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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 3, 



CONDtJCTED BY 

 DR. C. C. MII^LER. AfvVRBJVfJO. CLL, 



(.Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.! 



Feeding Bees for Winter. 



I am much trouDled to know what to do with a colony 

 that I have beea feeding honey for some time, which they ate 

 all right; bnt a week or more ago I began feeding sugar 

 syrup, but they would not eat it. After a few days I gave 

 them honey again in the comb as before, but they will not 

 touch it now, and are only eating what little honey they have 

 stored. What can I do to make them eat what I give them ? 

 I am very anxious to save them. They are Italians. T. 



Answer. — When bees will not take syrup or honey under 

 favorable conditions, it hardly seems they can be suffering 

 much for want of stores. Possibly, however, the low tempera- 

 ture may have something to do with it. If the weather is very 

 cold they are unwilling to leave the cluster, and if sufficiently 

 cold they will starve rather than break cluster. Possibly they 

 reason, if we may suppose bees ever reason, " It's so cold that 

 we'll be sure to freeze to death if we leave the cluster, and we 

 may just as well stay here and starve in a kind of sociable 

 way as to get away and freeze without any friends with us. 

 Besides, if we can stick it out just a little longer, perhaps the 

 weather may become warmer." If you can put near the clus- 

 ter combs containing honey or syrup that has been sprinkled 

 Into the combs, then the first day that it is warm enough they 

 will be likely to take the food provided. Or, you may make 

 some candy as described in the last Bee Journal, put it over 

 the brood nest, and cover up warm, and the bees will find 

 their way up. Better not disturb them, however, when they 

 are very cold. 



Hands Poisoned by Pro|toli$. 



Poes the propolis we clean off the sections poison one's 

 skin ? My niece, who assists me in cleaning the sections, 

 seems to get poisoned with the propolis much as I have seen 

 people with poison ivy. 



I am pleased to know, through the Bee Journal, that you 

 have so much fine honey this year. I. too, have very white 

 honey this year, and lots of it. I have now 100 colonies. 

 They do not swarm in my locality, that is, if they have room 

 enough to work in. R. K. 



Answer. — I never before heard of one's skin being pois- 

 oned with propolis. I think most persons experience no incon- 

 venience from it, uuless it be the same inconvenience they 

 would experience from any dust, for at times when scraping 

 sections on which the propolis is very dry, there will be a good 

 deal of fine dust from it. One member of "ly family, how- 

 ever, cannot do very much scraping without suffering there- 

 from. The eyes and nose smart, and it seems to bring on a 

 kind of irifliienzi. But I never heard before of any one's 

 hands being affected by it. It seems, however, that there 

 may be exceptional eases in which the skin is so exceedingly 

 seiisitive thai propolis acts as a poison upon it. Fortunately, 

 such cases are probably very rare. 



Spring Slimiiialion— Section Foundation Slartcr§. 



I winter my tees on the summer stands with outside case, 

 the sides packed with leaves, super cover on top of the hive, a 

 % inch hole in the center, over which is a feeder covered with 

 wire-cloth. Over all I put a cork mat tucked tight and nice. 



1. 1 find that to let the bees alone they do not get strong 

 enough for the crimson clover that blossoms May 15. Now, 

 when shall I cummeme to stimulate them for brood-rearing, 

 and how much and how often to feed ? 



2. How near the bottom of the section should full founda- 

 tion sheets come ? 



I have -18 colonies, and got $100 from them this season. 

 There was no spring flow for surplus; the fruit and all the 



plants blossomed the same day, and the hot days used up the 

 flowers. J. C. S. 



Answers. — 1. It's a problem whether you can do very 

 much to make the bees get ahead any faster than they would 

 of their own accord, all the time providing that the colony is 

 strong and supplied not only with plenty of honey and pollen, 

 but a great abundance thereof, and providing the weather is 

 favorable all through. But it may be worth the trial. There 

 may be a time when the weather is favorable for daily flights, 

 but nothing for the bees to do outside. Certainly, at such 

 times it seems feeding might have a stimulating effect. Some 

 German bee-keepers speak very highly of stimulative feeding. 

 Don't commence till bees fly nearly every day. The amount 

 to be given depends somewhat upon what the bees will take 

 and what they already have on hand. If plenty of stores are 

 already in the hive, perhaps a half pound every other day, 

 well diluted. If stores are somewhat lacking, the amount fed 

 may be increased in proportion to the lack. If you don't care 

 for the trouble you can feed every day. 



2. About }4 inch, if only one piece is put in each section. 

 If two starters are used, there may be a space something less 

 than Ji inch between the upper and the lower starter, the 

 lower starter being from }4 to % inch deep, and preferably of 

 foundation a trifle heavier than the upper starter, as a bottom 

 starter of very thin foundation sometimes lops over. 



Wood or Tin Separators. 



Can I use either wood or tin separators in the Langstroth 

 hive? My supers have pattern-slats. J. E. 



Answer. — The general principle to be considered is that 

 when separators are loose they should be of wood, and when 

 nailed they should be of tin. Put in a tin separator without 

 nailing it fast, and it will be wavy. You see it must be 

 stretched, and stretched pretty tight, then it will be straight, 

 and it can't be kept stretched without nailing. On the other 

 hand, there is no danger of wood taking a wavy shape, con- 

 sidered lengthwise, for the stiff grain of the wood will not 

 permit that. But if the wood is nailed on tight, and swells a 

 little with moisture, then it will curl up if held in place with 

 nails, whereas, if not nailed, it will have room to swell and 

 still remain flat, being held flat by the sections squeezing 

 together. Soon a Langstroth hive you can use either tin or 

 wood, if the tiu is nailed on and the wood left without nailing. 



Laic Swurining. 



I am a beginner in bee-culture, but it appears to me some- 

 thing new, so I write about it. My bees swarmed yesterday 

 (Oct. 19). I had noticed many drones flying around the hive 

 for a week or two, but did uot think it meant that they in- 

 tended to swarm. To my utter astonishment I saw the air full 

 of bees yesterday. I hived them, and they appear to be work- 

 ing all right. There are plenty of bees left in the old hive. 



San Antonio, Fla. J. VV. C. 



Answer. — It is something unusual for bees to swarm in 

 the North after the middle of August, although this year 

 there were more or less of them, bnt after the middle of Octo- 

 ber is quite another thing, and I suspect it is exceptional even 

 iu your sunny land of flowers. It must be that the season 

 was such that honey was gathered unusually late, at least in 

 any great quantity. 



Remedy for niolli<i and Wax-Worms. 



Please etre a remedy to prevent moths and wax-worms 

 from getting into hives aud combs. I have lost dozens of col- 

 onies by these enemies. Subscriber. 



ANSWER.--A moth can get iutn any place a bee can. So 

 you can't shut out moths without shutting out bees. A good, 

 strong colony of bees is a good preventive against moths. 

 Even a moderately strong or a weak colony will keep out the 

 moths if the bees are of good Italian stock. So the evident 

 remedy is to keep Italian bees, and if for a time it seems 

 necessary to keep blacks, let the colonies be strong, even if 

 some uniting must be done. If hives in which bees die through 

 the winter are left till warm weather without any bees in 

 them, such hives will be a perfect hot-bed for worms. Look 

 out for them, either by sulphuring them when you find worms 

 making their appearance, or by putting the combs in a story 

 under a hive containing a strong colony, A strong colony of 

 Italians can take care of three or four stories of combs. 



