Feb. IS, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



103 



4. Can I feed them while the weather is cold, or would I best 

 wait until it is warm enough for them to fly ? 



5. If you have any special way of making beecandy, please 

 give it. 



0. Does a cider-mill damage bees in any way ? 



7. What text-book would you recommend as the best — the 

 A B C of Bee-Culture, or Langstroth on the Honey-Bee, or some 

 other one ? Subscribek. 



Answek. — 1. From your description it would seem that you 

 have a fine place for bees. If your bees are placed very close to 

 the pond, it would be well to have them face away from it, for 

 some bees are likely to drop in the water if the water is directly in 

 front of the hives. 



2. There is a difference of opinion as to whether chaff hives are 

 best, but you cannot be far out of the way. 



3. They can be fed where they are. 



4. Unless you think there is danger of starvation, better wait 

 for a warm day. If you think best to feed without waiting tor a 

 day warm enough for flight, see that the bees are stirred up enough 

 to reach the cake of candy, and then cover up warm. 



.5. The common way of making hard sugar candy is good, but 

 it is considered a little better to make the Scholz or Good candy. 

 Heat good honey, but don't boil it. Stir in all the pulverized sugar 

 it will take, then take it out of the dish and knead it with the 

 hands like dough, adding what sugar it will take to make a thick 

 dough. Make a cake about an inch thick and lay over the frames. 



tj. Yes, unless the mill is enclosed, many bees are drowned at 

 times when there is a scarcity of pasturage, and the cider is bad 

 for winter stores. 



7. The books you name are both good ; so is Prof. Cook's Bee- 

 Keepers' Guide. 



* • » 



Moving Bees or Selling and then Buying Again. 



I wish to move 34 colonies of bees about 53 miles by railroad, 

 in a freight-car, and 6 miles on the wagon to the car, but the car 

 has to be switcht from one train to another. Could I try this mov- 

 ing, or would you advise me to sell the bees here for a low price, 

 and start in the next place anew ? Nebraska. 



Answer. — If the margin between the price you would get and 

 what you would have to give is not too great, better sell and buy 

 again. If you have had a little experience in moving bees and can 

 be with them personally, better move them than pay too much on 

 the exchange. 



* • » 



When to Begin Spring Stimulative Feeding. 



I would like to know how long before a probable honey-flow 

 one should practice stimulative feeding so as to have the largest 

 number of workers when the flow comes. Our cherry, plum and 

 prune trees generally bloom about the middle of March, then, too, 

 alflllaree and some other plants are in bloom at that time. 



My bees have an abundant supply of honey, and yesterday 

 (Jan. 21) there was a cluster on the outside of one of the hives. 

 Every warm day the air is full of bees. California. 



Answer.— A worker will begin storing about 37 days after the 

 egg is laid. Beginning a little in advance of that would make the 

 feeding begin about 6 weeks before the expected harvest. 



Inside Coating for a Honey-Tank. 



I made two honey-tanks of wood and painted them on the out- 

 side, but I would like to know what would be good and cheap for 

 the inside. Perhaps you can tell me the name of the stuff alcohol- 

 barrels are varnisht with. Washington. 



Answer. — I do not know what varnish is used in alcohol-bar- 

 rels, and did not suppose any was used. Paraffin is used by some 

 for the inside of honey-barrels. Whether it could be easily and 

 economically applied to tanks is a question. It is poured hot into 

 the barrel, the barrel rapidly whirled so as to make the paraffin 

 touch all parts and then quickly poured out. Possibly if the tank 

 was in a hot place, or in the hot sun. the hot paraffin might be ap- 

 plied so the coating would not be unnecessarily heavy. 



Transferring— Grape-Vine Shade— Ventilating Hives 

 Winter Stores. 



1. I have 30 colonies of bees in square hives which I am going 

 to transfer to Langstroth hives, into frames which are longer and 

 a little shallower. Please tell briefly when and how best to transfer. ' 



'2. Tell how to train grape-vines for shade. 



3. Why not ventilate hives by a register in the cover ? 



4. Will a colony, for which 25 pounds of honey would be ample 

 to carry it thru the winter, consume any more if it had say 50 

 pounds given to it in the fall ? California. 



Answers. — 1. Follow the instructions of your bee-book, the 

 only special point in your case being that the combs are to be 

 transferred from one kind of frames to another of different size. 

 When the first considerable flow of honey comes, so the bees are 

 busy for a few days, cut the comb out of the old frame and then 

 cut just enough from the top or bottom to make a comfortable St 

 in the new frame. That will fill the new frame, all but a vacancy 



at one end, and it depends upon the size of the old frame as to hon 

 this vacancy shall be filled. If the piece cut away from the old 

 comb is large enough, it can be used for that purpose, or an entire 

 old comb can be cut up into pieces to fill some of these vacancies. 



