390 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 18, 



he has to put cases on early. Sometimes he puts the cushions 

 on over the section-cases. 



OUTLOOK FOE HONEY-PBODUCTION. 



The future outlook for honey-production in this State was 

 discussed. Some thought the outlook rather poor, but gen- 

 erally there was hopes of better crops in the future. V. N. 

 Forbes said : " I have practiced furnishing Alsike clover 

 seed to neighbors at cost price, and think this is the best way 

 to get a crop of honey. I advise mixing mammoth clover with 

 the Alsike." 



As there was no unBnished business, it was voted to hold 

 the next meeting at Vergennes, in January, 1897. The con- 

 vention then adjourned. 0. .J. Lowbet, Sec. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DJt. C. C. M1X.I.ER. AIAJiETfGO. ILL. 



LQuestions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct/) 



Why Did the Bees Leave the Hive ? 



I had only one colony of bees last year, increased to four, 

 and all seemed to be in good condition, but all at once one took 

 a notion to leave the hive and go into a neighboring colony. I 

 examined the hive, and could not see a thing the matter. I 

 had a good supply of honey. I kept putting the queen back, 

 but the bees would fly oft and stay sometimes 15 to 30 min- 

 utes. I kept them in for two months. What was the matter ? 

 What could I do for them to quiet them ? E. M. T. 



Answer. — Hard to tell, unless it was the desertion that 

 occurs a good many times in spring when a colony is not yery 

 strong. It occurs, I think, generally, if not always, when a 

 colony has more brood than it can cover. Just why the bees 

 desert I don't know, unless they become discouraged because 

 they can't cover all the brood. 



Various Kinds of Smolcer.Fncl. 



How do you keep the smoker lighted '? I use the Clark, 

 but find it difficult to keep it going long enough. What kind 

 of fuel is best to use in it ? C. M. M. 



Answer. — If the door of a Clark smoker fits very closely 

 there is not draft enough to keep it going. In that case open 

 the door jast a little. Stand the smoker with the nozzle upper- 

 most, and It will burn better than to lay the smoker down. 

 Of course, the kind of fuel makes a great difference. If you 

 use punk, you will have no trouble about the fire going out, 

 no matter how the smoker stands. I have had great satisfac- 

 tion in using the soft, white, rotten wood from apple-trees. If 

 you want to make it extra-good, dissolve saltpeter in water, 

 soak the rotten v/qoA in that, then dry it. The least spark of 

 fire touched to it will burn, and you will have hard work to 

 put it out. Some use cheap paper rolled together and soaked 

 in saltpeter. 



A great many different things are recommended for 

 smoker fuel, some calling one thing best, some another. The 

 thing a man finds out for himself is likely to be thought best 

 by him. There's a good deal in being used to a thing. Then 

 it makes a difference as to what is most easily obtained. I 

 have used planer-shavings more than anything else, not be- 

 cause they are better than anything else, but because I can 

 go to the planing mill any time and get all I want. Pine 



shavings are perhaps used more than anything else, because 

 most readily got, but they're not the best. Basswood shavings 

 are good, especially if you can get those that are a sort of 

 compromise between shavings and sawdust. Some use corn- 

 cobs chopped up. Pine needles are not bad. Old cotton rags 

 are excellent, and not inclined to go out. Cowdung has been 

 used, but I've never tried it. It has been objected to on the 

 score of cleanliness. Cotton-waste — that which has been used 

 on the journals of railroad cars and thrown away — is good. 

 Dry twigs of hard wood broken up are good. If you are blow- 

 ing hard and keeping up a big fire, you can use green twigs a 

 fourth to half an inch thick, and you'll have a dense, sharp 

 smoke. In fact, you can use almost anything that will burn, 

 and that you can get into a smoker, if the pieces are not too 

 large. 



Rearing^ 4t>icci>s — Clipping — Bee-Zinc. 



• 



1. Are queens reared from queen-cells during swarming- 

 time, with a good queen in the hive, fully developed in all 

 cases except where cramped or injured ? 



2. Do the bees sometimes use larviB too old to make good 

 queens, during the swarming-fever period '? 



3. Do you think it pays to keep all queens' wings clipped, 

 with the bees in large hives ? I like the idea, but my, what a 

 job it is ! I try to keep my hives as populous as possible, and 

 even in the early spring I find it a long task to search for the 

 queens among such multitudes of bees. Where one can give 

 but limited time to the bees, as with me, I am more and more 

 beginning to favor excluding-zinc to prevent swarms from ab- 

 sconding. After all, do you think the zinc hinders the bees 

 very much, especially if it is placed as in one of the cuts on 

 page 99 of the " A B C of Bee-Culture," so the bees do not 

 have to climb up any, but simply walk through on the bottom- 

 board ? E. M. 



Answers. — 1. I'm not sure that they are. Certainly 

 there's a difference in the appearance of the cells and a differ- 

 ence in the queens, and if some queens are different from 

 others it seems reasonable to infer that there may be so much 

 difference that some of them will hardly be considered fully 

 developed, but it may not go so far as that. 



2. When the bees start preparations for swarming I don't 

 believe they ever start with a larva, but always with an egg 

 in a queen-cell. Queens are started from larvas only in cases 

 where the queen has been removed. 



3. I think it pays me. The looking over and clipping can 

 be done before the busy tfme comes. I hardly think the 

 hindrance of perforated zinc is a very serious matter. Of 

 course, however, there must be no zinc in the way when a 

 young queen wants to leave the hive on her wedding tour. 



^ 



Honey from Motherwort. 



What is the quality, color, etc., of honey stored from 

 motherwort? I had hundreds of pounds last summer of dark, 

 cloudy honey, that had a very peculiar taste (not a very pleas- 

 ant one, either), and 1 am anxious to know whether it was 

 from motherwort or honey-dew. My bees worked on both? 



Pugh, Ohio. S. B. 



Answer.— I don't know. Who can tell ? I suspect the 

 dark and cloudy honey was more likely honey-dew. 



Drone-Trap Questions. 



1. My two colonies of bees came through the winter in 

 fine condition, packed with dry leaves on the summer stands. 

 They are boiling over with bees now, and I think they will 

 swarm as soon as it stops raining long enough. Thinking 

 they might come out while I was at church yesterday, I put 

 on the drone-trap, and it was a grand success, for it was 

 packed full of drones, when I got home, with many of them 

 dead. Now, what did so many drones coming out indicate ? 



2. What ought I to have done with the drones? (I let 

 them go back into the hive.) 



3. What would have become of my queen if they had 



