Feb. 16, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



121 



all increase was by purchase, and that he manipulated them in the 

 same way with intent to prevent swarming. The third supposition is 

 the same, leaving out the manipulation— simply did nothing, and just 

 tells us of three years without swarming as a natural wonder. 



=\ 



Doctor mnuv's 



Question = Box 



J 



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

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



Spring Stimulative Peedins of Bees. 



"Will what is termed " Yellow C Bright '' sugar do to make syrup 

 for stimulative feeding in the spring? I see it is quoted considerably 

 lower in price than the granulated sugar. If it is as good, and has no 

 ill-effects on the bees, I am thinliingof using it next spring. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — Any kind of sugar that bees will accept will be all 

 right to feed in the spring after the bees can fly daily. It is generally 

 considered that granulated sugar is as cheap in the long run as sugars 

 of lower grade at less cost. But it is possible that there may be some 

 mistake in this, provided there is very much difference in price. 



As you say you are "just a beginner", it may be well to remind 

 you that there is danger of coiog harm rather than good by stimula- 

 tive feeding, for those who have not had much experience. Indeed, 

 many of those who have had long experience do not find it advisable 

 to practice stimulative feeding at all. 



Cleaning Brood-Prames— Fumigating Poul-Broody 

 Hives— Prevention or Swarming. 



1. In boiling frames to get the wax and propolis off, do you 

 know of any acid that will help the matter along i I have had foul 

 brood, and want to clean up and disinfect the frames. 



2. I have been experimenting with formaldehyde, using a form- 

 aldehyde generator by boring a hole in the back of tlie hive, close lo 

 the ground, so the fumes could penetrate the brood-nest. In doing it 

 that way I fill the hives and supers full of the fumes. What do you 

 think of itf 



3. Last summer, in manipulating my bees to prevent swarming, I 

 took two frames of brood with sealed queen-cells on them, intemling 

 to leave the parent queen in the old hive. But by having my attention 

 taken away from my work, I took the old queen along with the two 

 frames. The old colony did not swarm, and I got ~0 pounds of honey 

 from it; in fact, it produced nearly twice as much honey as my other 

 colonies where I kept the queen-cells destroyed and did not divide in 

 any form. What do you think of that plan? Do you think it will 

 work out that way every time? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know. It is possible that a liquid prepara- 

 tion of formaldehyde might answer, but I am ignorant on the subject. 

 It is pretty generally agreed now that it is safe to use hives that have 

 contained foul brood, and it is possible that it would be just as safe to 

 use frames that had been boiled. 



2. I have had no personal experience, and the testimony of those 

 having had experience is conflicting. It is possible that the failures 

 are owing to lack of thoroughness. 



3. No, you can't always be sure of the sanae result, for in many 

 cases — probably in most cases— taking away two frames of brood and 

 bees with the queen would result in a swarm from the old hive as soon 

 as the first young queen was old enough to go with the swarm. You 

 may forestall that action, however, by cutting out all queen-cells as 

 soon as the first queen has left her cell, or the next morning after the 

 first evening when piping can be heard in the hive. But don't count 

 too much on the plan; you're not likely to get any more honey than 

 you would if the colony should be left entirely alone, provideil the col- 

 ony of its own sweet will should entirely refrain from all attempts at 

 swarming— indeed, you'd probably get more honey in the latter ease. 

 The unfortunate feature in the case is that bees are not always willing 

 to refrain from swarming. 



Movements of the'.Cluster of Bees In Cellar-Wlntering- 

 Matlng Queens In Confinement. 



By observation, I am led to believe that a colony of bees wintered 

 on the summer stand in an 8 or lu frame hive, with honey in all of the 

 combs, does not move to a new place when a warm spell gives them 

 the chance, but spreads out the cluster and carries the honey to the 

 old place, until it gets too cold again, then they draw back about 

 where they were at first. 



1. What are the facts in the case? 



2. Do bees in the cellar change the location of their cluster during 

 the winter' 



3. If one were to discover a way to mate successfully queens in 

 confinement, would it be of any great practical value to the craft! 



4. What recompense could one rely on, to follow success? Experi- 



ments along this line, I think, are rather expensive, and require much 

 care and time. 



5. Please give us a sample page out of Dr. Miller's record-book. 



Illinois. 



Answers. — 1 and 2. Bees do both ways, both in the cellar and 

 out. Sometimes honey is carried from an outer comb, without chang- 

 ing the place of the cluster. Usually the cluster moves gradually 

 backward or upward, as the bees eat their way into the full combs. 



3. In special cases it would ; in general, probably not. 



4. The greatest recompense would probably be the satisfaction of 

 having conquered a difficulty generally considered unconquerable. 



