470 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 23, 



of these packages so a customer does not have to wait for it to 

 be done, and you are not hindered much when you are in a 

 hurry. By putting up pacliages containing one, two, three, 

 four, five, and six sections each, you will be able, by combin- 

 ing these, to give the customer the exact amount he may want. 

 You can put it up in paclcages containing an exact amount, as 

 25-cent, 50-cent, or dollar packages, or almost any other 

 amount, as the sections will vary a little in weight, and you 

 can select the ones that will make it come about even for the 

 price you may need. I sell the most 50-cent and dollar pack- 

 ages. 



You will notice that some of the packages have a conven- 

 ient handle or bail to carry them by. These are for the 

 " foot-folks" and those on bicycles, or those who go on the 

 train and wish to take a package to a friend. This bail is 

 made by cutting the twine long enough to weave back and 

 forward a few times. It pays to make it easy and convenient 

 for a customer to handle these packages. The customer gets 

 his honey home without breaking the cappings or having any 

 " mess '^ about it, and is much more likely to want more. 



I put up other combinations ; but these I send are enough 

 to illustrate the method, and each can make combinations to 

 suit his own case. Sometimes if the sections are not well 

 fastened in, or the customer wishes to carry it a long distance, 

 I cut these " splints " off and make a separator between each 

 section. Some may say this is too much trouble — let the cus- 

 tomer take care of it after it is sold to him. I have found it 

 to pay me to be to all this trouble. — Gleanings. 



CONDnCTED BY 



r>K. O. C. AIILLER, MAJiETfGO, ILL. 



LQuestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Maybe It U Bce-Paral}'§i$. 



What ails my bees ? How can I get rid of the disease ? 

 They come out of the hive and crawl about until they die. 

 Many are young, fuzzy ones. Many of these have imperfect 

 wings. A few of them look shiny and a little swollen, but 

 most of them are not. I notice the bees picking at some of 

 them. Some have a little white worm in them. Will giving 

 the queeu of a diseased colony to a healthy one spread the 

 disease 1 Subsckiber. 



Isom, Tenn. 



Answer. — I confess that I am neither able to identify the 

 disease nor name a cure. Your description somewhat suggests 

 bee-paralysis, but you say nothing about the trembling motiou 

 peculiar to that, and the little worm in the bees is something 

 different. The young, fuzzy bees with imperfect wings sug- 

 gest wax-worms which often burrow through the combs and 

 injure the young bees. Knowing so little about the disease I 

 cannot say whether the queen could communicate it, and shall 

 be glad of light from any one. 



Eiitrancc-Onards — Drag;;;iiig Out Drone-Liarva> — 

 Sweet Clover. 



1. At the beginning of the swarming season if a bee-en- 

 trance guard is placed before the entrance of a hive that will 

 keep the queen from passing out with the swarm, what would 

 be the final result ? 



2. I began keeping bees this year ; I had 13 colonies, and 

 put them into frame hives, introduced Italian queens last 



month, and now these colonies that I put these queens in are 

 all killing and dragging out the drones before they are 

 hatched. What is the cause of it? 



3. Which is the best, leather-colored Italians or 5-banded? 



4. At what season would you plant sweet clover ? 



5. Does sweet clover bloom every year '? 



6. Is it a good honey-producing plant ? 



7. How long is it in bloom? T. J. B. 

 New Berne, N. C. 



Answers. — 1. If bee-zinc be placed at the entrance 

 of the hive and allowed to remain there all summer, 

 there will be no appreciable difference until the time comes 

 for swarming. Then when the bees are ready to swarm they'll 

 swarm just the same as if there was no guard at the entrance. 

 If the queen cannot squeeze her way through, the bees will 

 usually return to the hive, but sometimes they will unite with 

 some other colouy that is swarming, or go into some other hive 

 to which a swarm is returning. But usually they will return 

 to the hive, sometimes first clustering for a time just as if the 

 queen were with them. A day or two later they may swarm 

 and return again. About eight days after the first swarm 

 issues, the first young queen will emerge, and the old queen 

 will be killed. The bees will then swarm again, and keep 

 swarming for several days until all the young queens but one 

 have been killed. Then the young queen not being allowed to 

 make her wedding flight, she will become a drone-layer if she 

 lays at all, and when the workers die off and leave nothing 

 but drones, the wax-worms will have a good time cleaning out 

 the combs. That would be about the final result. 



2. The killing of drones and dragging out the drone-larvae 

 indicates either that there is a scarcity of bee-forage, or that 

 a young queen has been reared and gone to laying. 



3. That's a matter of opinion. Some prefer one, some 

 the other. Taken all in all, I think my leather-colored Ital- 

 ians do better work than the yellow ones, but I haven't so 

 many of the 5-banders. But I confess to a liking for the 

 looks of the very yellow ones. 



4. About the time you would sow other clover. 



5. Seed sown this last spring will make a growth this 

 year without any blossoms. The next year it will grow much 

 larger, blossom, and then die root and branch. It is a bien- 

 nial, living only two years. 



6. It has a fine reputation as a honey-producing plant, 

 the honey being considered the very finest by some, but not 

 liked by others. 



7. It commences to bloom perhaps three weeks after 

 white clover, and if kept pastured down continues blooming 

 until freezing weather. 



Knowing a Queenlcss Colony — Swarm <(uc$tion8 

 — HivC'lHakins. 



1. How can you tell when a colony has no queen ? 



2. I drove one swarm into a new hive, and they have not 

 done any work since. What is the trouble ? 



3. The first of the season I got a large swarm and put 

 them into a hive. Soon I got another swarm, and hived them ; 

 they did not work, but came out and went into the other hive. 

 Now they have too many, and it is a box-hive. Must I divide 

 them ? If so, .how? 



4. Please give a detailed plan of a good hive. 

 Richmond, Va. W. S. 



Answers. — 1. Generally, you can tell without much 

 trouble, but sometimes it is very difficult. If you find eggs 

 present, you may be pretty sure a queen has been in the hive 

 within three days, but sometimes the eggs are' the work of 

 laying-workers. If laying-workers are present the eggs are 

 generally not so regularly laid in the cells, and you will gen- 

 erally find drone-cells preferred, perhaps a number of eggs in 

 a cell ; and especially a queen-cell with a number of eggs. By 

 looking carefully over the combs you can usually see the 

 queen. By the use of a queen-excluder you can make pretty 