2. The most suitable training is on an overhead trellis, so the 

 vines will form a sort of roof over the hives. 



3. That has been practiced to some extent, formerly more than 

 at present. One trouble is that the bees cover with glue the wire- 

 cloth used to close the bole. 



4. It would not. 



Sweet Clover in Pennsylvania. 



Will sweet clover blossom the first year i 

 would do well in Pennsylvania ? 



Do you think it 



SCBSCKUIER. 



Answer.— Sweet clover does well in Pennsylvania, growing 

 the first year without blossoming, blossoming the second year, and 

 in winter dying down root and branch. 



Effect of Cold on Foul-Broody Hives, Etc. 



During the fall of 1S98 many of my bees died, leaving consid- 

 erable honey in the hives. Since then the hives and frames have 

 been empty, standing in a room almost as cold as outdoors. Now, 

 if these bees died of foul brood, will it be safe to use these hives 

 and frames as they are, or should they be put thru the usual pro- 

 cess to avoid the return of the disease ? Illinois. 



Answer. — No amount of freezing would make them safe, if 

 there's foul brood in the case. Don't trust them if you're at all 

 suspicious. 



•»-»-»■ 



Bees Getting Thru the Alley Trap. 



Will queens get thru the Alley queen and drone trap when bees 

 are swarming ? What would be the effect on 10 strong colonies, of 

 putting the queen-traps on about time for swarming to begin, and 

 leaving them entirely alone with plenty of room for stores for 3 

 weeks '. I am inclined to the belief that a large part of the queens 

 will finally get out, and this one point is of the greatest import- 

 ance in the scheme I have under consideration. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — Queens are not supposed to get thru Alley queen- 

 traps, and under ordinary circumstances do not. Answering what 

 I suppose to be the heart of your question, I advise you not to try 

 the experiment you propose on more than two or three colonies. 

 One year I tried much the same thing on a number of colonies. 

 When swarming began, each colony would swarm about every 

 day. A number of swarms would settle together, then a clump as 

 big as your body would all go to one hive, leaving the others too 

 weak for work. Here and there a queen would get out, either thru 

 a trap that was perfect or one that was faulty or thru some crevice, 

 and among such queens there would be virgins, and one of those 

 immense clusters would majestically sail out of sight. As the 

 memory of those scenes comes up vividly before me, I feel like 

 changing my advice and suggesting that a single colony will be 

 enough for the experiment. 



Management for Extracting with Little Attention. 



When spring opens I will have about '.20 colonies of bees in 10- 

 frame hives. Circumstances are such that I cannot be with them 

 oftener than one day a week, or one day in ten. I do not wish to 

 dispose of my bees, and surplus extracted honey with as little in- 

 crease as possible is my aim. I will give you my plan for handling 

 them, and wish you to tell me where I am wrong: 



The great-swarming fever here is during the alfalfa bloom, 

 from May 20 to June 15, while our greatest surplus is in the fall. I 

 thought of using two stories, the upper one to be filled with full 

 sheets of comb foundation, and when I notice the colonies building 

 up good and strong below (just before the swarming-fever comes,) 

 remove 3 or 4 frames of brood from below and place them in the 

 upper story, and place the full frames of foundation in their place. 



I thought that by going thru the hives once a week and treat- 

 ing them thus, the queen would not be crowded for room, and if 

 the hives were well shaded and with wide entrances there ought to 

 be but few swarms, and a nice lot of alfalfa surplus honey to ex- 

 tract after the harvest. 



I have queen excluding zincs. Do you think it would be best 

 to use them, or would it be better to give the queen the freedom of 

 the 20 frames ? 



If you have apian whereby I could get surplus with little in- 

 crease, and only one day a week to look after bees, that you think 

 beats my plan, please give it. Kansas. 



Answer. — It you take only three or four frames, there would 

 be swarming in some cases, most likely. Put the story of comb 

 foundation below, either with one frame of brood or with nothing 

 but foundation, and put the queen below with an excluder be- 

 tween. If this is done just hefuiv any notion of swarming is enter- 

 tained, and if no crowding for room is allowed above, your chances 

 will be a good deal better. With 3 stpries and abundant entrance 

 to each story, there is scarcely a chance for swarming. To avoid 

 swarming in this case, it is safer to have no excluder at all ; but an 

 excluder over the second story would hardly make any dillerence, 

 and they might stand one over the fll-st story. 



