118 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fel. 20, 



will probably be safer to trust to your own judgment after you 

 are a little more acquainted with the text-books that I know 

 you are studying, than to trust to my advice. I don't know 

 whether clippers or non-clippers are in the majority among 

 those who make bee-keeping a specialty, but there are many 

 who could not easily be induced to do without clipping. Sit- 

 uated as you are, I wouldn't think of getting along without it. 

 I don't suppose you mean that Sunday is the only day in 

 the week in which you have daylight at home, for in that case 

 I don't believe you'd want to keep bees, but I suppose you 

 mean that you are from home through the part of the day 

 that swarms would be sure to issue. One way to do is to have 

 queen-traps at the entrance to hives, and then when a swarm 

 issues you would find the queen in the trap in the evening or 

 the next morning. 



3. Yes, there's a good deal of difference. Carniolans have 

 perhaps the worst reputation as swarmers. I don't know that 

 there's such a great difference between Italians and blacks, 

 but Doolittle thinks there's much difference among bees of the 

 same race. He says he hasn't one swarm now where he form- 

 erly had ten, and evidently thinks this has resulted from the 

 fact that his queens have been reared, not from swarming 

 colonies, but over a queen-excluder on a colony with a laying 

 queen and with no thought of swarming. 



4. I'm not sure that there Is. The method you used — by 

 the taste — Is pretty reliable, but sometimes the bees gather 

 what is called honey-dew, that tastes about as bad as any 

 adulterated article. But I don't remember that I ever tasted 

 any with a bad taste, of the bees' gathering, that was not 

 pretty dark in color, and the adulterated article may be very 

 light in color. 



You're wrong in judgment as to the bees losing their sense 

 of taste. When they gather bad honey, I think you will find 

 it's not because they think it's good, but because it's the best 

 they can get. 



Packing Honey for Long Shipment. 



Is it possible to send comb honey from California to Bos- 

 ton without serious damage? If so, how ? At Christmas I 

 sent 24 sections, and 15 were broken. They were packed in 

 a strong wooden case, and shipped by express. I want to send 

 more ; how can I do it with better success ? J. B. 



Garvanza, Calif. 



Answer. — One thing that will probably make a big differ- 

 ence in breakage is to send by freight. Never send comb 

 honey by express. Express goods are handled more rapidly 

 than freight, and a package of only 24 pounds would be 

 throivn by express where it would be handled slowly by freight. 

 It isn't an easy thing to get a single case of comb honey 

 through from California to Boston in whole condition. A car- 

 load would be easier. I hardly know what would be the best 

 way. One way to do would be to give no protection whatever, 

 and another would be to try to protect very thoroughly. If 

 you give no protection whatever, merely putting the honey In 

 a case with glass on one or two sides, then the honey being in 

 plain sight through the glass, and the glass showing, too, 

 there would be some likelihood that it would be handled with 

 care. If you try protection, put the case of honey in a box 

 large enough so that you can pack it on all sides with excel- 

 sior shavings three or four inches thick. 



Finding Queens— Full Siieets of Foundation in 

 Brood. Frames. 



1. If the "court" please, I should like to explain a little 

 further regarding the "queen's death," mentioned on page 7. 

 " I don't know " whether you meant to fay I am a " slouch " at 

 finding a queen or not, but I am quite sure the queen was not 

 present at the time spoken of. How do I know? When I 

 said "I made two thorough examinations," I meant it, for I 

 think I saw every bee that was on the combs, and perhaps 

 those that were not on the combs. They were not so numer- 

 ous as to be two or three deep on the combs, but were rather 

 sparsely distributed over the combs. Besides, the queen was 

 quite yellow, and easily distinguished from the others. 

 Further: By hustling around in the neighborhood, I found a 

 weak colony, the queen of which was given me by the owner. 

 This queen was introduced by caging her on a comb as the 

 former one had beeu ; but as the weather following was too 

 cold to open the hive, she was not released for nearly a week. 

 Several days afterward, the weather being fine, I examined 

 them and found the queen all right. Now is not this pretty 

 conclusive evidence that the Italian queen is dead ? I mean, 

 does it not prove to the "court," beyond a reasonable doubt. 



that that queen was not present when I made those " thor- 

 ough examinations?" 



