554 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



They don't sag. The wood slats cover 

 the bottoms of the sections, but that 

 makes a temptation for the bees to 

 crowd in propolis along the edges, and I 

 think I'd rather have the sections bare. 



2. That's a pretty hard question to 

 answer. There are so many ways and 

 so many conditions. In my locality I 

 think cellars are the best protection, 

 and I suspect they are in yours. But if 

 I were in your place I would try to find 

 out what was successful in the hands of 

 bee-keepers near by. If you don't cel- 

 lar, try to have something in the line of 

 a wind-break on the side of the prevail- 

 ing winds, even if it is nothing more 

 than a pile of corn-stalks. 



"Wire Staples for Bottom-Boards, Etc. 



You speak of having taken a fancy to 

 those wire staples for securing bottom- 

 boards, covers, etc. I have used them 

 for years — got the idea from the double- 

 pointed tack. Unlike some things I 

 have become enthusiastic over at one 

 time and another, the longer I use them 

 the better I like them. I have made 

 mine in a slow, " pokey" way, by hand, 

 using a hammer and dies, and cut them 

 from steel wire. If you find any place 

 where they are manufactured, you 

 would confer a favor by sending me the 

 address of the firm. J. A. N. 



Answer. — These are the staples men- 

 tioned by L. Highbarger. After some 

 inquiry I got a supply from Bullard & 

 Gormly Co., 78 Randolph St., Chicago. 

 They call them " tobacco staples." Cost 

 7 cents a pound. I got the 1}4 inch size 

 — }4 inch larger than the size Friend 

 Highbarger has been using. There are 

 about 2()0 staples to the pound, so the 

 expense is light. 



A Kind of Bee-Grub or Maggot. 



One of my neighbors who keeps a few 

 bees found quite a number of dead bees 

 on the alighting-boards, and as the lady 

 of the house is the chief worker of the 

 family among the bees, she examined 

 tliein and in each bee she found a grub 

 or maggot, white, with two black points 

 resembling eyes on the larger end or 

 head. They were in the abdomen of the 

 bees, and were in size from a 4-days-oId 



larva to one nearly ready to seal over, 

 but whether it will kill all the bees or 

 not is hard to tell. I have found but 

 one so far in my bees. We cannot find 

 any description in any of our bee books 

 or papers, and I write you to see if you 

 could let us know through the "Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal " what the plague is, 

 and how it gets into the the bees. Is it 

 probably fatal ? Did any of the " bee- 

 ologists " ever see or hear of anything 

 like it before ? 



The yield of honey was very good here 

 this year, and the bees have their brood- 

 chambers full. J. S. 



Westfall, Oreg. 



Answer. — I don't know a thing about 

 it. I asked the convention at St. Joseph, 

 but could get no light. Send one of the 

 affected bees to L. O. Howard, Entomol- 

 ogist, Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Possibly he may be able 

 to identify it. 



Queen Stopped Laying, Etc. 



In looking over my bees a few days 

 ago, I found the colonies strong, with 

 plenty of honey, but no brood nor eggs. 

 I have only three colonies ; all were 

 alike. I looked for the queen in one, 

 and found a fine looking queen but no 

 eggs or brood. Do the queens quit lay- 

 ing at this time of the season ? 



There was very little honey for them 

 here the past summer, and they were 

 quite weak last spring, and I did not let 

 them swarm, or at least I tried not to, 

 and, in fact, I saw very little inclination 

 to swarm until quite late, and I never 

 saw but one drone all summer among 

 ray bees. Could it be possible that they 

 swarmed, taking the old queen and leav- 

 ing a young one, and with no drones for 

 them to mate with, and so leave the 

 queens barren ? Or would they swarm 

 under such circumstances? C. W. C. 



Sac City, Iowa. 



Answer. — I don't believe you need 

 worry a bit. It's nothing unusual for 

 queens to stop laying in October, and 

 this year they seem to stop earlier than 

 usual. Some of mine stopped in Octo- 

 ber. 



A Binder for holding a year's num- 

 bers of the Bee Journal we mail for 

 only 50 cents; or clubbed with the 

 Journal for $1.40. 



