June 14, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



375 



nuclei and let each start its own cell and rear its own ciutcii, 

 but I wouldn't take such a queen as a gift. Don't think of 

 having- cells started in anything but a strong- colony and 

 leave them there at least, until they are sealed. Better not 

 give a cell to a nucleus until within a day or two of the time 

 for the queen to emerge. If you want to rear several 

 queens, it will pay you well to have Doolittle's book on 

 queen-rearing. In the meantime here is a plan you may 

 take to start a few : Build up your best colony strong by 

 giving frames of hatching brood from other colonies, unless 

 it is already very strong. Not sooner than a week after 

 giving the last frame of brood, take away the queen witli 

 one or two frames of brood with adhering bees, and put in a 

 hive on a new stand. Ten days later put this hive with tlie 

 queen back on the old stand and take away the hive of 

 queenless bees. Make nuclei from the contents of this hive, 

 putting one of the nuclei (the weakest) on the stand from 

 which the queen has just been taken. Put two frames of 

 brood in each nucleus, and let each nucleus have at least 

 two good-looking cells. If the cells are buncht on one or 

 two combs, you must cut them off and fasten on the combs 

 that need them, using a common wire-nail to fasten them 

 on. Do not leave a cell on the bottom of a frame, but cut it 

 off and fasten where it will be sure to be kept warm by the 

 bees. If you gave sufficient brood from other colonies to 

 bring your best colony up to 20 frames of brood or more, 

 you will have no trouble in starting 10 or more nuclei. 



4. It may do well unless too late, and some farmer in 

 your locality who has tried it could tell better about it. 



5. Sweet clover will probably do well with you, and is 

 perhaps the best thing to sow specially for bees. 



A ttueenless Colony. 



As I was going past m5' neighbor's place he called me 

 in'to see a colony of bees. They were good and strong, but 

 they were rearing all drones, not a worker among them. 

 They had a queen nearly hatcht. Will the queen be any 

 good ? They have no queen alive with them. 



Colorado. 



Answer. — It is possible that a played-out queen had 

 been laying drone-eggs almost entirely, but among the few 

 worker-eggs one had been used in a queen-cell, in which 

 case the j'oung queen will be all right. More likely the 

 queen-cell " nearly ready to hatch " contains only a drone, 

 and will never hatch. The chances are many to one that 

 the best thing you can do is to break up the colony. 



Bees Affected With Foul Brood. 



I have a colony of bees in which there is a number of 

 combs half full of dead brood. The caps are sunken, and 

 the brood is coffee-colored. When I stick the point of my 

 pocket-knife into a dead larva, it draws out in one thread 

 about an inch. Some time ago the bees began to cluster 

 out, and I raised the front of the hive about one-third inch. 

 Shortly after came on a cold spell, and as the dead brood is 

 mostly in the front of the hive, I thought they might be 

 chilled. 



1. Does the "back presentation" always accompany 

 foul brood ? 



2. If more brood keeps on dying, so that I am sure it is 

 foul brood, what course would 5'ou advise me to pursue ? 



Michigan. 



Answer. — 1. If by " back presentation " you mean the 

 young bees are in their cells wrong end foremost, it may be 

 said that it does not always accompany foul brood. 



2. I don't believe I should wait to be any more sure 

 about it, but would at once burn up the whole business, or 

 bury it beyond the hope of resurrection. Better get Dr. 

 Howard's book on foul brood, from the American Bee Jour- 

 nal office, by sending 2S cents. 



Young Brood Hatching and Dying. 



I am in trouble with my bees, and would like to know 

 what is wrong with them. As fast as the young brood 

 hatches they go out and die. I have 60 colonies, and two 

 weeks ago they were nearly ready to swarm ; to-day they are 

 DO better than when I put them out. I have been S years in 

 the business, and never saw the like before. They are not 

 starving, as they have honey. All drone-brood cappings I 



shaved off, and let the bees carry out the larvae. I did that 

 this year for the first time. I would like to know if that 

 would cause the trouble. What would be good for it ? 



Canada. 



Answer. — From the description given it is impossible 



to tell what is the trouble. It is not likely that shaving the 



drone-brood has anything to do with it. You do not say 



whether it is confined to one colony, or how many. Possibly 



it is spring dwindling, altho rather late for that. Possibly 



poison may have something to do in the case. It is to be 



hoped that by this time they have recovered without further 



loss. 



*-»-^ 



Affected With Bee-Paralysis. 



I have a colony of bees that have something ailing 

 them. They crawl out of the hive, and are dragged out by 

 the other bees, and they look as if they had been varnisht, 

 and somewhat swollen. They crawl over the ground, and 

 have a tremulous motion of the wings ; they seem to be 

 unable to fly. What is it ? Is the disease contagious ? 

 What will cure them ? The colony has swarmed, and both 

 old and new are affected alike. Indiana. 



Answer. — Bee-paralysis. No reliable cure seems to 

 have been found, but as far north as Indiana the disease 

 generally disappears without doing much damage, and does 

 not appear to be contagious. 



Buying Pure Extracted Honey. 



How can I be sure, in buying extracted honey, that it is 

 not adulterated ? Where could I learn how to analyze it ? 

 I produce comb honey, but I buy quite a good deal of ex- 

 tracted for some of my neighbors who prefer it. N. J. 



Answer. — One of the best ways to be sure of buying 



pure extracted honey is to buy of an honest producer, or an 



honest dealer who says he knows the honey is pure. Unless 



you expect to handle large quantities of honey it is doubtful 



■whether it would be worth while to be your own analyst. 



You can get honey analyzed by the chemist connected with 



your State University, and perhaps learn the process from 



him. 



■* • » 



Perhaps Bee-Paralysis. 



I have 3 colonies that act as if there was some disease 

 working on them. The bees crawl out of the hive and are 

 not able to flv, and the abdomen is black. They crawl off 

 in the grass and die. What is the matter, and how can I 

 get rid of it ? All the rest of the apiary seem to be healthy 

 and all right. Washington. 



Answer.— From your description it is probably bee- 

 paralysis, and unfortunately no sure remedy is known. In 

 the North it generally disappears of itself, but in the South 

 it is a bad scourge. Very likely yours will not do any great 



damage. 



♦-•-•^ 



Using Drawn Combs for Swarms. 



As I am considerably short of surplus combs, and have 

 a large amount of foundation to draw out, and can give only 

 about two combs to each swarm in the brood-chamber (when 

 hiving bees), would you put the two drawn combs in the 

 center, filling up with foundation ? or would you put one 

 comb in each, outside ? Ontario. 



Answer.— I believe I should do neither, but put the 

 two combs together at one side of the hive. If the combs 

 are in the middle, or one at each side, there is more chance 

 for the bees to bulge the old combs into the foundation. 

 With the two combs together at one side, they could do no 

 more than to bulge into one side of one frame of founda- 

 tion, and might not do that. 



Dr. nnier's Honey-Queens are offered as premiums, 

 on another page, for sending us new subscribers to the 

 American Bee Journal. The offer is limited to our present 

 regular subscribers, and the queens are to be mailed in ro- 

 tation, beginning about June 10th, so first come first served. 

 LfOok up a new subscriber, send in his name with $1.00, an* 

 ■we will enter your order for a Dr. Miller Honey-Queen. 



