May 11, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



34S 



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Doctor IHtUcr 5 Qucstion^Box 



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

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

 Dr. Miller does nu( answer Questions by mail. 



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Preventing Afterswanns 



According to Heddon's method of prevent- 

 ing afterswarms, as explained on page 6 in "A 

 B C of Bee-Culture," how many days from 

 time of first or prime swarm until the young 

 queen will be laying in the parent colony 

 again? Missouri. 



Answer. — The young queen is likely to be 

 laying somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 

 days from the issuing of the prime swarm. 

 That time, however, may vary no little. The 

 issuing of the prime swarm may have been 

 hindered one or more days by bad weather, in 

 which case the time will be just that much 

 less than IS days. The young queen may be 

 slow about meeting a mate, or she may be 

 slow about beginning to lay, malting the time 

 longer. 



Alfalfa Honey-Wlntering Bees-Ex- 

 tracted vs. Comb Honey 



1. Is alfalfa honey of stronger flavor than 

 white clover! I have never sampled both at 

 one time, and the alfalfa honey of Colorado 

 and New Mexico seems to taste much stronger 

 than the (Ohio) white clover product. 



2. A hole dug in a banli here and roofed in 

 is far drier than any eastern cement aSair. 

 Would it pay to try cellar-wintering? Mer- 

 cury seldom goes below zero, and bees can 

 usually have a flight every few days during 

 winter, and the honey harvest comes late in 

 the season. 



3. For outdoor wintering would it not be 

 easier to number hives (bodies) rather than 

 have the stands numbered? 



4. Where extracted honey sells for as much 

 as or more than comb, is a fellow a fool when 

 he produces comb honey? New Mexico. 



Answers. — 1. There must be a good deal 

 of difference in honey of the same name in 

 different localities. I have eaten a good deal 

 of Colorado and Utah alfalfa, and it is much 

 less pronounced in flavor than white clover. 



2. Cellar-wintering would probably not do 

 at all with you. 



3. It is convenient to have the same number 

 on the same stand, but also to have the number 

 on the hive-body, changing tbe number if the 

 hive is put on a different stand. 



4. He would seem to lean in that direction. 



Tar Paper— Packing Bees for Winter 



-Using the Dummy— Comb vs. 



Extracted Honey 



1. Do you think that tar paper used on hive- 

 tops will taint the honey in the hive? I had 

 some honey last year that had such a smoky 

 taste I could not eat it. Do you think the 

 tar paper was the cause? 



2. I have been thinking of packing my bees 

 in winter quarters after this with a shallow 

 super over the brood-chamber having a piece 

 of canvas nailed on the top edge of the super, 

 and then pack chaff over that. Would that 

 be too much air-space over the brood if the 

 hive is well packed with a foot of chaff all 

 around? 



3. I have some 10-frame hives that will take 

 10 frames and leave about 3'2-'nch to spare 

 for a dummy. Would you crowd a thin 

 dummy into that space, or leave out one 

 frame and use a dummy? or would that then 

 leave too much space behind the dummy? 



4. Do you think there is more money in 

 comb honey than extracted, counting the 

 comb you must give with the honey (and 

 which the bees must make again), separators, 

 seciions, etc., and also counting, on the other 



hand, the cost of extraoting-frames, extractor, 

 uncapping-can, sturage-tanks, tins and jars, 

 for extracted honey? 



I am a young man, and equal to all the 

 necessary conditions of either side of the 

 business, but I wish to find out which is 

 going to pay the better. Personally, I am in 

 favor of comb honey, as tbe bees put it into 

 a package without any extra work in com- 

 parison to extracted. I wish also to say that 

 I consider the privilege of asking Dr. Miller 

 worth double tbe subscription price of the 

 "Old Reliable." Ontario. 



Answers. — 1. Depends somewhat upon 

 how the covers are made. If there is a board 

 surface or other surface between the tar 

 paper and the bees, there ought to be no 

 trouble. If the tar paper is down next to the 

 bees, it might affect the honey. 



3. That air-space full depth of the super 

 ought surely to do harm. Why not nail the 

 canvas on the underside of the super? 



3. Put in the dummy — as long as you can. 

 No danger of comb being built behind it. 



4. The man that lives inside your clothes is 

 the only man in the world that can settle that 

 question for you. There are veterans who 

 have fairly tried both; and they are very sure 

 they can make more clear money with comb. 

 Other veterans who have given just as fair a 

 trial are equally sure they can make more 

 with extracted. And both are righl. The 

 pasturage has something to do with it, and 

 the market. The man has also something 

 to do with it, and your preference for comb 

 makes a difference in your case. Now that's 

 not a very satisfactory answer to one who 

 speaks so kindly of this department; but you 

 see that's one of the things I don't know. 



