In the height of a good flow there will 

 be on each of my hives a super at the bottom 

 empty to half full, an empty one on top, and 

 between these two from four to six supers 

 pretty well tilled. 'With less I should lose 

 honey. Instead of "generous starters." fill 

 each section with foundation except Va to '+ 

 inch space between top and bottom starters. 



Feed for Cellar— Full Crop and 100 Percent 

 Increase 



1. How would you prepare sugar syrup to 

 feed in cellar, when it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to feed in mid-winter to preserve from 

 starvation - 



2. How would you make artificial increase 

 ol 100 percent in an apiary and at the same 

 time secure full amount of honey crop from 

 clover and basswood ? 



3. Is there any advantage to have the en 

 trance I'A inches deep and full width of 

 ui\'a ? Canada 



hive 



.'Answers. -I. Just a plain syrup; 2 pints 

 or pounds of water to 5 pints or pounds of 

 sugar. Stir the sugar slowly into the hot 

 water, and be very careful not to scorch it. 

 But you might do better to make a plain 

 candy and lay over the frames. 



2. I don t know anyway to make increase 

 without cutting down on the crop of honey 

 unless it be in a place where there is a very 

 heavy flow, and then any old way will do. 



3. \'es; it gives chance for better ventila- 

 tion in hot weather, aud also in winter if 

 you winter in cellar. But you cannot have 

 iH inches under bottom-bars in summer un- 

 less you have some provision to prevent the 

 bees building down. 



Improving Stock 



I. I have 10 colonies of common bees of 

 poor stock that I wish to improve this com- 

 ing season. All that I care for is their 

 honey-gathering Qualities. There are peo- 

 ple all about me that keep anywhere from 2 

 to 10 colonies of the same kind of bee in box- 

 hives, and it would be almost impossible to 

 buy them out and get them to stop keeping 

 bees. I am thinking of putting an order with 

 some reliable queen-breeder early in the 

 season for two dozen Italian queens, and 

 dividing my strongest colonies. 



If I rear my own queens; that is. send and 

 get a breeder queen and rear queens from 

 her. I would have nothing but hybrids; but 

 may be they would be as good honey pro- 

 ducers as tested queens? Now-, what is the 

 best thing tor me to do ? If there is a better 

 way to improve my bees than either of these 

 I would like to have it. Our best honev-pro- 

 ducing plants are clover, buckwheat and 

 eoldenrod. Maryland. 



Answer. — It is true that in many if not 

 most cases the lirst cross does as good work 

 as the pure stock, but the next generation 

 is likely to deteriorate. If you get 24 Italian 

 queens, you'll be all right for a time, and 

 then the bees will run down. Instead of 

 getting the 24 all inonejyear you might do 



better to get 2 each year for 12 years, and 

 breed from them. Then you would have 

 pure drones each year, whereas if you get 

 the 24 all in one year you might not have a 

 pure drone in four or five years. 



Early Work With Bees 



1. I have purchased a few boxes of black 

 bees, i want to put them into new hives 

 and requei-'U them in the spring. How early 

 would you advise working with them ? 



2. Would you requeen or hive them first .^ 



3. Where can I get a first-class Italian 

 queen free of disease ? North Carolina. 



Answers.— I. You can do a lot of mischief 

 by beginning too early in the season to make 

 any radical change in the condition of the 

 bees. Don't think of transferring them into 

 movable-frame hives until they are busy 

 gathering nectar and in good condition to 

 engage actively in the work of comb-build- 

 ing. That will hardly be before the time of 

 fruit-bloom. It may be still better to wait 

 until they swarm, then hive the swarm in 

 a modern hive, and three weeks later break 

 up' theold hive, for at that time all worker- 

 brood will be hatched out. The bees from 

 the old hive may then be united with the 

 sw-arm. or they may be kept as a separate 

 colony and transferred into another hive. 



2. It might be as well to requeen after the 

 swarming or transferring. 



3. In the proper season there are always 

 found in this journal advertisements of 

 those who have queens for sale, and these 

 may be relied on as free from disease. A 

 man who would send out a queen from 

 diseased stock would steal. 



how far should eight quarts be reduced to 

 make the best feed ? 



4. Which smoker is better, a cold blast or 

 hot blast ? New Hampshire. 



Ansvvers.~l Kxtracting saves the bees 

 much labor in building comb, so it is gen- 

 erally estimated that you can get about half 

 more extracted than comb honey. So in 

 deciding the question for yourself the ques- 

 tion is whether you would rather have 100 

 pounds of comb honey or 150 pounds of ex- 

 tracted. 



