AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Jan. 4, 1900. 



the rest of the season for extracted honey, or for winter 

 stores if enough is not obtained for extracting. 



By thus using a small brood-chamber at swarming-time, 

 I find that I can use in it combs fully drawn, or the brood- 

 combs which I have in stock, by giving abundant bottom 

 ventilation, and that no pollen will be placed in the section- 

 boxes, altho the supers are removed from the old hive and 

 placed on the new one before the swarm is run in. Of 

 course, a queen-excluding honey-board should be used, and 

 its advantages are so many that I am not yet ready to dis- 

 card it. 



To contract the brood-chamber with division-boards or 

 dummies would not suit me at all, for a number of reasons. 



I have taken this subject from the comb-honey stand- 

 point, for I believe the test of succeessful bee-keeping is in 

 the production of beautiful comb honey. 



I have never seen a hive without faults, and the user 

 must select for himself ; but, for results, I believe there is 

 tione better than some form of the divisible brood-chamber 

 hive. W. C. Lyman. 



Then a multitude of questions were answered by Dr. C. 

 C. Miller and others present. This part of our meeting is 

 always interesting, and many new ideas go floating around 

 for assimilation. 



The convention was much entertained by Dr. Miller and 



Pres. George W. York with music. Dr. Miller presided at 



the piano, and Mr. York sang the new bee-keepers' song, 



entitled, "The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom." 



I'Concluded next week.) 



CONDUCTED BY 



liK. C O. MILLER, A/aremg-o, III. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.1 



Leaving Honey in the Hives Outdoors in Winter. 



Do frames with honey get spoiled by leaving them in 

 the winter-time in the hives, with the bees in the first and 

 second stories ? Or is it better to take the honey out ? Here 

 in the South we do not put the hives inside in winter. The 

 bees sometimes work here in winter on certain flowers. 



Louisiana. 



Answer. — Have no fear about leaving the honey in the 

 liives. In the North there might be some danger of the 

 honey granulating if the quantity were so large that the 

 heat of the bees would have no effect upon it, Ijut in 3'our 

 latitude there is not that danger. 



Feeding Bees in Box-Hives in Winter. 



I have two colonies of bees in box-hives that need feed- 

 ing. How can I feed them this winter ? I have made a 

 feeder 14x14 inches, the same size as the hive, and nailed 

 strips around the outer edges, and strips thru the center 

 about two inches apart. Do you think this will work ? If 

 not, how can I make one ? How would it be to take the bees 

 into the house where it is warm, when I feed them. I can 

 shut them up so they can't get out. I have a Miller feeder 

 for feeding in 8-frame dovetailed hives, but I want one for 

 feeding in box-hives. New Jeksey. 



Answer. — If I understand you correctly, the feeder you 

 contemplate is to be set under the hive, and you intend to 

 feed liquid feed. At this time of year you must not think of 

 feeding liquid at all. Take your box-hives in the cellar and 

 turn them upside down -don't be afraid of making them 

 dizzy — and lay chunks of comb honey on the brood-combs. 

 If you haven't comb honey make cakes of sugar candy an 

 inch or so thick. Heat water and put into it about three 

 times as much sugar (either by weight or measure.) Set it 



on the top of the stove and not in the fire, and be exceed- 

 ingly careful not to burn it, for burnt candy is poison to 

 bees in winter. Try it from time to time, and when a little 

 of it dropt in water breaks like a pipe-stem, take it off. 

 When it begins to harden around the edges stir it 

 well till it is so thick it will just pour, and pour it into 

 greast dishes. If you can get some ^ood extracted honey, 

 you maj' prefer to make a different candy. HeatI ne honey 

 till it is very thin, but don't boil it. Take from the stove, 

 and stir into it all the pulverized sugar it will take. Then 

 knead it and put in more sugar till it becomes a stiff dough. 

 After giving your bees the honey or the candy, let them 

 remain in the cellar, the hives upside down and uncovered, 

 until it is warm enough to put them out in the spring. 



Has the Bee an Extra Sense? 



1. How does a bee know how to get back home after 

 gathering a load of nectar from a great number of different 

 flowers two or three miles from her hive ? 



2. Why does a bee, taken from a flower, we will say, 

 south of the hive or tree, and carried north and beyond its 

 home, circle and still go north and away from its home 

 when liberated ? The next time it will, after filling its 

 honey-sac, go direct home. M.\ssachusetts. 



Answers. — 1. I see no reason why a bee after roaming 

 about after a load of nectar might not find its way home in 

 exactly the same way that you might find your way back 

 home after roaming about two or three miles picking black- 

 berries (on the supposition that blackberries grow wild in 

 your part of Massachusetts.) It is quite possible also that 

 a bee could find its way back home where j'ou or I would be 

 hopelessly lost. A bee may be able to see long distances, 

 and it is not entirely certain that a bee may not have some 

 additional sense that enables it to find its way home. Take 

 a cat that has never been a quarter of a mile from home, 

 shut it up where it cannot possibly see, take it two miles 

 away and release it, and we are told that when you get back 

 home you may find it complacently waiting for you on the 

 doorstep. Certainly, no human being could perform that 

 feat. Has the cat an extra sense ? If so, may not the bee 

 have the same ? 



2. I don't know ; and before believing a bee will do as 

 you say I should want reliable testimony to that efi^ect. 



Growing Alfalfa in New York State. 



There is some talk in the American Bee Journal that 

 alfalfa is a great honej'-plant, also a good pasture for stock, 

 but in the 1896 American Agriculturist Almanac I saw an 

 account of alfalfa as an injury to sheep and cattle as a pas- 

 ture, claiming that sheep and cattle will feed on it for days 

 without ill effects, but sooner or later trouble arises. Under 

 certain conditions sheep become inflated like balloons, and 

 die suddenly from eating moist alfalfa. What about the 

 plant, both as a pasturage for bees and stock ? And on what 

 kind of soil will it do best ? Will it grow on limestone 

 ridges ? Is it grown in this (Jefferson) county ? 



I shall be very thankful to see a full account, given 

 from actual experience, if possible. If advisable, I would 

 like to try the plant. New York. 



Answer. — Alfalfa is very largely used as a forage- 

 plant, both in the green and dry state, and if it were true 

 that such ill results would sooner or later come from its use, 

 many would know of it and so report. It is probable that 

 damage may be done by allowing cattle not accustomed to 

 it to overfeed, as is the case with red clover. It has been 

 grown here and there in different places in the East, but I 

 do not remember ever to have seen a single report saying it 

 was of value as a honey-plant, except a report from Michi- 

 gan in a late number of Gleanings in Bee-Culture. It is 

 just possible that alsike instead of alfalfa was the plant in 

 that case. Alfalfa grows in two or more places in this 

 county, and I have visited it two or three different years 

 when in bloom at a time when bees might be expected to be 

 working on it, but never could I find bees there. Of course, 

 it is a very valuable honey-plant in the West, as in Colo- 

 rado, but it is probably not worth your while to try it as a 

 honey-plant in the State of New York. 



The Premiums offered on page 13 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



