1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



sugar they want to put Into their coffee, for preserving, bak- 

 ing pies, etc., but no honey ? Would you buy honey some 

 place and sweeten them up, or would you just laugh at them ? 

 I get my women to read the Bee Journal occasionally. 

 Brickerville, Pa. E. B. K. 



Answers. — 1. It might be a good plan to experiment 

 more than one winter before settling down. Sometimes con- 

 ditions are reversed, and the results are reversed. Next win- 

 ter may be so different in some way from the past winter that 

 the two unpacked ones may die and all the rest live. You 

 may do well, however, to leave most of them next winter pre- 

 pared in the same way as those which wintered best last win- 

 ter. It's hard to tell very much of the " why " as to winter- 

 ing. Possibly the few times that bees flew last winter were 

 improved more by the two unprotected colonies than by the 

 others. Suppose a few hours came one day when the sun 

 shone out very hot; the thin walls of the unprotected hives 

 allowed the heat to penetrate, giving the bees a chance to fly, 

 while the thick coatings of the other hives didn't allow the 

 hives to warm through until too late for the bees to fly. But 

 suppose a mild time came, lasting two or three days, barely 

 warm enough for bees to fly ; the hives would warm up 

 through the air coming In at the entrance, and not through 

 the shining of the sun. It's just possible that in such a case 

 the bees being warmer in the protected hives might have a 

 flight, while the unprotected ones would not warm up enough. 

 It may be, as you have guessed, that the sun shining on the 

 hives through the day gave the thin-walled hives an advan- 

 tage which was not offset by the cold nights. Bees will stand 

 a great degree of cold, day or night, if they can have spells of 

 warming up. It isn't so much the severity of the cold as its 

 long continuance that kills bees. 



2. Quite uncertain when the two trees will blossom, pos- 

 sibly next year. They will probably bloom younger than they 

 would have done had they not been transplanted, as the root- 

 pruning got at transplanting hastens the fruitage of any tree. 

 Whether it is desirable to pay $6.00 for the 35 trees depends 

 somewhat upon circumstances. If you have a place where 

 you want a fine row of trees for shade or ornament, it may be 

 a good bargain. Not so certainly if you merely want the trees 

 for honey. For if you don't buy them some one else within a 

 mile or less may get them, and your bees will get just as much 

 from them as if they were on your own ground. How close 

 the limbs should be pruned depends upon how much is left of 

 the roots. If the roots are nearly all cut off, as they too often 

 are, so that the tree can be set in a common water-pail with- 

 out bending any roots, then better cut the tree back to a 

 straight pole. But that's no civilized way to treat a tree. 

 Get all the roots you can, and in planting spread them out In 

 their natural position, and then you need cut off limbs only to 

 balance the roots lost. Only cut off more of the limbs than 

 you think necessary, for -ricrs i ihe fine roots are lost than 

 you probably suppose. Better cut off too much than not 

 enough. Don't prune the roots at all, only cutting smooth the 

 bruised ends. Plaiitone or two rods apart. 



:i. You've probably given the reason yourself why the 

 sweet clover seed scattered didn't come up. You sowed it in 

 spring or summer, and nothiujg put it under the surface, and 

 it was perhaps picked up by birds. Scatter it in fall, let It be 

 tramped in the mud, and seejif it doesn't come. I can't say 

 how long 100 sheep could be kept on 2 to 4 acres, but in the 

 West they would finish up 2 acres in about half the time they 

 would 4. If some one of experience' can tell us anything 

 about it I wish he would. Perhaps it might be safe to count 

 on sweet clover as about like red clover, and whatever the 

 farmers in your neighborhood say for red clover might be all 

 rijht for sweet. And yet it must be borne iu mind that stock 

 that has not been accustomed to it will not readily eat sweet 

 colver. Likely it would be best to keep changing instead of 

 Jseeplng stock on it continuously, 



4. After trying It, I doubt whether you'd continue to 

 occupy your yard with either catnip or borage. I saw one 

 piece of catnip kept cultivated for bees, but I think It was not 

 considered a paying investment. I think borage Is of no 

 value except for its hooey, although a few plants are often 

 kept in nthe flower garden under the name of " Star of 

 Bethlehem." 



S.aSorae women folks are hardly worth the trouble to 

 keep sweet, but such are very scarce. The kind you have, 

 those that read the Bee Journal every now and then, are 

 worth taking a world of trouble for, and If you haven't honey 

 of your own producing, you'd better buy some, even If you 

 have to do as I did last year, get^>ome from^another State. I 

 wouldn't give much for your chance If you get those women 

 down on you. Nothing braces a man up like the good opinion 

 of the wingless angels that live in the same house with him. 



Brood-Frame En«l§— Cliafr Cii!>liion§ 

 Sections of Bce.Olue. 



-Cleaning 



Dr. Miller :— 1. I have noticed several of your articles in 

 the American Bee Journal on the subject of spacing frames. 

 In one of them you spoke of cutting off the ends of the top- 

 bars to prevent their being stuck to the hive with propolis. I 

 have found the following plan to work well, and would like 

 you to give it a trial, and report through the papers If you 

 think It a success : 



Bevel off the ends of the top-bars on the upper side, so 

 that the ends which come in contact with the hive are shaped 

 like a blunt chisel. This preserves the correct length, and Is 

 simpler than anything I have seen suggested. With a sharp 

 pocket-knife it will take only a few minutes to prepare.a.set 

 of frames for experiment. 



2. Should the chaff cushions used for winter packing, as 

 described in Root's " A B C of Bee-Culture," fit in the hive bee- 

 tight on all sides ? 



8. I find that sections while in the hive become dark on 

 top (I use section holders with a M inch bee-space above the 

 sections), while the other three sides remain clean and white. 

 Can they be scraped clean and white again ? If so, what Is 

 the best implement ? R. B. H. 



Answers.— 1. I can hardly see that making a chisel edge 

 of the end of the top-bar would take away all the trouble, 

 although it maybe an Improvement. It will still leave the 

 line of glue over the top, and the angle being acute it would 

 make a little more glue filled In. Still, if you know from 

 actual trial that it's an improvement, that ought to settle It 

 for you. But when you go at the whittling business, why not 

 make the sharp edge up and down, making it wedge-shaped ? 



2. As nearly bee-tight as possible, otherwise bees will get 

 through and not find their way back. 



3. Yes, you can make good work scraping them clean 

 with a common steel case-knife. Keep the knife pretty sharp 

 on a rather rough stone, so as to have a sort of saw edge, 

 then scrape with the edge of the knife held at right angles to 

 the surface of the section. Don't take a hot day for it, or 

 you'll wish you were in some other business. When cool, the 

 bee-glue Is brittle, and will scrape off easily. Don't leave the 

 sections on a day after the flow of honey ceases. Then's the 

 time the gluers get in their work. More glue will be daubed 

 on in a day in August than in a week in June. 



Only One Cent a Copy for copies of the American 

 Bee Journal before Jan. 1, 1896. We have them running 

 back for about 10 years. But you must let us select them, as 

 we cannot furnish them in regular order, and probably not 

 any particular copies. Just send us as many one-cent stamps 

 as you may want old copies, and we will mail them to you. 



Xlie BIcEvoy Foul Brood Treatment Is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on "Foul Brood; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1,10. 



