AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



611 



it to the station, and then — trust it to 

 the mercy of the freight smashers. 



Finally, when the returns come in, 

 maybe we will have money enough to 

 buy shoes for wife and babies. — Western 

 Plowman. 



Milan, Ills. 



Queens wltli Cliiei Win^s, Etc. 



H. C. M'KENZIE. 



I would be pleased to have the follow- 

 ing questions answered in the American 

 Bee Journal : 



1. I want to clip my queens' wings this 

 Spring, provided I can do so without 

 running any risk of losing them. Would 

 it be possible, if their wings are clipped, 

 to catch them as they come out by set- 

 ting a box, with a solid bottom, and 

 sides made of wire screening extending 

 up 3 or 4 inches, and turned over 1 or 2 

 inches at the top toward tte inside, and 

 placed under the alighting-board? 



My idea is, that when the queen 

 comes out with the swarm, she would 

 fall off of the alighting-board into the 

 box, as it would extend all around the 

 alighting-board, and that with the edges 

 turned in at the top, she would not be 

 likely to get out before she was found. 

 Is this practicable ? 



HONEY FOR COLONIES IN BROOD-REARING. 



2. How much honey will it take to 

 last a colony of bees, that will occupy 5 

 Simplicity frames, 2 weeks in brood- 

 rearing time, in Spring? How many 

 square inches of comb surface, counting 

 both sides of the comb ? 



Steelton, Pa. 



[Dr. C. C. Miller, of Marengo, Ills., to 

 whom the foregoing questions were re- 

 ferred, replies to them as follows: — Ed.] 



1. Your plan is one devised years ago 

 by the lamented Quinby. Although 

 tried by a good many, I do not think 

 any one uses it now. I am not sure just 

 why it did not v/ork satisfactorily. 

 Although I never tried it myself, I 

 should expect the queen, sometimes, at 

 least, to crawl up over the horizontal 

 wall of the "queen-yard," as this box 

 was called. Often the queen does not 

 attempt to leave by going straight for- 

 ward in the direct line of the mass of 

 workers, but climbs up the sides of the 

 hive, in which case she might not get 

 into the queen-yard at alL 



But if you»want the queen imprisoned 

 when she issues, you can accomplish it 

 more satisfactorily by the aid of the 

 Alley queen-and-drone trap, with the 

 advantage in this case that when the 

 queen issues she may be kept there in 

 the trap, so that you may find her there 

 in the evening'; whereas with the queen- 

 yard you may not know anything about 

 the issuing of a swarm, as there is noth- 

 ing to hinder her from going right back 

 into the hive. 



With a single colony of bees, or with 

 colonies far enough apart, I should feel 

 pretty safe about a wing-clipped queen 

 without any queen-yard, for in the ma- 

 jority of cases she would return to the 

 hive, or, if she should not return, you 

 would be likely to find her at no great 

 distance with a cluster of workers. 



2. I have several answers to your sec- 

 ond question. One answer is : More 

 than you would think. If you have 

 never given the matter close attention, 

 you would be surprised to find how 

 much honey is used in two weeks' brood- 

 rearing, when a colony is doing its level 

 best. I have sometimes found a colony 

 entirely destitute of stores, when two 

 weeks previous they seemed to have 

 abundance. 



Another answer is : Your question is 

 rather indefinite. A colony may occupy 

 five frames, and have the whole five 

 filled with brood, or there may be no 

 more brood than could be crowded on 

 three frames. And of course there may 

 be a good deal of diflPerence in the num- 

 ber of bees. 



But perhaps the best answer is : I 

 don't know. Perhaps some of the fra- 

 ternity have been making careful obser- 

 vations on this point, and can give us 

 some definite information. To give them 

 a better opportunity, I will make a 

 guess, and my guess will be open for cor- 

 rection. I should estimate that a col- 

 ony well occupying five combs with 

 brood, might use in two weeks' time 200 

 square inches of comb-honey, counting 

 both surfaces, if the comb was not more 

 than an inch thick. 



At first sight, it may seem that very 

 little experimenting might easily de- 

 termine the exact amount, but I am 

 afraid it would not be so very easy a task. 

 For the amount consumed not only in- 

 volves that which they take from the 

 combs of last year's storing, but as well 

 that which they gather from the flowers. 

 If there should be no honey gathered 

 from the flowers, then it would be com- 

 paratively easy to decide how much had 

 been used from the combs, but in that 

 case breeding would receive ^ heavy 



