Feb. 



1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



119 



any other way. I see. It's true that peopla like new ideas, 

 when informed that they are new ; and saying-, "This's ;i 

 new plan ; we let you melt your own honey, and buy it so 

 much cheaper," is quite likely to g^o to the spot. Pag^e 18. 



HONKY THB THING FOK CHILDREN. 



Prof. Eaton, on page 22, says a nobly forcible thing 

 when he tells how almost all people try to repress children's 

 appetite for sweets — right in the face of the fact that mon- 

 than half the SQlid contents of mother's milk is sugar. Who 

 will manage it to inform the Creator that he didn't know 

 what children need ? 



WHAT ABOUT KXTRACTING-COMBS ? 



Page 26 is revolutionary enough to raise the whole big 

 question, Why have extracting-combs cleaned up in the fall 

 at all ? Is it not better in almost every respect to let thoni 

 stay sticky just as they are ? What say about it, brethren ? 

 I have done that way to some extent, and the worst trouble 

 I met was that thej' drip a good deal in certain turns of 

 weather, and make a dauby mess on the floor, and waste 

 some pounds of good honey that might have gone to the 

 bees. 



CONDUCTED BY 



OR. C. O. MILLER, Marengo, 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 



Wintering Bees in a Cave. 



I put two colonies into a cave which I dug last fall. It has 

 double doors, with a 6-lnch pipe ventilator above, with two joints 

 so as to keep snow out of the pipe. The bottom ventilator is (ix(i 

 inches, and 40 feet long, with screen to keep the mice out. The 

 roof is about two feet o£ dirt and manure raixt. The temperature 

 is 38" to 40" above zero. I would like to know i£ this cave is all 

 right to keep bees in. I have two colonies outdoors, with outside 

 cases and chaff between. New York, 



Answer. — Very likely it is all right, but one cannot be certain 

 without knowing just how the bees appear. A temperature of 3S" 

 to 40" seems rather low, but thermometers differ so much that it 

 may be that your thermometer in the place in which you put it is 

 all right. 



•-•-♦ 



Growing tlie Basswoods or Lindens. 



In the book, 'Bees and Honey," I have read that basswood is 

 easily propagated from cuttings. Do you know of any one having 

 succeeded in this way ? If so, what lime of year must it be done, 

 and what kind of soil is best in which to put them ? In digging up 

 basswoods for transplanting, need one be pretty careful about cut- 

 ting off the roots, else we kill the tree from this cause ? My land 

 is naturally adapted to basswood, and there is plenty of it all 

 about here, but it is going fast. New York. 



Answer. — I have no recollection of any reports from those 

 who had done much in the way of raising basswoods from cut- 

 tings, the usual way being to dig up young seedlings that are grow- 

 ing wild. If you search in the region where basswood is plenty, 

 you will probably find abundance of young trees. They may lie 

 raised from seed, but the seed seems to lie in the earth a year or 

 two before coming up. 



Young lindens or basswoods may be transplanted with less 

 care than almost any other tree. Of course, the more roots the 

 better, but a very small amount of roots will do. 



Italianizing. 



I started with one box-hive of bees 3 years ago. The next year 

 I bought f> dovetail hives, and in spring 1 had two nice swarms 

 which I successfully hived. Last year 1 increast to 11, which are 

 in good condition now. I lost one swarm in the blizzard — they 

 froze, for they had honey left. It was over 20^ below zero here, 

 and I have now, and had, my. bees on the summer stands 

 without being packt. In June I put a select tested queen in one. 

 and they went into winter as thorobred Italians. Next spring I 

 would like to Italianize all. Your plan of doing so by self-swarni- 



ing seems to be very simple, but I would like to try the dividing, 

 and wanted to Italianize beforehand, and in this way; 



I expected to take the brood-frames that have the queen-cells 

 on them, and put them in the Italian hive; and after the bees have 

 capt them over return them to their old hives, and kill the black 

 queen. Will not that work ? When, or before, the second queen 

 batches I expect to divide the colonies and thus double the num- 

 ber. Virginia. 



