March 16, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



211 



out of the cell in February or March, before flying weather 

 has come to stay, do not do as well as when brought out 

 later, unless they are taken back immediately after taking a 

 flight, and upon this last opinions are not yet unanimous. 

 You want to know why a colony brought out too early isn't 

 just as well off as if it had been out all winter. Possibly it 

 is as well ofif, if protected the same way. But when brrn.tght 

 out of the cellar there is generally no protection given such 

 as is given to those left out all winter. 



2. I can speak only from memory. I think G. M. Doo- 

 little had 20 pounds in one day, and a Texas bee-keeper from 

 whom nothing has been heard of late years, claimed l.noo 

 pounds in one season from a colony and its swarms. 



3. I don't know, but I don't remember that anything 

 was credited to special manipulation. Perhaps Mr. Doolittle 

 will enlighten us — although I doubt that manipulation would 

 have much to do with the gathering of one day, beyond man- 

 ipulation to get the right number of bees of the right sort 

 at the right time. But there's a big lot in that. There is 

 just a little room for suspicion in the Texas case, with no 

 intention to deceive, that some other swarm may have 

 clandestinely united to swell the product of that one colony. 



4. The average yield in 1904 was about 60 pounds of 

 section honey per colony. The best colony gave 153 pounds 

 (165 sections). It was nothing like so good a year as 1903. 



5. The largest yield I ever had from one colony was 

 not 300 pounds but 300 sections, about 279 pounds. The 

 manipulation recorded is as follows : June 22, eggs in queen- 

 cells destroyed ; July 1, queen-cells destroyed, two frames of 

 brood were taken away and two empty combs exchanged 

 for them ; July 9, queen-cells destroyed ; Aug. 4, destroyed 

 1 queen-cell; April 23 the hive was opened to see if the 

 queen was clipped (she was of the previous year) ; May 12 

 to see how the colony was doing (it then had more or less 

 brood in 4 frames) ; and it was opened at least three other 

 times to see if queen-cells were present, but none were found. 

 I don't know how many days the bees were gathering, but I 

 think most of the time from early in June till first week 

 in September. The 300 sections were the yield of one colony ; 

 it had no increase. The yield might have been more if the 

 two frames of brood had not been taken away — and it might 

 have been less. 



6. It was not used enough to tell. 



7. Send 'em along. We often learn more by failures 

 than successes. 



♦-•-*- 



Makine Sugar Candy-Dry and Liquid Substances at 

 Hive-Entrances. 



1. On page 86 Mr. Dadant advises feeding sugar candy 

 in the cellar. I should like to know how to make this candy, 

 and other candies for feeding. 



2. There is a whitish liquid running out of some of the 

 hives in my cellar, and others have a dry substance like fine 

 sawdust in front of the entrance. The hives from which the 

 liquid comes seem to be wet and nasty inside. What is the 

 cause of this? They have plenty of stores. Iow.\. 



Answers. — 1. Don't any of the girls or women in >our 

 neighborhood make candy? If they do, just get them to make 

 you some plain candy. Take best granulated sugar and about 

 one-fourth as much water, stir the sugar into the boiling 

 water, keeping it on the stove. The greatest care must be 

 taken not to burn it, for burnt sugar is death to bees in win- 

 ter. Keep trying it, and when a little dropped in a saiicer 

 grains, take it quickly off the stove, stirring it, and pour it into 

 dishes slightly greased. 



2. "The sawdust-looking material is the gnawings I'rom 

 the cappings and other debris, and indicates nothing wr ng. 

 The liquid is the moisture from the vapors condensing in the 

 hive. Your cellar may be too cold, and hive-entrances hardly 

 large enough. 



Queens Reared in ttie Soutti— Serradella- 

 Hives— Supply Dealers' Trust. 



■Maklni' 



1. Will queens reared in the South be as hardy f r a 

 northern climate? 



2. Do you know anything about the honey-plant called 

 Serradella? The seed catalogs recommend it highly. 



3. Most of the long-tongued queens advertised are sp'ken 

 of as leather-colored. Are not the golden Italians as '.o■.^g- 

 tongued as any? 



