Sept. 20, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



601 



Questions and Answers. ^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C C MIKLER, Marengn, 111. 



[The Qnestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal ofBce, or to Dr. Milltr 



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



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Granulated Honey in Extra ctlng-Combs. 



Some of ray extractiiifj-combs are filled with graiitila- 

 ted honey, and the extractor will not throw it out. What 

 can I do with them ? South Cakouna. 



Answer. — If you do not want to melt the combs you 

 can feed to the bees. If you g-ive them to the bees just as 

 they are, they will throw out and waste some of the gran- 

 ules. Spray them well with water, and the bees will use 

 all. It may be necessary to repeat the spraying- after the 

 bees have used part. You might try Mr. Aikin's plan of 

 wetting: Take a tub or other vessel large enough, and 

 dash the comb down into it violently several times. 



Queenless Colony— Late Swarming. 



1. I am just a beginner, and I have had fine success so 

 far. I have a colony which I discovered to be queenless 

 about two weeks ago, and as I have been very busy I did 

 not do anything for them. On Aug. 21st a swarm of black- 

 bees came and clustered on a tree right over my bee-j'ard. 

 As it was a very small swarm (about a quart), I got the 

 queen, and, caging her up with about 20 of her followers, I 

 placed her on the frames in the queenless colony, and dumpt 

 the rest in front of the hive, and as they went in I gave 

 them all a good smudge of smoke. On Aug. 24th I liberated 

 the queen, and they seemed to accept her all right. Did I 

 do right ? 



2. Will this colony send out a black swarm next spring ? 

 The others were Italians. 



3. Isn't it odd for bees to swarm at this time of the 

 year? oris it a frequent occurrence ? Ili,inois. 



Answers. — 1. Your procedure was all right. Very 

 likely it would have been all right without caging the queen, 

 but caging made it safer. 



2. Yes, when a swarm issues it will be black, just the 

 same as if no Italians had ever been in the hive. 



3. While not common, it is not a very rare thing for 

 bees to swarm even later. Sept. 3, I found hanging on a 

 tree a fair-sized swarm this year. 



That Queen Experience Laying Workers. 



I did not say that the queen was dead, but that the bees 

 were preparing to supersede her. In 3 or 4 days after I in- 

 troduced her (the bees would not gnaw at the card), she be- 

 gan to lay an egg here and there, and in a few drone-cells 

 she would put 2 or 3 eggs. In a few days the bees built 

 queen-cells and put eggs in them, or she laid in them. She 

 did not lay any more until I took the queen-cells and eggs 

 from them, then she laid a few more, and they began again 

 to build queen-cells. I let them seal one of them. She did 

 not lay any more until I took the eggs and cells away. I 

 took away part of the bees, altho there was not more than 

 half enough for a strong colony, at first. She did not lay, 

 up to 3 days ago, enough to fill J4 of a frame, nor did she 

 enlarge in size visibly. She has now commeticed to lay con- 

 secutively, and I think looks better. She has laid a patch 

 on both sides of comb half as large as a hand. The bees seem 

 to be working better, I think, by promptly removing their 

 queen-cells and what few eggs, thwarted their purposes of 

 supersession. I know it has so far, and will continue to do 

 so if they build any more cells. Is it not possible that bees, 

 after they accept a queen, change their minds ? No, Doctor, 

 there were no laying workers in the matter. I have 

 had experience enough with them to know somethir:g of 

 their ways ' Indiana. 



Answer. — This is the case referred to on page 568, and 

 from the letter there given I supposed the queen was dead. 

 In that I was mistaken, but I still think laying workers 



were present. One of the first signs of laying workers is to 

 find an egg in a queen-cell, and if more than one egg is in 

 a <iueen-cell, that settles it. I have never known a queen, I 

 think, to lay more than one egg in a queen-cell, altho she 

 may in a worker-cell. It is by no means an uncommon 

 thing for a queen to be held in contempt for some time, and 

 then make good work afterward. I have known cases in 

 which she was not allowed to lay until a week after being 

 put ill the hive. If laying workers are present, her chances 

 are rather poor. 



Chapman Honey-Plant. Seed. 



Where can I get some seed of the Chapman honey- 

 plant (Echinops spherocephalus) ? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — When the boom of tj;iis plant was at its 

 hight, there was no difiiculty in finding the seed, but at 

 the present time I don't know where you can get any. I 

 had quite a plat of it, but at present not a plant, and have 

 some doubt whether any one who has tried it in this coun- 

 try thinks it worth cultivating. 



*-•-* 



Queen Killed in the Cage. 



The queen came and was introduced according- to direc- 

 tions in an out-apiary. The fourth day afterward I opened 

 the hive and found the queen dead in the cage. If killed by 

 the bees, it is the first instance under my observation where 

 the queen was killed in the cage. The queen seemed in 

 fair condition when received and introduced. I am at a loss 

 to account for it. North Caroi^ina. 



Answer. — It is unusual for bees to kill a queen in a 

 cage, but there is no reason why they might not. Possibly, 

 however, the thing is more common than generally sup- 

 posed, for the queen might be killed in the cage, and then 

 dragged out by the bees before the hive was opened. 



Shade for Bees— Bee-Moths, Etc. 



While I have been taking the American Bee Journal 

 (about two years), I have not noticed much in it about 

 location, shade, etc. Now, I wish to ask a question or two : 



I have a lot ."^OxloO feet, which I wish to put about 35 

 colonies of bees on next spring. The street is on the west, 

 buildings on the north, a grove on the east, a 6-foot board 

 fence on the south, and a few trees on the west side. I 

 would put the bees on the east one-half — 50x75 feet. 



1. Is it shaded too much ? 



2. Will the bees, while having to rise directly over build- 

 ings, grove, and high board fence, store as much honey as 

 if their start was on a level ? 



3. The bee-moths make me lots of trouble. Can you 

 give me any advice about them ? You will likely say, 

 "Keep your colonies strong." They are. My bees are 

 black or brown. You may say, " Get Italians ;" but I don't 

 want them. I think what I have store more honey, espe- 

 cially in supers, than the Italians. I have had both. 



Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. Unless the shade is so dense as to make 

 the place cold and damp, it is probably all right. 



2. They will do just as well. 



3. Aside from keeping bees strong and having Italians, 

 it will be well to take care not to encourage the breeding of 

 moths by allowing- old combs to lie around, and some help 

 may be given by digging out the worms in the combs by 

 the aid of a wire nail. If you will pardon my saying so, I 

 venture to say that if your bees have not enough "git up 

 and git " to keep the worms cleared out. they are not as 

 good bees as you might have, either for keeping moths at 

 bay or for gathering honey. All blacks are not alike, and 

 all Italians are not alike, nor for that matter all hybrids, 

 and it may be that the Italians and hybrids you had were 

 not up to the mark. 



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

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

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

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

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " huminer." 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 subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at fl.OO. 