Preventing Propolis on Sections 



I have some old Simplicity hives with sec- 

 tion-holders having tia on their side, and find 

 that there is a small space between the top of 

 the section and top of the section-holder. If 

 I should cut the top slat off and trim the end- 

 bars down so they will be even with the sec- 

 tions, and place a super cover over all, will 

 not that stop the bees from propolizing the 

 tops of the sections? Can you suggest a bet- 

 ter way? Delaware. 



Answer. — I'm afraid the proposed remedy 

 will hardly work us well as you expect. If 

 you leave no space, you'll find it a hard thing 

 to get the sections in, and still harder to get 

 them out. And do matter how little space 

 you leave, you'll probably find the bees will 

 crowd in some propolis. After "rastling" 

 with that sort of thing for years, I found a 

 remedy In adopting T supers, which leave 

 both the tops and bottoms of sections en- 

 tirely open. Id this locality, at least, bees 

 put less propolis on an exposed surface than 

 where just a crack is left. 



Using Hon^.' from Empty Hives- 

 Robbed Lv:ony— Moths In Hives 



About 4 weeks ago I bought out an apiary 

 and all the fixtues pertaining thereto. There 

 were about Jt colonies, with extra hives, 

 supers, shippii'K'cases, etc. In the unoccu- 

 pied hives itij-u are a great many frames 

 almost full o; i. ice, clean honey, and I don't 

 know what i j do with it. The hives are the 

 8-frame Langsti Jth, and there are also a num- 

 ber of partlyiili d uncapped sections. 



1. Will it be :ii: right to put the supers on 

 with these sterns just as they are? 



2. Would it \j well to put new swarms into 

 these hives, Ic: ing the honey In them? 



3. How CUD I keep this when tbe hot days 

 come? 



4. What ought I to do with a colony when 

 it has been robbed? Last night I found one 

 that had Ixien robbed and gave it a frame of 

 honey, and this evening it is all gone. 



5. What will keep tbe motbs out? 



Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. No, Indeed. 

 3. Yes, only not more than a fourth of the 

 comb capacity should be filled with honey. 



3. The hot days will do no harm to tho 

 honey, only they will encourage the worms 

 that almost surely will be in the combs, and 

 these you must fight with bisulphide of car- 

 bon or sulphur. If the combs are kept in a 

 cool, dry cellar the worms will hardly do 

 much harm before time to use the combs for 

 swarms. 



4. Generally it is just as well to let them 

 entirely alone, for the colony is likely to be 

 queenlesB, and the bees so old as to be of no 

 value. If, however, a good queen is present, 

 as shown by the brood, and it there is a fair 

 population, it will be worth while to try to 

 save them. Close the entrance so that only 

 one bee can pass at a time ; pile hay or straw 

 close in front and around the hive a foot or 

 so deep, and keep it soaking wet so long as 

 the robbers seem inclined to trouble. 



5. Bees; keep your colonies strong, and the 

 bees will keep out the moth, although Ital- 

 ians are better at it than blacks. 



Roaches in Hives— Starters— Salt 



and Water for Bees— Covering 



for Brood-Frames— Moving 



Bees 



1. When opening the hive the other day I 

 noticed a number of roaches in the upper 

 story. Is that an indication that anything is 

 wrong? 



2. In putting starters in brood-frames, does 

 it make any difference it they are not all of 

 the same width? 



3. i notice that some bee-keepers give their 

 bees salt and water. Ought the two to be 

 mixed, or should the salt be given in one dish 

 and the water in another? 



4. Would not a white cloth over the brood- 

 frames do as well as a honey-board? 



5. I must move my bees a short distance, 

 and they now have a fence in front of them 

 about a foot from the hives. Would you 

 think it necessary to put this fence in front 

 of them when I move them? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. The roaches find it warm 

 and comfortable over the hive, and so they 

 like to stay there, but it is not likely they do 

 any harm, for the bees will not allow them 

 among the combs. 



3. No, only it would not be best to have one 

 frame filled clear down and another only a 

 very slight starter. It is, of course, better to 

 have all frames entirely filled. 



3. Mixed ; but if they have plenty of water, 

 they can get along. 



4. Yes, only the bees gnaw holes in the 

 cloth. Nowadays neither cloths nor honey- 

 boards are used as much as formerly. Many 

 prefer to have simply a quarter-inch air-space 

 between top-bar and hiye-cover. 



5. No. 



Reports a\\^ 

 (£xpcrtcncc5 



Putting Weali Colonies Over Strong 

 Ones 



X notice in the item on page 307, in regard 

 to putting weak colonies over strong ones, 

 that the asisertion is made that the upper col- 

 ony loses its field-force not only once but 

 twice. Now I wish to disagree. In theory 

 possibly it does, but in practice it does not. 

 I was one that gave it a trial last spring, and 

 if I remember rightly there was only one 

 other man at the Chicago-Northwestern con- 

 vention who reported having given it a trial, 



