24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 12, 190S. 



would be were Polaris blotted out — nothing bigger than 

 fifth magnitude for 12 degrees radius. 



BULK COMB HONEY MARKET. 



Market for bulk comb in danger of being overstocked. 

 One would think so if they are all going at it. Decided 

 limits to the market — and market partly founded on the 

 miserable untruth that sections are fabricated. Customers 

 too enlightened to take any stock in the cry of manufactured 

 comb, and in the habit of buying sections, are not likely to 

 join in a stampede back to chunk honey. Page 792. 



PRICKLY PEARS AS BEE-FBED. 



Who'd a-thought it ? Who knew prickly pears were 

 plenty enough anywhere to use as bee-feed? D.C.Milam 

 is one of the pathfinders whose path few people are likely 

 to follow. Page 792. 



"strained" honey and girlish beauty. 



It's a villainous reminder of dark ages — still, with us — 

 that 'most everybody persists so in saying " strained 

 honey ". And, Sister Wilson, when we copy recipes that 

 have the vicious phrase in, let's quietly change it and say 

 nothing — as might have been done on page 793. No, I'll 

 take that back. To make a nice girl more beautiful than 

 she already is requires such " pauwerful" influences that 

 it's to be supposed that it won't do to trust commercial ex- 

 tracted honey. Crush a good section and pass it through 

 gauze and have some real strained honey. 



SUGAR NOT GOOD FOR REARING QUEENS. 



" I feed honey — sugar is not fit to rear queen-bees on." 

 This gospel, according to Darrow, sounds to me like good, 

 sound gospel, albeit I am not a safe authority, not being a 

 queen -breeder. Perhaps something would depend upon the 

 condition of the pollen-supply. Sugar syrup very inade- 

 quate when pollen is scarce, but almost tolerable when 

 abundance of pollen is coming in every day. Page 796. 



'^ 



Doctor UliUcr's 

 Question = Box 



J 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Correspondence School in Bee-Keeping. 



What do you think of correspondence schools in bee-keeping? Do 

 you think bee-keeping can be learned as quickly in that way as when 

 working with an experienced beekeeper? Illinois. 



Answer. — No amount of correspondence can equal in value di- 

 rect instruction at actual work in the apiary from the same teacher; 

 but for one who can not have this advantage it ought to be worth 

 much to have the privilege of information upon any desired points 

 through the mail; and I suppose something of this kind is meant by 

 a correspondence school in bee-keeping. 



Queenless Colony in the Cellar- 

 Sections. 



-Using Unfinished 



1. I put 10 colonies of bees into the cellar Nov. 10, all in fine con- 

 dition with plenty of stores and bees. Dec. 23 in looking them over 

 I found a hive in which I could see no bees, so I opened it and found 

 about 150 dead bees and no live ones. All of the combs were in good 

 condition, vvith no sign of any disease, that I could see. On the cen- 

 ter of the middle comb there was a moldy spot about the size of a half 

 dollar, on which there were about 50 dead bees. There was about 35 

 pounds of honey in the 8 frames. (I use the 8-frame hive.) 



Out of 11 colonies this one did the best last season, and was a 

 large colony when I put it into the cellar. What became of the bees* 

 My bee-cellar is a small room off from the main cellar. The tempera- 

 ture is from 40 to 45 degrees. Have been troubled with mice to some 

 extent, but there are no traces of them in this hive I speak of. 



2. Would it be all right to put sections that are from }^ to '^{i full 

 of honey, partially capped and somewhat candied, in the supers, then 

 put them on the hives next summer? Would the bees eat it out, or 

 would they fill up the sections and cap them over? Conn. 



Answers. — 1. If the colony was strong when put into the cellar, I 

 can not imagine any way by which in 6 weeks' time the bees should 

 disappear entirely, unless they should move out in a body and go into 



another hive, which is very unlikely. It is rather more likely that 

 although the hive was heavy when put into the cellar, it did not con- 

 lain such a very large number of bees, the colony having become 

 queenless some lime before. In that case the bees that were left would 

 be old, and what were left might come out of their hives and die on 

 the ground during the 6 weeks. 



