Jan. 1, 1912 



27 



is often ten times as much as they could 

 possibly use themselves. 



Q. How can I tell a queen cell from all the 

 rest? 



A. It is much larger than the rest of the 

 cells and stands alone by itself. It somewhat 

 resembles a long-pointed peanut, and it is 

 built on the surface of the comb with the 

 small end downward. Usually, queens cells 

 are found on the lower part of the comb. 



Sometimes old queen cells are left over from 

 the year before and these should not be con- 

 fused with fresh cells. The old ones do not 

 have a finished look and are generally dark 

 colored and very shallow, scarcely notice- 

 able from the rest of the comb, except in size. 



Q. What Is the best way to Introduce a 

 valuable queen? 



A. Select a couple of frames of hatching 

 brood and place them in an upper story on 

 top of a queenless colony with wire cloth be- 

 tween the two stories. After a number of 

 young bees have hatched, release the queen 

 among them. In about a week's time or after 

 most of the bees have hatched, set the two 

 frames of bees and queen down into the lower 

 story and all will go well providing that any 

 queen cells in the lower story are destroyed. 



Usually there will be directions to go with 

 these queens when sent out by mail. Of the 

 cage plans for introducing, the push-in-comb- 

 cage plan we consider the most reliable. For 

 particulars regarding these, see "Queen- 

 cages." on another page. 



Q. What is pollen? 



A. The ordinary diet of young bees is the 

 food or pap made of a mixture of honey and 

 pollen. Pollen is gathered from the flowers, 

 and carried to the hive in large pellets packed 

 on the bees' legs. Unless bees have sufficient 

 pollen in the hives, brood-rearing can not be 

 carried on, for pollen furnishes the nitrogen- 

 ous element that is required. 



Q. Some of the cells in my combs are half 

 filled with a semi-hard, granular substance. 

 What is it? 



A. Bee-bread; that is, pollen packed hard 

 in the cells for future use. Sometimes, this 

 becomes old and stale so that the bees do not 

 use it. 



Q. What is propolis? 



A. Propolis is a resinous red to brown sub- 

 stance tliat is sticky in warm weather, and 

 brittle in cold weather. The bees use it for 

 closing up gaps or openings, especially those 

 openings that would let in cold air. They 

 gatlier propolis from gums found on trees, and 

 from buds. It has no commercial value. 



Q. How can I remove propolis from my 

 fingers? 



A. A few drops of kerosene or gasoline will 

 soften it so it can be easily removed by the 

 use of soap. 



Q. Do bees have diseases? 



A. There are a few diseases of the adult 

 bees such as dysentery, bee paralysis (not 

 like paralysis of the human body) ; but the 

 most serious diseases are those of the brood 

 such as American or European foul brood. 

 These, however, may be easily cured unless 

 the bee-keeper is so negligent as to allow his 

 whole vard to become diseased before he does 

 anything about it. See ABC&XTZof 

 Bee Culture. 



Q. What causes the bees to carry their 

 brood out of the entrances of the hives? 



A. There may be several causes. First, the 

 moth-miller, or moth-worms, rather, that 

 have built their galleries through the sealed 

 brood, destroying the young brood. These the 

 bees will carry out and deposit in front of the 

 entrance. 



The most probable cause is chilled or over- 

 heated brood. Sometimes the combs, when 

 handled by inexperienced bee-keepers, are ex- 



posed for some little time to chilling winds. 

 Such brood will die as the result of exposure, 

 and will be carried out in front of the hive. 

 Sometimes the entrances of the hives are too 

 small in extremely warm weather. The bees 

 are unable to ventilate properly, and the hives 

 become overheated, thus killing the brood. The 

 result is, it is carried out and left in front 

 of the entrance. The third cause is poison 

 gathered from fruit-trees by bees during 

 spraying time. The brood dies, and is carried 

 out as before. 



Q. I have noticed a fine powdery substance 

 on the bottom board. Does this indicate that 

 something is wrong? 



A. No, this is merely bits of cappings 

 gnawed off by the bees or bits of comb, wax, 

 or propolis. There is no occasion for alarm 

 when this is found. 



Q. What is the best way to get rid of 

 moths? 



A. Do not listen to any one who wants to 

 sell you a patent moth trap or moth-proof 

 hive. Strong colonies of vigorous Italian bees 

 protect themselves against moths and moth 

 larvK, so that this trouble is practically un- 

 heard of in an Italian yard. Of course, if 

 colonies are allowed to get weak and to de- 

 generate moths may affect an entrance and 

 make trouble, but not otherwise. 



Q. What is a bee smoker? 



A. A device for blowng smoke on the bees 

 — not to stupefy them but to cause them to 

 fill up with honey so that they are better 

 natured and thus more easily handled. 



Q. What is the best fuel for smokers? 



A. Unquestionably greasy waste is best, 

 such as can be obtained at any ordinary ma- 

 chine-shop, for the asking. Rotten wood, 

 planer shavings, old rags, etc., do very well. 



Q. What is the difference between "comb" 

 and "extracted" honey? 



A. Comb honey is produced by the bees 

 in small, square boxes and sold in this way 

 just as the bees left it. The extracted honey 

 is the liquid honey thrown out of large combs 

 filled by the bees, in a centrifugal honey ex- 

 tractor which works somewhat on the prin- 

 ciple of a cream separator. That is, the liquid 

 honey is thrown out of the cells leaving the 

 comb as good as ever and it is put back in the 

 hives and filled again by the bees. For this 

 reason the extracted .honey is cheaper as the 

 bees do not need to build .new comb each 

 time. 



Q. Which is the more profitable to produce, 

 comb or extracted honey? 



A. This depends largely upon circum- 

 stances. One who has but a few colonies had 

 better produce comb honey, for the equipment 

 required for extracted honey production is 

 quite expensive and the outfit would usually 

 not be warranted for a very few colonies. 

 Professional bee-keepers, the majority of them 

 at least, produce extracted honey largely. 

 Nearly twice as much of the latter can be pro- 

 duced as of comb honey, but at the same time 

 it brings only about half as much in the mar- 

 ket as comb honey. 



Q. Can comb honey be manufactured by 

 machinery so as not to be told from genuine? 



A. No, this is impossible. Comb honey has 

 never been made by macliinery and never will 

 be, in spite of many newspaper statements 

 and magazine articles to the contrary. The A. 

 I. ROOT COMPANY, in order to show clearly 

 that there is no such thing as manufactured 

 comb honev, has, for nearlv thirty years had 

 a standing offer of $1,000.00 for a single sec- 

 tion of comb honey made by machinery that 

 so nearly resembled the natural product as to 

 deceive the average person. The fact that no 

 one has ever been able to claim this money, 

 shows conclusively that there is no such ar- 

 ticle on the market. There are plenty of rea- 

 sons why such a feat would be impossible, 

 but lack of space forbids the mention of them 

 here. See A B C & X Y Z of Bee Culture. 