2. Now for a question regarding the use of comb founda- 

 tion : A friend of considerable experience in bee-keeping tells 

 me it does not pay to use full sheets in brood-frames. He ad- 

 vises about half sheets ; then when a swarm is hived, contract 

 by means of a division-board to about four frames, adding a 

 frame at a time as fast as filled. What do you think of the 

 plan ? Would not the bees be pretty sure to fill frames thos 

 with worker-comb ? H. M. S. 



Vine, Ohio. 



Answers — 1. I'm pretty near stumped, but then I'm stub- 

 born enough to Insist that you couldn't be dead certain that 

 the yellow queen was not still present at the time you intro- 

 duced the last queen. Neither do I insinuate that you're any 

 " slouch " at finding queens. The court admits that the cir- 

 cumstantial evidence is strong, but denies positive proof. 



First, as to the careful looking over, not many bees being 

 in the way — I don't know how to explain it, but a good many 

 times I've been baffled in finding a queen in a nucleus so weak 

 that it seemed every bee must be plainly seen. I've looked 

 the combs over and over again, looked in all the corners of 

 the hive, and no queen to be seen, but the next day I'd find 

 her the first thing. Where she hid was and is a mystery, but 

 I'm inclined to think I've had more trouble finding queens in 

 these weaklings than in the strongest colonies. 



Secondly. You caged another queen in the hive, and that 

 last queen was accepted all right. Evidently you think the 

 caged queen would not have been accepted if the yellow queen 

 was all right when the last one was released. "The court ac- 

 cepts your view as correct. But there's a possibility that 

 although the yellow queen was dead when her successor was 

 released, she was all right at the time the successor was caged. 

 Sometimes I have kept extra queens by putting them in a cage 

 and putting the cage over the brood-frames of a colony having 

 a free laying queen. The caged queens were kept all right, 

 but sometimes the bees have killed their own queen. So while 

 you have strong circumstantial evidence, you musn't insist 

 there's any positive proof unless you want to be fined for con- 

 tempt of court. 



2. Taking all things into consideration, I prefer to have 

 full sheets of foundation, but there are those whose opinions 

 are entitled to great respect who think differently. W. Z. 

 Hutchinson Is a strong advocate for hiving swarms on starters 

 instead of full sheets. C. J. H. Gravenhorst, high German 

 authority, says the first four or five combs will be built as 

 soon without foundation, but with the succeeding combs the 

 case Is different. If you contract to four frames, those four 

 will probably be generally filled with worker-comb, but not 

 always, where there is no foundation ; but after those four 

 frames are filled, if you add one frame at a time, you may 

 count on a goodly proportion of drone-comb wherever there is 

 no foundation. 



^ I m 



An Interesting Beginning. 



I want your advice about a colony of bees that has gone 

 amiss with me. June 26 we moved to the house where we 

 live (rented, of course) ; it belonged to an old bee-keeper who 

 died in March, lS9o. I had no interest in bees, nor ever had 

 been near where they were; it was his son-in-law who rented 

 the place, and asked me if I knew anything about bees. I 

 simply said " No." Well, he said, "Just let them go, and I 

 will set them back in the yard." In the fall there was an 

 even 20 colonies. 



Along about the middle of July a friend of mine came to 

 visit me. " Oh," he said, " you have bees." I said, "Yes," 

 in a listless fashion. He looked them all over and said, "I 

 would not give a nickle ahead, for they are not doing any- 

 thing." His father used to keep bees, so he was that much 

 ahead. That interested me. We went over the lot; they 

 were packed on the summer stands, and It was the middle of 

 July. The brood-chambers were all covered, and what a mess, 

 you have no idea! Spiders, crickets, ants — big black ones, 

 small red ones; moths, and every conceivable rubbish. Some 

 had honey-boxes on. One had a stomach-bitters' bottle on, 

 but not one had the covers off the entrance from the brood- 

 chamber. 



Well, we rounded up the honey-boxes, but only got about 

 half a dozen. "Well," he says, "scrub the caps or covers 

 clean, and let them store their honey in that." So scrub I did. 

 I can laugh now, but, Doctor, believe me, I was more in earn- 

 est than was ever a Buddhist saying his flower prayer. I 

 cleaned them up, and what a transformation scene ! Before, 

 one would not have believed there was a bee around, but after 



