Oct. IK, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



665 



the other end, then (lap in the smoke. If there are two 

 supers, the top one full, it works very well. 



Tho I have all the necessary implements to make it, I 

 prefer to buy all my comb foundation from extensive manu- 

 facturers ; so also as to queens. I believe it pays me to buy 

 of experienced and reliable breeders, except perhaps it is 

 well to rear a few from one's' best stock, to have on hand 

 for emergencies. 



I have made a very satisfactory wax-rendering tank, as 

 per directions given by some one in the bee-papers. It is 

 3x4 feet, 16 inches deep, made of 2-inch plank, with gal- 

 vanized sheet-iron bottom, set on bricks on edge, and of a 

 convenient hight for a roomy fire-place underneath. A 

 wire sieve is made to slip in from the top, and is wedged 

 down so I can dip the melted wax from the top. I believe 

 it is an unexcelled way. 



I had a long siege of foul brood 10 years ago. I failed 

 with spraying salicylic acid, but cured by transferring bees 

 on foundation and clean hives, I boiled hives, melted combs 

 for wax, extracted, boiled and fed infected honey, all suc- 

 cessfully. Some years later I bought the disease again 

 with bees, but got rid of it promptly the same way as before. 



Except winter before last, I have wintered bees success- 

 fully both in the cellar and outside in chaif hives, and some 

 in Simplicity hives, protected by straw in movable sheds. 



I have gradually created a good market for extracted 

 honey in pint jars to grocers, and 1, 2 and 4 quart pails to 

 families. It has been an up-hill and persistent work. I 

 now supply from SO to 100 grocers in some 10 different 

 towns or cities, and dispose of 5.000 or 6,000 pounds yearly. 

 I found it necessary until now to sell either for cash down 

 or on commission, in order to introduce both myself and 

 the honey, and overcome the prejudice against it. Now I 

 am doing away with the time plan. 



I hereby wish to thank the many contributors to our 

 papers whose kinks I have appropriated, and that have 

 been such helps. That is my main object in reading the 

 bee-papers. I think best to adopt and apply the experi- 

 ences of others, as I see their practicability, rather than 

 try to originate very much myself. ha. Salle Co., 111. 



i Questions and Answers. ^ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C O. MILI^BR, A/areng-o, 111. 



[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 



Uniting Weak Colonies. 



I have three weak colonies ; please tell me plainly how 

 to unite them for winter. Ne\v York. 



Answer. — Follow any of the plans laid down in your 

 text-book, and you will be pretty sure of success. But bees 

 do not always act alike, and sometimes there will be fight- 

 ing with the best of plans. In such case a good smoking 

 helps to make them behave. Here is one good plan : Kill 

 the queen of one of the colonies two or three days before 

 the time of uniting. Call this colony No. 1, and the other 

 in which the queen is left No. 2. Two or three days after 

 killing the queen of No. 1, bring it near No. 2. Set No. 2 

 oflf the stand and put an empty hive in its place. Now take 

 alternately from the two hives frames of brood or honey 

 with adhering bees — first from one, then from the other — 

 and set in the new hive. The excess combs must of course 

 be removed after the bees are brusht from them. 



Transferring and Feeding Bees. 



About two weeks ago I bought 20 box-hives of bees and 

 transferred them to 10-frame hives, and had 6 frames extra, 

 mixt with brood and honey, btit I was afraid they would not 

 winter on 6 frames. I bought 20 colonies in 8-frame hives, 

 thinking that I would take one frame each from the last 20 

 and put into the first 20 ; but I find that the last 20 are not 

 any better off than those I got from the box-hives. It seems 

 that those in 8-frame hives are about 4 years old, and per- 

 haps older ; the brood-chamber is solid with old brood-comb 



with about an inch or two of honey at the top. There was 

 no space at the end of the frames, and I had to knock the 

 hive to pieces to get them out. The brood-combs had sepa- 

 rated about an inch from the top. The last 20 I got I am to 

 return the hives when they are empty, so I transferred two 

 into my hives. 