5. It wouldn't do to give a whole page; there would be a gibber- 

 ing maniac in the Bee Journal otHce if one of that troublesome crew 

 should attempt to get such stuff into type, but I think I'll risk giving 

 one-third of a page, containing the full record of one colony : 



50 



U3 



24 73 96 120 



Apr 20 q cl good May 11 g 1 br & b br in 4 

 19th 4 br 25th t 1 br & b br in 5 Jun 1 

 t 2 br & b 4 br 13th July 11 kleg 



Translated into the United States language, that means that 50 is 

 the number of the colony. The '03" under the 50 means that the 

 queen was born in 1903. The figures at the top are the numbers of 

 sections taken. First time, one super of 24 sections was taken, and 

 the number 24 was put down. Next time two supers were taken at 

 the same time, and "2 put down as the whole number up to that time. 

 Then another super was taken, making 96, and the last lime made 120 

 as the total for the season from that colony. If the last super had 

 been only half full, the number would have been lOS. 



The remaining record runs: J/jril ?.'* I found that the ^ueen was 

 flipped, and the colony was good for that time of year. May 11 I ^ave 

 the colony i frame of &»-ood A' its adhering iees; and when that was 

 done there was 'jrood in 4 of the combs. May lyth there were 4 frames 

 of brood, no frame being less than half full of brood. If one or more 

 of the frames had been less than half full, the entry, instead of being 

 " 4 br " would have been " br in 4 ". May ?<(/t I (ook / frame of 6rood 

 <t" adhering 6ees, leaving brood in 5 combs. Jane 1 1 (ook 2 frames of 

 brood ct- iees, leaving J combs well filled with brood. June i.5(A I put 

 on the first super, July It 1 Allied 1 er/g; that is, I destroyed one egg 

 in a queen-cell. Evidently there was no further attempt at prepara- 

 tion for swarming the remainder of the season, no record being made 

 it neither grub nor egg was found in a queen-cell. 



The above is a true transcript ; but not all colonies made so little 

 attempt at swarming, while a few made no attempt whatever. 



You will see that in the foregoing translation I have put in Italics 

 the letters that are in the actual record. 



Transmission of Bee-Traits— Kralner Bees— Old Brood- 

 Comb and Size of Bees. 



1. Are the good and bad traits of bees transmitted through the 

 drones as much as through the queens? 



2. Have the Krainer bees from Krain, Austria, ever been imported 

 to this country? Are they more hardy than Italians? 



3. How many years constant use for brood can worker-comb be 

 used without diminishing the size of bees? I have read that the 

 cocoons left behind imperceptibly diminish the size of the cells of the 

 future occupants, and prevent the bees from attaining their full devel- 

 opment and size. New York. 



Answers. — 1. It is generally considered so; indeed, I think the 

 preponderance of opinion is that the disposition of the offspring depends 

 more upon the drone-father than upon the queen-mother. 



2. You have probably read and heard quite a little about Carniolan 

 bees. Well, Krain is merely the German word for Carniola. I'm not 

 sure whether the claim for greater hardiness has been well established, 

 but some think well of across with Italians. 



3. I have combs that are 30 years old or more ; and I can not see 

 that the bees reared in them are any smaller than those reared in new 

 combs. I remember that one of the patient foreign investigators — a 

 German, I believe, whose name does not now occur to me— took the 

 trouble to measure the contents of cells in combs very old and new, 

 by actually filling them with liquid, and he found that the old cells 

 contained just as much liquid as the new. The idea that the cells be- 

 come smaller with age has been taught faithfully for many years, and 

 there are still some who advise that combs be renewed every four or 

 five years, but I think the idea is based only upon theory. Without 

 any careful examination, one might easily conclude that as something 

 more than was there before is left in a cell every time a young bee is 

 reared in it, the cell must necessarily become smaller. But examine 

 carefully, and you'll find that the diameter of the cell at its mouth 

 remains the same. You will probably And that the bees gnaw out 

 some of the cocoons at the sides, leaving it at the bottom. That, of 

 course, will make the cell shallower, but to make up for it the bees 

 add fresh wax to the cell-wall at the mouth of the cell. If they add 

 to the cell-wall at the mouth, that ought to increase the thickness of 

 the comb oughtn't it? Well, that's exactly what it does. Measure 

 the thickness of a piece of worker-comb from which the first batch of 

 brood has just emerged, and you will find it measures }g of an inch. 

 Take one old enough, and it will be fully an inch thick, and you will 

 find the septum \ of an inch thick. The only practical danger is that 

 if the combs get to be old enough the spacing from center to center 

 may become too small ; in other words, the space between two combs 

 becomes smaller. Don't worry about good, straight combs being hurt 

 with age. 



