Nov. 8, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



713 



every one is desirous of making his friends acquainted with 

 a view of the line scenery he sees, and altho those photcj- 

 graphic views are cold when compared with the reality, 

 they convey some idea of the wonder of those scenes. 



Mr. Perry McDowell and His Apiary. 



MY beginning in the bee-business was in IH.SK, when I 

 found and captured a swarm in a tree in the woods, 

 and from this start has grown my apiary, as shown by 

 the accompanying picture. 



Besides the hives there will be seen the small trees 

 which furnish shade for the hives, and the two persons arc 

 myself and little boy — my only help in the business. 



In the 12 years my apiary has grown from the one 

 swarm to 60 nice, healthy colonies, with a yearly output of 

 over 2,500 pounds of honey. 



I have also improved my stock by buying queens from 

 the best breeders in the United States, until I now have 

 them to the highest degree of excellence ; and from the old 

 oak-tree to the latest improved hives, run especially for 

 comb honey, and as yet I have never been able to supply 

 my home demand for honey at fair prices. 



My success with bees has aroused great interest thru- 

 out the community, and so visitors at my place are many, 

 all of whom express surprise at my supply of stock, and the 

 honey I handle. 



Besides the honey-production, I have been fairly suc- 

 cessful the last two years in rearing queens on the " Do 

 little " plan, for myself and neighbors. 



During my 12 years' work with bees, I have not lost a 

 single colony by moth, and have won all the premiums of- 

 fered on honey that I competed for at county fairs. 



As shown in the picture, my apiary faces east, and the 

 small trees are fruit-trees. Mason Co., Ky. 



Questions and Answers. | 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. M7tZ,ER, Afareng-o, i". 



[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 



Molasses Not Good for Winter Stores. 



nies I got only 100 pounds. Sugar is a little too high to 

 buy at 7 cents a pound. I want to feed before it gets cold. 



Nkw Yokk. 



Answkr. You can feed molasses in the spring late 

 enough so the bees are flying every day, but don't think of 

 feeding it for winter unless you think that's a cheaper way 

 to kill the bees than to brimstone them. It seems a good 

 deal to pay 7 cents a pound for granulated sugar, but it's 

 about the cheapest way to get along, and better than to let 

 the bees die to save a dollar or so per colony. Don't dream 

 of using anything but the best honey or granulated sugar. 



Propolis in Water-TlRht Cracks. 



How do the bees crowd propolis thru between the edges 

 of the sections when they fit tof^ether wa/rr-Zi'i^/i/ / Don't say 

 you "don't know," for we think you do know. Don't forget 

 the trowel theory, or that the propolis may be " partly di- 

 gested." Pennsylvania. 



Answkk. -Bees crowd propolis into cracks perhaps not 

 entirely watertight but certainly very small. I wouldn't 

 like to be too positive about it, but I think they do it with 

 their tongues, when the jiropolis is warm and thin. By the 

 " trowel theory " I suppose you mean the theory that a bee 

 uses its sting as a trowel for spreading wax. If it can 

 spread wax with its sting, it ought to be able to work prop- 

 olis in the same way. The trouble is that there is not the 

 slightest proof that the sting is ever used for spreading 

 wax, the whole " trowel theory " being one of the wildest 

 vagaries ever conceived in the brain of man. I think there 

 is no proof that propolis is ever " partly digested," nor is 

 there any need of such lielicf. On a hot summer day prop- 

 olis becomes so thin that it is easy to believe a bee's tongue 

 is sufficiently strong to crowd it into a small crack. 



I have 3 colonies of bees that I have to feed. What is 

 the best feed ? How is molasses ? Is it as good as sugar ? 

 Bees did not do much here the past summer- from 15 colo- 



Apiary of Mr. Perry McDowell, of Mason Co., Ky 



Tendency to Balling of Queens. 



1. I appeal to you in my trouble, and altho you appear 

 to be nearly omniscient in relation to bee-matters, I fear 

 you will reply, " I don't know." My trouble is, the ten- 

 dency my bees have to balling their queens. 



First, a virgin queen, if in a moderately strong colony, 

 is apt to be balled before she becomes fertile. My fertile 

 queens often disappear, and as I frequently find one in a 

 ball, I infer that that is the way the others went. Some- 

 times, during the honey-How, I cage the queens, and liber- 

 ate them near its close, and encourage breeding to secure a 

 good supply of young bees for winter. On releasing the 

 queens they nearly all disappeared, and by watching I 

 found that they were balled. 



I next tried caging the queens with bee-zinc, thinking 

 that as the bees would all the time have free access to the 

 queen they would certainly receive her kindly when re- 

 least. But, no I I have tried the different plans advised for 



the introduction of queens — 

 tobacco - smoke, leaving the 

 bees queenless for some time 

 in a box, a la Doolittle, etc., 

 but generally to no purpose. I 

 can not unite two weak colo- 

 nies or allow a number of 

 strange bees to enter a hive, 

 without endangering the 

 queens, no matter how much 

 I smoke them. Some time ago 

 a swarm left the hive, into 

 which I had put them, and went 

 into another hive, and both 

 tjueens disappeared; they were 

 both fertile. 



I have had very good suc- 

 cess with bees with this ex- 

 ception, and if you can give 

 me a remedy you will do me a 

 great .service. 



Never, to my knowledge, 

 have I had but one case of the 

 queen being balled, until 6 

 years ago, and I never heard 

 of but one person complain- 

 ing 6f such experience, and 

 his only related to virgins ; 

 and so he put them in very 

 small nuclei- just a handful 