4. I have 17 colonies now, and expect to have 50 colonies 



this time next year. I rhake my own hives. On page 100 

 the editor rather discourages this, but I make just as good a 

 hive as can be bought for my purpose. You gave me a pointer 

 on those cleats on the end. That was where the hives were 

 weak, as they would warp in wet weather. 



Whatever the Editor says about it, I do think there is 

 a trust to raise prices. If not why is foundation higher this 

 year? Wax is the same price. Indiana. 



Answers, — 1. Theoretically, no ; practically, yes. A strain 

 of bees continued for a long series of years in a warm climate 

 would hardly be expected to be as rugged as one continued 

 for the same length of time in a severe climate ; but with the 

 constant exchange from one part to the other there is likely 

 to be no appreciable difference. If there is any Italian blood 

 in them, they can not have been in the South more than half 

 a century at rrtost, and in that time they would hardly have 

 changed much in characteristics. 



2. I have seen mention in foreign journals of serradella, 

 or serradilla (Ornithopus sativus), but know nothing about it. 



3. There is much variation in golden Italians, and you 

 will probably find some with longer tongues than others, and 

 the same with the leather-colored. 



4. The Editor is without doubt correct in saying it is 

 better to buy one's hives than to make them. That's the 

 truth for 9 out of 10, if not 99 out of 100. If you find it is 

 better for you to make them, you ought by all means to do 

 so, but you're the exception to the rule. 



For anything I know the price of foundation is more 

 than it should be, but because wax is no higher it does not 

 necessarily follow that foundation should remain the same. 

 Part of the cost of foundation is in the labor, and labor is 

 higher than it was. If you are so situated that you can make 

 hives cheaper than you can buy, it is possible that you could 

 profitably make your own foundation, either with a mill or 

 with the Rietsche press. 



*-•-» 



Cellar Wintering— Danzenbaker Hives— Introducing 

 Queens. 



1. I have always wintered bees outdoors, our cellar be- 

 ing too damp for them, but I lost so many last winter that 

 I thought I would try cellar-wintering. About two weeks 

 before it was time to put them away for winter I moved 

 them a quarter of a mile where I put them into a neighbor's 

 cellar with his bees. I expect to give them a flight in three 

 or four weeks. Should they be put in the same place I had 

 them before I put them into the cellar? 



2. When I put them out for good would it be better to 

 close up the entrance and bring them home, putting them 

 on the summer stands, or leave them up there for a few days 

 and then bring them home? 



3. What is tlie best way to get them out of the cellar? 

 This cellar is partitioned off for the bees, making it necessary 

 to pass through two doors and up .some steps. 



4. Doesn't Doolittle give his bees a midwinter flight? 



5. I introduced a fine-looking select-tested Italian queen 

 to a colony before swarming, following the rules on the card 

 attached to the cage. About a week later I overhauled the 

 hives to find the queen doing fine work, but there were 

 several capped queen-cells, which I destroyed. About a 

 week later I noticed a number of bees in front of the 

 entrance to that hive, and upon investigating I found the 

 queen dead among them. I found a hatched queen-cell in 

 the hive, and other capped queen-cells. I let them alone, ex- 

 pecting them to swarm, but they did not. In another week 

 I again examined the hive and found the other cells all 

 cut out, but this queen not yet fertilized. After that I looked 

 several times for the queen, but could not find her. Nor was 

 she fertilized. After spending hours looking, for her (I gave 

 the colony brood and eggs every now and then, but no cells 

 were started), I tried different ways of introducing queens, 

 but they killed every one of them. At last I put a light 

 colony with a good queen (it being fall now) on top of this 

 hive with a paper between them. They all went down into 

 the hive and united nicely. But what was the matter with 

 the colony? It meant the loss of about 50 pounds of comb 

 honey. 



6. I notice you don't think much of the Danzenbaker 

 hive. I tried a few of them last summer, and I like them very 

 well. I think I will get all of that kind. What is it that you 

 don't like about them? Is it the changing from one hive to 

 another ? 



7. Do you introduce all your queens now by the "drown- 

 ing" plan? I haven't heard much of it lately. I l-'d pretty 