1. What I wish to know is, can I leave them until 

 spring, and if they swarm put the swarm into a new hive 

 and then destroy the old brood-combs and return the old 

 hives ? Or, could I put an S-frame super on and let them 

 fill up, then after awhile divide and put the queen in ? Or, 

 kill the old queen and send and get a young one ? Think- 

 ing you might know of a better way to get them out with- 

 out going to the trouble of fastening all those old brood- 

 combs to Hoffman frames, is why I ask. If I don't transfer 

 them now. will they swarm in the spring ? 



2. I will have to feed those that I transferred. How 

 often should they be fed ? Which is the best feeder ? How 

 much water to sugar should I use ? Califokni.\. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, it is an excellent plan to leave the 

 bees in the old hive till they swarm next year, then 21 days 

 after swarming there will be no worker-brood in the hive, 

 when you can drum out the remaining bees and dispose of 

 the comb as you see fit. If the hives are not unusually 

 large, the colonies in them stand as good a chance of 

 swarming as any bees. If the season is fair, and if no sur- 

 plus room is given, they will be pretty sure to swarm. 



2. Once feeding is enough, if plenty is given. Root's 

 " A B C of Bee-Culture " gives the preference to the Miller 

 feeder for fall feeding. 



Uniting Bees Causes of Swarming. 



I read all the bee-books, and still I don't understand 

 some things, and therefore know of no way to find out but 

 to consult the best authority. 



■Why is it that I invariably fail in my attempts to 

 unite two colonies, as they go to fighting, after following 

 all the directions laid down by yourself and others ? To il- 

 lustrate more fully : A few days ago (Sept. 2S) I discovered 

 a s%varm of bees flying around my apiary. I don't know 

 where they came from. After they clustered I took a second 

 super from a hive I had on for feeding up a colonj'. I hived 

 them in this super, carried them to the hive the super came 

 from, and after placing a piece of wire-cloth over the first 

 super left on the hive, I placed these wandering bees on 

 this hive over the wire-cloth about dark. The next morn- 

 ing I found many dead bees in front. These I think were 

 those that took wing from the ones I had lately hived. 



Then I concluded to try a new plan. After removing 

 the wire-cloth. I left a passage or entrance for the new bees 

 by raising the top a little so they could come in and out 

 without going thru the lower hive of bees. 



I neglected to say at the proper place that I smoked the 

 hive of bees before putting on the new bees, but could tiot 

 smoke the bees I had just hived because they, being in a 

 shallow super, would almost all take wing. 



After leaving this entrance and removing the wire- 

 cloth, I don't think they have fought any more up to date, 

 (Sept. 30th,) 



1. Now I wish to ask. What do you think of my plan of 

 uniting? I will leave open the passage at the top for a 

 few days longer until everything seems peaceable, when I 

 expect to add the third super in which to feed, and then 

 close the top. If you approve of my plan, how long before 

 you would close the top or extra entrance ? Remember, I 

 was feeding the bees originally in this hive for winter, and 

 as they were my weakest colony I chose to unite the strong 

 bees with them. I neglected t'o say, also, that when I was 

 hiving these bees I very carefully lookt for the queen, but 

 saw none, altho they were a good-size colony. 



2. Is there any other cause for bees swarming at this 

 season of the year, besides starvation ? Several swarms 

 have past along lately, like they do in the spring. 



I will say in conclusion that I read of apiarists uniting 

 bees as a very frequent and simple thing, but it doesn't 

 work that way for me. For instance, they speak of uniting 

 nuclei in the fall, as a plain, easy-going thing. They speak 

 of taking frames of brood with the bees clinging to them, 

 from different hives, and forming a new colony, and never 

 speak of the bees fighting. It must be I have fighting bees 

 that won't unite. Mississippi. 



Answers. — 1. I am a little in the condition you are 

 after you have read, the text-books. After reading your 

 question there are points not clear. As I understand it, 



