74 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ans-vo:red by 

 Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the '20 or more apiarists 

 who help to malie " Queries and Replies " so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, It 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Making Fotmdation Moulds. 



Please give full directions for making 

 foundation moulds of plaster of paris ; 

 also full directions how to use them 

 after they are made. S. D. Y. 



Woodville, Tex. 



Answer. — I don't know how the thing 

 is done, and 1 doubt if you will care to 

 know. I think those who have tried it 

 have given it up. However, if any one 

 makes a success of it, and thinks it a 

 desirable thing, perhaps he will be kind 

 enough to tell us about it through these 

 pages. 



Comb Honey Adulteration. 



1. There is a man here who says that 

 comb honey can be adulterated. Can it 

 be done? If so, how ? 



2. Did you ever see, or hear of, any 

 comb honey that was adulterated ? 



De Soto, Mo. A. B. G. 



Answers. — 1. A silly story has been 

 going the rounds of the press that arti- 

 ficial comb honey could be made, the 

 combs made by man, the honey filled in 

 and sealed over, without any help what- 

 ever from the bees. Sufficient reply to 

 such nonsense is in the fact that for 

 years A. I. Root has made a standing 

 ofifer of $1,000 for a single pound of 

 such honey, and no one has ever come 

 forward to claim the $1,000. 



Comb foundation is made and largely 

 used, and in Germany they are now 

 making combs with cells of full depth, 

 but they are so heavy that they would 

 at once bo detectcid, and if everything 

 else could be accomplished it hardly 

 seems possible that any machinery could 



make even a faint imitation of the bees' 

 handiwork in sealing the cells. 



If sugar or some other substance were 

 fed to bees and stored by them, that 

 might be called adulterated comb honey. 



2. I once saw a piece of artificial 

 comb honey. It is the only piece I ever 

 heard of, and was probably as nearly 

 perfection as could be attained. But it 

 was as easy to distinguish it from the 

 dainty work of the bee as to distinguish 

 a rose made of coarse cotton-cloth from 

 the delicate flower that grows on the 

 bush. 



Queen-Cell Protector. 



If a queen-cell just ready to hatch in 

 a few hours or a day, is put in a West 

 cell-protector, and put in the same 

 apartment as the queen, and left so, 

 what will be the result ? J. F. L. 



Answer. — The young queen may sup- 

 plant the old one, but in most cases that 

 I have tried, the young queen has been 

 destroyed before she was three days old. 



Pollen and Brood in Sections. 



In many of my section cases 90 per 

 cent, of the sections are completely pep- 

 pered with a dark brown (almost black) 

 pollen. In a few cases drone-brood was 

 found in the lower half of one or more 

 sections. How to explain this is the 

 trouble. The queen was not crowded. 



Some years ago I practiced contrac- 

 tion, often confining the queen on six 

 frames and occasionally to five; and I 

 can remember but one occasion of pol- 

 len in the sections, and then only to a 

 very limited extent, I have also (years 

 ago) used broad frames on each side, six 

 brood-frames in the center ; even then 

 the queen never molested the sections, 

 nor did they contain pollen. 



I have never used zinc to any extent. 

 When I use the T case I use a honey- 

 board, either wood or zinc, as most con- 

 venient. When using a wood slatted- 

 bottom case, bee-space below, I always 

 omit the honey-board. I know of but 

 one thing that may have favored the 

 queen going above — it is this : Intelli- 

 gent help not being obtainable, and be- 

 ing unable to examine the condition of 

 the brood-chamber, as soon as the first 

 colony cast a swarm (May 12th), I did 

 not examine the strength of other colo- 

 nies, nor did I wait for the whitening of 

 the top of the frames, but proceeded to 

 place 24 sections on each hive. White 

 clover was in full bloom, but owing to 