2. No; if you want to save the combs it's 

 the extractor or nothing. 



J. Yes; the bees will take it without boil- 

 ing down. But look out not to feed it on 

 days too cool for bees to fly freely. 



4. Take the cold blast, Even with that I 

 have known the smoke to be so hot with a 

 strong fire as to melt the cappings of sec- 

 tions, and to kill bees. 



Miscellaneous Questions 



1. I am going to buy five dovetailed 10- 

 frame hives this spring. I only want honey 

 for the house. Whicli is belter for me. the 

 extracting hive or sections. I read in the 

 bee-books the extracting hive is best for 

 home use. Please tell me why. 



2. Can I get honey out of the extracting 

 frames without the extractor ? Can I melt 

 it over the stove some way without breaking 

 the comb, and will the bees store honey in 

 the comb again ? 



3. Is sap from rock-maple good feed for 

 bees ? If so. should it be boiled down or fed 

 as it comes from the tree? If boiled down. 



Transferring— Entrances in Winter 



1. When is the best time to change bees 

 from box-hives to movable frames ? How is 

 the best way to 1^0 it ? 



2. Do the metal-spaced frames give ample 

 room for bees to pass between frames ? 



3. When a drone hatches at the same time 

 a queen does, is he old enough to fertilize 

 her? 



4. When bees are w'intered out-of-doors in 

 boxes, chaff on all sides and top, with the '»• 

 inch side of the bottom up. will it be all 

 right to leave the whole entrance open; 

 that is. the whole length - Iowa. 



Answers.— L Wait until they swarm, and 

 then proceed as in answer to Kentucky. 



2. Yes, they take up almost no room. 



3. I don't know, but I hardly think so. 



4. Most beekeepers would probably close 

 up about /i of it. 



Transferring 



Which is the best way to transfer bees 

 from boxes to hives? Last summer I had 

 so many swarms that I ran out of empty 

 hives and had to hive some in winter covers 

 that I use. Ohio. 



Answer.— It is getting to be considered 

 the best plan to wait until the bees swarm, 

 hive the swarm in a new hive, and then 21 

 days later to break up the old hive and add 

 its bees to the swarm. 



Good Crop in Idaho 



I had 40 colonies, spring count, and in- 

 creased to 83. I sold a little over 2000 pounds 

 of honey, butwegetonlyiocentsperpound; 

 very fine honey at that. I sold all my ex- 

 tracted honey for 8 cents per pound, but I 

 was told by my customers that they never 

 had hner honey than 1 furnished them. 



Ustick. Idahc. John Bliss. 



A Big Increase and Some Surplus 



Bees worked on dandelion on Dec. 6. 1013. 

 the latest I have ever known. We have had 

 the best fall crop of asters for years in this 

 locality. I lost bs colonies out of 70 in March 

 from tioods; that left me 5. I increased to 

 50 colonies, and produced 500 pounds of 

 comb and extracted honey. How is that for 

 increase? They are all strong and have 

 plenty of honey to winter on. 



Louis Werner. 



Edwardsville. III.. Dec. 16. 1013. 



able to raise comb honey, and others claim- 

 !ng that extracted is more profitable. I raise 

 extracted exclusively from my four bee 

 yards, and buy what choice comb I need 

 for my trade, and no matter how good a 

 crop I get I have to buy several thousand 

 pounds every year to supply my customers, 

 and the way I look at the matter is that 

 most of the writers do not touch the main 

 reason for raising extracted honey instead 

 of comb, which is tiiat of taking the price, 

 say 12 cents, for extracted, and 50 percent 

 more, or 18 cents, for comb honey custo- 

 mers. They will buy to pounds of extracted 

 to one pound of comb, or at least I can sell 

 1000 pounds of extracted at 12 cents easier 

 than I can too pounds of comb at 18 cents, 

 and that when I have plenty of both kinds 

 for the customers to select from. 

 Parksville, N. Y. A. W. Smith. 



Why Extracted Honey Should Have a 

 Preference 



I have read many articles in bee journals, 

 some trying to prove that it is more profit- 



Orton's Home-made Saw: 



As winter is a leisure time, the idea struck 

 me it would be a good time to make a saw 

 rig as described on page 377 of Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture for 1012. To be brief, the thing 

 was a flat failure with me. It takes a better 

 kicker than a man in his 8oth year. To help 

 out. I got a neighbor, with his iSs-horse- 

 power gasoline engine, whicli made the saw 



