234 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



answered by 

 Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufBcient special interest to 

 require replies from the 20 or more apiarists 

 who help to maiie "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. 



• A»,(»im>A*k<ikmttki 



What About House-Apiaries ? 



Are house-apiaries a success generally? 

 D. 



Answer.— At one time they were 

 spoken of with a good deal of favor, but 

 after a time seemed to fall into disfavor 

 and were mostly abandoned. Of late, 

 however, a few bee-keepers have again 

 tried them, and are quite emphatic in 

 their favor. Among these are B. Tay- 

 lor and H. P. Langdon. Whether others 

 will be equally successful remains to be 

 seen. 



Anxious to Get Increase. 



I have had some experience in the bee- 

 business this season, and I think 1 have 

 learned something, but now I am lost to 

 know what to do. In the month of June 

 I doubled a colony by taking two frames 

 out and putting into a new hive with 

 the old queen with them, then placed 

 the new hive on the old stand, and after 

 three days a Carniolan queen was intro- 

 duced, and the first time I opened the 

 hive I found her, but she took to the 

 wing, so the colony was left queenless 

 again. 



I then sent for another queen and in- 

 troduced her. I gave them a good 

 smoking, so as to make it sure, but I 

 have not been able to find her. The old 

 brood has now all hatched out, of course, 

 and now there is none in the frames — 

 nor as many bees as two weeks ago. 

 The bees have brought in quite a good 

 deal of honey. Now what shall I do? I 

 wish to increase, if possible. The new 

 colony on the old stand has done nicely, 

 are packed completely full of bees — I 

 have not seen a drone yet, and have not 



found a queen-cell in either colony 

 started during the season. E. H. H. 

 St. Johnsbury Center, Vt., July 30. 



Answer. — As you are anxious to in- 

 crease, your easiest way may be to give 

 the queenless colony a frame of brood 

 from the other colony, and in about 

 three weeks time they will have a laying 

 queen of their own rearing. If the other 

 colony can spare it, give several frames 

 of brood. 



Tongfues of the Carniolans. 



Have Carniolans as long tongues as 

 Italians ? E. 



Answer. — Prom the fact that I don't 

 remember that their friends have ever 

 claimed that their tongues were longer 

 than those of other bees, or that their 

 foes claimed they were shorter, I sup- 

 pose they are of the same length. 



Preventing the Issue of Swarms. 



Dr. Miller states somewhere in a re- 

 cent number of the Bee Journal, that 

 he hopes to never see another swarm in 

 his apiary. Will he be kind enough to 

 inform the readers of the Bee Journal 

 what he does to prevent the issue of 

 swarms ? and outline his plan of man- 

 agement during the swarming season ? 



Seattle, Wash. S. D. C. 



Answer. — Now look here, are you 

 sure I said I hoped never to see another 

 swarm in my apiary ? I don't know the 

 place to- which you refer, but I'm pretty 

 sure if I said so I didn't tell the truth. 

 Much as I should like never to have an- 

 other swarm, I'm afraid they will put in 

 an unwelcome appearance in the future 

 as in the past ; and hope means not only 

 desire but expectation as well. 



I have never succeeded in the entire 

 prevention of swarming, but possibly it 

 may do some good to tell one of the ways 

 I have managed with swarming colonies. 

 When a swarm issued, the queen was 

 caged and kept in the hive till I was 

 ready to attend to the case, which might 

 bo any time within five days. Of course 

 if I was ready to attend to it right away 

 it might be done then, but as a matter 

 of fact I think the queen was always 

 left caged for a day or so. 



I took out the combs of the hive, oiio 

 by one, shook off about half the bees, 

 putting the combs with the remaining 

 bees in a new hive. Then I put in the 

 old hive a frame of young brood and 

 two or three empty combs, sometimes 



