138 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



March 1, 1900. 



CONDUCTED BY 



OR. C. O. MILLER, Marengo, lU. 



(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 



Buying Bees or Rearing Them. 



Which would be the cheaper to stock an apiary, buy the bees 

 or buy sugar and rear them ? I have been reading bee-papers and 

 books a year, and have an idea I could rear them cheaper, but I 



would like to know what you think. Tennessee. 



• 

 Answer. — You can probably buy sugar and rear bees for less 

 than you can buy them, altho of course that depends upon what 

 you have to pay for the bees; but a still cheaper way would be to 

 rear the bees on natural stores without buying sugar. 



Uneasy About Bees in the Cellar. 



Please give me some advice in regard to my bees that are in 

 the cellar. This is the first that I ever wintered them in the cel- 

 lar, and I don't know whether they are doing well or not. My 

 cellar is under the dwelling-house, and is in clay soil, and I think is 

 rather damp. I have to build a fire in it in cold weather to keep 

 the temperature up to 4.5 degrees, and I have kept the dead bees 

 swept up clean. The bees seem to be doing very well with the ex- 

 ception of one colony which has dysentery, but not very bad. I 

 have .50 colonies in ihe cellar and eight on the summer stands. 



INIIIANA. 



Answer. — From what you say, you are probably managing 

 all right. See that the air of the cellar is kept pure, opening the 

 door or window any night that is warm enough. It is not long 

 now till bees in Indiana can be put on the summer stands, and a 

 flight will cure the diarrhea promptly. 



Honey Taffy— Clover for Lawns. 



1. How can I make honey taffy or candy ? I tried several 

 times to make honey taffy, and every time it gets dark and tastes 

 as if it was burned, but it can't be burned as I am very careful that 

 it doesn't boil fast. 



2. I sowed grass seed on my lawn and most of it turned out to 

 be weeds. I was told then by a friend beekeeper that if I would 

 sow clover seed on the lawn it would kill all the weeds and make a 

 fine lawn. 1 want to know whether this is true, and what kind of 

 clover seed would be the best. New Jersey. 



Answers. — 1. If you will pardon the statement, the probable 

 truth is that you did burn it after all. Honey is very easily 

 burned, and doesn't need to boil very fast to be burned. The 

 whole secret is to cook it very slowly. Don't put it on too hot a 

 place on the stove. 



2. It's asking a good deal of clover to kill out weeds. Still, it 

 may do so, especially if the weeds are mowed down occasionally 

 as short as the clover. White clover is the best clover for a lawn. 



Bees Killing Off Each Other 

 Moisture. 



Shavings to Absorb 



1. My bees have been fighting for the last week or ten days. 

 They have killed off a good many. There will be a bunch of bees 

 in two or three places on the alighting-board, and as soon as 

 they kill one they jump on another. They have plenty of honey. 

 My neighbor's bees are doing the same thing, and when the 

 weather is so bad they can't fly, they are fighting just the .same at 

 the entrance. 



3. My hives are on the summer stands In winter, and in 

 spring, when X open them, I find them very damp inside. Would 

 it do to fill a super with dry pine shavings, and put it on to take 

 up moisture ? Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. With no further information, it is hard to tell 

 what is the trouble. It may be a few robbers are trying to obtain 

 unearned treasures, und are taking their punishment therefor, and 

 if the number is not great it doesn't signify. It may be that bee- 

 paralysis is present, and the well bees are getting rid of the sick 

 ones. If the persecuted bees are robbers, they are very alert, try- 

 ing to escape, and generally succeeding in escaping, from their 

 tormentors. If the worried bees are sick, they appear sluggish, 

 BiBkiDJ5 little attempt to escape, perhaps swollen, shipy, with p 



trembling motion. As far north as Oregon paralysis ought hardly 

 to be a very serious matter. In either case, if the colonies are 

 strong, you will probably find matters mended as soon as good 

 weather for flying comes. 



2. Yes, planer shavings are the kind to use, as ordinary bench 

 shavings made by a carpenter with a hand plane do not pack close. 

 Some practice putting hot bricks on top to dry out when a warm 

 day comes, and opening up a little at such a time helps to dry out. 



UnslacKt Lime for Dampness. 



I have about 50 colonies of bees in the cellar under the house 

 and it is rather wet. Would it do any harm, or injure the bees, if 

 I put chloride of lime in the cellar ? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — Common unslackt lime will cost less and will be 

 better. 



Swarming and Producing Comb Honey— Italianizing. 



1. I have two colonies of Italian bees, and I wish to run them 

 for comb honey, and still get one or two swarms from each. I 

 also have three colonies of blacks in box-hives, and I wish to put 

 then) in movable-frame hives, and let them swarm. How many 

 times should I let them swarm in order to get the best results. My 

 desire is to run for comb honey exclusively. 



2. Would you Italianize the blacks, or let them be till in the 

 fall ? California. 



Answers. — 1. Certainly don't let them swarm more than once 

 if you can help it. Put the swarm on the old stand with the 

 mother colony close beside it, moving the mother colony to a new 

 stand a week later. Perhaps you will do as well to leave the 

 blacks in the box-hives till they swarm ; then treat them as men- 

 tioned. 



2. It will probably be as well to wait till near the close of the 

 harvest. 



Fence Separators— Cause of Bees Perishing. 



1. Are fence separators intended to be used with plain sections 

 only, or will they do with any style of section ''. 



2. I am wintering my bees outside, packt with sawdust and 

 chaff cushions on top. and I notice that the bees in one or two of 

 my colonies persist in flying out, and of course perish in the snow, 

 while the rest are quiet. What is the probable cause, as they have 

 all first-class stores ? Ontario. 



Answers. — 1. Fence separators may be used with any kind of 

 sections, but separators suitable for the plain sections will not do 

 for sections with insets. For the latter, fence separators must be 

 differently constructed. 



2. Hard to tell. The difference may be in the bees themselves. 

 Some bees seem more uneasy than others under like circumstances. 

 It is possible the sun sbines more freely into some hives than into 

 others. It is not a bad plan to put a board in front of the entrance 

 at a time when bees fly out to their detriment. 



Italianizing- Distinguishing Queens. 



1. I have 18 colonies of bees, partly Italians and partly blacks. 

 Would it be possible for me to kill the old black queens when they 

 swarm and put in a laying Italian queen instead, when I hive 

 them, with any degree of certainty ? Or, would it be better to 

 take the nucleus that the Italian queen was reared in, and hive the 

 swarm with it ? 



2. And what would be the best to introduce in the parent hive 

 (the hive the swarm issued from), a laying queen, a virgin queen, 

 or a ripe queen cell, after cutting all the cells out of the hive and 

 being sure there are no virgin queens present in the hive ? 



3. Is there any way of telling a three-banded queen from a 

 five-banded one, before they have any bees batcht from their eggs, 

 supposing, of course, they are purely mated ? I don't think there 

 is, but my opinion doesn't amount to much. Illinois. 



Answers.— 1. It would be safer to let the swarm run in with 

 the nucleus, of course first killing the old queen. 



2. It would be largely a matter of your own convenience, 

 either one being all right. 



3. Your opinion is all right in this case, at any rate. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the nevf bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. Thife is 

 thought by .some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly .sviljscriptioq to the American 

 Pee Journal at |;.0Q, 



