Mar. 1, 1912 



14S 



ment Station be requested to carry on more exper- 

 iments along apicultural lines, to determine the 

 best race of bees, the most useful hive for the farm- 

 er beekeeper, the best manner of feeding bees, and 

 also to experiment with different honey-plants. 



We also request that an apiary be established at 

 the College, and some help by lectures and exhib- 

 its on some of the future demonstration trains be 

 given. 



N. Fred Gardiner. Pres., Geary. 



Geo. H. Coulson, Vice-pres., Cherokee. 



G. C. BoARDMAN, Sec, Shawnee. 



G. E. Lemon, Treas., Nash. 



Ten Questions and Answers 



1. In a bee-cellar, where should the thermometer 

 be placed — at the bottom, top, or middle, to mark 

 the required temperature of 42°? 



2. In making nuclei, what is the best way to build 

 them up to become strong colonies ? 



3. Do you approve of metal sheets for covers to 

 hives? 1 have found that they retain moisture in 

 great drops on the under side; or is there a way to 

 overcome the moisture ? 



4. Is it all right to breed virgin queens to drones 

 of the same hive ? 



5. What is the great objection to natural swarm- 

 ing? 



6. Do the Italian bees excel all other species in 

 working on red clover? 



7. Do bees work continually, or take a rest after 

 each load ? 



8. Just before uniting two colonies by alternating 

 their combs, should they be smoked, and the se- 

 lected queen caged and destroyed ? 



9. Is ripe alsike clover injurious as a feed for cat- 

 tle because of danger of poison from the seed ? 



10. Which is the better to use for coating the in- 

 side of wooden feeders — paraffin or linseed oil ? 



Slate River, Ont., Jan. 20. J. M. Munro. 



[1. We usually hang the thermometer in the mid- 

 dle of the cellar about half way between the lowest 

 and highest hive of bees. In a good bee-cellar you 

 are not likely to find as much difference in temper- 

 ature between the floor and the ceiling as in a room 

 where there is artificial heat, for instance, and 

 where there is outside exposure. 



2. We regard the Alexander plan for making in- 

 increase as rather the best, all things considered : 

 for the weak nuclei, being kept over the strong 

 colony, have a better chance to keep warm and to 

 breed up properly. 



3. We do not approve of sheets of metal for covers 

 of hives unless there is wood underneath. If we 

 understand the type of covers you refer to, there is 

 no wood lining. In that case you should use a thin 

 cover underneath, known as a super cover. 



4. If inbreeding were kept up very long, it is like- 

 ly that the stock would degenerate. But there Is 

 not much danger of this; for unless you are in an 

 Isolated locality several miles from bees in bee- 

 trees, etc., you can not be sure that your virgins 

 are mating with drones from the same colony they 

 were reared in. Even under the conditions named 

 you have to keep drone-guards over all other colo- 

 nies if you wish to prevent the virgins from mating 

 with other drones. 



5. A certain amount of natural swarming is not 

 objectionable in the least if some increase is want- 

 ed any way, and if the swarming is not kept up to 

 such an extent that the strength of the colony is 

 reduced so that less surplus honey is produced. 

 Some strains of bees will swarm excessively. Some 

 of the largest producers that we have ever known 

 have said that they do not object to natural swarm- 

 ing; but they do object, of course, to after-swarm- 

 ing. Where the bees want to swarm, however, as 

 soon as the colony becomes strong enough to work 

 well in the supers, so that super work is retarded, 

 then the trouble begins. 



6. Some Italians excel all other bees in working 

 on red clover; but it would not be true to say that 

 all Italians do. 



7. It is impossible to give a definite answer to 

 this question, as it is likely that bees rest more or 

 less, although we are not quite ready to believe 

 that they rest after every trip. At a time when one 

 can hear above all else the roar of bees working fe- 

 verishly on the flowers during a good flow of hon- 

 ey, it seems impossible that there could be very 

 much resting going on during the height of the 

 work of the day. 



8. We do not advise the plan of uniting that you 



refer to here. It is better to have the bees unite 

 very slowly, so that they hardly know a change has 

 taken place. Placing one colony over another with 

 a newspaper between is a good way. In either case 

 it is well to kill the inferior queen first and then 

 cage the other. 



9. We have never heard that ripe alsike clover is 

 injurious to cattle. We can not say positively; 

 but we doubt whether there is much foundation 

 for such a theory. If any of our readers have rea- 

 son to think otherwise we should be glad to have 

 them report. 



10. Paraffin is rather better for coating the inside 

 of feeders, as it has more body, and is more likely 

 to prevent leaks. — ED.j 



No Difference in Laying, Whether Queens are 

 Clipped or Not 



For the last five years I have clipped every laying 

 queen I owned, and will continue to do so as long 

 as the results are as satisfactory as they have been. 

 I do not see the slightest difference between the 

 laying of clipped and undipped queens, as Arthur 

 C. Miller outlines, nor do I see that they are handi- 

 capped in any way. for I have had clipped queens 

 reach the age of four years. There is only one sea- 

 son of the year when I hesitate to perform the op- 

 eration, and that is from the middle of February to 

 the first week in March (that is, here in the South), 

 for at that time there are so many old nursing bees 

 WJth a very cranky disposition: and with the least 

 indication that the queen is not acting normally 

 they will attempt to ball her. 



Elmendorf, Texas, Jan. 19. Alfred L. Hartl. 



Buckwheat Yielding Differently on Clay and Sandy 

 Soil 



Regarding the article on p. 713, Dec. 1," Why Buck- 

 wheat Yields only in the Morning," if I am not 

 mistaken it usuallv yields honey nearly or quite 

 all day on sandy soil; but on clay or even clay 

 loam, it seldom yields in the afternoon. The qual- 

 ity, too, is better on sandy soil. 



From fifteen to twenty years ago there was a 

 good deal of buckwheat raised near my yard in the 

 northern part of Sauk County, Wisconsin, and I 

 often took as much as 100 pounds of nearly pure 

 buckwheat honey (extracted) from a single colony. 

 I think some years the yard averaged that much. 

 We get but little there now. 



Veedum, Wis. E. M. Hayes. 



Information Wanted on Producing Honey in Dis- 

 eased Apiaries 



There are many articles on curing foul brood, 

 but only occasionally one on raising honey where 

 the disease exists. We need good articles on sys- 

 tems of keeping bees healthy and raising extract- 

 ed honey where the disease does exist. It is done. 

 There are beekeepers in Utah who raise it by the 

 carload in locations one-fourth to a half diseased. 



North Yakima, Wash. V. V. Dexter. 



[This is an important question; for with P^uropean 

 foul brood especially, it is almost impossible to get 

 entirely rid of the disease at once; and if it gets 

 into the locality, it is bound to keep cropping out 

 to some extent for several years, although it can be 

 kept well under control. We shall be glad to have 

 our readers give us the benefit of their experience 

 along this line.— Ed.] 



How Could Bees Separate Water from Syrup so 

 Quickly ? 



In my article for Dec. 1, p. 717, I wrote about " lit- 

 tle drops falling like rain." Dr. Miller and the edi- 

 tor, p. 4, Jan. 1, joined in saying that it was "water 

 separated by the bees from the syrup." I do not 

 care to question authority as good as this, but at 

 the same time it gives rise to several questions in 

 my mind that I should like to see answered for the 

 good of the readers. 



1. How long a time is required after a bee has ta- 

 ken up the syrup before it will be able to throw off 

 the water? Those drops were falling all the way 

 between the tub where the bees were feeding and 

 the hives, six or eight rods away, but to a great ex- 

 tent near the tub, or before the bees could rise 

 over the brim. 