Answer. — If you take from any ot your colonies a frame with 

 queen-cells and eggs" or larvin in the cells, giving these to the Ital- 

 ian bees would produce only black queens. It you take the Italian 

 queen away, putting her in a nucleus, the queens reared by the 

 queenless colony will be Italian. 



Frozen Moisture in the Hive. 



On looking at my bees, I see that in two of the hives, near the 

 entrance, small icicles have formed from the bottom of the frames 

 to the bottom-board. I suppose this is from the moisture of the 

 bees condensing and freezing near the entrance. Will this hurt 

 them ? If so, how can I remedy it ? They are packt in hay and 

 leaves about G inches on each side. New York. 



Answer. — A small amount of frozen moisture is not likely to 

 do any great harm. Perhaps nothing need be done now, but it 

 may be well to consider whether a larger entrance another winter 

 would not be desirable ? This is not saying that it is desirable ; 

 only suggesting it in case the entrance is too contracted. 



How Arrange the Extracting-Frames. 



In arranging extracting-frames, is it best to have them placed 

 above the brood-frames, so that the bee-space is continuous from 

 the bottom to the top of the hive, or should they be placed so that 

 the sp4ce between them comes over the brood-frames, similar to 

 breaking joints ? It can of course be easily regulated by the fol- 

 lower. Utah. 



Answer. — With proper spacing between frames, and proper 

 distance between top-bars and bottom-bars (about '^'-inch in each 

 case) it probably makes no difference which way. it spaces are 

 larger, and if top bars are thin, there would be danger of some 

 building up of combs if spaces above corresponded with those 

 below, and if you are as neat about your work at the hive as you 

 are about your penmanship, you woundn't like that. 



Bees Dying— When to Remove Honey. 



1. I am a beginner with bees. I purchast 5 colonies last fall in 

 box-hive=, and they are dying from some cause or other. As 

 they were uot "robbed " last year, the hives are full of honey. 



3- When is a good time to " rob " bees ? Missouri. 



Answers.— 1. It is impossible to tell why bees die, with no 

 other information than the fact that they die. Very often begin- 

 ners are alarmed at bees dying in winter when everything is all 

 right, for the general rule is that a great many bees die thruout 

 the winter. It only a quart or two have died in a strong colony 

 there is no cause for alarm, and several quarts may die in such a 

 colony before warm weather comes. 



2. It will be worth a great deal to you to get a good text-book 

 on bees, for in that you will find the present question more fully 

 and satisfactorily answered than can well be the case in this de- 

 partment. In general terms it may be said that there is no special 

 time by the calendar when honey should be taken, but it should be 

 taken as soon as all, or nearly all, is sealed in the super, if it is 

 comb. If extracted, it may be taken whenever it is sufficiently 

 ripe — that is, when it is sealed or nearly so, altho many chink it 

 best not to extract till the close ot the season. 



A New Size Honey-Section. 



I desire your opinion of our new honey-section. We have a 

 whole lot of section-cases for the S-frame hive, also a whole lot of 

 fences, slats, etc., for the Ideal sections, 3''^x.5xl'.j, but I don't 

 think that section is just the thing, and never will be very popu- 

 lar. The 4x.5xl'V section is the very best section I ever have used 

 or seen, but it cannot be used in the S-frame hive section-case to 

 good advantage, unless crosswise the case, and that doesn't seem 

 to be just the thing, either; so we have gotten up and used with 

 much pleasure a section that exactly fills the S-frame case, both in 

 length and width, they being of such size that T rows, 4 to the row, 

 just fill the case. The sections are plain, and are supposed to be 

 used with section-holders and fences, their size being 4'^8x5xlJ4. 

 What do you say ? New York. 



Answer. — This matter is one that depends so much upon cir- 

 cumstances that no hard and fast rule can be made for all. A 

 question that you can best answer for yourself is. Do they suit 

 yintr market ? Trial must determine. ■ Other things being equal, 

 the section that you can use with the least inconvenience and with 

 the least change of your present fixtures is the one for you. In 

 this respect you have no doubt chosen wisely. A strong point in 

 the eyes ot many customers is the fact thata4?Kx5xl'4 section pre- 

 sents a large surface when laid on a plate. It tuukx much. 