2. It will not be well to put them in supers to put on the hives. 

 If very short of stores, the bees might empty out the candied honey 

 if given early enough, but the probability is that a good deal of it 

 would be left in the sections, and the bees would fill up the empty 

 space and seal over. Yet if you like candied honey for your own table, 

 as some do, it will work all right. If you don't want any candied 

 honey in the sections, you can melt them up, taking care not to over- 

 heat, taking off the cake of wax when cold. 



Putting Bees in the Cellar— Sainfoin and Sweet 

 Clover Seed. 



1. I have 11 colonies of bees that I wish to move 10)^ miles. When 

 I bring them home can I put them into the cellar at once, or would I 

 better let them stay out-of-doors and have a flight before putting them 

 in? 



2. Where can I find sainfoin seed? I want to try it in this local- 

 ity. 



3. Can I get sweet clover seed in Chicago? I see in the American 

 Bee Journal that a man in Kansas City advertises it, but that is quite 

 a distance for me to send for it. Indiana. 



Answf.rs. — 1. Better put them in at once unless you are pretty 

 sure they'll have a flight in 2 or 3 weeks. 



3. From any leading seed dealer. 



3. Yes, it is always to be had in Chicago, and generally in any 

 large place. 



< « » 



Disturbing Bees in Winter. 



I opened a hive last Saturday in the upper part of which was 6 

 pounds of honey in one-pound sections. This 1 took out. All the 

 other sections were empty. In the lower part of the hive were 10 

 frames all full of fine honey, about 50 pounds. My friend said that I 

 could take some or all of it out and feed the bees with sugar. I tried 

 to take 3 frames out, but they broke, so I left all of it in. I think 

 this did.a great deal of harm to the bees. What can I do? The 

 weather is very cold now, and the bees can't fly out. 



New Jersey. 



Answer.— It is a pity you made such a mistake as to attempt to 

 take anything from the bees so late as the first week in December 

 with the idea of replacing it with sugar syrup. It's a doubtful step 

 to do that sort of thing at any time, and if done at all should be as 

 early as September. Very likely there isn't anything to be done now. 

 It is possible that the bees are all right on the broken combs just as 

 they are. If, however, you want to do something for them, you might 

 peep in, and if the combs have fallen so as to be packed together, you 

 might raise them on edge, it necessary putting little sticks between 

 them so as to keep them apart about half an inch. 



Wintering Bees in a Repository. 



I bought 75 colonies of bees last fall in Langstroth hives, from the 

 widow of a bee-keeper who died last March. I leased the ground and 

 bee-house. Y'esterday I began putting them in at 10:30 a.m. and 

 finished at 1:30 p.m. I expected to set them like Boardman's picture 

 in A B C, but it was too warm to remove the bottom-boards, so I sat 

 them one above another. And then the cleats on the corners were un- 

 even, so they would not set level side by side. They have only a 'VxW 

 entrance, and I fear it will get clogged with bees. This is my first 

 experience with a winter repository. 



Can I go into the bee-house soon with a dim light, pry up the 

 bodies and place inch blocks under the front coriers? They are 4 

 hives deep, and weigh SO pounds. Or would you depend upon going 

 say Jan. 15. February and March, and cleaning out the dead bees with 

 an iron rod* Half of them have a 13-2 -inch hole in the covers. Their 

 formerowner wintered them for 30 years just as I have them fixed. 



Missouri. 



Answer — If for 30 years they have been wintered just as they 

 are, and it that wintering has been entirely successful, it would seem 

 a pretty safe thing to continue without change. Y'et, on general 

 principles, I should fear that a ^ entrance would get clogged. Little 

 danger just at first, the trouble becoming constantly worse as winter 

 advances. So it is probably advisable to increase the ventilation as 

 early as some time in January. If you go about it quietly there ought 

 not to be much trouble. A dark lantern, a bicycle lamp, or a common 

 lamp having a paper over the chimney with a hole cut in one side will 

 be good. It's a question which will be best, to pry up the hives just 

 as they stand or to re-pile them, loosening up each one as you pile. 

 If they get too much stirred up, you can wait for them to settle down. 

 Even if it should take you a day or t«o, you'll sleep enough better 

 afterward to feel that there's little danger of their smothering with 

 clogged entrances. 



See Langstroth Book Offer on another page of this 

 copy of the American Bee Journal. 



