582 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 10. 



used with satisfaction a common IM-'nch wire-nail with a 

 head about 3/16 of an inch across, driving it in to the proper 

 depth. If, as is probably the case, the ends of your top-bars 

 rest on the wooden rabbets, you need have little fear as to 

 their being displaced on being taken into the cellar. The 

 bees have in all probability seen to that already, and have 

 glued them down so tightly that little short of turning them 

 upside down will be likely to displace them. 



2. Perhaps there is no "best hive" for comb honey or any 

 kind of honey. Nearly all will give good results with good 

 management and good conditions. But it is a matter of some 

 consequence to get one of the standard hives, so that you can 

 at any time be able to order from any dealer hives or parts of 

 hives, as you may desire. Moreover, the hives commonly in 

 use are made in large quantities by manufacturers, conse- 

 quently they can be sold at very low prices. One of the most 

 popular hives at present is the Dovetail, but I didn't know 

 there was more than one kind called by that name, and the 

 dimensions you give are certainly not the dimensions of the 

 regular Dovetail hive. 



3. No doubt you can have frames made to fit your hive 

 that would be self-spacing, such as the Hoffman frame, but 

 rather than continue with an odd-sized hive, if you have yet 

 only a few, would it not be better to adopt a standard size ? 

 The great thing is to have a frame of standard size, and the 

 frame that you got in the Root Dovetail hive is probably more 

 nearly standard than any other. This frame is 17J^ by Qjj 

 Inches, outside measure, and I think you must be mistaken 

 about its being longer than your frame, for you say the length 

 of you hive is 183^, and that of the Dovetail is only 18)4. 



Taking Care of Qnccnless Colonies. 



I have been looking through my colonies of bees to-day, 

 and I find three colonies without any brood in their combs, 

 and not many bees, either, so I thought that they must be 

 without a queen. I did not know what to do, as I have no 

 extra queen on hand, so I took one frame of brood from three 

 other hives for each one of these three colonies. I have 40 

 colonies in all. Do you think they will start queen-cells and 

 save the colonies in that way? or will I have to buy new 

 queens for them ? L N M 



Eossville, N. Y. 



Answer.— The probability is that In about three weeks 

 from the time you gave the brood each of them will have a 

 laying queen. That will be proof that you did the very best 

 thing in the case. If your other colonies are strong, and can 

 spare some more brood, it may be well to give to each of these 

 three two or three more frames of mature brood, thus keeping 

 up their strength till the young brood hatches out. 



L.ysol — Bees Starving— Feeding. 



On page 408 lysol is spoken of for curing foul brood. In 

 what way Is it used, and what is it? I have asked our drug- 

 gist about it, and he does not know what it is. Where can it 

 be obtained ? 



There is something wrong with my bees. At first I saw 

 them carrying out dead bees. I looked into the hives and 

 found about two-thirds of the brood unsealed, some pretty 

 nearly matured in that condition. What is the cause of their 

 not sealing It ? I thought it was on account of being a weak 

 colony, but upon putting some of it into another it became 

 infected the same way. 



I notice another in the same condition. I can detect no 

 smell as in foul brood. They keep the dead bees out at the 

 sacrifice of the honey. I am feeding these three colonies now, 

 or they would have starved. What do you think ails them ? 

 As I am short of honey what can I feed to winter them on, 

 without danger of dysentery ? 



I forgot to say that about all the brood that the bees seal 

 up matures and Is apparently healthy. E. S. S. 



Atchinson, Kans., Aug. 17. 



Answer. — I doubt whether you need be very much inter- 

 ested in lysol. Your bees probably don't need lysol so much as 



honey or sugar. From the account you give, it seems to be a 

 case of starvation. When stores become scarce, one of the 

 first effects is to lessen the laying of the queen, then the 

 youngest of the brood is sacrificed, then the older brood is 

 sucked out, and you may see the white skins thrown outside 

 the hive. 



If you have no honey, the best thing you can feed is 

 granulated sugar. Better feed early, and if you don't put it 

 off too late the most convenient way is probably the crock- 

 and-plate method repeatedly described in these columns. Tali^ 

 a gallon crock — of course a different vessel of different size 

 can be used — fill the crock perhaps % full of sugar and put in 

 a pint of water for every pint or pound of sugar. The water 

 may be cold or hot. Lay over the crock two thicknesses of 

 flannel or six thicknesses of cheese-cloth, and over this put a 

 plate upside down. Put one hand under the crock and the 

 other over the plate and quickly turn the whole business up- 

 side down, giving It a shaking so that the sugar may fall to 

 what is now the bottom. Now set it in an empty, bottomless 

 hive on top of the hive to be fed, and cover up so no robbers 

 can get in, and the bees will do the rest. 



To come back to your first question, lysol is one of the dis- 

 infectants that acts much as phenol or carbolic acid, and is 

 fed in very small quantities in the food of the bees. Some re- 

 port favorably of it, others not. Any druggist can get it by 

 ordering from his wholesale house. It is " a saponified prod- 

 uct of coal-tar containing cresol." 



jVot Hive-Bees — A Cracker-Box Colony. 



1. My wife writes me from New York State that her 

 nephew has discovered a curiosity, or, I may say, a swarm of 

 curiosities. A swarm of bees which she says looks just like 

 my bees, except perhaps their bodies are a little more flat at 

 the extremity, seem to be working in the ground, are bringing 

 out dirt and building up a large mound. Do the common bees 

 ever do this ? or are they a distinct species ? Seems to me I 

 have read of such bees somewhere, and that they could not 

 be domesticated. 



2. I have a neighbor who has a fine swarm of bees in a 

 cracker-box, and they have it nearly full of comb, filled with 

 brood, which I can buy cheap. The comb is crooked and in 

 poor shape to cut out and put into frames. Can I put frames 

 of foundation into a hive and set the cracker-box on top and 

 compel or coax them to go below and work, and abandon 

 this cracker-box when they get the brood hatched out? Or 

 will she lay in both places ? H. W. C. 



Weeping Water, Nebr., Aug. 15. 



Answers. — 1. There are a great many kinds of wild 

 bees, and some of them very closely resemble in appearance 

 the common hive-bee. The bees you speak of are certainly 

 not hive-bees. 



2. Doubtful if you can get the queen to desert her 

 cracker-box this year. But next summer she may listen to 

 your proposal for a change of domicil. Let her winter where 

 she is, then next summer you can do as you propose. When 

 the cracker-box is entirely filled and more room is needed, 

 then the bees will work down upon your foundation, and as 

 soon as you find the queen there you can remove the cracker- 

 box or else put an excluder between the two stories. In three 

 weeks all the brood will be hatched out and the box can be 

 removed, unless you prefer leaving it to be filled with honey 

 which will not be in very nice shape. Besides its crooked 

 shape it will be in old combs and more or less mixed with bee- 

 bread. 



A Ne'w Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mall, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends us 15 cents. It is called "The Wood 

 Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can a&ord to 

 get it yearly. 



